1What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales

There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

30 December 2019

babies were taken away. This event supports that Orcinus orca have a memory that

could remember past experience and they do not want their babies to be captured (Oteyza et

al, 2013). This causes emotional harm for the natal group. Another evidence on this is the

mother's behavior and sounds after the baby is lost. When a baby Orcinus orca is taken away

the mother, she sends long distanced sound waves. These were identified as cries or calling

out to a lost member of the group. Mother Orcinus orca would not join group activities and

be alone for a while. (Oteyza et al, 2013) These situations suggest that Orcinus orca care

about their natal group and families. They have strategies to protect their babies. After a baby

is taken away, the mother’s behavior changes. Observers believe that she experiences

sadness. Whales are emotional and affected by the separation, which results in loneliness and

aggressiveness in the baby whale.

 2What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

Loneliness and aggressiveness of Orcinus orca are caused by various reasons, which

are not being able to communicate and being away from the natal group. The captured baby

Orcinus orca spends the rest of his/ her life, around 25-30 years if the whale is male and

around 90-100 years if the whale is female, in tanks. There are other performance whales in

the tanks yet they are not able to talk and get along because of their languages. Whales have a

complex communication system with different types of soundwaves. Some are common in

the natal group, some are special to one or two whales and some are unique to individual.

Natal groups have their own communication system, which is similar to language for humans

(Kremers et al, 2012). The baby will not be able to talk with other whales ever again since

they are captured from different natal groups. This causes mental harm for the whales. Under

normal circumstances, baby whales learn everything from older individuals. Megaptera

novaeangliae- humpback whales- for example, can sing. Humpback whales do this by some

sound types; which are clicks, pulses, whistles, groans, boings, cries, trills and more

(Sardelis, 2016). Their sound waves were identified as songs because themes and repeating

sound types created a pattern. The reason for these songs are not certain, but studies show
 3What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

that it could be to attract female whales. Mature male Humpback whales sing to attract

female humpback whales, however, they are not the only ones singing. Immature whales

learn by following their natal group so they also sing with mature whales in order to use their

skills in the future (Herman et al, 2013). Whales learn to talk and other skills from their natal

group. Taking a baby away from their natal group is taking away his/her chance to learn how

to be a whale, they are thought tricks and live in tanks instead. Unfortunately, captive Orcinus

orca experience mental problems in tanks. Whales have extra parts on their brains, which are

used for emotions and communication according to some studies. They are highly social and

have a complex communication system. (Rigway, 2010) Not being able to socialize could

create aggressiveness in some Orcinus orca. Tilikum was a killer whale who has attacked and

killed some people on purpose. He was taken away as a baby, was isolated and other whales

in the tank attacked him. These could have caused him to feel frustration towards people.

(Oteyza et al, 2013) Whales are intelligent and emotional; therefore, captivation harms them

mentally as well. They do not do the tricks because they want to, they want to eat fish. There

are no proofs of killer whales enjoying performing and staying in tanks. Humans may believe
 4What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

that they are superior to other organisms in the World, but whales’ extra brain part suggests

that whales could be more emotional compared to humans. Harming them is unethical and

has to stop.

Captivation is not the only danger for these highly intelligent and emotional aquatic

mammals. Whale commercialism is another problem for bigger species such as Megaptera

novaeangliae (humpback whales), Balaenoptera physalus (fin whales), Balaenoptera

musculus (blue whales), Physeter macrocephalus (sperm whales). Whale commercialism is

hunting whales in order to use or sell their products. Countries like Norway, Iceland and

Japan still continue to hunt whales. Whaling has attracted a lot of attention from animal

lovers; moreover, was not approved by them. This is reasonable because whaling speeds up

the extinction of whale species like Balaenoptera musculus. Another argument in favour of

animal lovers is that countries like Norway and Iceland do not consume most of the meat they

gain from these whales. Since whale hunting and commercialism has been labeled unethical

and some species almost became extinct, International Whaling Commision (IWC) banned
 5What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

whaling in 1986 for a time. This was because of extra products going to waste and to stop

whaling from speeding whales extinction. However; some countries have started whaling

again, it has been continuing illegally in other countries such as Japan under the name of

“stock monitoring for sustainability” or “scientific search”. “Since 1987, Japan has killed

between 200 and 1,200 whales each year, saying this was to monitor stocks to establish

sustainable quotas.” (Japan Whaling, 2019) Whale population in North Atlantic ocean has

been decreasing since 2009 yet the IWC has not done anything significant about these.

(Actman, 2016) Whale commercialism should stay banned and be monitored to spot fake

whale research and sustainability reasons. Commercialism is leading to extinction of animals

that have not been fully discovered. Losing species as unique as aquatic mammals would not

be beneficial for humans.

As stated above, whales are unique, intelligent and emotional mammals. There are

still a lot of uncertainties about whales. Science has proven that they have a complex and

structured communication system but more will be discovered about it. They could be more
 6What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

emotional compared to humans, they could be using a vocalization system like no other

organisms, they could have a good memory which remembers traumatic experiences in their

lives. Science has not proven a lot of assumptions about whales; therefore, humans could be

taking actions with only thinking about themselves. Capturing a baby whale could be a tragic

event for the natal group observed by their behaviour to protect the baby whales. Mothers

have tried to reach the babies by using long distance sound waves. When they could not get

in touch, they have experienced a situation which is thought to be sadness. Captivation could

lead to mental unhealth in whales; moreover takes his/ her chance to learn from their natal

group and socialize with other whales. Whale commercialism could lead to extinction of

bigger whale species while there are extra products. Even after a short period of ban,

countries have found ways to continue whaling due to poor monitoring. Harming whales for

human entertainment and profit is not ethical. Whale products could be replaced with other

types of oils or foods, but whales cannot be replaced by other mammals. They should be

protected while they still exist.

 7What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

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National Geographic.
Herman, L. M., Pack, A. A., Spitz, S. S., Herman, E. Y. K., & Rose, K. (2013). Humpback
whale song: who sings? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67(10), 1653–1654.
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Kremers, D., Lemasson, A., Almunia, J., & Wanker, R. (2012). Vocal sharing and individual
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Robeck, T. R., Willis, K., Scarpuzzi, M. R., & O’Brien, J. K. (2015). Comparisons of
 8What Captivation and Commercialism Does to Whales
There are mammals which are intelligent, emotional, unique. They are social, have

strong relationships with each other and act in favor of their social group. They live in the

ocean and weigh between 84 kg and 150,000 kg. These animals are called cetaceans, aquatic

mammals in English. Some species of cetaceans such as Balaenoptera physalus are very

large. Humans can obtain an impressive amount of oil and meat from them. These products

are used in the making of candles, lamp oil and food. Smaller species, Orcinus orca for

example, are captured and used for human entertainment in places such as SeaWorld. They

are trained to do tricks like jumping, dancing with the trainers and more on. Whale shows

have been an exciting family activity, the fact that gigantic creatures are cooperating with

humans is impressive. So why should whale commercialism and captivation be banned when

life-history parameters between free-ranging and captive killer whale (Orcinus orca)
populations for application toward species management. Journal of Mammalogy,
96(5), 1055–1070. doi: 10.1093/jmammal/gyv113
Sardelis, S. (2016, November 10). Why Do Whales Sing? Retrieved December 18, 2019,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xr9BYhlceA.
Oteyza, Manuel, Cowperthwaite, Gabriela. (2013) Blackfish. USA: Magnolia Pictures.