Killer whale shares food with gulls at the Vancouver Public Aquarium

Zoo Biology ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 367-374
Author(s):  
Charles Nordquist ◽  
Michael Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Paragraph ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-90
Author(s):  
Damiano Benvegnù

From Hegel to Heidegger and Agamben, modern Western philosophy has been haunted by how to think the connections between death, humanness and animality. This article explores how these connections have been represented by Italian writers Tommaso Landolfi (1908–79) and Stefano D'Arrigo (1919–92). Specifically, it investigates how the death of a nonhuman animal is portrayed in two works: ‘Mani’, a short story by Landolfi collected in his first book Il dialogo dei massimi sistemi (Dialogue on the Greater Harmonies) (1937), and D'Arrigo's massive novel Horcynus Orca (Horcynus Orca) (1975). Both ‘Mani’ and Horcynus Orca display how the fictional representation of the death of a nonhuman animal challenges any philosophical positions of human superiority and establishes instead animality as the unheimlich mirror of the human condition. In fact, in both stories, the animal — a mouse and a killer whale, respectively — do die and their deaths represent a mise en abyme that both arrests the human narrative and sparks a moment of acute ontological recognition.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 643-652
Author(s):  
David W. Weller ◽  
Amanda L. Bradford ◽  
Aimée R. Lang ◽  
Alexander M. Burdin ◽  
Robert L. Brownell, Jr.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-384

Many Public Aquaria have been designed and constructed all over the world during the last three decades. The serial arrangement of relatively small, rectangular, concrete tanks has been replaced by fewer large, irregularly shaped tanks, replicating habitats. The “taxonomic concept” of displaying specimens in the old aquaria has now been succeeded by the more ecological, “community concept” type of display. At the same time most of the “old aquaria” have been renovated. Aquarium missions have also been broadened nowadays including research, conservation and education. Aquaria are ideal places for research on husbandry, life cycles, reproduction, behavior, autoecology and fish pathology. Collaboration with Universities and Research Centers increases the research potential in scientific disciplines such as ecology, genetics, physiology and biochemistry. Collaboration also provides mutual benefits in both infrastructure and personnel: The research background in aquaria also forms a sound platform to materialize conservation projects, focusing either on the ex-situ conservation of animals in the aquaria or on environmental protection of surrounding areas and reintroduction of endangered species. In addition to formal educational opportunities, non formal education to visitors, schools and undergraduates seems to become a major mission of aquaria. Aquarium tank displays, preserved biological material, film projections, seminars / lectures and book magazine publications enhance environmental awareness, encouraging people to adopt Environmentally Responsible Behavior. All these missions are feasible because most public aquaria are making a good profit mainly due to their high popularity. There are also benefits for the community in the area; aquaria have enlivened declining water front areas and increased the income of tourist resorts mainly by “stretching out” the tourist season. In the present work the objectives of a public aquarium are reviewed and the main infrastructure subsystems and operational procedures are described; Know how on aquarium systems can also be applied in research laboratories of academic institutions if live organisms have to be kept for experimentation. Aquarium missions on research, conservation and education are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Bergler ◽  
Manuel Schmitt ◽  
Andreas Maier ◽  
Simeon Smeele ◽  
Volker Barth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva H. Stredulinsky ◽  
Chris T. Darimont ◽  
Lance Barrett-Lennard ◽  
Graeme M. Ellis ◽  
John K. B. Ford

Abstract For animals that tend to remain with their natal group rather than individually disperse, group sizes may become too large to benefit individual fitness. In such cases, group splitting (or fission) allows philopatric animals to form more optimal group sizes without sacrificing all familiar social relationships. Although permanent group splitting is observed in many mammals, it occurs relatively infrequently. Here, we use combined generalized modeling and machine learning approaches to provide a comprehensive examination of group splitting in a population of killer whales (Orcinus orca) that occurred over three decades. Fission occurred both along and across maternal lines, where animals dispersed in parallel with their closest maternal kin. Group splitting was more common: (1) in larger natal groups, (2) when the common maternal ancestor was no longer alive, and (3) among groups with greater substructuring. The death of a matriarch did not appear to immediately trigger splitting. Our data suggest intragroup competition for food, leadership experience and kinship are important factors that influence group splitting in this population. Our approach provides a foundation for future studies to examine the dynamics and consequences of matrilineal fission in killer whales and other taxa. Significance statement Group living among mammals often involves long-term social affiliation, strengthened by kinship and cooperative behaviours. As such, changes in group membership may have significant consequences for individuals’ fitness and a population’s genetic structure. Permanent group splitting is a complex and relatively rare phenomenon that has yet to be examined in detail in killer whales. In the context of a growing population, in which offspring of both sexes remain with their mothers for life, we provide the first in-depth examination of group splitting in killer whales, where splitting occurs both along and across maternal lines. We also undertake the first comprehensive assessment of how killer whale intragroup cohesion is influenced by both external and internal factors, including group structure, population and group demography, and resource abundance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1362-1377 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Jett ◽  
Jeffrey Ventre
Keyword(s):  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document