Whales Don't Like Being Tormented By Kids In Zoos Shocker

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While on a recent trip to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, two small children had an an encounter with a beluga whale that’s now going viral. For several moments, the captive animal interacts with the astonished youngsters, much to their delight.

But while the experience is clearly a whimsical one for the children and adults on hand, to say the beluga is being "playful” (as many outlets have reported) is a grave misinterpretation.

According to Dr. Lori Marino, a beluga behavior specialist with The Kimmela Center, the animal’s behavior is “absolutely definitively aggression.”

“The open mouth and posturing are typical of the way cetaceans express aggression and I’ve seen a lot in captivity in the very same circumstances. This poor animal is telling the kids: ‘Get away’. It’s a threat,” Dr. Marino told The Dodo.

“While belugas and other cetaceans in the wild make the same aggressive motions (open mouth, etc.) in this case, in my opinion, it is clearly due to the fact that these whales are crammed into this tank and have nowhere to go to escape the screaming kids poking at the glass.”

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screaming sausage
Why This Video Of A Beluga Whale 'Playing' With Children Is Actually Very Sad

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While on a recent trip to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut, two small children had an an encounter with a beluga whale that’s now going viral. For several moments, the captive animal interacts with the astonished youngsters, much to their delight.

But while the experience is clearly a whimsical one for the children and adults on hand, to say the beluga is being "playful” (as many outlets have reported) is a grave misinterpretation.

According to Dr. Lori Marino, a beluga behavior specialist with The Kimmela Center, the animal’s behavior is “absolutely definitively aggression.”

“The open mouth and posturing are typical of the way cetaceans express aggression and I’ve seen a lot in captivity in the very same circumstances. This poor animal is telling the kids: ‘Get away’. It’s a threat,” Dr. Marino told The Dodo.

“While belugas and other cetaceans in the wild make the same aggressive motions (open mouth, etc.) in this case, in my opinion, it is clearly due to the fact that these whales are crammed into this tank and have nowhere to go to escape the screaming kids poking at the glass.”

I'm no expert on cetacean behaviour but seeing it charging at the glass and baring its teeth I can believe that whale is not happy. I hope someone has now educated the little shits about this- or even better, decided not to take them to any zoo ever again.

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doomflower
Humans really aren't the smartest monkeys, and many of them live on the wrong side of the enclosure.

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screaming sausage
I'm surprised that zoos and especially aquariums are still profitable given the frequent outcries against them. Don't more people just find them cruel and depressing these days? I got taken to an aquarium when I was 12 and just remember being really upset at seeing a massive Orca in a pool which wasn't really big enough for a few humans to do lane swimming in. More recently I got taken to one on a work trip overseas and while the tanks were enormous I still felt sad seeing the whale shark swimming round in big circles, looking bored as the only one of its species in there. I know some of these places do important work- education, conservation etc- but too often a line is crossed.