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Annotated Bib Eip Alpha

This document contains summaries of 4 sources for an annotated bibliography on orca whales in captivity: 1) A peer-reviewed article finds captive orcas live shorter lives than wild orcas and discusses the impacts of captivity. This unbiased source provides useful evidence for how captivity harms orcas. 2) A scientific study uses MRI to image an orca brain for the first time, finding both developed and underdeveloped areas, helping understand orca behavior. This adds proof for the author's research on orca brains and behavior. 3) A CNN article discusses SeaWorld expanding tanks but no longer breeding orcas due to psychological impacts. It is somewhat biased but provides information the author could

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133 views

Annotated Bib Eip Alpha

This document contains summaries of 4 sources for an annotated bibliography on orca whales in captivity: 1) A peer-reviewed article finds captive orcas live shorter lives than wild orcas and discusses the impacts of captivity. This unbiased source provides useful evidence for how captivity harms orcas. 2) A scientific study uses MRI to image an orca brain for the first time, finding both developed and underdeveloped areas, helping understand orca behavior. This adds proof for the author's research on orca brains and behavior. 3) A CNN article discusses SeaWorld expanding tanks but no longer breeding orcas due to psychological impacts. It is somewhat biased but provides information the author could

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Tyski 1

Alyssa Tyski
Professor Campbell
UWRT 1103
27 October 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Jett, John, and Jeffrey Ventre. "Captive Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca) Survival." Wiley Online
Library. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
In this peer reviewed article, the question is brought up of the impacts of captive orca
whales and other animals. The results shown are that throughout the world, the mean
age of survival for orcas was 4.4 years, but in United States facilities the mean was 12
years. In the wild, the average survival for female orcas is 46 years and 31 years for
males, according to the research shown. John Jett is one author of this piece and is a
former SeaWorld trainer and also has a PhD. Jeffrey Ventre is also has a PhD and was
involved in the making of the film Blackfish. There is a copious amount of research
shown in this academic article which alleviates bias because this is not opinion based.
The research is intended to prove the fact that captivity has harmful impacts on orcas
to those who do not believe it, and to also show scientific evidence to back up the
claim. This source is helpful to me because it is evidence to help prove my opinion on
the effects of captivity. I will be using this source for my project because there is
useful evidence.
Morino, Lori, and Chet Sherwood. "Neuroanatomy of the Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca) from
Magnetic Resonance Images." Wiley Online Library. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 14 Oct.
2004. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Tyski 2

The orca whales brain is very complex, but has been difficult to study due to the size
which is approximately 5,000 g. Scientists were finally able to conduct an MRI on a
deceased whale and there were many findings. Certain parts of the brain are not very
developed, such as the hippocampus but other parts are beyond that, such as the
thalamus and cerebellum. The limbic lobe is very developed, which is thought to
correlate directly to Orcas skills that depend on spatial memory. There are many
scientists who conducted the research or this scholarly article, with specializations
ranging from PHDs in anthropology, to psychiatry, to neuroscience. There are many
images of the orcas brain shown to back up the information, as well as a thorough
explanation of what exactly was found that was outstanding. The direct purpose of
this was to provide legitimate information on what the orcas brain is composed of for
others doing studies, since it is very hard to capture images of the brain. This source
is helpful for me due to the fact that part of my research is on the orcas brain to show
why certain behavior is exhibited and why they are mentally fragile creatures. It
shows me solid proof of the dimensions of the brain and I can further my research
from that point. This source will appear in my project when discussing the brain of
the orca.
O'Neill, Ann. "SeaWorld Can Expand Tank but Not Breed Whales, Board Rules." CNN.
Turner Broadcasting System, 11 Oct. 2015. Web. 24 Oct. 2015.
CNN talks about the possible one million dollar expansion of the whales tanks at
SeaWorld, California. The board agreed to help fund the expansion under one
condition, the whales can no longer breed with each other while in captivity due to
the psychological affects that it has on the orcas. There are instances where whiles

Tyski 3

break their teeth while biting the tank theyre kept in, and they also keep breeding
Tilikum, a highly aggressive orca. PETA and other animal organizations oppose this
expansion and want the whales to be freed to ocean sanctuaries. CNN tends to be a
more biased new source, and in this case I believe they are rooting for the expansion
of the tanks since that is whats mostly mentioned. The people who are pro-SeaWorld
are the only ones spoken to but no activist are spoken with, only mentioned. There is
also a lot of emphasis on the claim that orcas are not mistreated or bored and love
their tank life. Although it is a bit biased I can make some of the information here
useful. Although I would prefer to free the orcas, it is not that easy and expansion
would be one step towards a better life for the beautiful creatures.
"Research Helps Wild Whales." SeaWorld Cares. SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc., 2015.
Web. 24 Oct. 2015. The website
SeaWorld Cares is a website directly affiliated with Sea World and other parks
associated. This specific article on the website describes exactly why SeaWorld is
beneficial to wild sea life, specifically killer whales. It talks about how SeaWorlds
research contributes to conservation of wild whales. Since whales are endangered,
they claim to be doing enough research to provide to the scientific community that
can eventually help scientists understand what is harming whales in the ocean. It is
said that the environment that the orcas are kept in while captive are in unique
environments to understand killer whales as well. There is no specific author of the
site listed, other than the fact that it is published by SeaWorld in 2015. I believe the
fact that it was a website made by SeaWorld makes it extremely biased. Since this is a
fairly new website, it was not posted until after the scrutiny on SeaWorld due to the

Tyski 4

treatment of their animals, and I believe this is part of their on-going recoil. There is
no scientific evidence for what they are saying and do not have an educated speaking
on this specific page of the website. I did not find this site very helpful in my own
argument or a counter-argument as well do to lack of evidence and the source will not
appear in my appear in my project unless Im using it to show the corruption of
SeaWorld.

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