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Moby Doll

August 24, 2023

Captured in 1964, Moby Doll (c. 1959–9 October 1964) was the first orca to survive in captivity for more than two days, and the second to be displayed in a public aquarium exhibit. The availability, for the first time, of an orca that could be studied at close quarters alive initiated pioneering research. From a recording of Moby Doll's calls, he was years later identified as a member of J Pod of the southern resident orcas.

Moby Doll
SpeciesOrca (Orcinus orca)
Born1959 est.
DiedOctober 9, 1964
Vancouver, British Columbia
Known forsecond captive orca
Named afterMoby Dick

At the time of his capture, orcas were widely feared and hated. In 1972, Washington State Game Department supervisor Garry Garrison declared that orcas "had until recently been the subject of fear and violence. 'They were harassed, shot at, and killed at every opportunity.'"[1] Don White, once an orca researcher at the Vancouver Aquarium, later a critic of orca captivity, wrote in 1975, "Before the capture of Moby Doll, of Namu and of Skana killer whales as a species were regarded by fishermen as vermin. Happily, this is no longer the case."[2] About 25% of captured, immature orcas carried evidence of already having been wounded by shootings.[3]

Moby Doll was kept alive in captivity by the Vancouver Aquarium after being harpooned and not dying as had been planned. "His unplanned capture proved the viability of holding a killer whale in captivity, and it hinted at the potential of live orcas as tourist attractions. It also revealed the emotional attachment the species could generate."[4] Moby Doll's captivity sparked the orca capture era in British Columbia and Washington State.[5]

A major difficulty in Moby Doll's captivity was that, for a long time, aquarium staff could not successfully feed him. His captors wrote, "For many weeks a pessimistic outlook prevailed regarding the possibility that the animal would commence to eat. The animal became very noticeably thinner during its fast."[6]

History

Capture

The 15 foot (4.6m) long male orca[7] was captured in 1964 near East Point, Saturna Island in British Columbia. His size indicated he was most likely about 5-years-old, a juvenile about as mature as a human of that age.[4] A sculptor, Samuel Burich, had been commissioned by the Vancouver Public Aquarium to kill "a specimen as a basis for the preparation of a replica for the Aquarium's new British Columbia hall."[8] Its staff were convinced it would be impossible to handle a live one safely after the difficulties experienced by Marineland of the Pacific with their capture of Wanda and subsequent capture attempts.[9]

The collectors mounted a harpoon gun at East Point, Saturna Island on May 20, 1964, as data compiled at the Light House from 1958 to 1963 showed that killer whales were particularly common there from May to October (peaking in August with large groups). After several sightings in late May, the collectors had only two more before the day when they harpooned an orca, which was July 16. The small orca was swimming about 20 meters from the rocks.[10] The large harpoon struck the orca just behind the head, fatefully just missing the cervical cord and the brain on either side of the spot.[11] The whale appeared stunned but unexpectedly did not die. To the surprise of Burich and his assistant Josef Bauer, other orcas, rather than fleeing, were raising their injured pod-mate to the surface to breathe.[12]

After the pod moved away, the orca tried for hours to expel the harpoon and pull away from the heavy line.[13] Bauer had been moved by the actions of the other orcas and the juvenile orca's cries, and rowed out in a skiff to shield him from further attempts to shoot him with rifles.[14] No wounds from bullets were later found.[15]

The Vancouver Aquarium's founder director, Murray Newman, decided to keep the wounded orca alive and bring him to Vancouver,[16] although the local SPCA and others protested passionately. With care, the captors managed to have the young orca trail their small fishing boat like a dog on a leash; he intelligently avoided pain by not dragging on the harpoon rope.[13] "They puttered slowly through the night, sometimes catching glimpses of another orca who seemed to be following."[17] Because the aquarium did not have a suitable pool for this unplanned and novel captive, he was given improvised accommodation at Burrard Dry Dock. When he arrived, the aquarium's assistant curator Vince Penfold and neuroscientist Pat McGeer removed the harpoon and administered first aid.[18][17]

To vacate the dock and allow it to return to its regular work, a makeshift sea pen for the orca was constructed on military property at Jericho Beach, a location with less vessel traffic.[19][20] The pen was "cut into a decrepit and abandoned jetty."[21]

The seven-mile transfer of Moby Doll's berth on July 24 took ten hours, longer than expected, due in part to his resistance and attempts to escape.[22] "The captured killer whale bucked, twisted, squealed angrily, thrashed the water and charged the boat that tried to nudge her into her new home," reported the Vancouver Sun. Sam Burich and Vince Penfold were in the boat.[23]

Display

On Saturday, July 18, Burrard Dry Dock had been opened for the general public to watch the orca.[18] About 10,000 visitors queued in the rain to see him. Subsequently, the public was kept away, however.[24] Because scientists had never previously been able to study a live orca, aquarium curator Murray Newman was eager to keep Moby Doll for that purpose, more than for display. He thought that scientific study of the orca was best undertaken away from the chaos created when the public was in attendance.[25] The animal's poor health and well-being led the aquarium to put off any further public viewing of the captive.[22][26] When Moby Doll was moved to the army base at Jericho Beach, "guards were posted 24 hours a day to protect the whale from the public."[27] However, to Newman's dismay, the Jericho army base proved to be insecure, and sightseers flocked to it without authorization.[28] Moby Doll did not interact with humans to the extent that later captive orcas did. When visitors came, he would withdraw to the opposite end of the sea pen.[29]

Following Moby Doll's move to Jericho, Sam Burich was appointed his full-time guardian. He used to play music to him to try to alleviate Moby Doll's loneliness. On some occasions, the orca seemed to duet with him as Burich played a police whistle.[22][30]

The pen measured about 14 by 23 m. with a water depth from 3 to 7.5 m. varying with the tide.[31] "The whale's habitual circuit of its pen was counterclockwise at speeds of 2 to 4 knots, the loop usually taking 35 seconds. It often blew (respired) once a circuit, but sometimes made two or three circuits on one breath. The routine seemed to be interrupted only at times of calling."[32] "The large size of the animal retarded maneuverability within the pen."[33]

Scientific importance

Main article: Moby Doll's impact in scientific research

Moby Doll enabled scientists to study, for the first time, the sound production of orcas, which is foremost in importance for their lifestyle. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists William E. Schevill and William A. Watkins, pioneers in researching whale sounds, traveled to Vancouver to study Moby Doll for two days. Moby Doll gave them proof that orcas used animal echolocation, and also showed that they did not need it when memory or daylight were sufficient. He also gave them evidence that orca echolocation was directionally focused, hypothetically by the melon.[34]

Their study of Moby Doll's calls was also a scientific first. These were not the "whistle-like squeals" that could be produced simultaneously with echolocation by the other delphinids that had been studied. The orca's calls were pulses of clicks at a very fast repetition-rate, with strong harmonics.[35] (In later research, however, John Ford did detect some whistling to be a minor component of southern resident orca vocalizations, "whereas whistles are the primary social vocalization among the majority of Delphinidae species.")[36][37]

A separate recording made by UBC scientist H.D. Fisher would, in 1978, have great significance for major orca researcher John Ford. It was the memory of this recording that enabled Ford to identify that Moby Doll had been a member of J Pod of the southern resident orcas. Ford could hear that J Pod had a distinctive animal culture, passing their unique pod-specific dialect from generation to generation. He recently said, "It was a wonderful moment out there in the boat when I recognized the sounds coming from J Pod to be Moby Doll's signature sounds." "The calls Moby Doll made in 1964—we still hear today from his kin group that still exists out there."[38]

The juvenile orca's 6450 g. brain, kept by neurologist Pat McGeer, made a massive impression on scientists. It had a very large cortex and huge auditory nerve that gave evidence of the primary importance of sound to orcas.[39][40] The high density of convolutions suggested exceptional intelligence.[41]

Murray Newman and McGeer rightly came to suspect that orcas do not stop swimming to sleep, because the guards that were posted to Moby Doll's pen never observed it.[27]

Sex confusion

The Vancouver Aquarium's mistaken identification of Moby Doll's sex is notorious, but not improbable. The silt-laden, turbid waters of the Fraser River which flowed through his pen did not allow for the clearest views of his underside.[42] Out of fear, when assistant curator Vince Penfold went diving in Moby Doll's pen, he did it inside a wire cage.[43]

"The whale was originally thought to be male, so was first nicknamed Hound Dog for the docile way it swam" to Vancouver at the end of the harpoon line.[44] Penfold said at the time, "there is so much similarity in the appearance of mature females and immature males it will be impossible to tell until a closer look can be taken at the animal."[45] Alexandra Morton in her research placed juvenile males in a category called "FIM," or "female/immature male." Males only begin to develop their taller dorsal fins from their mid-teens.[46] Aquarium curator Murray Newman was under public pressure, however, to choose a feminine name for the whale supposedly to match his docile behaviour. On July 22, the Vancouver Sun reported that he had selected Moby Doll, in spite of the uncertainty.[44][20] On July 27, Penfold announced that he had had a close enough look to conclude that Moby was female.[28] The lower-ranked Joe Bauer and a four-year-old visitor had reported seeing Moby Doll's penis, but neither was listened to.[20][47]

After Moby's death, when his body had been lifted by a crane, Joe Bauer confidently reached into his genital slit and pulled out his penis, and teasingly asked Penfold, "What do you think now, Vince?"[4] When Sam Burich the sculptor-capturer eventually completed his model of the whale the following year, he made a special casting of the penis as a gift for his onetime assistant Bauer, who had shielded the orca from the bullets during his capture.[4]

Feeding difficulty

Moby Doll did not eat for nearly two months after being captured. Initially, aquarium staff believed the orca would eat salmon and herring, but he did not eat the salmon that was cautiously let down into the dock on a line, with the idea of keeping the staff distant and safe from attack.[18] The fish that were offered were much smaller than the southern resident orca's normal prey. When one-pound fish were lowered into the water, the juvenile orca ignored them and inadvertently knocked them off the lines with his tail as he continued swimming around the pen, oblivious to the fact that they were meant to be food for him.[28] As the staff became increasingly concerned, other foods were sometimes tried in efforts to stimulate the orca's appetite. Some of those, for example, whale meat, could have been suitable if Moby Doll had been a different type of orca, such as a local Bigg's (transient) orca, but at the time there was no knowledge that there were different orca types that ate only specific prey. Aquarium staff thought that all orcas ate the whole range of the species' prey.[29] President of the Aquarium Society Ald. Aeneas Bell-Irving called Moby Doll's pen a sick bay and speculated that it might take several months to have him "eating out of hand" and being friendly.[26] At times staff supposed that Moby Doll had eaten a few small fish, but no one actually saw him eating.[48]

In early September, assistant curator Vince Penfold reported that the moody and docile orca of the first weeks after his capture had become friskier, at times tail slapping and even breaching, although the public was still not permitted to visit the whale until a permanent pen might be built.[49] The feeding breakthrough came on September 9. The Vancouver Sun's headline was simply, "Moby Doll Eats." "It was the first time anyone had seen Moby eat," the report continued.[50]

Ted Griffin's account of the events diverges from the Vancouver Aquarium's. Griffin, the owner of the Seattle Marine Aquarium, had been one of the first people trying to capture orcas alive. Curious to see the Vancouver Aquarium's captive, he drove his runabout with his wife from Puget Sound to Vancouver. He gained unauthorized access to the army base where Moby Doll's pen was located by tying up at the Jericho pier. Accustomed to seeing orcas in the wild, "he was disappointed by Moby Doll's gaunt and lethargic appearance."[51] Griffin boldly grabbed a live fish off a string, and slapped it on the water in his hand. He recalled later, "soon Moby Doll was excitedly zooming by looking at the fish which I held in my hand. Finally, the whale came up to the float, stopped, rolled partly on its side, opened its mouth, and yanked the fish away."[51]

This was the first hand-feeding of an orca. Something about Griffin's approach had made a connection with the juvenile orca. In time, researchers would find that the sharing of food is a key to orca society. Had Moby Doll been waiting for a more sociable invitation to eat?[51]

When aquarium director Murray Newman arrived on the scene, he scolded the intruding Seattle Marine Aquarium director who was his rival—but his staff began imitating Griffin.[51]

The Vancouver Aquarium did not give any detailed explanation for the change in Moby Doll's behaviour. The Vancouver Sun account blandly reported that "Moby Doll finally got really hungry,"[50] yet orcas, unlike some other whale species, are not physiologically suited to long fasts, and forage multiple times every day. Newman himself the following day made it evident that the approach to feeding Moby Doll had become more intimate. He was photographed using a far shorter pole than before, to dangle fish at the surface for the orca to take directly, as Moby Doll rolled over, "to show her belly and her 24 pointed teeth two inches long."[52] Even horse meat was reportedly eaten, which suggests that the type of food offered had not been the greatest obstacle.[52] Vince Penfold went even further on the 14th. He told the Vancouver Sun that "he simply held out each of 23 fish as Moby swam by...she opened her mouth and he dropped them in."[53] Moby rejected one type of fish, however. When Penfold held out an orange rock fish, he swam away and slapped the surface of the water.[53] From September 9, "Moby Doll displayed a ravenous appetite, gaining weight steadily."[54]

The feeding problem was solved, but aquarium staff remained intent on searching for a better site with more consistent salinity and tidal cleansing of the water, amid concerns over an unsightly skin condition that Moby Doll had developed.[55]

Moby Doll's later feeding routine is described in an article written by Murray Newman and Pat McGeer.[56] In their discussion, they stated that, while Orcinus orca was well known as a hunter of marine mammals, "the young specimen captured at Saturna Island preferred fish to mammalian flesh."[57]

After not eating for about 54 days, Moby Doll subsequently ate 45-90 kg of fish per day, fed by hand. Vitamins and minerals were added to the fish.[58]

Pacific cod was the main fish given. (In the photo of Murray Newman hand-feeding Moby Doll, this is the fish.)[59][40] Other soft-rayed fishes, such as lingcod and salmon, were also well-received by the young orca. Spiny fishes, such as rockfishes, were often rejected, and he rejected dogfish sharks even after the removal of the spines.

Moby Doll "could usually be summoned by slapping the water with a fish." "The feeder became very confident of the whale's harmlessness, occasionally patting it on the head as it approached for food."[60] The feeder most famously photographed is trainer Terry McLeod. "When a fish was suspended in the water, the whale would often move alongside and examine it with one eye. This required a certain adjustment of the head which was done with great effort because of the considerable momentum of the large body and the limited flexure of the head."[61] "It always took the food in a slow and deliberate manner." "The whale used its teeth merely for grasping the fish and never for chewing. In most cases, it would swallow the fish immediately, head first."[60] When he wanted more food, Moby Doll frequently engaged in "lob-tailing and flipper-slapping...These behavior patterns seemed to indicate annoyance."

Moby Doll's surface activity increased after he started eating. "Some playfulness was observed. Many fish had been released in the pen and one day, about a week after the whale began feeding, it was seen chasing a 7 kg. lingcod at the surface. The whale would seize the fish and toss it a meter or more, then chase it, seize and toss it again. This continued for about 10 minutes before the fish was eaten."[61]

Death

"On October 8, Moby seemed vigorous, eating a hundred pounds of fish, but the next day something was wrong. At her 2:00 p.m. feeding, the whale took only a single herring."[54]

Aquarium staff were called to the pen. Pat McGeer recalled, "Moby was having trouble surfacing to blow and breathe. His last breath came when he was still beneath the surface and the whale probably took in water instead of air. Then," said McGeer, "he just sank to the bottom and drowned."[39] Joe Bauer "found army divers reluctant to enter the pen," because they were "petrified" of the killer whale.[4] "When they finally raised the lifeless body at 5:15 p.m., the aquarium staff was devastated."[4]

McGeer said, "It was like a death in the family."[39] Murray Newman said, "Moby was the most fascinating of all captive animals. I loved that whale. I think that capturing it was the best thing I ever did."[62]

Necropsy

The scientists who performed the necropsy on the dead orca included medical doctors, a dermatologist, a pathologist, a biologist, and a neurochemist (McGeer).[39] Orcas had been little studied at the time, however, and ideas varied about what caused Moby Doll's weakness and drowning. Multiple possible contributing factors have been given differing emphases in subsequent writings.

The skin condition that marred Moby Doll's appearance drew a lot of attention, but opinions were divided about its seriousness. The "dermatologist said the fungus condition was superficial and could not cause death."[39] The cause of the fungus condition was attributed to the low salinity of the Fraser River delta where Moby Doll's pen was located.

The necropsy uncovered other health problems that would have weakened Moby. On the surface, "the harpoon wound had healed well," but internally "Moby had suffered a minor skull fracture and some brain damage from the harpoon and was the victim of a massive infestation of worms. McGeer said neither should have been fatal by itself."[39] The worms that infested the stomachs of Moby Doll were tentatively identified as a nematode parasite of the Pacific cod that was fed to him.[40] Infections were present in the lungs, kidneys, and lymph nodes in the neck.[63] Although Moby Doll had been eating for a month, his body condition was still assessed as "emaciated." "The outline of the ribs was clearly visible in the thoracic region." His blubber was assessed as thin, too. His weight at death was 1040 kg.[6]

Writing later, Newman and McGeer summarized: "The enervating effects of acute mycotic and bacterial infections together with the debilitated condition of the animal probably led to exhaustion and drowning in the water of low salinity."[11]

McGeer said, "On the day of Moby's death the salinity at Jericho was 12 parts per thousand, compared to a normal seawater level of about 35 parts per thousand."[39] The extra effort of swimming 24/7 with less than accustomed buoyancy might have been the final straw. Moby Doll's trainer Terry McLeod reaffirmed this view in 2015.[4] In the end, McGeer laid the blame on a lack of funding from the community to create new facilities for the public aquarium.[39]

In the spirit of dissection dominating biology in that era, scientists coveted Moby's body parts; most fatefully, McGeer kept his brain, which became a pivotal part of the orca's legacy through Greenpeace.[4]

Further information: Moby Doll's impact in scientific research § Necropsy

Legacy

At the Vancouver Aquarium

Although not on display after 18 June, 1964, Moby Doll generated widespread publicity, and attendances doubled.[64] After this initiation into capturing orcas, aquarium officials were eager for more.[39] In their scientific paper, Newman and McGeer's final words about Moby Doll were, "The experience indicated the feasibility of maintaining and possibly training killer whales in captivity."[58] Sam Burich's sculpture, completed the following year, was placed in a foyer leading to a tank that would house subsequent captive killer whales, and was visible to them.[4][65]

Walter the Whale later renamed Skana

See also: Walter the Whale

Although the Vancouver Aquarium wanted to replace Moby Doll, nearly three years passed before it opportunistically acquired Walter the Whale, another southern resident orca, in March 1967. "Walter the Whale," as the orca was advertised, had been rented from the Seattle Public Aquarium by Bob O'Loughlin to appear at the Vancouver Boat Show. The orca had helped the Boat Show "to an attendance record of more than 100,000."[66] As the orca was already in the city, the aquarium did not want to miss this opportunity, and bought Walter.[66][67]

Feeding Walter

The aquarium's assistant curator Vince Penfold donned a scuba suit and welcomed the orca with lunch underwater, captured in the Vancouver Sun in an innovative underwater photograph.[67] The aquarium staff had learnt a great deal from their time with Moby Doll. With the more knowledgeable practices they implemented, Walter, renamed Skana, survived for thirteen years to be "the star of Stanley Park, giving millions their first close-up view of a killer whale."[68] The orca was fed "100 pounds of fish, mostly ling cod and herring, in four daily feedings," illustrated in an intimate photograph with Terry McLeod, who had also been Moby Doll's trainer.[69]

Sex confusion with Walter

Weighing approximately 3,000 pounds[70] and "just under 15 feet" long, this was still an immature orca, whose dorsal fin could not indicate sex. In Walter's new tank at the Vancouver Aquarium, Vince Penfold reversed the sexing problem he had had with Moby Doll, whose 'feminine' name had been given to a male orca. This time a 'masculine' name had been given to a female orca prior to the Vancouver Aquarium's involvement. The assistant curator said, "With the clear water it was easy for a biologist to make the distinction."[66] This quickly prompted hopes for a pregnancy.[71] The name Walter was not considered fitting, and after a contest with over 5,000 entries, the aquarium selected for her the name Skana.[72]

Immediate stardom

"Skana brought heady times to Vancouver. From the moment she took her first turn in the pool, the young whale was the aquarium’s prime attraction and an invaluable asset to the city’s growing tourist industry. That first spring, Stanley Park saw traffic like it never had before, with tourists and locals alike packing the aquarium. Then came the summer crush. In August alone, 119,746 people visited, bringing the year’s total to 527,536—an 80 percent increase over the same period in 1966."[65]

Public perceptions

In these waters at that time, orcas' generic experience of humans would be being shot by fishermen, who considered them vermin.[2]

Moby Doll was popular locally and abroad. According to the obituary in The Times of London, "the widespread publicity – some of it the first positive press ever about killer whales – marked the beginning of an important change in the public attitude toward the species."[73]

"Moby Doll's time in Vancouver was brief, but he had made his mark...His unplanned capture proved the viability of holding a killer whale in captivity, and it hinted at the potential of live orcas as tourist attractions. It also revealed the emotional attachment the species could generate."[4]

Orca sales

A pivotal aspect of Moby Doll's captivity was manifested in the immediate offers to buy him. They came from Charlie White of the Undersea Gardens at Oak Bay Marina on Vancouver Island, and from Marineland of the Pacific in California, which had captured Wanda, the diseased first orca ever held in captivity.[74] White's ambition was to have an orca performing for tourists.[75] Murray Newman rejected the offers of $20,000 for the orca, which were splashed in the newspapers, claiming the orca would be worth a million, and that aquarium officials were interested in the scientific, not commercial, value of the orca.[76] Nonetheless, the public discovered that the 'vermin', when captured alive, had a dollar value, a large one. Vancouver's mayor, William Rathie, disagreed with Newman, saying he was all for selling it and for maintaining "a permanent whale-hunting expedition" to catch orcas for profit.[77]

Like Moby Doll's, the next orca capture, Namu's, was unplanned. When the orca was trapped by a fishing net near the town of Namu, British Columbia, one of the fishermen, Robert "Lonnie" McGarvey, remembering Newman's valuation of Moby Doll, believed the "blackfish" would make him some money, and started looking for a customer, and found one. Thus Moby Doll's captivity sparked the beginning of the commerce in live, captive orcas as a kind of marine circus animal.[78]

Between 1962 and 1977, a total of 68 orcas were identifiably captured or killed during capture operations in British Columbia and Washington State. Moby Doll's particular community, the southern resident orcas, suffered the greatest losses. By pod or capture location, 48 of the 68 were identified as southern residents. The captures were selective for physically immature orcas less than 4.5m in length: 30 of the 48 southern residents were in this category.[5][79]

Trainers

Terry McLeod was a young diver who worked as a collector for the Vancouver Aquarium and cared for many of its animals.[9] When just nineteen years old, he became Moby Doll's trainer, and "was the person who spent the most time with the orca at the Jericho Army Base."[80] He appears in some photographs hand-feeding him.

Subsequently, aquarium director Murray Newman "sent the young man to Sea Life Park on Oahu to apprentice in marine mammal training."[80] He then became the chief trainer at the Vancouver Aquarium, focusing on two dolphins, before becoming Skana's trainer. With his assistant Mark Perry, he performed daily in the water with this orca.[65]

When seventeen, Perry had been one of those who sneaked onto the army base to see Moby Doll. He was familiar with the fishermen's hatred of orcas. Moby Doll's explosive breath scared him, and the orca's tall dorsal fin mesmerized him, but he "couldn't believe how placid it was."[81]

That encounter shaped his future career. In 1967, he took a job as a floor boy at the Vancouver Aquarium, when Skana was captive. Soon he was assisting Terry McLeod in shows.[65] He quickly developed doubts about orca captivity, like his colleague Paul Spong, but did not want to give up working with the orca.[82] In 1968, when the Vancouver Aquarium acquired more captive orcas and opened the Garden Bay Whale Station, Perry "was the natural choice" to run it.[83] Later, he was hired by Sealand of the Pacific to work with a captive orca named Haida.

The brain and Greenpeace

After the necropsy, Pat McGeer kept Moby Doll's brain at his UBC neurological lab.[84]

In early 1967, McGeer created a position there that included a contract for research on cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium. The position went to Paul Spong, a postdoctoral researcher in physiological psychology at UCLA.[85] Spong studied the aquarium's orcas but began to question their captivity. In early 1969, McGeer gave Spong Moby Doll's brain. "The young scientist was dumbfounded. Not only was the organ much larger than a human brain, but it presented a higher density of convolutions, a feature often used to distinguish human intelligence. Moreover, the neocortex was immense, particularly the portion devoted to the processing of sound. For the first time, Spong grasped the fundamentally acoustic nature of orcas and in the process realized what a limited view of them his visual acuity tests had provided. Indeed, for a scientist attuned to cerebral structure, the brain of Moby Doll was an epiphany. What secrets did this large and complex organ hold? What sort of creature was Orcinus orca?"[86]

On June 3, Spong gave a presentation at the UBC campus, during which he concluded that the Vancouver Aquarium should put its captive orcas "back into the ocean." The following day, aquarium director Murray Newman ended Spong's contract.[87]

A few years later, Farley Mowat visited Vancouver to promote his book A Whale for the Killing (1972). Spong talked to him for hours, and "Mowat drew Spong's attention to commercial whaling," leading him to become an anti-whaling activist.[88] He joined with Robert Hunter in the Stop Ahab Committee, which became the dominant faction of the old Greenpeace organization.[89]

Just before Greenpeace's first big anti-whaling event, Spong had Moby Doll's larger brain photographed next to a human brain, as a means of persuading people that whales deserved to be protected.[90] When launching their first expedition, in April 1975, the activists "unfurled a flag featuring an indigenous image of a killer whale as they departed," with poetic justice, from Jericho Beach.[91] It came to pass that great whales all around the world partly owed their survival to the posthumous influence of the harpooned juvenile orca from J Pod of the southern resident orcas, who had swum in circles in a sea pen at Jericho Beach.

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b White, Don (1975-04-12). "Let's not lose our remaining killer whales". Vancouver Sun.
  3. ^ Ford, John K.B.; Ellis, Graeme M.; Balcomb, Kenneth C. (2000). Killer Whales: the natural history and genealogy of Orcinus orca in British Columbia and Washington (2nd ed.). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press. p. 12. ISBN 9780774808002.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Colby, p. 66
  5. ^ a b Olesiuk, P. F.; Bigg, M. A.; Ellis, G. M. (1990). "Life History and Population Dynamics of Resident Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in the Coastal Waters of British Columbia and Washington State". Report of the International Whaling Commission. Cambridge (Special Issue 12): 214. ISSN 0255-2760.
  6. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, p. 64
  7. ^ Hacking, Norman (1964-07-18). "They've got a whale by the tail". The Province.
  8. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 59
  9. ^ a b Colby, p. 54
  10. ^ Newman and McGeer, pp. 59-60
  11. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, p. 67
  12. ^ Colby, p. 52
  13. ^ a b Hammond, Terry (1964-07-17). "Wounded Whale Swims In on Leash". Vancouver Sun.
  14. ^ Colby, p. 53
  15. ^ "Whale to Leave For New Corral". Vancouver Sun. 1964-07-18. p. 2.
  16. ^ Lindsay, Bethany (2016-03-20). . The Province. Archived from the original on 2016-04-03. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  17. ^ a b Colby, p. 58
  18. ^ a b c "Killer Whale to Quit Dock For Jericho Beach Pen". Vancouver Sun. 1964-07-18.
  19. ^ Allgood, Fred (1964-07-20). "Docked Hound Dog Faces Wacky Trip Across Harbor". Vancouver Sun.
  20. ^ a b c Colby, p. 61
  21. ^ "Our Doll needs a house". The Province. 1964-08-19.
  22. ^ a b c Colby, p. 62
  23. ^ "One Big Struggle, And Moby's Home". Vancouver Sun. 1964-07-25.
  24. ^ Allgood, Fred (1964-07-20). "Sunday Quiet Day For Killer Whale". Vancouver Sun.
  25. ^ Allgood, Fred (1964-07-21). "Whale Takes a Pint-Sized Meal". Vancouver Sun.
  26. ^ a b Allgood, Fred (1964-07-28). "Moby Doll Sulk Delays Viewing". Vancouver Sun.
  27. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, p. 62
  28. ^ a b c Bradbury, Keith (1964-07-27). "Hopeful Whale Watchers Walked, Swam, Flew". Vancouver Sun.
  29. ^ a b "Curator Considers Stuffing Moby Doll". Vancouver Sun. 1964-07-31.
  30. ^ Allgood, Fred (1964-07-29). "Our Moby Now Whistling Whale". Vancouver Sun.
  31. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 60
  32. ^ Schevill, William; Watkins, William (Summer 1966). "Sound Structure and Directionality in Orcinus (killer whale)". Zoologica. New York Zoological Society. 51 (2): 72.
  33. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 61
  34. ^ Schevill and Watkins, pp. 73-74
  35. ^ Schevill and Watkins, p. 73
  36. ^ Souhaut M; Shields MW (2021). "Stereotyped whistles in southern resident killer whales". Aquatic Biology. PeerJ. 9: e12085. doi:10.7717/peerj.12085. PMC 8404572. PMID 34532160. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  37. ^ Vincent M Janik; Peter J.B Slater (1998). "Context-specific use suggests that bottlenose dolphin signature whistles are cohesion calls". Animal Behaviour. Elsevier Ltd. 56 (4): 829–838. doi:10.1006/anbe.1998.0881. ISSN 0003-3472. PMID 9790693. S2CID 32367435.
  38. ^ Leiren-Young, pp. 114-115
  39. ^ a b c d e f g h i Terry Hammond; Keith Bradbury (1964-10-10). "Death of Whale Claimed Needless". Vancouver Sun.
  40. ^ a b c Newman and McGeer, p. 65
  41. ^ Colby, pp. 124-125
  42. ^ Colby, p. 109
  43. ^ "He dares Doll in her own pool". The Province. 1964-08-04.
  44. ^ a b Allgood, Fred (1964-07-22). "Curator Tags Lady Killer: From Now On, It's Moby Doll". Vancouver Sun.
  45. ^ "Moby Doll Plays it Coy Or Maybe She's a Boy". Victoria Daily Times. 1964-07-23.
  46. ^ Hubbard-Morton, Alexandra (2002). Listening To Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us. Toronto: Random House. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-307-48754-4.
  47. ^ Francis and Hewlett, pp. 55 - 59
  48. ^ "Montreal Gets Moby's Bleep Tone". Vancouver Sun. 1964-08-12.
  49. ^ "Moby Doll Frisks, Frolics in Pen". Vancouver Sun. 1964-09-05.
  50. ^ a b "Moby Doll Eats". Vancouver Sun. 1964-09-10.
  51. ^ a b c d Colby, p. 64
  52. ^ a b "Oh, that hungry Doll!". The Province. 1964-09-11.
  53. ^ a b "Moby Doll Comes to Heel, And Takes a Healthy Meal". Vancouver Sun. 1964-09-15.
  54. ^ a b Colby, p. 65
  55. ^ "Moby Doll needs a playpen". The Province. 1964-08-20.
  56. ^ Newman and McGeer, pp. 59-70
  57. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 66
  58. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, p. 68
  59. ^ Newman and McGeer, PLATE V
  60. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, pp. 61-62
  61. ^ a b Newman and McGeer, p. 63
  62. ^ Bradbury, Keith (1964-10-10). "Moby". Vancouver Sun.
  63. ^ Newman and McGeer, pp. 64-65
  64. ^ "Board to get tough". The Province. 1964-08-25.
  65. ^ a b c d Colby, p. 116
  66. ^ a b c "Walter Is Really Whale of a Girl". Vancouver Sun. 1967-03-21. p. 19.
  67. ^ a b "Walter Comes to Aquarium And It's a Whale of a Sale". Vancouver Sun. 1967-03-20. p. 8.
  68. ^ Colby, p. 260
  69. ^ "Whale off to school in 2 weeks...". The Province. 1967-05-01. p. 29.
  70. ^ "Walter needs name—feminine, that is". The Province. 1967-03-22. p. 38.
  71. ^ "Is Our Whale Expecting?". Vancouver Sun. 1967-05-09. p. 46.
  72. ^ "Name Chosen". Vancouver Sun. 1967-04-29. p. 2.
  73. ^ "Stories of Captive Killer Whales", PBS Frontline "A Whale of a Business"
  74. ^ MacDonald, Ian (1964-07-20). "It Could Be a Whale of a Baby". Vancouver Sun.
  75. ^ Colby, p. 162
  76. ^ "Vancouver won't part with its 'Moby Doll'". Victoria Daily Times. 1964-07-22.
  77. ^ "Our whale has lost its appetite". The Province. 1964-07-20.
  78. ^ Colby, pp. 69-70
  79. ^ "Orca Population". Center for Whale Research. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  80. ^ a b Colby, p. 115
  81. ^ Colby, pp. 62-3
  82. ^ Colby, p. 127
  83. ^ Colby, p. 137
  84. ^ Colby, p. 124
  85. ^ Colby, pp. 119-20
  86. ^ Colby, pp. 124-5
  87. ^ Colby, p. 126
  88. ^ Colby, pp. 229-30
  89. ^ Zelko, Frank (2013). Make It a Green Peace!: The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0199947096.
  90. ^ Leiren-Young, p. 112
  91. ^ Colby, p. 239

General references

  • Leiren-Young, Mark (2016). The Killer Whale Who Changed the World. Vancouver, B.C.: Greystone. ISBN 978-1771643511.
  • Francis, Daniel; Gil Hewlett (2007). Operation Orca: Springer, Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales. Madeira Park, B.C.: Harbour Publishing. ISBN 978-1-55017-426-7.
  • Colby, Jason M. (2018). Orca: how we came to know and love the ocean's greatest predator. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190673116.
  • Newman, Murray; McGeer, Patrick (Summer 1966). "The Capture and Care of a Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, in British Columbia". Zoologica. New York Zoological Society. 51 (2): 59–70.
  • Schevill, William; Watkins, William (Summer 1966). "Sound Structure and Directionality in Orcinus (killer whale)". Zoologica. New York Zoological Society. 51 (2): 71–76.

External links

  • "A listing of dolphin/whale captures..." at pbs.org
  • "160 Captives - Moby Doll" at tumblr.com

August 24, 2023
moby, doll, captured, 1964, 1959, october, 1964, first, orca, survive, captivity, more, than, days, second, displayed, public, aquarium, exhibit, availability, first, time, orca, that, could, studied, close, quarters, alive, initiated, pioneering, research, fr. Captured in 1964 Moby Doll c 1959 9 October 1964 was the first orca to survive in captivity for more than two days and the second to be displayed in a public aquarium exhibit The availability for the first time of an orca that could be studied at close quarters alive initiated pioneering research From a recording of Moby Doll s calls he was years later identified as a member of J Pod of the southern resident orcas Moby DollSpeciesOrca Orcinus orca Born1959 est DiedOctober 9 1964Vancouver British ColumbiaKnown forsecond captive orcaNamed afterMoby DickAt the time of his capture orcas were widely feared and hated In 1972 Washington State Game Department supervisor Garry Garrison declared that orcas had until recently been the subject of fear and violence They were harassed shot at and killed at every opportunity 1 Don White once an orca researcher at the Vancouver Aquarium later a critic of orca captivity wrote in 1975 Before the capture of Moby Doll of Namu and of Skana killer whales as a species were regarded by fishermen as vermin Happily this is no longer the case 2 About 25 of captured immature orcas carried evidence of already having been wounded by shootings 3 Moby Doll was kept alive in captivity by the Vancouver Aquarium after being harpooned and not dying as had been planned His unplanned capture proved the viability of holding a killer whale in captivity and it hinted at the potential of live orcas as tourist attractions It also revealed the emotional attachment the species could generate 4 Moby Doll s captivity sparked the orca capture era in British Columbia and Washington State 5 A major difficulty in Moby Doll s captivity was that for a long time aquarium staff could not successfully feed him His captors wrote For many weeks a pessimistic outlook prevailed regarding the possibility that the animal would commence to eat The animal became very noticeably thinner during its fast 6 Contents 1 History 1 1 Capture 1 2 Display 1 3 Scientific importance 1 4 Sex confusion 1 5 Feeding difficulty 1 6 Death 1 7 Necropsy 2 Legacy 2 1 At the Vancouver Aquarium 2 2 Walter the Whale later renamed Skana 2 2 1 Feeding Walter 2 2 2 Sex confusion with Walter 2 2 3 Immediate stardom 2 3 Public perceptions 2 4 Orca sales 2 5 Trainers 2 6 The brain and Greenpeace 3 See also 4 References 4 1 General references 5 External linksHistory EditCapture Edit The 15 foot 4 6m long male orca 7 was captured in 1964 near East Point Saturna Island in British Columbia His size indicated he was most likely about 5 years old a juvenile about as mature as a human of that age 4 A sculptor Samuel Burich had been commissioned by the Vancouver Public Aquarium to kill a specimen as a basis for the preparation of a replica for the Aquarium s new British Columbia hall 8 Its staff were convinced it would be impossible to handle a live one safely after the difficulties experienced by Marineland of the Pacific with their capture of Wanda and subsequent capture attempts 9 The collectors mounted a harpoon gun at East Point Saturna Island on May 20 1964 as data compiled at the Light House from 1958 to 1963 showed that killer whales were particularly common there from May to October peaking in August with large groups After several sightings in late May the collectors had only two more before the day when they harpooned an orca which was July 16 The small orca was swimming about 20 meters from the rocks 10 The large harpoon struck the orca just behind the head fatefully just missing the cervical cord and the brain on either side of the spot 11 The whale appeared stunned but unexpectedly did not die To the surprise of Burich and his assistant Josef Bauer other orcas rather than fleeing were raising their injured pod mate to the surface to breathe 12 After the pod moved away the orca tried for hours to expel the harpoon and pull away from the heavy line 13 Bauer had been moved by the actions of the other orcas and the juvenile orca s cries and rowed out in a skiff to shield him from further attempts to shoot him with rifles 14 No wounds from bullets were later found 15 The Vancouver Aquarium s founder director Murray Newman decided to keep the wounded orca alive and bring him to Vancouver 16 although the local SPCA and others protested passionately With care the captors managed to have the young orca trail their small fishing boat like a dog on a leash he intelligently avoided pain by not dragging on the harpoon rope 13 They puttered slowly through the night sometimes catching glimpses of another orca who seemed to be following 17 Because the aquarium did not have a suitable pool for this unplanned and novel captive he was given improvised accommodation at Burrard Dry Dock When he arrived the aquarium s assistant curator Vince Penfold and neuroscientist Pat McGeer removed the harpoon and administered first aid 18 17 To vacate the dock and allow it to return to its regular work a makeshift sea pen for the orca was constructed on military property at Jericho Beach a location with less vessel traffic 19 20 The pen was cut into a decrepit and abandoned jetty 21 The seven mile transfer of Moby Doll s berth on July 24 took ten hours longer than expected due in part to his resistance and attempts to escape 22 The captured killer whale bucked twisted squealed angrily thrashed the water and charged the boat that tried to nudge her into her new home reported the Vancouver Sun Sam Burich and Vince Penfold were in the boat 23 Display Edit On Saturday July 18 Burrard Dry Dock had been opened for the general public to watch the orca 18 About 10 000 visitors queued in the rain to see him Subsequently the public was kept away however 24 Because scientists had never previously been able to study a live orca aquarium curator Murray Newman was eager to keep Moby Doll for that purpose more than for display He thought that scientific study of the orca was best undertaken away from the chaos created when the public was in attendance 25 The animal s poor health and well being led the aquarium to put off any further public viewing of the captive 22 26 When Moby Doll was moved to the army base at Jericho Beach guards were posted 24 hours a day to protect the whale from the public 27 However to Newman s dismay the Jericho army base proved to be insecure and sightseers flocked to it without authorization 28 Moby Doll did not interact with humans to the extent that later captive orcas did When visitors came he would withdraw to the opposite end of the sea pen 29 Following Moby Doll s move to Jericho Sam Burich was appointed his full time guardian He used to play music to him to try to alleviate Moby Doll s loneliness On some occasions the orca seemed to duet with him as Burich played a police whistle 22 30 The pen measured about 14 by 23 m with a water depth from 3 to 7 5 m varying with the tide 31 The whale s habitual circuit of its pen was counterclockwise at speeds of 2 to 4 knots the loop usually taking 35 seconds It often blew respired once a circuit but sometimes made two or three circuits on one breath The routine seemed to be interrupted only at times of calling 32 The large size of the animal retarded maneuverability within the pen 33 Scientific importance Edit Main article Moby Doll s impact in scientific research Moby Doll enabled scientists to study for the first time the sound production of orcas which is foremost in importance for their lifestyle Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists William E Schevill and William A Watkins pioneers in researching whale sounds traveled to Vancouver to study Moby Doll for two days Moby Doll gave them proof that orcas used animal echolocation and also showed that they did not need it when memory or daylight were sufficient He also gave them evidence that orca echolocation was directionally focused hypothetically by the melon 34 Their study of Moby Doll s calls was also a scientific first These were not the whistle like squeals that could be produced simultaneously with echolocation by the other delphinids that had been studied The orca s calls were pulses of clicks at a very fast repetition rate with strong harmonics 35 In later research however John Ford did detect some whistling to be a minor component of southern resident orca vocalizations whereas whistles are the primary social vocalization among the majority of Delphinidae species 36 37 A separate recording made by UBC scientist H D Fisher would in 1978 have great significance for major orca researcher John Ford It was the memory of this recording that enabled Ford to identify that Moby Doll had been a member of J Pod of the southern resident orcas Ford could hear that J Pod had a distinctive animal culture passing their unique pod specific dialect from generation to generation He recently said It was a wonderful moment out there in the boat when I recognized the sounds coming from J Pod to be Moby Doll s signature sounds The calls Moby Doll made in 1964 we still hear today from his kin group that still exists out there 38 The juvenile orca s 6450 g brain kept by neurologist Pat McGeer made a massive impression on scientists It had a very large cortex and huge auditory nerve that gave evidence of the primary importance of sound to orcas 39 40 The high density of convolutions suggested exceptional intelligence 41 Murray Newman and McGeer rightly came to suspect that orcas do not stop swimming to sleep because the guards that were posted to Moby Doll s pen never observed it 27 Sex confusion Edit The Vancouver Aquarium s mistaken identification of Moby Doll s sex is notorious but not improbable The silt laden turbid waters of the Fraser River which flowed through his pen did not allow for the clearest views of his underside 42 Out of fear when assistant curator Vince Penfold went diving in Moby Doll s pen he did it inside a wire cage 43 The whale was originally thought to be male so was first nicknamed Hound Dog for the docile way it swam to Vancouver at the end of the harpoon line 44 Penfold said at the time there is so much similarity in the appearance of mature females and immature males it will be impossible to tell until a closer look can be taken at the animal 45 Alexandra Morton in her research placed juvenile males in a category called FIM or female immature male Males only begin to develop their taller dorsal fins from their mid teens 46 Aquarium curator Murray Newman was under public pressure however to choose a feminine name for the whale supposedly to match his docile behaviour On July 22 the Vancouver Sun reported that he had selected Moby Doll in spite of the uncertainty 44 20 On July 27 Penfold announced that he had had a close enough look to conclude that Moby was female 28 The lower ranked Joe Bauer and a four year old visitor had reported seeing Moby Doll s penis but neither was listened to 20 47 After Moby s death when his body had been lifted by a crane Joe Bauer confidently reached into his genital slit and pulled out his penis and teasingly asked Penfold What do you think now Vince 4 When Sam Burich the sculptor capturer eventually completed his model of the whale the following year he made a special casting of the penis as a gift for his onetime assistant Bauer who had shielded the orca from the bullets during his capture 4 Feeding difficulty Edit Moby Doll did not eat for nearly two months after being captured Initially aquarium staff believed the orca would eat salmon and herring but he did not eat the salmon that was cautiously let down into the dock on a line with the idea of keeping the staff distant and safe from attack 18 The fish that were offered were much smaller than the southern resident orca s normal prey When one pound fish were lowered into the water the juvenile orca ignored them and inadvertently knocked them off the lines with his tail as he continued swimming around the pen oblivious to the fact that they were meant to be food for him 28 As the staff became increasingly concerned other foods were sometimes tried in efforts to stimulate the orca s appetite Some of those for example whale meat could have been suitable if Moby Doll had been a different type of orca such as a local Bigg s transient orca but at the time there was no knowledge that there were different orca types that ate only specific prey Aquarium staff thought that all orcas ate the whole range of the species prey 29 President of the Aquarium Society Ald Aeneas Bell Irving called Moby Doll s pen a sick bay and speculated that it might take several months to have him eating out of hand and being friendly 26 At times staff supposed that Moby Doll had eaten a few small fish but no one actually saw him eating 48 In early September assistant curator Vince Penfold reported that the moody and docile orca of the first weeks after his capture had become friskier at times tail slapping and even breaching although the public was still not permitted to visit the whale until a permanent pen might be built 49 The feeding breakthrough came on September 9 The Vancouver Sun s headline was simply Moby Doll Eats It was the first time anyone had seen Moby eat the report continued 50 Ted Griffin s account of the events diverges from the Vancouver Aquarium s Griffin the owner of the Seattle Marine Aquarium had been one of the first people trying to capture orcas alive Curious to see the Vancouver Aquarium s captive he drove his runabout with his wife from Puget Sound to Vancouver He gained unauthorized access to the army base where Moby Doll s pen was located by tying up at the Jericho pier Accustomed to seeing orcas in the wild he was disappointed by Moby Doll s gaunt and lethargic appearance 51 Griffin boldly grabbed a live fish off a string and slapped it on the water in his hand He recalled later soon Moby Doll was excitedly zooming by looking at the fish which I held in my hand Finally the whale came up to the float stopped rolled partly on its side opened its mouth and yanked the fish away 51 This was the first hand feeding of an orca Something about Griffin s approach had made a connection with the juvenile orca In time researchers would find that the sharing of food is a key to orca society Had Moby Doll been waiting for a more sociable invitation to eat 51 When aquarium director Murray Newman arrived on the scene he scolded the intruding Seattle Marine Aquarium director who was his rival but his staff began imitating Griffin 51 The Vancouver Aquarium did not give any detailed explanation for the change in Moby Doll s behaviour The Vancouver Sun account blandly reported that Moby Doll finally got really hungry 50 yet orcas unlike some other whale species are not physiologically suited to long fasts and forage multiple times every day Newman himself the following day made it evident that the approach to feeding Moby Doll had become more intimate He was photographed using a far shorter pole than before to dangle fish at the surface for the orca to take directly as Moby Doll rolled over to show her belly and her 24 pointed teeth two inches long 52 Even horse meat was reportedly eaten which suggests that the type of food offered had not been the greatest obstacle 52 Vince Penfold went even further on the 14th He told the Vancouver Sun that he simply held out each of 23 fish as Moby swam by she opened her mouth and he dropped them in 53 Moby rejected one type of fish however When Penfold held out an orange rock fish he swam away and slapped the surface of the water 53 From September 9 Moby Doll displayed a ravenous appetite gaining weight steadily 54 The feeding problem was solved but aquarium staff remained intent on searching for a better site with more consistent salinity and tidal cleansing of the water amid concerns over an unsightly skin condition that Moby Doll had developed 55 Moby Doll s later feeding routine is described in an article written by Murray Newman and Pat McGeer 56 In their discussion they stated that while Orcinus orca was well known as a hunter of marine mammals the young specimen captured at Saturna Island preferred fish to mammalian flesh 57 After not eating for about 54 days Moby Doll subsequently ate 45 90 kg of fish per day fed by hand Vitamins and minerals were added to the fish 58 Pacific cod was the main fish given In the photo of Murray Newman hand feeding Moby Doll this is the fish 59 40 Other soft rayed fishes such as lingcod and salmon were also well received by the young orca Spiny fishes such as rockfishes were often rejected and he rejected dogfish sharks even after the removal of the spines Moby Doll could usually be summoned by slapping the water with a fish The feeder became very confident of the whale s harmlessness occasionally patting it on the head as it approached for food 60 The feeder most famously photographed is trainer Terry McLeod When a fish was suspended in the water the whale would often move alongside and examine it with one eye This required a certain adjustment of the head which was done with great effort because of the considerable momentum of the large body and the limited flexure of the head 61 It always took the food in a slow and deliberate manner The whale used its teeth merely for grasping the fish and never for chewing In most cases it would swallow the fish immediately head first 60 When he wanted more food Moby Doll frequently engaged in lob tailing and flipper slapping These behavior patterns seemed to indicate annoyance Moby Doll s surface activity increased after he started eating Some playfulness was observed Many fish had been released in the pen and one day about a week after the whale began feeding it was seen chasing a 7 kg lingcod at the surface The whale would seize the fish and toss it a meter or more then chase it seize and toss it again This continued for about 10 minutes before the fish was eaten 61 Death Edit On October 8 Moby seemed vigorous eating a hundred pounds of fish but the next day something was wrong At her 2 00 p m feeding the whale took only a single herring 54 Aquarium staff were called to the pen Pat McGeer recalled Moby was having trouble surfacing to blow and breathe His last breath came when he was still beneath the surface and the whale probably took in water instead of air Then said McGeer he just sank to the bottom and drowned 39 Joe Bauer found army divers reluctant to enter the pen because they were petrified of the killer whale 4 When they finally raised the lifeless body at 5 15 p m the aquarium staff was devastated 4 McGeer said It was like a death in the family 39 Murray Newman said Moby was the most fascinating of all captive animals I loved that whale I think that capturing it was the best thing I ever did 62 Necropsy Edit The scientists who performed the necropsy on the dead orca included medical doctors a dermatologist a pathologist a biologist and a neurochemist McGeer 39 Orcas had been little studied at the time however and ideas varied about what caused Moby Doll s weakness and drowning Multiple possible contributing factors have been given differing emphases in subsequent writings The skin condition that marred Moby Doll s appearance drew a lot of attention but opinions were divided about its seriousness The dermatologist said the fungus condition was superficial and could not cause death 39 The cause of the fungus condition was attributed to the low salinity of the Fraser River delta where Moby Doll s pen was located The necropsy uncovered other health problems that would have weakened Moby On the surface the harpoon wound had healed well but internally Moby had suffered a minor skull fracture and some brain damage from the harpoon and was the victim of a massive infestation of worms McGeer said neither should have been fatal by itself 39 The worms that infested the stomachs of Moby Doll were tentatively identified as a nematode parasite of the Pacific cod that was fed to him 40 Infections were present in the lungs kidneys and lymph nodes in the neck 63 Although Moby Doll had been eating for a month his body condition was still assessed as emaciated The outline of the ribs was clearly visible in the thoracic region His blubber was assessed as thin too His weight at death was 1040 kg 6 Writing later Newman and McGeer summarized The enervating effects of acute mycotic and bacterial infections together with the debilitated condition of the animal probably led to exhaustion and drowning in the water of low salinity 11 McGeer said On the day of Moby s death the salinity at Jericho was 12 parts per thousand compared to a normal seawater level of about 35 parts per thousand 39 The extra effort of swimming 24 7 with less than accustomed buoyancy might have been the final straw Moby Doll s trainer Terry McLeod reaffirmed this view in 2015 4 In the end McGeer laid the blame on a lack of funding from the community to create new facilities for the public aquarium 39 In the spirit of dissection dominating biology in that era scientists coveted Moby s body parts most fatefully McGeer kept his brain which became a pivotal part of the orca s legacy through Greenpeace 4 Further information Moby Doll s impact in scientific research NecropsyLegacy EditAt the Vancouver Aquarium Edit Although not on display after 18 June 1964 Moby Doll generated widespread publicity and attendances doubled 64 After this initiation into capturing orcas aquarium officials were eager for more 39 In their scientific paper Newman and McGeer s final words about Moby Doll were The experience indicated the feasibility of maintaining and possibly training killer whales in captivity 58 Sam Burich s sculpture completed the following year was placed in a foyer leading to a tank that would house subsequent captive killer whales and was visible to them 4 65 Walter the Whale later renamed Skana Edit See also Walter the Whale Although the Vancouver Aquarium wanted to replace Moby Doll nearly three years passed before it opportunistically acquired Walter the Whale another southern resident orca in March 1967 Walter the Whale as the orca was advertised had been rented from the Seattle Public Aquarium by Bob O Loughlin to appear at the Vancouver Boat Show The orca had helped the Boat Show to an attendance record of more than 100 000 66 As the orca was already in the city the aquarium did not want to miss this opportunity and bought Walter 66 67 Feeding Walter Edit The aquarium s assistant curator Vince Penfold donned a scuba suit and welcomed the orca with lunch underwater captured in the Vancouver Sun in an innovative underwater photograph 67 The aquarium staff had learnt a great deal from their time with Moby Doll With the more knowledgeable practices they implemented Walter renamed Skana survived for thirteen years to be the star of Stanley Park giving millions their first close up view of a killer whale 68 The orca was fed 100 pounds of fish mostly ling cod and herring in four daily feedings illustrated in an intimate photograph with Terry McLeod who had also been Moby Doll s trainer 69 Sex confusion with Walter Edit Weighing approximately 3 000 pounds 70 and just under 15 feet long this was still an immature orca whose dorsal fin could not indicate sex In Walter s new tank at the Vancouver Aquarium Vince Penfold reversed the sexing problem he had had with Moby Doll whose feminine name had been given to a male orca This time a masculine name had been given to a female orca prior to the Vancouver Aquarium s involvement The assistant curator said With the clear water it was easy for a biologist to make the distinction 66 This quickly prompted hopes for a pregnancy 71 The name Walter was not considered fitting and after a contest with over 5 000 entries the aquarium selected for her the name Skana 72 Immediate stardom Edit Skana brought heady times to Vancouver From the moment she took her first turn in the pool the young whale was the aquarium s prime attraction and an invaluable asset to the city s growing tourist industry That first spring Stanley Park saw traffic like it never had before with tourists and locals alike packing the aquarium Then came the summer crush In August alone 119 746 people visited bringing the year s total to 527 536 an 80 percent increase over the same period in 1966 65 Public perceptions Edit In these waters at that time orcas generic experience of humans would be being shot by fishermen who considered them vermin 2 Moby Doll was popular locally and abroad According to the obituary in The Times of London the widespread publicity some of it the first positive press ever about killer whales marked the beginning of an important change in the public attitude toward the species 73 Moby Doll s time in Vancouver was brief but he had made his mark His unplanned capture proved the viability of holding a killer whale in captivity and it hinted at the potential of live orcas as tourist attractions It also revealed the emotional attachment the species could generate 4 Orca sales Edit A pivotal aspect of Moby Doll s captivity was manifested in the immediate offers to buy him They came from Charlie White of the Undersea Gardens at Oak Bay Marina on Vancouver Island and from Marineland of the Pacific in California which had captured Wanda the diseased first orca ever held in captivity 74 White s ambition was to have an orca performing for tourists 75 Murray Newman rejected the offers of 20 000 for the orca which were splashed in the newspapers claiming the orca would be worth a million and that aquarium officials were interested in the scientific not commercial value of the orca 76 Nonetheless the public discovered that the vermin when captured alive had a dollar value a large one Vancouver s mayor William Rathie disagreed with Newman saying he was all for selling it and for maintaining a permanent whale hunting expedition to catch orcas for profit 77 Like Moby Doll s the next orca capture Namu s was unplanned When the orca was trapped by a fishing net near the town of Namu British Columbia one of the fishermen Robert Lonnie McGarvey remembering Newman s valuation of Moby Doll believed the blackfish would make him some money and started looking for a customer and found one Thus Moby Doll s captivity sparked the beginning of the commerce in live captive orcas as a kind of marine circus animal 78 Between 1962 and 1977 a total of 68 orcas were identifiably captured or killed during capture operations in British Columbia and Washington State Moby Doll s particular community the southern resident orcas suffered the greatest losses By pod or capture location 48 of the 68 were identified as southern residents The captures were selective for physically immature orcas less than 4 5m in length 30 of the 48 southern residents were in this category 5 79 Trainers Edit Terry McLeod was a young diver who worked as a collector for the Vancouver Aquarium and cared for many of its animals 9 When just nineteen years old he became Moby Doll s trainer and was the person who spent the most time with the orca at the Jericho Army Base 80 He appears in some photographs hand feeding him Subsequently aquarium director Murray Newman sent the young man to Sea Life Park on Oahu to apprentice in marine mammal training 80 He then became the chief trainer at the Vancouver Aquarium focusing on two dolphins before becoming Skana s trainer With his assistant Mark Perry he performed daily in the water with this orca 65 When seventeen Perry had been one of those who sneaked onto the army base to see Moby Doll He was familiar with the fishermen s hatred of orcas Moby Doll s explosive breath scared him and the orca s tall dorsal fin mesmerized him but he couldn t believe how placid it was 81 That encounter shaped his future career In 1967 he took a job as a floor boy at the Vancouver Aquarium when Skana was captive Soon he was assisting Terry McLeod in shows 65 He quickly developed doubts about orca captivity like his colleague Paul Spong but did not want to give up working with the orca 82 In 1968 when the Vancouver Aquarium acquired more captive orcas and opened the Garden Bay Whale Station Perry was the natural choice to run it 83 Later he was hired by Sealand of the Pacific to work with a captive orca named Haida The brain and Greenpeace Edit After the necropsy Pat McGeer kept Moby Doll s brain at his UBC neurological lab 84 In early 1967 McGeer created a position there that included a contract for research on cetaceans at the Vancouver Aquarium The position went to Paul Spong a postdoctoral researcher in physiological psychology at UCLA 85 Spong studied the aquarium s orcas but began to question their captivity In early 1969 McGeer gave Spong Moby Doll s brain The young scientist was dumbfounded Not only was the organ much larger than a human brain but it presented a higher density of convolutions a feature often used to distinguish human intelligence Moreover the neocortex was immense particularly the portion devoted to the processing of sound For the first time Spong grasped the fundamentally acoustic nature of orcas and in the process realized what a limited view of them his visual acuity tests had provided Indeed for a scientist attuned to cerebral structure the brain of Moby Doll was an epiphany What secrets did this large and complex organ hold What sort of creature was Orcinus orca 86 On June 3 Spong gave a presentation at the UBC campus during which he concluded that the Vancouver Aquarium should put its captive orcas back into the ocean The following day aquarium director Murray Newman ended Spong s contract 87 A few years later Farley Mowat visited Vancouver to promote his book A Whale for the Killing 1972 Spong talked to him for hours and Mowat drew Spong s attention to commercial whaling leading him to become an anti whaling activist 88 He joined with Robert Hunter in the Stop Ahab Committee which became the dominant faction of the old Greenpeace organization 89 Just before Greenpeace s first big anti whaling event Spong had Moby Doll s larger brain photographed next to a human brain as a means of persuading people that whales deserved to be protected 90 When launching their first expedition in April 1975 the activists unfurled a flag featuring an indigenous image of a killer whale as they departed with poetic justice from Jericho Beach 91 It came to pass that great whales all around the world partly owed their survival to the posthumous influence of the harpooned juvenile orca from J Pod of the southern resident orcas who had swum in circles in a sea pen at Jericho Beach See also EditList of individual cetaceansReferences Edit Colby p 206 a b White Don 1975 04 12 Let s not lose our remaining killer whales Vancouver Sun Ford John K B Ellis Graeme M Balcomb Kenneth C 2000 Killer Whales the natural history and genealogy ofOrcinus orcain British Columbia and Washington 2nd ed Vancouver BC UBC Press p 12 ISBN 9780774808002 a b c d e f g h i j Colby p 66 a b Olesiuk P F Bigg M A Ellis G M 1990 Life History and Population Dynamics of Resident Killer Whales Orcinus orca in the Coastal Waters of British Columbia and Washington State Report of the International Whaling Commission Cambridge Special Issue 12 214 ISSN 0255 2760 a b Newman and McGeer p 64 Hacking Norman 1964 07 18 They ve got a whale by the tail The Province Newman and McGeer p 59 a b Colby p 54 Newman and McGeer pp 59 60 a b Newman and McGeer p 67 Colby p 52 a b Hammond Terry 1964 07 17 Wounded Whale Swims In on Leash Vancouver Sun Colby p 53 Whale to Leave For New Corral Vancouver Sun 1964 07 18 p 2 Lindsay Bethany 2016 03 20 Founding director of Vancouver Aquarium dies of stroke at age 92 The Province Archived from the original on 2016 04 03 Retrieved 2016 04 10 a b Colby p 58 a b c Killer Whale to Quit Dock For Jericho Beach Pen Vancouver Sun 1964 07 18 Allgood Fred 1964 07 20 Docked Hound Dog Faces Wacky Trip Across Harbor Vancouver Sun a b c Colby p 61 Our Doll needs a house The Province 1964 08 19 a b c Colby p 62 One Big Struggle And Moby s Home Vancouver Sun 1964 07 25 Allgood Fred 1964 07 20 Sunday Quiet Day For Killer Whale Vancouver Sun Allgood Fred 1964 07 21 Whale Takes a Pint Sized Meal Vancouver Sun a b Allgood Fred 1964 07 28 Moby Doll Sulk Delays Viewing Vancouver Sun a b Newman and McGeer p 62 a b c Bradbury Keith 1964 07 27 Hopeful Whale Watchers Walked Swam Flew Vancouver Sun a b Curator Considers Stuffing Moby Doll Vancouver Sun 1964 07 31 Allgood Fred 1964 07 29 Our Moby Now Whistling Whale Vancouver Sun Newman and McGeer p 60 Schevill William Watkins William Summer 1966 Sound Structure and Directionality in Orcinus killer whale Zoologica New York Zoological Society 51 2 72 Newman and McGeer p 61 Schevill and Watkins pp 73 74 Schevill and Watkins p 73 Souhaut M Shields MW 2021 Stereotyped whistles in southern resident killer whales Aquatic Biology PeerJ 9 e12085 doi 10 7717 peerj 12085 PMC 8404572 PMID 34532160 Retrieved 2 January 2023 Vincent M Janik Peter J B Slater 1998 Context specific use suggests that bottlenose dolphin signature whistles are cohesion calls Animal Behaviour Elsevier Ltd 56 4 829 838 doi 10 1006 anbe 1998 0881 ISSN 0003 3472 PMID 9790693 S2CID 32367435 Leiren Young pp 114 115 a b c d e f g h i Terry Hammond Keith Bradbury 1964 10 10 Death of Whale Claimed Needless Vancouver Sun a b c Newman and McGeer p 65 Colby pp 124 125 Colby p 109 He dares Doll in her own pool The Province 1964 08 04 a b Allgood Fred 1964 07 22 Curator Tags Lady Killer From Now On It s Moby Doll Vancouver Sun Moby Doll Plays it Coy Or Maybe She s a Boy Victoria Daily Times 1964 07 23 Hubbard Morton Alexandra 2002 Listening To Whales What the Orcas Have Taught Us Toronto Random House p 85 ISBN 978 0 307 48754 4 Francis and Hewlett pp 55 59 Montreal Gets Moby s Bleep Tone Vancouver Sun 1964 08 12 Moby Doll Frisks Frolics in Pen Vancouver Sun 1964 09 05 a b Moby Doll Eats Vancouver Sun 1964 09 10 a b c d Colby p 64 a b Oh that hungry Doll The Province 1964 09 11 a b Moby Doll Comes to Heel And Takes a Healthy Meal Vancouver Sun 1964 09 15 a b Colby p 65 Moby Doll needs a playpen The Province 1964 08 20 Newman and McGeer pp 59 70 Newman and McGeer p 66 a b Newman and McGeer p 68 Newman and McGeer PLATE V a b Newman and McGeer pp 61 62 a b Newman and McGeer p 63 Bradbury Keith 1964 10 10 Moby Vancouver Sun Newman and McGeer pp 64 65 Board to get tough The Province 1964 08 25 a b c d Colby p 116 a b c Walter Is Really Whale of a Girl Vancouver Sun 1967 03 21 p 19 a b Walter Comes to Aquarium And It s a Whale of a Sale Vancouver Sun 1967 03 20 p 8 Colby p 260 Whale off to school in 2 weeks The Province 1967 05 01 p 29 Walter needs name feminine that is The Province 1967 03 22 p 38 Is Our Whale Expecting Vancouver Sun 1967 05 09 p 46 Name Chosen Vancouver Sun 1967 04 29 p 2 Stories of Captive Killer Whales PBS Frontline A Whale of a Business MacDonald Ian 1964 07 20 It Could Be a Whale of a Baby Vancouver Sun Colby p 162 Vancouver won t part with its Moby Doll Victoria Daily Times 1964 07 22 Our whale has lost its appetite The Province 1964 07 20 Colby pp 69 70 Orca Population Center for Whale Research Retrieved 29 July 2023 a b Colby p 115 Colby pp 62 3 Colby p 127 Colby p 137 Colby p 124 Colby pp 119 20 Colby pp 124 5 Colby p 126 Colby pp 229 30 Zelko Frank 2013 Make It a Green Peace The Rise of Countercultural Environmentalism Oxford Oxford University Press p 195 ISBN 978 0199947096 Leiren Young p 112 Colby p 239 General references Edit Leiren Young Mark 2016 The Killer Whale Who Changed the World Vancouver B C Greystone ISBN 978 1771643511 Francis Daniel Gil Hewlett 2007 Operation Orca Springer Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales Madeira Park B C Harbour Publishing ISBN 978 1 55017 426 7 Colby Jason M 2018 Orca how we came to know and love the ocean s greatest predator Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 9780190673116 Newman Murray McGeer Patrick Summer 1966 The Capture and Care of a Killer Whale Orcinus orca in British Columbia Zoologica New York Zoological Society 51 2 59 70 Schevill William Watkins William Summer 1966 Sound Structure and Directionality in Orcinus killer whale Zoologica New York Zoological Society 51 2 71 76 External links Edit A listing of dolphin whale captures at pbs org 160 Captives Moby Doll at tumblr com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Moby Doll amp oldid 1168053639, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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