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Of Mice and Orcas

Posted September 27, 2021 in News, Opinion by Lori Marino

People who have visited Marineland Canada recently have been commenting on the increasingly unusual behavior of the lone, solitary orca Kiska. One person wrote that Kiska “spent the day flip flopping between logging and swimming quickly around her tank in her counter-clockwise circles.” A recent video of Kiska shows her slapping the side of her body against the walls of her tank, something many people have seen her doing and always in the same part of her tank. Many orcas at marine entertainment parks also damage their teeth chewing on the metal gates and concrete walls.


Drone footage of Kiska shown here with permission.

These kinds of repetitive, abnormal behaviors are called stereotypies, and they are common across a wide range of species, including humans, in situations that lack physical or social stimulation, choice and variety. A classic example of an animal in an impoverished environment is the rat in the laboratory, singly housed in a small plastic cage with only some food pellets and a water bottle. We know from decades of well-controlled studies that rats, fish, dogs, mice, monkeys, birds and even invertebrates tend to exhibit stereotypies when confined to impoverished environments.

Early in my work as a neuroscientist I learned that stereotypies are evidence of severe chronic stress, psychological disturbance, and dysregulation in the circuits within the brain that control these kinds of behaviors. Last week, my co-authors and I published a peer-reviewed paper in Reviews in the Neurosciences, in which we outlined the brain mechanisms underlying stereotypies in captive cetaceans and elephants and provided evidence that their brains are affected by living in zoos and marine parks.

There are many parts of the brain that become disturbed in impoverished environments, resulting in stereotypies. It appears that stereotypies involve several structures and circuits.  Traditionally, the basal ganglia has been implicated, but more recent research suggests it may be more complex than that. As we continue to learn about the specifics, it is clear that that the occurrence of stereotypies is a result of dysregulation in the brain.

We can empathize with how Kiska is feeling because we know how we would feel in similar circumstances.While different species can react in different ways to impoverished environments, there are also fundamental similarities due to evolutionary continuity across species. All vertebrates possess basal ganglia (invertebrates have similar structures) and they respond to impoverishment and stress in similar ways. So, whether it is a dolphin swimming in circles, an orca grating her teeth repeatedly on the tank surfaces, elephants in amusement parks swaying back and forth, mice in lab cages running in circles, or human patients in mental health care endlessly rocking from side to side, they all indicate the same thing because we all share the same basic brain mechanisms involved in responding to stressful situations.

That is what makes Kiska’s behavior so painful to watch. We can empathize with how she is feeling because we know how we would feel under similar circumstances. And that is why, she deserves to recover in an environment that provides as much as possible of what she is missing. When elephants go from zoos to sanctuaries, their stereotypies tend to lessen or even disappear altogether. And their entire demeanor changes as they engage with their new and more stimulating environment. We expect Kiska will also blossom if she is allowed to go to sanctuary.

Also on the Blog

  • Canada Bans Captivity of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises
  • Orca Brains and Intelligence
  • A Deep Dive into Environmental Analysis
  • TEDx Talk “Whales Without Walls” by Charles Vinick
  • Whale Aid Russia

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