(Corpus Christi Caller-Times)
So much we didn't know about D.J. the dolphin
By John M. Crisp/Scripps Howard News Service
Originally published 03:00 a.m., May 1, 2012
Updated 05:58 a.m., May 1, 2012
CORPUS CHRISTI — De Janeiro the dolphin, known as "D.J." at his home in Corpus Christi's Texas State Aquarium, died on April 14. My local newspaper, the Caller-Times, reports that he had been "acting unusual" on the previous day and had stopped eating. At 3 a.m. aquarium staff noticed that D.J. was lying on the bottom of his tank, deceased.
D.J. was an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, though he never saw the Atlantic Ocean or any other. He may have gotten an occasional glimpse of Corpus Christi Bay, the vast saltwater body that stretches away from the shore at the edge of the aquarium where he lived. No one knows if he was aware of the hundreds of wild dolphins of his same species that live in the bay.
In fact, D.J. was a Midwesterner, born in the Minneapolis Zoo in 1996. He was well cared for and had enough to eat, but he never spent a day outside the confines of an aquarium's chlorinated concrete tank. Aquarium administrators liked to refer to him as an "ambassador for his aquatic brethren," though it's a strange ambassador who represents a place he has never been.
Really, D.J. was an entertainer. He was burdened with a permanent, built-in, goofy grin that delighted thousands. In the old days, his ancestors wore grass skirts and sombreros, but in our more enlightened age D.J. amused audiences with athletic leaps and spins above the surface of his tank. He could "walk" on this tail. He would wave at his audiences and the kids would wave back.
The newspaper reports that at 15, D.J. was "considered middle-aged." But a great deal of uncertainty surrounds the question of how long dolphins live, both in the wild and in captivity. SeaWorld asserts that "Most bottlenose dolphins probably live 20 years or less."
But this figure is suspect. Marine mammal parks like SeaWorld have an interest in underestimating dolphin longevity in order to deflect criticism from animal rights activists who say that their facilities are unhealthy environments for animals adapted for a life at sea.
But this isn't about life span. Rather, D.J's death — as well of the death in 2007 of his fellow performer, Cobie, also 15 — raises the classic issue of the appropriate balance between the quality of life and its length.
The Texas State Aquarium pictures its three male performers — make that two, now — as hanging out together in a "bachelor pad," wild and crazy dolphins having the time of their lives interacting with humans and enjoying their own performances as much as we do.
But this is pure euphemism. These are "bachelors" whose prospect of mating is zero. So are their chances for engagement in a host of natural dolphin behaviors such as long-range swimming, hunting for fresh fish, echolocating, and participating in a sophisticated social network. In fact, everything about D.J.'s life was unnatural, especially the anthropomorphic fantasy that he was enjoying his life rather than experiencing misery. Jacques Cousteau compared dolphin captivity to solitary confinement in prison for a human being. If D.J.'s life was shortened by captivity, maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.
So, what did D.J. die of? So far, nobody knows. A necropsy revealed no digestive tract obstructions, and no infections or other diseases were obvious. Tissue samples have been sent to a pathology lab for further analysis.
Some people — and not all of them are bleeding-heart crackpots — believe that dolphins in captivity can actually commit suicide. I'm skeptical about this. Besides, there's not much reason to make the stretch to suicide when captive dolphins' susceptibility to a host of exotic diseases associated with stress and confinement is well documented.
When a spectacular, intelligent beast is separated as far as possible from the ecological niche that evolution or creation designed it for, we shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't thrive.
Neither would we. So long, D.J. R.I.P.
John M. Crisp teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College. Email him at jcrisp@delmar.edu.
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