CAPTIVITY

Welcome back to our monthly appointment on our blog! We are glad you dropped by again and are reading. In this post  we're going to talk about captivity, a serious theme.

Captivity is a term used to designate animals that are held in cages or pools for public display and shows in zoos. Aquariums are all over the world in order to attract people and tourists who have the opportunity to have a look at different kinds of animals that do not belong to the fauna of their countries (for example, there are no seals in Italy!). As such, these places have an educational role.
 

Most of the times, you can take a guided tour through the zoo and learn about the animals that you are seeing. Dolphin trainers explain the biological and ecological characteristics of dolphins to the public during the show.

We think these places are important for children: this way they can develop a love for animals and learn to respect them. But is it right for the animals to be kept in captivity only for our own interests? A small part of the animals that are displayed are actually born in captivity, most of them were instead born wild. This might cause lots of stress to the animals that may develop stereotyped behaviours, such as mechanical repetitions of unnatural behaviours,  which the animals wouldn’t show in the wild. 

Furthermore, it doesn’t matter how large the cage is or how deep the pool is, they will always be too small compared to the natural environment the animal could live in. At the same time, we think it is very difficult to release captive animals back into the wild because they wouldn't be capable of hunting by themselves anymore. And those animals that usually live in groups should learn again how to socialize in the right way.

We believe that zoos or aquariums shouldn’t be allowed to take any more animals from the wild and they should be obliged to breed the ones they already have. Nowadays there are lots of ways that allow people to see animals in the wild, such as safaris in Africa, scuba-diving on barrier-reefs, and whale and dolphin-watching trips are being organized in hundreds of different places all around the world.

We think people would learn best of animal natural behaviour and habitat if they could observe them in their natural habitat. 
Ok! That's all. We hope you guys enjoyed the post and don't forget to let us know what you think about this topic! See you next month, guys!  Bye!

GIACOMO & LORENZO T.