Bottlenose dolphins are intelligent, socially complex cetaceans kept in marine parks globally. Their welfare in captivity versus the wild raises fundamental ethical questions about marine mammal captivity.
Bottlenose dolphin captivity raises acute welfare concerns given their cognitive sophistication, social complexity, and natural ranging behaviour. Captive tanks — even large ones — represent a tiny fraction of the range wild dolphins cover daily. Sensory impoverishment in barren tanks, echolocation reflecting off concrete walls, and inability to form fluid natural social groups all constrain welfare. Behavioural research on captive dolphins has documented stereotypies, aggression, and chronic stress indicators. The educational and conservation value of marine parks has been widely questioned, particularly as field research provides more detailed behavioural data than captive study. Sanctuaries providing large sea-pen retirement options for captive dolphins represent a welfare improvement over continued performance work in tanks.