Killer Whale nearly kills experienced trainer at SeaWorld
On February 24, 2010, an experienced trainer at Sea World Florida was killed by a whale called Tilikum. The death is widely covered in the press. The coverage focuses on the issue of whales in captivity and safety concerns for trainers. The story about what happens to a killer whale's brain has been mostly ignored.
The whale named Tilikum weighs more than 12,000 pounds and is more than 25 feet long. On Friday afternoon, he pulled Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old experienced trainer, into the water and killed her. The sequence of events suggests that Ms. Brancheau made a mistake in judgment: she put her ponytail in the mouth of a 12,000-pound killer whale in an apparently misguided attempt to calm him down:
A whale injured one of three members of its trainer team when it bumped into a platform and took him under at a public show that was filmed by tourists in Spain. The death of the trainer in front of an audience of children and adults came just minutes after he apparently swam away from the whale with no problem The whale was put into the show tank, which was only four feet deep, restricted the whale's movements. The trainer then apparently slipped or fell into the water, but was recovered by SeaWorld staff without incident.
The killer whale is a very powerful and intelligent marine mammal. Orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, are the largest members of the dolphin family. Most killer whales are black or dark gray with white patches on their chest, belly, and face.
Three years ago, I stood in the shallows of the Black Sea, looking out over 150 million years of evolutionary history. The water was calm enough to reflect the sky. Dense clouds of jellyfish wafted by me, each one an individual with an immortal soul, and likely as old as me or older. Seeing all these ancient creatures that have been around since the age of the dinosaurs led me to a question: if evolution equips creatures with biological machinery to evolve, shouldn't it also equip us with psychological machinery to understand it?
What does it take to get into the circus? Most people would imagine that you need strength, agility, speed, and amazing physical skills. But none of these are necessary. What really matters is an uncanny ability to understand complex social dynamics, an aptitude for performing high-risk tricks with tools made of steel, and the courage to stare death in the eye each day.
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