If I was given a pound for every time someone told me that ‘SeaWorld forces their animals to perform tricks for entertainment’ I would be a millionaire already. I cannot emphasise enough how wrong this entire statement is. Once again, I’ll be discussing the truth behind what happens behind the scenes at SeaWorld but this time I will focus on animal training, shows/displays, and behaviour.
If you’ve never visited SeaWorld, and watched any of the orca shows, you wouldn’t be completely bonkers for thinking that all the fantastic breaches and mid-air flips you see on social media posts are all just theatrical tricks to entertain audiences of all ages. However, once you visit SeaWorld, and experience Orca Encounter, you soon learn that all these behaviours have unique purposes in a killer whales’ life.
All the ‘tricks’ people think these animals perform in shows are actually all extensions of natural behaviours that have been documented in the wild. The aim of the shows is to be educational but also enriching for the animals, keeping the orcas both mentally and physically stimulated. During Orca Encounter, guests are able to witness the pure power and grace of these apex predators as they demonstrate how the killer whales would hunt and pursue prey, communicate, and survive in the wild. One Ocean also highlights the incredible relationship between trainer and whale, explaining how working with these magnificent creatures is helping us learn more than we ever thought possible and aid in conserving the species in the wild.
All of the shows at SeaWorld are educational and emotional experiences that leave guests with an overall respect, appreciation and passion for these magnificent creatures.
The whales also participate in husbandry training sessions; teaching them to voluntarily take part in their own welfare to give them the most efficient and stress-free health care possible. Trainers can train any behaviour necessary and ask the whales to exhibit behaviours that allow the veterinary team to give daily health examinations, take blood and urine samples, do dental checks, and a whole lot more. This allows the vets to be proactive in diagnosing illnesses and health issues as they know when the animals are not themselves or if there are any abnormalities present.
So next time you see a whale on the slide-out at SeaWorld you will know that this animal is doing it so staff can easily access and check over the animals anatomy, making sure they are healthy. Or when they’re getting their tail scratched by a trainer – this is the same behaviour they would be asked to exhibit when a blood sample needs to be taken for examination.
Operate Conditioning & Positive Reinforcement
Another comment I often get sent by people is that these whales are ‘forced’ to perform in shows for food. If they do not participate the whales are deprived of fish. This simply couldn’t be further from the truth.
The way trainers train all their animals is through operant conditioning techniques, using positive reinforcement and a whole lot of patients. Operant conditioning works on the basis of giving animals consequences when training behaviours. This will either increase or decrease an animal exhibiting certain behaviours and help them learn what is desired of them. Animals are likely to repeat behaviours that they know will lead to positive consequences, such as being given their favourite fish or a rub-down from their trainers.
The concept of positive reinforcement is basically rewarding desired behaviours which will hopefully increase the likelihood of an animal performing it correctly again in the future as they know they will be given something they enjoy. There are different types of positive reinforcement: primary & secondary, which may increase or decrease the effectiveness of the reinforcer depending on an individual animal’s preferences.
So as you can see, there are no negative consequences or punishments from not participating in the shows and sessions as the animals will be fed and cared for regardless. In fact, as I have found out personally, trainers have a harder time stopping animals from joining in with the shows if they aren’t meant to be in a certain segment because they genuinely seem to enjoy taking part.
Building A Relationship
There is also another very important aspect of animal training. Developing relationships between trainer and animal is so critically essential in order to successfully train animals in a safe and productive environment. Without this partnership you cannot expect to be able to train in a safe environment and your success will be very limited. The trust bond the trainers and killer whales have is unlike any other I’ve ever witnessed in this field. These are apex predators that must be treated with vast amounts of respect and love. Handlers must earn their trust before getting anywhere near them due to the whales being so powerful, unpredictable and large.
Trust is also very easily compromised so it is so important that trainers are always strengthening their relationships with the animals; helping them understand that when they see each other there will only be a predictable and positive outcome.
As soon as a trainer or animal handler steps out of an animal’s comfort zone with little to no warning then they risk ruining their entire relationship. This is why it is practically impossible to force a predator with such strength and power to do something it is unwilling to do because they will simply rebel – attacking being very plausible in a situation like this. Never in my entire time of studying captive orcas in SeaWorld’s parks have I seen any elements of force or manipulation of any kind being applied to the animals, either direct or indirectly. It simply doesn’t happen because the consequences to both parties would be severe.
In Conclusion
The orcas are never punished or deprived of food if they fail to demonstrate behaviours correctly or do not take part in training sessions. All animals are fed freshly, sustainably caught, restaurant quality seafood every single day regardless of whether they participate in shows or not.
Trainers can only ask a whale to perform a behaviour with the intent of only rewarding the animal if they do succeed in doing it correctly. If an animal ‘fails’ a behaviour then it is simply ignored and the trainer may move on or ask the animal to try again. There are many other training techniques, like the Least Reinforcing Stimulus (LRS) and negative reinforcement, that are used to help train the whales but that’s a whole other blog for another time.
Animals are not machines that can be forced to participate in things that they do not wish to be a part of. The whales can do almost whatever they like as the trainers cannot control them. If they do not want to perform a then they won’t. If they would rather play with another member of the pod during a relate session then the trainers will let them do that. If they do not wish to participate in a show then they are often cancelled. You cannot force or manipulate a dog to do something it doesn’t want to do let alone a 12,000 pound apex predator!
It’s all down to trust between the trainers and animals, positive reinforcement and patience. But if a whale doesn’t want to exhibit a behaviour or participate in a show then they aren’t forced to and the trainers will cancel that show. In fact, usually they struggle to stop whales wanting to join in as they seem to enjoy it so much.
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