Dolphin Cove (also called Dolphin Point at SeaWorld San Diego) is a SeaWorld attraction, which can be found at SeaWorld Orlando and

SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, outside aquarium and marine mammal park, in San Diego, California, United States, inside Mission Bay Park. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. SeaWorld San Diego ...

. The habitat holds about of

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

and is one of the largest dolphin pools in existence.

History

When founded in 1964,

was the first of its kind to feature a Dolphin Cove. In 1970, the second park

SeaWorld Ohio SeaWorld Ohio was a theme park and marine zoological park, located in Aurora, Ohio. It was owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, formerly known as Busch Entertainment Corporation. The Ohio location was the second SeaWorld park t ...

was built in

Aurora, Ohio Aurora is a city in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, and is co-extensive with, and formed from, the former township of Aurora, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. It is part of ...

and it featured a Dolphin Cove but in January 2001, SeaWorld Ohio was sold to Six Flags resulting in the exhibit's closure. In 1973, the third Dolphin Cove opened together with SeaWorld Orlando. In 1988, the fourth Dolphin Cove in

SeaWorld San Antonio SeaWorld San Antonio is a marine mammal park, oceanarium and animal theme park in the Westover Hills District of San Antonio, Texas, on the city's west side. It is the largest of the three parks in the SeaWorld chain owned and operated by SeaW ...

opened its doors. On March 6, 2015, SeaWorld San Antonio announced that the park would have a new dolphin habitat and hub for three of its animal interaction programs with dolphins,

beluga whale The beluga whale () (''Delphinapterus leucas'') is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus ''Delphinapterus''. It is also known as the whi ...

s and

California sea lion The California sea lion (''Zalophus californianus'') is a coastal eared seal native to western North America. It is one of six species of sea lions. Its natural habitat ranges from southeast Alaska to central Mexico, including the Gulf of C ...

s called Discovery Point. The announcement of the project was followed by Dolphin Cove's closure on March 23, 2015. Discovery Point officially opened to the public on May 21, 2016. The project doubled the size of the previous dolphin pool and added an underwater viewing area.

Exhibit

The habitat is designed to reflect a natural ecosystem and has an underwater viewing area where visitors can watch the dolphins while listening to relaxing music and hear the dolphin's communications. It features waves, a sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

and an imitation

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

. Dolphin Cove mainly consists of

bottlenose dolphin Bottlenose dolphins are aquatic mammals in the genus ''Tursiops.'' They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus definitively contains two species: the common ...

s, one of the most common of their family. The dolphins are shifted between the exhibit, Dolphin Nursery and Discovery Cove; depending on pregnancies and space availability. Throughout the day, visitors can feed the dolphins for a fee. Trainers give informational speeches about the bottlenose dolphin. .

Criticism

Organizations such as

World Animal Protection World Animal Protection, formerly The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an international non-profit animal rights organization that has been in operation since 1981. The charity describes its vision as: A world where animal ...

and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society are against the captivity of dolphins and orcas. Bottlenose dolphins might not have a shorter life span in

captivity Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...

(like orcas)J.D. van der Toorn (1999)
Survival rate study of marine mammals in captivity
, retrieved November 1, 2006. but cannot make much use of echolocation due to

sensory deprivation Sensory deprivation or perceptual isolation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds or hoods and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can al ...

. Small pools and the chlorination of the water are living conditions marked for criticism.

References

External links

Official SeaWorld websiteSeaWorld at WikiAttractionsCaptive Dolphin DatabaseNational Marine Fisheries Service - Application for a Permit for Public Display under the Marine Mammal Protection ActUnited States Department of Commerce - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: Review of Public Display Permit Application
{{Coord, 29.4598, -98.7000, display=title Oceanaria in the United States SeaWorld Orlando SeaWorld San Antonio SeaWorld San Diego Dolphinariums