Impoverished vs. Cognitively Challenging Environments

Zoo Logic

As director of research for the Dolphin Research Center, Dr. Kelly Jaakkola spends much of her time studying the cognitive abilities of bottlenose dolphins, as well as, refuting the false or unsubstantiated narratives stemming from all places, recent peer-reviewed publications by authors opposed to marine mammals in human care. One of two of her recent publications examines whether these small cetaceans in human care live in "impoverished" environments. Spoiler alert, they don't. However, Kelly argues in a separate paper that this low bar of animal welfare can and should be raised to include beneficial cognitive challenges that enable animals in zoological facilities, not just dolphins, to thrive when we humans have met most of their physical needs.

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