'Blackfish': Rethinking Intelligence

by Tilly Goldman

Having recently watched the 2013 documentary, Blackfish, questions of animal intelligence and the morality of animals in captivity have been largely at the forefront of my mind. Blackfish follows the story of a 22.5ft killer whale, Tilikum, who had been in captivity since the age of two and a half. He remained in captivity until his death in 2017. The documentary criticises the behaviour of SeaWorld and treatment of these huge animals with a particular focus on the psychological trauma faced by the orcas and how it can potentially lead to fatally aggressive behaviour.

In many ways I found this documentary even more striking due to the circumstances in which we find our selves at the moment: somewhat stuck in our houses doing almost the same thing every day. With this perspective it is far easier to see how an orca stuck in this monotonous routine for over three decades would lead to sever psychological trauma.

When humans began to study animal intelligence, we measured their behaviour against what we considered to be the basis of human intelligence. Researchers studied their language, behaviour, and ability to recreate or copy human activity as a way to judge their intelligence. However, although these skills certainly show intelligence and capacity to learn, initially their individual intelligence as species were ignored. Behaviours such as completely changing colour, as seen in octopuses, was not regarded as intelligent because it was not something that we could do. They are now considered as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet. Similarly, this can be seen with the study of language. A human’s ability to speak and construct complex ideas has always been an indicator of intelligence and those that could replicate it such as apes were seen as the next best thing. But it is now evident that species not only have languages but their own cultures. In whales they use songs to communicate underwater and different pods had different songs. This is strikingly similar to our different languages and dialects.

I found this research gave me an even greater understanding into the experience of these killer whales in the documentary as it is evident throughout how intelligent they really are and subsequently the sheer damage caused by human behaviour. This was made even more poignant when it was revealed that orcas actually have a more developed emotional area of the brain than humans, which made watching the separation of calves from their mothers even more heart breaking. Particularly given the fact that they never would have separated in the wild.

As of 2016, the controversial breeding programme of orcas was cancelled at SeaWorld following intense criticism due to the documentary. Thankfully, this will eventually lead to the end of these orcas in captivity although there remain today twenty killer whales still in captivity across the three SeaWorld parks. In some ways this is indicative of a turn away from this sort of behaviour, but does it really make up for their treatment in the past and being separated from their families?

I would highly recommend this documentary for some lockdown entertainment, perhaps not to enjoy as it is upsetting to watch but remains incredibly interesting.