Mediterranean Dolphins from Miami Knowledge and Practices in Barcelona Zoo's Aquarama (1962-1970)
Carandell Baruzzi, Miquel, 1981- (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut d'Història de la Ciència)

Date:	2022
Description:	22 pàg.
Abstract:	In May 1965, in the midst of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, four bottlenose dolphins travelled from Miami to Barcelona Zoo. These became the inhabitants of one of the first dolphinariums in Europe. The arrival of the dolphins was preceded by two trips of the zoo's director, accompanied by an architect and a politician, to visit the installations at the Miami Seaquarium, Sea World San Diego, and Marineland of the Pacific in California. In this paper, I reflect on how knowledge and practices about a completely new animal and its keeping were acquired in the Barcelona Zoo. This was a time when exhibitions, popular perception, and scientific research regarding marine mammals were being developed. The training and exhibition of dolphins was shaped by a mixture of circus-like practices and scientific knowledge. Dolphins arrived in Europe with "knowledges" and practices attached, but also with a lot of uncertainty. However, circumstances like geography, logistics, and the corporate character of American aquaria prevented a straightforward flow of information from the United States to Europe. How did Barcelona Zoo keepers manage to gather information on the building and maintenance of a dolphinarium? And how did they gather information on how to feed, care, train, and exhibit the dolphins? This paper seeks to understand how the particular setting of Barcelona Zoo, as well as its social, scientific, and political context shaped the exhibition of and creation of knowledge about animals at the zoo.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-112514GB-C22 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-104897GA-I00 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-106743GB-C22
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	20th Century ; Dolphins ; History of Biology ; Knowledge Circulation ; Life Sciences ; Marine Mammals Exhibition ; Zoo
Published in:	Centaurus, Vol. 64, Issue 3 (2022) , p. 751-772, ISSN 1600-0498

DOI: 10.1484/J.CNT.5.132108

22 p, 64.0 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut d'Història de la Ciència (IHC)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles