Early Struggles to Maintain Captive Dolphins at the New York Public Aquarium Translated title: Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, Spring 2022, no. 6: Early Struggles to Maintain Captive Dolphins at the New York Public Aquarium

Abstract

This piece examines the earliest attempts to ship and maintain captive dolphins at the New York Aquarium between 1908 and 1928. Similar to zoos, aquariums sought to find charismatic exhibits to attract visitors. However, these early attempts proved fatal to the dolphins and showed how difficult it was to develop tank craft around marine species. Early aquariums tinkered with essential elements of the captive environment to try to maintain these exhibits, but eventually gave up when the costs became too great.