Dear Colleagues: We would like to announce the publication of our review of the evidence for neurobiological harms to cetaceans (and elephants) confined to zoos, marine parks, and other impoverished settings.
Here is the title and abstract: Putative neural consequences of captivity for elephants and cetaceans Bob Jacobs, Heather Rally, Catherine Doyle, Lester O’Brien, Mackenzie Tennison and Lori Marino Putative neural consequences of captivity for elephants and cetaceans https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2021-0100 The present review assesses the potential neural impact of impoverished, captive environments on large-brained mammals, with a focus on elephants and cetaceans. These species share several characteristics, including being large, wide-ranging, long-lived, cognitively sophisticated, highly social, and large-brained mammals. Although the impact of the captive environment on physical and behavioral health has been well-documented, relatively little attention has been paid to the brain itself. Here, we explore the potential neural consequences of living in captive environments, with a focus on three levels: (1) The effects of environmental impoverishment/enrichment on the brain, emphasizing the negative neural consequences of the captive/impoverished environment; (2) the neural consequences of stress on the brain, with an emphasis on corticolimbic structures; and (3) the neural underpinnings of stereotypies, often observed in captive animals, underscoring dysregulation of the basal ganglia and associated circuitry. To this end, we provide a substantive hypothesis about the negative impact of captivity on the brains of large mammals (e.g., cetaceans and elephants) and how these neural consequences are related to documented evidence for compromised physical and psychological well-being. A link to a pdf is here: Reviews in the Neurosciences (whalesanctuaryproject.org)<https://whalesanctuaryproject.org/content/uploads/How-does-captivity-effect-cetacean-and-elephant-brains-Jacobs-et-al-2021.pdf> If you have any comments or questions feel free to email me at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Thank you, Lori Marino Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
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