Hyper-Realistic Animatronic Dolphins Might Change the Marine Park Industry Forever Wednesday May 26, 2021 Staff
We’ve reached a point where we don’t need dolphins to swim with dolphins. Photo: Edge Innovations/Dolphin Spirit
Keeping wild animals in captivity sucks. Dolphins, whales, lions, tigers, etcetera, whatever the animal, it shouldn’t be living in a cage. That’s why the same company that made Flipper from
Flipper and Willy from
Free Willy is making incredibly realistic animatronic dolphins that could change the marine park industry forever.
It’s a complicated thing. There are plusses and minuses on one side, some might argue that having access to a few individual animals increases our appreciation for the species as a whole. We see them in a pool or a cage, realize how incredible they really are, and then, with any luck, we feel a little more empathy for, say, a turtle with a straw jammed up its nose.