In 2010, there was a tragic accident at the SeaWorld in Orlando. For many years, aquariums have kept killer whales, or orcas, captive for entertainment, and bred them for many generations. They took them from the water, separated them from their pod and family, and kept them in captivity until they died. This is a poor choice for aquariums looking for entertainment, since orcas are at the top of the ocean food chain. A 40-year-old trainer, Dawn, was the star at SeaWorld. She took care of a 5-ton orca, Tilikum. Big animals never do well in captivity, and they tend to strike back. Tilikum killed two other people before Dawn, a trainer and a homeless man. Dawn knew that what she did was dangerous, but she never thought that something bad would happen to her. At a show in SeaWorld, Dawn laid down next to Tilikum on a shallow part of the tank. According to further evidence, Dawn’s ponytail got wedged into Tilikum’s mouth. Acting on pure instinct, Tilikum pulled Dawn into the water. Orcas are known to play with their food before they kill and eat them, which is exactly what happened. Dawn was not only drowned, but her left arm was torn from its socket. Dawn was also scalped, with her hair and skin found at the bottom of the pool. Horrifically, her spinal cord was severed, and she also suffered from broken ribs and a broken jaw; a post-mortem revealed she died from both drowning and blunt force injury. Dawn’s death sparked some changes. There was a documentary made about the orca entertainment program at SeaWorld, called Blackfish, that raised attention to Dawn’s death and the mistreatment of orcas in captivity. There was also a lawsuit and government investigation into SeaWorld’s practices. As a result, SeaWorld has now stopped its orca breeding program. However, SeaWorld could not release its remaining four orcas because they lived their whole lives in captivity, and it would be cruel to put them back into the ocean. So, these orcas continue to perform, although they are given more flexibility in current shows. For example, if they don’t want to come out, they are not forced to, and they get fish as treats no matter if they perform tricks or not. When these four orcas die of natural causes, SeaWorld does not plan to obtain any more orcas. I think that this episode proves a point for marine biology, which is that, if we had not held animals captive to perform tricks, the tragedy could have been avoided. However, we can make change out of tragedy, like stopping animals from being held to perform tricks.
Hidden Figures, Reviewed by Sydney Kesselheim, 12
Hidden in Plain Sight: Women of NASA in 1960’s This month, in my feminism alliance club at school, we watched a movie called Hidden Figures. In this movie, three Black women working at NASA in the 1960’s get promoted to a higher-level job. Unfortunately for them, all of their coworkers are white men, who doubt the women and their skills. But even though the men don’t believe in them, they all go on to create great achievements for NASA. This movie is set in the days of segregation and when the US was trying to win the race with the former Soviet Union to get a man to the moon. Because of these women, the US won. This was such an inspiring movie, and I recommend it highly. This movie taught me many lessons. First, the movie’s whole plot was that we should never judge anyone based on how they look. In fact, these women were being stereotyped by the men around them, even though these women proved many times that they have stronger math skills. This is a really important lesson because, after years of segregation and sexism, people should have looked past superficial appearances to recognize individual talent. This movie proves that exact point: these Black women lead the US to victory. Next, the movie introduces many important facts about history and space. This movie provides interesting facts about training, test runs, debugging, code, and so much more. This really helped me understand more about space, spaceships, and the math that goes into it. In the movie, they have only one chance to get this equation right, or the person in the rocket will die. The math is extremely difficult, narrowed down to the tiniest decimal. Fortunately, NASA finds someone who can do it, who happens to be a Black woman. This proves that women can do anything, and it doesn’t matter what they look like. I recommend this movie to anyone wanting to know more about space, rockets, NASA, or anything related to math. This movie is also based on a true story, NASA themselves confirming the problems with gender and race in their early years as an organization. Their journey was inspiring, and they were so complicated. Watching this movie also opened my eyes to other types of movie genres. I had no idea history and math movies could be so interesting and absorbing. For anyone who likes any of those genres, or just has some free time and might not know what to watch, I highly recommend Hidden Figures.
Some of My Favorite Mothers are Octopuses!
Recently, I began to learn about octopuses because I wanted to learn more about them. Octopuses are very intriguing creatures, and they are known to be cute and delicate, as well as protective and caring. Here are some fun facts about octopuses (and by the way, the preferred plural of octopus is octopuses not octopi). First, two thirds of an octopus’ nerve cells are in their tentacles, which they use both to taste and touch. They can also regenerate their limbs if injured and protect themselves with their ability to camouflage in less than a second. The octopus is very intelligent, with an IQ of 140, and they have 3 hearts. They nurture at least 100,000 eggs and take care of them for 6 months. They are so meticulous with their care of the eggs that they don’t eat in that time frame. When the eggs are finally hatched, the mother dies of starvation, making a huge sacrifice for her whole family. Although the two species look dissimilar, I see a clear connection between octopuses and humans. For example, we care for our siblings and family members when they need it, just like a female octopus. Even if we don’t starve ourselves like they do, sometimes we make certain sacrifices for the people we love. When studying the octopus, I saw that the mothers are so caring and generous, just like moms who are humans. Human mothers resemble octopuses because they are protective and caring for their young and are so dedicated and loving that they sacrifice themselves for their family. On this note, don’t forget that Mother’s Day is coming up next month. I can’t wait to tell my mom that she reminds me of an octopus! I’m sure she will love the compliment!
