Skip to content

PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice.

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

Biology & Life Sciences

Cetacean Welfare in Professionally Managed Programs

Partnered Collections

There is a strong commitment among accredited zoos and aquariums that exhibit cetaceans to use data to ensure the animals thrive under their professional care. This collection presents the results of the first multi-institutional study on cetacean welfare in accredited zoos and aquariums. The authors partnered with 43 accredited zoos and aquariums around the world that resulted in the largest dataset to date on the care and management of cetaceans, including common bottlenose dolphins, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, beluga whales, and Pacific white-sided dolphins. The studies in this collection develop both common and novel indicators of health and welfare for cetaceans in accredited zoos and aquariums and examine how physical habitat, environmental enrichment, and animal training influence the welfare of bottlenose dolphins.

Image Credit: 10.1371/journal.pone.0253732 CC BY 4.0

PLOS ONE
A peek into the PLOS ONE review process

EIC Emily Chenette outlines what makes the PLOS ONE review process unique in our latest blog.

Read now!
Follow PLOS ONE on Twitter

To keep up-to-date on the latest research.

Follow us
Back to top