Between the shark tank and the deep blue sea: Incidents from a history of the Durban Aquarium

Abstract

We trace the history of the Durban Aquarium from its founding to the present. With reference to individuals such as Kelple the dolphin (Stenella euphrosyne), Sally the sawfish (Pristis pectinatus), ORI II the penguin (Spheniscus demersus) and Ballard the curator (Homo sapiens), we delineate mechanisms such as visibility, accelerated turnover, transgression, consumption of spectacle, and the predation taboo which work to shape the dynamic tension between science and spectacle, between freedom and captivity and between modern and postmodern in the life of the aquarium.