Hi Mando! I work at an aquarium (but not in animal care) where we had a beluga whale pass some time back from a volvulus/twisted intestine. I've seen reference to this happening to others cetaceans in human care as well as cetaceans out in the wild-- do we know what causes this to happen? Like, is it an inherent aspect of living in the water as a marine mammal? A colleague (also not in animal care) told me cetaceans kept in human care are more likely to develop a volvulus due to "all that jumping", and based on vibes I'm assuming that's not a claim that really holds much water (heh. water) but I thought I'd ask someone who probably knows more than I do about the matter. Thank you!
I'm very sorry to hear about your loss, Anon. I know that the passing of a charismatic animal like a beluga is felt through the entire community, even beyond animal care.
Intestinal volvulus has been described in a very wide variety of species, including dogs, pigs, horses, and even reptiles. In fact, a good deal of the literature out there on intestinal volvulus is on humans! There are plethora of factors than can contribute to the developing of volvulus: chronic gastrointestinal diseases, foreign bodies, infection, dysbiosis, dietary factors, trauma, internal parasites, anatomical abnormalities, and even pregnancy. Most cases of volvulus happen very suddenly, and even with a full necropsy, it can difficult which of these factors (if any) contributed to the event, regardless of species.
As for cetaceans in particular, there has been precious little formal research into the topic. To date, the only peer-reviewed study into the topic that I have been able to find is this 2012 article from Veterinary Pathology, which reviews 18 confirmed cases of volvulus in cetaceans (9 captive, 9 wild). While not technically peer-reviewed, this recent academic thesis gives a nice overview of the condition as well as case reports for two captive killer whales that died of intestinal torsion. Be cautioned, the paper contains graphic necropsy photos of the animals.
Obviously, it is difficult to accurately compare rates of occurrence between wild and captive populations, since essentially every captive animal will be necropsied upon death while only a minute fraction of wild cetaceans ever will. But from the data that does exist we can conclude the condition is not unique to captive animals, nor is it overall a very common cause of death in either population.
"Volvulus is caused by jumping/spinning/etc" is a popular talking point. It is true that vigorous activity has been linked with torsions in domestic dogs, although this isn't reflected in every study. As for cetaceans, there just isn't enough data to make that claim, and there certainly isn't data proving volvulus occurs more frequently in captive whales than wild ones. As for belugas, most aquariums do not use them for shows, and the ones that do don't ask them for high-energy behaviors of the same caliber as say, a bottlenose dolphin. They just aren't built for it.
All that to say: we don't truly know, but there isn't definitive evidence that captive cetaceans experience torsion at a higher rate than their wild counterparts, with or without extra jumping.
Thank you for that ask!
