Beluga whale (white whale). Dolphin Belukha - wingless northern angel Who is found in Chukotka beluga or beluga
A sea canary, a polar whale, a singing whale, a wingless dolphin or just a white dolphin - he has many beautiful poetic names, but in science this animal is called " white whale dolphin". This is the most popular inhabitant of dolphinariums, an incredibly artistic and emotional animal, also recognized as one of the most intellectually developed. Well, looking at the photos of beluga whales, it is simply impossible not to be fascinated by their touching beauty. Therefore, many people want to get to know them and attend their performances in dolphinariums. But in vain!
Pleasing with a thousand voices and emotions
The uniqueness of the beluga dolphin is in its highly developed intellect. They are even able to emotionally respond to various calls of a person (they use facial expressions for this and can even smile) and respond to him in their own way (in addition to many different sounds, they also have body language - slaps on the water, etc.).
Imagine, beluga dolphins are capable of emitting more than 50 different sound signals. This is a screech, and a whistle, and a chirping, and a scream, and a piercing cry. The show with them is impressive, incredibly bright and colorful. Not to mention the fact that beluga whales, like any other dolphins, have a strong influence on people - they relieve stress and disperse melancholy.
Because of this unique talent for animals of their class, the Americans nicknamed the beluga "sea canary". But the famous Russian phraseological unit “beluga roar” did not appear at all in honor of the freshwater beluga fish (which, as befits a fish, is silent), but precisely thanks to these talkative whales. When they migrate in flocks in search of food, they emit a very strong and intimidating roar.
People, don't kill dolphins!
People line up to watch a performance of a white whale dolphin. But in vain, because in order for this show to take place, poor animals have to go through a lot. They are caught in a monstrous way, so that many whales die in this fight with a man.
Further, already in the process of transportation from the North, not all of the remaining dolphins survive: they have to be locked up in nets without food for a long period of time. And I'm not talking about severe stress and psychological trauma, which also undermine the life and health of white whales during their capture.
After that, the surviving units, finding themselves in the dolphinarium, fall into a severe depression. Needless to say, the existence of such highly developed creatures in captivity also does not add to their joy in life ...
Is the beluga whale a whale or a dolphin?
Beluga is a mammal that belongs to the cetacean order and the dolphin family. So the question “Is a white whale a whale or a dolphin” can be answered in the affirmative in both cases.
Where are beluga dolphins found? The beluga whale is called a polar whale because of its habitat - these are northern latitudes (the Arctic Ocean, all the waters of the seas of the Arctic basin, and also the Bering, White and Okhotsk seas). That is, Beluga dolphins live exactly at the North Pole, which is located in the Arctic, this is the central part of the Arctic Ocean. But our baby got the poetic name "wingless dolphin" because of its anatomical structure.
The fact is that belugas do not have a dorsal fin, unlike their relatives. And it is quite logical that the name “white dolphin” was given to the white whale because of its color. She has white skin with a slight pinkish tint on her tummy. True, the youngest individuals are distinguished by a bluish-gray or brown color.
However, it is difficult to call a beluga dolphin a crumb, of course. This animal of incredible beauty reaches from 4 (females) to 6 (males) meters in length. The weight of a beluga dolphin can reach about two tons.
White whale dolphin: food is served!
The polar beluga dolphin feeds mainly on schooling fish - capelin, polar cod, herring, cod, flounder, Far Eastern navaga, salmon and whitefish species. It can also be cephalopods and crustaceans. At the same time, the beluga whale sucks in its food, and does not capture it. In general, an adult white whale needs approximately 15 kilograms of food per day for normal nutrition.
In search of prey, they can climb quite far from their usual habitat, in special cases rising several hundred kilometers upstream.
Reproduction: Beluga whales are feminists?
white whale dolphin considered the most "prolific" among their relatives. After all, the female usually throws two babies, and all other cetaceans, as usual, only one.
Interestingly, after fertilization of the female, the male leaves her. And the females at this time are united in separate flocks by gender to bear their offspring. Scientists who have observed the behavior of these animals in the wild note that the mother beluga whale is distinguished by great care and love in nursing the cubs.
Seasonal migrations: home sweet home
Studies have shown a funny fact: the beluga dolphin remembers its place of birth and will certainly return there after each wintering. They spend the warm season near the coast: in shallow bays, estuaries of northern rivers and fjords. At this time there is a lot of food due to the higher temperatures. In addition, in shallow water it is convenient for them to get rid of the surface layer of the skin. During molting, white dolphins rub against pebbles.
Breaking thin ice...
But these animals spend the winter, holding on to the edge of the ice fields. But flocks of beluga dolphins can also climb into glaciation zones, because there ice creases form strong winds. But if the glaciation becomes too strong, then polar whales can massively sail south.
Actually, in the cold season, polar whales maneuver between ice floes, being able to exist only in polynyas and leads. The fact is that during underwater life they constantly need air, so beluga whales come up to breathe. It is interesting that beluga dolphins even support these openings for respite so that they do not freeze. Polar whales are able to break through thin ice with their backs - up to 10 centimeters thick.
But, unfortunately, sometimes a herd of beluga whales can get trapped in ice. It happens that, nevertheless, polynyas are covered with very dense ice, and this is a tragedy for belugas - they simply die under water ...
Video: Beluga whales answer journalist's questions
This video demonstrates once again how smart animals and cruel people are. Do you think it's not torment, but happiness - waving your head and making sounds at the wave of someone's hand for your second fun?!
Take it, tell your friends!
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The beluga whale is a mammal of the suborder toothed whales. This species is a polar dolphin, whose habitat is located in the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Beluga whales are also found in the mighty northern rivers that flow into the ocean, for example, in the waters of the Yenisei, Lena, and Ob. The beluga whale is able to swim upstream these rivers for tens of kilometers, but still prefers to live in the expanses of the ocean, which is rich in fish necessary for the animal to feed.
The beluga whale is characterized by a small head with a characteristic frontal protrusion, like other dolphins, but this species does not have a beak. The ability of the beluga whale to rotate its head, turn it up, down and to the side is remarkable. This is due to the high mobility of the cervical vertebrae, which are not fused, as in similar species, but are separated by a cartilaginous layer. Also, polar dolphins have well-developed muscles on the muzzle. Beluga easily changes its expression, expressing joy, sadness, and even indifference and contempt.
The animal has wide pectoral fins, small in comparison with the body, a powerful tail. The dorsal fin is absent. The skin is very durable, heat-insulating, with a thickness of about 2 cm. Under the skin is a thick layer of fat (about 15 cm), which is necessary for the beluga whale to protect the internal organs from the polar cold.
The speed of the dolphin reaches 10 km/h. In danger, it can reach 25 km / h. The beluga whale can swim on its back and backwards. Dives to a depth of about 300 m, without air can withstand 15 minutes.
Beluga whale feeds on fish, mainly schooling: capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, Far Eastern navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species. Occasionally includes crustaceans and cephalopods in its diet. Prey is usually not enough, but sucks. Every day, an adult white whale needs about 15 kg of food. While hunting, the dolphin enters the large basins of the Yenisei, Lena, Amur, Ob, Khatanga, and can rise hundreds of kilometers upstream.
The native element of the polar beluga dolphin is the Arctic Ocean, it is found in the White, Bering and Okhotsk Seas, in winter - in the Baltic Sea. When hunting, it enters the basins of large rivers.
The male beluga whale is larger than the female in size. While the female weighs up to 1.5 tons, the weight of the male is in the range of 1.5-2 tons.
Beluga whales are characterized by regular seasonal migration. In spring, the dolphin moves to the coast, to bays, fjords and estuaries. The summer period is usually spent here, along the coast, as the water is warmer here and there is more food. It is also convenient to molt in such coastal areas: in order to remove the dead surface layers of the skin, the beluga whale rubs against the pebbles in shallow water. The beluga whale is generally tied to the same flying site and visits it every year. In addition, the dolphin even remembers the place of its birth and after wintering it returns to it.
In winter, beluga whales keep to the edge of the ice field, occasionally penetrating far into the glaciation zone. In case of icing of a large water area, they make a massive migration to the south. In order to breathe, belugas need polynyas; for this, the animals pierce ice several centimeters thick with their backs. It is during the winter period that especially many dolphins die if the ice becomes too thick or they fall into “ice captivity”. In addition, polar bears and killer whales hunt them at this time.
Beluga whales migrate in flocks, which consist of two types of groups. The first groups consist of 1-3 adult females and their cubs. The second includes 8-16 adult males. During hunting, flocks of belugas sometimes consist of hundreds and even thousands of individuals.
Beluga whales are social creatures. They are capable of making such a variety of sounds that they are even called "sea canaries", which is where the combination "beluga roar" came from. Scientists describe about 50 sound signals (whistles, squeals, chirps, screams, gnashing, piercing screams, roars). In addition, belugas communicate with each other using body language.
The breeding season, depending on the region where the white whale lives, varies from spring to autumn. Males for females arrange real fights. The duration of pregnancy is 14 months. Offspring appear every 2-3 years. Mating and childbirth take place in coastal areas with warm water. Usually one cub 140-160 cm long is born. Milk feeding lasts 1-2 years.
Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 4-7 years, males - at 7-9 years. The beluga whale grows up to 9-11 years. After 20 years, females stop giving birth. Life expectancy is 32-40 years.
The beluga whale is included in the IUCN Red List and has the status of a vulnerable species. At the end of the 20th century, there were 30 herds of beluga whales in the world, with a total number of 100,000-200,000 individuals. Today, the main threat to belugas is not so much intensive fishing as the industrial development of the Arctic shelf and pollution of their habitat with various wastes and pesticides.
In nature, the beluga whale has two natural enemies: the polar bear and the killer whale, land and sea powerful predators. In winter, polar bears hunt beluga whales near thawed patches and ice holes, where the latter emerge to take a breath. The bear stuns them with its paw, then drags them onto the ice and eats them. Killer whales attack beluga whales in the water, and since they swim twice as fast, the dolphin in this case has no chance of salvation.
- The thickened layer of the epidermis of the skin of the beluga whale (up to 15 mm thick) protects the dolphin from damage from ice. A layer of subcutaneous fat 10-12 cm thick serves as a reliable protection against the cold.
- The beluga whale is capable of making a wide variety of sounds, and also ultrasonic clicks. With their help, the dolphin gets a clear idea of the surrounding space.
- Beluga is a very massive, but at the same time agile dolphin, which is able to swim on its back and backwards. The average speed of the animal is 3-9 km/h. But when frightened, it rises to 22 km / h. Usually, the beluga whale emerges to the surface every 1-1.5 minutes, and can stay under water for up to 15 minutes. In shallow water, the dolphin performs virtuoso maneuvers.
- The beluga whale tolerates captivity well and can be trained. It was first presented at the circus in Barnum in the 19th century. Beluga whales can be trained to deliver equipment for divers, search for lost items, and underwater videotape, making them very valuable helpers for humans in Arctic exploration.
The beluga whale belongs to the order Cetaceans (Cetacea), the Narwhal family (Monodontidae). The scientific name of the white whale is Delpbinapterus leucas, which means "wingless dolphin". It is popularly called the white dolphin, polar dolphin, and also the singing whale.
Along with its closest relative, the narwhal, the beluga whale is one of the most social cetaceans. A huge accumulation of snow-white animals in the Arctic bay is an unforgettable sight.
Features of the appearance of beluga whales
Beluga whales are large animals: their body length is 3-5 meters, weight is 500-1500 kg. Males are about 25% longer than females and almost twice their mass.
Newborn whales are brown, then they gradually lighten, acquiring a gray color by the age of one. Adults are white or slightly yellowish.
A characteristic feature of beluga whales is a mobile neck, thanks to which, unlike most cetaceans, they are able to turn their heads from side to side.
Another feature is the absence of a dorsal fin. Instead, belugas have a comb along their back (from the middle of the body to the tail).
It is noteworthy that the white whale can change the expression of "face". When the whale is in a calm state, it seems as if he is smiling. But the demonstration of an open mouth with 32-40 teeth is especially impressive.
Their teeth erupt only in the second or third year of life, and it is possible that their main function is not chewing food at all. Beluga whales often click their jaws, and their teeth can be used to produce a louder sound. In addition, they like to show their “smile” to their relatives.
Adults have a well-defined melon (a rounded fatty pad on the forehead), but it develops slowly, and in newborns it is completely absent. In one-year-old cubs, the melon is already quite large, but is slightly separated from the snout. Only by the age of 5-8 years (it is at this time that puberty sets in), the fat pad takes on its usual form.
Melon is used to focus sounds in echolocation. This ability is vital for orienting and searching for prey in murky waters or in the dark.
Nature made sure that the beluga whale did not freeze in cold water, providing it with a layer of fat. Moreover, this layer is so thick that the head seems too small for such a body.
Habitat
In prehistoric times, beluga whales lived in the waters of the temperate zones. Today, they live only in the cold Arctic seas of northern Russia and North America, as well as in Greenland and Svalbard. They are found both in coastal waters and in the open ocean, and in summer in river estuaries.
In the Beaufort Sea, during their eastward migration, belugas stop in the vast Mackenzie Delta for about a week, and then continue their journey. In some areas, such as Svalbard, whales come to the foot of the glaciers.
Lifestyle
Beluga whales spend most of the year away from the coast, in areas with a lot of ice, and sometimes in large polynyas in pack ice.
From June to September, these whales gather in hundreds in wide river estuaries. At this time, they molt: the old yellowed skin peels off, giving way to a new shiny white skin.
The most sociable whales
Singing whales are one of the most social animals among cetaceans. They are rarely seen alone. Accumulations of hundreds and thousands of belugas are quite common and often cover an area of many square kilometers. Such a aggregation appears to behave as a single entity, but when viewed from above, one can see that it consists of many small groups, usually including individuals of the same size or sex. Females with cubs gather together, large adult males also form separate groups.
Beluga whales communicate with each other through sounds and facial expressions. They make a wide variety of sounds, including lowing, chirping, whistling, grinding, etc. Under water, the sounds of a herd of these whales resemble the noise of a barnyard. Some of the acoustic signals emitted by them can also be heard above the water.
Movable mouth and neck allow belugas to communicate with each other and with the help of facial expressions.
What do beluga whales eat?
The diet of white whales is quite diverse. All kinds of schooling fish, flounder, various worms, shrimps, crustaceans and mollusks serve as food objects.
Singing whales usually hunt near the bottom at depths up to 500 meters. They can dive to a depth of more than 1000 meters, they are limited only by the duration of the respiratory pause, which is normally 10-20 minutes.
The movable neck allows cetaceans to visually and acoustically scan a large area of the bottom surface. They can both suck in water and release it with a jet to get a hidden victim out of the shelter.
reproduction
Pregnancy lasts 14-15 months. Childbirth most often occurs at the beginning of summer, when the ice on the sea opens. Usually one cub is born, twins are extremely rare.
Immediately after birth, a strong bond is established between mother and baby. A cub can feed on mother's milk for more than two years. All this time, mother and baby are practically inseparable. The complete reproductive cycle of pregnancy and lactation takes 3 years or more.
Conservation of Beluga whales in nature
Beluga whales return to their summer habitats along the same routes, even if they are hunted there. Such constancy has made this species especially vulnerable. They are so conservative in their preference for familiar migration routes and breeding grounds that they do not populate vacated areas where the population has been extirpated. One such place is Ungava Bay on the Labrador Peninsula. Previously, beluga whales were quite numerous here, but today they are practically not found.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, American and European whalers drove hundreds of belugas to the shore. The indigenous population also hunted them, but in the past they hunted a relatively small number of animals without causing significant harm to the population. The equipment of modern Eskimo hunters includes rapid-fire rifles, harpoon guns and motor boats, so such hunting can seriously undermine cetacean populations.
Currently, the number of beluga whales worldwide is estimated at about 100 thousand, and the total annual catch ranges from hundreds to several thousand individuals. But the greatest concern is the degradation of belugas habitats due to the development of oil fields and the construction of hydroelectric power plants, although global warming may also become a problem in the future.
In contact with
This type of cetacean is considered a mysterious and mysterious marine life, and before you talk about it, you should find out what kind of mammal it is, since in some sources it belongs to different families. But it turns out that everything is very simple: the beluga whale is an arctic dolphin from the suborder of toothed whales. These animals are sometimes also called sea canaries because of the sound signals that these creatures make when communicating with each other.
Appearance
A fairly large mammal is the white whale (dolphin). How much this marine inhabitant weighs cannot be said with accuracy, since its body weight depends on gender. The male can reach a length of up to six meters, while weighing up to 2 tons. The females are slightly smaller: their weight ranges from 1.5 tons. Compared to other cetaceans, these animals are smaller, they are considered to be of medium size.
Beluga whale (dolphin) has a small head relative to the size of its body. This marine inhabitant has a large spherical forehead, characteristic of all members of its family, but this species does not have a beak inherent in these mammals.
A distinctive feature of the Arctic dolphin from other relatives is that it can turn its head in completely different directions. This ability is associated with the mobility of the cervical vertebrae, since in this mammal they are not fused, but are separated by cartilaginous layers, unlike its closest relatives.
The color of these animals is pure white, thanks to which they got their name. The body is covered with a very excellent thermal insulation. This type of mammal is endowed with small but wide pectoral fins and a powerful tail, thanks to which the white whale (dolphin) can swim quickly. The description of these animals suggests that they are very attractive in appearance and, like all their relatives, are sociable, cheerful, and also socially highly organized and friendly towards people.
Habitat
These mammals are distributed mainly in the areas of the Arctic Ocean. Beluga whale (dolphin) can also inhabit the waters of Japan, Okhotsk, Bering, Barents, Bely and Kara, and in addition, this animal can be found in the waters of Northern Norway, as well as Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
These mammals also live in large northern rivers such as the Ob or the Yenisei. But in any case, they prefer the open sea, where a larger number of fish live, which make up the main part of the diet of belugas.
Lifestyle
Beluga (dolphin) prefers to live in packs, which, in turn, are formed by several small groups, numbering from ten to one hundred animals. In the spring, mammals swim away to the cold northern shores, where they spend all the warm seasons, since at this time of the year there are many different fish in shallow water.
At the same time interval, molting begins in dolphins, during which the upper dead layer of the skin integument slides off them in whole patches.
When severe, typical for the Arctic cold sets in, the beluga whale (dolphin) leaves the coastal areas and sails to places where many drifting glaciers accumulate.
Under water without air can be a maximum of half an hour, and basically they emerge every two minutes. They orient themselves with the help of well-developed hearing or organs of chemical and sensory perception located on the surface of the tongue. They can hear the sound of oars hitting the water from afar, the splash of waves on the ice, and many other sounds that warn them of approaching danger.
Nutrition
The beluga whale (dolphin) is an animal that obtains its own food by hunting, which these mammals go out in small groups. Their prey is mainly polar cod, capelin, worms, flounder, navaga, crustaceans, cod and other varieties of small and medium fish.
During their fishing, dolphins negotiate among themselves, during which they drive their prey into shallow water. They do not grab their food, but suck it into the mouth entirely along with the water stream and hold it there with the help of their teeth.
reproduction
Beluga whales mate exclusively in coastal areas with warm water, where they also bear their cubs. Therefore, their offspring are mainly born in the autumn-spring period. Pregnancy in a female lasts an average of fourteen months, after which she gives birth to one baby, reaching a length of up to 1.5 m and weighing up to 75 kg. The lactation period of a beluga whale lasts about one and a half years, during which she feeds her cub with milk.
These animals reach sexual maturity at about five years of age, and lose the ability to procreate at twenty years of age. At the same time, they live somewhere up to the age of forty.
Danger
Killer whales, which are the most powerful predators, are also considered enemies of these dolphins. In winter, the land hunter settles down near large thawed patches in the middle of the ice in anticipation of the moment when his prey emerges for a breath of air. As soon as the beluga whale sticks out its head, at the same time, a powerful and clawed paw stuns it with a strong blow. After that, the bear takes the unconscious body onto the ice and eats it.
The second enemy of these animals also does not mind eating their thick fat layer. Therefore, killer whales do not miss the opportunity to attack dolphins underwater. It is not possible for a beluga whale to escape from such a hunter, since it swims twice as slowly as this predator.
Unlike its other relatives, this animal has very well developed muscles on the muzzle, thanks to which the beluga whale (dolphin) can show its emotions. Photos depicting these mammals captured how they can laugh, rejoice and even show contempt or indifference with their appearance.
The name of these animals is translated as "dolphin without wings", since they do not have a fin on their backs.
It is also interesting that the white whale (dolphin) is born with a completely different body color. Photos of her cubs show that until the age of one year they are dark blue.
At present, the population size of these mammals is unknown. But scientists and researchers believe that their numbers are increasing, albeit at a slow pace after the losses that this species suffered in past centuries due to hunting by whalers.
Beluga whales are highly trainable, which is why they are often used as performers in dolphinariums. In addition, they are safe: there has not yet been a single case of these dolphins attacking a person.
In the suborder of toothed whales, there are representatives that differ in a special skin color. She is white. Hence the name - white whale. Animals belong to the narwhal family. The size of the white whale is up to six meters. The mass of adult males reaches two tons. For comparison: a newborn calf of a blue baleen whale has approximately the same dimensions.
White whales are also interesting because their cervical vertebrae are not "soldered" firmly, so they, unlike most of their "brothers", are able to turn their heads while swimming. Also, white whales are excellent "singers": they can make a large number of sounds, for which they received the unofficial name "sea canaries" and even "got" into the idiom - "beluga roar".
The basis of the nutrition of the white whale is fish, mainly schooling (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, Far Eastern navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods. Prey, especially demersal organisms, these whales do not grab, but suck. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. In pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), they often enter large rivers (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur) and into the bay of the Khatanga River, sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.
Habitat
White whales make regular seasonal migrations. In spring, they begin to move to the coast - to shallow bays, fjords and the mouths of northern rivers. Flying near the coast is due to the abundance of food here and the higher water temperature. In addition, coastal areas are convenient places for "molting"; to remove the dead surface layer of the skin, white whales rub against pebbles in shallow water. These are tied to the same flying places, visiting them year after year. Tracking of individual individuals showed that white whales remember the place of their birth and the way to it after wintering.
In winter, as a rule, they stick to the edges of ice fields, but sometimes they penetrate far into the glaciation zone, where winds and currents support cracks, leads and polynyas. When icing large water areas, they make mass migrations to the south. The polynyas to which white whales rise to breathe can be several kilometers apart. Animals support them, preventing them from freezing, they are able to break through ice up to several centimeters thick with their backs.
However, wintering sometimes ends tragically for white whales when the polynyas are covered with too thick ice or a herd of whales is trapped in ice. In winter, they are hunted by a polar bear, which lies in wait for prey near the polynya and stifles it with the blows of its paws. The killer whale is another enemy.
Appearance
The body color of an adult whale is white. The skin of a newborn cub is dark blue, almost black. Over time, it turns pale and acquires a grayish tint, which gradually begins to give off a delicate blue. The blueness fades and disappears completely at the age of 4-5 years. It is replaced by the white color, which remains in the animal until the end of its life. The white whale has a small head. It has a characteristic frontal protrusion, like all dolphins, but the nose is not beak-shaped, like other species. This whale also has well-developed muzzle muscles.
The white whale has a very durable skin with excellent thermal insulation. Its thickness reaches 2 cm. There is a thick layer of fat under the skin. This layer reaches a thickness of 15 cm and reliably protects the internal organs from the polar cold. Usually swims slowly, about 2 km per hour, and only in case of danger the speed can reach 25 km per hour. It swims well on its back and even backwards. It can descend to a depth of 300 meters, like all dolphins. Able to withstand 15 minutes without air. While swimming, it emerges from the water at intervals of 2 minutes to take a breath of air.
The pectoral fins are wide, small relative to the body. The tail is powerful, but there is no dorsal fin. This is due to the specifics of habitat, since among the eternal ice such a formation on the back can only interfere.
reproduction
The white whale mates and gives birth in coastal areas. At the same time, he chooses places with warmer water. These, as a rule, are areas located near the mouths of rivers. Here, in the spring-autumn period, offspring are born. The cub is born alone and reaches a length of 1.4-1.6 meters. At the same time, his weight reaches 70 kg. His mother feeds him with milk for a year and a half. She mates again two weeks after giving birth.
Males seek the attention of ladies by arranging fights among themselves. Pregnancy lasts 14 months. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 4 to 7 years. They lose the ability to give birth to cubs, mainly at the age of 20. Males mature by 7-9 years. White whales stop growing at the age of 10-11 years. These mammals live 35-40 years. In captivity, polar dolphins can live up to 45 years.
The white whale emits a very diverse sound signals - whistling, screeching, muffled groans, chirping, screaming, rattle, piercing cry, roar. They say that this is where the proverb "roars like a beluga" came from. In addition to the ability to emit ultrasounds, with the help of which the animal locates the depths of the seas, it is famous for its vocal abilities. They can whistle, quack, make sounds reminiscent of an untuned symphony orchestra, and many others. And all this with a decent volume. It is even called the sea canary.
Unfortunately, the deep and comprehensive study of the white whale stopped 30 years ago. But even then it was associated primarily with the extraction of these animals. Currently, the exact number of white whales in Russian waters is unknown, while at the same time, permits are issued to slaughter about 1,500 animals annually, although the approved quotas have no scientific basis. Such actions can result in serious overfishing and damage to existing populations. The lack of evidence-based information is a serious obstacle in defending Russia's positions in matters of rational environmental management at the international level.
