The clever beluga whales

Although referred to as a whale, the beluga has a head shape similar to that of a dolphin. Its rounded head has a short beak and a prominent, protruding forehead called the “melon” which is flexible and allows the species to make facial expressions. Unlike any other whale species, Belugas can change the shape of their lips to create a whole variety of expressive features and sounds. Meanwhile, beneath the fatty layer of blubber, their forehead is comprised of acoustical lenses which help these whales communicate.

The beluga’s neck is narrower than the necks of other whales, and it also differs from most whales, the vertebrae in a beluga’s neck are not fused together, which gives them the unique ability to turn its head up, down, and side-to-side. The belugas belong to the Monodontidae family along with the narwhal or commonly dubbed as the unicorns of the sea. Belugas are easily recognizable thanks to their stark white colouring, a color adaptation to their environment – they live primarily in the Arctic. Their white color is also the source of their name, which comes from the Russian word for white. Some scientists call this whale “belukha”, to differentiate them from the beluga sturgeon. Thick blubber makes it possible for the belugas to live in extremely cold water, and a back with no dorsal fin allows them to move freely under ice. Beluga is a medium-size toothed whale where adult males measure 5 meters (14-16 feet), with a maximum length of 5.3 meters (20 feet), and weigh about 3,300 pounds, while adult females measure 3.9-4.2 meters (13-14 feet), with a maximum length of 5.2 meters (17 feet), and weigh about 3,000 pounds. Female beluga is considerably smaller than male on the Eastern side of the Atlantic.

Belugas are among some of the only aquatic species that can swim backwards. They are slow swimmer adapted to be highly manoeuvrable rather than high-speed swimmers.  They commonly swim about 3 to 9 kph (1.9 to 5.6 mph). These amazing mammals often swim at depths barely covering their bodies and are not generally thought of as deep-diving marine species, usually to about 20 meters (66 feet). But it does not mean that they are not capable of diving to extreme depths, under experimental conditions a trained beluga whale repeatedly dove to 400 meters (1,312 feet) with ease. The deepest recorded depth was 647 meters (2,123 feet). A typical dive usually lasts less than ten minutes, but belugas can stay submerged for more than 15 minutes.

Among the most vocal of the cetaceans, the belugas are often referred to as the canary of the sea because of its unique, highly vocal abilities. They produce a wide range of sounds that can be heard clearly on the surface of the water. Their squeaks, chirps, whistles, clicks, and other vocalizations can even be heard through the hulls of boats. And while many types of cetaceans communicate using the system of these “whale-speak” sounds, Beluga whales were the first of their species to have discovered the ability to mimic human speech without any training. Noc, a beluga captured by the U.S. Navy, began copying the cadence and timing of human conversation, and it was eventually determined he was attempting to make a more complex, interspecies connection. But even before Noc, beluga songs have been recorded and heard by scientists and sailors from beneath the water. They also produce a wide range of low and high frequency sounds but while these vocalizations have been documented in many locations, research shows some populations of belugas are relatively silent. The rounded melon on their head contains oil, and the whales can change the shape of the melon. Scientists believe that the melon plays a part in the beluga’s echolocation system.

With their white, plastic-smooth skin and bulbous foreheads, Beluga whales certainly look extraordinary. But their behaviour is just as compelling. In addition to being master vocalists, belugas are also experts when it comes to bubble-blowing. A study of 44 captive beluga whales showed that this behaviour is more than just a source of amusement for them. While rings and bubbles slowly released from the blowhole are believed to be a sign of playfulness, other bubble types are suspected to serve more functional purposes. Sudden bubble bursts can indicate a defensive reaction, while matching bubble rings blown by a pair of whales is thought to be a social bonding behaviour.

Some scientists have called Belugas the most intelligent creatures on earth. They are calm in difficult situations and easily trainable. In fact, the Russian navy use a beluga whale for special ops — as opposed to a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) or a California sea lion (Zalophus californianus), like the U.S. Navy does. In April 26 2019, a Norwegian fisherman spotted a beluga near the fishing village of Inga, along the northern coast of Norway, the surprisingly tame beluga was wearing a harness that read “Equipment of St. Petersburg,” indicating that it was likely trained by the Russian navy to be used for special operations, according to news sources. Norwegian scientists tracked down the whale and removed its very tight harness. The harness had an attachment for a GoPro camera, but there was not a camera there anymore. Audun Rikardsen, a professor at The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, noted that as far as he knows, neither Norwegian nor Russian researchers put harnesses on belugas, which suggests that this was likely the handywork of the Russian navy in Murmansk, a city in north-western Russia. The animal probably approached the fishermen’s boat because the animal was used to people feeding it fishy treats. However, this is not the first case of a Russian-trained beluga going AWOL. In the mid-1990s, a beluga was found coming from a naval facility on the Russian side in the Crimea.

Naval sources from different countries have said that beluga whales were far easier to train than dolphins. Evolution likely plays a role in the beluga’s temperament. Take, for instance, the beluga’s icy home in the Arctic. If there were a dolphin and a beluga trapped under the ice, both would need to find an ice-free area where they could surface to breathe. Pierre Béland, a research scientist in marine biology at the St. Lawrence National Institute of Ecotoxicology in Montreal, Canada explained that “Dolphins would go in one direction and find there’s no open water and come back and get frantic about it, but beluga whales have learned through selection or cultural evolution to sit there and listen, send sounds left and right and find out where the nearest open water is and then go there.”

While belugas are not considered an endangered species, the loss of habitat, captivity, as well as human pollution, put the beluga at risk. Belugas have been hunted for centuries by native whalers for food, oil, and porpoise leather. They are still hunted by native people throughout most of the Arctic. The current population is estimated to be 200,000 world-wide. Whales, like the beluga, are at the top of the food chain and have an important role in the overall health of the marine environment. They are culturally important to indigenous communities in the Arctic. They depend on sea ice for its existence and can be directly impacted by climate change.