Beluga is a mammal: description, habitat, reproduction. Dolphin Belukha - wingless northern angel Social structure and reproduction

04.03.2020

It is located at the head of the river. Katun in the Ust-Koksinsky district. The name of the mountain comes from a thick layer of snow that covers it entirely - from the top to the very bottom.

Akkem wall. Beluga whale

Belukha - these are two peaks in the form of irregular pyramids - Eastern Belukha (4506 m) and Western (4435 m) - almost a sheer wall falling to the north to the Akkem glacier and gradually decreasing to the south, towards the Katun glacier. The depression between the peaks, the so-called “Belukha Saddle”, 4000 m high, also abruptly breaks off to the north to the Akkem glacier and more gently descends to the south to the river. Katun.

Mount Belukha is one of the main glacial centers of the Altai Mountains. In the river basins associated with Belukha, there are 162 glaciers with a total area of 146 square kilometers. The main ones are Akkemsky (Rodzevich), Sapozhnikov at the head of the river. Iedygema, Big Berelsky, Katunsky (Gebler), Black, feeding the river. Loose, Throne Brothers.

The slopes of Belukha are dotted with bizarre formations: kars (huge cirque-shaped depressions), troughs (trough-shaped valleys processed by a glacier), karlings (pyramid-shaped mountain peaks); "ram's foreheads" (bedrocks settled and polished by a glacier), terraces, moraines (clastic material of rocks falling onto a glacier and transferred by glaciers to its tongue).

Climate

A meteorological station is located 10 kilometers north of the city of Belukha on the northwestern shore of the Lower Akkem Lake. The diversity of the climate in the Belukha region is determined by significant absolute heights, relief, glaciers, hydrography, which leads to a rapid change in meteorological elements (temperatures, humidity, cloudiness, wind speed and direction). Foehn phenomena are typical for the Belukha region, when warm dry winds blow from the mountains to the valleys. The greatest amount of precipitation falls in summer, with a maximum in July. Above 3000-3200 m above sea level, precipitation falls in solid form. Above 2700-3000 m above sea level, stable snow cover lasts all year round.

The most favorable time for hiking to Belukha and climbing its peaks is the second half of July and the beginning of August.

Delphinapterus leucas Pallas, 1776

Squad: Cetaceans (Сetacea)

Suborder: Toothed whales (Odontoceti)

Family: Narwhals (Monodontidae)

Genus: Beluga whales (Delphinfpterus Laceped.1804)

Other name:

Belukha, Beluga (equivalent, the most common is the first)

Where does he live:

The beluga whale population is subdivided into 29 local herds, of which about 12 are located on the territory of Russia. Distributed circumpolar, between 50° and 80° N, inhabiting all the Arctic, as well as the Bering and Okhotsk seas; in winter, calls are known to the Baltic Sea. Until the middle of the last century, in pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), the beluga whale entered large rivers (the Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur) until the middle of the last century, sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.

The size:

Beluga whales are characterized by sexual dimorphism: males are usually larger than females of the same age as them. Weight: males reach 850-1500 kg, females 650-1360 kg with a typical body length of 3.6-4.2 m. The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons of weight.

Appearance:

The head of the beluga whale is spherical, "lobed", the lower jaws practically do not protrude forward without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. This makes it easier for her to navigate and maneuver in the ice. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent - this allows the beluga whale to move more freely under the ice. Hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus leucas - "white dolphin without dorsal fin".

Skin with a loose layer of epidermis (up to 12 mm thick) resembles an external shock absorber and partly protects belugas from damage when swimming among ice. They are saved from hypothermia by a layer of subcutaneous fat up to 10-12 cm thick, in some places up to 18 cm, which is up to 40% of the body weight of the beluga whale. The color of the skin is uniform. It changes with age: newborns are light brown due to the thick layer of the epidermis, which, as the baby grows, falls off in pieces and the lower parts of the dermis rise to the surface with an abundance of dark pigment - melanin. The general coloration becomes dark blue, growth and molting continue and the young become gray, then bluish-gray; individuals older than 4-7 years are pure white.

Behavior and lifestyle:

Some populations of belugas make regular migrations. They are associated with seasonal movements of schools of fish. Thus, the movement of the beluga whale population from Cook Inlet in Alaska repeats the movement of its main prey - salmon.

In spring, belugas begin to move towards the coast - to desalinated shallow bays, fjords and estuaries of northern rivers. Flying near the coast is due to the presence of food here and the higher temperature of desalinated water. The latter improves the conditions for molting and shedding of the old layer of the epidermis. Often, in order to remove the dead surface layer of the skin, beluga whales rub against the bottom - sand in shallow water. Beluga whales are tied to the same flying places, visiting them year after year. Tracking individual individuals showed that beluga whales remember the place of their birth and the way to it after wintering.

Local herds in summer (reproductive aggregations) play a dual role in the biology of the species. Firstly, they ensure the reproduction of the population and isolation from neighboring local herds, and secondly, they play a crucial role in terms of the implementation of all types of individual contacts (sexual, play, etc.) between members of the herd, maintaining hierarchical relationships and contributing to the upbringing and training young animals. This ensures the preservation of the social structure of the local herd and the individual and group status of its members.

Not all populations migrate. Their need is determined by specific ice conditions and the presence of accumulations of food.

In winter, beluga whales, as a rule, keep to the edges of the 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 from these areas. The polynyas, to which the beluga whales rise to breathe, can be several kilometers away from each other. Beluga whales find them using direction finding and sometimes location. But sometimes they are trapped - in ice captivity, if the distance to clean water exceeds 3-4.5 km. The dorsal part of the body and the upper part of the head consist of thick and durable skin, which allows them to be used to maintain wormwood, breaking with ice up to 4-6 centimeters thick.

Beluga whales are social animals. A herd of beluga whales consists of clans, and clans are made up of families arranged according to the principle of matriarchy. The family consists of primary family groups: mothers and 1-2 cubs. Males in the herd and clan play the role of guards and scouts for fish aggregations. On large concentrations of fish, several herds of beluga whales sometimes gather, and feeding animals huddle into herds of hundreds and even thousands of animals.

Food:

Beluga whales feed mainly on schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods. Prey, especially benthic organisms, belugas do not grab, but suck. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. But such lucky days are rare.

Reproduction:

In the Sea of Okhotsk, beluga whales mate in April - May, in the Gulf of Ob - in July, in the Barents and Kara Seas - from May to August, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence - from February to August, and in the Hudson Bay, fertilization of females occurs from March to September. Thus, the mating period lasts about 6 months, but the bulk of females are fertilized in a relatively short time - late April - early - mid-July. In the rest of the year, in most cases, only individual animals mate.

The period of childbearing is extended, as is the mating period, and childbirth can be from early spring throughout the summer months. Thus, pregnancy in beluga whales lasts 11.5 months, there is an opinion that this period can reach 13-14 months. As a rule, females give birth in the mouths of rivers that bring warmer waters. The female brings one cub 140-160 cm long, very rarely - two. The lactation period lasts about 12 months. The next mating may occur one to two weeks after birth.

Lifespan:

Life expectancy in nature is 32-40 years (the known maximum age of the female is 44 years).

Number:the exact number is not known.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are about 150,000 belugas in the world. Russian populations, according to the International Commission on Whaling, number up to 27,000 individuals. At the same time, the 3 largest groups of the Sea of Okhotsk number up to 20,000 belugas.

Natural Enemies:

The killer whale is the enemy of beluga whales.

Threats mind:

The main danger for these whales is toxic waste polluting their habitat, as well as industrial exclusion from their Arctic habitats, especially key breeding and feeding areas. In recent years, noise pollution has increased dramatically - due to the development of shipping and an increase in the flow of wild tourists, which prevents normal reproduction and leads to a decrease in the number of cubs - i.e. reduction in herd size.

Interesting Facts

In winter, the white whale hunts for cod, flounder, goby, pollock, making very deep dives - up to 300-1000 m, and remaining under water for up to 25 minutes. Despite the massiveness, the beluga whale is agile; She is able to swim on her back and even backwards. Usually swims at a speed of 3-9 km / h; frightened, it can make jerks up to 22 km / h.

For the variety of sounds they make, whalers in the 19th century. nicknamed the beluga whale "sea canary" ( sea canary), and the Russians had the expression “beluga roar” - the characteristic roar of a male during the rut.

The researchers counted about 50 sound signals in beluga whales: whistling, screeching, chirping, screaming, grinding, shrill scream, roar, and others. In addition, beluga whales use “body language” (slapping the water with their tail fins) and even facial expressions when communicating.

In addition to screams, beluga whales make clicks in the ultrasonic range. The system of air sacs in the soft tissues of the head takes part in their production, and the radiation is focused by a special fat pad on the forehead - melon (acoustic lens). Reflected from surrounding objects, clicks return to the beluga whale; The “antenna” is the lower jaw, which transmits vibrations to the cavity of the middle ear. Echo analysis allows the animal to get an accurate picture of its surroundings. Beluga has excellent hearing and echolocation. These animals are able to hear in a wide frequency range from 40-75 Hz to 30-100 kHz.

Beluga whales also have well-developed vision, both under water and above its surface. Probably, the vision of the beluga whale is colored, because. her retina contains rods and cones - photoreceptor cells. However, research has not yet confirmed this.

Compiled by: Member of the Board of the Marine Mammal Council,

Head Laboratory of Marine Mammals of the IO RAS, Doctor of Biological Sciences V.M. Belkovich

Delphinapterus leucas (Beluga)
Order Cetaceans - Cetacea
Suborder Toothed whales (Odontoceti)
Family:Narwhals (Monodontidae)

There are 2 species in the family: Delphinapterus leucas ( beluga) and Monodon monoceros ( narwhal).

In Russian, there is a phraseological unit “roaring a beluga”, associated with the loud sounds that a beluga whale makes. In the 19th century, two spellings of the name of this animal were common: "belukha" and "beluga". In modern language, the word "beluga" has only one meaning - beluga fish.

general information

View statusa- vulnerable (Vulnerable).
habitation- circumpolar, between 50° and 80° N
population- 100-200 thousand individuals (excluding Russia), the population of Russian belugas is about 100 thousand.
Location of the dorsal fin- missing. Hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus - "wingless dolphin".
Newborn length- 140-160 cm.
Adult length and weight- the largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females - 5 m. and 1.5 tons.
Lifespan- 30-40 years.
Food- mainly schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods.

area

Distributed around the polar, between 50 ° and 80 ° N, inhabiting the Arctic, as well as the Bering and Okhotsk seas; sometimes enters the Baltic Sea in winter. An isolated population exists in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River.

Number and status

As of May 1999, there were about 30 herds of beluga whales in the world, the total number of which was estimated at 100-200 thousand individuals (excluding Russia).

Russian range of beluga whales - the largest in the world. It is believed that the total population is about 100 thousand individuals.
Sea of Okhotsk - three populations, each - 10-15 thousand individuals. In Chukotka, Anadyr Bay - a population of 10-15 thousand heads. The Laptev Sea, the Kara Sea - the classic beluga whale lives here, which was described by Laplace (by the way, he gave it the Latin name - leucas, that is, "white"); Barents and White Seas - 18-20 thousand

Since 1994, the species has been included in the IUCN Red List with the status vulnerable(Vulnerable).

Currently, the main threat to beluga whales is the industrial development of the Arctic shelf and the pollution of the habitat of beluga whales with waste and pesticides.

According to the decision of the International Conference on Monitoring Arctic Warming (Valencia, March 2007), two species of marine mammals ( white whale and seal) received international species status- "bioindicators".
Long-term series of observations by the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences over the structure of the White Sea belugas population are recognized as basic for understanding the impact of warming on the ecosystem, and continuation of these works is recommended.

Appearance

Beluga whales are protected from damage by skin with a 15 mm thickened layer of the epidermis, and a 12-mm layer of subcutaneous fat, which saves from hypothermia.

The color of the skin is uniform. Changes with age: newborns are dark blue, after a year they become gray and bluish-gray; individuals older than 3-5 years are pure white (hence the name).

The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females are smaller.
The head of the beluga whale is small, "lobed", without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent; hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus - "wingless dolphin".

Lifestyle and nutrition

Perhaps one of the main conclusions that scientists come to is that belugas do not have one pattern of behavior, they fit very plastically into the surrounding conditions.

Beluga whales make regular seasonal migrations. In spring, they begin to move to shallow bays, fjords and estuaries of northern rivers. In summer, belugas begin to move towards the shore. This is due to the presence of food and warmer water. Molting begins and coastal areas are convenient for this process.

To get rid of dead skin layers, white whales rub against pebbles in shallow water. Beluga whales are usually tied to the same place of flight, sailing there every year.

In the cold winter season, beluga whales keep to the edges of ice fields or penetrate into glaciation zones. Winds and currents support cracks, leads and polynyas, to which beluga whales rise to breathe. But they can be at a distance of several kilometers from each other, and belugas support them, preventing them from freezing, breaking ice up to several centimeters thick with their backs. But if the area becomes too icy, the whales swim further south.

If the beluga whales are trapped in ice, when the polynyas are covered with too thick ice, they can be eaten by polar bears. They lie in wait for the beluga whale near the polynya and stun it with a blow of their paw. Killer whales also prey on beluga whales.

The herd of beluga whales is divided into two groups: the first group includes from one to three adult females and cubs of different ages, and the second group includes from eight to sixteen adult males. While chasing schools of fish, these whales can form huge flocks by the thousands.

Beluga is a very developed creature. This is evidenced by the many sounds made by these whales, and even some gestures and facial expressions. In addition, they are able to make clicks with air sacs on their heads and a fat pad on their foreheads.

Plain speed Beluga whales in a calm state reach 9 km / h, with increased adrenaline - up to 20 km / h in jerks. Every minute and a half, she emerges to the surface, but is still able to stay underwater for up to fifteen minutes. Beluga whales are very agile and adaptable to maneuverability in shallow water, despite their mass.

The basis of nutrition beluga whales are mainly schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods.

Prey, especially benthic organisms, belugas are not enough, and suck up. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. In pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), the white whale often enters large rivers (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur), sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.

cubs

Beluga whale breeding time- from spring to autumn; mating and births occur off the coast. White Sea- the only maternity hospital for all white whales in the European part of the Arctic.

Males often arrange tournament fights for females. Pregnancy lasts about 14 months; females bring offspring every 2-3 years. Usually one cub is born 140-160 cm long; very rarely two.

Childbirth occurs at the mouths of rivers, where the water is warmer. The next mating occurs within one to two weeks after birth. Milk feeding lasts 12-24 months.

Sexual maturity in females usually occurs at 4-7 years, in males - at 7-9 years. The growth of beluga whales is completed by 9-11 years. Females stop giving birth in their second decade.

The maximum known documented age of the beluga whale is 43 years. But, in all likelihood, this is not the limit.

Beluga whale and man

The beluga whale is of limited economic importance; only skin and fat are used.

For the last three decades, commercial fishing for beluga whales has not been carried out in Russia; several dozen individuals are harvested annually for the needs of the peoples of the North and the Far East, scientific research and dolphinariums.

Beluga satisfactorily endures captivity, is well trained. First performed at Barnum's Circus in 1861 year.

Some specialties successfully mastered by dolphins and beluga whales (delivery of equipment to divers, search for lost objects, underwater video filming) can make them invaluable human assistants in Arctic exploration.

Beluga whale- a rare species of toothed whale and one of the largest mammals on Earth. It can be easily distinguished by its unique coloration and body shape. Born blue or light gray, the beluga whale turns white by puberty. The magnificent head looks very much like a dolphin with a characteristic smile and an intelligent, inquisitive look. The absence of a dorsal fin and the movable head give the impression of a swaddled man.

Origin of the species and description

The name Delphinapterus leucas comes from the Greek "delphis" meaning dolphin. "Apterus" literally translates to without a wing, which immediately indicates the absence of a noticeable dorsal fin in the beluga whale. The species name "leucas" comes from the Greek "leucos" - white.

By type, Delphinapterus leucas belongs to the highest chordates. This oceanic cetacean mammal belongs to the narwhal family. The only representative of the Beluga genus is (Delphinapterus de Lacépède, 1804).

Video: Beluga whale

The first description of the beluga whale was created by the end of the 18th century. Researcher Petr Pallas, while in Russia, heard about an unusual animal and wrote down the stories of eyewitnesses. Subsequently, during a visit to the Gulf of Ob, the naturalist was lucky to personally see and describe in detail a white whale in 1776. The animal was entered and classified in zoo reference books in 1804.

The beluga whale is considered a real find for biologists of all countries and is still considered to be an animal that has not been fully studied. Disputes about the unity of the white whale species arose in the middle of the twentieth century. Some biologists tried to divide the toothed whale into species, while others insisted on a single standardization.

Hypotheses about the origin of the species and disputes about the structure of the animal genus raged until the beginning of the 21st century. Today, an agreement has been reached on the issue of belonging to the species. The white whale is defined by the unique and unique species of beluga whale.

Interesting fact: Scientists believe that the first whales descended from terrestrial mammals that returned to the water 55-60 million years ago. The first representatives of the narwhal family appeared later - 9-10 million years ago in the northeastern part of the Pacific Ocean.

Appearance and features

The beluga whale is called the oceanic dolphin. A beautiful small head with a characteristic relief process, an elongated nose and a “smiling” mouth unmistakably betrays a relative of dolphins in the whale. The mobile head of the beluga whale distinguishes it from other relatives in the detachment. This feature was preserved in the species due to the vertebrae, which did not grow together, as in other representatives of cetaceans.

Due to this feature, the toothed whale has outwardly pronounced shoulders, a wide chest and a body tapering towards the tail. The skin is smooth, glossy, elastic. The body length of an adult whale reaches 6 meters. Beluga has disproportionately small front fins compared to the body. Their length is 1% of the total body length - 60 cm, their width - 30 cm. Tiny flippers are compensated by the width of the tail. Its span is a meter, and sometimes more.

The anatomical and physiological features of the whale are adapted to life in the Arctic. The weight of an adult male can vary from 1600 to 2000 kilograms. A large percentage of the weight is subcutaneous fat. In white whales, it can reach half the body weight, while in other whales it is only 20%.

Animals have well developed hearing. The unique properties of echolocation allow the beluga whale to find breathing holes under the ocean ice. In the graceful jaw of a white whale, there are from 30 to 40 teeth. They have a wedge-shaped shape, which occurs due to the friction of the teeth against each other. This is due to the oblique bite of the whale. Slightly protruding jaws and forward beveled teeth allow the beluga whale to bite off its prey.

These whales are slow swimmers. The speed is from 3 to 9 km per hour. However, a beluga whale can develop a maximum speed of 22 km per hour and hold it for 15 minutes. They have good maneuverability. They can move both forward and backward.

They come in shallow water when the water barely covers the body. Beluga whales usually do not dive very deep, about 20 meters. However, they are able to dive to extreme depths. Under the conditions of the experiment, a trained beluga whale easily made several dives of 400 meters. Another whale plunged to 647 meters. A typical dive lasts less than 10 minutes, but they can stay underwater for more than 15 minutes.

Where does the white whale live?

The toothed whale lives in northern waters:

Ocean;
Seas;
bays;
Fjords.

It enters the shallow waters of the Arctic seas, continuously heated by sunlight. There are cases when beluga whales appear in the mouths of rivers. This takes place during the summer. Whales feed, communicate and produce offspring. The water temperature at this time is from 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.

Beluga whales are found in the arctic and subarctic oceans of Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and Alaska. There are isolated populations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Sea of Okhotsk in eastern Russia. Throughout their range, there are various populations that occupy separate areas of the northern oceans.

Beluga whales live in the White and Kara Seas. They often visit shallower coastal areas but can dive several hundred meters in search of food. The toothed whale is found off the coast of Russia, Canada, Greenland, Alaska. Appears in the eastern part of Hudson Bay, Ungava Bay and the St. Lawrence River.

The beluga whale spends the winter months off the coast of Greenland, and with the onset of heat, it sails to the western shores of the Davis Strait. There is evidence that whales have been encountered off the coast of Scotland in the Edinburgh Channel. Until the middle of the last century, the beluga whale entered the large rivers Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur, sometimes rising hundreds of miles upstream.

Beluga whales are most common in the coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean, but are also found in subarctic waters. Whales migrate south in large flocks when the water starts to freeze.

What does the white whale eat?

Beluga whales eat quite a variety of things. They prey on approximately 100 biological species, predominantly living on the seabed. The diet of the white whale consists entirely of marine food.

Remains of crustaceans and invertebrates are found in the stomachs of belugas:

Octopuses;
cuttlefish;
Crabs;
Shellfish;
Sandworms.

The toothed whale has its own preferences in fish.

The diet includes:

capelin;
Cod;
Herring;
Smelt;
Flounder.

According to data obtained while keeping belugas in captivity, they eat from 18 to 27 kilograms of food per day. This is 2.5-3% of their total body weight.

Beluga whales usually hunt in shallow water. The flexible neck allows it to perform complex maneuvers while hunting. Observations show that the beluga whale can take water into its mouth and push it out under strong pressure, as walruses do. A powerful jet washes out the bottom. Suspension in sand and food rises. In this way the whale can pick up prey from the bottom of the sea.

Beluga whale hunts for flocks of fish. Having gathered in a group of 5 or more whales, belugas drive schools of fish into shallow water, and then attack. The whale is unable to chew food. He swallows her whole. Teeth are designed to securely hold prey when hunting or tear it.

In the stomachs of belugas, zoologists also found wood chips, sand, stones and paper. In all likelihood, these elements enter the body of whales while hunting in shallow water. Whales cannot swallow food whole. Their swallowing apparatus is not adapted for this and they can simply choke. Therefore, beluga whales catch small fish, or pinch off and tear it.

Features of character and lifestyle

Beluga whales are herd animals. They gather in groups of several hundred individuals. There are cases when the colony of beluga whales reached more than a thousand mammals. Beluga whales need air. Whales spend about 10% of their time on the surface.

The whale has well-developed communication skills. Beluga whales communicate in the high frequency range and use echolocation. The sounds produced are sharp and loud. They are like the calls of birds. For this, beluga whales were nicknamed "sea canaries." Their voices sound like chirping, whistling and screaming. The toothed whale is considered one of the loudest in its biological order. It uses vocals during games, mating and communication.

Beluga whales also use body language to communicate and communicate. They give signals, grind their teeth, persistently swim around their relatives, in every possible way drawing attention to themselves or the subject that interested them.

Biologists have proven that beluga whales use communication when raising offspring. They take care, graze and protect their cubs. In order to protect their offspring, they enter the mouths of large rivers, where they spend up to several weeks. During this time, they molt and raise their young.

White whales are very curious animals with a lively mind and very smart. I get in touch with people. They accompany ships, for which they sometimes pay with their own lives.

Social structure and reproduction

Mating takes place between February and May. Males attract the attention of females by flirting, racing, playing and diving. At the same time, they make loud sounds, clicking and whistling. In the struggle for females, males demonstrate their strength and superiority to rivals. Males use tail slaps in the water, head shaking, harsh frightening sounds, and body language. They cut off the opponent with a sharp tilt of the hull, block the road and in every possible way demonstrate that the territory is closed.

The decision to mate is made by the female. Petting white whales is a beautiful sight. The couple plays, swims synchronously and touches bodies. Offspring appear between March and September. Pregnancy lasts 400-420 days. Zoologists are sure that female white whales are able to slow down the bearing and birth of cubs. This assumption is based on the fact that births in the group occur at almost the same time. Since the process of conception is difficult to synchronize, the theory of restraint of fetal development has arisen.

Newborn white whale calves weigh about 80 kilograms. The color of the babies is blue or gray. Calves stay with their mother for at least two years. All this time they are fed with milk. Lactation in a whale lasts from 1.5 to 2 years. Newborn babies are between two females: a mother and a teenage nanny. The cub is taken care of, protected and raised for a breath of air.

Whales reach sexual maturity by 4-7 years. Their maximum life expectancy is 50 years. It is believed that females live on average up to 32 years, males up to 40.

Beluga whales natural enemies

In nature, the white whale has a lot of enemies. As a rule, these are larger predators both under water and on the shore. The nature of the predator, size and abundance depends on the habitat of the white whale. Among them are killer whales, polar bears, Greenland sharks.

Beluga whales are very easy prey for polar bears. The white whale comes close to the icebergs on which the hunting bears are located. Sometimes bears come to the migrating ice specifically to hunt, and sometimes they stay on it for several days. Polar bears track down belugas and attack using their claws and teeth.

An interesting fact: Beluga whales have several options for protection - camouflage, the ability to hide in the ice and behind a larger tribesman who is able to repel a predator attack.

Killer whales have a different way of hunting. As the pod of white whales begins their migration, the killer whale joins the group and accompanies it most of the way, constantly attacking and feeding. Beluga whales can usually hear killer whales, so this makes it difficult to attack them. Due to the low maneuverability of killer whales in the ice, belugas manage to evade their pursuers.

Greenland sharks pursue a flock and attack not only at the time of migration, but also in habitats. However, white whales are able to provide collective resistance. Often, animals are trapped in the Arctic ice and die, becoming the prey of polar bears, killer whales and the local population.

Humans remain the greatest danger and threat to the survival of the species. Commercial hunting for whale skin and blubber has significantly reduced the animal's numbers. The main dangers for these whales are toxic and industrial waste, garbage, as well as climate and environmental change in their breeding and habitat areas.

Scientists note that belugas are affected by noise pollution. The sharp growth and development of shipping, an increase in the flow of wild tourists interferes with normal reproduction and leads to a decrease in the number of calves, and as a result, a reduction in the herd.

Population and species status

Beluga whale population estimates vary widely. The difference in numbers is tens of thousands. This is a rather large error for such a small species.

The current worldwide population is between 150,000 and 180,000 animals. 30 toothed whale habitats have been noted - 12 are located on the territory of the Russian Federation. The largest group of whales - more than 46% - is constantly off the coast of Russia.

Habitats of the main population:

Bristol Bay;
Eastern Bering Sea;
Chukchi Sea;
Beaufort Sea;
Severnaya Zemlya;
West Greenland;
West, South and East Hudson Bay;
St. Lawrence River;
Svalbard;
Franz Josef Land;
Gulf of Ob;
Yenisei Bay;
Onega Bay;
Dvinskaya bay;
Laptev sea;
Western Chukchi Sea;
East-Siberian Sea;
Gulf of Anadyr;
Shelikhov Bay;
Sakhalin - the Amur River;
Shantar Islands.

Canadian ichthyologists count between 70,000 and 90,000 belugas in their region. The population of the western part of Hudson Bay is considered the largest in Canadian waters - about 24,000 individuals. Beluga whales living in this part of the bay are considered resistant to external factors, despite the aggressive environment and human intervention in the life of the toothed whale.

Migratory populations are counted simultaneously by representatives of different countries - Denmark, Norway, Russia, Canada and the UK. Their number at the starting point is very different from the finish. The figures reflect the loss of groups from predation and human activities.

A fairly large group of animals lives in zoos, oceanariums, national aquariums and dolphinariums. Scientists are at a loss as to how many individuals can be in captivity. According to some estimates, this can be from 100 or more animals only on the territory of Russia, and about 250 individuals in other countries of the world.

Beluga whale protection

The white toothed whale is listed in the Red Book as an endangered species. The list of threats includes industrial fishing, external factors and human waste. The indigenous people of the Arctic in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia hunt beluga whales. The number of animals killed is about 1000 per year. Alaska has 300 to 400 dead, Canada 300 to 400. Until 2008, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the beluga whale as "Vulnerable". abundance in some parts of the range.

Beluga whales, like most other Arctic species, are facing habitat change due to climate change and melting Arctic ice. It is still not entirely clear why belugas use the ice, but it is assumed that this is a hiding place from predatory killer whales. Changes in the density of Arctic ice have caused massive losses among individuals. Sudden weather changes can cause the ice cracks that whales use to access oxygen to freeze, eventually causing the whales to suffocate to death.

The US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which prohibits the pursuit and hunting of all marine mammals in US coastal waters. The law has been repeatedly amended to allow indigenous peoples to hunt for food, temporarily capturing a limited number for research, education, and public display. Commercial whaling has put whales at risk of extinction in areas such as Cook Inlet, Ungava Bay, the St. Lawrence River and western Greenland. Continued whaling by indigenous peoples could mean some populations will continue to decline

Beluga whale- a unique animal that has gone through a complex chain of evolution. Scientists managed to find out that the ancestors of the modern white whale once lived in warm seas, and before that on the surface of the earth. This fact is proved by fossils found in northern California, as well as the bones of a prehistoric animal found in Vermont, USA. The remains rested at a depth of 3 meters underground and away from the nearest ocean at a distance of 250 km. DNA analysis gave a match with the code of the modern beluga whale. This proves that her ancestors came from the ocean and then returned to the aquatic habitat.

Beluga, or polar dolphin, is one of the most beautiful species of toothed whales.

Appearance

Beluga whales change their color throughout life. Newborn individuals have dark blue skin, by the time of puberty the skin becomes bluish-gray, and in adults it is snow-white without any inclusions or spots.

Beluga whales are quite large mammals. The body length of males can reach 6 meters, and weight up to 2 tons. The females are smaller. The head of these animals is devoid of a beak, but has a pronounced frontal part. Beluga whale neck has a unique structure for aquatic mammals. The neck vertebrae of these animals are not fused with each other, due to which the beluga whales can turn their heads.

The fins located on the chest are small and oval. There is no fin on the back, which is why belugas are also called "wingless dolphins".

The thickness of the skin of belugas can reach 15 mm, which protects them from injury from the ice. From the cold, they are protected by a subcutaneous layer of fat, which can reach a thickness of 15 cm.

Lifestyle and diet

The lion's share of the diet of belugas is sturgeon, such as cod, herring, capelin. Beluga whales do not disdain mollusks and crustaceans. In pursuit of prey, these animals can travel tens of kilometers.

Beluga whales make seasonal migrations. In the warm season, they live off the coast, in small bays and estuaries. The choice of such habitats is due to the abundance of food here in the summer, the water temperature and the presence of pebbles in shallow water, on which belugas rub in order to remove the "dead" skin. Beluga whales remember the places of flying, and come every year to the same place.

In winter, beluga whales stay close to the ice edge. But sometimes they can swim in places of deep glaciation. Beluga whales are not afraid of ice, as they can break through an ice cover several centimeters thick. There are also tragic cases when polynyas are covered with a very thick layer of ice and belugas cannot get out of this captivity.

The enemy of belugas on the shore is a polar bear, and killer whales are a danger in the water.

Beluga whales prefer to travel in groups. Females with cubs and males always live separately, uniting only for the time of hunting for large schools of fish. In such cases, the group may number hundreds of individuals.

Beluga whales constantly communicate with each other, making various sounds. Scientists have identified about 50 sound signals.

Like dolphins, beluga whales can emit ultrasonic signals that form in the air sacs of the tissues of the head and are focused in a fat pad on the forehead called an acoustic lens. These signals are reflected from various objects and captured by the lower jaw, and then transmitted to the middle ear. These signals allow beluga whales to receive information about their environment.

reproduction

Mating of individuals and the birth of cubs occurs near the coasts. The mating season is in spring and summer. Among males, fights for a female often occur. The gestation period is 14 months. More often, one cub is born, the body length of which does not exceed 160 cm. Feeding offspring can occur from a year to 2 years.

Females are able to bring offspring from 4-7 years, and males reach sexual maturity by 7-9 years. The life expectancy of beluga whales is 40 years.

Beluga whale with a cub.

Spreading

Beluga whales can be found in the northern seas, such as the Sea of Okhotsk, the White Sea, and the Berengovo Sea.

Population protection

Beluga whales are listed in the Red Book with the status of "vulnerable". The main threat is not the hunting of belugas, but the pollution of their habitats with waste and the industrial development of the Arctic shelf.