On my quest to fulfill my bucket list, I have come to learn that not all friends are two-legged, human creatures. My friend Chevy wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers, her favorite mammal. She even shared with me how in Canada there is a song that kids learn in elementary school that goes like this:
“Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea
swim so wild and swim so free
heaven above and sea below
just a little white whale on the go”
Chevy has such Passion about this mammal, a Beluga Whale. I was curious to see this mammal that I heard so much about. Yesterday, we went to Vancouver Aquarium, and my first encounter I became fascinated by this mammal! While it lives in a tiny tank, it just swam and swam. I must have been there hours just siting and watching.
- I learned so much in one day about these fascinating mammals: Beluga Whales is derived from the Russian name which means White. Chevy and I decided that bubble gum was named after the beluga whales, because when your blowing a bubble you make the same shape as the whales.
- These fun loving whale can be up to 5m long, this is larger than all but the largest dolphins but smaller than most other toothed whales.
- Males are generally larger than the female. Male Beluga Whales weigh 1.5 tons, while the females are a mere one ton.
- Newly-born Beluga are about 1.5m long and weigh 80kg. The head is like melon is extremely bulbous and even malleable. The beluga is able to change the shape of its melon by blowing air around its sinuses.
- Unlike many whales, the vertebrae in the neck are not fused together, allowing the animal flexibility to turn its head laterally. Males become sexually mature when they are eight and women when their five.
- Females give birth to a single calf in the spring after a gestation period of fifteen months! That is nearly double the time it takes human women.
- Beluga Whales only live 40 years. But because of whats happening and climate change, they are becoming extinct.
If you want to take part in making a difference, learn here how to save the Beluga whales.
