(We call this picture: Where’s Waldo.)
Back at the Vancouver Aquarium, these belugas are doing underwater summersaults and can be seen here on the Explore.org live cam. We love this comment from an Explore.org fan and thought it’s a good tip to share on a sleepy weekend morning: Deb S. I love to watch this cam in the early morning when the water is dark and you see a beautiful white beluga appear.
The lovely ladies you see here are: Kavna, a female, the oldest beluga at the Aquarium. She arrived from Churchill, Manitoba and is estimated to be at least 43 years old; Aurora, a female also from Manitoba, born in approximately 1987; And Aurora’s daughter Qila, born at the Aquarium on July 23, 1995 – the first beluga born in a Canadian aquarium. Her father, Nanuq, now lives at Sea World in the United States.
Some interesting facts about these ladies:
- Belugas are found in the Arctic and sub-Arctic waters of the world.
- The southernmost population lives in Canada’s St. Lawrence River estuary. They are often hard to see due to inaccessible or murky habitats.
- Belugas have an excellent sense of hearing; their ability to echolocate appears to be even better than that of a bottlenose dolphin!
- Unlike most whales, some belugas enter rivers during the summer, and can dive to at least 800 metres.
- As much as 40 percent of a beluga’s body weight is blubber.
