General Info

General Information The Beluga or White Whale delphinapterus leucas is a small cetacean in the monodontidae family. It is a circumpolar species meaning that it inhabits the arctic and sub arctic waters around Canada Alaska and Russia. There are 11 known populations of beluga 4 in Alaska and 7 in Canada. The beluga spends much of its time in the winter under heavy ice cover in arctic waters making it extremely difficult to study its social behavior in the wild.
	Food Belugas hunt a variety of fish including Cod, Pollock, Herring, Capelin, and Smelt. They also eat polychaetes, cephalopods and crustaceans. In captivity belugas weighing 200kg ate 4.5% of their body weight per day, however this requirement decreases as weight increases with 1400kg animals eating only 1.2% of their body weight per day (Kastelein et. al. 1994). This is most likely due to the fact that the majority of the Belugas mass is adipose tissue which has much lower energy requirements than muscle.
	Physical Characteristics The Beluga is a small whale that can grow up to 5 meters (16ft) long, making it larger than all but the largest dolphins but smaller than most other toothed whales. Males are generally larger than the female, with males weighing about 1,400 kg (~3,000 lb) and females about 900 kg (~2000 lb). Belugas are born about 1.5 m (5 ft) long and weighing 80kg (176 lb). The adult whale is unmistakable, all white with a dorsal ridge rather than a fin. The head is unlike that of other whales in that it is melon shaped (useful for breaking breathing holes in thin ice) and extremely malleable. The vertebrae in the neck are not fused together, allowing the animal flexibility to turn its head laterally. The body of the Beluga is rotund, tapering smoothly to both the head and tail.
There are 32 Belugas currently residing in North American zoological institutions, and since 1988 combined captive breeding efforts have resulted in 21 successful births (Robeck et al., 2005). These animals have contributed greatly to our understanding of reproduction and development in the beluga (see Reproduction and Rearing)

General Information

The Beluga or White Whale delphinapterus leucas is a small cetacean in the monodontidae family. It is a circumpolar species meaning that it inhabits the arctic and sub arctic waters around Canada Alaska and Russia. There are 11 known populations of beluga 4 in Alaska and 7 in Canada. The beluga spends much of its time in the winter under heavy ice cover in arctic waters making it extremely difficult to study its social behavior in the wild.

Food

Belugas hunt a variety of fish including Cod, Pollock, Herring, Capelin, and Smelt. They also eat polychaetes, cephalopods and crustaceans. In captivity belugas weighing 200kg ate 4.5% of their body weight per day, however this requirement decreases as weight increases with 1400kg animals eating only 1.2% of their body weight per day (Kastelein et. al. 1994). This is most likely due to the fact that the majority of the Belugas mass is adipose tissue which has much lower energy requirements than muscle.

Physical Characteristics

The Beluga is a small whale that can grow up to 5 meters (16ft) long, making it larger than all but the largest dolphins but smaller than most other toothed whales. Males are generally larger than the female, with males weighing about 1,400 kg (~3,000 lb) and females about 900 kg (~2000 lb). Belugas are born about 1.5 m (5 ft) long and weighing 80kg (176 lb). The adult whale is unmistakable, all white with a dorsal ridge rather than a fin. The head is unlike that of other whales in that it is melon shaped (useful for breaking breathing holes in thin ice) and extremely malleable. The vertebrae in the neck are not fused together, allowing the animal flexibility to turn its head laterally. The body of the Beluga is rotund, tapering smoothly to both the head and tail.

There are 32 Belugas currently residing in North American zoological institutions, and since 1988 combined captive breeding efforts have resulted in 21 successful births (Robeck et al., 2005). These animals have contributed greatly to our understanding of reproduction and development in the beluga (see Reproduction and Rearing)

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This website was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2008.

Site created by Jordan C. Iordanou (joiordanou@davidson.edu)

This website was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for biology 323, Animal Behavior, at Davidson College in the Spring Semester 2008.