Monday, May 18, 2009

The Playful Beluga

My Playful Beluga's


The Beluga is a highly sociable creature. Groups of males may number in the hundreds, but mothers with calves generally mix in slightly smaller groups. When pods do aggregate in estuaries, they may number in the thousands. This can represent a significant proportion of the entire Beluga population and is the time when they are most vulnerable to hunting.

Beluga pods tend to be unstable, meaning that Belugas tend to move from pod to pod. Pod membership is rarely permanent. Radio-tracking has shown Belugas can start out in a pod and within a few days be hundreds of miles away from that pod.

The closest social relationship between Belugas is the mother-calf relationship. Nursing times of two years have been observed and lactational anestrus may not occur. Calves often return to the same
estuary as their mother in the summer, meeting with their mother sometimes even after becoming fully mature.

Beluga are also known for being rather playful, as well as spitting at humans or other whales. It is not unusual for an aquarium handler to be sprayed down by one of his charges whilst tending a Beluga tank. Some researchers believe that this skill may be utilized to blow away sand from crustaceans at the sea bottom. Unlike most whales, it is capable of swimming backwards.

(from Wikipedia.org)

Ilustrated by Kenz







3 comments:

Boondock Ma (Kim's Mom) said...

Great drawing, Kenzie!

She's sure a pretty young lady. Looking more and more like her Grandma! And your Grandson is just adorable!

We did a study on Whales in our homeschool a few years ago. It remains one of the kids favorite unit studies of all time! They are a fascinating subject to study.

Nana Connie said...

Thnks for your nice comments Boondock Ma.

If you watch the video, then press on the others you can see real Beluga whales. We love the music!

Your time/projects with your children is inspiring.

Sally Wendkos Olds said...

What fun -- and good learning as a bonus! Your Belugas are adorable.

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