beluga whale

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Friendly Beluga, an Escapee, Is at the Center of Controversy

'New York Times Magazine' digs into efforts underway to protect Hvaldimir

(Newser) - It's possible you've seen images or video of a beluga whale known as Hvaldimir. Maybe, for instance, when Ellen DeGeneres showed incredible video of him on her show in 2019 returning a phone to a woman who had accidently dropped it in the sea in Hammerfest, Norway. That...

Aquarium Welcomed 5 Whales in 2021. 3 Are Now Dead

Beluga named Kharabali, 9, had been swimming abnormally at Mystic Aquarium since November

(Newser) - A 9-year-old beluga whale at Mystic Aquarium named Kharabali has died, marking the third death among five whales that were transported there from Canada in 2021. Kharabali began swimming abnormally in November and "her strange behavior continued to progress." She was eventually moved to the intensive care facility...

Alleged Russian Spy Whale Turns Up in a New Country

Hvaldimir, first spotted off of Norway 4 years ago, is now in Swedish waters

(Newser) - In 2019, when a white beluga whale showed up off of Norway , experts suspected it was a spy whale that had defected from the Russian military. Scientists also feared the creature wouldn't be able to survive very long on its own after a lifetime in captivity—but now, four...

'Unprecedented' Rescue of Stranded Whale Is Too Late

Beluga taken out of Seine to be transported back to chillier waters dies

(Newser) - A beluga whale stranded in the Seine, far from the colder waters where it belongs, has died during an attempted rescue, reports CNN . The first part of a multistage relocation operation took place early Wednesday, with the 13-foot-long, 1,800-pound marine mammal lifted out of the waters in northern France...

In the Seine, a Whale Far From Home
Whale Is Stranded in the Seine

Whale Is Stranded in the Seine

Officials are now trying to save the beluga in France, far from its usual home in chillier waters

(Newser) - A beluga whale is stranded far from home, and now French officials are trying to figure out how to get it to safety. The BBC reports that the skinny-looking whale is right now floating near Vernon, 45 miles or so northwest of Paris and way south of the chilly Arctic...

Animal Activists Lose Battle As Whales Arrive to Aquarium

Five Belugas made a day-long trek from Canada to Connecticut

(Newser) - Five Beluga whales have arrived at their new home in a Connecticut aquarium after a years-long legal battle to import them and two others from Canada. The first three animals were flown from Ontario to Connecticut on Friday, per the AP . They arrived in Mystic on three tractor-trailers, where they...

5 Beluga Whales at Center of Lawsuit

Animal rights group does not want them transferred from Canada to US for research

(Newser) - An animals rights group is suing to stop a Connecticut aquarium from acquiring five more beluga whales for research, saying they would be harmed by the trip from Canada and by being torn from long-term relationships with others of their species. Friends of Animals, based in Connecticut, filed suit this...

Your TGIF Minute: A Whale Playing Fetch
Your TGIF
Minute: A
Whale
Playing
Fetch
VIDEO

Your TGIF Minute: A Whale Playing Fetch

'It's crazy, yeah'

(Newser) - Get ready for what TMZ calls a minute "of awesome." The Guardian posted a video Thursday of a boat said to be near the North Pole, with South African rugby fans aboard, next to a beluga whale. That's not what makes the encounter awesome, however: It's...

Whale Suspected of Spying Is a Hit in Norway

Beluga entertains people, but experts say he should be left to forage

(Newser) - A white beluga whale discovered last week that might have slipped away from the Russian military has become at home along the coastline of northern Norway. The whale has been entertaining people, Forbes reports, by dancing in the water, playing with balls, and letting children tap its nose. The tame...

A Whale Rubbed Against a Boat. It Wore a Harness

Officials speculate harnessed beluga whale found off Norway escaped from Russian military facility

(Newser) - A beluga whale found with a tight harness that appeared to be Russian-made has raised the alarm of Norwegian officials and prompted speculation that the animal may have escaped from a Russian military facility. Joergen Ree Wiig of the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries says "Equipment St. Petersburg" is written...

Illegal Russian 'Whale Jail' Investigated

Dozens of orcas, belugas seen in cramped pens

(Newser) - Some of the world's most majestic creatures are being kept in cramped conditions in an illegal "whale jail" in Russia, activists say. Prosecutors in the city of Vladivostok in Russia's Far East opened an investigation after drone video was released showing dozens of beluga whales and orcas...

In This Beluga Pod, One Does Not Belong

Narwhal gains new family in St. Lawrence River

(Newser) - The video appears to show a pod of young belugas splashing playfully in Canada's St. Lawrence River. But then a speckled body breaks the water's surface, standing out among the bright white whales. The narwhal, swimming more than 600 miles south of its usual Arctic homeland, "behaves...

3 Species Were Known to Go Through Menopause. Now It's 5

Aside from humans, they're all similar in one way

(Newser) - Menopause isn't a distinctly human condition—and now scientists have discovered two more species that experience it and then live well beyond it, bringing the total number to five. The four non-human species that go through menopause are similar in that they're all toothed whales. The new study,...

Whales Return to Long Island Sound After 2 Decades

Boaters are snapping pics of humpbacks and belugas, but NOAA issues warning

(Newser) - It's been more than 20 years since whales were spotted in the Long Island Sound—and even longer since the last humpback was spied—but that streak was broken this summer in what one maritime expert is calling "the year of the whale," the Hour reports. Boaters...

Beluga Whales Infected With Cat Parasite

Poses health threat to Inuits

(Newser) - The Toxoplasma gondii parasite, carried by cats, can cause rats to stop fearing the felines; in humans, it can cause blindness. Now, beluga whales in the Arctic have been discovered to have the parasite—and researchers fear it could infect the people who eat them. "The only way to...

Beluga Whale Tells Diver: Get 'Out'

A whale's song sounds eerily human, study says

(Newser) - It could be the muffled sound of singing in the shower or that sing-songy indecipherable voice from the Muppets' Swedish Chef. But scientists say it was a whale imitating people. In fact, the whale song sounded so eerily human that divers initially mistook it for a human voice. In a...

'Dancing' Whale Wasn't Actually Dancing

Juno was trained to bob head to arm movements

(Newser) - That cute whale seemingly dancing to mariachi in the latest video sweeping YouTube? Whale trainers at a Connecticut aquarium rained all over our parade today as they explained the reality behind 9-year-old Juno's sweet moves: He has been trained to bob in response to certain arm movements, and the...

Stray Penny, Pebbles Kill Baby Whale

Nala's airway became blocked at Vancouver Aquarium

(Newser) - Sad news from the Vancouver Aquarium: A baby beluga whale is dead after her airway became blocked by a buildup of debris including pebbles and a penny. The stones are part of the aquarium, but it's unclear how the penny got in there and why Nala wasn't able to expel...

Whale Saves Drowning Diver
 Whale Saves Drowning Diver 

Whale Saves Drowning Diver

(Newser) - A beluga whale came to the rescue of a woman who got into trouble during a free-diving contest at a Chinese aquarium, the Telegraph reports. The woman, who wasn't wearing breathing equipment, suffered cramps near the bottom of the aquarium's Arctic pool and found herself unable to rise. The whale,...

Palin Can't Keep Beluga Off Endangered List

Whale population just won't rebound

(Newser) - The beluga whales living in Alaska’s Cook Inlet were declared an endangered species yesterday over Sarah Palin’s vehement objections, the New York Times reports. The beluga population was cut almost in half during the late '90s, and hasn’t recovered despite a wave of new protections. But Palin...

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