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Beluga Whale — printable fact sheet
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Beluga Whale
Delphinapterus leucas
The beluga is the only whale that can turn its head. In every other cetacean the neck vertebrae are fused into a rigid block; in the beluga they are not, so it can nod and look sideways — an adaptation for manoeuvring in the shallow, ice-choked coastal water and river estuaries …
Did you know?
- Beluga whales can survive in freshwater for extended periods and are sometimes found swimming far up rivers.
- It is the only whale that can turn its head — its neck vertebrae are unfused, unlike every other cetacean. It can visibly change the shape of the fatty "melon" on its forehead to steer its echolocation beam. Whalers called it the "sea canary" because it is so noisy you can hear it through a boat's hull. It has no dorsal fin — instead a tough ridge it uses to break through ice from below.
What I learned
Draw the beluga whale
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