White Sea dolphins. Beluga is a mammal: description, habitat, reproduction

For a long time it was believed that the white whale is the fruit of the imagination of superstitious sailors who endowed this animal with supernatural abilities and deceit.

In fact, the beluga whale, as the white whale is also called, is not a fish, but a mammal that lives in the seas and oceans. What does it look like, what does it eat and where does it live? We will try to answer all these questions.

Biological characteristic

The white whale, the photo of which you see, belongs to the Navralov family, the suborder of Toothed whales, the order of Cetaceans.

Beluga whale, as its Latin name Delphinapterus leucas (wingless dolphin) implies, is a dolphin called a whale because of its five-meter size. Among the white whales, the following three subspecies are distinguished:

Belomorsky.
Far East.
Kara.

On average, white whales live for about 45 years, while they finish growing only at 10-11 years old. Sexual maturity in females of this species occurs at the age of 3-5 years, but the "boys" mature at 5-8. Pregnancy lasts from 11 to 12 months, after which a calf weighing about 50 kg and 1.5 meters long is born, which the mother feeds with breast milk for a year.

Throughout her life, a female beluga whale can give birth to 3 to 12 cubs.

What color are they?

The adult white whale really has white skin. However, the calves are born in the same deep dark blue color as regular black and white whales. As they grow, their color changes and they become first gray, then bluish-gray. And only having matured, by about 5 years, they become snow-white.

These mammals have a small, relative to the size of the body, lobed head, but are deprived of such obligatory attributes of dolphins as a beak and dorsal fin. In addition, the white whale, unlike other representatives of this order, can turn its head, since its cervical vertebrae are separated by cartilaginous layers and are mobile. The body of the beluga whale is almost round, and the front flippers are wide and square.

It is impossible to say for sure how much a white whale weighs, since the smallest White Sea beluga whales weigh up to 1500 kg, and males of other species can grow up to 2 tons with a length of 6 meters.

The skin of the Arctic dolphin is strong, up to 2 cm thick. Under it is a 15 cm thick fat layer, which serves as a heat insulator and protects the internal organs of the animal from hypothermia. The white whale can dive to a depth of 300 meters, swim on its back and even backwards. Without air, it can last up to 15 minutes, but while moving, it emerges for breathing every 2 minutes. The average speed of a beluga whale is 9-10 km/h, but fleeing from danger, it can accelerate up to 25 km/h.

The white whale, the photo of which you see, confirms that these animals have well-developed facial muscles of the muzzle.

Sadness or contempt, joy or indifference can show you an arctic dolphin.

What do they eat?

Adult beluga whales eat 15-17 kg of food per day, sucking it up with a stream of water like whales. These are mainly schooling species of fish: navaga, herring, polar cod, cod, capelin, flounder, various representatives of salmon and whitefish. In addition to fish, white whales can eat cephalopods and various crustaceans.

Where do they live?

The white whale prefers arctic waters and can be found off the coast of Russia, Greenland, Alaska and Canada. It can swim in the Baltic and Okhotsk Seas, and also in search of food, climb the Amur, Ob, Lena and Yenisei rivers for hundreds of kilometers upstream.

These animals are characterized by seasonal migrations: in spring to the mouths of northern rivers and shallow fjords and bays, and in summer closer to the coast. In winter, beluga whales adhere to the boundaries of ice fields, but when there is heavy icing, they go to more southern regions that are not covered with ice.

How do sea canaries communicate?

White whales are very sociable and communicate using facial expressions, gestures, tail movements, as well as a wide variety of sounds, including those inaudible to humans: chirps, squeals, whistles of different heights, iridescent trills. For some time, there were reports in the press that in one of the US dolphinariums, a cub of an Arctic dolphin imitated human speech.

While moving, the white whale roars abruptly, the sound it makes is similar to the simultaneous grunting of a walrus and the roar of a bull. In the northern regions, the beluga whale is called the beluga, and it is from here that the expression "beluga roar" came from. In fact, she is silent, and you will not expect audible sounds from her.

social behavior

The white whale is a social creature and lives in a flock. As a rule, it is divided into two groups: the first consists of one or more females with cubs of different ages, and the second consists of eight to 16 adult males. The head of the “family” of belugas is the female, but during long transitions to the shore, the males begin to manage the flock, and the “matrons” with children and adolescents follow them. In pursuit of food, chasing shoals of fish, belugas can stray into flocks of many thousands.

Observers note that white whales not only take care of food for 16 hours a day, but also find time to play and socialize.

Beluga whale breeding

From April to June, mature male white whales use a variety of noise effects to attract females. Having found a couple, they swim and caress each other until the female sinks under the male's belly. After that, mating takes place.

Pregnancy lasts 11-12 months, after which one, extremely rarely two, cubs are born. They are born tail first and should immediately rise to the surface for their first breath. The skin of a newborn calf is reddish-green, and only after a couple of years it becomes grayish-blue. Usually the female feeds the cub with milk for a year or two.

Beluga is a mammal and belongs to the family of dolphins of the suborder of toothed whales. In other words, it is a polar dolphin, since its habitat extends mainly to the seas of the Arctic Ocean. This animal does not disdain the mighty northern rivers flowing into a huge reservoir. The Ob, Yenisei, Lena are well known to the beluga whale. She swims into the mouths of these rivers tens of kilometers upstream, but in any case she prefers the open spaces of the sea, since they have much more fish, which she mainly feeds on.

Appearance

Beluga is a large marine animal. The body length of males is 6 meters, the weight of some individuals reaches 2 tons. On average, the male weighs one and a half tons. The females are slightly smaller. Their length does not exceed 5 meters, and their body weight fluctuates within one and a half tons. The body color of an adult polar dolphin is white. Hence the name of the mammal. In a newborn cub, the skin is dark blue, or rather slate blue. Over time, it turns pale and acquires a grayish tint, which gradually begins to give off a delicate blue. The blueness fades and disappears completely at the age of 4-5 years. It is replaced by the white color, which remains in the animal until the end of its life.

The head of the beluga whale is small relative to the size of the body. It has a characteristic frontal protrusion like all dolphins, but there is no beak inherent in these mammals. A remarkable property of the animal is that it is able to rotate its head, turning it up, down and sideways. This is due to the mobility of the cervical vertebrae. They are not merged in her, like in other close relatives, but are separated by cartilaginous layers.

The polar dolphin also has well-developed muzzle muscles. It can change expression, displaying either joy, or sadness, or complete indifference or contempt. The pectoral fins are wide, but again small relative to the body. The tail is powerful, but there is no dorsal fin. This is apparently due to the specifics of habitat, since among the eternal ice such a formation on the back can only interfere.

Beluga has a very durable, with excellent thermal insulation, skin. Its thickness reaches 2 cm. There is a thick layer of fat under the skin. This layer reaches a thickness of 15 cm and reliably protects the internal organs from the polar cold. She swims at a speed of 10 km/h. In case of danger, escaping from killer whales, it can reach speeds of up to 25 km / h. It swims well on its back and even backwards. It can descend to a depth of 300 meters, like all dolphins. Without air, it can withstand 15 minutes. While swimming, it emerges from the water at intervals of 2 minutes to take a breath of air.

Reproduction and lifespan

Beluga whales mate and give birth in coastal areas. At the same time, he chooses places with warmer water. These, as a rule, are areas located near the mouths of rivers. Here, in the spring-autumn period, offspring are born. The cub is born alone and reaches a length of 1.4-1.6 meters. At the same time, his weight reaches 70 kg. His mother feeds him with milk for a year and a half. She mates again two weeks after giving birth.

Males seek the attention of ladies by arranging fights among themselves. Pregnancy lasts 14 months. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 4 to 7 years. They lose the ability to give birth to cubs, mainly at the age of 20. Males mature by 7-9 years. Beluga whales stop growing at the age of 10-11 years. These mammals live 35-40 years. In captivity, polar dolphins can live up to 45 years.

Behavior and nutrition

The white whale prefers to live in a flock. Packs are made up of many groups. In some such small formations, several females with cubs are combined, in others adult males gather together. In the spring, these animals tend to the harsh northern shores. Here, in narrow bays near the mouths of rivers, they spend the entire warm season. During this period, there are a lot of fish in shallow water. The polar dolphin feeds on polar cod, capelin, and flounder. Likes saffron cod, cod. With pleasure, eating herring and salmon fish, does not disdain crustaceans and mollusks. He does not have enough prey with his mouth, but sucks it up along with the flow of water.

In the spring, these mammals have a molting period. The upper dead layer of the skin of the beluga whale is torn off with the help of small stones and pebbles. Animals rub against them with their large bodies, and the old skin slides into the water in whole patches. It is characteristic that animals spend the summer months throughout their lives always in the same places. That is, after the winter migration, they invariably return to where they were once born. They don't have it otherwise.

With the onset of severe Arctic cold, belugas leave coastal zones and move to the edge of endless ice fields. In the absence of a sufficient amount of food, mammals swim into the zone of drifting ice. They can exist in these areas only periodically sticking their muzzle out of the ice porridge.

Animals choose vast polynyas, near which they cluster. Very often there are several such holes in the ice. Sometimes they are located many kilometers apart. If the polynya is covered with a crust of ice, then the animals break it with their large bodies. It happens that ice floes move, crawl on top of each other due to northern winds and powerful currents. In this case, access to air is blocked, and a whole flock of several hundred heads may die.

Enemies

Beluga whales have two enemies. This is a polar bear and a killer whale - the most powerful predators: one land, the second marine. Bear loves polar dolphins. He likes their thick fatty layer. The clumsy is looking forward to winter and settles down near the vast thawed patches in the ice. As soon as the polar dolphin sticks out its head to inhale the air, a powerful clawed paw falls on it.

The bear drags the stunned body onto the ice and eats it. Killer whales also love to feast on these animals. They relentlessly attack them in the water. It is almost impossible for the chosen victim to escape from a powerful predator. The killer whale swims twice as fast, and the poor mammal ends its life in its toothy mouth.

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Appearance

The color of the skin is uniform. Changes with age: newborns are blue and dark blue, after a year they become gray and bluish-gray; individuals older than 3-5 years are pure white (hence the name).

The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females are smaller. The head of the beluga whale is small, "lobed", without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent; hence the Latin genus name Delphinapterus- "wingless dolphin".

Spreading

Distributed circumpolar, between 50° and 80° N. sh., inhabiting the arctic, as well as the White sea, Bering and Okhotsk seas; sometimes enters the Baltic Sea in winter.

An isolated population exists in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River.

Lifestyle and nutrition

The basis of the beluga whale's diet is fish (mainly schooling: capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, Far Eastern navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species) and, to a lesser extent, crustaceans and cephalopods molluscs. Beluga whales do not catch prey (especially demersal animals), but suck it up. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. In pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), the beluga whale often enters large rivers (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur) and into the bay of the Khatanga River, sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.

Beluga whales make regular seasonal migrations. In spring, they begin to move to the coast - to shallow bays, fjords and the mouths of northern rivers. Flying near the coast is due to the abundance of food here and the higher water temperature. In addition, coastal areas are convenient places for "molting". (Belugas rub against pebbles in shallow water to remove the dead surface layer of skin.) Beluga whales are tied to the same flying places, visiting them year after year. Tracking individual individuals showed that beluga whales remember the place of their birth and the way to it after wintering.

In winter, as a rule, they stick to the edges of ice fields, but sometimes they penetrate far into the glaciation zone, where winds and currents support cracks, leads and polynyas. When icing large water areas, they make mass migrations to the south. The polynyas, to which the beluga whales rise to breathe, can be several kilometers away from each other. Beluga whales support them, preventing them from freezing - they are able to break through ice up to several centimeters thick with their backs.

However, wintering sometimes ends tragically for beluga whales, when polynyas are covered with too thick ice or a herd of beluga whales is trapped in ice. In winter, white whales are hunted by a polar bear, which lies in wait for prey near the polynyas and suppresses it with the blows of its paws. Another enemy of beluga whales is the killer whale.

Beluga whales travel in flocks, consisting of groups of two types. One is a group of 1-3 adult females (presumably sisters) and their cubs of different ages. Another type is groups of 8-16 adult males. Chasing shoals of fish, belugas sometimes stray into flocks of hundreds and even thousands of individuals.
Beluga whales are social creatures. For the variety of sounds they make, the Americans called the beluga whale "sea canary" (sea canary), and the Russians have a phraseological unit "beluga roar". (In the Russian north, a beluga whale is often called a beluga.) The researchers counted about 50 sound signals (whistling, screeching, chirping, screaming, gnashing, shrill cry, roar). In addition, beluga whales use “body language” when communicating (slapping the water with their tail fins)

reproduction

Beluga whale breeding time in different areas is from spring to autumn. Mating and birth take place off the coast. Males often arrange tournament fights for females. Pregnancy lasts about 14 months. Females bring offspring every 2-3 years. Usually one calf 140-160 cm long is born, and very rarely two. Childbirth occurs at the mouths of rivers, where the water is warmer. The next mating occurs within one to two weeks after birth. Milk feeding lasts 12-24 months.

Sexual maturity in females usually occurs at 4-7 years, in males - at 7-9 years. The growth of beluga whales is completed by 9-11 years. Females stop giving birth in their second decade. Life expectancy in nature is 32-40 years.

Adaptation to the environment

Skin with a thickened layer of epidermis (up to 15 mm thick) protects belugas from damage when swimming among the ice. A layer of subcutaneous fat up to 10-12 cm thick saves them from hypothermia.

Population status and protection

Beluga whale roar

The roar of the beluga in Russian classics

He escorted not doctors to the hallway - evenings,
Contrary to the announcement, ready for service
Only on white nights, when until morning
I thought, and the stations roared like a beluga.
B. Pasternak. From the notes of Spektorsky.
Stupid Michel with a magnificent wife
Semenit and waving his cap,
The white clown is tearing himself up with a beluga
And threatens someone with a fist.
Sasha Black. Carnival in Heidelberg.
The steamer roars like a beluga,
The Eiffel Tower in a haze...
Who would make me Miss Kaluga
Chose this year!
Sasha Black. Parisian ditties. II.
bitten hippo,
And from the pain of a hippopotamus,
Mouth open like a gate
So I crashed into the swamp
And roars white.
K. Chukovsky. Let's defeat Barmaley! (War tale).
I was very glad, but, crouching at the stump,
I howled like a beluga and cursed fate, -
German sniper shot me
Killing the one who did not shoot.
V. S. VYSOTSKY. "The one that did not shoot" (1972).

Facts

Notes

Sokolov V. E. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Mammals. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / under the general editorship of acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M.: Rus. yaz., 1984. - S. 117. - 10,000 copies.

Delphinapterus leucas (Beluga)
Order Cetaceans - Cetacea
Suborder Toothed whales (Odontoceti)
Family:Narwhals (Monodontidae)

There are 2 species in the family: Delphinapterus leucas ( beluga) and Monodon monoceros ( narwhal).

In Russian, there is a phraseological unit “roaring a beluga”, associated with the loud sounds that a beluga whale makes. In the 19th century, two spellings of the name of this animal were common: "belukha" and "beluga". In modern language, the word "beluga" has only one meaning - beluga fish.

general information

View statusa- vulnerable (Vulnerable).
habitation- circumpolar, between 50° and 80° N
population- 100-200 thousand individuals (excluding Russia), the population of Russian belugas is about 100 thousand.
Location of the dorsal fin- missing. Hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus - "wingless dolphin".
Newborn length- 140-160 cm.
Adult length and weight- the largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females - 5 m. and 1.5 tons.
Lifespan- 30-40 years.
Nutrition- mainly schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods.

area

Distributed around the polar, between 50 ° and 80 ° N, inhabiting the Arctic, as well as the Bering and Okhotsk seas; sometimes enters the Baltic Sea in winter. An isolated population exists in the estuary of the St. Lawrence River.

Number and status

As of May 1999, there were about 30 herds of belugas in the world, the total number of which was estimated at 100-200 thousand individuals (excluding Russia).

Russian range of beluga whales - the largest in the world. It is believed that the total population is about 100 thousand individuals.
Sea of Okhotsk - three populations, each - 10-15 thousand individuals. In Chukotka, Anadyr Bay - a population of 10-15 thousand heads. The Laptev Sea, the Kara Sea - the classic beluga whale lives here, which was described by Laplace (by the way, he gave it the Latin name - leucas, that is, "white"); Barents and White Seas - 18-20 thousand

Since 1994, the species has been included in the IUCN Red List with the status vulnerable(Vulnerable).

Currently, the main threat to beluga whales is the industrial development of the Arctic shelf and the pollution of the habitat of beluga whales with waste and pesticides.

According to the decision of the International Conference on Monitoring Arctic Warming (Valencia, March 2007), two species of marine mammals ( white whale and seal) received international species status- "bioindicators".
Long-term series of observations by the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences over the structure of the White Sea belugas population are recognized as basic for understanding the effect of warming on the ecosystem, and continuation of these works is recommended.

Appearance

Beluga whales are protected from damage by skin with a 15 mm thickened layer of the epidermis, and a 12-mm layer of subcutaneous fat, which saves from hypothermia.

The color of the skin is uniform. Changes with age: newborns are dark blue, after a year they become gray and bluish-gray; individuals older than 3-5 years are pure white (hence the name).

The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females are smaller.
The head of the beluga whale is small, "lobed", without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent; hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus - "wingless dolphin".

Lifestyle and nutrition

Perhaps one of the main conclusions that scientists come to is that belugas do not have one pattern of behavior, they fit very plastically into the surrounding conditions.

Beluga whales make regular seasonal migrations. In spring, they begin to move to shallow bays, fjords and estuaries of northern rivers. In summer, belugas begin to move towards the shore. This is due to the presence of food and warmer water. Molting begins and coastal areas are convenient for this process.

To get rid of dead skin layers, white whales rub against pebbles in shallow water. Beluga whales are usually tied to the same place of flight, sailing there every year.

In the cold winter season, beluga whales keep to the edges of ice fields or penetrate into glaciation zones. Winds and currents support cracks, leads and polynyas, to which beluga whales rise to breathe. But they can be at a distance of several kilometers from each other, and belugas support them, preventing them from freezing, breaking through the ice up to several centimeters thick with their backs. But if the area becomes too icy, the whales swim further south.

If the beluga whales are trapped in ice, when the polynyas are covered with too thick ice, they can be eaten by polar bears. They lie in wait for the beluga whale near the polynya and stun it with a blow of their paw. Killer whales also prey on beluga whales.

The herd of beluga whales is divided into two groups: the first group includes from one to three adult females and cubs of different ages, and the second group includes from eight to sixteen adult males. While chasing schools of fish, these whales can form huge flocks by the thousands.

Beluga is a very developed creature. This is evidenced by the many sounds made by these whales, and even some gestures and facial expressions. In addition, they are able to make clicks with air sacs on their heads and a fat pad on their foreheads.

Plain speed Beluga whales in a calm state reach 9 km / h, with increased adrenaline - up to 20 km / h in jerks. Every minute and a half, she emerges to the surface, but is still able to stay underwater for up to fifteen minutes. Beluga whales are very agile and adaptable to maneuverability in shallow water, despite their mass.

The basis of nutrition beluga whales are mainly schooling fish (capelin, cod, polar cod, herring, navaga, flounder, whitefish and salmon species); to a lesser extent - crustaceans and cephalopods.

Prey, especially benthic organisms, belugas are not enough, and suck up. An adult individual consumes about 15 kg of food per day. In pursuit of fish (spawning salmon), the white whale often enters large rivers (Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur), sometimes rising hundreds of kilometers upstream.

cubs

Beluga whale breeding time- from spring to autumn; mating and births occur off the coast. White Sea- the only maternity hospital for all white whales in the European part of the Arctic.

Males often arrange tournament fights for females. Pregnancy lasts about 14 months; females bring offspring every 2-3 years. Usually one cub is born 140-160 cm long; very rarely two.

Childbirth occurs at the mouths of rivers, where the water is warmer. The next mating occurs within one to two weeks after birth. Milk feeding lasts 12-24 months.

Sexual maturity in females usually occurs at 4-7 years, in males - at 7-9 years. The growth of beluga whales is completed by 9-11 years. Females stop giving birth in their second decade.

The maximum known documented age of the beluga whale is 43 years. But, in all likelihood, this is not the limit.

Beluga whale and man

The beluga whale is of limited economic importance; only skin and fat are used.

For the last three decades, commercial fishing for beluga whales has not been carried out in Russia; several dozen individuals are harvested annually for the needs of the peoples of the North and the Far East, scientific research and dolphinariums.

Beluga satisfactorily endures captivity, is well trained. First performed at Barnum's Circus in 1861 year.

Some specialties successfully mastered by dolphins and beluga whales (delivery of equipment to divers, search for lost items, underwater video filming) can make them invaluable human assistants in the study of the Arctic.

The white whale, or white dolphin, whose name is the Far Eastern beluga whale, is a mammal belonging to the dolphin family, suborder - toothed whales.

Habitat

The seas of the Arctic Ocean are the basic place of residence, therefore they are called polar dolphins in a different way. Sometimes they can be found in the waters of the Yenisei, Ob and Lena.

Preference is given to white dolphins in the sea with a large number of large and small fish that they feed on.

Appearance

The white dolphin is a large marine animal. Males are 6 m long, their weight is 1.5-2 tons, females are up to 5 m long and weigh up to 1.5 tons. An adult white dolphin, from which it got its name.

A newborn cub with a skin of a dark blue color, which becomes with a grayish tint with its growth, and then acquires a pale blue color. The blueness fades, and by the age of 5 the dolphin becomes a pure white color, which remains with him for the rest of his life.

A white dolphin has a special structure, a small head, it does not have a beak, which is inherent in all mammals of this family. There is a fatty pad on the forehead, which helps the animal to navigate in the surrounding space. The movable cervical vertebrae allow him to turn his head to the sides.

Having developed facial muscles, the beluga whale is endowed with the ability to reproduce facial movements, showing sadness, joy, contempt or indifference.

On the body there are wide pectoral fins of small size, and the dorsal fin is absent. "Wingless dolphin" - this is the name of the beluga whale due to the lack of a dorsal fin. The animal has a powerful tail.

The outer cover of the body is durable and characterized by good thermal insulation, its thickness is two centimeters. A thick layer of fat 15 cm thick thoroughly protects the internal organs from extreme cold.

Behavior

The white dolphin moves at a speed of 10 km per hour, and when it is in danger, it can increase its speed to 25 km per hour. The animal feels great when swimming on its back or walking backwards. The beluga whale can do without air for 15 minutes, descending 300 m into the abyss. Swimming, every two minutes it emerges from the body of water for a breath of air.

The growth of a mammal continues until the age of eleven. Beluga whales live up to 35-40 years, and in captivity live up to 45.

White dolphins try to live in herds, consisting of a large number of groups. In some - females and cubs, in others - adult males. There can be up to 90 animals in a herd, and the maximum number of animals in a group is 7 individuals.

Closer to spring, the animals swim to the northern shores, staying there during the summer period, in narrow bays near the mouths of rivers, where there are a lot of fish.

A large white dolphin in nature has two enemies:

a polar bear on land as they enter ice-filled polynyas;
killer whale in the water.

The World Ocean, whose waters are constantly polluted, also poses a danger to animals.

reproduction

Females reach sexual maturity at the age of four, and males at the age of eight. The mating season starts in April and lasts until autumn. Males that have reached puberty mate with a large number of females. Some females are ready to mate immediately after giving birth. The duration of pregnancy is 11 months.

Females expecting offspring form separate groups. Only one cub is born, the baby is born tail first. The length of a newborn is one and a half meters. After birth, he immediately rises to the surface of the water and takes his first breath. Cubs are fed with milk until the age of one.

Nutrition

The white dolphin is a good hunter, so it has a varied diet. For food they are united in small groups of 5-6 animals. They eat worms, mollusks, crustaceans and various types of fish, which form large schools near the seabed. Communicating with each other, they drive the fish to shallow water, and there they eat it.

The animal has 8-10 pairs of sharp teeth to hold slippery prey, and the food is swallowed whole, sucking it together with water.

When detecting an obstacle or examining the situation, dolphins can make different sounds. They inform each other about their condition. There are sounds that denote farewell, greeting, danger, anxiety. By the sounds they recognize their relatives. It is known that cubs receive a name at birth and respond to it. In addition to sound communication, they communicate with each other through facial expressions.

The most talkative representative of the dolphins is the beluga whale - this is the name of the polar white dolphin. She can squeal, whistle, make melodic iridescent trills, similar to cackling, chirping and meowing, singing with bird voices and imitating bell ringing. There are more than 50 sound signals from representatives of this class. For such skills, belugas are called "sea canaries."

Since ancient times, people hoped to establish contact with dolphins, which would help to establish their intellectual level of development. But for animals, human speech is incomprehensible, and so far one has to communicate with gestures and short sounds.

Threats

Migrating annually along the same road, in the recent past, beluga whales were an easy trade for whalers. They were driven to the sandbars, where they "broke". These animals were destroyed very cruelly. Beluga whales were caught with nets and nets. They were hunted for their high-quality fat, durable hide and meat. In the modern world, the danger for belugas lies in the pollution of coastal waters.

The white dolphin has agility, despite the heaviness.
In winter, it dives to a depth of up to 1000 m when hunting saithe, goby, flounder and cod.
Vision is well developed under water and above it. There is a hypothesis that it is colored, but scientists have not yet confirmed this fact.
The phrase "beluga roar" is a distinctive roar during the male's rut.

Dolphin therapy

Beluga whales are sociable and cheerful animals. Their friendly communication is widely used in medicine.

For the rehabilitation of disabled children with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and other diseases, a white dolphin comes to the rescue. What is the name of this treatment method?

In the seventies of the last century, D. Nathanson, an American psychologist, officially confirmed that after the contact of children with Down syndrome with white dolphins, some improvements in health occurred. Later, in the countries of Germany and Israel, the method of dolphin therapy was included in official programs for the rehabilitation of disabled children.

In Russia, since 2012, children have been undergoing psychological rehabilitation courses in the dolphin therapy department of the Sochi Dolphinarium. Unfortunately, to date, this method of recovery is not included in the official register of rehabilitation methods.

A figurine of a dolphin brings happiness - says Eastern wisdom. And also it is one of the symbols of creativity, harmony and friendship.