Beluga whales

 

Beluga whales

                                    Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

I came across the following on Facebook and was moved by it.

In December 1984, a group of 3,000 beluga whales were trapped by ice in the Chukchi Sea, near Russia. The whales were confined to small open water ponds surrounded by thick, impassable ice up to ten feet thick in some areas.

Without access to larger areas of the ocean, the whales had difficulty breathing and were at risk of dying. To help rescue them, an icebreaker named Admiral Makarov was brought in, equipped with a specially reinforced ice-breaking hull. The ship attempted to take the whales to safety by breaking the ice, but the belugas initially refused to follow.

When the crew began playing classical music like Tchaikovsky over the ship's speakers, the whales finally began to follow the Makarov through the narrow open-water channel. This allowed 2,000 whales to reach the unfrozen ocean after a journey of almost one hundred miles.

The successful rescue effort lasted several days and was later dubbed "Operation Beluga." It was a massive undertaking that involved several countries, including the (then)Soviet Union, the United States, Canada, and Japan.

            Russian icebreakers Admiral Makarov in forefront and Moskva

                                         Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is found in the Arctic. It is also known as the white whale, because of its colouring, or the sea canary, because its many and varied calls are high-pitched and bird -like.

Most whales have dorsal fins, which help to maintain stability in the water and affect the direction of passage. Beluga whales do not have this fin, which means they are able to swim easily under the ice. ‘Delphinapterus’ means ‘dolphin without fin.’  

Belugas are also quite unusual in having flexible necks, which allow them to move their heads freely.