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.
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