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There’s a big white whale swimming off Seattle, and no one knows why.
Over the past week, residents of the greater Seattle area have spotted the white whale swimming around Puget Sound. The wayward cetacean – a beluga – normally found in arctic and subarctic waters.
“The closest beluga population is Cook Inlet, Alaska,” which is about 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from Seattle, Howard Garrett, co-founder of Orca Network, an organization told Live Science. nonprofit that raises awareness about whales in Puget Sound. “I haven’t checked the water temperatures there, but I’m sure they’re a little colder up there than here.”
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One of the first reported sightings was on Sunday (October 3), when Jason Rogers, of Bonney Lake, Wash., Filmed the white whale swimming in Commencement Bay near Tacoma, about 50 km south of Seattle.
“It was a surreal experience, of course,” Rogers told Live Science in an email. “Sailing to Commencement Bay was the last place we thought we would see a whale, let alone a beluga! It was there, swimming peacefully, though it really didn’t seem out of place.”
Other people saw the beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) around Puget Sound, even swimming near three different shipyards. “I don’t understand the appeal of a shipyard to a beluga,” Garrett said. “I don’t know if that’s a clue, if it means he was held captive in a shipyard somewhere in a busy port, but we have no documents, no idea where this would, certainly in North America. “
In 2019, a beluga wearing a harness marked “Saint Petersburg Equipment” and spotted in Norwegian waters was suspected of being a Russian spy, Previously reported live science. This beluga, nicknamed Hvaldimir, still swims in Scandinavian waters; animal welfare activists fear he may not be able to hunt on his own and avoid humans, according to the BBC.
There is no clue to the origins of the new beluga. “We didn’t see any markings, no indication of where it came from,” Garrett said.
Like many others Arctic and subarctic animals, adult beluga whales are white, which helps them stay camouflaged in a world of snow and sea ice, according to the Georgia Aquarium. Belugas are also known for their unique “melons,” the round bumps on the head that whales use for communication and echolocation. In fact, belugas are social animals that live in groups of 100 individuals, Garrett said, which makes this solitary whale’s journey all the more mysterious.
So why did this whale venture out on its own?
“Until we have some clue, my default theory is that this whale just decided to go out for a walk, to go exploring,” Garrett said. “He wanted to travel. This is very unusual, but every now and then it happens with [beluga] populations. So it’s not totally unprecedented, but certainly very rare. “
The last documented sighting of a beluga in Puget Sound dates back to 1940, Garrett said. A beluga was also reported in Puget Sound in 2010, but only one person said they saw it, and they were unable to obtain any photographic evidence of it, he noted.
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In 2020, a beluga stranded dead in Baja California Sur, Mexico, according to The Mercury News. It’s still a mystery why this whale swam in such warm waters. “I don’t know why a beluga would do that,” Garrett said.
That said, the Puget Sound beluga appear to be in good health, at least based on sightings so far. Beluga whales eat squid, small fish and crabs, “and there are a lot of them in Puget Sound,” he said. Puget Sound is also home to other whales, including visiting and resident killer whales and migrating gray whales, Humpback whales and minke whales, Garret said.
Local whales and other groups of animals are familiar with the wayward beluga, including the local branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which hopes to approach the whale safely to obtain images. Such images could be compared to photos of other known belugas and could help scientists identify the origin of the visitor to Puget Sound, Garrett said.
To report a beluga sighting, call the Whale Sighting Network at (360) 331-3543 or toll free at (866) ORCANET (672-2638); or you can send an e-mail [email protected]. But don’t get too close to the cetacean; they are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which requires boats to stay at least 100 meters (91 meters) away, although a greater distance is recommended, according to Whale Wise.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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