Beluga British Charms With Impromptu Visit: NPR

Members of the public are waiting to see a beluga on the Thames River near Gravesend, east of London on Wednesday.

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Members of the public are waiting to see a beluga on the Thames River near Gravesend, east of London on Wednesday.

Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP / Getty Images

Dave Andrews could not believe what he was seeing. And then he could not believe what he was tweeting.

"I can not believe I'm writing this, not a joke – BELUGA in the Thames off Coalhouse Fort," the resident of Norfolk, England, posted on Twitter on Tuesday.

The ecologist and ornithologist, as described on his Twitter account, had spotted a beluga swimming in the Thames, east of London, far from its normal habitat.

A beluga swimming in the Thames is probably rare, and a frenzy of social media ensues.

Sky News caught the animal at the camera from a helicopter over the river.

Shortly after, the Natural History Museum in London quoted the whale expert as saying, "The white color of the body, the lack of a prominent dorsal fin, the bulbous forehead and the general movement of swimming suggest very strongly that it is a beluga.

On Wednesday, the whale was still in the river and had a name, Benny.

No rescue is necessary at this stage.

Teri Charlton of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue – an organization specializing in the rescue of marine wildlife in distress – told NPR that the organization fears that the beluga is so far from where it should be, but that the animal continue to swim.

"We will monitor him for the moment and follow his movements," she said.

British divers Marine Life Rescue independently confirmed that it was a beluga whale.

A different beluga swimming under the ice at the Arctic Circle diving center in northern Russia.

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A different beluga swimming under the ice at the Arctic Circle diving center in northern Russia.

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"The lack of a dorsal fin was a gift," Charlton said.

The beluga's genus name, Delphinapterus, translates as "unfinished dolphin", according to the NOAA fisheries. They do not have a dorsal fin, which allows them to swim more easily under ice, which is a standard in their Arctic and subarctic environment. Mature Belugas have teeth and are known for their range of vocal sounds, which has earned them the title of "Canary of the Sea".

Phillip Clapham, director of the Cetaceans Program at the Alaska Marine Science Science Center's Marine Mammal Laboratory, told NPR that beluga whales are generally Arctic species that are commonly found in northern Norway and Europe. Russia.

He has been working with whales and dolphins for almost 40 years, he told NPR, but he does not know exactly why this beluga is so far south.

"With many species, you will get these animals just out of their reach, and there is no rhyme or reason, they may be lost, they may be exploring, they are often always – young animals that are inexperienced, so could be one of those things, "he said.

He does not think it is possible to draw any applicable or more relevant conclusions regarding the beluga population as a whole.

"You can not read too much about these lost or wandering animals," he said.

Belugas are known to be very social animals; so the fact that he is alone is so strange.

While Clapham said that an observation like this is "very" unusual, belugas have been observed in unlikely places.

Clapham noted a sighting of beluga whales off Cape Cod in 2014. He also cited a group of belugas that were frequently spotted off the coast of New Jersey in 2015.

The species can occupy river estuaries, where water from the river and sea water meet, such as where the whale has been spotted in the Thames. Clapham said that there is a permanent population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. The population occupies the Saguenay estuary, which, according to Clapham, is at a latitude similar to that of London.

"It's at 48 degrees north, roughly the same latitude as London – the London 50. But it's very different oceanographically, I mean it's colder, and resident of this population, "he told NPR.

With a thick layer of fat that accounts for 40% of the weight of the whale and helps them stay warm in the icy waters, the wandering of the Thames beluga south of its normal habitat probably can not be attributed to climate change.

"It almost certainly has nothing to do with climate change," Clapham said. "What we're seeing with climate change in the Arctic – in the Pacific Arctic, where we're working, off Alaska – is warming temperatures and we're starting to see species like the whale at these animals extends further north. "

All belugas are protected under the US Marine Mammal Protection Act, and in Alaska, a beluga population is classified as endangered.

"The endangered Cook Inlet beluga population has declined by almost 75% since 1979, from about 1,300 whales to about 328 whales in 2016," according to NOAA reports on fisheries. .

However, around the world, there are hundreds of thousands of NOAA beluga projects.

The beluga Benny the River Thames probably made a lot more noise than any other. To quote the singer-songwriter and children singer Raffi in his song "Baby Beluga", this "little white whale" is definitely "in motion".