Beluga

Sorry for repeating the same post in facebook, I'm just moving those fun animal facts here so it's easier to manage. Like I mentioned in the gray wolf blog, although it is a repeat, but it's a more detailed version, so please just read what you and I have missed out.

Beluga, or white whale, scientific name is Delphinapterus leucas, as you can see just... by their name, an adult beluga is completely white, but they aren't born white, a baby beluga, or also called a calf, is actually born with a tad darker gray to camouflage themselves in their mother's shadow, so predators won't notice them as much and also a calf is born in a murky water, so being gray also helps them to blend in into their surrounding environment and won't get noticed as much as being shinny white. A beluga calf start to wean at around 2 1/2 year of age and won't start to mate at the age of around 7 years. A female would have only one calf once in three years, so that means they reproduce slowly.

Belugas are quite social and very noisy! They communicate through a wide range of squeaks, clicks and warbles. They tend to spend lots of time near the surface or shallow waters and they feed on fish and crustaceans (those are animals like shrimps, crabs, lobsters... and so on.). They tend to find their prey through sight and echolocation. Now take a guess on this puzzle, how many teeth does a beluga have? The answer is 40.

Now, here's something fascinating and unique about belugas, they are the only ones in the whale family can pout, spit and shake their heads.