Belugas or white whales usually live in the Arctic Ocean but one can find few of them in the Saint Lawrence River and Saguenay River in Québec. It lives in big communities up to thousands animals. As an adult, its body is entirely white (when youngers’ is grey) and cylindrical when well-fed. It can be as long as 5 to 6 metres and can weigh one to two tons. Its flexible forehead is composed by a membrane in the shape of a bulb the beluga can inflate whenever it wants, giving so the impression that it can have several facial expressions (which is always a success in European aquariums). Beluga’s natural predators are bears and killer whale. When belugas are stuck in ice, bears knock them out and kill them on shore. Unfortunately, man stays the most dangerous predator of belugas. Hunting and pollution threatens the specie.
source : flickr (ash matadeen) and wikipedia
