Faezal Tanjung (121 444 1 021)

Nila Ridayani (121 444 1 008)

BELUGA WHALE

The beluga whale or white whale (Delphinapterus

leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one
of two members of the family Monodontidae, along
with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus
Delphinapterus. This marine mammal is commonly
referred to as the beluga, melonhead, or sea canary
due to its high-pitched twitter. It is adapted to life in
the Arctic, so has anatomical and physiological
characteristics that differentiate it from other
cetaceans. Amongst these are its all-white colour and
the absence of a dorsal fin.

It possesses a distinctive protuberance at the front of its head which

houses an echolocation organ called the melon, which in this species
is large and deformable. The beluga's body size is between that of a
dolphin's and a true whale's, with males growing up to 5.5 m (18 ft)
long and weighing up to 1,600 kg (3,530 lb). This whale has a stocky
body. A large percentage of its weight is blubber, as is true of many
cetaceans. Its sense of hearing is highly developed and its
echolocation allows it to move about and find blowholes under sheet
ice.

Belugas are gregarious and form groups of up to 10 animals on average, although during the
summer, they can gather in the hundreds or even thousands in estuaries and shallow coastal areas.
They are slow swimmers, but can dive to 700 m (2,300 ft) below the surface. They are opportunistic
feeders and their diets vary according to their locations and the season. The majority of belugas live
in the Arctic Ocean and the seas and coasts around North America, Russia and Greenland; their
worldwide population is thought to number around 150,000. They are migratory and the majority of
groups spend the winter around the Arctic ice cap; when the sea ice melts in summer, they move to
warmer river estuaries and coastal areas. Some populations are sedentary and do not migrate over
great distances during the year.

The native peoples of North America and Russia have hunted belugas for many centuries. They were
also hunted commercially during the 19th century and part of the 20th century. Whale hunting has
been under international control since 1973. Currently, only certain Inuit and Alaska Native groups
are allowed to carry out subsistence hunting of belugas. Other threats include natural predators (polar
bears and killer whales), contamination of rivers (as with PCBs which bioaccumulate up the food
chain), and infectious diseases. From a conservation perspective, the beluga was placed on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List in 2008 as being "near threatened"; the
subpopulation from the Cook Inlet in Alaska, however, is considered critically endangered and is
under the protection of the United States' Endangered Species Act. Of seven Canadian beluga
populations, the two inhabiting eastern Hudson Bay and Ungava Bay are listed as endangered.
Belugas are one of the most commonly kept cetaceans in captivity and are housed in aquariums,
dolphinariums, and wildlife parks in North America, Europe, and Asia. They are popular with the
public due to their colour and expression.

Behaviour
These cetaceans are highly sociable and they regularly form small groups, or pods, that may contain
between two and 25 individuals, with an average of 10 members. Pods tend to be unstable, meaning
individuals tend to move from pod to pod. Radio tracking has even shown belugas can start out in
one pod and within a few days be hundreds of miles away from that pod These pods contain animals
of both sexes and are led by a dominant maleMany hundreds and even thousands of individuals can
be present when the pods join together in river estuaries during the summer. This can represent a
significant proportion of the total population and is when they are most vulnerable to being hunted.

They are cooperative animals and frequently hunt in coordinated groups. The animals in a pod are
very sociable and often chase each other as if they are playing or fighting, and they often rub against
each other.

In captivity, they can be seen to be constantly playing, vocalizing, and swimming around each other.
They show a great deal of curiosity towards humans and frequently approach the windows in the
tanks to observe them. Belugas may also playfully spit at humans or other whales. It is not unusual
for an aquarium handler to be drenched by one of his charges. Some researchers believe spitting
originated with blowing sand away from crustaceans at the sea bottom.

Belugas also show a great degree of curiosity towards humans in the wild, and frequently swim
alongside boats. They also play with objects they find in the water; in the wild, they do this with
wood, plants, dead fish, and bubbles they have created. During the breeding season, adults have been
observed carrying objects such as plants, nets, and even the skeleton of a dead reindeer on their
heads and backs. Captive females have also been observed displaying this behaviour, carrying items
such as floats and buoys, after they have lost a calf; experts consider this interaction with the objects
could be acting as a substitute behaviour.

Migration

Belugas have a seasonal migratory pattern. When the summer sites become blocked with ice during
the autumn, they move to spend the winter in the open sea alongside the pack ice or in areas covered
with ice, surviving by using polynyas to surface and breathe. In summer after the sheet ice has
melted, they move to coastal areas with shallower water (13 m deep), although sometimes they
migrate towards deeper waters (>800 m). In the summer, they occupy estuaries and the waters of the
continental shelf, and on occasion, they even swim up the rivers.[91] A number of incidents have
been reported where groups or individuals have been found hundreds or even thousands of
kilometres from the ocean. One such example comes from 9 June 2006, when a young beluga
carcass was found in the Tanana River near Fairbanks in central Alaska, nearly 1,700 kilometers
(1,100 mi) from the nearest ocean habitat. Belugas sometimes follow migrating fish, leading Alaska
state biologist Tom Seaton to speculate it had followed migrating salmon up the river at some point
in the previous autumn. The rivers they most often travel up include: the Northern Dvina, the Mezen,
the Pechora, the Ob and the Yenisei in Asia; the Yukon and the Kuskokwim in Alaska, and the Saint
Lawrence in Canada. Spending time in a river has been shown to stimulate an animal's metabolism
and facilitates the seasonal renewal of the epidermal layer. In addition, the rivers represent a safe
haven for newborn calves where they will not be preyed upon by killer whales. Calves often return to
the same estuary as their mother in the summer, meeting her sometimes even after becoming fully
mature.

The migration season is relatively predictable, as it is basically determined by the amount of daylight
and not by other variable physical or biological factors, such as the condition of the sea ice. Vagrants
may travel further south to areas such as Irish and Scottish waters, islands of Orkney and Hebrides,
and to Japanese waters. There had been several vagrant individuals demonstrated seasonal
residencies at Volcano Bay and a unique whale were used to return annually to areas adjacent to
Shibetsu in Nemuro Strait in the 2000s.On rarer occasions, individuals of vagrancy can reach the
Korean Peninsula. A few other individuals have been confirmed to return to the coasts of Hokkaido,
and one particular individual became a resident in brackish waters of Lake Notoro since in 2014.

Some populations are not migratory and certain resident groups will stay in well-defined areas, for
example in Cook Inlet, the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River and Cumberland Sound.The
population in Cook Inlet stays in the waters furthest inside the inlet during the summer and until the
end of autumn, then during the winter, they disperse to the deeper water in the centre of the inlet, but
without completely leaving it.

In April, the animals that spend the winter in the centre and southwest of the Bering Sea move to the
north coast of Alaska and the east coast of Russia. The populations living in the Ungava Bay and the
eastern and western sides of Hudson Bay overwinter together beneath the sea ice in Hudson Strait.
Whales in James Bay spend winter months within the basin could be a distinct group from these in
Hudson Bay.The populations of the White Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea overwinter in the
Barents Sea.In the spring, the groups separate and migrate to their respective summer sites.

Habitat

Belugas exploit a varied range of habitats; they are most commonly seen in shallow waters close to
the coast, but they have also been reported to live for extended periods in deeper water, where they
feed and give birth to their young. In coastal areas, they can be found in coves, fjords, canals, bays,
and shallow waters in the Arctic Ocean that are continuously lit by sunlight. They are also often seen
during the summer in river estuaries, where they feed, socialize, and give birth to young. These
waters usually have a temperature between 8 and 10 C. The mudflats of Cook Inlet in Alaska are a
popular location for these animals to spend the first few months of summer. In the eastern Beaufort
Sea, female belugas with their young and immature males prefer the open waters close to land; the
adult males live in waters covered by ice near to the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, while the younger
males and females with slightly older young can be found nearer to the ice shelf. Generally, the use
of different habitats in summer reflects differences in feeding habits, risk from predators, and
reproductive factors for each of the subpopulations.

Threats

Climate Change

Hunting

Predation
 Oil and Gas Development

Ocean Noise

Contamination

Pathogen

Conservation

The US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 outlawing the
persecution and hunting of all marine mammals within US coastal waters.

The act also states that all whales in US territorial waters are under the jurisdiction of the
National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of NOAA

To prevent hunting, belugas are protected under the 1986 International Moratorium on
Commercial Whaling; however, hunting of small numbers of belugas is still allowed

The beluga whale is listed on appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of

Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)

All toothed whales are protected under the CITES that was signed in 1973 to regulate the
commercial exploitation of certain species

The isolated beluga population in the Saint Lawrence River has been legally protected since
1983.

In 1988 Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada