The large smile and melon-shaped head of the beluga whale makes it one of the cutest cetaceans in the northern hemisphere (its cousin, the narwhal, installs some stiff competitors). Every year, thousands of these social, pleased whales take a migratory journey through southern Canadian waters– and underwater electronic cameras exist to record all the whales’ most lovable minutes, so you can view in the house.
In collaboration with explore.org, Polar Bears International established two cams on its “Beluga boat,” the Delphi. The nonprofit preservation group has actually streamed this migration for almost a decade in an effort to shed light on international warming’s influence on sea ice (which beluga whales rely on for security), reports Smithsonian Magazine. The video cameras follow tens of thousands of whales as they take a trip to Canada’s Hudson Bay and the shallow Churchill River, where they can eat, molt, and deliver their calves without the danger of whale attacks.
In the fall, the belugas will return to cooler regions, where sea ice secures them from predators– the orca’s dorsal fin avoids it from having the ability to follow belugas under the ice to hunt them– and supports their food cycle. Before they’re gone, enjoy the whales slide, twist, twirl– and even push the electronic camera for their close-up– in the enchanting live video above.
