Delphinapterus leucas - The Beluga Whale

The word ‘Beluga’ comes from the Russian for white and that’s how Delphinapterus leucas got their common name. The beluga is the white whale (not to be confused with Moby Dick, whose whiteness is more complex than mere complexion...). The genus name means wingless (finless) dolphin, because they have no dorsal fin, and leucas is the Greek for white. They are a close relation of the narwhal and live way up in the Arctic. Apart from the white colour, the other really important identifying feature is the melon; a bulb on the head which contains an echo chamber to help with their immensely complex echolocation communication. All whales talk to each other, but belugas have very interesting language capabilities. They are often called sea-canaries because of their high-pitched twittering vocalisations, which are quite musical. So advanced is their language ability that there are scientists out there attempting to establish meaningful communication with them. Perhaps the most interesting example is that of a whale called NOC, who was captured while still quite young and kept in captivity in North America. Over time he began to make vocalisations very different to those of other whales, and very similar to those of his human captors. I recommend finding him online and listening to his amazing speech. In Japan, つかさ むらやま (Tsukasa Murayama), a professor at Tokai University, has taught a beluga words to identify three separate objects. He says that, since the majority of the sounds that whales produce are inaudible to humans, and we are incapable of producing them naturally, we shall need to develop technology to emit, record and interpret the voices of belugas and other marine mammals. We may get to a stage where we can have meaningful exchanges with these animals.

Why is it that humans have developed such complex speech? One reason is that we have grown such big and clever brains that allow us to deal with complex language ideas, but the ability to speak comes in part from the fact that we are able to hold and control our breath. No other land mammal has anywhere near the control we have and few are capable of holding their breath for very long. There is a lot of evidence pointing to the idea that this is because humans are essentially water apes. The reason we lost our hair. The reason we have subcutaneous fat. The reason we have such big brains. It may all come down to the fact that we began wading out into the water in search of sea-food, which provides the kinds of rich fats needed to grow large brains. Likewise cetaceans have moved entirely into the sea, living off fish, crustaceans and other so-called 'sea food', and have had to learn to hold and control their breath in order to do so. Perhaps this is what has allowed and required them to develop very complicated vocalisation abilities, partly for the purpose of echolocation for navigation in the dark world beneath the waves, but also to communicate with their friends and relatives. Would you like to talk to a whale? What would you say? What questions would you ask? Here's a film about them

A number of books about or inspired by belugas are available but, as is so often the case with whale-inspired books, they are largely children's books, which I don't object to, but I wouldn't mind seeing some story books for adults inspired by these amazing creatures.