Beluga Whales of Vancouver Aquarium have babies!!! So cute!

The Vancouver aquarium is having a name the baby beluga contest, I am undecided about how I feel about belugas in captivity. They should be in the wild with the arctic ocean as their playground but in reality they are a threatened species and pollution, specifically mercury has poisoned them. Perhaps to keep clean DNA and gene pool the whales in captivity might end up saving the species.

Belugas are also called white whales, and their unusual color makes them one of the most familiar and easily distinguishable of all the whales. Calves are born gray or even brown and only fade to white as they become sexually mature around five years of age.

These whales are common in the Arctic Ocean's coastal waters, though they are found in subarctic waters as well. Arctic belugas migrate southward in large herds when the sea freezes over. Animals trapped by Arctic ice often die, and they are prey for polar bears, killer whales, and for Arctic people. They are hunted by indigenous people of the north, and by commercial fisheries that brought some populations, such as those in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to near collapse.

Type: Mammal
Diet: Carnivore
Average lifespan in the wild: 35 to 50 years
Size: 13 to 20 ft (4 to 6.1 m)
Weight: 2,000 to 3,000 pounds (907 to 1,361 kilograms)
Group name: Pod
Did you know? Unlike most other whales, the beluga has a flexible neck that enables it to turn its head in all directions.
Protection status: Threatened

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[Raintal0n]

they are cute!!!

I believe that captivity is good for some animals because we're keeping them from danger or hard lives. However, they have to have a lot of room to grow, play, and swim around, otherwise they wont have much of a life.

[Cyberia24]

@Raintal0n 1. Of course you can't let these ones back in the wild - they've been trained to do tricks for people - they can't hunt. 2. Honestly, it's not really that much space. Like I said, they're not people, they need a huge enclosure - them in their tank can be compared to a person locked in a bedroom for the rest of his/her life. 3. That's just....you, though. I personally would not want to be in a glass enclosure even if I was guaranteed food, lol.

[Desadesh]

@Raintal0n You don't know what you talking about. I know that you can't release those ones, but the Vancouver Aquarium would make a big step, if they sell them or don't buy new ones! Look what they are doing. nothing. spending their life in a tank. surround by walls. in the wild they might die early, but they would have at least a nice life. can you image being locked in a bathtub for your security.

[pinkpoodlehm107]

This chubby species should have an appropriate title as in....SYD BUBA GUMP!!!

[SnappyPenguin566]

The SOng "baby beluga" Was Because The Guy Who Made Said Song Was Inspired From Some Baby Belugas There

[lcare4ever]

I saw that Beluga whale giving birth to her baby beluga...Year 2000... :D

[astro1girl105]

Yojimbo413, agreed, they are in very good care tho. The aquarium has signed that they will not take anymore animals, unless like the porpoise daisy, she was abandoned and very injured, no one thought she would survive but she beat all odds. They couldn't let her go because she is too attached to people and wouldn't be able to survive in wild =)

[ThePsydome]

@Kyofighter93 Is it not your statement that has a lot of bias? who cares whether it is easier to go to a zoo? Is it right? Of course its easier but that doesnt mean it is right for us to do so. Its not right for the animals involved. Is it not even easier to watch the david attenborough discography? why not sit on your fat arse and do that?

[Kyofighter93]

@ThePsydome Im mean your not taking into account the other important factors. For instance your "idealogical statement" it tackles a pressing question( travelling far distances)but leaves me thinking why would someone who has little money would venture out to the other side of the continent to see an animal that is only a 45 minute drive away? While seeing an animal in its natural habitat is cool you have to in the consideration the thoughts of another person time and money.

[ThePsydome]

@Kyofighter93 erm ....DUH. I made an ideological statement so .....erm....yes, of course there is a bias.. I dont understand what your point is.