A very young narwhal, spotted far away from his 'Arctic home', has been adopted by a family of beluga whales
The beauty of this story could be completely overwhelming
A very young narwhal, sighted far away from his 'Arctic home', has been adopted by a family of beluga whales.
Researchers studying whales along the St Lawrence River in Quebec are an extraordinary discovery.
Thanks to a drone, a narwhal was filmed over 1.000km outside its typical range, swimming and playing with dozens of belugas who treated it exactly like one of their own.
With its typical long spiral fang and speckled gray skin, the narwhal stands out from the white-colored group of belugas.
But his adoptive brothers don't seem to care about 'skin' color.
They are both highly social animals, but narwhals and belugas generally do not interact.
Belugas live in more northerly waters and, although they are closely related, have different hunting habits and habitats.
“We only see part of their life. We now have more powerful tools for examining these animals, and indeed we can even observe their interactions. The more we study these animals, the more fascinating we find them, ”said Robert Michaud, president of GREMM, the marine mammal research and education group, the organization that made the discovery.
It remains to understand what will happen to the young narwhal as he becomes an adult. Cross-breeding between the two species could occur.
Roberta Ragni
Read also:
Noc, the beluga who "spoke" like a man (video)
