Coming up next on Jonathan Bird’s Blue World--Belugas!
Hi I’m Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world!
Trivia question: what’s 2,000 pounds, bright white and lives in Connecticut?
Give up?
Yes, I’m talking about the Beluga whale, and while normally one would need to go all
the way up to the arctic to see one, today I’m going to be hanging out with some Belugas
at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.
The Mystic aquarium is known for a variety of beautiful underwater exhibits including
their sharks and rays, coral, fish, invertebrates and even moray eels.
The barracuda exhibit is really cool, but in my opinion the best one is yet to come.
The Beluga whale exhibit is outdoors.
This impressive lagoon really feels like its out in the wild.
It makes visitors almost feel like they are in the water with the whales!
Today, I’m joining the staff of Beluga trainers to learn what’s involved in the care of
the four Beluga whales that live here.
That’s a lot of fish.
I get the feeling this is going to take a while!
My day starts with food prep.
Why do segments like this always start with raw fish?
I meet Kate McElroy, one of the Beluga Trainers who is going to show me how they prepare the
daily meals for the whales.
It starts with herring and squid.
KATE: Alright, are you ready to start carrying some fish in?
It all starts with herring and squid.
JONATHAN: Herring, coming up!
A frozen block of cephalopods.
That’s actually kind of gross.
Look at his little flat eyeball.
KATE: You can put that one right up here for me and I’m going to need four feeds for
the day so this looks kind of complicated here but really all it is is: each bucket
that I weigh out for Juno is going to have 6.3 kilos in it.
And for Kela, 2.6, Naku 5.3, Naluark 6.4.
JONATHAN: I can do this!
After the fish have been washed and inspected to be sure they are free of any possible contamination,
I weigh out a bucket of fish that will be breakfast for a beluga named Juno.
I feel like I’m on Dirty Jobs…
KATE: It is kind of a dirty job isn’t it?
Weighing out the food for all four whales takes about half an hour.
Like that’s too much, already.
…That’s so wrong.
Once we finish the messy job of weighing out the fish, we can rinse off our gloves and
head out to the exhibit for the next morning task.
Outside, the staff is already cleaning the exhibit, and I’m going to help.
My first order of business is cleaning the big windows to get all the handprints and
dirt off so people can see the Belugas clearly.
Or maybe so they can see us clearly, I’m not actually sure!
JONATHAN: I hope you appreciate this.
I’m doing this all for you buddy!
As I work, Juno keeps an eye on me.
And I can’t help but think maybe he’s not impressed.
JONATHAN: Okay, I’m slow at the squeegee but you have got to admit, that is clean!
Right?
Hey what do you think you’re doing over there?
What the heck are you doing now?
KATE: So we’re going to move on to the next window, we still have to get a lot more cleaned.
JONATHAN: Oh you want me to actually work?
Big windows mean lots of cleaning.
And for some reason I feel like I’m being watched.
It’s hard to keep my eyes on my work!
The whales are incredibly captivating!
Next it’s time to scrub the inside of the exhibit to remove the algae that grows on
the bottom.
The trick however is keeping the whales from grabbing the brush and yanking it away from
me!
Anything that goes into the water becomes something interesting to investigate and possibly
play with.
For the whales’ safety, it’s important that I keep them from getting ahold of any
of the tools.
KATE: Now, there’s Juno.
So that’s who we want to pull the pole out if we see.
JONATHAN: What are you doing?
Oh, dude!
KATE: He sensed that you were new I think.
Next I join trainer Lindsay Nelson who is preparing to take a weekly blood sample from
Nakoo.
This is just a tad more complicated than getting a blood sample from a human.
Using a hand signal as a cue, Lindsay instructs Nakoo to turn around and place her tail up
on dry land!
LINDSAY: And then I’m going to pull her tail up onto the beach, on this towel here.
This takes a lot of trust between trainer and Beluga because Nakoo is extremely vulnerable
in this position, completely unable to swim.
LINDSAY: Right into her vein there.
And as you can see the blood is coming up…
These blood tests are conducted regularly both for research, and also to insure the
health of the animals.
LINDSAY: After she’s done, I’m going to blow my whistle and give her a double tap
on her tail, and that tells her she did a great job.
Then she knows when she comes back she’ll get that fish reinforcement.
LINDSAY: And then she knows, she’s coming back for a big fish reward!
ENRICHMENT Later in the day, the trainers provide what
is called enrichment.
You see, belugas are smart, and they get bored.
To keep them happy, they need to be mentally stimulated.
LINDSAY: We can also do audio enrichment, so she has a tambourine, you have a tambourine,
and then I also have a drum.
So different noises for them to hear.
So the idea behind enrichment is basically is to do weird and wacky stuff to entertain
the whales.
JONATHAN: Alright Juno, here we go, ready?
With my enrichment hat in place, I put a pole cam in the water to shoot some underwater
video.
Since divers aren’t allowed in the water with the Belugas, this is my only opportunity
for some fish-eye views of the whales.
The most important part of course is to make sure that none of the whales grab my camera!
Although I’m not allowed to go diving, I can go in the water—in a pair of hip waders
like a fisherman!
KATE: Do you have questions before we get in?
JONATHAN: No, lets go!
This is my element baby!
Kate takes me into the shallow part of the exhibit where I will learn a few hand signals.
The whales know about 100 hand signals.
They have been trained to do everything from a raspberry to
a breach.
The reward?
A fish of course.
I learn a little bit about Nakoo’s anatomy.
She uses her melon, the rounded top of her head, to direct the sound waves for her echolocation
system.
This is how Belugas find food in the wild.
Of course, in the wild she would live in the arctic around sea ice, which is why Belugas
are bright white.
And if there’s one thing to remember—never splash a Beluga!
They have excellent aim.
But I did get a kiss, and it only cost a fish.
So I spent a day learning a little bit about Beluga whales.
They are curious, clever and full of personality.
They are the only whales that can bend their necks to look around without moving their
whole body.
These are amazing animals, and I feel like I have made some new friends!