Beluga Whale - Cultural References

Cultural References

Pour la suite du monde, is a Canadian documentary film released in 1963 about traditional beluga hunting carried out by the inhabitants of L'Isle-aux-Coudres on the Saint Lawrence River.

White Whale Records was an American record company that operated between 1965 and 1971 in Los Angeles, California, it was the record company of The Turtles. The company’s logo was the silhouette of a beluga with the words "White Whale" above it.

The children’s singer Raffi released an album called Baby Beluga in 1980. The album starts with the sound of whales communicating, and includes songs representing the ocean and whales playing. The song "Baby Beluga" was composed after Raffi saw a recently born beluga calf in Vancouver Aquarium.

Yamaha’s Beluga motorcycle (Riva 80/CV80) which had a 80 cc engine was produced from 1981 until 1987 and sold throughout the world, particularly in Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Japan.

The Beluga class submarine (project 1710 Mackerel) was an experimental Russian submarine whose prototype operated until 1997, with the whole project being discontinued in the mid-2000s.

The fuselage design of the Airbus Beluga, one of the world’s biggest cargo planes, is very similar to that of a beluga; it was originally called the Super Transporter, but the name Beluga became more popular and was then officially adopted.

The German company SkySails GmbH & Co. KG, a subsidiary of the Beluga Shipping group based in Hamburg, tested a new propulsion system for ships that involved a large wing similar to that used in paragliding and which has demonstrated a reduction in fuel use between 10% and 35%. The programme to prove the efficiency of the system was called Project Beluga, as it involved the ship MS Beluga Skysails. The company’s insignia, a beluga’s tailfin, was printed on the giant wing, which had a surface area of 160 m².