Beluga Whale - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The beluga was first described in 1776 by Peter Simon Pallas. It is a member of the Monodontidae family, which is in turn part of the toothed whale suborder. The Irrawaddy dolphin was once placed in the same family; however, recent genetic evidence suggests these dolphins actually belong to the Delphinidae family. The narwhal is the only other species within the Monodontidae besides the beluga. A skull has been discovered with intermediate characteristics supporting the hypothesis that hybridization is possible between these two families.

The name of the genus, Delphinapterus, means "dolphin without fin" (from the Greek δελφίν (delphin) dolphin and απτερος (apterus), without fin) and the species name leucas means "white" (from the Greek λευκας (leucas), white). The Red List of Threatened Species gives both beluga and white whale as common names, though the former is now more popular. The English name comes from the Russian белуха (belukha), which derives from the word белый (belyy), meaning "white". It is sometimes referred to by scientists as the belukha whale to avoid confusion with the beluga sturgeon.

The whale is also colloquially known as the sea canary on account of its high-pitched squeaks, squeals, clucks and whistles. A Japanese researcher says he taught a beluga to "talk" by using these sounds to identify three different objects, offering hope that humans may one day be able to communicate effectively with sea mammals. A similar observation has been made by Canadian researchers, where a Beluga who died in 2007 "talked" for a when he was still a subadult. Also, there have been reports from Beluga whales in the wild that they immitated human voices.