Drone footage has discern a solitary beluga heavyweight swimming in the Ethel Waters just off the coast of San Diego . The sighting marks the first sentence a beluga has ever been record this far Dixieland and scientists are perplexed as to where it ’s come from give the nearest population is thousands of miles away . Exactly why the solo whale ended up so far from home is n’t known but medical specialist believe it could either be due to poor health and disorientation , or even just an insatiable thirst for geographic expedition .
Belugas have been known to pop up in unexpected places , with one somebody nicknamedBennymaking himself quite well-off in the River Thames , London , back in 2018 . These societal animals are usually line up in the Arctic Ocean and its adjoining sea , existing in pods that can be large and quite inclusive , with one groupwelcoming a lose narwhal into the sheepfold . Experts however were pretty stunned when a beluga heavyweight was find casually swimming off the glide of San Diego , California on June 26 , a modest 4,023 kilometers ( 2,500 mile ) from the nearest known beluga universe in Alaska , and completely alone .
This is the farthest Confederate States of America the metal money has ever been officially read , which leave investigator to be doubting when reports hail over the radio of a “ pearly clean , 15 - animal foot animal that did n’t have a dorsal flipper ” , according to a report fromNational Geographic . Certain that nobody would believe them if they did n’t secure concrete grounds , Domenic Biagini , a heavyweight - watching tour of duty captain and wildlife photographer from San Diego ’s Mission Bay , switched to “ citizen scientist ” style and went out on the water arm with a drone pipe .
“ “ Undeniably , unmistakably , a beluga whale popped up in front of me , ” he said . " It was so bizarre , that moment was so astonishing . "
The astonishing footage clear shows the blatant , ghostly outline of the beluga ’s white body drifting through the California waters . However , while it solved the mystery of the unidentified hulk it crack open a much wider one as expert struggled to work out what on Earth it was doing there . Cetaceans are sleep with explorers but make a solo venture 2,500 miles from their native compass is not considered a normal degree of rarity .
Alisa Schulman - Janiger , a research associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles , told National Geographic that while it ’s potential the beluga decided to go on one of the world ’s big " road " trip , it ’s also possible that the animal is ailing or disorientate . increase ocean traffic has made marine environments much louder , which can cause confusion for animate being that rely on complex echo sounding such as belugas , who use the large melon on their head to assess their environment and communicate .
paper of the animal ’s shape however indicate that our lone ranger is doing alright , with no obvious strong-arm or behavioural signs yet detect that might indicate the beast is unwell . “ I ’d like to think that it ’s on a howling escapade , ” said Schulman - Janiger , and finger’s breadth crossed she ’s correct . An challenging beluga taking on the receptive ocean is the kind of feel - right , inspirational tale 2020 so desperately needs the right way now .
[ H / T : National Geographic ]
