Spend Time With Beluga Whales, Because What Else Is There to Do?
Look, we get it. All the virtual travel articles and tips for browsing the world from a laptop were fun in the first few months of the pandemic, when it was all new. But now that you’ve taken online trips to cities, museums and historical sites around the world, you might be looking for something else. So let me introduce you to this live underwater camera for beluga whales . Even during non-pandemic periods, most people are unlikely to be able to spend time alone with these amazingly cute (and smiling) mammals. Here’s how to see them.
How to watch beluga whales
Although we don’t usually associate cold animals with summer, each year during this season, about 57,000 belugas travel from the Arctic to the warmer waters of the Churchill River in Manitoba. And from today until September, a live underwater camera will allow us to look inside a flock of beluga whales.
Operated by Polar Bears International (PBI) and Explore.org, this camera has been in operation for eight years now and is installed on a boat in Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. Not only that, but there is also a hydrophone that picks up the sounds of the whales, so you can hear them chatting playfully with each other. They “speak” through a series of clicks, chirps, grunts, clangs, squeals and whistles and, like humans, must learn to communicate with each other as they grow up. To tune in, play the embedded video above or visit the beluga page on Explore.org . There is also a separate YouTube stream for“Beluga Boat Cam – On Deck”.
If you’d like to learn more about beluga whales, PBI also hosts several chats during the summer with scientists, researchers and the captain of the beluga boat. On August 13, there will be one lesson called “Narwhal, the sea unicorn and the closest cousin of the Beluga”, which can be especially interesting for children (or for yourself).