Whistles, squeaks and clicks are part of the sounds with which belugas communicate, which they do so with a cadence and intensity that has renamed them the canaries of the sea. Science had already discovered that belugas – those animals that come from the Arctic, have an eternal smile and a kind of bump on their forehead – emit contact calls that they serve to identify each other. They are similar to the signature whistles with which dolphins converse, but those emitted by belugas have a more complex structure. In both cases, they are their letters of introduction; something that bioacoustics researcher Audra Ames has been studying for years at the Oceanogràfic in Valencia.
Ames has focused on how Kylu, the beluga calf born in captivity at the oceanographic center, communicates with his mother, Yulka, who is about 28 years old and weighs 1,000 kilos. Both have similar contact calls, sounds that little Kylu did not begin to make until he was two years old.
Two months ago, the surprise came. Two belugas had to be evacuated from an aquarium in Ukraine, due to the difficulties in keeping them in the country at war. Plombir, a 15-year-old male weighing around 1,200 kilos, and a female, Miranda, 14 years old and just over 600 kilos, arrived in Valencia after travelling 4,000 kilometres despite their delicate state of health. The new arrivals were installed in pools adjacent to those of the belugas that were already in Valencia. It was a few days later when the animals’ caretakers, who are the closest and most in constant contact with them, noticed that Plombir and Miranda were not They were talking like Yulka and Kylu.
Then Audra Ames’ new study began: “We expected them to make contact calls to each other, and what we found were dolphin-like sounds,” she says. Ames attributes that accent so different from the fact that the Ukrainian belugas were with dolphins. “I suppose they tried to communicate with the animals around them. From birth, belugas take two years to learn their contact calls, so it is possible that if they were small, they learned from what they heard in their environment,” he explains. Thus, the Ukrainian belugas speak something similar to dolphin while maids in Spain do it in belugo.
For the moment, the scientist has begun to collect hours and hours of sounds to analyse and study them. Ames predicts that in the autumn they will be able to publish the results of this study, with which she wants to demonstrate that belugas, like a few other animals, have the capacity for vocal learning. That is, they are able to hear sounds and reproduce them. “Until now it was only assumed,” she admits.
Audra Ames believes it is difficult for adult specimens to incorporate the different language of their Ukrainian counterparts, but she points out that it is possible that Kylu, the baby born in Valencia, does so. In fact, the caretakers assure that the baby has already begun to emit sounds different from those he made until now and has incorporated whistles that he transmits when he approaches the gate behind which Miranda, the Ukrainian female beluga, is located.
At the end of July, the beluga keepers noticed another connection. Yulka, the female from Valencia, was in heat and Plombir, the male from Ukraine, kept approaching the gate that separates them every time she came in from the other side.
For the moment, the Oceanogràfic officials do not believe it is prudent to bring the four animals together. In principle, this is due to the condition of those from Ukraine, which required closer monitoring, water at different temperatures and constant visits from veterinarians. In any case, the differences in the way they communicate is another inconvenience; and although they do not believe that they could clash due to a lack of understanding when communicating, they prefer to minimise the risks.
You can follow SUBJECT in Facebook, X and Instagramor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
#Belugas #evacuated #Ukraine #speak #raised #Spain
