PHOTO A beluga entered a river in southern Norway. “We don't know why they're here,” experts say
A beluga whale, a cetacean that usually lives in Arctic waters, was spotted a few days ago in a river located about sixty kilometers from Oslo. The animal seems to be in good health and swims normally, but its presence so far south remains a mystery, reports AFP, quoted by News.ro.
The beluga has been in a watercourse located about sixty kilometers west of Oslo for several days, according to images released by the Norwegian media. On Friday morning, the white whale was on a stretch of the Drammen River near the town of Hokksund, according to public broadcaster NRK.
“Its presence in the waters of southern Scandinavia is not frequent, but it is an animal that can live in fresh water,” explains Marie-Anne Blanchet, researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute. The mammal “appears adult, healthy and appears to be swimming normally. On the other hand, we don't know why it is here,” she told AFP.
In general, these cetaceans move for three reasons: to feed, to reproduce and to escape a predator.
Beluga whales traditionally live much further north, near Greenland, or in the waters of the Russian or Norwegian Arctic. Some sometimes venture further south into the Atlantic, but very rarely in these waterways near the Norwegian capital.
“At first glance, she would be able to return to her natural environment, but human contact is not ideal. The only thing to do is to leave her alone,” added the researcher.
The beluga is a large (5 m long) cetacean mammal, often referred to as the white whale. A small population of belugas lives in the estuary of the Saint-Laurent River in Canada.
