Beluga Whales Awe Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024 as Wild May

Summary: Beluga whales awe Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024 as Wild May animals, as Arctic, near-Arctic American wildlife who awe the National Audubon Society.

"God talks to human beings through many vectors: through each other, through organized religion, through the great books of those religions, through wise people, through art and music and literature and poetry, but nowhere with such detail and grace and color and joy as through creation. When we destroy a species, when we destroy a special place, we're diminishing our capacity to sense the divine, understand who God is and what our own potential is." Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., April 19, 2023, Boston Park Plaza Hotel, Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts.

“And there’s many people out there who want us to move to the next planet already and I’m like, hang on, let’s not give up on this planet yet," William, Prince of Wales, July 31, 2023, Sorted Food food truck, London, England, United Kingdom.

Climate change, global warming, habitat loss, ocean noise, pollution, predation by commercial and Marine Inuit hunters and strandings abbreviate the potential 25- to 30-year lifespans of photogenic beluga whales; image of "Front view of a beluga whale in captivity.": premier.gov.ru, CC BY 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Beluga whales awe Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024 as Wild May animals, as Arctic, near-Arctic American wildlife who awe the National Audubon Society with their Canadian and Unitedstatesian, and sometimes Mexican, appearances.

The Animalia kingdom and the Chordata phylum (from Latin animal; and Greek χορδή, “guts” via Latin chorda, “[spinal] cord, string”) member breeds between February and May. The Mammalia class and the Artiodactyla order (from Latin mammal -ālis, “breast-pertaining”; and Greek ἄρτιος δάκτυλος, “even finger/toe”) member congenitally (from Latin congenitus, “innate”) can swim. The Cetacea infraorder and the Monodontidae family (from Greek κῆτος, “sea-monster” and Latin -acea, “-‘s”; Greek μόνος ὀδούς -ειδής, “single tooth-like”) member dominates self-feeding soon afterwards.

Delphinapterus leucas (from Greek δελφίς ἀ πτερόν λευκός, “dolphin without wing white”) evidence 4.5- to 5.1-foot (137- to 155-centimeter), 119- to 145-pound (54- to 66-kilogram) newborn-bodies.

Beluga whales abide off northernmost Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. They respectively abound in estuarine, marine and sometimes riverine habitats to molt, to plunge to 3,300-plus (1,000-plus-meter) depths and to try freshwater crustacean and fish prey. Their 8 to 10 teeth per jaw side accept as prey Arctic cod, capelin, herring, marine worms, octopus, salmon, squid and zooplankton; adaptation of Monday, Aug. 9, 2010, screenshot from NASA's World Wind 1.4 virtual globe of "Distribución Circumpolar de la Beluga: Poblaciones, Rango": Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Twelve- to 15-month gestations of physically and sexually mature 6- to 14-year-old female beluga whales furnish them single calves for 2-year nursing maximums every 3 years.

Beluga whales, gauged taxonomically by Peter Simon Pallas (Sep. 22, 1741-Sep. 8, 1811) in 1776, group into 2- to 10-member pods that group with other pods. Physically and sexually mature females and counterpart mature 7- to 15-year-old males rarely have their flukes or heads clear of water during their slow, surface-rolling swims. Aquatic mammals identified as belugas (from Russian белу́ха, “white whale”), melonheads for front-headed echolocation organs, sea canaries for vocal repertoire and white whales, ingest marine life.

Beluga whales, as wild May animals on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024, journey year-round after Arctic, circumpolar, sub-Arctic fish, marine worm, octopus, shrimp and squid prey.

Newborn beluga whales accompany their mothers. Their 62.99-inch- (160-centimeter-) long, 176.37-pound (80-kilogram) bodies congenitally achieve deep dives and surface-rolling swims. They acquire deep-diving abilities, thanks to their absent dorsal (from Latin dorsum -ālis, "[the] back's") fin, through and under dense pack-ice crevices and lanes. They actualize 1.86-mile (3-kilometer) swimming rates, 13.67-mile (22-kilometer) hourly swimming maximums, 3- to 5-minute feeding dives; Friday, July 3, 2009, 13:05, image of "The beluga Aurora and her calf, Nala," Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, northwestern Burrard Peninsula, downtown Vancouver, Lower Mainland region, British Columbia, western coastal Canada: Tony Fox, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Their white-headed white bodies keep beluga whales conspicuous off coastal, estuarine and riverine Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia and inconspicuous around small ice floes and whitecaps.

Relict populations live in the mixed waters of the Cook Inlet to southern Alaska and of the St. Lawrence Seaway that leads to the Great Lakes. Beluga whales move around deep, diveable trenches; open-water, coastal expanses; molt-friendly, shallow estuaries; polynyas (from Russian по́лый, “hollow”); rivers; and variously deep estuarine and marine waters. They navigate through and under dense ice-pack cracks and lanes and number among their dives 3,300-plus-foot (1,000-plus-meter) maximums even as their upper-sides net no dorsal fins.

Beluga whales occur as wild May animals on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024 even as their Arctic, circumpolar, sub-Arctic occupancies occasion year-round operations over human-organized waters.

Beluga whales admit fusiform (from Latin fūsus -fōrma, "spindle shape") bodies with blunt snouts, constricted necks and forked tails. A bulbous, protruding echolocation bump adorns their foreheads even as their upper jaws advance even further outward in their profile; Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011, 09:29, image of skeleton of female St. Lawrence Estuary beluga whale, found dead stranded near Sainte-Flavie, eastern Quebec, on display at Station exploratoire du Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence Exploration Centre), Rivière-du-Loup, southern shore St. Lawrence River, eastern Quebec, Eastern Canada: André-Philippe D. Picard (Silk666), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Their population proves not at all problematic to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, whose population estimates put 100,000-plus beluga whales at least conservation concern.

Beluga whales quarter 13- to 16-foot- (3.9- to 4.9-meter-) long, 1,500- to 3,500-pound (700- to 1,600-kilogram) physically and sexually mature bodies of commercial and tribal usefulness. The Marine Inuit peoples of Nunavut Territory of northern Canada require beluga blubber, meat and skin even as commercial hunters render beluga whales to live-capture display. North American damming of northern rivers to support hydroelectric power substandardizes coastal, estuarine and riverine sites that simultaneously suffer climate change, global warming and industrial pollution.

Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024 terms as wild May animals beluga whales, whom human- and nature-triggered threats thwart less than Monotondidae family co-member, unicorn horn-foreheaded narwhals.

Belugas and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) affirm sole membership in the Monodontidae (from Greek μόνος ὀδούς -ειδής, “single tooth-like”) family. That co-membership allows them to communicate clicks, knocks, trills and whistles and to mate. It allies globose, high foreheads; beakless, blunt snouts; non-fused cervical vertebrae, for flexible necks; rounded, short pectoral fins; and 50 to 51 vertebrae; "The White Whale, or Beluga. Delphinapterus catodon (L.) Gill. Outline by Henry W. Elliott, from Cast No. 12490, U.S. National Museum, obtained near Quebec, 1875," George Brown Goode, The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, Section I Plates (1884), Plate 6: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Climate change, global warming, habitat loss, ocean noise, pollution, predation by commercial and Marine Inuit hunters and strandings abbreviate the potential 25- to 30-year lifespans of photogenic beluga whales; image of "Front view of a beluga whale in captivity.": premier.gov.ru, CC BY 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beluga_premier.gov.ru-3.jpeg

Beluga whales abide off northernmost Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia. They respectively abound in estuarine, marine and sometimes riverine habitats to molt, to plunge to 3,300-plus (1,000-plus-meter) depths and to try freshwater crustacean and fish prey. Their 8 to 10 teeth per jaw side accept as prey Arctic cod, capelin, herring, marine worms, octopus, salmon, squid and zooplankton; adaptation of Monday, Aug. 9, 2010, screenshot from NASA's World Wind 1.4 virtual globe of "Distribución Circumpolar de la Beluga: Poblaciones, Rango": Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Territorio_Beluga.png

Newborn beluga whales accompany their mothers. Their 62.99-inch- (160-centimeter-) long, 176.37-pound (80-kilogram) bodies congenitally achieve deep dives and surface-rolling swims. They acquire deep-diving abilities, thanks to their absent dorsal (from Latin dorsum -ālis, "[the] back's") fin, through and under dense pack-ice crevices and lanes. They actualize 1.86-mile (3-kilometer) swimming rates, 13.67-mile (22-kilometer) hourly swimming maximums, 3- to 5-minute feeding dives; Friday, July 3, 2009, 13:05, image of "The beluga Aurora and her calf, Nala," Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, northwestern Burrard Peninsula, downtown Vancouver, Lower Mainland region, British Columbia, western coastal Canada: Tony Fox, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aurora_and_baby_2_-_vancouver_aquarium.jpg

Beluga whales admit fusiform (from Latin fūsus -fōrma, "spindle shape") bodies with blunt snouts, constricted necks and forked tails. A bulbous, protruding echolocation bump adorns their foreheads even as their upper jaws advance even further outward in their profile; Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2011, 09:29, image of skeleton of female St. Lawrence Estuary beluga whale, found dead stranded near Sainte-Flavie, eastern Quebec, on display at Station exploratoire du Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence Exploration Centre), Rivière-du-Loup, southern shore St. Lawrence River, eastern Quebec, Eastern Canada: André-Philippe D. Picard (Silk666), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Squelette_Delphinapterus_leucas_rdl.jpg

Belugas and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) affirm sole membership in the Monodontidae (from Greek μόνος ὀδούς -ειδής, “single tooth-like”) family. That co-membership allows them to communicate clicks, knocks, trills and whistles and to mate. It allies globose, high foreheads; beakless, blunt snouts; non-fused cervical vertebrae, for flexible necks; rounded, short pectoral fins; and 50 to 51 vertebrae; "The White Whale, or Beluga. Delphinapterus catodon (L.) Gill. Outline by Henry W. Elliott, from Cast No. 12490, U.S. National Museum, obtained near Quebec, 1875," George Brown Goode, The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, Section I Plates (1884), Plate 6: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Narwhal_and_Beluga.jpg; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37522799; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLib), Public Domain, via Flickr 2 https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/49909280236/; Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/cu31924011943366/page/n36/mode/1up; via NOAA Rare Books @ https://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/rarebooks/fisheries/welcome.html (specific URL for Plates Part 1 @ docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/oceanheritage/SH221G591884-sec1platespt1.pdf; specific URL for Plates Part 2 @ docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/oceanheritage/SH221G591884-sec1platespt2.pdf

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus)." Page 109. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

"Canaries and Unicorns." Pages 2345-2346. In: Encyclopedia of Mammals. Volume 16 Wha-Zeb. Tarrytown NY: Marshall Cavendish Corporation.

Forsyth, Adrian. 1999. "White Whale & Narwhal." Pages 280-285. Mammals of North America: Temperate and Arctic Regions. Buffalo NY: Firefly Books (US) Inc.

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 March 2024. "Baffin Bay Agrees as Wild March With Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/03/baffin-bay-agrees-as-wild-march-with.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 February 2024. "Tufted Puffins Add Wild February to Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2024." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2024/02/tufted-puffins-add-wild-february-to.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 December 2023. "Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 Assigns Snowy Owls to December Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/12/audubon-arctic-wall-calendar-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 December 2023. "Spectacled Eiders Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 December Birds." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/12/spectacled-eiders-are-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 November 2023. "Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 Adds Mount Katmai to Wild November." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/11/audubon-arctic-wall-calendar-2022-adds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 October 2023. "Caribou Abound as Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 October Animals." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/10/caribou-abound-as-audubon-arctic-wall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 October 2023. "Red-Necked Phalaropes, Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 October Birds." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/10/red-necked-phalaropes-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 September 2023. "Brown Bears Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 September Animals." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/09/brown-bears-are-audubon-arctic-wall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 2 September 2023. "Polar Bears Act as Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 September Animals." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/09/polar-bears-act-as-audubon-arctic-wall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 August 2023. "Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 Augurs King Eiders as August Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/08/audubon-arctic-wall-calendar-2022.html#google_vignette

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 August 2023. "Savannah Sparrows Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 August Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/08/savannah-sparrows-are-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 July 2023. "Kenai Peninsula Awes, As Wild July, Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/07/kenai-peninsula-awes-as-wild-july.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 June 2023. "Buff-Breasted Sandpipers, Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 June Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/06/buff-breasted-sandpipers-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 June 2023. "Rock Ptarmigans Act as June Birds on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/06/rock-ptarmigans-act-as-june-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 May 2023. "Moose Appear as May Animals on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/05/moose-appear-as-may-animals-on-audubon.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 April 2023. "Brooks Range Acts as Wild April on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/04/brooks-range-acts-as-wild-april-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 April 2023. "Arctic Terns Are April Birds on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/04/arctic-terns-are-april-birds-on-audubon.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 March 2023. "Western Sandpipers Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 March Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/03/western-sandpipers-are-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 March 2023. "Baffin Island Wolves Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 Wild March." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/03/baffin-island-wolves-are-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2023. "Musk Ox, Muskox Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar February 2022 Animals." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/02/musk-ox-muskox-are-audubon-arctic-wall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 February 2023. "Red-Throated Loons Are Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023 February Birds." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/02/red-throated-loons-are-audubon-arctic.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 21 January 2023. "Mallard Ducks Aced Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2022 as January Birds." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/01/mallard-ducks-aced-audubon-arctic-wall.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 January 2023. "Red Foxes Are January Wildlife on Audubon Arctic Wall Calendar 2023." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/01/red-foxes-are-january-wildlife-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 December 2022. "Dark-Eyed Juncos Are December Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/12/dark-eyed-juncos-are-december-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 November 2022. "Eared Grebes Are November Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/11/eared-grebes-are-november-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 October 2022. "Barred Owls Are October Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/barred-owls-are-october-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 September 2022. "Brown Pelicans Are September Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/09/brown-pelicans-are-september-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 August 2022. "Allen’s Hummingbirds Are August Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/08/allens-hummingbirds-are-august-birds-on.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/07/reddish-egrets-are-july-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 June 2022. "American Oystercatchers Are June Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/06/american-oystercatchers-are-june-birds.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/05/rose-breasted-grosbeaks-are-may-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 April 2022. "Crested Caracaras Appear as April Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/04/crested-caracaras-appear-as-april-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 March 2022. "Cerulean Warblers Are March Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/03/cerulean-warblers-are-march-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/01/florida-scrub-jays-are-january-birds-on.html

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