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Today we are exploring Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta to learn about beluga whales.
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Witnessing their grace and curiosity as they swim through the aquarium's 800,000 gallon habitat is breathtaking.
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Beluga whales were once considered threatened, but today, thanks to tireless conservation work, most populations around the world are stable.
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All right, we're going to head out to our session to learn about beluga conservation.
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We went behind the scenes with associate curator Katie Flammer.
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Katie and the Georgia Aquarium staff study how belugas live under human care, and they share what they learn with other scientists who help protect wild belugas.
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Welcome this one.
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Oh, my gosh.
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Hey, you all.
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Today we're helping the team feed 5 hungry whales.
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These belugas seem to know exactly what's going on.
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The game plan for our session is to start with Shyla.
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Shyla is our four year old female.
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Is this Shyla coming?
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This is Shyla coming over.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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You guys can reach out and give her a little rub.
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Oh, my goodness.
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She's so soft.
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All right, Peter, here you go.
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Now, do you guys hear those sounds that she's making?
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Yes.
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Where do you think those sounds come from?
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That the blowhole?
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That's exactly right, Ray.
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If you want to take one finger and give her a little press.
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There we go.
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Gosh, that is so special.
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Wow.
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She's opening her mouth really big, and there's just a pile of fish in there.
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Hi.
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Can I touch your mouth?
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Oh, wow, that was in her mouth is now totally gone.
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I think you're ready for another one.
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Go for it.
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OK, Here we go, honey.
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Right there.
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One of the first things that we do here when we see our animals first thing in the morning is to do a full body check.
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Katie Ash.
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I let her perform what's called a dorsal layout so they can begin her daily exam, so we can ask them to voluntarily participate in their own healthcare.
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We can roll them over, kind of see their sides.
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You feel that and see that skin coming off.
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So that is skin.
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These guys are constantly regenerating new layers of skin.
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Oh, it's constantly slapping off skin.
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Yep, After finishing up Shyla's body check, Katie wants to show us some advanced behaviors from an older whale.
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All right, So what I want you guys to do is take your left hand and you're just going to do a little sweeping point over there to Kelsey.
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OK, ready Point.
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We sent Shyla to another curator, and using a thumbs up, we signal Keno, an adult whale, to come on over.
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Now, what I want you guys to do next is take your right hand, make a fist and pretend like you're knocking on a door.
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There we go.
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So that melon right there has muscular control over it, so they can move that melon and flex it just like how we might flex our biceps.
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That's part of how they make all those different vocalizations that come out of that blowhole.
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You guys can give her some fish.
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You know, these guys are so incredibly smart to be able to help train all these different behaviors, not only for their own healthcare but to participate in research sessions.
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An important behavior the belugas here have been trained to perform is called a breath test.
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The whales relax inside a special Dome that floats on the surface of the water.
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Sensors attached to the Dome measure how much energy the whales use.
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Then, scientists can determine how many calories the whales need and figure out how many fish they need to eat each day.
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From there, conservationists can work with fishing boats to ensure there's enough fish for wild beluga populations.
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It's powerful science.
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This isn't training for training sake, just to make beluga whales do cool things, but it allows us to collect data on their bodies in a really safe, gentle way which can inform conservation of wild beluga whales.
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Yep, that's exactly right.
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I couldn't have said it better myself.
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What a great point, Ray.
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This is research that could not ever be done on a wild beluga whales.
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Well, our buckets are empty and these beluga bellies are full.
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It's time for us to say goodbye.
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Thank you, honey.
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Yes.
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Well done.
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See you buddy.
