3rd Oct, 2000
Finnish nature photographer Hernan Patiño (born in Colombia) took the first professional photographs of the Beluga whales in the White Sea this summer. Rare pictures of the whales appeared in the Finnish nature magazine Suomen Luonto (Nature of Finland) and their relation to humans dating back thousands of year ago, manifested on petroglyph findings and modern scientific research.
Groups of Beluga whales gather every year on the coastal waters of Solovetski monastery island to feed and breed. In the past Belugas used to swim up some rivers, like the Uiku, Kemi, Umba and Ääninen, and gave birth in those smooth waters. They still swim some 10 kilometers up the Ääninen river delta.
Petroglyphs testify that the Beluga whales were hunted in the White Sea thousands of years ago. In Vienna Karelia there are two rivers and six lakes named after whales. In their names they hold the history although the living culture has already disappeared. Finnish and Estonian prehistorical societies have been researching whales from the petroglyph findings of the White Sea coasts. Finnish prehistorical society chairman and whale researcher Rauno Lauhakangas has also found whales in Kalevala Finnish epic.
Belugas were still hunted in Ääninen river during the 1960's. There are again pressures to hunt the last Beluga whales of Europe because they consume fish. This whales have also been captured for sale to foreign aquariums. By launching whale watching trips, the locals could benefit from this new source of income.
The Beluga whales vocalization is diverse and rich and they have been called the canaries of the seas. Unlike other whales, Belugas also vocalize above the water. Frequencies of the sounds varies from 2-130 000 Hz, in other words from very low base to high pitch in the ultra sound range. Humans can hear up to 25 000 hertz.
FURTHER INFORMATION:
- Rauno Lauhakangas (text) ja Hernan Patiño (photos): "White
Sea white whales. Finnish photographer Hernan Patiño dived
with the beluga whales." - Nature of Finland (Suomen Luonto)
magazine 10/2000, pp. 4-12
- www.suomenluontolehti.fi/
- photographer Hernan
Patiño, tel. (09) 455 4569, 040-764 9405, hernanpatino@hotmail.com
- Finnish prehistorical art society chairman Rauno
Lauhakangas, tel. 050-5294194, rauno.lauhakangas@helsinki.fi
- www.physics.helsinki.fi/whale/
[Rauno Lauhakangas' whale page]