A white beluga whale has been spotted in the narrow strait around the Flensburg Firth, a waterway that divides Germany from Denmark near the northern German city of Flensburg.
according to local north schleswiger (North Schleswig) newspaper, a Danish publication that serves Denmark’s German-speaking minority in the region, The white whale was first spotted near Arossund last month and has since made its way south to Aals Island and into the Firth, known as the Firth of Forth. Flensburg Fjord in german or Flensborg Fjord In Danish.
Beluga whales are considered gregarious, social animals that often travel in groups. They are known for their diverse methods of communication with a “language” made up of whistles, chirps and clicks, earning them the nickname “canaries of the sea”.
Eating herring, salmon, squid and crustaceans, beluga whales can grow up to six meters long and weigh more than a tonne.
They are typically found in sub-Arctic regions such as Greenland and Norway, but this is not the first time that beluga whales have been spotted in southern Denmark, with previous sightings reported in 1903, 1964, 1980, and 2012.
According to Danish whale researcher Carl Christian Kinze, beluga whales like coastal areas and this particular individual will likely find its way back to more open waters.
What happened to ‘Timmy’ the humpback whale?
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for “Timmy” the humpback whale, which has been repeatedly stranded off the northeastern coast of Germany for the past month, freeing itself and re-entangling itself, and is now to be left to die in peace after captivating the nation.
Edited by: Elisabeth Schumacher