AnimalvsAnimal
36 Die Belugawale🐾

Photo: Ekki3 · CC BY 4.0

SpeciesCetaceaMonodontidae
Marine mammals

🐾Beluga whale

Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776)

לִבְנָתָן (שם מדעי: Delphinapterus leucas) הוא מין של לווייתן בעל שיניים החי באזור הארקטי והסוב-ארקטי. הוא אחד משני המינים במשפחת החדשיניים, לצד החדשן. זהו יונק ימי שאורכו מגיע לחמישה מטרים, הבולט בצבעו הלבן ובמבנה ראשו הייחודי. שם נוסף של הלבנתן הוא בלוגה (Beluga). מקור שם זה נעוץ במילה הרוסית "белуга" ("בלוגה") או "белуха" ("בלוחה"), שנגזרות מהמילה "белый", שמשמעותה "לבן".

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
17
Photos
6
Measurements
11
vs you
≈ 22× your weight
Also called
Beluga, White Whale, White whale
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2017.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
1,380 kg
Body length
4.3 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
40 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Beluga whale

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1,380 kgrecord 1,600 kg · SeaLifeBase
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1,430 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
4.3 mtypical adult, total length
SeaLifeBase
Other figures ↓

Source: SeaLifeBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

By sex

  • Female4.1 mSeaLifeBasev25.04

Figures vary

  • 4.42 mCOMBINEv1 (Soria et al. 2021)
  • 5.5 mSeaLifeBasev25.04
Brain mass
2,225 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
40 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 40 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
15 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
5.8 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
1.1 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1.1 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
1
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 1AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Crepuscular / mixedestimated
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
1,380 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

estimated = a model's estimate for a species nobody has measured; average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Beluga whale yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCetacea
  5. ›familyMonodontidae
  6. ›genusDelphinapterus
  7. ›speciesDelphinapterus leucas
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  3. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
  4. genusDelphinapterus
All 15 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderEven-toed hoofed animals · Artiodactyla
  12. suborderWhippomorpha
  13. infraorderWhales & dolphins · Cetacea
  14. familyMonodontidae
  15. genusDelphinapterus
More

More about the Beluga whale

Closest relative on this site
🐬 Common bottlenose dolphin — last shared an ancestor ≈ 8.8 million years ago.
What it eats
fish60%
insects and other invertebrates40%
In other languages
Weißwal (de), Béluga (fr), Hvidhval (da), Delphinapterus leucas (es), maitovalas (fi), シロイルカ (ja) … and 27 more languages
More photos
36 Die BelugawaleBeluga oceanograficBaby Beluga (32907998406)
All 6 photos in the gallery →

חיות מול המצלמה

צילומים אמיתיים של החיות באתר – צדות, נלחמות, ופשוט ממשיכות בשלהן.

לכל הסרטונים (17) ←
Graphic clips stay hidden unless you pick Graphic.
Tools

Compare the Beluga whale

Pick a tool — the Beluga whale is already selected.

Side by side

Compare every stat with any other animal.

997 animals to compareOpen →
Who's bigger?

Stand them on the same floor and see who's bigger.

17th heaviest of 783Open →
Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

Not in the sampleOpen →
Tree of life

See where it sits in the tree of life.

15 branchesOpen →