Celebrating the Navy’s sea canaries: The lives and bioacoustic research accomplishments of white whale (Delphinapterus leucas) collaborators

Abstract

The Navy Marine Mammal Program has engaged many different species over the years to accomplish missions of finding and retrieving objects in the marine environment, and asset protection, but perhaps none has been so engaging as the white whale, or beluga (Delphinapterus leucas). At a time when the Cold War focus moved to the frigid waters of the Artic, the Navy needed echolocating, deep diving, cold-water experts. Enter, the belugas. Unique because of their all-white color, lack of a dorsal fin, and extensive repertoire of bird-like vocalizations (hence the moniker “sea canary”), the group with their naturally curious, gregarious demeanor and malleable melons, also quickly began to grace the pages of scientific journals and book chapters with their acoustic capabilities for a period of approximately 30 years. Most notably among them were a female named MUK (after the Inuit word muk tuk for whaleskin and blubber) and a male named NOC (after the tiny biting summer flies known as no-see-ums). Together, these two whales expanded our knowledge of marine mammal bioacoustics and physiology with their collaboration on projects related to detection, hearing, echolocation, nasal pressure, sound production, human-speech mimicry, net-aided foraging, diving physiology, stress hormones, reproduction, growth, and development.