Beluga whale surfaces in the Thames River
LONDON — Many remarkable things have emerged from the River Thames in its long, crowded and often filthy history, from pods of dolphins to unexploded Second World War bombs. But few were as rare as the flash of pearly white spotted Tuesday afternoon near Coalhouse Fort, in a quiet stretch of the river in southeast England.
It was a beluga whale, jumping in and out of the river, hundreds of miles from its natural habitat in the far colder waters of the Arctic Circle.
The last time whales of this species were seen in British waters was in September 2015, off the Northumberland coast in northeast England, where two were found dead.
This beluga whale — the most southerly ever recorded in British waters, according to Sally Hamilton, director of the charity Orca — seemed to be in good health and still feeding. It was seen again Wednesday morning.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue is monitoring the situation, but has so far decided not to intervene.
How long could such a whale survive in the Thames? “It would all depend on how stressed the animal would be, and whether or not the food is enough,” Hamilton said by telephone, adding that beluga whales need to consume 2 per cent of their body weight in food each day. (Beluga whales can weigh over 3,000 pounds, and they feed on fish.)
“The key thing is for the animal to not be disturbed by the ship traffic in the Thames, and to hope that it will move back up north,” she said.
Richard Sabin, the principal curator of mammals for the Natural History Museum in London, said it was crucial that the whale not move farther up the Thames, which has borne the bulk of London’s trade for hundreds of years and remains the busiest inland waterway in Britain.
It is not clear why the animal entered the river, Hamilton said. It could have followed a source of food, been pushed by storms, or become disoriented.
The whale was first spotted by Dave Andrews, a consultant ecologist and ornithologist, who posted a video on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
While the sighting was totally unexpected, Andrews said, the creature’s distinctiveness had made it quick to identify.
“The startling, very white colouration, the cleft upper lip, the absence of a dorsal fin, the beautiful way it moves, and the shape of its head,” he said, “it’s without a doubt a beluga whale.”