Any Cetacean Behavior Experts/Marine Biologists In The House?

[HeyHomie]

At first blush, this beluga whale appears to be having fun scaring these kids.

The problem is, anthropomorphism is a funny thing, and for all I know, she could be pissed off as hell and displaying the same behavior she would in the wild if she were being threatened.

So is anyone on this board familiar enough with cetacean behavior to know if she is really showing aggression towards these kids?

[Colibri]

Here’s one take on the video:

According to Dr. Lori Marino, a beluga behavior specialist with The Kimmela Center, the animal’s behavior is “absolutely definitively aggression.”

“The open mouth and posturing are typical of the way cetaceans express aggression and I’ve seen a lot in captivity in the very same circumstances. This poor animal is telling the kids: ‘Get away’. It’s a threat,” Dr. Marino told The Dodo.

“While belugas and other cetaceans in the wild make the same aggressive motions (open mouth, etc.) in this case, in my opinion, it is clearly due to the fact that these whales are crammed into this tank and have nowhere to go to escape the screaming kids poking at the glass.”

A caveat: the Kimmela Center is a center for animal advocacy and may not be entirely unbiased source.

However, while I’m not an expert in cetaceans, to me it certainly looks more like a threat towards the kids than that the whale is being playful.

[Trancephalic]

who can blame it; kids are the fucking worst.

[purplehorseshoe]

IANACE (I am not a cetacean expert) but I think that the beluga initially reacted angrily to the kids tapping on the walls (that’s gotta be LOUD for something with that sensitive hearing) and then, upon seeing that he (err … She? Not up on my beluga sexing skills) was getting quite the reaction, kept at it out of probably boredom more than anything else.

[Bear_Nenno]

@purplehorseshoe

IANACE (I am not a cetacean expert) but I think that the beluga initially reacted angrily to the kids tapping on the walls (that’s gotta be LOUD for something with that sensitive hearing) and then, upon seeing that he (err … She? Not up on my beluga sexing skills) was getting quite the reaction, kept at it out of probably boredom more than anything else.

According to what sounds like one of the caretakers in this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVOjmX1J70Y, his name is Juno (it’s a ‘he’) and it is an aggressive, territorial display of dominance called “jaw popping”.

ETA:

@Colibri

A caveat: the Kimmela Center is a center for animal advocacy and may not be entirely unbiased source.

Got to be a completely unbiased account if even the handlers are calling it aggression. If the handler was saying “oh, he just loves to play with all the guests”, then I’d say we had competing views from two biased sources. But it looks like the experts on both sides of the “whale captivity” debate agree that it is aggressive behavior.