Observational Study of Breeding Behavior of Two Adult Male
Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas)

Jessica C. Wilson

The beluga whale is a member of the order Cetacea.  This order includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises.  Currently, in North America there are only thirty-two beluga whales in captivity, seven of which are males.  Transportation costs, logistics, and risk of transportation make it hard to move these few males to the facilities with breeding age females.  Since little is known about the ideal conditions for breeding it may take years for a female to become pregnant. 

One possible solution to these problems is artificial insemination. The first step in artificial insemination is semen collection training.  In livestock animals this can be accomplished quite easily, but marine mammals present many unique problems.  A possible means of semen collection is using an object that the male whale masturbates on in a training session and rewarding the masturbation behavior. In this study it was hypothesized that the incidence of erections in male beluga whales at The Mystic Aquarium would increase with the introduction of objects into their environment and no difference would be seen in the frequency of erections between morning and afternoon.  

The two adult male beluga whales at The Mystic Aquarium were observed for a period of six weeks, six days per week, using focal animal sampling with continuous recording of behaviors.  Observations were made in fifteen minute blocks alternating between the two adult males from 7:00-9:00 am.  Toys were introduced into the beluga whale’s environment three days a week and the other three observation days were without toys.  Three days a week observations were also made in the afternoon without toys.  Erections were seen from both males while pair swimming and individually from both males after genital region contact with an exhibit rock.  However, there was no significant difference in the incidence of erections with and without objects in the whales’ environment, but there were a significantly greater number of erections in the morning compared to the afternoon.