Jetstream

Beluga

ligne décoration

Adopted by The Fairmont Vancouver Airport

  • ID number

    DL0113

  • Sex

    Male

  • Year of birth

    Around 1980

  • Known Since

    1990

Distinctive traits

His large, deep notch at the end of the dorsal crest, combined with this other small notch a little further forward, represents Jetstream’s characteristic profile. The contours of this notch have gradually changed over time.

left side, 1991
Right side, 2003
left side, 2003
Right side, 2012
left side, 2012

Life history

We first met Jetstream in 1990. He was slightly gray. Then, in 1994, he was perfectly white. Jetstream was therefore born in the early 1980s.

Jetstream’s sex is confirmed by genetic analysis of a biopsy taken from his back : he is male. He is part of one of two networks of males that criss-cross the Saguenay fjord and its mouth.

Jetstream belongs to one of the Saguenay male groups. When we first met him, he was almost always with the same companions: Frimas, Camério and Dance-Sea. This quartet was one of the first groups to alert researchers to clan formation in males, i.e. stable associations between individuals.

Observations history in the Estuary

1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016

Years in which the animal was not observed Years in which the animal was observed

Latest news

We observe Jetstream in the mouth of the Saguenay Fjord, near the Pointe-Noire observation site. He swims among a herd of some forty individuals, including a newborn calf. The whole herd climbs quietly in a straight line towards the headwaters of the fjord.

We decide to stop the boat to fly over the area using a drone, a promising new tool for whale research and conservation. In fact, drones give a research boat a wider view of a marine area, facilitate inventories and age estimates, increase the precision of the data collected, and enable the observation of little-documented behaviours in the field.

Sponsor

The Fairmont Vancouver Airport adopted Jetstream (2002).