Pénélope
Beluga
Adopted by Rogers Cantel Québec
-
ID number
DL0128
-
Sex
Male
-
Year of birth
Around 1964
-
Known Since
1980
Distinctive traits
Pénélope is quite difficult to identify from the left flank, with his dorsal crest as the only clue. It’s the multiple gray spots at the bottom of his crest on the right flank that make him so distinctive.
Life history
When we first met Pénélope in 1980, he was slightly gray. From 1989 onwards, he was always noted as white. He would have been born around 1975.
His sex was confirmed by genetic analysis of a biopsy : he is male. He would be part of one of the two male networks in the Saguenay.
Pénélope is a male adept of the Saguenay Fjord. He finds the conditions and food essential to his needs. He feeds on groundfish (capelin, herring, smelt, sand lance), eels and invertebrates (Nereis worm, squid, octopus, crustaceans), but can also hunt in the water column and near the surface, swimming or hovering against the current.
Observations history in the Estuary
Years in which the animal was not observed Years in which the animal was observed
Latest news
On June 13, 2002, Pénélope was off the coast of Les Bergeronnes. He swims past some twenty individuals, adults and juveniles. We follow a small group of adults, as we want to put a telemetry tag on one of them. After an hour’s observation, we still haven’t placed any tags, but we have photographed all the animals on the left and right flanks. Finally, we left the area and headed back to Tadoussac to end the day.
Pénélope was last seen over a decade ago. What happened to him? Is he dead? Has he remained invisible to the eye of the researcher all this time? One thing is certain, his story remains a valuable source of information for our knowledge of this fragile population.
Sponsor
Rogers Cantel Québec adopted Pénélope (1993).