Research shows diet shift of beluga whales in Alaska inlet

Dan Joling, Associated Press
Updated 6:24 pm, Friday, June 15, 2018



FILE - In this August, 2009, file photo provided by the Department of Defense, a Cook Inlet beluga whale calf, left, and an adult breach near Anchorage, Alaska. A new study concludes that endangered beluga whales in Cook Inlet changed their diet over five decades from saltwater prey to fish and crustaceans influenced by freshwater. The analysis of isotopes in beluga bone and teeth by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers showed belugas formerly fed on prey that had little contact with freshwater. (Christopher Garner/Department of Defense via AP, File)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet may have changed their diet over five decades from saltwater prey to fish and crustaceans influenced by freshwater, according to a study by University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers.

An analysis of isotopes in beluga bone and teeth showed belugas formerly fed on prey that had little contact with freshwater. More recent generations of belugas fed in areas where rivers pour freshwater into ocean habitats.

New information on Cook Inlet belugas is important because the species is endangered and its numbers have not increased despite hunting restrictions and other protections. Mark Nelson, a wildlife biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the lead author of the study, called it a little piece of that puzzle.

"If there's something we can do to help them recover, we might start to know what that might be," he said in a phone interview from Fairbanks.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Research-shows-slow-shift-in-Cook-Inlet-beluga-12998561.php