科学家首次发现一只独角鲸被白鲸群收养现象

A band of beluga whales took in a lost narwhal and made it one of their own, researchers said after discovering the lone whale swimming and playing with its new friends.

研究人员发现一只孤独的独角鲸与一群白鲸混在一起，并且独角鲸与这些白鲸一起游泳和玩耍，貌似独角鲸已经成为了白鲸群体的一员。

The narwhal was discovered in the St. Lawrence River, more than 620 miles from its normal habitat, swimming with about dozen of St. Lawrence River belugas. Narwhals normally live in the Arctic near Canada, Greenland, Russia and Norway, CBC News reported.

事件发生在圣劳伦斯河，距离独角鲸的正常栖息地超过620英里，事发当时独角鲸正与大约12个圣劳伦斯河的白鲸一起游泳。据加拿大广播公司新闻报道，独角鲸通常生活在加拿大、格陵兰岛、俄罗斯和挪威附近的北极地区。

Footage of the narwhal swimming with the belugas was taken with a drone from the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals, a non-profit that focuses on whale research.

事件由一架“海洋哺乳动物研究和教育组织”的无人机拍摄，这是一个专注于鲸鱼研究的非盈利组织。

GREMM said the narwhal was believed to be a juvenile, swimming with mostly male belugas.

该组织说，此独角鲸还未成年，与它一起的主要是雄性白鲸。

It behaves like it was one of the boys, Robert Michaud, the president and scientific director of GREMM said.

“它表现得就像一个男孩一样，”GREMM的总裁兼科学主管Robert Michaud说。

Researchers said the narwhal adopted beluga-like behavior such as blowing bubbles. Belugas and narwhals are both social animals but they don’t interact often when they’re in northern waters together, researchers said.

研究人员说，这只独角鲸学会了白鲸的一些技能，比如吹泡泡。研究人员还称白鲸和独角鲸都是群居动物，但它们在北方水域的时候并不经常相互打扰。

GREMM also believed the narwhal was the same whale spotted in 2016 and 2017 with a pack of belugas. Researchers believed there was a chance belugas and narwhals may interbreed in the decades to come to create a “narwhal-beluga hybrid.”

研究人员还认为，这并不是他们第一次发现这头走失的独角鲸和白鲸混在一起。在2016年和2017年也检测到了这头雄性独角鲸。研究人员认为，在未来的几十年里，白鲸和独角鲸可能会相互交配，从而创造出一种“独角鲸-白鲸”的杂交品种。

“If this young narwhal spends his life with belugas, we’ll have a lot of information to learn and share,” Michaud said. “I hope I’ll be there to see it.”

米肖说：“如果这个年轻的独角鲸和白鲸一起度过一生，我们将会有很多信息来学习和分享。”“我希望我还能在那里看到它。”