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The beluga is considered a small whale. An adult male can grow from 14 to 20 feet. An adult female can grow from 13 to 17 feet. It weighs from 1000 to 3000 pounds.

Boot laces used to be made out of beluga’s skin because it was thicker than other whales’ skin. Whales have also been hunted for food, lamp oil, cosmetics, perfume, dog food, scrimshaw, oil to lubricate watches and machinery, illuminating lighthouses and “porpoise leather”. Now they don’t use whales for food because of toxins in the water that sometimes collect in the whale.

There are only about 50,000 beluga whales left. In the 19th century whalers forced belugas onto beaches stranding them and later collecting them for many different uses. Thousands died this way.