Domain-- Eukarya Kingdom-- Animalia Phylum-- Chordata Class-- Mammalia Order-- Cetacea Family-- Monodontidae Genus-- Delphinapterus Species-- D. leucus
The Beluga (or White
whale) is scientifically known as
Delphinapterus leucus
.
Belugas are consideredEukaryotes, they have multiple
cells with nuclei that work together to complete the organism.
The phylum Chordata is named that
way because all the organisms in the phylum have a notochord
(spinal cord) which means that the animal has a complex
nervous system and belugas contain that characteristic. The
Class Mammalia has a main
characteristic that means the animal reproduces sexually and
produce young within their bodies, opposed to laying eggs.
Cetacea simply means the organism
is aquatic, flippers, and a hole on top of their head for
respiration. The family of
Monodontidae
helps specify the group down to toothed whales that are
specific to
belugas or narwhals. Delphinapterusleucus
in Latin means " white dolphin without a wing" which is
true because the Beluga lacks a dorsal fin and is also the
only purely white whale. The name 'Beluga' comes from the
Russian word for 'white' but is translated to leucus
in the Latin language.
Most
researchers have concluded that Belugas became more strictly
aquatic animals from shallow water dwelling mammals similar
to Hippos. A reason this theory holds true is because
Belugas possess an ankle bone that is a bone specifically
found in the even-toed ungulates (found below). Also, DNA
sequencing has further proven similarities between
specifically
Beluga whales and Hippopotamuses.
*** Belugas do not look closely related to
Humans but they do share many of the same bones that humans
have in their hands and arms, such as ; ulna, radius,
humerous.
The Above Phylogenetic Tree:
Although the Beluga shares the Family Monodontidae with
narwhals the beluga is actually more closely related to
dolphins than most whales. The tree above indicates that the beluga is
obviously close to the whale species but surprisingly close
to the hippopotamus. Which supports the belief that they
have evolved from a land-based animal that resembles those
of the Ungulates (such as hippopotamus, cows, sheep etc.)
* I
Created The Phylogenetic Tree Based on Information that I
had Collected. -- there are multiple other branches to the
image above but I only included the most specific and
meaningful branches.