Kalina, the white whale born at the Primorye Aquarium, turned two years on 1 August. She is the first beluga whale born in a dolphinarium in Russia.

Marine mammal trainer Yelizaveta Chizhova said that they began training Kalina when she was nine months old and started eating fish. Initially, she was not trained for performances. The staff just wanted the calf to grow and develop normally.

“We started teaching Kalina her first tricks when she turned 18 months and was eating large portions of fish. It was not an easy task, but we saw that the process was interesting for her. When she learned her first trick, she kept showing it to everyone to demonstrate what she could do. Kalina sometimes repeats new tricks over and over again, as if trying to improve her performance. She also loves to do water tricks with humans, because I have been swimming with her and Jessica, her mother, since birth, and she always showed her interest,” Yelizaveta Chizhova said.

Kalina, who spends most of her time with her mother, is a good eater, combining her mother’s milk with fish.