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Video shows whale 'dancing' at Connecticut wedding

Published 08/04/2011 12:00 AM
Updated 08/04/2011 07:34 AM

MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) — Trainers say a beluga whale seen bobbing to the music of a mariachi band on a wedding video taken at the Mystic Aquarium wasn't really dancing.

The video has become an Internet hit since being posted by Bill Kurtz of West Haven, a guest at the July wedding of Kimberly Mikenis and Kevin Van Aelst of New Haven.

But Mystic Aquarium senior trainer Kelly O'Neil tells the New Haven Register that Juno, the 1,200-pound beluga on the video, has been trained to bob in response to certain arm movements, and was apparently responding to the movements of the band's guitar player.

O'Neil says the whale's apparent interest in the wedding was probably due to the music's vibrations, those physical cues and the whales' natural curiosity.

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