Live Cameras Are Tracking Thousands of Migrating Beluga Whales—and We Can't Look Away From the Adorable Footage

The wide smile and melon-shaped head of the beluga whale makes it one of the cutest cetaceans in the northern hemisphere (its cousin, the narwhal, puts up some stiff competition). Every year, thousands of these social, happy whales take a migratory journey through southern Canadian waters—and underwater cameras are there to capture all the whales' most adorable moments, so you can watch at home.

In partnership with explore.org, Polar Bears International set up two cameras on its "Beluga boat," the Delphi. The nonprofit conservation group has streamed this migration for nearly a decade in an effort to shed light on global warming's impact on sea ice (which beluga whales rely on for protection), reports Smithsonian Magazine. The cameras follow tens of thousands of whales as they travel to Canada's Hudson Bay and the shallow Churchill River, where they can eat, molt, and deliver their calves without the risk of orca attacks.

In the fall, the belugas will return to colder regions, where sea ice protects them from predators—the orca's dorsal fin prevents it from being able to follow belugas under the ice to hunt them—and supports their food chain. Before they're gone, watch the whales glide, twist, twirl—and even nudge the camera for their close-up—in the mesmerizing live footage above.