'Dancing' Whale Wasn't Actually Dancing

Juno was trained to bob head to arm movements
By Sarah Whitmire,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 4, 2011 1:56 PM CDT

That cute whale seemingly dancing to mariachi in the latest video sweeping YouTube? Whale trainers at a Connecticut aquarium rained all over our parade today as they explained the reality behind 9-year-old Juno's sweet moves: He has been trained to bob in response to certain arm movements, and the AP reports that he was likely only bobbing along to the guitarist's movements.

“They can’t hear music the way we can ... something attracted him,” she tells the New Haven Register. "Whether it was the four men down there or the vibrations, something caught his attention.” The wedding guest who filmed the video says Juno was "bouncing back there during the ceremony.” (More beluga whale stories.)

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