‘Baby Beluga’ dies at age 46, Raffi mourns her passing on Twitter

Kavna the beluga was immortalized in children's entertainer Raffi's 1979 song, "Baby Beluga."

Kavna, the oldest captive beluga in North America, died on Monday at the Vancouver Aquarium. She was 46.

Veterinarians at the aquarium called Kavna's life a "long and healthy" one.

"Beluga whales in the wild are believed to live to about 25 to 30 years old," the aquarium said in a statement.

"At approximately 46 years old, Kavna was considered to be at the end of her life and had lived a long and healthy life in the care of the aquarium's marine mammal care team."

While aquarium staff are still awaiting the results of a necropsy to determine the exact cause of death, they speculate she died of natural causes relating to old age, CTV News reports.

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Raffi tweeted the news on Monday night:

"Just heard the news, sad she's gone. Loved meeting her in '79 — gave me a kiss, inspired a song now known to millions!"

Kavna was 16 when Raffi met the whale. So while she'll always be "Baby Beluga" to Canadians, she was hardly a baby when the song was written.

Raffi later tweeted that "Baby Beluga" wasn't "a save-the-whales lament, but instead, a love song."

Fans tweeted their condolences and childhood memories in response to the news.

Kavna arrived at the Vancouver Aquarium in 1976, the Vancouver Sun reports. There she gave birth to a calf in 1977, but it died of infection 16 weeks later.