While friendly and cute, this whale has secrets. Found near Ingøya, Norway, it's believed to have been trained by the Russian navy and was wearing a camera holder. Though it mostly seemed interested in fish and playing fetch (source: BBC News, published on YouTube 30th April 2019). Marine biologist Prof Audun Rikardsen said the harness had a GoPro camera holder and a label sourcing it to St Petersburg. A Norwegian fisherman managed to remove it from the whale.
Read more in BBC`s article 29th April 2019: Norway finds 'Russian spy whale' off Arctic coast.
The whale whales that were discovered by fishermen outside Rolfsøya in Finnmark on Friday, have already managed to become a national celebrity, also very famous international. Several researchers believe that the whale, which was equipped with a specially made harness and a fixture for camera equipment, is a Russian "military whale".
On the harness of the white whale it was, among other things, the inscription "Equipment of St. Petersburg", and researchers were very surprised at how tame and contact seeking it was with humans. The Russian Navy has the tradition of using animals as whales in experiments, and the main theory is that the whale was trained on a marine base in Russia.
The local people in Finnmark county in Norway have given the whale the nickname «Hvaldimir».
Read more of the story on the Norwegian national newspaper
Dagbladet.
Stein Morten Lund, 3rd May 2019