Earth’s Mother Nature is an extraordinary and volatile force to be reckoned with featuring exotic landscapes, incredible animals, dangerous reptiles and mammals, and unspeakable natural disasters.
Sometimes we all benefit when some of these wonders are filmed. If an animal is caught doing something amazingly outside of the norm, you better believe that video will go viral in the social media universe.
And you might have seen the viral video of a beluga whale playing fetch with a rugby ball, but the context is actually way sadder than you may have originally thought.
This video featuring a beluga whale playing fetch with a guy on a boat tossing him a rugby ball went viral over the weekend.
No big deal; just a guy playing fetch with a beluga whale… 😮 pic.twitter.com/PdSNgVABIu
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) November 7, 2019
Everyone was in awe of this smart beluga whale enjoying playing with these guys.
But unfortunately the story behind this particular beluga whale is not what it appears to be.
There is a very high probability that this beluga whale is named Hvaldimir, a captive whale who escaped a Russian military program. Yes, you read that right.
The reason why it’s a high probability is because beluga whales, like every aquatic mammal, travel in packs. This guy is all alone out there. The likely reason for that is his fellow species refused to allow Hvaldimir to be one of the pack. He was outcast to be alone in the wild.
You may remember this video of a beluga returning a cell phone to a young lady after she dropped it.
Here does the same whale, Hvaldimir save one of the Norwegian local girls iPhone
— 𝒩𝒿𝒶𝓇𝒹𝒶𝓇 𝒪𝒻 ℬℴ𝓇ℊ 🌾🇧🇻 (@Njardar_Of_Borg) November 8, 2019
This is also Hvaldimir.
Unfortunately, Hvaldimir is desperate for human contact because he was always dependent on them.
Contributing science writer for New York Times Magazine tweeted about Hvaldimir once the video went viral.
Hvaldimir appeared in waters near Hammerfest, Norway this past spring wearing a harness reportedly labeled “Equipment of St. Petersburg,” which led to speculation that he may have been trained to be a Russian spy https://t.co/kisSGNGTgW pic.twitter.com/BxWCsRviQK
— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) November 9, 2019
Since then H. has appeared in various Northern harbors and in several viral videos and many news reports. He repeatedly approached boats, pulled a diver’s knife from its scabbard, and returned an iPhone to a woman who dropped it pic.twitter.com/gEkhTxeMss
— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) November 9, 2019
Because H. has spent so much time in captivity he seems unable to join a wild pod & remains at least semi-dependent on human care. There have been disturbing reports that H. has been injured by propellors & anglers and that people have prodded & jabbed him https://t.co/fy2EW5cn26 pic.twitter.com/NZWRMB40Zr
— Ferris Jabr (@ferrisjabr) November 9, 2019
To recap: the Russian government used this beluga whale in order to use it as a spy.
But before you demonize the Russian government, the United States had a similar program for dolphins and sea otters. Dolphins keen sonar sense allows them to navigate waters that have sea mines while sea otters have excellent eyesight underwater and can locate things better than any other creature.
So before you applaud the amazing Hvaldimir, it’s hard not to feel sorry for his domestication. He’s clearly a lonely mammal.
