The beluga whale Hvaldimir, discovered four years ago wearing a strange harness earning him suspicions of having been used by the Russian navy, is currently on the west coast of Sweden, according to an NGO which follows its movements. Spotted for the first time in the waters of the Norwegian Arctic in 2019, the name of this white cetacean of several meters comes from a pun associating the word whale (hval, in Norwegian), and the emblematic Russian first name.
"We don't know why it's moving so fast right now," especially as "it's moving away from its natural environment," the marine biologist said. "It could be the hormones pushing him to find a mate." Or loneliness, belugas being very social, he could be looking for others. »
An estimated 13 to 14 years old, Hvaldimir was spotted in April 2019 off the Arctic region of Finnmark in Norway's Far North. The biologists who had approached him had succeeded in removing the harness fixed around his head. This was equipped with a base for a small camera, with the text "Equipment St. Peterburg" printed in English on the plastic straps.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries speculated at the time that Hvaldimir had escaped from a pen, and had been dragged away by the Russian Navy, as he seemed accustomed to human company and had a tendency to approach ships. Moscow has never officially commented on the speculation.
