The alleged spy whale named "Hvaldimir" appeared again.
A six-week-old beluga whale swims at Shedd Aquarium on January 21, 2010, in Chicago, Illinois. The calf, born December 14, weighed 162 pounds and was 5' 4" long.
The beluga whale was seen swimming in Norway when it was first spotted. Now, Hvaldimir was once again spotted in Sweden.
The whale got its name from the word "Hval," which means "name" in Norwegia. The "dimir" part was acquired from the current Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.
Since its discovery, Hvaldimir has become somewhat of a "minor celebrity" because of its linkage to Russia.
Alleged Russian Spy Whale Appears Again!
According to Interesting Engineering's latest report, Hvaldimir was first spotted in 2019 wearing a GoPro camera.
One of five Beluga Whales swims in the Cold Water Quest exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium on November 19, 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia. The Georgia Aquarium, the world's largest by gallons, 8 million plus, and by the number of fish, 100,000 plus, opened to the public on November 23, 2005.
OneWhale, the organization created to protect the health and welfare of Hvaldimir, didn't confirm if the animal was still wearing the equipment.
When the beluga whale was first spotted, the Russian government said it wasn't their spy since they wouldn't mount a camera or other obvious evidence.
"If we were using this animal for spying, do you think we'd attach a mobile phone number with the message 'Please call this number'?" said Colonel Viktor Baranets, the Russian reserver colonel.
However, Norway's domestic intelligence insists that the Russian government probably trained the whale to spy on its waters.
As of writing, it is still unclear if Hvaldimir is a spy of Russia. The only thing that OneWhale cares about is the safety of this animal.
Other Animals Trained To Be Spies
Although Baranets reiterated that Hvaldimir doesn't belong to the Russian government, he clarified that they train dolphins for combat roles.
This shows that some governments across the globe are using animals for military purposes, such as spying.
Blogimal listed the animals that can be trained as spies (or probably were already trained during times of war):
- Ravens
- Pigeons
- Cats
- Dogs
- Dolphins
- Sea Lions
You can click this link to learn more about these animals.
Here are other stories we recently wrote about animals:
Previously, a study claimed that giraffes use statistical interferences despite having tiny brains. We also reported about the world's first brain-computer experiment on monkeys conducted by China.
For more news updates about spy animals and other similar animal topics, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
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