Tracking Down The Mysterious Origin Of The Russian Spy Whale

In April of 2019, a whale was spotted with a military-grade harness in Norwegian waters. Ever since this mysterious discovery, nobody has been able to track down who domesticated and trained this individual whale, until today?

H.I. Sutton Article:

Music
Myuu - Blackout
Remorse - Mamoune Taleb
The Lost - Co.Ag.
Myuu - Theme Of Laura

[ACpadilla]

US Gov’t: We have SEALs.

Russian Gov’t: We have seals.

[zacharybraker]

What a wholesome lovely creature. Sucks he is all alone out there. Let's hope he can manage to live a good life.

[rocktcatU]

Hvaldimir needs to write a memoire about his time as an FSB spy.

[DietSpritee]

Barley Sociable = more disturbing content
Slightly Sociable = a little more suited for broader audiences
Soon to come.. Fully Sociable

[poochyboi]

Good boy was trained to be a badass spy but all he wanted was some lovies.

[Mrdarkroast]

You've heard of spyware, now get ready for spywhale

[jim_o]

Just FYI Hvaldimir is a joke name Hval == Whale, so its a play on Vladimir. (Felt that needed clarifying since you chose to say the name so damn seriously)

[re]

One thing is for sure: he is a very good boy and we are all incredibly proud of him.

[byggrynsgroet]

some input from a native here: it seems he disappeared after the popeller incident in 2019, as there hasnt been any reported sightings of him since (and norwegians have been outside exploring our own country alot this summer due to the pandemic and all the popular vacation countries being imfested with the virus), and many assume him to be deceased sadly. i still hope hes alive, he became somewhat of a national celebrity and even made the news multiple times. also this is nitpicking really but the h in Hvaldimir is silent (: its a play on words! hval = whale in norwegian, and vladimir of course refers to the russian name (like vladimir putin). this was another great video, i thoroughly enjoyed it as per usual!

[genesanford]

Kinda sad, cause by the time the whale was left behind, he was used to being around humans, LIKED THEM (?), then felt lonely.

[calsouth]

It's pretty amazing that you can literally use satellite imagery available to civilians to track down a Russian Military owned training facility for whales and seals

[kellypolek]

I feel bad for the poor blubber buddy!! Obviously he's very friendly and just want to be around creatures that understand him, which, based on his behavior, for him seems to humans, I guess cos of how he was raised? I really hope he's ok, poor baby 🧜😢

[creationfied]

terrifying how obedient we made it, the fact that he survived without help is surprising

[rockypockypuff]

Most likely, the beluga was trained to fetch things as stated. Possibly even to swim down and attach things to old lost equipment for retriveal. You know like the americans did in the late 70's and early 80's with pilot whales and orcas under Project Deep Ops. I know that the pilot whales had harnesses on, similar to this. The orcas had attachments to thier dorsals instead.

[stenrod]

His name Hvaldimir is a bit of a pun, combining the norwegian word for whale (hval) with the russian name Vladimir. Since the h is silent, it's pronounced more like "Valdimir" in english.

[spacebirb]

I will now turn my youtube page into a Hvaldimir stan page

[e.n.]

I hate to be this guy but: regardless of its origins, the Beluga is tamed, not domesticated. Domesticated animals are animals that have been selectively bred by humans for enough generations that they're distinct from their wild counterparts (dogs vs. wolves, for example). Tamed animals are wild animals that have been purposefully desensitized to human contact, like this guy. I could be wrong, but I don't think Belugas have been bred enough to qualify as domesticated at this point.

I feel very pedantic but it's an important distinction and one of my pet peeves when people get it wrong. Otherwise, good vid, 10/10!

[ThatDudeDeven]

You know this dude is a real one when he just does the content and doesnt think about that ten minute mark.

[The_Man_In_Red]

Imagine spending a decade training whales to retrieve items in the ocean when you could have a diver suited up in less than an hour.

[TheZod]

*Mini Russian navy captain hiding inside metallic whale*

"Stay quiet back there Dimitri! We haven't installed soundproof wall yet"