Wayward cetaceans

Hvaldimir (; – 31 August 2024) was a male beluga whale that fishermen near Hammerfest in northern Norway noticed in April 2019 allegedly wearing a camera harness. After being freed from the harness, he remained in the area and appeared used to humans. Speculation that he had been trained by Russia as a spy whale led to his being dubbed Hvaldimir, a portmanteau of Norwegian (whale) and "Vladimir", for Russian President Vladimir Putin. By 2023, Hvaldimir's range appeared to have expanded to include areas of the south-western coastline of Sweden. On 31 August 2024, Hvaldimir was found dead in the

lone female orca

beluga whale, subject of a media sensation in 1966

killer whale