“Russian spy whale” found by Norway off Arctic coast

No, this isn't the plot of a movie. This is real life.

Just when you think that the world can't get any weirder, you get a headline like this... Fishermen in waters near the Norwegian fishing village of Inga reported last week that a white beluga whale wearing a strange harness had begun to harass their fishing boats, and a video of the whale has since emerged. The tame whale repeatedly approached Norwegian boats, and a closer inspection found that there was a GoPro attached, but no camera. Maybe it just wanted some cool shots for its finstagram. Sorry. Professor Audun Rikardsen told the BBC that the harness "was attached really tightly round its head, in front of its pectoral fins and it had clips". "A Russian colleague said they don't do such experiments, but she knows the navy has caught belugas for some years and trained them - most likely it's related to that," he also said. Madness. Despite saying that a fellow scientist had told him that it was not the sort of kit that Russian scientists would use, Rikardsen did say that Russia does have a naval base in the region in question. You can see a video, which was released by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, of the whale in question being discovered here. Whatever the whale is, it's very cute...