14 DAY TRIAL // A beluga whale has been spotted returning someone’s iPhone from the depths of the sea and giving it back.
Belugas are incredibly smart animals, and recent research shows that they might be more intelligent than people might have surmised until now. It’s also probably true that any given tourist would probably confuse belugas with dolphins, especially since they’re not that big.
When we hear the word whale, we’re usually picturing a humpback or a killer whale, but a beluga is smaller. And, from the looks of it seem to be friendlier, although they are still wild animals and should not be trusted.
Returning the phones is not the most impressive part
A viral video has been making the rounds on Reddit, showing a beluga whale gently returning an iPhone to some tourists. The location is not clear, but it does say that it’s somewhere near the coast of Norway. Since belugas are arctic whales, it’s likely somewhere in North or Norwegian Sea.
The fact that it brings the phone up to the surface is impressive, but the fact that it let it go, gently, shows either great intelligence or that it’s accustomed being around people. It looks very much like it’s waiting for a reward (making it rather sad because no reward was given.)
The story is all the more impressive because of another incident that was reported just a few days ago, also near the coasts of Norway. A beluga whale was spotted wearing some sort of a harness, leading to some speculation that it could be a Russian “spy.”
Rusia (and other countries) tried in the past to train belugas and dolphins for reconnaissance missions, with little to no success. It’s unclear whether the beluga that returned the iPhone had a Russian accent or it was just used to people giving it food.