Must be a Whales fan! Adorable moment a beluga plays rugby with a group of South African supporters just days after their World Cup win
- Beluga whale filmed playing fetch with South African boat crew near North Pole
- Boat had been sailing in the area before beluga whale swam up to the vessel
- Footage showed a crew member throwing a rugby ball into the ocean
- The sea creature retrieved the ball and brings it back to the crew on the boat
A beluga whale has been filmed passing a rugby ball back and forth with crew on a passing boat.
The whale was filmed approaching the South African Gemini Craft boat in the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole.
A member of the boat’s crew threw a rugby ball out the to the whale, before the talented sea creature scooped it up in its mouth.
A beluga whale that could be a defected ‘Russian spy’ has been filmed passing a rugby ball back and forth with crew on a passing boat
A crew member filmed the ensuing game of rugby unfold as another friend onboard threw an official 2019 Rugby World Cup ball into the ocean
The animal grabbed the ball in its mouth before swimming back to the boat.
The video has been viewed more than one million times since it was uploaded to Facebook and the footage has spread like wildfire across numerous sites such as Reddit.
A number of amazed people have left comments in disbelief of the beluga whale’s skills.
‘I can’t believe what I’m seeing,’ one person said.
Another one commented: ‘How many people can say they’ve played fetch with a beluga?’
The Gemini Crew had earlier been sailing near the Norwegian town of Hammer fest, which recently gained media attention about a possible Russian spy whale swimming in its waters.
Russia is understood to have moved a pod of beluga whales to a secret Arctic base before one of the sea creatures reportedly swam to Norway.
The animal surfaces and grabs the ball in its mouth before it swims back to the boat and releases the ball
A beluga was found wearing a harness marked ‘equipment of St Petersburg’ around the area in April.
The sea creature, which had the harness for a camera, was hanging around the port performing tricks for locals in return for food, with many residents joking he had ‘defected’.
Russia has dismissed claims its ‘spy whale’ was caught snooping on the fishing vessels of a NATO country – despite the Defence Ministry in Moscow previously admitting to experiments using these mammals for espionage.
A number of amazed people have left comments in disbelief of the beluga whale’s sport skills
Beluga whales: Rugby stars of the sea
The beluga whale is found in the arctic region as well as off the coast of North America, Russia and Greenland.
They lack a dorsal fin which allows them to swim under ice with ease.
Although they are slow swimmers they can dive as deep as 700m below the surface of the water.
There are approximately 150,000 beluga whales in the world.
They are opportunistic feeders, which mean they have a varied diet depending on the food source available.
Beluga whales eat octopus, squids, crabs, snails and fish.
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