In the land of Hvaldimir

 

Hvaldimir the beluga whale
(credit: Ein Dahmer)

"Ut i naturen" is a Norwegian TV series featuring Kari Toft. I recently watched the 2019 season on Swedish TV. I admit I did it to get away from the distressing news about the war in Ukraine. The series is based on footage of nature and animals sent in by the viewers. Kari Toft then selects the best footage, and often travels to the location in Norway where it was made, which often leads to even more footage of familiar animals in slightly crazy situations. 

In  2019, the big star was (surprise) Hvaldimir, the "Russian spy whale", a mysterious beluga whale found on Norwegian territorial waters wearing a man-made harness with a small camera attached. Many suspected that the whale was used by the Russian navy to spy on the Norwegians, hence the funny nickname Hvaldimir (a pun on Vladimir Putin and the Norwegian word for whale, "hval"). However, since the harness was clearly marked "Equipment St. Petersburg" (Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia), the theory of a secret spy whale seems far-fetched. The most likely origin of the poor creature was a location at the Kola Peninsula where the whale had been used as a therapy animal for children (i.e. an emotional support animal). Hvaldimir was unusually tame, and tourists from all over Norway traveled to Hammerfest, where the whale lived in the harbour area. Even the prime minister paid him a visit! 

"Ut i naturen" contains much other interesting footage, too. There is the family that lives with two wild otters which have gotten used to humans (including human children), the lumberjack who is almost harassed by flocks of hungry moose while felling trees in the forest, the albino roe deer, foxes freely interacting with people in a dog-like manner, and a lot of white-tailed eagles (sea eagles). The young eagles, which haven´t yet learned how to fly properly, play dead in their nests if approached by humans. Kari Toft can literally touch one of the eagles without the large birds reacting! Weirdly, the adults (which are even larger) don´t try to defend their nests against the intruders. Brown bears munching on a dead moose and whooper swans on the search for blueberries in the forest are other highlights. One episode is almost entirely about hedgehogs.

Most of this production is slow-paced, but a segment titled "Frykt" (fear) is anything but. Kari´s crazy associate Ludvig Lökholm Lewin is a recurring character in the series, and in every episode voluntarily gets stung or otherwise attacked by some dangerous animal, just to see what´s shaking. A fish called greater weever stings him so badly that he essentially screams like a maniac for one hour straight! Other encounters are with European hornets (a very large wasp), stinging jellyfish or leeches. It doesn´t look scripted...

While "Ut i naturen" is interesting, I admit that I don´t really like the human-animal interaction thing. Foxes are *not* dogs, otters are not cats, and moose showing up at your doorstep or licking at your car doesn´t strike me as behaving entirely naturally. Wildlife can carry all kinds of disease, and is better left alone. But sure, the fear factor was real. 

With that little remark, I close this review.