A new study has found that a sea creature mentioned in 13th-century Old Norse manuscripts
Scientists have described this unusual behavior of whales onlyten years ago. The researchers spotted humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and Bryde's minke whales (Balaenoptera brydei), which froze with their mouths wide open in a motionless vertical position on the surface of the water. It turned out that this is how the whales deceived the “fish”. They take their gaping jaws as a refuge and swim straight into the death trap.
One of the authors of the study studied Scandinavianmythology when he noticed an incredible similarity between the feeding strategy of whales and the behavior of hafgufa, a medieval monster from Old Norse manuscripts.
Scientists found a detailed account of the hafguf in the manuscriptXIII century called Konungs skuggsjá ("Royal Mirror"). It was written for the Norwegian king Hakon Hakonarson, who ruled from 1217 to 1263. But researchers have found references to hafgufu even in a text from the 2nd century AD. It contains drawings of a whale creature, which was called "apidochelon".
According to researchers, medieval sailorsknew that the hafgufa was a type of whale and not a fantastic sea monster. However, some medieval sources indicate that sailors landed their ships and lit a fire on the island back of the hafgufa. However, even in the 18th century, writers equated the creature with a leviathan, a kraken, or even a mermaid.
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