Naked Russians

These two Beluga Whales were headed to an aquatic park, and Russian marine experts felt that taming them would work better if the instructor was naked. The Belugas apparently shy away from artificial materials such as wetsuits, so they recruited 36 year old Natalia Avseenko for the task. The water temperature in Russia's White Sea was 34.7 degrees
at the time, which would normally kill a human in about 5 minutes. Photographer Viktor Iyagushkin chronicled Natalia as she free dove with the whales. It helped that Natalia is a world champion free diver and yoga expert who uses meditation techniques to handle the freezing cold. She was in the water an amazing 10 minutes at a time.