Posted on 01/09/2018 12:29:23 PM PST by nickcarraway
Seals are often called the dogs of the sea, but it appears humpback whales are man’s best friend when it comes to the open waters of the ocean.
According to the Portland Press Herald, celebrated marine biologist Nan Hauser found herself in a scary situation in the waters of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.
It happened in October, when the 63-year-old was on a routine dive with other researchers and a documentary filmmaker, observing the behavior of the majestic humpback whale — a massive creature of which Hauser is extremely familiar.
Through her vast experience, Hauser knows not to touch the 25-ton swimmers when they are close by. So she was shocked when, on this dive, one of the animals swam up to her and began to nudge her with its head and cover her with its pectoral fin.
“If someone told me the story, I wouldn’t believe it,” Hauser told the Portland Press Herald about the whale’s unusual behavior.
Unsure why the humpback was acting this way and easily overpowered by the creature, Hauser decided to stay still and let the whale call the shots.
“His eye was so wide, I was just waiting to get whacked,” she said. “But it was clear it was trying to communicate something,” the president of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation said.
Also uncertain as to what the whale was trying to say, the filmmaker diving with Hauser continued to film the pair, waiting to see what would happen next.
After 10 minutes of carefully dancing with the whale, which felt like “three hours,” Hauser was close enough to her research boat to disengage and climb on board.
It was in this moment that Hauser understood what the graceful giant was trying to tell her: a large tiger shark, which Hauser measured at 15 feet, was in the waters nearby watching the human.
Doug Jones' gay son gives VP Mike Pence the side eye as his dad is sworn in as Alabama senator The whale’s proximity to Hauser had saved her from a potential attack. Tiger sharks are responsible for more attacks on humans than any other shark species, including great whites.
While humpback whales have been recorded protecting seals from predators, Hauser has never hear of the altruistic animals looking after humans. Regardless, Hauser is grateful for the whale’s massive presence. She left this unique encounter with only a few bruises and scrapes, instead of a shark bite.
And while there is no way to prove for sure that the whale in the video was trying to protect her, Hauser believes she found a friend in the vast ocean exactly when she needed one.
It was just showing off.
http://websitesboise.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Projectionholographique1.mp4?_=1
Yet the stinking Japs and others continue to cruelly kill dozens of these intelligent giants we are only beginning to understand.
Not to pi$$ on the parade; but for a 63-year-old woman, no dive in shark-infested waters is routine.
The whale was hungry?
5.56mm
I think the whale was holding her for the shark.
I know people who have gone down to Baja to see the whales in the bays where the whales breed and give birth. The people go out into the bay in small boats (you cannot do that in the USA). The whales love people. They come up right next to the little boats and show off their babies.
What the heck!?!~?~?
WTH was that addition in there for?
Actually I think Bull Sharks attack more people......but what do I know.
How nice.............
Cut and paste issue sometimes a link to another story gets embedded within the text. It happens.
How the hell did THAT get in this story?
You can do that...just don't get caught and reported by the nosybody greenies.
Really? Just wow!
Bull sharks frequent shallow waters where people congregate so human interaction is much more common. They are also known to enter brackish or even freshwater and have been known to go hundreds of miles upriver. Back in the 1920s or 30s one was caught in the Mississippi outside of Cairo, Illinois. Tigers are known man eaters but tend to stay in deeper water. IIRC, tigers figured prominently in the USS Indianapolis attacks.
Maybe the whale was gay?
Yes, the Japanese have their “research vessels” which is a totally false name for “whaling vessels”. They cruelly kill dozens of whales to sate their appetite for whale meat, when they have many other varieties of food from which to choose. They don’t need to have whale meat, and it could be dropped from their traditional foods. There is a world-wide moratorium on killing whales, which Japan illegally violates and has violated since 1987. They call it “scientific research”. Scientific research usually involves the study of an organism. And they do nothing in the way of study. They simply butcher the intelligent and beautiful animal they have just killed by firing a mechanized spear into its body and sell it to willing consumers.
Obviously the whale was queer.
I’m such a huge whale fan. These marine biologists were showing how they communicate with each other with these squeaks and squeals, what a fish!
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