Posted on 03/19/2025 6:23:43 AM PDT by Red Badger
HEARTSTOPPING footage shows the moment two giant whales move in to protect a diver from a bloodthirsty shark.
Benoît Girodeau was diving off the coast of Mauritius when he was approached by an oceanic whitetip shark - a species known for its aggression.
VIDEO AT LINK.....................
The whales fiercely defended the terrified diver from the sharkCredit: Caters
The two sperm whales got in between Benoit Girodeau and the sharkCredit: Caters The reggae-dancehall artist known as Natty Gong shared underwater footage of the shocking moment he was circled by two 45-tonne sperm whales who chased off the "curious" shark.
He shared the astonishing footage on Instagram, saying that the shark made an "aggressive approach" towards him but was "immediately blocked by the whale".
"With his mouth wide open, he chased the shark before checking me out and back off," he said.
At one point, one whale seems to have done a good job of following the shark, sending it away from Girodeau.
It even swam upside down and tailed the apex predator, but despite seemingly chasing it off, the shark slowly started swimming back around towards the terrified diver.
It is then that the second whale comes into view, cutting it off from approaching Girodeau with its mammoth body.
"The sperm whale wouldn't let go and kept chasing the shark," he recalled.
As the shark continued to get closer, one of the whales bit it on the tail, telling it to back off - something Girodeau said was a "surprise" to witness.
Girodeau said: "The shark tried to come back at me, but I was well guarded.
"And the other whale came back to both surround me."
The protective action of both whales allowed Girodeau to make it back to the safety of his boat.
Oceanic whitetip sharks are rare but are one of the more dangerous sharks to humans.
According to experts at Ocean Conservancy, they are "aggressive and opportunistic hunters" that can grow up to 13 feet long.
They have a "drive to eat anything and everything they can get their jaws on," the experts said, noting that they tend to stay near the surface of the water, which can put divers at risk.
Divers are warned to be "extremely cautious" around the species.
It is believed that Oceanic white-tips were largely responsible for one of the deadliest shark attacks in history when the USS Indianapolis sunk in the Pacific in 1945 after being torpedoed by the Japanese.
Out of the 1,196 people on board, 900 entered the water alive but it is estimated that around 150 of them were picked off one-by-one by the opportunistic sharks.
Only 316 men survived the sinking, dehydration, exposure, salt-water poisoning, and the shark attacks.
Sperm whales are not known for being protective of humans, but their docile nature and rare interactions with divers such as Girodeau are interpreted as protective.
Sperm whales have teeth! Either could’ve bitten that shark in two!
Dayum!
“As the shark continued to get closer, one of the whales bit it on the tail, telling it to back off - something Girodeau said was a “surprise” to witness.”
Ummm...video shows jack.
Wow.
In other news a pod of dolphins swum around the spacex capsule protecting 4 astronauts, yesterday.
There go the m3dia, generalizing about “bloodthirsty sharks”- how do they know that the shark wasn’t just trying to warn the diver that there were 2 giant whales in the area?
White Tip sharks don’t warn..................
Who filmed this? The diver?
The other whale.....................
Doesn't that cover almost all sharks. Whale sharks excluded.
Many sharks are harmless. It’s the ones that aren’t that get all the bad press.............
Shark was trying to get him an extended warranty as his was about expire.
It is obvious that whales and dolphin have continued to honor mankind, even though we brought sin into the world. I think God has allowed their friendship to remind us that we were made to be happy with our Creator, forever.
Oceanic White Tip.
Very bad news.
In my own experience, these are not typically aggressive. I’ve been up close to both white and black tips. In most cases they were ‘sleeping’ in caves or on the bottom.
Wiki has this to say:
Whitetip reef sharks are generally shy and non-aggressive towards humans, though they may approach out of curiosity, and encounters rarely result in harm. However, they may investigate swimmers closely, and spear fishers are at risk of being bitten by one attempting to steal their catch.
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