Heartwarming video shows mammoth whale protecting marine biologist from attacking shark
A heart-touching video footage has emerged showing a giant, 50,000-pound humpback whale protecting a marine biologist from a shark attempting to attack the latter.
A heartwarming video footage has emerged showing a giant, 50,000-pound humpback whale protecting a marine biologist from a shark attempting to attack the latter.
The footage, filmed in South Pacific shows marine biologist Nan Hauser being protected by the whale from a shark circling around the area where she and her team were carrying out experiments.
The video footage shows the 50,000-pound mammal putting Hauser under one of its fins and at one point, even lifting her above the water surface in order to protect her from the attacking shark.
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The Daily Mail cited Hauser as saying that the incident took place in October and that the behaviour proves the intuitive behaviour of the whales.
In the footage, when Hauser is seen on the whale's back, another whale is seen in the background, slapping its tail in the water. She told Mirror that the whale was doing so to divert the shark away.
According to the Daily Mail, the snorkeler initially felt that the shark was actually another whale coming towards the team. But it was only when she saw the whale moving its tail sideways, instead of the friendly, up-and-down gesture, that she realised that the animal was a menacing shark.
The video shows Hauser returning to safety.
She was quoted by the Daily Mail saying, “'I wasn't sure what the whale was up to when he approached me, and it didn't stop pushing me around for over 10 minutes. I've spent 28 years underwater with whales, and have never had a whale so tactile and so insistent on trying to tuck me under his huge pectoral fin. In my head, I was a bit amused since I write Rules and Regulations about whale harassment - and here I was being harassed by a whale.”