OK, seriously this is one of the best videos and stories we ever wrote about, the touching video and moment that a 50,000 pounds humpback whale protected a marine biologist from being attacked by a shark that tried to get too close. The whale shielded the diver under his fin and then pushed her out of danger.
The incredible video was shot off the Muri Beach, Rarotonga. Cook Islands, South Pacific. Nan Hauser is the marine biologist who you can see in the video says the humpback whale protected the entire team from the danger of the tiger shark by placing her under his giant fin and them pushing her to the beach with his mouth and head.
When watching the stunning video you can notice that at one point, the huge whale is lifting the 63 year old diver out of the water and in other occasion is hiding her under is big fin, Nan says the the never before captured on film incident proves that whales are intuitive in nature and protect other species from danger, including humans.
[the_ad id=”71925″]
This intuitive nature can also be found in humans, everytime a cop rushes to the rescue of someone in need risking his own life in the process, it’s the instincts and human nature to help others that take over, and Nan believes it’s similar with whales. She makes a good point.
The tiger shark that tried to come too close was a 15 foot long animal compared to the 14 foot long mammal that protected her. The odds were not in their favor, but the whale is brave and smart.
Watch the video carefully and notice the moment when Nan is carried or more exactly is directed by the whale to a certain direction under water and finally emerges above water and informes her crew on the boat that there’s a big tiger shark nearby.
Nan continued to describe the incident and also revealed that there was another whale you can’t see in the footage that was flapping his tail and slapping the water to create a diversion so the tiger shark will move away from the humans.
[the_ad id=”71924″]
When Nan first noticed the animal drawing close, she thought it was just another whale wanting to join the team, but when she noticed its tail flapping side to side and not up and down like all whales, she understood it was a shark and not a friendly whale.
Nan recalled the event:
” 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”
Whales have been seen protecting other animals in the past, but this event marks the first time a whale was spotted helping a human from danger.
“It’s funny how the tables are turned here: I’ve spent the past 28 years protecting whales, and in the moment, I didn’t even realise that they were protecting me!”
Images by Caters News and Nan Hauser
