Animals are braver than humans — this story is a classic example!
Nan
Hauser has been researching and diving with whales for 28 years but had never
experienced an encounter like the one she had on a trip to the Cook Islands in
the South Pacific, writes The Dodo.
Nan
was on a research and filming trip. She had a camera team was there to shoot
her dive with a group of humpback whales. And the team was on hand when she had
an encounter unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.
One
of the giant creatures swam right next to Nan and began nudging her along in
the water.
“He
just wouldn’t stop touching me,” Nan told The Dodo. “I tried to get away over
and over again, but he kept at it. He eventually pushed me up right out of the
water on his fin. He kept putting his eye right next to me and I couldn’t
figure out what he was trying to tell me. ”
After
a while Nan became increasingly afraid and thought the whale was going to hurt
her.
“I
thought the camera crew was going to end up filming my death,” she said. “One
whip of a whale’s tail on you, and the pressure would break your bones.”
But
it turned out that the whale was not what Hauser needed to fear. As she lifted
her eyes, she saw a tiger shark swimming around them.
All
the whale was trying to do was to protect his new friend from a shark attack.
“I
was absolutely sure I would die,” Nan wrote on Facebook
The
whale took Nan on his fin and swam with his back to the boat. When the giant
creature got close enough, Nan was able to jump back into the boat.
“I
just put my hands on my face and started crying,” Nan said. “I can’t say
whether they were tears of relief that I was alive, or because I had just
experienced the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life.”
Whales
are known for their altruism and there are several documented cases of humpback
whales saving other animals from hazards in the ocean. But this is the first
documented case that a human being has been saved.
“Even
though it was an absolutely crazy experience, I feel so honored to have had it
happen,” Nan said. “It’s an incredible quality that they’ll go rushing into a
dangerous situation for the sake of someone else.”
Whales are amazing creatures and many are threatened by the
environmental degradation that occurs in our oceans.
Please share this article with all your friends to help the
conservation of these amazing creatures.