The moment a 25-ton humpback whale pushed a snorkeller to safety from a 15ft tiger shark was captured on camera. Biologist Nan Hauser was swimming off the coast of Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands, when the giant creature swam in to prevent a “potentially deadly” attack. Hauser said the encounter may be proof of a whale’s intuitive nature to protect other species, including humans. The giant whale tucked the 63-year-old, under his pectoral fin and pushed her along with his head and mouth for around 10 minutes, she said.She later realised that the 15-foot tiger shark was nearby, that the whale was steering her away from.
“I’ve spent the past 28 years protecting whales, and in the moment, I didn’t even realise that they were protecting me,“ she added.
Hauser had heard of the altruistic behaviour of humpback whales before – protecting their young, other species of whales, seals, and dolphins – but scientists have never seen humpbacks actually protecting humans. Such actions, however, have been previously witnessed in dolphins. Hauser said: “There is a published scientific paper about humpbacks protecting other species of animals, by Robert Pitman. For instance, they hide seals under their pectoral fins to protect them from killer whales. They truly display altruism – sometimes at the risk of losing their own lives.”
NanoRain 