Scientist terrified as whale tossed her from water but then realized it was saving her from a shark
While Hauser remained confused and fearful for her life, she was tossed out of the water and onto the shore by the whale.
Altruistic animals have a strong instinct to protect others, but when a whale scientist, Nan Hauser, was being "hugged" and tossed onto the shore by a humpback whale, she never anticipated that the large mammal was actually protecting her from a deadly predator — a tiger shark.
Whale scientist and biologist Nan Hauser was filming on the location of Rarotonga in the Cook Islands in January 2018, when Hauser experienced a bizarre incident that left her stunned. When she was swimming towards two humpback whales. Hauser realized that one of the whales was approaching and trying to tuck her under its fin, almost as if it were "hugging" her with its razor-sharp barnacles on its fin. While Hauser remained confused and fearful for her life, she was tossed out of the water and onto the shore by the whale. Hauser finally put some distance between herself and the enormous humpback whale, and only then did the whale’s strange behavior become clear. As she looked closer, she noticed something moving oddly, with its pectoral fins tucked in and its tail swishing side to side instead of the usual up-and-down motion. It was at this moment that Hauser realized she was staring at the biggest tiger shark she had ever seen.
According to IFL Science, the whale was trying to protect her with its fin from being attacked by the gigantic shark. "I still to this day can’t believe it happened, and being a scientist it’s even harder. If someone told me this story, I wouldn’t believe them." Interestingly, a year after the unusual rescue experience, Hauser reunited with her rescuer. She was radioed that a whale had entered the area, and when she went out to check, she immediately noticed two notches on its tail fluke, exactly like the one that had once saved her life. Recalling the emotional reunion, Hauser shared, "He ignored everyone else on the boat, and he stared directly at me. I looked at him, and I saw a scar on his head, and I just screamed ‘he’s back I can’t believe it he’s back!’ and sure enough there he was."
She added, "I just whipped on my wet skin and slid (into the) water and I swam down next to him and he opened his eyes and he just looked at me and kept nudging me. It was like seeing your dog that you haven’t seen in six months." Expressing her desire to meet him again, she quipped, "I miss him. I mean, who misses a whale?" Although the incident might sound unusual and unbelievable at first, it’s quite common to find humpbacks exhibiting behaviors that suggest altruism. In a popular study from 2016, published in Marine Mammal Science, over a period of 62 years, 115 interactions between humpback whales and mammal-eating killer whales were examined.
The study showed that humpbacks often intervened to protect other species, initiating 93% of encounters with aggressive behaviors like tail slapping, showcasing interspecific altruism. The study also observed that humpbacks rescued seals from orca attacks and assisted entangled whales by helping them reach the surface to breathe. This highlighted their social support and protective behaviors.
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