Animals to the Rescue!: Amazing True Stories from around the World
Whale of a Lifeguard September 2017 Rarotonga Cook Islands Rarotonga Cook Islands DIVE TIME On one September day in 2017 humpback whale researcher Nan Hauser was at work on her boat with her team in the South Pacific Ocean The researchers were observing the humpback whales behavior and snapping photos of their tails creating a record of each whale they saw July through October is the best time of year for observing humpback whales near the Cook Islands That’s when the whales pass the islands during their more than 4,000-mile 6,437 km meandering migration from Antarctica where they feast on small fish and shrimplike animals called krill to warmer waters where the females give birth and pairs mate However one thing was different about Nan’s daily research routine today A film crew had come along to create a documentary about her work 6 For more than twenty years Nan Hauser has studied both the surface and underwater behavior of humpback whales Like human fingerprints each humpback whale’s tail flukes are unique Scientists keep a photographic catalog to identify humpbacks by their tail shape and markings
Humpback whales don’t have teeth Instead they have baleen rows of soft bristlelike plates that filter the shrimplike krill and other small food out of the seawater When they saw two large adult humpbacks one of the filmmakers suggested Nan get into the water so they could capture a little more underwater footage of her swimming with the whales Nan agreed and the film crew lowered the camera into the water Then Nan slipped overboard carrying her own waterproof video camera to take some closer footage of the whales When she was some distance from the boat the larger of the two humpbacks which Nan guessed to be 50 feet 15 m long and weighing many tons turned and began surging through the water heading straight for her As a longtime humpback researcher Nan knew this was unusual behavior Worse she realized there wasn’t time to swim out of the whale’s way Nan said I was afraid it was going to ram me Instead the whale only bumped her It pushed her back toward her boat Nan was terrified of the whale’s strength But she forced herself to act calmly even using the camera strapped to her hand to photograph the whale Then the situation became much more serious The humpback nudged her onto its chin and rolled her under its giant armlike pectoral fin Nan was trapped underwater wearing only a snorkel and mask She needed to reach the water’s surface to breathe 7
wearing only a snorkel and mask She had observed that the streaming bubbles As usual Nan Hauser had dived in from scuba gear upset the whales 8
THE REST OF THE STORY Somehow Nan got out from under the whale’s fin surfaced and sucked in a breath But before she could swim away the humpback tucked her under its fin again Each time she escaped and took a breath the whale would push her back underwater She had no idea how long this went on But at last she did get away from the whale Nan swam as fast as she could for her boat Though her ordeal had only gone on for ten minutes she was exhausted She said Even as I heard my team shouting for me to swim faster I felt myself slowing That was when the humpback whale caught up to Nan again Only this time it shoved her the short remaining distance to her boat and her team hauled her aboard It was only then with everyone around her pointing that Nan spotted the real danger in the water a tiger shark She said Tiger sharks are super aggressive and there was one at least 15 feet 4 5 m long not far from the boat Nan realized the giant humpback whale hadn’t been attacking her It was protecting her from a possible shark attack She believes she is the first person in recorded history to be rescued by a whale This experience made Nan more determined than ever to work to protect humpback whales in fact all kinds of whales 9 Scientists consider tiger sharks second only to great white sharks as being dangerous to humans because they’re likely to attack swimmers
