When A Giant Whale Refuses To Leave A Diver Alone, She Realizes He Is Trying To Communicate With Her.

Whales, despite their enormous size, are among the most mysterious and poorly understood organisms on the planet.

We humans are mesmerized by the juxtaposition of their massive size and usually calm, serene nature. Despite our continuous attraction to these captivating marine mammals, there is still much we don’t know about their behavior and biology.

A dramatic interaction between a seasoned marine biologist and a humpback whale in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific helps to highlight just how much we still don’t know about these gentle giants – and has sent shockwaves throughout the scientific world in the process.

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Nan Hauser 

Nan Hauser, a 63-year-old marine researcher, has dedicated her life to studying, researching, and assisting whales.

She was born in Maine and has spent the last three decades traveling the world to chronicle and preserve as many whales as she can by campaigning for their rights and protection.

Swimming with whales regularly is one of the pleasures of this line of work, but while she was used to paddling alongside these aquatic monsters, nothing could have prepared her for what would happen on this particular routine swim.

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Her Routine Swim

Nan was swimming off the coast of Rarotonga in late July, accompanied by a research vessel and under the watchful eye of her colleagues. They were tracking her progress by eye and with a drone.

Nan was filming her swim near a small pod of humpback whales with a waterproof camera.

A male humpback whale, perhaps weighing over 23 tonnes and measuring at least 50 feet in length, began swimming toward her as she was shooting.

Nan was well aware that this was not typical conduct.

Unusual Behavior

While swimming with whales, Nan is usually the one that approaches the animal to watch its behavior. But something was different this time. She recognized she wouldn’t be able to avoid the monster as it approached her, and as it drew closer, she wouldn’t be able to get out of its way.

She continued to picture the whale, focusing her optics on it as it approached head-on. She had no idea what it was up to, but she was unconcerned for the time being. That, however, would soon change.