Aloha,
We had a great day on the water on Wednesday, but didn’t see any whales during our 10:00 AM Whale Watch. Our guests have all been invited back to join us on another cruise for FREE. But, since I don’t have any sightings to report, here’s a very sweet story about Humpbacks instead.
The maternal instinct of the Humpback is so strong that she demonstrates allomaternal behavior. In other words, she’ll even take care of other small animals in danger!
In 2009, 2 scientists sailing off the coast of South America watched as a pod of Orcas flipped a Weddell Seal off an ice flow. The seal began swimming towards a nearby Humpback. Just as the seal got close, the whale rolled onto her back, sweeping the 400 pound seal onto her chest.
As the Orcas closed in, the Humpback arched her back, which lifted the seal out of the water…unfortunately for the seal, the water rushing off the whale started to wash the seal back into the sea. The scientists were astounded to see the Humpback use her flipper to gently nudge the floundering seal back onto her chest. Moments later, the seal slid back into the water and swam to the safety of a nearby ice flow.
Mahalo,
Claire