Whales sleep weirdly. They are voluntary breathers, which means they can never sleep fully because they must consciously give their body the command to breathe. To “sleep,” they shut down half of their brain and float near the surface. When a mother whale is napping, the baby whale typically hangs out nearby. Such was the case when a drifting, sleepy mom whale floated near a marina.
If you could put words to the whale noises, all you would hear is, “Mom… Mom… Mommy…” ad infinitum. It’s a wonder the mom whale gets any rest. It is quite possible that the youngster was only trying to warn the mom about the pending collision, but we can’t be sure. Poke-Poke-Poke.
As the mom whale continued drifting closer to the catamaran, the baby whale became more persistent. The mom was good at ignoring her calf. She didn’t show any signs of it bothering her until she made contact with the boat. At that point, there was an audible snort through her blowhole.
Then, ever so gently, she swam away from the obstacle with the baby whale trailing along behind. The patience of this mama whale is incredible. As annoying as her calf was, she wasn’t bothered until she hit an obstacle. The gentleness with which she departed the scene is amazing. She barely made any waves as she pushed off the catamaran and dove under the surface to swim away!
As the whale and her calf swim away, we’re sure the baby whale will continue being annoying. This beautiful encounter displays the gentle giant nature of whales. If you enjoyed this, please share this incredible interaction with two whales.
You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.
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