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Precious Footage Shows Mother Whale Teaching Calf How To “Wave” Their Tail

An adult whale and baby slap their tails against the water's surface.

Every baby picks up behaviors from their parents, and that includes whale calves! In the most adorable video, one lucky photographer caught footage of a mama whale teaching her child how to slap their tail against the water. From far away, it almost looked like they were waving at the camera! It was way too cute to see the baby animal imitating their parent.

Videos by InspireMore

At the beginning of the video, we only see one tail flapping. That’s Mom. However, a little while later, a tiny tail emerges from the water to make the same motion! Commenters thought that the footage of the baby copying the grown-up whale was way too adorable.

@erinharamoto

Momma whale teaching her baby how to slap their tail 🐋 🥹 #hawaii

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“I knew it was coming and it was still so much cuter than I imagined,” wrote one user.

“The way I smiled when that little tail came up…” another added.

An adult whale and baby slap their tails against the water's surface.
Screengrab from TikTok

According to this video, whales slap their tales against the water quite frequently. However, it’s more likely that they’re communicating with each other rather than waving to us. It’s still so cool to see a mama whale passing on her wisdom to her baby!

You can find the source of this story’s featured image here.

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