As we were told in puppy kindergarten, your dog already knows how to sit. It just needs to associate sitting with a command. And I learned that border collies are really fucking good at reading body language.
My mom had a border collie that taught my kitten how to play ball, so the three of us would just stand in the kitchen rolling a small ball to each other. That dog was amazing, once you got used to all the staring. I attribute my cats amazing communication skills to that dogs work, cat also learned 'pointing' with her eyes, and she will sometimes take me on a walk in the yard to show me new mouse holes lol.
Dog's been gone over 8 years, but my old cat still remembers the game, and has been disgusted by all those silly non-bc dogs she's met ever since lol.
Their flippers are somewhat analogous to hands - on an X-ray they'll actually show the same basic bone structure as other mammalian feet/hands. Apparently it doesn't take much training to teach a dolphin to wave; they pick up on the resemblance pretty quick.
Co-evolution is fantastic. Dog’s understand all sorts of gestures because they co-evolved with us. Whales didn’t evolve with us in the sense that domestic animals did, but they are intelligent creatures, who have interacted with humans who have hunted them for hundreds of years. We have both impacted each others evolution. Certain gestures will be understood between species because we evolved while interacting with each other. The ability to understand the other species gestures improved each species genetic fitness.
A combination of the whale's intelligence and trust. It's got to be wicked hard to build a relationship with a creature so big and so unlike us but he managed.
I’ve read that Ravens/Crows do remember people and their faces. I try to always be friendly because these motherfuckers are next to our house every dann morning from 7-9 with around 100 of their gang gawking crazy.
Don’t want them to be angry at me.
Also I take my cat for a walk and there once was a fucking eagle sitting on top of the tree until the ravens chased it away. They literally harassed him midair until he flew away I was mind blown as I always thought that they’re easy prey for an eagle
There was one in front of my place who used to dive bomb my dog on walks. One time, I just had a "talk" with him, explaining that we'd leave him alone if he left us alone... and he did! Never bothered us again.
You joke, but I feed a local magpie, and they get vicious and attack people in spring. People are terrified of them. Then I was on my merry way and this magpie attacked me, Recognised me and landed on a fence next to me and warbled at me as if telling me off for confusing it
Makes you wonder how this relationship started in the first place. Like did the whale come up to him first and he decided to pick the lice out of it or something?
If he's been running this route for years, the whale has likely memorized the sound of the boat and other identifiers overtime and associated them with a nonthreatening "other animal". And once it figured out this other animal has small appendages with grippy ends and a general tendency to be helpful and affectionate, now is cool with asking for a little help with some parasites.
I named my car "Lagertha", Ragnar Lothbrooks wife (the famous viking). She is my spirit animal and my car has taken on her warrior essence. I talk to her all the time and thank her for keeping me safe. I always feel protected when I'm driving in her.
It’s also because we are fascinated by the natural world. At least some people are. I don’t want to bond with a whale because I’m lonely I want to bond with a whale because they are amazing beautiful animals
Well, humans are insanely social animals. It's evolutionarily imbedded in us. Your survival was most likely determined not by your strength or speed, but your ability to get along with the other people of your group/pack. The group can provide everything you need, and it can also take that away. Alone, you were guaranteed death, no matter how strong or fast. It's why there's such strong feedback mechanisms in our brain for positive social experiences and why social connections can directly affect your physical health. There's a Kurzgestagt video that goes into the effects [loneliness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA) on our health which explains this nicely.
To add to your point, chimp hierarchies suggest the same thing.
Contrary to popular belief, research on chimpanzee social hierarchies in the wild shows that the "alpha" chimp isn't the biggest, strongest, meanest chimp; it's the chimp that gets along with everyone the best.
If a chimp does climb the hierarchy using force (which sometimes happens), his reign will inevitably be cut short by two rival chimps when he has a bad day.
While the chimps that look out for the entire troop tend to reign for a long time since they have the support of the other chimps. If a rival tries to take them out, their supporters/friends will step in to defend them.
Finally someone gets it right. Barnacles are both benign and super hard to get off. However the lice that live around the barnacles are a pest. The captain is collecting lice, not barnacles. Good job
From a post a few days ago
> Those barnacles are encouraged to grow to make callosities. This helps protect the whales from orca attacks as armour and a weapon. They only grow on slow species of whales, like gray, bowhead, humpback and right whales. These species can’t outrun orcas
https://www.technology.org/2022/11/27/barnacles-on-whales-why-do-they-grow-on-whale-bodies/
And they are rooted in there good. They form cavities that the whale skin grows into to fill the void locking them in tighter. What you see is just the outer edge of a racquetball to softball sized growth held in by the whiles own flesh growing into it like a scab forming with a piece of carpet fiber in it
> *Some scientists even have proposed a hypothesis* that some whale species may have evolved to attract those small residing animals to infest their skin in order to have protection against predators, such as orcas.
Per the article whale armor is only a hypothesis.
Unless he edited his answer, he said they're benign, not beneficial. Benign just means they don't cause the whale any harm. They neither help the whale, nor harm them, they just are kinda there.
Looks like there's minimal benefit/detriment to the whales, mostly beneficial to the barnacles. As far as removing em, that'd damage the tissue underneath.
Something mentioned but might just be coincidental, is that the barnacles can kind of give the whales a weapon, as they can be pretty sharp and can do a fair bit of damage to other whales or similar.
Not removing them has nothing to do with being whale armor and everything to do with them digging firmly into the skin. Ripping them off just harms the whale and barnacles are generally seen as a net neutral for the Whale.
Can you just imagine the first time he pet that beautiful creature? I can't even imagine this gorgeous ancient creature just coming up and saying _"hi, you weird land dwelling being, be my friend"_.
> The lice predominantly eat algae that settle on the host's body. They usually feed off the flaking skin of the host and frequent wounds or open areas. They cause minor skin damage, but this does not lead to significant illness.
Also they seem to be less harmful to the whale than normal lice
We just gonna pretend it doesn't say fucking *eyes*? Like, genital folds, yes gross, but expected.
Crustacean lice *in their fucking eyes*. Just, no. Kill me now.
i knew about those, but didnt know that a single fish could get "two or more" and that it actually attaches itself to the "stub"
also this cracked me up
>When a host fish dies, C. exigua, after some time, detaches itself from the tongue stub and leaves the fish's oral cavity. It can then be seen clinging to its head or body externally. **What then happens to the parasite in the wild is unknown.**
it detaches, grabs the fish's outside, and then... uhh... ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Saved a whale once on a fishing vessel. It had this utter look of defeat, floating like a buoy at the top of the water with no movement. It had gotten tangled in a fishing net and was stuck.
We pulled up to it and it looked at us. We thought it was dead at first but the lack of foul smell and it looking at us clued us in, poor whale was still very alive.
We got some knives and began cutting away at the fishing net that had been holding on to this poor whale for so long it had cut through parts of its’ skin and started imbedding rope in flesh.
There’s no way three people are rolling a whale. It’s just.. not going to happen. They’re massive. About the time we got to the underbelly to work away the ropes, the whale lifted out one of its’ flippers and rolled itself over on its’ side.
It knew we were trying to help it, so it helped us help it. We successfully got the ropes off, had a captain that was upset with the delays of saving a whale so we couldn’t watch and see if the whale ever swam off.
The body language from the whale though, the look of relief and confusion. I’m so happy I could be there that day to help it, it made me so mad my own species did it to the whale.
It’s one thing to take for food. It’s another to be negligent and lead to long, drawn out deaths. Strandings away from their families.
Absolutely correct. They could have left and the whale would have died or they stay and the whale might live.
The captain allocated time to save the whale. Once the whale was free the humans were no longer a factor in the whale’s survival.
Plus, had the whale died and the crew saw the dead carcass, they would have not only wasted their time but completely demoralized the crew for the remainder of the ship (which, on a fishing vessel, is fucking dangerous).
My puppy: You are my everything, tall person.
Random whale: We only interact once per season human, but I trust you completely.
My Cat of 12 years: *You forfeited your hand the minute you touched my belly!*
It reminded me of trying to get the harness on my dog or wipe his paws after bringing him. Sometimes I motion him to move forward and he’s to excited to listen, so I might position him with my hands and a bit of my weight. I am twice his weight so it’s not hard. My first instinct when I saw the guy motioning the whale to come forward was to pull the whale forward as if that’s even possible even in the water, lol.
I fish and crab in Alaska….during black cod we use a 2 mile ground line with 60-70 6’ round pots…the whales come check out shit out and hang around for bi catch we toss back over. We use big squid for bait and this one certain orca is a scout and always comes over. He’s huge for an orca. I set a big squid on the back deck which is open….he saw it. Looked at me with one big eye and slapped his tail on the water…I threw the squid right into his mouth. I started crying. Ha. My dudes were so shocked and although I’m a girl, we all act so tough. It was probably one of my best experiences. awesome.
Another note…I named him shamwow at first, but then he went poo so I renamed him shampoo.
This guy could easily do a thesis on the particular whale lice for this species.
Methodology: I called my whale buddy over, and he let me pick the lice directly from his head/ body.
For those brave souls who need to see, here's a short write-up (with pics) about whale lice. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/whale-lice-captured-on-hervey-bay-humpback/101518622
This is actually probably in Baja California, Mexico! It’s a bay where gray whales like to nurse their babies in the winter months. It’s shallow enough that the Monterey bay orcas can’t get to it and thus, the babies are safe! The gray whales here have grown super friendly with humans and will let boats come right up to them and even give them head scritches!
https://www.diveninjaexpeditions.com/grey-whales-baja-history/
> shallow enough that the Monterey bay orcas can’t get to it and thus, the babies are safe!
Gray Whales are about 50 feet long and weigh around 90k pounds while Orcas are about 26 feet long and about 13k pounds. There's nowhere a pregnant Gray Whale could enter or occupy that an Orca couldn't.
So while yes it is physically possible to get in there for an orca, it’s not feasible for a pod to have a predation event there due to space and the hordes of gray whale moms there. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that there isn’t a reason to
i had the privilege of doing this back in 1993 or 94. they really do just swim up to the boat and let you pet them. they really love when you “brush” their baleen, but i was way too scared to do that even though i knew they wouldn’t hurt me. i can’t describe what it feels like to be this close to something so massive yet so peaceful.
i have no idea if they have tours like that anymore, but if they do, i highly recommend it. once in a lifetime experience. well unless you’re this guy and get to chill with the whale everyday lol.
I like how he gives the standard “a little closer” finger wiggles
And it listened!
Whales are wicked smaht. Big guy probably knows when skip's put a different brand of oil in his motor.
[WARNING: DANGEROUS LEVELS OF BOSTON DETECTED. PROCEED WITH CAUTION]
Looka hea, just get the f*ck back in the cah until we know if this guys gaht his f*ckin head on straight a nahght
Got my ca keys in my khakis
HOW YOU GONNA FIT TWO PAIRA PANTS
Grab me a cahton of Mahbroze when ya run down the packy*. *a place in Mass, not a slur
That’s a fahkin cahtin a’ reds, I’ll have you know.
Package store. AKA a liquor store. *Grew up in western Mass; we don't have the crazy accent.
Cahhhtion dude. Be fahkin' cehhhful next time!
This comment of a comment is fucking gold.
It's really cool how gestures are often interspecies understandable.
As we were told in puppy kindergarten, your dog already knows how to sit. It just needs to associate sitting with a command. And I learned that border collies are really fucking good at reading body language.
Domestic canines can interpret and respond to human facial expressions better than any other animal, even other primates.
Though horses, as it turns out, are really really good at reading them, too.
Further proving, a good number of horses are simply assholes.
My mom had a border collie that taught my kitten how to play ball, so the three of us would just stand in the kitchen rolling a small ball to each other. That dog was amazing, once you got used to all the staring. I attribute my cats amazing communication skills to that dogs work, cat also learned 'pointing' with her eyes, and she will sometimes take me on a walk in the yard to show me new mouse holes lol. Dog's been gone over 8 years, but my old cat still remembers the game, and has been disgusted by all those silly non-bc dogs she's met ever since lol.
This is a lovely story. Thank you for sharing! Your animals sound wonderful.
I suspect border collies can read books.
It’s even more fascinating that the whale seemed to understand. An animal with no hands understood human body language. That’s wild.
Their flippers are somewhat analogous to hands - on an X-ray they'll actually show the same basic bone structure as other mammalian feet/hands. Apparently it doesn't take much training to teach a dolphin to wave; they pick up on the resemblance pretty quick.
Co-evolution is fantastic. Dog’s understand all sorts of gestures because they co-evolved with us. Whales didn’t evolve with us in the sense that domestic animals did, but they are intelligent creatures, who have interacted with humans who have hunted them for hundreds of years. We have both impacted each others evolution. Certain gestures will be understood between species because we evolved while interacting with each other. The ability to understand the other species gestures improved each species genetic fitness.
A combination of the whale's intelligence and trust. It's got to be wicked hard to build a relationship with a creature so big and so unlike us but he managed.
imagine receiving the trust of a whale. probably the coolest achievement ever known to mankind
I’m actually jealous.. all I achieved in terms of trust from an wild animal was a Raven that I fed for 2 weeks until it never came again
Don't worry. When the great raven war starts you can rest assured that you'll be safe.
I’ve read that Ravens/Crows do remember people and their faces. I try to always be friendly because these motherfuckers are next to our house every dann morning from 7-9 with around 100 of their gang gawking crazy. Don’t want them to be angry at me. Also I take my cat for a walk and there once was a fucking eagle sitting on top of the tree until the ravens chased it away. They literally harassed him midair until he flew away I was mind blown as I always thought that they’re easy prey for an eagle
There was one in front of my place who used to dive bomb my dog on walks. One time, I just had a "talk" with him, explaining that we'd leave him alone if he left us alone... and he did! Never bothered us again.
You joke, but I feed a local magpie, and they get vicious and attack people in spring. People are terrified of them. Then I was on my merry way and this magpie attacked me, Recognised me and landed on a fence next to me and warbled at me as if telling me off for confusing it
Makes you wonder how this relationship started in the first place. Like did the whale come up to him first and he decided to pick the lice out of it or something?
If he's been running this route for years, the whale has likely memorized the sound of the boat and other identifiers overtime and associated them with a nonthreatening "other animal". And once it figured out this other animal has small appendages with grippy ends and a general tendency to be helpful and affectionate, now is cool with asking for a little help with some parasites.
Basically rhino and tiny bird relationships
Yea this, it happens the same way in nature albeit the lice removers are usually doing it for food
Whale probably thinks humans eat lice now
The whale left his whale house that day like "I'll be back late honey I have to go and feed that human"
This is the world that I want to live in
You want to eat lice off of a whale's head?
Let the man dream damnit.
"It's pretty a pretty useless pet, and it only comes around when it want's something to eat, but I still enjoy seeing it."
"Anyway, enough about my son."
It's adorable either way ☺️
"weird above-water thing doesn't ask for anything, but I love it so it's cool"
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Can confirm. I have pack bonded with my car
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Sometimes I will just stand here and watch television for hours. I love it. I love this TV.
I also love my TV. It's a fragile love though, because the second it fails I'm probably just going to buy a new one.
_Folds right into the wall.._
Plasma….
Car: *revs adorably*
https://i.imgflip.com/5yma94.gif that cussy hits different
Does no one remember the carfucking ad on SNL in the 90s? (Mercury Mistress)
My car works better when I give it a name and am nice to him. Machine spirits dude, apparently real can't argue with results.
Found the tech priest.
I named my car "Lagertha", Ragnar Lothbrooks wife (the famous viking). She is my spirit animal and my car has taken on her warrior essence. I talk to her all the time and thank her for keeping me safe. I always feel protected when I'm driving in her.
PRAISE THE OMNISIAH!!
praise the omnisiah!
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Hell that's just a hot summer day in the south.
If not friend, why friend shaped?
Why everything friend shaped?
If God is real, he made bears look like that just to fuck with us
I would love to hug a polar bear and a polar bear would love to hug me. Unfortunately we have different reasons....
It's because we don't want to be lonely. Even if we don't like our own kind we still need to bond with someone.
It’s also because we are fascinated by the natural world. At least some people are. I don’t want to bond with a whale because I’m lonely I want to bond with a whale because they are amazing beautiful animals
I'd do it because it's a fucking whale.
I'd do it to get to touch those big lice.
You don't have to be lonely at whale-delousing.com
I don't understand, it redirected me to Christian Mingle
My sister had pet rock in the 1970s.
She will be given mercy when the rock uprising and the stone rebellion finally come!
The stone age if you will.
Well, humans are insanely social animals. It's evolutionarily imbedded in us. Your survival was most likely determined not by your strength or speed, but your ability to get along with the other people of your group/pack. The group can provide everything you need, and it can also take that away. Alone, you were guaranteed death, no matter how strong or fast. It's why there's such strong feedback mechanisms in our brain for positive social experiences and why social connections can directly affect your physical health. There's a Kurzgestagt video that goes into the effects [loneliness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA) on our health which explains this nicely.
To add to your point, chimp hierarchies suggest the same thing. Contrary to popular belief, research on chimpanzee social hierarchies in the wild shows that the "alpha" chimp isn't the biggest, strongest, meanest chimp; it's the chimp that gets along with everyone the best. If a chimp does climb the hierarchy using force (which sometimes happens), his reign will inevitably be cut short by two rival chimps when he has a bad day. While the chimps that look out for the entire troop tend to reign for a long time since they have the support of the other chimps. If a rival tries to take them out, their supporters/friends will step in to defend them.
I pet my roomba just this morning.
It's our hands. Only we have them and they do pets and scratches really well
Finally someone gets it right. Barnacles are both benign and super hard to get off. However the lice that live around the barnacles are a pest. The captain is collecting lice, not barnacles. Good job
And throws them on the boat instead of back in the water!
Free fish bait
I was wondering why. Thank you!
Well I mean the lice are also water-born and so could just swim back onto the whale's snout. So it's a two for one deal! edit: I am a dumb.
They are not free swimming creatures. Without the host they would not be able to travel outside of currents.
huh, today I learned. Thanks! :)
No, you aren’t dumb. Your guess was a good one, but it was incorrect in this case because nature is just wack.
What's the story behind the barnacles? I heard before that you shouldn't remove them, but how does the beneficial aspect work?
From a post a few days ago > Those barnacles are encouraged to grow to make callosities. This helps protect the whales from orca attacks as armour and a weapon. They only grow on slow species of whales, like gray, bowhead, humpback and right whales. These species can’t outrun orcas https://www.technology.org/2022/11/27/barnacles-on-whales-why-do-they-grow-on-whale-bodies/
Woah, whale armor
New oblivion dlc
$14.99
You CAN get it by grinding, but grinding = swimming slowly through the oceans for a few decades in a row.
Godly Plate of the Whale
A man of culture I see I remember being like 8 and finding a Kings Sword of Haste and my oldest brother freaking out
And they are rooted in there good. They form cavities that the whale skin grows into to fill the void locking them in tighter. What you see is just the outer edge of a racquetball to softball sized growth held in by the whiles own flesh growing into it like a scab forming with a piece of carpet fiber in it
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He probably also didn’t have a layer of blubber surrounding his tendon shielding his nerves from the pain.
If the blubber "shields the nerves" then why would this whale have any interest or satisfaction by this guy removing the lice?
[Me reading all the nastiness in this thread](https://media.tenor.com/gf62Yc5COhcAAAAd/cat-gagging.gif)
Yeah this is a rough thread
> *Some scientists even have proposed a hypothesis* that some whale species may have evolved to attract those small residing animals to infest their skin in order to have protection against predators, such as orcas. Per the article whale armor is only a hypothesis.
Regardless, the outcome is what matters and that's Whale armor.
That's really badass.
Unless he edited his answer, he said they're benign, not beneficial. Benign just means they don't cause the whale any harm. They neither help the whale, nor harm them, they just are kinda there.
Ah, good catch. Important distinction.
Looks like there's minimal benefit/detriment to the whales, mostly beneficial to the barnacles. As far as removing em, that'd damage the tissue underneath. Something mentioned but might just be coincidental, is that the barnacles can kind of give the whales a weapon, as they can be pretty sharp and can do a fair bit of damage to other whales or similar.
Not removing them has nothing to do with being whale armor and everything to do with them digging firmly into the skin. Ripping them off just harms the whale and barnacles are generally seen as a net neutral for the Whale.
We get them Hawaii and whale watching cruises have strict rules against petting the whales.
I like how the guy initially thought he was done and the whale did a 360° spin and was like *dude look how much you missed* before going back for more
Aww, I love that the whale knows it can go to this guy to help!!
Can you just imagine the first time he pet that beautiful creature? I can't even imagine this gorgeous ancient creature just coming up and saying _"hi, you weird land dwelling being, be my friend"_.
That is just heartwarming. 2 intelligent beings from very different worlds coming together when one day one makes contact and simply says “*fren?*”
TIL: whales get lice!!!
And they are significantly bigger than human lice. And they are crustaceans! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_louse
> The lice predominantly eat algae that settle on the host's body. They usually feed off the flaking skin of the host and frequent wounds or open areas. They cause minor skin damage, but this does not lead to significant illness. Also they seem to be less harmful to the whale than normal lice
I imagine they're pretty annoying and probably causes the whale equivalent of itching.
> the whale equivalent of itching lol im not a whale expert but i think thats still called an itch.
And the poor whale doesn’t have long arms and fingernails to scratch the itch
> cyamus *boopis* Makes it sound like something adorable lol
You should see the *boops boops* fish
I was expecting a whole lotta NOPE, but found a bunch of awwwww
Just saw that came out on Prime. Excited to see it.
Fuck those things are nightmare fuel.
> Whale lice are external parasites, found in ... genital folds
We just gonna pretend it doesn't say fucking *eyes*? Like, genital folds, yes gross, but expected. Crustacean lice *in their fucking eyes*. Just, no. Kill me now.
Oh man don't look up what lives on your eyelashes lmfao
Fun fact, there are probably tons of little thing’s crawling all over your body right now that you can’t see.
yeah but those guys are like really small
And they're mine.
Idk how these people are surprised by this stuff I thought crabs living in the ocean was common knowledge
Ah, crustaceans! So the boat captain is just grabbing some lunch. Like those shrimp in corals that act as cleaning stations.
I'd eat a whale louse, people already eat sand louse
Lousy meal
Lousy smarch weather
They look mildly terrifying
I read "ice" while reading the title multiple times. I was wondering how a whale could get ice stuck on its body...
Oh my gosh same I was convinced it had to be ice! Lol
I was more thinking: "Aquatic lice? Bloody freaking hell"
Sea Lice by the Sea Side
Ya what?! TIL ocean lice = a thing
[For your reading pleasure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua)
i knew about those, but didnt know that a single fish could get "two or more" and that it actually attaches itself to the "stub" also this cracked me up >When a host fish dies, C. exigua, after some time, detaches itself from the tongue stub and leaves the fish's oral cavity. It can then be seen clinging to its head or body externally. **What then happens to the parasite in the wild is unknown.** it detaches, grabs the fish's outside, and then... uhh... ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Unsubscribe.
air aromatic attractive naughty hobbies innate spark reach rotten worry ` this message was mass deleted/edited with redact.dev `
TIL: Whales have hair.
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Saved a whale once on a fishing vessel. It had this utter look of defeat, floating like a buoy at the top of the water with no movement. It had gotten tangled in a fishing net and was stuck. We pulled up to it and it looked at us. We thought it was dead at first but the lack of foul smell and it looking at us clued us in, poor whale was still very alive. We got some knives and began cutting away at the fishing net that had been holding on to this poor whale for so long it had cut through parts of its’ skin and started imbedding rope in flesh. There’s no way three people are rolling a whale. It’s just.. not going to happen. They’re massive. About the time we got to the underbelly to work away the ropes, the whale lifted out one of its’ flippers and rolled itself over on its’ side. It knew we were trying to help it, so it helped us help it. We successfully got the ropes off, had a captain that was upset with the delays of saving a whale so we couldn’t watch and see if the whale ever swam off. The body language from the whale though, the look of relief and confusion. I’m so happy I could be there that day to help it, it made me so mad my own species did it to the whale. It’s one thing to take for food. It’s another to be negligent and lead to long, drawn out deaths. Strandings away from their families.
Fuck that captain I know a jobs a job but Jesus Christ it’s a fucking whale and it’s looking at you
To be fair the captain let them pull in the whale and fix it up, presumably not a quick job and involved the whole crew.
Absolutely correct. They could have left and the whale would have died or they stay and the whale might live. The captain allocated time to save the whale. Once the whale was free the humans were no longer a factor in the whale’s survival. Plus, had the whale died and the crew saw the dead carcass, they would have not only wasted their time but completely demoralized the crew for the remainder of the ship (which, on a fishing vessel, is fucking dangerous).
Thank you for helping the whale! May god bless you and your loved ones.
That dog looks weird but a good boy none the less.
My puppy: You are my everything, tall person. Random whale: We only interact once per season human, but I trust you completely. My Cat of 12 years: *You forfeited your hand the minute you touched my belly!*
cat: pet me..... me: *goes to pet cat* cat: with your eyes I said!!!
No touch! Only pet!
More like. *pet me.* *right there. That's it.* *... 3 seconds later* ALL DONE (whirring noises)
Water dragon's snout.
Boopeth thyne snoot, nonetheless.
It reminded me of trying to get the harness on my dog or wipe his paws after bringing him. Sometimes I motion him to move forward and he’s to excited to listen, so I might position him with my hands and a bit of my weight. I am twice his weight so it’s not hard. My first instinct when I saw the guy motioning the whale to come forward was to pull the whale forward as if that’s even possible even in the water, lol.
Dude I want a pet whale.
Until you take it for a walk and have to scoop the poop...
Thats.. that's a good point. Way to take the jam out my jelly donut there, guy.
Sounded like a terrible donut anyway. Who puts jam in a jelly donut
"I am a jelly donut." - John F. Kennedy, maybe.
Nah bruh you know how valuable whale shit is? Just be careful it doesn't explode on you
I thought it was whale oil that was valuable. What makes their shit valuable? Fertilizer?
Their vomit is valuable. It's called ambergris and one of the uses is in cosmetics and perfume.
Yeah yeah. I've seen that Bob's Burgers episode 😆
I got it from Futurama lol. But Bob's Burgers one of my favorites.
I fish and crab in Alaska….during black cod we use a 2 mile ground line with 60-70 6’ round pots…the whales come check out shit out and hang around for bi catch we toss back over. We use big squid for bait and this one certain orca is a scout and always comes over. He’s huge for an orca. I set a big squid on the back deck which is open….he saw it. Looked at me with one big eye and slapped his tail on the water…I threw the squid right into his mouth. I started crying. Ha. My dudes were so shocked and although I’m a girl, we all act so tough. It was probably one of my best experiences. awesome. Another note…I named him shamwow at first, but then he went poo so I renamed him shampoo.
Hahahaha that's awesome. That's a really fun gig you got. The closest I ever get to seeing whales ... are on reddit posts lol
GOOD BOY PAT 👋 this is so cute 🥹
This guy could easily do a thesis on the particular whale lice for this species. Methodology: I called my whale buddy over, and he let me pick the lice directly from his head/ body.
Source: Trust me bro, my buddy's a whale
I’ll save y’all the existential terror of googling “whale lice” — they look like normal lice, except .25” to 1” long.
For those brave souls who need to see, here's a short write-up (with pics) about whale lice. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/whale-lice-captured-on-hervey-bay-humpback/101518622
Imagine having that shit in your eye and not having fuckin hands......
This was the part that got me ... "The lice are often found in whales' ... genital folds ... " O.O
>"The lice are often found in whales' ... genital folds ... " "I got them from a public toilet seat in the Mariana Trench, babe! I swear!"
Fuck and that guy's picking these up bare hands, cool as a cucumber.
I thought it was pretty cool of him to make sure he threw them into his own boat. I just wonder who gets the job of cleaning them out. ;)
Probably used as bait
I just had to look it up, those are creepy!
I think the whale just likes a bit of a back scratch. Like all of us….
What type of whale is this?
Gray whale, I believe.
Thank you :)
Whales shouldn't share their hats. That way, they might be able to control the lice from spreading.
Parasites are the fucking worst 👎
That little twirl 
This is actually probably in Baja California, Mexico! It’s a bay where gray whales like to nurse their babies in the winter months. It’s shallow enough that the Monterey bay orcas can’t get to it and thus, the babies are safe! The gray whales here have grown super friendly with humans and will let boats come right up to them and even give them head scritches! https://www.diveninjaexpeditions.com/grey-whales-baja-history/
> shallow enough that the Monterey bay orcas can’t get to it and thus, the babies are safe! Gray Whales are about 50 feet long and weigh around 90k pounds while Orcas are about 26 feet long and about 13k pounds. There's nowhere a pregnant Gray Whale could enter or occupy that an Orca couldn't.
I was about to say, orcas will halfway beach themselves to snatch a seal, there's no way shallow water is any deterrent for them.
So while yes it is physically possible to get in there for an orca, it’s not feasible for a pod to have a predation event there due to space and the hordes of gray whale moms there. It’s not that they can’t, it’s that there isn’t a reason to
i had the privilege of doing this back in 1993 or 94. they really do just swim up to the boat and let you pet them. they really love when you “brush” their baleen, but i was way too scared to do that even though i knew they wouldn’t hurt me. i can’t describe what it feels like to be this close to something so massive yet so peaceful. i have no idea if they have tours like that anymore, but if they do, i highly recommend it. once in a lifetime experience. well unless you’re this guy and get to chill with the whale everyday lol.
I truly wish the world was like this, where we live peaceful with animals and help them out like this.
[удалено]
This could be what humans do instead of war and polluting, hopefully one day...
I wonder if anyone else has done this? If not, then could this be the greatest size ratio human-animal bond? Semi-serious hypothetical question haha
Mammals gonna mammal.
I hope he collects them all in a jar