Whale watching has become a popular activity for adventure seekers and lovers of natural beauty alike.
Because of this, a greater number of whale watching boats than ever before have begun setting out to watch the majestic creatures in their natural habitats. In Alaska, they’ve had to begin considering regulating the whale watching boats in order to minimize impact on the habits of the whales by the numerous boats which seek them out.
They have truly unique feeding habits.
Whales are highly intelligent and occasionally social creatures. Combining these two qualities, they have learnt to hunt their main source of food- krill (a sort of tiny crustacean) and small fish by creating an ascending ring of bubbles. A spectacular sight from either sea-level or from above, they corral their prey into the middle before rising to feed on them.
They can travel and hunt in groups of 15 or more.
One video features a large group of whales, what appears to be between six and ten whales, all rising to the surface to feed in Resurrection Bay, off the coast of Alaska. One particularly responsive whale watcher captured the feeding habits of these whales in a Youtube Video which to date has earned over 19,000,000 views.
Brad Rich, who took the video explained to viewers that you could hear them before you see them.
Shortly after you can hear their whale song, Brad turns to see them break the water’s surface.
When they first breach, you can clearly see the ring formation they used to drive their prey inward for them to gulp up. The first thing that surprises is the number of them, each emerging from the water, taking huge mouthfuls of water to be filtered through their baleen plates, capturing their prey.
The whales aren’t the only ones with their mouths open wide, however.
As many comments describe, Brad’s laughter is ecstatic and contagious.
The sheer size of them is mind-boggling.
When you see how big each one of these ginormous creatures is, it really puts a humbling perspective on humanity.
Once their food is all at the surface, they continue to gulp around them.
Their incredible size and strength turns the water around them into turbulent chaos. It becomes hard to keep track of how many whales there are, and indeed which is which.
The seagulls get involved as well.
Before the whales emerged, the passengers were carefully watching the crowds of seagulls to monitor their activity. That’s because it’s not just people who enjoy watching whales feed. Seagulls follow pods of whales eagerly watching for the fish to emerge for them to pick off. When the whales begin to recede with their mouthfuls of fish, the seagulls descend on the waters for their share.
Before you know it, they disappear once again.
With a lingering fin, almost to wave “goodbye”, the pod of whales submerge once again into the waters, leaving Brad Rich and his fellow watchers with a moment they’ll never forget… and thus, leaving us with a giggle we’ll never forget.
Watch the full video below to enjoy this incredible spectacle!
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