Have you ever seen a whale in person?
For many of us, the answer is probably no. Still, those who are fortunate enough to live on the coast may have gone on a whale watching tour for the chance to see one of these enormous creatures. Even on a whale sight-seeing cruise, it requires a little bit of luck and some good timing.
For one group of tourists in Quebec, whale-sighting got almost too close and personal.
The footage was uploaded to YouTube by Eric Mouellic.
Mouellic had just taken his first trip to Canada and decided to go for a whale-watching voyage in Tadoussac near Quebec. With his camera rolling, he and many other tourists definitely got some footage of whales breaching in the near distance. Still, nobody onboard expected to see a whale get particularly close to the boat.
Everyone was surprised when one of the whales headed right for the boat!
Flipped over on its back, the whale breached the water and went directly under the boat, allowing everyone a full view.
Each of these Blue Whales is typically about 18 meters long and can weigh about 50 tons! The whale was coming up to the surface to graze for krill, the small crustaceans that make up a major part of their diet. While any tourist would love the chance to see a whale so close, the footage shows that this was actually a little bit terrifying for the people on the boat that day.
Fortunately, the whale turned back over onto its belly at the last second to avoid a collision with the boat.
Mouellic’s incredible footage has spread across the Internet.
Above all, the clip is a reminder of how incredible nature can be—and how scary! Blue Whales are some of the Earth’s most incredible and mysterious creatures, with only about 12,000 out there in the ocean. For that reason, close encounters like these are incredibly rare and are worth celebrating.
If this makes you want to go whale watching, we don’t blame you!
Whales around the world can use our help.
Videos like these remind us that we share the planet with many other life forms. Whales, in particular, are an endangered species, and their numbers are hurt when they collide with big ships. If this story was of interest to you, consider donating to the World Wildlife Fund to help track the movements of whales so that we can peacefully coexist.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
