Humpback whales are animals that can really surprise. They not only make unique sounds that form beautiful songs, but also show real acrobatic numbers. In addition, these animals are very intelligent, as even scientists confirm.
James, a professional diver and animal advocate, has always been a big fan of humpback whales. One day, when the man with a team of volunteers was working near the coast of San Francisco, he suddenly saw a humpback whale.
The animal caught James’ attention with its unusual behavior. And the longer the man watched the humpback, the clearer he realized: there is something wrong. The diver later recounted the incident as follows:
“The whale came up for a breath and then – I was sure of it – looked right at me. His eyes were asking for help.”
The man decided he had to swim up to the animal. Once beside him, James put his hand on it and said in a calm voice: “I’ll help you and I won’t hurt you, don’t worry.” James had dealt with these animals before and knew very well that they were very intelligent and capable of understanding a lot.
Even scientists agree with this. Researchers from New York revealed that the part of the brain involved in the processing of emotions in whales is the same as in humans and primates.By the way, humpbacks are the largest animals on the planet. Their body length can reach 16 meters, and their weight often exceeds 60 tons. In the wild, humpback whales have perhaps only one enemy – the killer whale. These mammals are a danger to baby whales.
However, the main threat to humpbacks has always been humans. Humans are known to throw a huge amount of hazardous waste into the ocean, including various chemicals. A plastic bottle, for example, can get stuck in the digestive tract of a whale if it is accidentally swallowed.
The same can be said for bags thrown into the ocean. Nor should we forget that an aquatic animal can collide with a ship or get entangled in fishing nets. This is exactly what happened to the whale that James met. The humpback whale had become entangled in the long ropes and chains that were attached to the anchor and weighed about a ton and a half.
It turned out that all this incredible weight was hanging on the animal’s tail. James and the volunteers never doubted for a second that they would do anything to help the humpback. They worked long and hard to free the animal from the chains around its tail, which were also dragging the whale.
that were also dragging the whale down. Before they got to work, James put his hand on the humpback again and said in a calm voice: “Get ready, this is going to hurt. But we’ll do everything we can to help you.” And the whale trusted the diver. The animal opened its mouth, and James put his hand in there and pulled the pieces of rope out. Wasn’t that amazing?
It wasn’t an easy job – some of the pieces were stuck very deep. But after five hours of hard work, the whale was finally completely free of the ropes. And then something even more amazing happened. At first the humpback dived into the sea, and then approached James again.
It began to swim around him, as if drawing the number eight on the water, and then stopped in front of the man, waiting for him to pet it like a puppy. But that was not all. As the whale said goodbye to the diver, he rubbed his body gently against the man, and James was absolutely sure that the humpback whale was expressing his gratitude.
We would also like to say a huge thank you to James and the volunteers for rescuing this wonderful animal. It was not easy to do, if only because such work required a lot of time and determination, but people did not stop in the face of difficulties. And they probably could not have received anything more valuable for this work than the appreciation and favor of the rescued animal itself.