Save the Whales -- All-Cetacean division

May 7, 2024 3:04 PM

A friend shared this on Facebook. I am so blown away: Whales saving Whales

How cool is this? indeed
posted by y2karl (14 comments total)

And here is the original YouTube clip That it took place off Capetown is the chef's kiss to me. Man, this just tears me up.
posted by y2karl at 3:13 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

It could have been that cool thing. Or it could have been this much more likely and equally cool thing.
posted by Don Pepino at 3:21 PM on May 7 [2 favorites]

Oh, dear. Still, it is amazing. Also, it really gripes my ass that people make up shit on Facebook like the first link above. Talk about whoring for likes.
posted by y2karl at 3:23 PM on May 7 [3 favorites]

I'm with you in spirit, y2karl
posted by elkevelvet at 3:25 PM on May 7

Even if it's motivated not by altruism but by the same garden-variety desire to cram down sushi 'til we explode that we have all felt, and even though the only reliable source I can find on it is the >hurk< Daily Mail, it's still so SO COOL I can barely even stand it. Hundreds and hundreds of whales of howevermany species somehow conspired to all race to the same spot from every direction and trap this bait ball and then whirl around and around in an ever-constricting giant traffic circle of wild snacking. I love it so very much.
posted by Don Pepino at 3:33 PM on May 7 [3 favorites]

There are definitely real cases of whales defending other whales, though, particularly humpback whales, who really do not like orcas and will defend other whales and even seals from them.
posted by tavella at 3:34 PM on May 7 [5 favorites]

Also, dolphins often play with larger whales, and even become part of the family in exceptional circumstances, so I don't think it is impossible there was altruism.
posted by tavella at 3:40 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

I just hope in 1,000 years that this does not foster a sheet ice gang mentality.
posted by clavdivs at 3:57 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

All the same, Wendy June Walcott is a name that will live in FB infamy as far as I am concerned.
posted by y2karl at 4:00 PM on May 7

Don't Kill The Whale
posted by hippybear at 4:07 PM on May 7

Now, I am confused. Wendy June Walcott, who hales from Capetown, posted her link on April 16th. The Daily Mail Clip is from yesterday. Still, it names and gives details about the original photographers, so I am inclined to believe their account.
posted by y2karl at 4:32 PM on May 7 [1 favorite]

Whoops, didn't look close enough to your comment, Don Pepino, to see the original clip is from September 12, 2023. D'oh x 10!
posted by y2karl at 5:08 PM on May 7

D'oh x 10!
No way: from my POV there is zero d'oh to it. If you hadn't posted it here I never would have seen it, so I don't care one whit that it came with a little bit of facebook woo adhering to it. That washed off almost immediately anyway in the true amaze of it all. It is the second most thrilling thing I have seen in my entire life, first most thrilling being last month's eclipse. I wish I were James Cameron or similar. I'd move to Cape Town and buy a glass-bottom yacht and just live in that bay until it happened again.
posted by Don Pepino at 11:27 AM on May 8

If you do, just don't post an inane Blender avatar of yourself surrounded by vibrating hearts when you let us know. But do post.videos. Since I posted this, I've seen multiple versions of that same whales saving whales studded with those by people writing things like Isn't nature beautiful! -- we could learn so much from animals about cooperation etc. etc. ad fucking nauseum. Facebook is one place that rarely adds to my faith in my fellow human beings. To paraphrase Herb Morrow, Oh, the inanity!
posted by y2karl at 1:37 PM on May 8 [2 favorites]