A Whale Saved My Life | Close Encounters | BBC Earth

Whale scientist Nan Hauser describes how she believes a humpback whale saved her from a shark, and what happened when the same whale came back.

#BBCEarth #CloseEncounters

Watch more:

Close Encounters: Birth of a Colony
Being saved by a whale, finding an extinct frog, and how one penguin founded an entire colony. In this series, you will hear how some of these animal encounters have changed people's lives forever.

Welcome to BBC EARTH! The world is an amazing place full of stories, beauty and natural wonder. Here you'll find 50 years worth of entertaining and thought-provoking natural history content. Dramatic, rare, and exclusive, nature doesn't get more exciting than this.

[nxva]

This is astounding. The whale tried to first hide the human under it's fin. Then thought it wasn't working out, so decided to push the human out of the water using it's head. Extraordinary. It's not just intelligence, but also empathy & heart. God bless these beautiful creatures. I also wonder if the whale would have done the same for a seal or a sea lion?

[TURAMOTH]

That whale really just was like

“Tiny thing you do not die here today”

[sjain]

these are highly intelligent marine mammals, we should be protecting them at all cost

[melinagraves]

She seems like someone a whale would save. Respect gets respect

[demonetizedhistory]

The fact she saw him twice and the second time he looked at her and played with her is honestly AMAZING!!!

[anti-ethniccleansing]

This is a fact that very few people know: Whales have a bigger percentage of their brains devoted to empathy than humans do. They are very emotional creatures, and it breaks my heart that they are still being hunted.

[ThePlutonicWay]

I'm actually in tears.... this is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. This is the relationship we should foster with all creatures on earth

[Liddy]

This is the kind of thing they should be showing young kids in school. Humans be kind.

[sydneyp]

It's amazing that the whale saved her from the shark. It's even more amazing that he remembered her a year later and interacted with her the way he did.

[mattkase]

The fact that some people can really hunt these beautiful and wonderful creatures breaks my heart

[PBLE]

Whales are like elephants of the sea. So much emotion! Loyalty, empathy and gentleness. We humans should take a lesson from these God given creatures.❤

[matthewzeller]

Crazy how much compassion they can still have for humans after centuries of being hunted to near extinction by us. Truly the gentle giants of the sea.

[dw]

Not only is the story exceptional; but so is this woman’s presence. You can tell she is radiating what life is all about - choosing to do what you love each and every day. God bless.

[hismom]

The whales eyes were full of emotion it’s crazy, the eyes are so human like when seen from up-close

[CVM]

Whales really are gentle giants, it even came back to see if she's alright. They all deserve love in return.

[MMLiving]

hearing her say i love you to the whale <3 warms my heart

[Brad_Surfs_ILM]

As a surfer, this has happened to me once with dolphins that swam around me at a small distance. I was just as clueless about the behavior, until I saw a shark fin with it’s tail swaying side to side on the outer perimeter of the circling dolphins. It was a magical and sacred moment. I was so thankful and humbled by the experience. Thank you for sharing this and showcasing the altruistic behavior of nature. ❤🤙🏾🏄🏾‍♂️🐬🐋🐳

[ellentau]

What a privilege to have that kind of experience. My heart skipped a beat.

[hopewins]

The whale was persistent to get her to safety and then to remember her and spend time with her a year later. What an amazing story!

[sunla]

I don't usually cry from videos like this, but I'm sobbing, this is beautiful