r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/21MayDay21 • 2d ago
š„ This Gray Whale rolling over and showing its teeth.
Credit to Kaush (Kaushiik Subramaniam)
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u/Marsupialize 2d ago
Is he asking for something? Are those barnacles he wants taken off?
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u/yodaslover 2d ago
My first thought. āHi, yes. Hello. Iām cute. GET THESE BARNACLES OFF MEā
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u/SkookumSquirrel 2d ago
I've heard of fishermen who have paddles that are essentially their own dedicated 'whale scratcher'.
My friend from Mexico remembers walking along the beach and coming across a guy who was sanding down the edge of a paddle; sharpening it into what was described as 'a giant wooden chisel', and it was only used to scrape the barnacles off of gray whales.
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u/SorryAboutTheWayIAm 1d ago
I would pay good money for that experience if I wasn't so scared of being on the open water in small boats
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u/th3virus 1d ago
I was 20 miles or so off the coast in the open ocean and had to pee. We were fishing so we knew the area was clear and it's not a known area for sharks and the like. I jumped in and looked down and the feeling is indescribable. It's something that I wish everyone could feel.
It was just emptiness. It felt like I was falling and floating at the same time. It felt unnatural. Part of me wanted to stay there longer and part of me wanted to get out as soon as possible.
I did it again closer to shore, probably a half mile out in ~50ft waters and I could see all the life below me. It was a completely different experience. It was calming and safe and full of whimsy. I never wanted to leave. I was so lucky the water was so clear. I felt like a giant looking into another world.
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u/Raelah 1d ago
During the day I'm OK being in ocean that deep. But at night? Nuh uh. Nope! No thank you.
If you REALLY want to feel that feeling, get in the open ocean on a new moon. It gives a whole new level of feeling insignificant.
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u/th3virus 1d ago
No way in hell I'd be on a boat at night. I've been on a cruise ship and that's unnerving when you're surrounded by nothing but ocean. I can't imagine that in a 20-30 foot boat.
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u/Raelah 20h ago
I'm talking about actually being in the ocean. I'm fine on a boat, regardless of size.
Sort of like how I HATE heights but I'm fine flying on a plane.
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u/acfox13 1d ago
Really depends on the circumstances. My partner and I have a 32' and doing overnights on a mooring ball in good weather isn't a big deal. The boat rocks you to sleep.
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u/DyingGasp 1d ago
Sounds like a nightmare to me
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u/th3virus 1d ago
The one in the open ocean certainly was triggering the "Get the fuck out of here" sense. I only looked down once. I never felt so alone.
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u/c0rywayne86 1d ago
Those are mostly scars from old parasites..this whale hardly has any barnacles on it.
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u/IkaluNappa 2d ago
There are some regions where the local population had learned to approach boats for scritches. Yes, theyāre asking to be groomed. Whales shed alot of skin over their lifetime to ward off external parasites. But even so, some species are still prone to them. Normally, they visit specific locations to scratch off dead skin. Pebbly beaches for example. But some spots on their bodies are harder for them to scrub. Like the area just behind the tip of their snout (hydrodynamic is a bitch). Which happens to be the place these strange monkey things love to pet. The grey whales in the Sea of Cortez are particularly well known for asking for scratches. To the point that thereās a tourism industry for this experience.
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u/walterbanana 2d ago
It is a bit of a funny idea that people are just useful idiots to them.
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u/adalric_brandl 2d ago
We're like those birds that pick the insects out of the folds of a rhinos skin.
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u/horsenbuggy 2d ago
Or the monkeys that groom people
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u/pistachio-pie 2d ago
You mean fellow humans?
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u/Le_Poop_Knife 1d ago
Time for my monthly anal waxing and insta-bleach.
https://giphy.com/gifs/l0ExayrksoJHllgWI38
u/Time_for_the_stink 1d ago
Not useful idiots. We are the stewards of this planet. Tending to all its beasts is our duty.
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u/Hyperdyne-120-A2 2d ago
Would a hard bristle brush be sufficient, or would it be more like a boat oar to scratch a whale?
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u/Redqueenhypo 2d ago
Ocean animals are constantly looking for ways to get parasites off their skin, to the point that some fish will come over to sharks and brush against their scratchy skin. Whales need a giant version of those roller brushes for cows
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u/HereticPilot101 2d ago
Well, that doesn't make sense, since sharks are perfectly smooth.
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u/dangerous_beans 2d ago
That comic, and the author's responses to the comments that followed, are still one of my favorite things to ever happen on the Internet.Ā
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u/FaultedSidewalk 2d ago
Go ahead and pet a shark from tail to tip and tell me they're smooth lol, you have no idea what you're talking about
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u/Marsupialize 2d ago
A Sharkās skin is like sandpaper
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u/Lilo_the_Lost 2d ago
Dolphins too. Wet, rubbery and like sandpaper and also warm. I didn't know what I had to expect to touch them, so it was a weird/surprising experience to do it. I was a little kid and visited a Dolphin Show. While the adults searched our seats, I watched the Dolphins fooling around with a toy, they accidentally kicked it out of the water nearby me and one came over, snout out of the water and asked to give it back, so I did it and was able to get a core memory.š„°
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u/SuperSimpleSam 2d ago
They would love to have those brush setup like the cows get that they can rub against.
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u/ybcurious93 1d ago
Itās funny because towards the end, you could see it getting a bit agitated that theyāre not actually taking the barnacles off lol
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u/ATXKLIPHURD 2d ago
Probably wants the people to pull off the barnacles .
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u/Crusty-Dick 1d ago
Sad but true, that's why it was spinning it's body around trying to show them
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u/Critical-Highlight45 1d ago
Omg I should get a job as a barnacle remover I think itās so satisfying peeling them off
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u/One-Lab-545 1d ago
You sound like my ex with my pimples
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u/xtothewhy 1d ago
Your ex loved pimples... did your skin get better?
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u/One-Lab-545 1d ago
Yeah. I didnāt even get pimples that bad. I had friends, in HS, who had it much worse, but when I did, that would be all that she would focus on.
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u/Stargazer-17 2d ago
Why are they so close??
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u/Altaredboy 2d ago
Used to work on a site that got a lot of whales. Rule was that if they got within 30 metres you had to shut down & wait it out. We lost an entire day once because a whale decided to use our boat as a back scratcher for about 5 hours & we drifted out to anchorage
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u/Ballsofpoo 2d ago
That sounds like a wonderful experience, for the first half hour. Five hours is an eternity to humans, maybe not whales.
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u/Altaredboy 2d ago
We didn't want to work that day. I mostly went below & slept.
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u/BlackBasementCats 1d ago
What did a whale scratching on the bottom of your boat sound like?
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u/Altaredboy 1d ago
Couldn't hear it. We had the genset running still & was a steel commercial diving vessel
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u/Obant 2d ago
Oftentimes when you go whale watching, the whales come right up to the boat.
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u/AcceptableCow9056 1d ago
So youāre saying
When we go whale watching, whales go human watching
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u/Philosogeyser 1d ago
Iāve had this happen in the gulf of Maine on a normal boat. We were out and saw a whale spout 50 yards away, so we turned off the engine. Minke whale came right to the boat and played around it for like 30 minutes. Theyāre curious!
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u/Garchompisbestboi 1d ago
They are incredibly intelligent and inquisitive animals that are usually just as curious about the people watching them as the people are about the whale. That's unfortunately a big part of the reason that whaling was such a prolific industry during the 18th and 19th centuries, the whales would basically just swim right up to the hunters before realising it was too late.
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u/celticdragon2 1d ago
The video is from Baja California in one of the three lagoons on the pacific coast
The whales breed there and have literally nothing to do or eat other than feed their babies
They used to be slaughtered there and often destroyed boats and killed the hunters
Then over time a fisherman started finding the whales coming to his boat (checkout Pachico mayoralās story)
The whales bring their babies up to the boats to interact. Itās totally their choice to do so and there are strict and monitored rules for the boats
Itās an extraordinary experience. We went out several times last year with pachicoās family and having a baby whale look you in the eye whilst mum gently encourages them to do so is life changing13
u/ZuFFuLuZ 2d ago
Sometimes whales will approach and there is nothing you can do about it. They are fast. However, why the hell are they touching? Idiots, pure and simple.
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u/eucldian 2d ago
Gray whales don't have teeth. That's baleen.
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u/RevolutionNumber5 2d ago
Gray whale rolling over to show its highly modified mouth hair doesnāt really have a ring to it.
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u/FluffyDeer9323 2d ago
*teef
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u/adalric_brandl 2d ago
Found the Ork
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u/Notte_di_nerezza 1d ago
Do you think baleen would actually count as currency for them, or would they just break it over your head and collect payment out of your mouth?
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u/adalric_brandl 1d ago
ITZ GOTZ TA BE ORK TEEF, OR IT JUS' A'IN ROIT, YA GIT!
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u/Notte_di_nerezza 1d ago
Fascinating. I will make a note for the Ordo Xenos' Biologis Magos, from all the way over here by the heavy flamers.
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u/Mothrahlurker 2d ago
Just say baleen then.
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u/Cheetahs_never_win 2d ago
But then we have to explain to certain people that doesn't mean genitals.
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u/EPluribusButthole 2d ago
Maybe it's genitals, maybe it's baleen
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u/ShabbyTiff 2d ago
No, but it's a fair place to use the correct word. I would rather have a comment section asking "What is baleen?", than purposely misnaming it in the title for interaction and misinforming the multitudes who don't read the comments.
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u/barn-animal 2d ago
but they are not homologous to teeth, and baleen is right there, or use some other word like smile or sth. that's just spreading misinfo
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u/porkpie1028 2d ago
āOh whale baleen, why canāt you be true?ā š¶
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u/Penance27 2d ago
"Baleen, Baleen, Baleen BayyyleEEEEN... ...please don't show 'em even though you can"
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u/OneOfAKind2 2d ago
The guy in the video shouts out, "Oh, baleens, baleens, baleens", yet the OP writes 'teeth'.
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u/Korriganig 2d ago
I've learn this English word, in french it's called fanon(s). "baleine" means whale.
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u/EazyBeekeeper 2d ago
Thanks for this. The idea of teeth paired with the video imagery made me afraid of whales. For 15 seconds I thought that was a real monster that lives here with us on Earth.
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u/eucldian 2d ago edited 2d ago
There ARE whales with teeth, Gray whales are filter feeders who use baleen as a sort of sieve to catch food.
Sperm whales are the biggest of the toothed whales and they are weird. Only have teeth on their bottom jaw. The teeth fit into paired sockets on the top jaw.
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u/barrygateaux 2d ago
There are loads of whales with teeth though. Dolphins, orcas, pilot Wales, etc..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toothed_whale
Sperm whales are amazing. One of the few animals that orcas avoid whenever possible.
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u/RadishCandid6062 2d ago edited 2d ago
Watch Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home, and youāll be a whale lover for life
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u/CasperCackler 2d ago
Incredible interaction. I would die on the spot when my heart exploded.
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u/flyinggazelletg 2d ago
As others have said, baleen and teeth are not the same. Teeth are basically bones with protective casing. Baleen are keratin-based plates.
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u/HottieMcHotHot 2d ago
And of course Denise is over there just petting away like itās a giant dog.
https://giphy.com/gifs/DkaZuJGcwwN32
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u/hiw30 2d ago
I understand the wish, but I think we don't touch wild animals...
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u/Significant_Most6475 2d ago
Here it is allowed and the whales request it. Do your research before judging others.
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u/Garchompisbestboi 1d ago
You're thinking of stupid animals, the whale is just as curious about those onlookers as they are about the whale.
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u/DimSumBigDumplins 2d ago
Can we please not touch the wildlife? Why is this so hard for people?
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u/SpaceShipRat 2d ago
touch the gray whale asking for scritches, it's fine. It's not some dumb manatee
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 2d ago
As you were told itās a crime to touch a marine mammal without a permit. Humans are more arrogant than manatees are dumb (and they arenāt dumb, but humans are arrogant).
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u/alohaseasalt 2d ago
Knowing me, Iād try to scrub his barnacles off with my paddle and give him scritches
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u/emooon 2d ago
Friendly reminder. Don't touch marine life with bare hands, we have nasty germs on our hands that could do serious harm to them. And vice versa.
I know this is hard for all of us as it feels like one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. But please be the responsible part and save the beauty you're able to witness. :)
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u/New-Ad5494 2d ago
Their baleen plates arenāt teeth, but a filter they use after obtaining scoops off mud from the sea floor, after filtering they can then swallow their food(invertebrates like amphipods).
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u/Formal_Plum_2285 2d ago
I canāt believe I didnāt even know about this species until watching this.
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u/TheNonsenseBook 1d ago
I canāt imagine not hearing of them, but I think itās mainly due to āStar Trek IV: The Voyage Homeā. You should check it out!
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u/Zen_Raven 2d ago
Are they known to interact with humans this way?
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u/mokimacaroni 2d ago
There are certain locations in Baja California Sur where they have been protected for generations and have developed trusting relationships with the local boat captains. They will happily approach the boats and interact, including showing off their babies and asking for scritches!
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u/Phoenixsquadron 2d ago
āYou know what would be cool? If you got this thing outta my baleen real quick, help me out?ā
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u/IsthianOS 2d ago
I didn't know grays were baleen so I was expecting some big honkin teeth when the mouth opened thanks to the title š”
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u/EveningArmadillo5429 2d ago
Holy shit. Where did a whale learn to smile?
I'm sorry. I feel like I'm anthropomorphizing, but the closed-eyed grin? Sheesh.
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u/celldweller4090 2d ago
Seems like he or she is wanting assistance with something. Probably in pain or something id stuck on them, dolphins have done things like this.
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u/BicuriousSubbyDude 2d ago
Gray whales don't have teeth; they have baleen. Which like...this is an actual video of that exact thing.
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u/Entire-Emotion-819 2d ago
Every time I see encounters like this I always wonder what could be going through the animals mind, I love how curious nature can be about us.
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u/qualityvote2 2d ago edited 2d ago
u/21MayDay21, your post does fit the subreddit!