This was the extraordinary moment when a sperm whale ‘asked’ for help from a diver. Sperm whales are incredibly intelligent and have the largest brains of any creature to have ever lived.
These huge mammals are peaceful and only eat squid that they catch when diving, it is thought their intelligence is why it was able to ask for help.
The diver in this miraculous video is Hugues Vitry, a world-famous Maurician environmentalist, and underwater photographer.
Vitry is also the Vice President of the Marine Megafauna Conservation Organization and the Diving Centre Manager.
On another occasion, he also managed to release a whale that had become entangled in ropes.
Vitry is dedicated to assisting and conserving marine life, believing that one individual can make a significant difference.
The whale approaches Vitry and moves its massive body sideways before extending its jaw to signal the diver that she requires assistance.
As the whale swims beside Vitry, he focuses his camera on her and narrates what he sees.
Despite the unclear translation, we can gather that he saw blood and that the hook was attached to the whale near the tooth.
Luckily, the large whale remained unfazed as he removed the hook from the whale’s mouth.
But that’s not all, Vitry was also taken aback when the whale seemed to linger for a while after he tried to comfort it that the ordeal was done.
In turn, the whale appeared to be thanking him! A viewer who attempted to translate said:
“For those interested, the guy (an overseas French, I’d say Reunionnais but he could from another island) talks about how strange it was to see this sperm whale come to them with its open mouth yet unagressively.”
“How he saw that its mouth was bleeding, and how after the hook was removed he took a little time to try to make the whale understand it was over, hugged it, and how the sperm whale stood by for a while after that, showing signs that could be interpreted as gratitude.”
Vitry even embraced the whale, placing his head against hers and whispering comforting words.