Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Tail Sailing Whale



TikTok celebrity Brodie Moss was out in his transparent kayak with several cameras when he saw a surprising sight. A whale tail breached the surface in front of him and then... just stood there. He'd never seen such a thing, and frankly, neither have most of us. Sticking a camera underwater, he sees that the humpback whale is just standing upside down, airing out her tail.

This is not an unknown behavior. It's called tail sailing, and it's been seen by others, but no one knows why whales do it. There are many possibilities. It could be a good position for resting, or it may be a way to warm up or cool down, since the tail has a lot of vascular activity. Incidents of tail sailing have been observed all over the world, and can last as long as 12 minutes. (via Damn Interesting

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