Posted in Africa, Creator, Current Events, Earth Changes, Justice, Nature on 07/23/2010 01:59 pm by hanasazi
[caption id="attachment_351" align="alignleft" width="593" caption="A whale stuns two sailors seconds before it crash-lands on their boat. (Whitehotpix/ZUMApress.com/NewsCom)"]
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Imagine peacefully sailing in the ocean when suddenly a 40-ton, 30-foot-long whale flips into the air and crashes onto your boat! That’s exactly what happened to Paloma Werner and Ralph Mothes in the waters off Cape Town, South Africa, this past week.
This amazing photo was taken by a tourist seconds before the whale landed on the boat, thrashing about and damaging its steel mast and cabin. The huge mammal then returned to the ocean. The sailors weren’t hurt, but it was still a frightening surprise.
“It really was quite incredible but very scary,” said Werner. “We thought the whale was going to go under the boat and come up on the other side. We thought it would see us. But instead it sprang out of the sea.”
The whale left blubber and skin on the boat. According to a marine scientist, the whale was probably badly bruised but did not seriously injure itself.
Why exactly do whales breach, or flip themselves, out of the water? Scientists have differing theories. They think whales might do this simply for fun, or it could have a purpose, such as cleaning barnacles and other sea debris from the skin. No matter what the reason, whales rarely land on boats when they breach, which is a good thing for sailors and these extraordinary sea creatures.
reposted from www.scholastic.com. Click the picture to view the original post.
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