I'd pee my pants....

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

[Ocelot II]

1. But you'd already be wet, so that's OK.

[Walleye]

2. Looks like a bathtub toy for the whale

[Solly Mack]

3. Just a whale playing with his little boats.

[Botany]

4. Someday when we learn to speak to these incredible animals we will have some explaining to do

That whale was a thinking and gentle creature who understood the situation and how not to
hurt "the human."

[wnylib]

7. Or, maybe it was just curious about

how to scarf up the human without the boat.

"If I nudge just a little harder, he will fall into the water. On the other hand, he is a little small for a meal. Maybe just snack size. Better look for something bigger."

[Botany]

8. That whale ... I guess it is a humpback or a grey whale and they eats little tiny things called

...krill and or plankton. It does not eat people. The whale's behavior looked to me as almost playing with
the man on the surf board. He/she was being gentle.

[wnylib]

9. I know nothing about whales so

I will take your word for its eating habits. So the guys in their boats had nothing to fear from being eaten, only from being overturned and injured in the process.

I can believe that the whale was curious and maybe playing with the boat to check it out, but I would be less sure that it was playing as a friendly interaction with the people. Not necessarily unfriendly, either. Just being curious about what was floating on the sea.

[Botany]

10. Curious yes, friendly I like to think so, and by the way that whale pushed the surf board it was ...

... playing nice. If that whale wanted to it could have "breached" the water and crushed the
man but it choose not to.

We are learning more and more about the critical role that "play" takes in animal (human)
behavior, social, and intellectual development.

[wnylib]

11. Oh yes, animals do play and learn from it.

I have raised dogs, cats, and birds (parakeets).

I know that they play, learn from play, and interact meaningfully with humans in their play. Same with farm animals to some extent, feral domesticated animals, and to some degree, some wild animals.

But in the case of pets, they have frequent daily interactions with humans and live with them. The other cases involve some knowledge of humans and usually some type of exposure to humans before interacting in a friendly or playful way.

I only question how much previous contact with people this whale might have had to lead to a friendly or playful interaction with them beyond simple curiosity.

[hunter]

12. In the bad old days when whales were commonly hunted they were dangerous.

They'd mostly avoid humans, but they'd also smash boats and try to kill humans who got too close, especially mother whales protecting their young.

Now there are places where whales don't regard the local humans as dangerous and they will play with us.

They won't play with orcas.

[Botany]

13. Whales talk to each other, live as families, travel thousands of miles a year, and think

[Emile]

6. I would pee my pants too!