Whale watchers were quite surprised to witness a rare sight the other day. While on a whale-watching tour in Washington, they witnessed as a whale mistakenly swallows a seal. Luckily the seal is alive and well after this rare and incredible encounter. However, I am sure that this image will forever be burned into all of the whalewatcher's minds.
Whale Watching Gone Wild: Whale Swallows A Seal
Shutterstock / Kat Ferrer
Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours was on another whaling adventure this September 12 when they noticed something peculiar. At first, it was a typical sight. A humpback whale named Zillion was busy feeding, putting on a show for all those whale watchers. However, as the whale was feeding, there seemed to be a little mix-up with what was on the menu.
The Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours stated,
"We were watching a humpback whale named "Zillion" lunge feed through many bait balls in the area. On one particular lunge, afterwards we noticed the whale kept opening and closing its mouth, which we found a bit odd. Upon further inspection of photos, we saw that it had a Harbor seal in its mouth it accidentally engulfed while going after the baitfish."
Luckily, although it appeared to all as if the whale swallowed the seal, that was not actually the case. Later, the tour shares that "Zillion was able safely "cough" out the harbor seal. It was a sight to see and a crazy photograph that Brooke was able to capture. " Seals are not a typical meal choice for whales, this little guy just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
More Rare Encounters
From Blue Kingdom Tours Facebook
In addition to this incredibly rare accident where a whale swallows a seal, the Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours also had some other unique encounters that day. One such unusual occurrence was when the group came upon a turkey vulture stranded at sea. On their website they share that it was "stuck in the water very far offshore, attempting to swim to shore. Its wings were water logged and it was unable to fly." Luckily this tour came to the rescue.
They nudged their boat towards the bird, offering it a lift, and the bird accepted. It was thankful for its ride and, upon returning to shore, jumped off and carried on. In addition to all of this, this tour also saw "two different groups of killer whales - 23 orcas in total." All in all, it was a pretty incredible day for those whale watchers.
