Zillion the humpback bit off a little more than she could chew. Photo: Brooke Casanova//Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours
Humpback whales are not considered to be predators, unless those considering are small fish or krill. Seals, though? They don’t worry about being eaten by humpbacks… usually. But one harbor seal in the Strait of Juan de Fuca came very close to becoming possibly the first seal meal for a humpback.
As filter feeders, humpback whales have something called baleen plates in their mouths. They basically just open their huge jaws and suck up enormous volumes of water, which is hopefully full of krill and little fish. The baleen plates filter the edible stuff out and the water is expelled.
On September 12, Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours, a whale watching outfit out of Anacortes, Washington, was lucky enough to run into a humpback whale named Zillion. It’s a whale they know well there, but they were just as surprised as both Zillion and the seal when the whale surfaced and accidentally ended up with the seal in its mouth.
“Fortunately, the seal did have some luck on its side,” Blue Kingdom wrote, “as Zillion quickly noticed the unwelcome dinner guest and released the seal accordingly.”
It’s likely not something either Zillion or the seal will forget — and the same goes for everyone who saw it happen with their own eyes.
Find out more about Blue Kingdom Whale and Wildlife Tours on their website.
