40-Ton Humpback Whale Jumps Out Of The Water, Stuns Onlookers [Video]

By Mandy Froelich / Truth Theory

Did you know? An adult humpback whale can grow to weigh 36,000 kg. That’s about the same weight as 24 adult hippos! This acknowledged, it’s pretty incredible that the gargantuan mammal is even capable of leaping out of the water. Yet, fin 2017, this feat was captured on film. 

The video (below) was captured by Craig Capehart, a scuba diver who was sitting in a “rubber duck” inflatable boat when he witnessed the extraordinary act. Capeheart was in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mbotyi when the graceful giant made an appearance. The scuba diver estimates that the humpback whale weighed around 40 tons.

“It seems that never before has a recording been made of an adult humpback whale leaping entirely out of the water! A very rare event, indeed,” wrote Craig in the caption accompanying the video. “Dolphins and even Great White Sharks have been seen flying out of the water, but this is a first for an adult humpback whale!”

You have to see it to believe it:

Why do whales jump out of the water? According to the BBC, the behavior is still not fully understood. However, scientists theorize that whales, like the humpback whale in the video above, breach, then slap the water, to communicate. The following video offers a more in-depth explanation: 

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