Aquamarine Soul @aquamarinesoul - Tumblr Blog

This video depicts a moment that is nearly impossible to observe: a sperm whale surfacing with a giant squid clenched between its teeth. These predators hunt at depths exceeding 800 meters, where light does not penetrate, and only biosonar directs the pursuit. Consequently, clear surface images are exceedingly rare.

🎬: @lud_adventure

strawbeary-moonlight

This is, factually, the first footage of this that we have ever gotten. This has never been observed by a human being before in recorded history. The only reason we knew these whales ate those squids before was the beaks of the squids found in the stomachs of dead whales, and the battle scars on whales consistent with fighting giant squids.

My favorite thing about this clip is that, in the original uncropped footage, you can see her calf is right beside her, ascending from the depths along with her. Whale calves don't dive until they're taught by their mothers. It is very likely that this footage is of a mother whale teaching her calf to hunt on one of its very first dives.

When I saw this footage for the first time, I cried a little tbh.

should-be-sleeping

You are 60% water and every lake, river, pond, swamp, creek, and ocean you encounter wants to reclaim it desperately. Be careful out there.

should-be-sleeping

Good, I hope it haunts everyone about to enter a body of water so bad that they wear a life jacket. 🙌

should-be-sleeping

Every single person I knew (past tense) who has drowned was "a strong swimmer." Water in the wild does not care how good you are at swimming.

should-be-sleeping

I mean this with all due respect:

You are not going to pass a skillcheck against a rip current once it has you.

Waves will not bow to your physical prowess no matter how impressive.

Shock does not care that you used to be on your school swim team.

If you hit your head, being good at swimming isn't going to turn you face-up while you're unconscious.

You may be unable to return to shore. Rescue may be unable to find you quickly.

wizardarchetypes

when you're in water, moving cools you down. you lose heat faster in water, even relatively warm water on a pretty warm day.

as you cool down, your muscles stiffen, you lose the ability to swim much faster than usual (again, not even always in cold water!), and you drown.

to remain warm until rescue, it's important to stay still and get into the H.E.L.P. position to preserve body heat.

you can't do that treading water. You can only do that with a proper flotation device.

I once went into the water on a nice, sunny day at a popular boating lake surrounded by boaters. It took 45 minutes to be rescued. Could you swim for that long? Could you swim for that long while shivering and stiff?

Wear a life jacket!