January 11, 2018—A biologist who's spent nearly three decades studying humpback whale, Nan Hauser never experienced an encounter like the one in September 2017. For ten minutes, the barnacle-knobbed humpback nudged her, lifted her out of the water, and swept her under its pectoral fin. She thought the whale might kill her. But once she was aboard her boat, she saw a tiger shark in the vicinity. Hauser thinks the whale was trying to protect her. The claim was met with skepticism by Hauser’s peers, and she understands their hesitation. But humpback whales do rescue animals—both other humpbacks and other species—from predators. The reasons for this behavior aren’t fully known. Her first-person footage puts you right where Hauser was. But it's nearly impossible to know the humpback's real motivation.

January 11, 2018—A biologist who's spent nearly three decades studying humpback whale, Nan Hauser never experienced an encounter like the one in September 2017. For ten minutes, the barnacle-knobbed humpback nudged her, lifted her out of the water, and swept her under its pectoral fin. She thought the whale might kill her. But once she was aboard her boat, she saw a tiger shark in the vicinity. Hauser thinks the whale was trying to protect her. The claim was met with skepticism by Hauser’s peers, and she understands their hesitation. But humpback whales do rescue animals—both other humpbacks and other species—from predators. The reasons for this behavior aren’t fully known. Her first-person footage puts you right where Hauser was. But it's nearly impossible to know the humpback's real motivation.