Baby sea creature plays with sea lions as CA boaters watch in awe. See the moment
A curious baby sea creature put on a show for boaters in Monterey Bay, California, recently.
Tourists aboard a Monterey Bay Whale Watch boat looked on in awe as a “very active” humpback whale calf swam alongside its mother and an adult male humpback, the tour agency wrote in an Oct. 24 Facebook post.
The baby whale “displayed a lot of pectoral fin slapping, spy-hopping, breaching, and several close friendly passes! We even got to see the calf with his eye open looking at the boat,” the agency said.
Photos show the calf slapping its fins and tail and spy-hopping — which is when a sea creature positions itself vertically from the water to observe its surroundings, according to the Dolphin Communication Project. Another photo shows the calf with its eye above the water.
The calf played with some other sea creatures, too.
“At one point, his mom and the male escort dove below the surface possibly to feed, and the calf stayed at the surface and played with several sea lions who were darting around the calf,” the agency said.
Humpback whales are preparing to migrate south from California to their winter breeding and calving grounds off the coast of Mexico, according to the agency.
This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Baby sea creature plays with sea lions as CA boaters watch in awe. See the moment."
