Sperm Whale Encounter of the Closest Kind - Hauntingly Beautiful

[tomm2thumbs]

At 598 meters (1,962 ft) below the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, ROV Hercules encountered a magnificent sperm whale. The whale circled Hercules several times and gave our cameras the chance to capture some incredible footage of this beautiful creature. Encounters between sperm whales and ROVs are incredibly rare.

E/V Nautilus is exploring the ocean studying biology, geology, archeology, and more.

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http://www.nautiluslive.org for LIVE video from the ocean floor.

[tomm2thumbs]

1. The best part is the sheer joy you sense from everyone there at that moment

and probably a little bit that rubbed off on me watching it.

Love it

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And then there's the sperm whales who adopted a deformed dolphin. Video depicts a very rare interaction between sperm whales and an adult bottlenose dolphin with a spinal malformation (i.e. scoliosis)

Awwwwww....

[yuiyoshida]

2. Amazing Blue Whale - the biggest animal on our Earth!

[tomm2thumbs]

4. magnificent!!!!

only think I can think of to say

[IHateTheGOP]

8. Yes, the biggest animal that EVER existed on earth, not just the biggest now

[2naSalit]

3. OoooH!!!!!

That made me cry! So magnificent a being... and we are killing them all. I wish we could communicate with them, those of us who want to see them thrive... and not just to say we're sorry that we are killing everything.

Still, I am thankful to have seen this. Thank you for sharing this fleeting view of one of the most magnificent living things in our world.

[blackspade]

5. That is really cool.

Beautiful.

[Diclotican]

6. tomm2thumbs

tomm2thumbs

Amazing - just amazing

Diclotican

[Dont call me Shirley]

7. We can all learn a lesson of compassion from these astonishing creatures. Pure beauty.

[IHateTheGOP]

9. What an amazing animal

The grace....

[AtomicKitten]

10. Beautiful graceful creature. Thanks for posting this.