At first it looks like a bizarre silver monolith sticking out of the water.
But on closer inspection, a huge humpback whale can be seen doing a rare ‘headstand’ in amazing new footage.
Australian YouTuber and TikTok star Brodie Moss filmed him excitedly approaching the creature in his clear kayak off the Australian coast.
‘What is going on?’ he says, getting closer and closer to the tail, which is almost completely motionless as it sticks out of the water.
At one point, Moss dips his hand-held camera underwater to reveal a breathtaking image: the whale’s massive body with its brood perched on its chest.
It’s called tail sailing and it’s rarely caught on film. It’s unclear why whales do it, but there are several theories
One or both whales can be heard singing, a common behavior used as a means of communication.
“My heart is beating so fast,” says Moss the video since he is only meters away from the animal.
‘I think it’s a whale’s tail – it just lifts up and raises its tail and it just isn’t going anywhere.
“This is the craziest thing that’s ever happened.”
The smaller humpback whale, likely the offspring, is also seen circling the giant creature as it performs its ‘headstand’.
‘The little baby just swims around it – who cares!’ Moss adds.
It’s unclear exactly where the meeting took place, though Moss is part of the YBS Youngbloods YouTube channel in Exmouth, Western Australia.
Moss says in the video that the transparent kayak “makes the whale act so weird,” but he later clarifies that it’s an example of “tail sailing.”
Rarely seen by humans, these whales raise their tails above the water for long periods of time.
At one point, Moss dips his hand-held camera below the surface of the water to reveal his young whole of the creature’s amazing length.
It’s unclear where the meeting took place, although Moss is part of the YBS Youngbloods YouTube channel in Exmouth, Western Australia.
Exactly why they do it is not known, although there are some leading theories according to marine biologists.
It could be a way for whales to rest, suckle their young, or just rest while trying to keep cool.
On Reddit, wildlife fans joked that it was like “sticking your feet out of bed when they’re a little warm, but in reverse.”
One of them said, “Maybe it’s just their version of sticking your hand out of a car window and feeling the wind in your fingertips.”
Another wrote, “Maybe it feels good to have all his blood going to his head.”
It’s not the first time a humpback whale has been caught tail-sailing.
Another specimen off the coast of Maui, Hawaii, was filmed in 2016 showing the peculiar behavior as a calf swam around it.
According to scientists, tail-sailing is common in southern right whales, although it’s rarer in humpback whales, which can live to be 80 or 90 years old.
Adults of the species (officially known as Megaptera novaeangliae) range in length from 39 to 52 feet and weigh about 36 tons.
Adult humpback whales (pictured) range in length from 11 to 16 meters. The males produce a complex song of 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours (file photo)
The males produce a complex song lasting 10 to 20 minutes, which they repeat for hours at a time, although both males and females use some form of vocalization.
Along with the blue whale, fin whale, and others, the humpback whale is a baleen or “filer feeder.”
Baleen whales have a filtration system in their mouths instead of teeth, with which they collect shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish from the sea.
In comparison, toothed whales, such as the beaked whale and the sperm whale, bite their food or even swallow it whole.
In 2021, researchers revealed a new species of baleen whale in the Gulf of Mexico called Rice’s whale, though they said fewer than 100 remained.