Add Category
A pygmy right whale behaving like a lost puppy has given a group of paddleboarders the experience of a lifetime off South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.
- A group of men were followed by a pygmy whale while paddleboarding near Port Lincoln
- An expert says it is very uncommon behaviour
- It is illegal to chase marine mammals
Henry Cordell and his friends were out paddleboarding in the early evening at Spalding Cove, south of Port Lincoln, this week when what they thought was a large dolphin started circling them, checking them out.
"After probably an hour, we thought obviously this isn't a dolphin; this is something bigger," Mr Cordell said.
"We kept paddling back to shore and after about two hours we decided to try and get some footage of this beautiful creature."
For a little over two hours, they were slowly followed by the whale, where they watched it get curious with other sea life.
"We also saw a sealion and the whale and the sealion were kind of playing chasey for a while," Mr Cordell said.
Department for Environment and Water marine parks regional coordinator Jon Emmett said this was very uncommon.
"I guess they're blessed, because that's a really unusual encounter, and you wouldn't expect a pygmy right whale to normally do that," he said.
"The fact that they were on the paddleboards and they were approached by the animal again, they haven't done anything wrong, the animal chose to approach them."
Chasing after marine mammals is not allowed and ocean users must attempt to safely move away from them if possible.
Drone users have to keep their devices 300 metres away from marine life.
Pygmy right whales are not endangered, but are considered rare in South Australia.
They weigh more than 3 tonnes and can be more than 6 metres long.