Why You'd Never Want To Meet A Humpback Whale

The humpback whale is the ocean's gentle giant, so why does it keep ending up in stories like this? A lobster diver scooped into its mouth, a kayaker engulfed, a fishing boat flipped by a breach. Here's what really happens when people meet humpback whales, and what you'd actually do if one came toward you. 0:00 Inside a humpback whale's mouth 1:44 How big a humpback really is 2:04 Lunge feeding and bubble nets 4:18 Breaching 6:18 Rowdy groups 7:26 When it notices you 9:06 What would you actually do? References: Packard: https://www.fox13news.com/news/massac... Simancas: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/14/nx-s1-... Throat size: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/an... New Hampshire boat: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/breachin... Sydney boat: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9... Ningaloo: https://livescience.com/humpback-whal... Nan Hauser: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/an... Rowdy groups: https://www.australiangeographic.com.... Bubble nets (Szabo 2024): https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240328 Orcas (Pitman 2017): https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12343 Bubble rings (Sharpe 2025): https://www.seti.org/press-release/wh... Song (Garland 2011): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2011.03... NOAA: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/specie... Whaling ban: https://iwc.int/commission Sydney distances: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/to... Footage: NOAA Fisheries, Eclipse Chasers (Pexels), Polygoon Hollands Nieuws 1947 (Wikimedia Commons).