BRUNSWICK, Maine - A Maine marine biologist says footage of her swimming with a humpback whale shows the large mammal protecting her from a tiger shark.
Nan Hauser, president of the Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation and a Brunswick resident, says she uploaded footage of her encounter Monday and it quickly spread across the internet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YZYQT8bvS8&feature=youtu.be
Hauser tells the Portland Press Herald she was in the Cook Islands when she came face to face with a 25-ton humpback whale, which approached her and began nudging her around the water. She says the whale also shielded her with a fin.
She says after the encounter, she noticed a tiger shark was swimming nearby.
Hauser says whales are "altruistic'' and often hide seals from predators, but she has never experienced or read about anything like this before.