Animals are braver than humans — this story is a classic example!

Nan Hauser has been researching and diving with whales for 28 years but had never experienced an encounter like the one she had on a trip to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, writes The Dodo.

Nan was on a research and filming trip. She had a camera team was there to shoot her dive with a group of humpback whales. And the team was on hand when she had an encounter unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

One of the giant creatures swam right next to Nan and began nudging her along in the water.

“He just wouldn’t stop touching me,” Nan told The Dodo. “I tried to get away over and over again, but he kept at it. He eventually pushed me up right out of the water on his fin. He kept putting his eye right next to me and I couldn’t figure out what he was trying to tell me. ”

After a while Nan became increasingly afraid and thought the whale was going to hurt her.

“I thought the camera crew was going to end up filming my death,” she said. “One whip of a whale’s tail on you, and the pressure would break your bones.”

But it turned out that the whale was not what Hauser needed to fear. As she lifted her eyes, she saw a tiger shark swimming around them.

All the whale was trying to do was to protect his new friend from a shark attack.

“I was absolutely sure I would die,” Nan wrote on Facebook

The whale took Nan on his fin and swam with his back to the boat. When the giant creature got close enough, Nan was able to jump back into the boat.

“I just put my hands on my face and started crying,” Nan said. “I can’t say whether they were tears of relief that I was alive, or because I had just experienced the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life.”

Whales are known for their altruism and there are several documented cases of humpback whales saving other animals from hazards in the ocean. But this is the first documented case that a human being has been saved.

“Even though it was an absolutely crazy experience, I feel so honored to have had it happen,” Nan said. “It’s an incredible quality that they’ll go rushing into a dangerous situation for the sake of someone else.”

Whales are amazing creatures and many are threatened by the environmental degradation that occurs in our oceans.

Please share this article with all your friends to help the conservation of these amazing creatures.