80,000-pound Humpback Whale Gives the Most Majestic Backflip Ever

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When we think of backflips, it’s easy to think of someone who is incredibly fit doing them. A gymnast who has dedicated their life to eating right, keeping the pounds off, and staying flexible. However, the video above just goes to show you don’t have to be a certain weight to do amazing backflips. Let’s see the show this humpback whale puts on. 

Humpback Whale Puts On a Show

Nadia Aly Underwater posted the video at the top of the blog post on her YouTube page. On this channel, she shares footage of the most incredible experiences that she has had diving in oceans worldwide. 

As this clip above starts, we see a humpback whale doing a deep dive. He is gaining the momentum he needs to breach. One subscriber comically added, “At first, I thought it was a large bird flying, and the whale came up and ate the bird! It was the whale’s tail! Lol” 

The edge of the humpback’s tail is shaped like a bird with its wings outstretched. According to the American Cetacean Society, “The flukes (tail), which can be 18 feet (5.5 m) wide, is serrated and pointed at the tips.” With a tail that size, we can only imagine how large this whale truly is. 

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) can weigh anywhere from 40 to 100 tons (88,000 to 220,000 pounds). And they can reach 14.6-19 meters (48-62 feet) in length. This massive humpback comes up almost fully out of the water in the video above. And then proceeds to do the most elegant backflip that has left us speechless. He then falls back into the vast ocean, causing the water to divide like a storm has hit. 

Why Do Humpback Whales Backflip?

When whales come to the surface of the water, this is known as breaching. This is when their full body is almost completely out of water before it comes back down again. The Ocean Conservancy adds, “Scientists suspect humpback whales are breaching and slapping their fins and flukes on the surface as a way of communicating.” 

As we know, animals communicate in a variety of different ways using sound and bodily motion. And breaching may very well be a way that humpback whales communicate with others. However, some believe that humpback whales are merely doing it for pleasure. This humpback whale in the above video seemed like he just wanted to put on a beautiful show for these boaters.