Quick Take
- This same shark has been spotted circling the exact same island repeatedly, and the reason it keeps coming back is stranger than you would expect. Discover its return visits →
- One of the ocean's largest predators subsists on something you could hold in your hand, and the sheer volume it consumes daily is staggering. See its daily diet →
- A scuba diver got close enough to touch it, and the footage reveals something about the whale shark's true scale that defies expectations. Explore its true scale →
All around the world, people can come face to face with amazing animals. However, being able to say that you came face to face with one of the world’s largest animals? Now, that is something to brag about.
This video was shot by a scuba diver swimming in the Galapagos Islands, located in Ecuador. We see a massive whale shark swimming and then slowly turn back toward the diver, moving slowly and steadily.
Whale Shark Sighting in the Galapagos Islands
What is incredible is that a human was just feet away, filming this amazing creature. No amount of words we can use would come close to what this diver experienced being so close they could touch it.
We can see amazing footage of this whale shark underneath. This gives us an appreciation for the size of this massive animal.
The video was shared via Rumble Viral. In the description, there is a bit more context provided: “This whale shark cruised around Darwin Island, hoping to find something that would rid it of the large hitchhikers on its back. It swam right through a group of scuba divers who were in complete awe. It’s possible that it believed the scuba diver with the camera might be able to help. This gentle beast has been seen circling Darwin Island several times since 2018.”
How Big is the Whale Shark?
There are estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000 whale sharks in the wild.
©Chaton Chokpatara/Shutterstock.com
The whale shark, Rhincodon typus of the family Rhincodontidae, is one of the largest animals in the entire world! It’s an extremely impressive creature that weighs anywhere from 15 to 20 tons (30,000-40,000 pounds). To match this size, they can also grow to be anywhere from 18-33 feet in length.
As you can imagine, these whale sharks eat quite a bit. In fact, juvenile whale sharks eat about 46 pounds of plankton daily, while adults can eat up to 110 pound of plankton per day.
