Watch a whale slap the camera out of a photographer’s hand (VIDEO)

 

 

Humpback whales are enormous. Just truly, astonishingly big. Most of us won't ever be lucky enough to get close to one in the wild, but for cameraman Chris Coates, a recent encounter ended with a very close call.

Coates was diving off the eastern coast of Africa at his favorite speardiving spot. As reported by GrindTV, Coates told JukinVideo:

“But I must admit, I got quite a shock when it swam right up at me. At one stage it was only one foot away, and even though I know that they generally don’t hurt people, it’s so big and strong, it is still scary.”

The whale ended up giving Coates the humpback version of a gentle tap. As he explains it:

“The whale hit me on the head and hand. I could feel its barnacles scraping over my forehead. The slap with the fin was quite hard, but I don’t think it was trying to hurt me or it would have been way harder. It also must have hit the camera because it hit my hand that was holding the camera.”

If nothing else, this video should give you a pretty good feel for just how terrifying it would be to have one of these immense animals turn on you.

(via PetaPixel)