Pod Of Dolphins Protect Humpback Whale And Calf From Group Of Five Males

If we've learnt anything from Sir David Attenborough, on Blue Planet, it's that the creatures that thrive in our oceans are amazing.

Case and point: the incredible footage of a pod of dolphins protecting a female humpback whale and her baby from five male humpbacks.

The video shows the mother, which has been named Spirit, and her male calf, Sunny, suddenly finding themselves in danger while swimming off the coast of Flinders Bay, on the southwest coast of Western Australia.

The group of male humpbacks began competing to mate with the mother - success for one of the males could have separated the calf from its mum which could have led to the death of Sunny.

Whale Watch WA

Suddenly, 10 to 15 bottlenose dolphins came to the aid of an exhausted Spirit and her baby - who had been chased by the male whales for more than 30 minutes.

The event, which was filmed by amazed members of Whale Watch WA, showed the dolphins gather around the tired female humpback.

One dolphin even showed a rare sign of aggression as it flashed its teeth toward the male humpbacks.

Spirit was forced to swim close to the Whale Watch WA vessel in order to try and keep Sunny safe as the dolphins came to her aid.

One of the males then became a bit chivalrous and acted as a sort-of escort to the mum and baby as the rest of the smaller males were sent away.

Whale Watch WA

This event not only shows what amazing creatures whales and dolphins are, but also the greats lengths a mother will go to in effort to protect her baby.

Whale Watch WA have called the collaboration between the whales and dolphins as 'truly remarkable' and a 'true once in a lifetime experience'.

Dolphins and whales seem to make connections with each other often.

Only in June this year is a group of 1500 dolphins were spotted having a whale of a time playing with a baby humpback and its mum.

The dolphins were jumping out of the water and racing with the whales - a behaviour that is called 'snout riding'.

This involves swimming and splashing just in front of a whale's head in order to encourage it to lunge forwards. This movement then creates waves that the dolphins are able to ride for fun.

Topics: World News, Dolphins, Wildlife, Animals

Rachael Grealish

Rachael is a NCTJ qualified journalist from West Cumbria, with a passion for news, features and journalism. Outside of work Rachael loves plenty of coffee, running and reading.

@RachaelGrealish