Dolphins on Whales, and Other Animals Riding Animals

[Machiavelli]

Becky Little and Brian Clark Howard
National Geographic
September 2, 2016

Remember “weaselpecker,” that hard-to-believe photo of a weasel riding a bird, Rescuers-style? Those types of animal interactions go viral because they seem rare to us. Yet the phenomena of species riding other species isn’t actually that unusual.

In 2004 and 2006, researchers documented two instances of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) giving a lift to a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) near Hawaii...

Here are some other instances of animal-on-animal action...

More

[Cripplecreek]

Remember “weaselpecker,” that hard-to-believe photo of a weasel riding a bird, Rescuers-style? Those types of animal interactions go viral because they seem rare to us.

In that particular case the photographer confessed that it was just a one in a million chance photo of a split second of a fight between the bird and the weasel.

Dolphins and whales push their newborn young to the surface for air so there is some well known behavior behind it.

[rodamala]

@Machiavelli
@Cripplecreek

Remember “weaselpecker,” that hard-to-believe photo of a weasel riding a bird, Rescuers-style?

I remember it a little differently:

[bigheadfred]

@Machiavelli
@Cripplecreek

I remember it a little differently:

Thats great. Now I have spork weasel stuck in my head.

[rodamala]

@bigheadfred

Ralph, did you just say spork-weasel??


I'm not sure, chief!