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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Philip Hoare

Grey whales seen seeking human help to remove parasites

Oceangoers reach out to touch the skin of a grey whale in the Pacific off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.
Oceangoers reach out to touch the skin of a grey whale in the Pacific off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. Photograph: Jeroen Hoekendijk

Grey whales have learned to approach whale-watching boats to have parasites removed by human beings, it has been claimed.

Video footage documenting the behaviour in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon, off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, shows a grey whale having whale lice picked off its head by the captain of a small boat. “I have done it repeatedly with the same whale and others,” Paco Jimenez Franco told a US news site. “It is very exciting for me.”

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