You've heard the legends of people
being swallowed by whales
and coming out alive.
But there's no way that a human could
actually survive
a trip inside one of these massive beasts, right?
Wrong.
In June 2021,
lobsterman Michael Packard
was diving on the seafloor
when he was hit by something big.
Everything went dark,
and he immediately thought a shark had caught him,
but he didn't feel any teeth
digging into his flesh.
Suddenly, everything around him began to squeeze his body.
He was inside the mouth of a whale,
and it was trying to swallow him whole.
Want to know how he fought his way
out of the 30-ton mammal?
There are two types of whales.
Toothed whales,
such as sperm whales,
can eat giant squid in the deep sea.
But they have no taste for humans.
And there are baleen whales.
These giants use a layer of bristles
to eat small prey such as krill and little fish.
They attack schools of krill or fish
with their mouths wide open
to catch as much food as they can.
But like Michael,
humans can get caught inside their deep,
massive mouths.
Once you get picked up in a whale's mouth,
you don't have much time.
So you better start thinking of an exit strategy.
Whales are amazing.
Did you know that gray whales,
a species of baleen whales,
make the longest mammalian migration on Earth?
Yes. They swim up to 19,000 km (11,800 mi)
from the Arctic
to the northern coast of Mexico and back.
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Well, you can
if you make it out of this giant whale alive.
Stick around.
We can help.
In 2019, nature photographer Rainer Schimpf
was diving off South Africa's coast,
trying to get some cool shots of sharks feeding on a run of sardines.
Suddenly, everything went black,
and he felt a strong pressure around his waist.
He got trapped inside the mouth of a Bryde's whale
As an experienced diver and nature photographer,
he knew that a Bryde's whale's throat
is not wide enough to swallow a human.
But if the beast started to submerge,
he would run out of oxygen and drown.
All he could do was to stay calm
and wait for a chance to escape.
His wife and one of his friends were horrified,
watching the scene from the boat a few meters (yards) away.
Fortunately, a couple of seconds later,
the whale realized that Rainer was not a giant sardine
and spat him out.
American lobsterman Michael Packard
realized that his entire body was
inside a humpback whale.
He could even feel the whale diving down.
If he didn't free himself soon,
he would run out of oxygen and die.
Suddenly, everything around him started to crush him.
The whale was trying to swallow him.
He began to struggle,
and he could tell his scuba gear
was causing some discomfort to the whale.
He continued fighting.
A few seconds later, the whale's mouth opened.
Michael could see some light again.
The whale shook its head
until it expelled the lucky lobsterman.
He was alive and well,
but he had spent about 40 seconds
inside the mammal.
Other fishermen rescued him from the water
and took him to the hospital.
He had only broken one leg.
Before we move on to our last story,
let's see what we can learn from these survivors' experiences.
Both Michael and Rainer were very close
to schools of fish,
which whales and sharks eat.
That would make them vulnerable
to being gobbled up
by a 30-ton beast trying to catch
as much food as it can.
But both men were experienced divers,
and they were wearing professional diving equipment
that allowed them to keep breathing
while trapped inside the whales’ mouths.
After the whales freed them,
their crews immediately helped them.
Finally, they also knew
that the whales cannot swallow humans,
which helped them stay calm
and find ways to survive.
If you are not an experienced diver
with professional equipment
and the support of other professionals,
do not even try to swim
near these gentle
but dangerous giants.
In 2015,
many media outlets
reported the incredible story
of a Spanish fisherman
who fell overboard
during a terrible storm
and got swallowed by a whale.
The first reports said that Luigi Marquez
survived for three days inside the giant animal
by eating the raw fish in its stomach.
Then the whale ejected Marquez into the water.
Yup, like the biblical parable of Jonah.
The story even included a picture of "Luigi".
But according to other media that questioned the story,
he turned out to be a man named “Mike”.
Finally, marine biologist Helen Scales
assured the BBC that there is no breathable air inside a whale,
so Luigi, or Mike,
would have died long before the three days
he claimed to be inside the whale.
Although Luigi may not exist,
the waters around the world
are full of unexpected threats
and dangers.
There's even a place
known as the "Diver's Cemetery".
Want to know where it is?
Keep watching.