A video shows the marine giant approaching the boat and ‘asking’ the captain for help to remove the lice from her skin.
Click here and watch the video
Footage of a gray whale gently approaching the vessel and signaling that it needed help with lice touched many online; but, in truth, this friendship between the sea giant and the boat’s captain has a history.
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Paco Jimenez Franco is an experienced sailor, navigating the waters of the Ojo de Liebre lagoon in Mexico for 20 years, where he often encounters magnificent whales. To him, every sighting is like a special gift, since not everyone has or will have the chance to see these giants emerging from the watery depths.
However, during one of these encounters, Franco noticed that some whales had lice, which are small parasitic crustaceans that attach to the skin of the large mammal and feed on its blood, causing great discomfort.
So, one day, when one of the animals came very close to Franco’s boat, he plucked some ‘lice’ with his hands; the whale seemed relieved and approached him again so he could continue to remove the parasites that bothered her.
It seems the whale told her friends about her new buddy, and the captain now has a loyal clientele that trusts him to relieve the discomfort these parasites cause: “I’ve done this several times with the same whale and others,” Franco told the website The Dodo. “It’s very emotional for me,” he assured.