Feb 15, 2025 07:58 PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly50k8zypmo
EXCERPTS: The first thing kayaker Adrián Simancas noticed after he was eaten by a whale was the slime. "I spent a second realising I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster," the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo.
[...] But there is a simple reason he was able to escape the whale so quickly, according to a wildlife expert. Humpback whales have narrow throats "about the size of a household pipe" designed for swallowing small fish and shrimp, Brazilian conservationist Roched Jacobson Seba told the BBC.
"They physically cannot swallow large objects like kayaks, tires, or even big fish like tuna," he said. "Ultimately, the whale spit out the kayak because it was physically impossible to swallow."
The humpback whale likely engulfed Adrián by accident, Mr Seba suggested. "The whale was likely feeding on a school of fish when it unintentionally scooped up the kayak along with its meal. When whales surface too quickly while feeding, they can accidentally hit or engulf objects in their path." (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: The first thing kayaker Adrián Simancas noticed after he was eaten by a whale was the slime. "I spent a second realising I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster," the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo.
[...] But there is a simple reason he was able to escape the whale so quickly, according to a wildlife expert. Humpback whales have narrow throats "about the size of a household pipe" designed for swallowing small fish and shrimp, Brazilian conservationist Roched Jacobson Seba told the BBC.
"They physically cannot swallow large objects like kayaks, tires, or even big fish like tuna," he said. "Ultimately, the whale spit out the kayak because it was physically impossible to swallow."
The humpback whale likely engulfed Adrián by accident, Mr Seba suggested. "The whale was likely feeding on a school of fish when it unintentionally scooped up the kayak along with its meal. When whales surface too quickly while feeding, they can accidentally hit or engulf objects in their path." (MORE - missing details)