Someone Photographed a Seal Riding a Whale And It’s Glorious

Ride on, your crazy animal you!

You wouldn’t expect seals and whales to be friends. In fact, some whales have been known to devour baby seals whole. So you wouldn’t expect to catch two hanging out like old buddies. 


But photographer Robyn Malcolm did. While shooting a pod or whales our of Eden, about 310 miles south of Sydney, Australia, Malcolm captured an odd site: a fur seal whale lounging around on the back of a humpback.

“We’d seen some amazing whales coming out of the water, everything was happening so quickly,” Malcolm told the Sydney Morning Herald. “And it was when I went back through the photos that I realized I had actually captured the seal on top of the whale.” 


I mean, just look at this magnificent bastard:

Then again, this isn’t the best unusual-animal-riding-another-unusual-animal combination we’ve seen. The BBC reminds us that in June, a family spotted this raccoon just straight hanging on the back of an alligator while out for a stroll in the woods in central Florida

“[I] snapped a lucky picture right when the gator slipped into the water and before the raccoon jumped off and scurried away,” Richard Jones told WFTV at the time.


To the daring animals who risk certain death for quick transport, we salute you. 

Craving more adventures in the animal kingdom? See all of our Animal House stories here.

Photos by Robyn Malcolm / Diimex.com