If you had to add up how many ‘sightings’ there have been of the Loch Ness Monster in the past 100 years you would be well into four figures. Add to the mix all those yetis and you’re left with two conclusions – the white harbour porpoise is beyond rare and people will do just about anything for their 15 minutes of fame.

Folks in Denmark managed to lay eyes on the rare porpoise splashing about in the Baltic Sea, with marine biologists taken aback by its behaviour. The Dodo reports:

“This animal appears to be playing with the vessel, swims alongside it and rides the bow wave. That is quite unusual behavior (sic) for a harbor porpoise,” says [marine biologist with the organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) Fabian] Ritter.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible,” he adds, “but they are usually a wary species, and not especially interested in vessels. This is quite curious behavior.”

One reason for their scarcity could be that, similar to the freckly ginger kid at high school, their pale colouring makes it easier to be picked out by predators. It’s colouration is not the only obstacle the porpoise faces either:

…there are outside threats to the white harbor porpoise in the video, including gray seals, who want to eat them. Other threats are ever-present toxins, which can cause problems for the small-toothed porpoise’s immune system and liver, and gillnets — which are used in the fishing industry. The porpoises get caught in the nets and drown…

Let’s hope this pale porpoise can avoid these dangers and keep on keeping on, although getting this up close and personal with humans is really dicing with danger.

[source:thedodo]