Unfiltered Story #342777

(Years ago I went on a whale-watching tour with a whale biologist. In this specific lagoon the guides have developed something of a relationship with the whales, so they will come right up the boats to rub against it and let us touch them. Some of them will even present their children to us.

At one point, we encountered an especially ornery individual. Instead of just avoiding us, she practically chased us, repeatedly whacking our boat with her tail. The biologist theorized that she had trauma regarding boats, possibly due to the loss of a child.)

Later, she was showing us pictures of different whales’ tails and explaining that the scientific community take photos and exchange them so they can track the movements of specific whales. She further noted that some of them even have names.)

Me: “Does the snarky one have a name?”

Biologist: “Oh, that’s good! Snarky!”

(And that is how I accidentally named an animal that is quite possibly smarter than us, and will quite probably outlive all of us. Unless some asshole kills her for her blubber.)