Woman's close encounter with 'friendly' whale shark
This is the astonishing moment a giant whale shark appeared to use its tail to give a diver a slap on her backside.
Footage shows the snorkeller in a white bikini being whipped by the large creature in Cebu province, the Philippines on March 29.
The diver Elyzza Marie Toledo said she was not hurt and it seemed like the whale shark was 'just being friendly'.
"I was not hurt. I was maintaining distance but I could not control the whale shark's movements of course. I think it was just being friendly," she recalled.
Elyzza added that she was with four other friends who went to see sardines but were greeted by the whale shark as a bonus.
"We only went there to watch a school of sardines but the whale shark came to greet us. It was really tame."
Despite their massive size, whale sharks are slow-moving, plankton feeding creatures and are tame to humans and are completely safe to swim around with.
Earlier this month drone footage from Mexico captured a stunning nine-metre whale shark in shallow waters.
Last year, a group of swimmers in Queensland rescued a beached whale shark stranded on rocks.
- Viral Press/ Australscope
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