A massive pod of dolphins was spotted playing with a baby humpback whale in Monterey Bay over the weekend.
The playful mammals were seen "snout riding" the mother humpback and her calf by drone video that captured the footage. "Snout riding" is when dolphins intentionally annoy whales by swimming and splashing over their heads, which causes the whale to lunge forward in the water. The waves created by the sudden movement are used by the dolphins to swim and surf in.
Nancy Black, a marine biologist at Monterey Bay Whale Watch told the SFGate that the whales don't seem to be bothered by the frolicking dolphins.
"The dolphins seem to really enjoy this and the whales aren't really bothered," said Black.
Footage in the video showed hundreds of dolphins in the water with Black estimating around 1,500 consisting of two different species, most of whom were Pacific white-sided dolphins. The rest were made up between the more rare Northern right whale dolphins and a few gray dolphin calves in the group.
The humpback calf was most likely born a few months ago off the coast of Mexico Black said. Monterey Bay is often used by the massive mammals to teach its young how to catch fish and krill.