A humpback whale briefly engulfed Chilean kayaker Adrián Simancas and his yellow kayak, then released him. The February 2025 video does not show him passing through the whale’s throat or being swallowed into its digestive tract. Humpbacks have large mouths for taking in water and small prey, but a much narrower throat.
What happened to the Chilean kayaker?
On February 8, 2025, Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near San Isidro Lighthouse in Chile’s Strait of Magellan. A humpback surfaced and engulfed Simancas and his kayak for a few seconds before releasing them. His father filmed the encounter, and both returned to shore uninjured, according to the Associated Press.
Simancas said, “I thought I was dead,” and recalled thinking the whale had eaten and swallowed him. That reaction is understandable, but the footage shows a brief engulfment, not confirmed passage down the whale’s throat. The video also cannot establish whether he was entirely inside the whale’s mouth.
Why couldn’t the whale swallow him?
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are baleen whales. They feed on small fish and crustaceans, taking in prey and water with an open mouth and filtering food through baleen plates as water flows back out.
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The mouth and throat serve different purposes: the mouth can open wide to engulf prey, water, and anything nearby, while the throat is much narrower. Kevin Robinson, director of the Cetacean Research & Rescue Unit, described the humpback’s throat as roughly the size of a human fist and said it could not ingest the kayaker, as quoted by The Washington Post. That is an expert’s comparison, not a direct measurement of the whale involved.
A peer-reviewed study of humpbacks in northern Chile documented lunge-feeding on schools of Peruvian anchovy. The researchers observed whales surfacing with open mouths and distended throats before closing their mouths and expelling water through baleen. The study also notes a whale documented feeding on krill in Chilean Patagonia.
Why did the whale scoop him up?
The video does not reveal what the whale was pursuing or what it intended. Experts said the event was likely accidental: humpbacks lunge toward concentrated prey with their mouths open, and an animal or object in the way can be caught in the engulfment. Erich Hoyt of Whale and Dolphin Conservation told Live Science that the whale almost certainly took up Simancas accidentally, while noting that the video cannot show whether he was entirely inside its mouth.
It is therefore more accurate to describe the event as a brief engulfment than as a confirmed attack or an attempt to eat a person. The kayak could also have posed a risk to the whale, though the reporting does not establish that it was injured.
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FAQ
Did a humpback whale really swallow the Chilean kayaker?
No. The whale briefly engulfed Simancas and his kayak, but the footage does not show him passing through its throat into its digestive tract.
Can a humpback whale swallow a human?
The expert commentary reported here says the humpback’s throat is too narrow to ingest a person. Robinson compared it to roughly the size of a human fist; that is an attributed analogy, not a measurement of the individual whale.
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Why did the whale scoop him up?
Experts said accidental engulfment during feeding is the likely explanation. Humpbacks lunge toward small prey with their mouths open, but the video cannot establish the whale’s intent or exactly what it was feeding on.
Where and when did the encounter happen?
It happened on February 8, 2025, in Bahía El Águila near San Isidro Lighthouse in Chile’s Strait of Magellan. Simancas was kayaking with his father, who filmed the encounter.
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