Whale Waves ‘Hello’ to a Drone as it Passes Overhead (VIDEO)

When Christopher DeAntonio sent his GoPro up in a drone around Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the last thing that he thought he would catch was a whale breaching and seeming to wave at the camera. That’s exactly what happened, however, providing an incredible glimpse into the life of a whale out in the wild.

Known as a pec slap, the seemingly friendly “how-do-you-do” the whale is performing in the video actually serves as a mode of communication to other whales. Because a humpback whale’s pectoral fin is one-third the length of their entire body (it’s longer than the pectoral fin of any other species of whale!), the incredibly long appendage is able to create quite a noise when it is slammed onto the water’s surface.

While they are making a rebound, humpback whales are still listed as endangered. Facing threats from hunting and environmental degradation of their habitat, it’s videos like this that show just how graceful and awe-inspiring these creatures of the deep truly are.