Tumblr Thread: Stingray Covers Diver Like A Blanket

Is there anything in the world that we love more than cuddling with our pets? Feeling the love, the warmth, being able to give them affection - we love it. In fact, we want to cuddle with all animals - no matter which ones. We see a dangerous lion - we wanna cuddle it. We see bears - cuddles. We see wolves - cuddles. But have never looked at a stingray and thought - cuddle buddy. Until today. 

We thought sea creatures were not particularly interested in human contact. In fact, we know that some sea creatures are huge jerks. So, when we saw this picture of a stingray covering a diver like a blanket, our whole world turned upside down. Now, we don't know if it really makes sense to call what this stingray is doing cuddling - we don't know what it's thinking here, but we choose to believe that it is. Because cuddles. With animals. We want that. 

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky Mariel Ruvinsky
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  • 01
    Ecoregion - endOskeletal
    via end0skeletal

    Honestly, in the same way that we really want to know what the stingray was thinking in this moment, we also wish we knew what this diver was thinking. A sudden dark cloud covering the diver from above, then being covered by a huge sea creature. Tbh, we think we would have been scared.

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  • 02
    Vertebrate
    via end0skeletal

    It would have taken us a moment to realize what was happening, but once we did, we probably would have calmed down and accepted our fate. It is worth the potential danger if the reward is getting to cuddle a stingray. Yes, that's what we think about cuddling bears and lions too. We would accept our fates and enjoy every moment. 

  • 03
    Photograph - This helpful stingray offered itself up as a tent for a diver who decided to have a lie down on the seabed at Grand Cayman. (x)
    via end0skeletal
  • 04
    Rectangle - katakulio Follow @why-animals-do-the-thing Do you know what's going on here? My educated guess is that it's investigatory behaviour of some kind.
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  • 05
    Eye - why-animals-do-the-thing I'd make an educated guess that that southern stingray has no idea the person isn't just a weird rock.
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  • 06
    Font - Here's the thing: stingrays can't see underneath their bodies. That's why they've evolved specialized organs that let them sense the electricity released by small animals moving under the sand; bottom-feeding species have to hunt with their eyes looking the opposite direction of their mouths. Reading the NBC article that's linked, it sounds like the diver was already near the seabed (maybe actually resting on it) before the ray decided to settle on top of him. It describes the ray as hove
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  • 07
    Font - If this was investigative behavior, I would expect to see something more than just resting on top of the diver. The best explanation of stingray investigative behavior I've ever heard was "imagine a vacuum cleaner that looks curious." They'll try to bite at or put their mouth on things they're interested in, and it frequently comes with a lot of back-and-forth motion as they use their sensitive undersides and the electricity-sensing ampullae of Lorenzini to learn more. Given that it's imp
    via end0skeletal
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  • 08
    Font - However, with just these photos, an interpretation of the behavior isn't likely to be accurate - l'd want to see a video for a better sense of it. It's also worth noting that a lot of the stingrays around Grand Cayman are very habituated to people due to some of the tourist attracts that feed them year-round, so that could potentially be influencing the ray's comfort level around the divers.
    via end0skeletal
  • 09
    Font - tentacleheadcold Follow Blankie followingyourbliss Follow People in the comments are asking - this is an area where boats full of tourists have been coming for decades to swim with and hand feed the stingrays. The rays know this, and swarm the boats in huge black clouds. It's very cool! The bigger the ray, generally the older they are, and the more friendly/ acclimated to people, because people = %3D free tasty squid. So Ray here is hoping for a handout.
    via end0skeletal
  • 10
    Font - i-draws-dinosaurs Follow there are many benefits to being a marine biologist carlyrockerthedestroyer Follow I've been here! This is a spot named stingray city. Sting rays like to hang out around here. There are boat tours on calm days where tourists come to interact with them. They stick around because they get fed, but because it's just a large sand bar, they can leave at anytime. If I remember correctly they had to slow down the feeding a bit as some of the sting rays were getting quite
    via end0skeletal

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sea stingray thread snuggle tumblr funny tumblr posts ocean lol diver marine biology cuddling silly funny
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