Seeing wild animals in their natural habitat is truly a unique experience, especially when they're spotted doing something unusual. That's exactly what happened when whale watchers were out.
The Monterey Bay Whale Watch (@monterey_bay_whale_watch) Instagram account caught footage of a northern right whale dolphin and blackfin "tail walking."
In the video, you can see two dolphins jumping up and down, but also skirting across the water with their tails.
The account captioned the video, "Such a cool and rare behavior to witness."
These kinds of sightings are incredibly useful for understanding animal behavior.
Whether it's whale watching or trail cameras, these types of videos can be insightful. For instance, ReWild Wicklow and the University College Dublin Wildlife Department collaborated starting in 2022 to track local wildlife in Ireland. There are 50 cameras around the area, and in 2025, these cameras captured footage of otters, the first hedgehog in the area, and a Woodcock bird, which needs protection.
These cameras give experts insights into the wildlife, while not interfering with their lives. Without these cameras, researchers would never have gotten a glimpse at these animals.
Conservationists in India also caught a rare animal using trail cameras: a rusty-spotted cat. The first sighting of the deadliest cat alive. The International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the cat as near threatened. It's known for being shy and nocturnal, so it's incredibly challenging to catch a glimpse of them.
Forest officials in India were excited about this sighting because they believe that it means the Rusty-spotted cat population is growing. The sighting prompted officials to set up more cameras to monitor the population, but also to understand their breeding activity.
It goes to show how useful these cameras can be, and it lets the public get a glimpse of them, too.
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$200 or more 💰 People on Instagram were excited to see the dolphins' rare behavior.
One user said, "Best part is they are wild & free."
Another commented, "It's amazing to see these Beautiful Sea Creatures in their natural habitat."
"Omg, this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!!!!" said a third.
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