Days later, footage from the expedition was studied more closely. It showed the shark circling and the whales changing formation around the animal carrying Nathaniel. The video could not prove what the whale had been thinking, but even skeptical researchers admitted the behavior was unusual.
Nathaniel returned to his work, but whales became a much bigger part of it. He read everything he could find about protective behavior. Whenever someone asked whether the whale had really saved him, he avoided dramatic claims. “I know what it did,” he would say.