Southern Right Whale, Auckland Islands, New Zealand

The photo was taken by Brian Skerry on assignment for National Geographic magazine off New Zealand's Auckland Islands, where a "pristine population" of southern right whales, in Skerry's words, was discovered only ten years ago. The U.S. photographer said he had deployed his assistant Mauricio Handler (pictured) as bait for this friendly 70-ton giant. "The whales were highly curious of us. Many of these animals had never seen a human before," Skerry told National Geographic News
Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/photogalleries/best-animal-wildlife-photos/photo2.html