A STRICKEN whale was saved by ­divers after becoming badly entangled in a fishing net.

Two rescuers swam down to the 33ft humpback and cut off the mesh and floats stuck around its mouth.

The creature swam free thanks to the pair’s efforts off Mallorca.

Humpback whales are rescuing seals from packs of hungry orcas, according to biologists.

Boffins speculate it is a natural instinct to protect, as orcas are known prey on humpback whale calves.

Humpback whales have been spotted rescuing other mammals from killer whales.

Whalewatchers across the world have been spotted the beasts carrying out animal alturism in the oceans, but Biologist Robert Pitman decided to investigate further.

During a research assignment in the Arctic Peninsula he snapped a photo of a seal nestled under the flipper of a humpback whale out of the reach of a hungry orca pod.

But this wasn’t a one off, the biologist had spotted a pair of humpback whales squaring up to orcas circling a seal just a week before he took the photo.

The photos raised questions about the intentions of the humpbacks; were they heeding the seal’s distress calls, or did they have their own ulterior motive?