Metro, a British paper, reports on manta rays that leap into the air to help them attract mates. Must byline: Pics: Roland Seitre/solent

Photo by Roland Seitre/Solent

‘The males flapped their wings during the few seconds of flight, before hitting the surface with a loud banging noise,’ said Mr Seitre. ‘Some think it is a way to attract female attention as we saw pairs close by. The bangs are so loud it’s like you’re close to a hunting party with guns.’

Pretty great. Below’s a photo I took on my recent trip to the Socorro Islands. To give you some sense of scale, the ray in question is probably about 12 to 15 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It was gorgeous, and quite curious about the divers in the water.

(Mantas, by the way, abound in the Gulf of Mexico, but it’s impossible to know what the BP oil spill has done to them.)

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