the buzz log

Dog may be man's best friend, but looks like woman can depend on the beluga whale.

That's what Yang Yun found out when she participated in a free-dive contest at China's Harbin Polar Land. The challenge was for divers to go down the aquarium's 20-foot pool and stay as long as they could stand it—without breathing equipment. Did we mention the water's freezing cold?

The 26-year-old's legs cramped up on her way up, and thought she wouldn't make it. Officials noticed nothing awry, but a beluga whale named Mila figured out the human being was in distress. This Fox News slideshow shows human Yun sinking and Mila the whale leaping in to assist. The Daily Mail lets you enlarge the two photos showing how Mila used her mouth to move Yun, then nose her up to the surface.

Only when Yun got pushed to the surface did anyone figure out trouble had been brewing in the deep. One organizer says Yun "owes her life" to Mila, a "sensitive animal who works closely with humans."

While neither of the whales are identified in this 2008 Polar Land photo (beluga are also called white whales), the underwater performance should give you an idea just how closely the water and land mammals work together.  By the way, the Museum of Natural History also notes that, according to native lore, "beluga whales help each other give birth." Now that really sounds like a woman's best friend.