It’s amazing how readily some kids can form deep bonds with the animals they encounter in their lives. This is evidenced by how fiercely devoted a pet is to its small human when the two are raised together. This makes perfect sense with domestic animals, but what about wild ones? Well, the video of this little boy bonding with a gigantic stingray just proves that wild or domesticated, almost any animal can bond with a human.

Joel is a little boy who lives in the village of Valle Gran Rey in the Canary Islands. Many of the residents of the area spend their time fishing from the steps of the village harbor. Anything they catch that’s not their intended target, they toss back into the water and this, of course, attracts all manner of other sea creatures, including stingrays.

Those toss-backs are tasty treats for them, after all.

There is one resident of the harbor waters that you can’t miss; a massive stingray.

Amazingly, the enormous creature has formed a tight bond with his best friend, little Joel. Each and every morning, Joel gets up and heads down to the harbor steps to say hi to his colossal-sized friend, and each day the stingray surfaces to get a loving pat on the back from his little buddy.

One morning Joel was carrying out his normal greeting routine with the stingray when someone decided to get the unbelievable friendship on video.

In the video, it shows Joel walking down to the water’s edge with one of his buddies in tow. Joel sticks his hands in the water and starts splashing them around for a moment.

Within seconds the stingray surfaces to say hello and Joel immediately reaches out to pat him on his humongous nose.

The sea creature stays still while his little friend lovingly pets him. There is no question that it’s a heartfelt and friendly interaction between them, and Joel is in no danger.

After a while, some fisherman float up on a boat and hand Joel a box of shrimp to feed the stingray with.

Joel’s giant sea buddy is more than happy to take all the tasty fresh shrimp off the little boy’s hands. Joel continues to feed the stingray until it is completely satiated. Once full, the benevolent sea creature hangs around a little longer so that Joel can give him a couple more pats on the head before sinking back down beneath the water.

Though stingrays do, in fact, carry deadly poison in their stingers, they aren’t aggressive creatures by nature. When they feel threatened, however, it’s a different story. This amazing video shows us that they also have a wonderfully friendly side to them as well.

The person who filmed the friendly exchange just had to share the beautiful interaction with the rest of the world. They uploaded the video to YouTube where it went insanely viral, having been viewed well over 57 million times already!

The bond this little boy shares with the massive stingray is incredible. Joel stays completely calm the whole time he interacts with his friend. The moment is truly one that you just have to see for yourself.

To see the way that Joel delightfully greets his seabound best friend, watch the video below.

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

H/T: Animal Channel