We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: there’s NOTHING cuter than interspecies friendships! (You YouTube-aholics know what we are talking about it.) And while we’ve profiled plenty of unlikely BFFs (did somebody say “pig and rooster“?), we may have just found the strangest one yet—a boy and a stingray!

Recently, a video of a small boy and a HUGE sea creature surfaced on the Internet. The homemade clip, which was shot near a fishing community in Spain’s picturesque Canary Islands, shows the youngster getting up close and personal with a massive stingray.

It’s a truly mind-blowing sight; as soon as the kid spots the animal swimming near the fishing dock, he manages to coax it almost entirely out of the water and onto the sea wall. He then rubs the ray’s back as if he were petting a house dog, and even hand feeds the creature some delicious-looking shrimp.

Although not much is known about the origins or backstory of this video, what is most striking is that it seems as if this isn’t the first interaction between the boy and the stingray. Both seem very comfortable, like two long-lost friends who just bumped into each other on the street!

Decoding this “chummy” stingray behavior

Now, we know all of you skeptics are likely scouring the Internet, trying to find any clues you can to discredit this special, interspecies friendship. Although we are firm on our stance that the kiddo and his ray are undeniable buddies, there are some theories as to why the sea creature decided to get so close to the little guy.

As we said, this video was shot in the Canary Islands, most likely near Los Gigantes, a place where, at times, thousands of stingrays can be seen swimming just below the water’s surface. It’s an astonishing sight, but it’s not necessarily natural.

You see, in 1996, a local diving company started doing organized stingray feeds in order to help attract more of this marine animal to the area. Because of this, over the years, the rays have become a mainstay in the area, and some have even gotten VERY used to being fed by humans.

With that said, videos like these are few and far between, which means we can safely surmise that most stingray-human friendships don’t go as deep as the one that we are showing you today. See, we told you they really are BFFs!

It’s an odd pairing, we must admit, but when you watch the video for yourself, you’ll see how natural these two are around each other. To see this incredible interaction between a boy and a stingray, be sure to click on the clip below. Further proof that bonds can be formed in the most unlikely of places!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on these interspecies friends. Have you ever interacted with a stingray like this before? Do you have two different types of animals who get along well with one another? What’s your all-time favorite “unlikely friends” pairing?