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AnimalsTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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00:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:51 The ocean, a brutal world.
01:08 Only the fittest can survive here.
01:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:18 Imagine you have the super senses of a hunter.
01:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:27 Your very survival will depend on your killing skills.
01:31 Are they good enough?
01:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:36 Get ready to join the super predators
01:39 in their underwater world.
01:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:44 This is planet ocean, not planet Earth.
01:54 This is the realm of the super predators.
01:58 There's not one inch of the ocean they haven't conquered.
02:02 The water around Hawaii is no exception.
02:04 [WATER BUBBLING]
02:08 For every prey, there is a predator from the tiniest up.
02:12 [WATER BUBBLING]
02:16 Only a few make it to the top of the ocean food chain.
02:25 [WATER BUBBLING]
02:28 Or these lightning swift tuna.
02:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:34 However, our close encounters on this journey
02:37 involve just two predator groups, the dolphins,
02:41 with close-knit families who hunt as a team,
02:45 and sharks, solitary, sleek and graceful, and above all, fast
02:50 and equipped with razor sharp senses.
02:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:56 [WATER BUBBLING]
03:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:07 Sharks and dolphins, do they have anything in common?
03:19 One's a fish, the other a mammal,
03:22 but they patrol the same territory, hunt the same prey.
03:25 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:29 Fish and mammal, two separate solutions
03:32 to the same evolutionary pressures.
03:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:38 It all began 4 billion years ago, deep in the oceans,
03:41 with the very first single-celled organisms,
03:44 bacteria.
03:45 Through a process of change from simple to complex,
03:48 these microscopic creatures eventually gave rise
03:51 to both sharks and dolphins.
03:54 First came soft-bodied creatures,
03:57 then those with hard shells, and later, the fishes.
04:03 Half a billion years ago, the first vertebrates were jawless.
04:07 They ate with mouths like suction cups,
04:10 as do these living fossils, the hagfish.
04:13 Once their descendants acquired jaws,
04:15 they crossed a critical threshold.
04:18 They could absorb more energy, develop complex brains.
04:22 Now predators had sharper, more specialized prey tracking
04:25 senses.
04:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:33 The ghost-like rat-tail fish still haunts the depths.
04:36 Its relative, the shark, rose to conquer shallower regions.
04:46 And they were well-established 400 million years ago,
04:49 when the amphibians, ancestors of the dolphins,
04:52 went landwards.
04:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:02 Here was a world with new horizons,
05:04 new challenges for living.
05:06 So the amphibians had to adapt quickly in order
05:09 to walk on the earth, breathe air, and eat.
05:14 It was the beginning of the age of reptiles,
05:17 the age of the dinosaurs.
05:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:23 Even while dinosaurs still reigned,
05:25 the planet's future rulers appeared,
05:33 the initially insignificant mammals.
05:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:41 And then no one knows why some of them took to the seas.
05:48 Dolphins still have traces of their land ancestry.
05:51 Their flippers were once front legs.
05:53 Their back legs, however, vanished completely.
06:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:09 But today, they still need the world above the water
06:12 and inhabit the two radically different worlds of air and sea
06:15 because they must come to the surface to breathe.
06:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:23 That is their weak point.
06:25 They have to enter a dangerous world where
06:27 the tables can be turned on them and attack
06:30 come from any quarter.
06:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:35 When they became sea dwelling, the ancestral dolphins
06:39 entered the world of their distant cousins, the sharks.
06:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:45 Meet the world's biggest fish, the whale shark.
06:49 A 6 and 1/2 foot jaw is followed by a body over 40 feet long.
06:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:00 Like any other fish, the whale shark
07:03 must keep swimming or dive asphyxiation.
07:07 The current it creates by swimming
07:09 forces oxygen-bearing water through its gills.
07:12 There is an upside to enforced perpetual motion.
07:15 This giant only needs to make slight sideways movements
07:18 of its tail fin to advance.
07:19 The dolphin's tail fin moves up and down,
07:26 two separate evolutionary solutions.
07:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:36 Forward motion alone isn't enough.
07:39 You need to steer.
07:41 The gray reef shark maneuvers using rigid pectoral fins.
07:46 This big fish is designed for fast attack,
07:49 like a jet fighter.
07:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:54 This can be the wrong design for some jobs.
07:56 Here, for instance, where a carelessly discarded drag
07:59 net presents some juicy tidbits.
08:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:05 Parrotfish, a unicorn fish, and the big one, a red snapper.
08:12 Such tantalizingly close prizes.
08:14 So what's stopping it?
08:16 A torpedo body is perfect for shooting through the water.
08:20 But the reef shark needs to unbend a bit
08:22 to take fish from the net.
08:24 And it can't.
08:26 So close to the prize, yet out of reach.
08:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:33 Enter a white tip reef shark, expert at maneuvering
08:37 in difficult terrain.
08:40 It's less elegant looking, but it can get into tight corners.
08:44 Its supple and agile body is just
08:46 tailor-made for winkling fish from rocks.
08:49 A real prize winner.
08:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:56 Contrary to accepted belief, sharks don't have big appetites.
09:13 They can survive several weeks without eating
09:15 if prey is scarce.
09:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:20 But when it is, sharing is out of the question.
09:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:26 To survive in the ocean, hunters must
09:46 rely on their keen senses to seize any chance meal.
09:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:53 Ironically, though the white tip may have won the prize,
10:08 it now manages to fall foul of the net itself.
10:11 So much for the better body design.
10:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:16 A shark's brain is small, so calculating the odds
10:22 is beyond it.
10:23 It's a creature of instinct, action, and reaction.
10:27 Its survival depends on responding rapidly
10:29 to stimuli, on teeth that can get it a meal
10:32 and get it out of trouble.
10:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:41 The predator quickest off the mark and best
10:43 adapted to a particular habitat is the one that gets lucky.
10:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:49 But how do predators track prey that
10:52 isn't right under their noses?
10:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:56 A group of striped tiger sharks feast on a dead blue whale.
11:05 100 tons of meat and blubber, a monster meal
11:09 for fish that could have several weeks in forced diet ahead
11:12 of them.
11:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:16 To see how the tiger sharks located the whale,
11:33 we need to turn back the clock.
11:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:39 [WATER BUBBLING]
11:42 A few hours ago, the sick and exhausted animal
11:47 sought refuge in a quiet lagoon.
11:51 But on its way in, it left a scent trail
11:54 detectable to a shark from a couple of miles or more away.
11:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:59 Because sharks possess perhaps the world's most acute sense
12:02 of smell, the shark turns its head left and right
12:08 to let the whale's scent enter each nostril.
12:11 This gives it a precise reading of the direction
12:14 it's coming from.
12:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:17 In fact, to the shark, the whale's smell
12:20 is a corridor of scent.
12:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:24 The shark only has to swim up this corridor
12:26 to reach the whale.
12:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:31 [WATER BUBBLING]
12:34 [WHALE SQUAWKING]
12:37 The first bite is a test, a taster.
12:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
12:58 As blood leaks into the ocean currents,
13:01 other sharks will quickly track it.
13:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:06 [WHALE SQUAWKING]
13:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:14 [WATER BUBBLING]
13:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:41 [WATER BUBBLING]
13:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:48 [WATER BUBBLING]
13:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
13:55 [WATER BUBBLING]
13:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:02 [WATER BUBBLING]
14:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
14:09 [WIND BLOWING]
14:12 Say a top predator isn't gifted with such an amazing sense
14:16 of smell.
14:17 Can it still locate distant prey?
14:20 The answer is yes.
14:22 Dolphins lost their sense of smell
14:24 as they evolved into sea creatures.
14:26 Their nostrils migrated to the top of their heads
14:29 and became blowholes for breathing through.
14:32 They instead use hearing to locate distant prey.
14:38 And even more efficient than their ears
14:40 are their lower jaws, nature's answer to radio receivers.
14:44 [WATER BUBBLING]
14:48 This female is teaching her calf how
14:50 to hunt with its special jaws.
14:52 [WATER BUBBLING]
14:55 First, she scans the sand.
15:00 [SQUEAKING]
15:03 Then she selects very precise places
15:07 to dig as if she could see the hidden prey.
15:10 [WATER BUBBLING]
15:14 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
15:17 This is her view of the seabed.
15:25 And what we can't see, but she can,
15:28 she owes to a rare adaptation, echolocation.
15:31 [WATER BUBBLING]
15:35 Sound travels five times faster in water than in air.
15:39 And when the dolphin emits rapid, high-frequency clicks
15:42 in a concentrated, carefully-directed beam
15:45 from the so-called melon on its forehead,
15:48 they echo back to be picked up almost immediately
15:51 by its resonant lower jaw.
15:54 Sound travels through loose material like sand
15:56 and bounces off solid objects underneath, like hidden fish.
16:00 [WATER BUBBLING]
16:03 Low-frequency sounds travel a long way.
16:09 High-frequency sounds are better for more precise,
16:12 close-detection work.
16:13 [WATER BUBBLING]
16:16 Now it's the youngster's turn, for practice makes perfect.
16:26 And this is one skill its survival
16:29 will definitely depend on.
16:30 [WATER BUBBLING]
16:34 [WATER BUBBLING]
16:38 Echolocation is ideal for murky water,
16:50 as well as distance detection.
16:52 To our knowledge, the only sea creatures
16:54 that belong to the exclusive underwater club of sonar
16:57 hunters are the cetaceans, dolphins, and whales.
17:01 [WATER BUBBLING]
17:04 But the other oceanic top dogs are not to be beaten.
17:11 Fish have a sense that rivals the dolphin's sonar.
17:14 It's the sense of touch that works over long distance.
17:17 [WATER BUBBLING]
17:20 As it swims along, this green turtle creates vibrations.
17:24 [WATER BUBBLING]
17:28 [WATER BUBBLING]
17:31 This shark is over 150 yards away.
17:34 It can't yet see the turtle, but easily
17:37 feels the vibrations it's making through a line
17:39 of countless nerve endings that run the length of its body.
17:43 These respond to pressure waves from vibrations
17:45 as tiny as a fish's heartbeat.
17:49 It's an astounding piece of natural technology
17:51 called the lateral line.
17:53 [WATER BUBBLING]
17:55 A shark's lateral line can help it calculate
17:58 the size of its prey, how far away it is,
18:01 and where it's going.
18:03 But when it comes to taste, nothing beats direct contact.
18:07 [WATER BUBBLING]
18:10 [WATER BUBBLING]
18:14 How can such a well-equipped super predator possibly fail?
18:25 [WATER BUBBLING]
18:26 Sharks have these Hawaiian waters
18:28 under constant surveillance.
18:31 To prove it, let's follow one of them, a white tip reef shark,
18:37 nocturnal and rather shy and placid,
18:41 at least until something stimulates its senses,
18:44 whereupon its gills pump in more water
18:47 so oxygen can race to its muscles,
18:49 ready for rapid response as we go inside its skin.
18:53 And the hunt is on.
18:54 First, smell kicks in to track the prey.
19:01 [WATER BUBBLING]
19:04 Then the lateral line responds, delivering
19:12 more detailed information.
19:14 [WATER BUBBLING]
19:17 Then sight takes over from around 100 feet away.
19:20 [WATER BUBBLING]
19:25 But once the shark is just inches from its prey,
19:28 it relies on another sense, electroreception,
19:32 the ability to detect electrical fields.
19:34 [WATER BUBBLING]
19:37 Here's what the pine cone fish's electrical field is doing.
19:41 All animals generate electricity.
19:43 Their hearts and muscles produce it.
19:48 Around its mouth, a shark has jelly-filled canals
19:51 called the ampullae of Lorenzini.
19:54 These are electrical impulse receivers.
19:57 However, they only work at 10 inches or less
19:59 because they're designed to detect the tiniest
20:02 electrical charges.
20:03 [WATER BUBBLING]
20:06 Hammerhead sharks have perfected this sense.
20:15 Their bizarre heads are, in fact, giant electricity
20:18 receptors.
20:19 [WATER BUBBLING]
20:22 [WATER BUBBLING]
20:25 Groups this size are a rare sight now.
20:33 That's because our negative impact on the world's oceans
20:36 has caused hammerhead numbers to crash.
20:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
20:41 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
20:46 Imagine trying to hide from so many skilled hunters.
20:50 Even tucked away in the coral, the pine cone fish
20:53 wouldn't normally stand a chance.
20:56 However, the sharks have not gathered here to eat.
21:01 What brings all these white-tipped sharks together?
21:03 The answer is the irresistible scent of female white tips
21:07 ready to mate.
21:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
21:11 The shark's acute sense of smell has already
21:14 stirred them into a state of contagious excitement, which
21:17 will soon turn to frenzy.
21:18 [MUSIC PLAYING]
21:22 A male appears to be attacking a female.
21:32 But in fact, the only way he can grip onto her in order to mate
21:36 is with his sharp teeth.
21:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
21:41 It takes him around five minutes to complete the sex act
21:46 and pass his sperm through a pair of specially
21:48 modified fins into her.
21:50 That seems like an eternity to have to hold on tight
21:53 and drive away hot-headed aggressive rivals
21:56 at the same time.
21:57 If she tries to escape, he bites harder.
22:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
22:05 The female manages to break away.
22:09 But other suitors will soon catch up.
22:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
22:15 Will this violent mating bear fruit?
22:28 Apparently not.
22:31 The female has been left badly wounded,
22:34 and her blood seeps into the water.
22:39 Inevitably, a big shark has been drawn to the scent.
22:44 It's a silver tip.
22:45 Sharks are not cannibalistic.
22:51 And though they won't eat their own species,
22:53 sharks won't hesitate to feast on other species.
22:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
23:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
23:03 The kill attracts two fast and aggressive gray reef sharks.
23:16 They quickly force the big shark to drop what's left
23:19 of the unfortunate female.
23:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
23:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
23:27 The silver tip will have to find an easy meal somewhere else.
23:47 [WATER BUBBLING]
23:50 In the seas below, some bottlenose dolphins
24:02 are also intent on mating.
24:04 Here, it's less a case of following
24:09 frenzied individual urges than of family sharing
24:13 and apparently experiencing pleasure.
24:16 [WATER BUBBLING]
24:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
24:23 Two males share one female, with not a hint
24:28 of competition between them.
24:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
24:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
24:46 In the group is a solitary long snouted spinner
24:48 dolphin who's lost her own group.
24:53 Bottlenoses will often kill porpoises that
24:55 stray onto their territory.
24:57 But they've adopted this member of a smaller dolphin family
25:00 who couldn't survive on her own.
25:03 She's been lucky.
25:03 [WATER BUBBLING]
25:07 The spinner dolphin is getting used to inshore water life.
25:11 It's a novelty to her to be with this family of around 10
25:14 bottlenoses when she's used to living
25:16 in deep water with 200 spinners.
25:19 Out in deeper waters, more dolphins equals safer dolphins.
25:22 [WATER BUBBLING]
25:26 Spinners and bottlenoses cannot interbreed.
25:29 But that doesn't stop them using intimate body language in order
25:32 to cement family ties.
25:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:41 Unlike sharks, dolphins need only a few seconds to mate,
25:50 but do so repeatedly.
25:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
25:58 Because bonding is so important to these group living animals,
26:13 much of their time is taken up in playing together.
26:16 [WATER BUBBLING]
26:23 Playing tag with a sea snake that
26:25 was in the wrong place at the wrong time
26:27 provides another opportunity for group bonding.
26:30 [WATER BUBBLING]
26:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]
26:37 This bottlenose is about to illustrate how valuable
26:48 it is to have a family.
26:50 A sound from the depths draws it away from the group.
26:54 As it's too young to have mastered echolocation,
26:57 it's using its eyes to find the source.
27:01 And there is the source, 130 feet down,
27:05 the silver-tipped shark in a new location,
27:07 still looking for a meal.
27:10 Ordinarily, it wouldn't attack dolphins.
27:13 But a calf all on its own is too good a chance to pass up.
27:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
27:21 [WATER BUBBLING]
27:24 A rush of bubbles saves the calf,
27:28 because they sabotage the shark's expert senses,
27:31 particularly its vibration-detecting lateral line.
27:34 [WATER BUBBLING]
27:37 The youngster makes good its escape,
27:39 fleeing to the bosom of its family, whose
27:42 familiar call it can hear.
27:43 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
27:48 [WATER BUBBLING]
27:51 [THUNDER]
28:00 [THUNDER]
28:02 [WATER BUBBLING]
28:05 But the white tip is persistent,
28:07 and now tries to single out another calf.
28:09 [WATER BUBBLING]
28:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:16 Seeing the danger, an adult moves in to defend it.
28:32 And at the same time, the mothers
28:35 lead their calves to safety.
28:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:39 [LOUD CRASH]
28:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:42 [LOUD CRASH]
28:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
28:46 Each time the large shark moves in, the dolphins block it.
28:52 It looks like a stalemate.
28:53 [LOUD CRASH]
28:56 Enough's enough.
28:58 The whole clan now intervenes.
28:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:02 The bottlenoses would have no trouble ramming the silver tip
29:08 and puncturing its large and fragile liver.
29:11 But their aim is to protect their calves and head it off.
29:15 So they drive it gradually into the abyss.
29:17 [WATER BUBBLING]
29:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:33 [LOUD CRASH]
29:39 [LOUD CRASH]
29:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:44 [LOUD CRASH]
29:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
29:49 Their success demonstrates the superior power
29:56 of numbers and of teamwork.
29:59 But out beyond these blue Hawaiian waters,
30:01 in other oceans, there are other teams at work.
30:05 [WATER BUBBLING]
30:09 [WATER BUBBLING]
30:13 Leaving the Pacific, we traveled to the Atlantic,
30:25 to southern Argentina, and the coast of Patagonia.
30:28 [WATER BUBBLING]
30:36 With a degree of self-interested curiosity,
30:39 a Patagonian sea lion watches a family of dusky dolphins
30:42 in frantic action.
30:43 [WATER BUBBLING]
30:47 Duskies are smaller dolphins than bottlenoses.
30:55 They are fast and agile.
30:57 And that's what you need if you want to dine on anchovy.
31:00 [WATER BUBBLING]
31:03 The sea lion is having a frustrating time.
31:06 He can't catch anything.
31:07 [WATER BUBBLING]
31:11 He needs to do like the duskies and get some help.
31:15 First, they corral the anchovies.
31:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
31:21 Then scare them with bubbles and drive them
31:25 to the surface in a ball.
31:28 Then keep them there while they pick them off.
31:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
31:33 It's the signal for a massive free-for-all,
31:36 a feast laid on by dolphin teamwork.
31:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
31:42 It's clear these group-hunting mammals
31:49 can dominate temperate seas.
31:51 But what about colder ones?
31:54 We travel on, south from Patagonia,
31:57 to the cold waters of the sub-Antarctic,
31:59 between the latitudes of the infamous roaring
32:02 '40s and the howling '50s, and the world's most hostile ocean.
32:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
32:09 Rising up here and there out of the fearsome southern ocean
32:26 waves are a few austere, wind-battered islands.
32:31 This one is part of Prince Edward Archipelago
32:35 and home of a possible contender for the title
32:37 of perfect predator.
32:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
32:41 Some rockhopper penguins race to land.
32:47 The most dangerous place for them is just coast to shore.
32:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
32:55 [SEALS BARKING]
32:58 Life is perilous at the penguin level of the food chain.
33:07 Their nightmare, sharks.
33:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
33:12 [SEALS BARKING]
33:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
33:43 This is no mere shark.
33:47 A pod of orcas, also known as killer whales,
33:51 have staked out this territory.
33:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
33:56 Orcas are over twice the size of their bottlenose cousins,
34:06 the kind of heavyweight needed to master
34:08 the massive 100-foot waves of the southern ocean.
34:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
34:15 The distinctively marked mammals can power their way
34:21 at 30 miles an hour, propelled by a mighty tail fin.
34:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
34:28 Orcas have out-competed even the biggest sharks
34:37 to become the top predators in these waters.
34:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
34:43 There are still sharks here, but this strange beast
34:55 is nowhere near the surface.
34:58 It's a Pacific sleeper shark.
35:00 5,000 feet down, it's dining off a rare sunken treasure,
35:05 a dead whale.
35:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
35:10 [WATER SPLASHING]
35:13 On the surface, the pace picks up
35:22 as the orcas assemble for an annual feast, something
35:26 much more substantial than their usual diet of fish.
35:29 The matriarch leads her daughters and grandson
35:32 to the rendezvous.
35:33 It's time to get under the skin of these magnificent hunters
35:37 and learn their tactics.
35:38 [MUSIC PLAYING]
35:41 It's the southern spring.
35:56 The elephant seals have gathered to breed.
35:59 It's a major assembly of growing families
36:02 that, from a predator's point of view,
36:04 is one big superstore of protein and fat.
36:07 [SEALS BARKING]
36:10 The orcas know from experience that the female elephant seals
36:16 must go fishing sooner or later.
36:18 Visibility is poor.
36:22 The orcas could keep in touch by sonar,
36:25 but elephant seals can hear sounds nearly two miles off.
36:28 Radio silence is therefore of utmost importance.
36:31 [WATER SPLASHING]
36:35 On shore, giant petrels keep an eye out
37:01 for the weak or wounded.
37:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:05 [SEALS BARKING]
37:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:46 There's no point in the orcas waiting.
37:49 The seals won't budge in this weather.
37:53 The family switches bay at a signal from the matriarch.
37:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
37:59 She's been coming here for the last 40 years
38:07 and knows the island's every contour.
38:10 She leads them to calmer waters and listens out
38:12 for seals at the same time.
38:15 [WATER SPLASHING]
38:18 They dive to where it's quieter and less tiring, 100 feet down.
38:25 Now it's safe to reactivate sonar contact, a single ping
38:29 at regular intervals, just enough to keep together.
38:32 [WATER SPLASHING]
38:36 [THUNDER RUMBLING]
38:42 [WATER SPLASHING]
38:45 The orcas will now silently listen out
38:52 for sounds from their prey.
38:54 There's a seal breeding beach just above,
38:57 and any seal that goes fishing will have to pass right
39:00 over the orcas' heads.
39:01 [WATER SPLASHING]
39:05 Nothing.
39:07 Or wait.
39:08 [WATER SPLASHING]
39:11 [WATER SPLASHING]
39:15 [WATER SPLASHING]
39:20 [THUNDER RUMBLING]
39:23 A flotilla of penguins returns to land,
39:25 a poor substitute for a seal.
39:28 But why be picky?
39:29 It's still a good lesson in acoustic hunting.
39:32 The technique?
39:33 Wait motionless and in silence, using the penguins' giveaway
39:37 sounds to locate them.
39:40 And at just the right moment, charge.
39:43 [MUSIC PLAYING]
39:47 [WATER SPLASHING]
39:50 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
39:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
39:58 The advantage now lies with the orcas,
40:15 but they're not used to circling like this
40:17 and will quickly tire of waiting.
40:19 However, the penguins won't hold out for long either.
40:22 They want to get back to their colony on the beach.
40:26 Who will give in first?
40:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
40:31 [WATER SPLASHING]
40:34 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
40:52 [WATER SPLASHING]
40:55 [THUNDER RUMBLING]
40:58 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:01 Far too small a meal for a big orca,
41:11 but fine as a snack for a calf.
41:13 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:17 The scavengers can fight over what's left.
41:26 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:30 [THUD]
41:33 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:36 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:42 The orcas now resume their patrol for the prey
41:47 that still eludes them, the elephant seals.
41:50 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:54 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
41:57 It's tough being a big elephant seal male.
42:00 From birth to death, his life is one long race
42:03 to feast and fatten up so that he can beat down
42:06 the competition and become master of the beach,
42:09 all in order to breed and pass on his genes.
42:12 Exhausting.
42:14 Years of struggle to become top dog,
42:16 and no time to bask in the glory,
42:19 because would-be masters of the beach
42:21 are always trying to snatch a mating.
42:24 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
42:27 The orcas are ready for the ambush.
42:39 Before entering the bay, they dive
42:41 so their giveaway dorsal fins are well hidden.
42:43 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
42:48 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
42:51 A discreet call from the matriarch,
42:55 and they take up positions.
42:58 The eldest daughter crosses the bay to the mouth of the river.
43:01 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
43:16 Fat little seal pups like to play in the current,
43:19 and sometimes they wander off too far.
43:22 So the daughter stationed here mustn't make any noise.
43:25 A single short click tells the others she's ready.
43:34 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
43:46 The youngest orca stations herself
43:48 at the other end of the bay, waiting there to ambush.
43:51 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
43:54 The matriarch and the calf have the job
44:08 of creating pandemonium among their prey
44:11 and distracting attention.
44:12 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
44:16 [MUSIC PLAYING]
44:19 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
44:47 When everyone's watching her, she and the calf
44:50 will pretend to leave the bay, leaving her two daughters
44:54 ready to spring the trap.
44:55 From the beach, everything seems OK,
45:05 and life returns to normal.
45:06 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
45:15 A rival heavyweight has taken advantage of the mayhem
45:18 to infiltrate the beach master's harem.
45:21 Big mistake.
45:22 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
45:25 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
45:29 The female elephant seal sneaks off during the fight
45:50 to head for the river.
45:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
45:54 The orca listens, hears her, and waits for just the right moment
46:03 to signal.
46:04 [MUSIC PLAYING]
46:07 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
46:09 Now.
46:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
46:13 But Sonar tells her the seal's escaped.
46:16 She mustn't reach the sea.
46:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
46:21 The eldest daughter sounds the alarm.
46:32 A single excited call alerts the rest of the family.
46:34 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
46:37 The seal's in dire straits.
46:39 She tries to dive, but the matriarch, who's come back,
46:43 anticipates this.
46:44 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
46:47 Scavengers and a mass of blood, telltale clues
47:08 for those who know how to interpret them.
47:13 Another orca family races to the spot.
47:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
47:18 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
47:22 [WATER SPLASHING]
47:25 [WATER BUBBLING]
47:35 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
47:48 [WATER BUBBLING]
47:52 The matriarch's family is splitting the spoils.
47:55 Each takes its share in complete silence,
47:57 so as not to alert other orcas.
47:59 [WATER SPLASHING]
48:04 Too late.
48:05 They'd already heard the ruckus and have arrived
48:07 to try and steal the kill.
48:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
48:12 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
48:16 No opportunist is going to bully this family.
48:19 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
48:22 The others have gotten the message and back off quietly.
48:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
48:33 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
48:36 A face-off.
48:43 But the food has gone now, and so there's
48:45 no reason for conflict.
48:47 Instead, the two families begin to socialize.
48:49 [MUSIC PLAYING]
48:53 [WATER BUBBLING]
48:56 [WATER SPLASHING]
49:00 [WATER BUBBLING]
49:04 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
49:05 Through various signals, the orcas
49:07 celebrate a reunion because they all belong to the same clan,
49:12 and their calls are a shared language.
49:13 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
49:17 [WATER BUBBLING]
49:22 Their size, organization, incredible sonar,
49:25 and language--
49:26 does all this make the perfect super predator?
49:30 It certainly gives orcas a considerable edge
49:32 over all others.
49:34 Perhaps in survival terms, it's better
49:36 to be a big social mammal than a big solitary fish.
49:40 [WATER BUBBLING]
49:45 To survive, all predators must obey the same rules--
49:49 adapt behavior to prey, satisfy your hunger, and no more.
49:53 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
49:56 Shark and orca populations are tumbling worldwide
50:00 from pollution and overfishing.
50:02 It's a cruel paradox.
50:05 We call them bloodthirsty killers,
50:07 but they are being killed off by the planet's
50:10 only truly insatiable predators.
50:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:16 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:20 [WATER BUBBLING]
50:23 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:27 [WATER BUBBLING]
50:30 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:33 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:36 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:42 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:45 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:48 [ORCAS SQUEALING]
50:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
50:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:09 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
51:25 (upbeat music)