Hunger at Sea (Oceans) The Hunt


Hunger at Sea (Oceans)

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The open ocean.

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It covers more than half the surface of our planet.

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Yet, for the most part, it's a watery desert,

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empty of life.

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Hunters here spend their lives in a constant search

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for scarce and elusive prey.

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Remarkably, this seemingly barren wilderness

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is home to the largest hunter of them all...

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..the blue whale.

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Weighing 200 tonnes

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and 30 metres long,

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these are the biggest animals ever to have lived.

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Despite their immense size,

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blue whales are one of the most streamlined

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and energy-efficient of all swimmers.

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Their food is so scarce and widely spread

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that blue whales must journey across whole oceans

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just to find a single meal.

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They can travel over 100 miles a day for weeks at a time.

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The ocean's largest animal feeds on one of its smallest.

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Krill - small shrimp-like crustaceans.

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Opening its gigantic mouth takes so much effort

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that they only do so

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when the swarms of krill are rich and concentrated.

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The krill here is too scattered -

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not even worth slowing down for.

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This blue whale's lonely search for food

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must go on.

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Out here, feeding opportunities are always few and far between.

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And they never last long.

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Prey is devoured within minutes.

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When it's all over,

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the hunters must resume their endless search.

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Frigatebirds -

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the pirates of the high seas.

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Soaring effortlessly on the gentle trade winds,

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they can scan vast tracts of ocean for food.

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Frigates must be so lightweight

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that they can't afford the heavy oils

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that waterproof the plumage of other sea birds.

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So getting wet would be lethal.

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This may seem an impossible limitation for a seafaring hunter.

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But frigatebirds overcome this handicap

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with help from others.

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Dorado.

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One of the fastest and most voracious of ocean predators.

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They patrol close to the surface, searching for prey.

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Little fish try to hide amidst the undulating swell of the ocean -

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the only cover there is.

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It's a game of hide and seek

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played out amongst the waves.

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Their cover blown...

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..escape seems impossible.

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But these particular fish have a unique ability.

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They're flying fish.

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With an extra thrust from their tails,

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the flying fish get airborne once more.

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With a good wind,

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they can glide for hundreds of metres.

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But this is just what the frigatebirds

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have been waiting for.

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When frigates join the hunt,

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the flying fish are literally caught between the devil...

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..and the deep blue sea.

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If the flying fish get too much lift

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they become easy prey for the frigates.

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If they dive to evade attack from above...

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..they could fall into the mouths of the dorado.

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With the help of the dorado,

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the wily frigatebird has become a flying fish specialist...

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..and without getting a single feather wet.

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Not all open-ocean hunters are able to travel

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in search of their food.

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Some have no choice but wait for a meal to come to them.

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A mat of sargassum weed drifts in the middle of the Atlantic.

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Sargassum is the only seaweed to live entirely at the surface.

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It never attaches to the sea floor.

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This floating tangle of fronds

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is home to a surprising open-ocean predator -

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the sargassum fish.

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Every part of his body mimics the weed.

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His fins are more suited to walking than swimming.

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In fact, he can barely swim at all.

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He will spend his entire life marooned on this weedy raft.

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This sargassum fish must lie in wait

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for those seeking shelter amongst the weed.

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Unfortunately his mat is empty for now.

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But at least he's not wasting valuable energy

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searching for food.

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In the featureless ocean,

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these mats are much-sought-after sanctuary for juvenile fish.

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At last -

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his first opportunity for weeks.

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He must get closer.

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He can only strike when he's within a few centimetres of his prey.

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Trusting his perfect camouflage,

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he hides in the weed.

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Patience.

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Still not close enough.

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Hunger is clearly getting the better of him.

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Surely this time.

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Blown it.

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It may be weeks before he gets another chance.

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The open ocean is so vast

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that some hunters can only find enough prey

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by searching as a team.

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Dolphins live in highly sophisticated social groups.

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Working together,

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they can cover a huge area of ocean.

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These are spinner dolphins.

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Why they make these twisting leaps is still debatable.

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Perhaps it's a form of communication...

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..or perhaps it's just fun.

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Small groups sometimes come together,

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forming superpods 5,000 strong.

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And these are on the hunt.

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SONAR CLICKS

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Spinners are the most vocal of all the dolphins.

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CLICKING AND CRACKLING

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They use echolocation, a kind of sonar, to find their prey.

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Each hunter sends out a series of clicks

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and then listens for returning echoes...

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..allowing them to scan for distant prey,

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hundreds of metres away.

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CLICKS CONTINUE

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The superpod spreads out into a wide hunting line,

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up to a mile across...

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..producing a wall of sound.

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CONSTANT CLICKING

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They're searching for their favourite prey.

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Lanternfish.

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They are the most numerous fish on the planet.

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But these small fish spend most of their time

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down in the deep ocean, way beyond the reach of dolphins.

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It's only when they come up to the surface to feed

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that they become prey.

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Once they've found a shoal,

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the dolphins use their sonar in a different way.

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SONAR BLASTS

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They stun the fish with loud blasts,

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then simply gather them up.

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As they feed, the dolphins work the underside of the shoal

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to stop their prey from escaping back into the safety of the deep.

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Within a few minutes,

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all that's left is a shower of scales

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drifting downwards to the ocean depths.

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The deep ocean is by far

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the largest habitat for life on Earth...

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..and home to some of the most bizarre hunters of all.

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Down here, food is much scarcer than at the surface,

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so deep-sea predators must do all they can to save precious energy.

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Waiting patiently, a viperfish.

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Special light-producing organs on its head

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entice prey towards fearsome teeth.

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Strange yet deadly jelly hunters also live here.

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Most simply drift,

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trailing tentacles loaded with lethal stings.

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Others, propelled by lines of beating hairs,

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glide gently through the darkness.

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Beroe -

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the top deep-sea jelly predator.

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They actively hunt other jellies...

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..like this ctenophore.

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To grasp its gelatinous prey,

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Beroe has special teeth-like spikes in its mouth.

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Many deep-sea hunters just hang in the abyss,

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saving their energy,

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luring their prey to come to them.

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Chiroteuthis.

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This deep-sea squid fishes for prey using long, sticky tentacles.

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Each has a glowing lure,

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pulsing to attract passing prey.

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A gentle twitch adds to the temptation.

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Down here in the darkness, this meal is a rare bonanza.

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The open ocean may be a vast blue desert,

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but like all deserts, it has oases.

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Scattered widely across this endless space

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are thousands of small islands.

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These are the summits of underwater mountains,

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which rise up from the sea floor many miles below.

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The seamounts deflect deep-ocean currents upwards,

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forcing nutrient-laden water to the surface.

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A busy oasis in the emptiness of the big blue.

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For potential prey, there's plenty of shelter amongst the coral...

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..and in the caves that are hidden beneath the reef itself.

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Small fish take refuge here,

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out of the reach of most of their predators.

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But not all.

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Lionfish.

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They're not built for speed -

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success here depends on delicate manoeuvring.

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Their strategy is to hide in plain sight,

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lulling their prey into a false sense of security.

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The lionfish's stripes are visually confusing,

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making it difficult for their prey to judge how close it is.

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Using its extravagant fins to hide slow and deliberate tail movements,

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it edges ever closer.

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It must get to within a few centimetres,

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close enough for a sudden strike.

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Got one.

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The deep-water currents that sustain so many residents

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also attract visitors to these oases.

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Silky sharks.

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They journey hundreds of miles between seamounts,

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using them as gathering places in the featureless ocean.

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They're joined by hammerheads.

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Both these sharks constantly travel

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between the Galapagos and other isolated seamounts

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in the Eastern Pacific.

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No-one knows for sure why they gather in such numbers,

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but some certainly come to these oases in search of food.

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A school of resident silversides cloaks the seamount.

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If these little fish stay close to the coral,

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the sharks won't be able to get at them.

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Other, more agile visitors are attracted by the potential feast.

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Striped bonito...

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..and golden trevalley.

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To get a meal, they'll need to drive their prey up and away from the reef

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into open water.

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As long as the silversides stick close to the sea floor,

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they should evade their predators.

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This time, the frustrated hunters will have to search elsewhere -

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there's never an easy meal in the open ocean.

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The Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica.

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The wildest seas on our planet.

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Here, it's the storm-tossed waters that bring nutrients to the surface,

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creating isolated patches of richness.

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Far from the calm tropics,

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this weather-beaten ocean is home to the albatross.

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Black-browed albatross are the same size as frigatebirds

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but three times as heavy,

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and so they need a totally different flying technique.

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Albatross have the longest wingspan of any bird,

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and that enables them to exploit the power

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of the Southern Ocean winds.

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First, they glide into the wind,

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harnessing its energy to give them lift.

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Then they turn and descend downwind, picking up speed.

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Soaring on wind fronts like this,

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an albatross can travel

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hundreds of miles of ocean in a day...

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..barely beating its wings.

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They often spend weeks at sea,

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searching for prey without ever returning to land.

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Food at last - a patch of krill close to the surface.

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Because the winds are so strong here,

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albatrosses can afford the extra weight

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of waterproofing oils on their feathers.

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They can duck-dive to no more than a metre,

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so they rely on the churning of the Southern Ocean

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to bring their prey up into range.

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Like all birds, albatross have to breed on land,

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but suitable islands are so few in the South Atlantic

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that most are heavily overcrowded.

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Steeple Jason - one of the largest albatross colonies in the world.

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ALBATROSS SQUAWK

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Nearly half a million come back here each year to raise their young.

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Adults share parenting duties,

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returning every few days to feed their chick.

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Feeding done, it's time to head out to sea.

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They need to make their way to the edge of the packed colony

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where there's more room for takeoff.

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CHICK CRIES

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Albatross are so heavy that they can only get airborne

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in places where the wind is strong enough.

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Using a special runway...

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..with a good headwind...

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..she's off.

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From the air, the ocean may appear featureless,

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but beneath the surface,

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a network of powerful currents is constantly on the move.

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It's these currents, more than any other force,

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that determine the distribution of life out here.

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A whole community of ocean drifters

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hitches rides on these rivers in the sea.

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Pelagic red crabs.

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They've gathered to feed on tiny floating plants and animals,

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a bloom of plankton fuelled by the currents.

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Fine hairs on their legs slow their descent...

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..and then, with a few flicks of the tail,

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they swim back up to continue feeding.

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The currents that carry these wandering crabs

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also serve as highways for the ocean's larger predators.

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Striped marlin.

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Beautifully streamlined,

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they can travel huge distances with minimum effort.

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These hunters patrol the boundaries between ocean currents,

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where their prey often gathers.

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Each predator has an incredible sense of smell,

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able to detect faint trails left by their prey.

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Somewhere out here is the big prize...

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..and hunters of all kinds are looking for it.

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Great shoals of fish are attracted to a plankton bloom.

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A single school of sardines can be many miles long.

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The fish swim tightly together - there's safety in numbers.

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Their defence relies on coordination.

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When attacked, the sardines move as one.

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Each fish instantly matches the movements of its neighbour...

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..and the whole shoal moves in synchrony.

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A lone sea lion can't keep up with their rapid reactions.

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Even when more sea lions arrive,

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they can't seem to break down the sardines' coordinated defences.

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With a shoal this big, the sea lions need to isolate

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a smaller, more manageable group of fish.

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But with so few predators, the fish still have the advantage.

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All the sea lions can do is keep the sardines at the surface

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and wait for others to join them.

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Tuna.

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Their arrival changes everything.

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Tuna attack from below,

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cutting off the sardines' escape route down to deeper water.

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Next to appear, shearwaters -

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excellent fliers, but also surprisingly agile underwater.

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With so many predators attacking from all sides,

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the advantage starts to shift away from the sardines.

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As the fish pack ever tighter,

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their shoaling strategy now makes it easier for the hunters.

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Copper sharks.

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They've scented blood in the water.

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Surprisingly, perhaps, the predators never attack one another.

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They work together to corral the ball of fish,

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taking turns to grab a mouthful.

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Common dolphins.

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As the shoal gets ever smaller,

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each sardine scrambles desperately to hide in the middle.

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But now, there's no escape.

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A Bryde's whale finishes off the feast -

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tonnes of sardines devoured in less than an hour.

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The predators melt away into the blue...

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..going their separate ways once more.

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This blue whale is still searching for a meal

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to satisfy its giant hunger.

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Being so large,

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it must catch an average of four tonnes of food a day.

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But many days may pass without feeding at all.

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It is their great size that enables blue whales to travel the furthest,

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roaming every ocean from the tropics to the poles.

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BLUE WHALE SPOUTS

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Trapped against the surface by fish,

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a dense patch of krill.

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This blue has finally found

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what it's been searching for for so long.

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A meal big enough to make opening its massive mouth worthwhile.

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The krill swarm is hundreds of metres across

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and packed tight.

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The whale lines up on its prey,

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targeting the densest part of the shoal.

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It takes so much effort to swim with a fully extended throat

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that the whale virtually comes to a standstill.

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The whale uses its tongue to force the water out of its mouth,

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trapping the krill on plates of hairy bristles that line its jaw.

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But it takes time to sieve so much water.

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And that gives more nimble hunters their chance.

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Blue whales may not be as agile as other hunters,

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but they don't need to be.

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In one giant mouthful,

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they can swallow whole swarms of krill.

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No other predator is better suited

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to exploit the scattered riches that the open ocean can provide.

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The blue whale -

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the greatest hunter in all the world's oceans.

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The open ocean created many challenges for the Hunt team.

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But none came bigger than trying to film blue whales underwater.

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Achieving this was to turn into a two-year mission.

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The crew teamed up with John Calambokidis,

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the world's foremost blue whale scientist.

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John gets crucial information from these harmless tags.

0:47:210:47:25

But he can only observe blue whales for the brief time they surface.

0:47:270:47:32

Well, part of this research and part of the reason

0:47:340:47:37

that, er, we're working with film-makers

0:47:370:47:39

is it gives us a unique chance to get scientific information

0:47:390:47:44

we wouldn't be able to otherwise.

0:47:440:47:45

So we are doing this under our research permit

0:47:450:47:47

to get an insight into what they're doing underwater -

0:47:470:47:50

how they're diving, how they're swimming, how they're feeding.

0:47:500:47:53

Pictures of blue whales are rare.

0:47:560:47:59

They're the biggest animal ever to live on the planet,

0:47:590:48:01

but there are only a few underwater pictures that exist today.

0:48:010:48:05

A few where you can actually see the animal.

0:48:050:48:07

First, they have to find a blue whale.

0:48:070:48:10

Well, I always feel really embarrassed, you know,

0:48:100:48:13

because how can you lose the biggest animal that's ever lived, you know?

0:48:130:48:16

But...er, while the whale is big, the ocean is even bigger.

0:48:160:48:20

Just over here.

0:48:250:48:26

The team's success will depend on good water visibility.

0:48:280:48:32

Too murky, and the whale literally disappears into the gloom.

0:48:340:48:38

No shot.

0:48:430:48:44

The first year was blighted by poor visibility

0:48:460:48:49

and the shoot ended in failure.

0:48:490:48:51

Year two, and the sea conditions are much better.

0:48:560:49:01

Oh, here he is, right here.

0:49:040:49:06

Blue whales only surface for two to three minutes at a time

0:49:060:49:09

before diving for up to 15 minutes.

0:49:090:49:13

It's a narrow window for everything to come together.

0:49:130:49:16

There's a bit of tricky manoeuvring here for John.

0:49:160:49:18

He's got to try and get the boat

0:49:180:49:21

ahead of the whale but not in front of it.

0:49:210:49:23

Then David has to swim out

0:49:270:49:29

and hope the whale passes close enough to get a shot.

0:49:290:49:32

It's too far.

0:49:390:49:41

It's a little too far that time.

0:49:410:49:44

This year, the water is exceptionally clear...

0:49:520:49:55

..but getting David in the right position still takes time.

0:49:580:50:01

He went by, I definitely got a shot.

0:50:030:50:05

It's not one of our best.

0:50:050:50:06

Missed it.

0:50:170:50:18

After weeks of effort,

0:50:210:50:22

all the elements finally come together,

0:50:220:50:24

giving David the chance of a lifetime.

0:50:240:50:27

Like, I got down to about 25 feet. I knew that whale was out there.

0:50:300:50:34

But, er...he just came out of the blue, right to me.

0:50:340:50:38

I could see his eye, the details of his mouth,

0:50:440:50:47

every scratch on his skin.

0:50:470:50:51

And he cruised on by - it took forever.

0:50:510:50:53

You know, they're so big - it just went by like a freight train.

0:50:530:50:57

I saw his tail slide by.

0:51:020:51:04

And he slipped back into the blue.

0:51:040:51:07

It...it was awesome.

0:51:070:51:09

That is awesome - I have never, of all my years of doing this,

0:51:090:51:12

I've never got a shot like that.

0:51:120:51:14

That was amazing.

0:51:140:51:15

Images of blue whales underwater are so rare

0:51:160:51:19

that this shot of one simply swimming by is a major success.

0:51:190:51:25

But the crew need more.

0:51:250:51:28

This series is all about hunting,

0:51:280:51:30

and so, nice though it is to have that shot, to make a sequence,

0:51:300:51:33

we've got to get shots of blue whales eating krill.

0:51:330:51:37

And what we've got to wait for

0:51:370:51:39

is when the krill actually comes to the surface.

0:51:390:51:41

It might happen once, maybe twice a month.

0:51:410:51:44

The crew come across an encouraging sign,

0:51:460:51:49

from a rather unsavoury source.

0:51:490:51:52

That's some whale faeces.

0:51:520:51:55

So we've found a big whale poo in the water.

0:51:560:51:59

Um, it's a good sign for us, we know that they're feeding here,

0:51:590:52:03

so maybe they'll stick around.

0:52:030:52:04

Finally, the crew find what they've been looking for -

0:52:070:52:10

krill at the surface.

0:52:100:52:12

Look at those birds in the water.

0:52:120:52:13

So there's a small krill ball.

0:52:130:52:16

We're going to go take a look at it.

0:52:160:52:18

All right - remember, don't put me right on top of it.

0:52:180:52:20

All right, ready? OK, the ball's right here.

0:52:200:52:22

-Right here, right here.

-Is it on the surface?

-Yeah.

0:52:220:52:24

-Good red?

-Up at the top.

0:52:240:52:26

-Got it?

-Yeah, got it.

0:52:260:52:28

No-one was prepared for what happened next.

0:52:320:52:35

Right behind you! Hey, Hugh, here he comes!

0:52:360:52:40

Oh!

0:52:400:52:41

Massive surfacing.

0:52:430:52:45

Oh, God - that's a shot. I bet you he got it.

0:52:460:52:49

I bet you he got it.

0:52:500:52:52

Oh!

0:52:520:52:53

-MAN ON BOAT:

-God, they're beautiful, aren't they?

0:52:570:53:00

-What did you guys get? What did you guys get?

-Oh, my God.

0:53:000:53:03

Oh, my God.

0:53:040:53:06

I still... I can't actually quite get my head around what I just saw.

0:53:070:53:11

We were down there, Dave was filming the krill balls,

0:53:110:53:14

and I just noticed, literally between his fins,

0:53:140:53:18

this massive great whale just loomed out.

0:53:180:53:22

David saw him, panned down.

0:53:220:53:24

I don't know where it came from.

0:53:240:53:26

Well, when I first looked down and I saw this whale,

0:53:290:53:31

I was a little bit stressed out,

0:53:310:53:33

because 95 feet of blue whale is going between my fins.

0:53:330:53:37

He hooks around, comes up and just grabs a big mouthful.

0:53:370:53:42

They're called blue whales for a reason,

0:53:480:53:50

you just see them underwater,

0:53:500:53:51

this bright, iridescent cobalt blue

0:53:510:53:54

just pops out of the blue of the ocean.

0:53:540:53:56

Finally, I get round to the other side,

0:54:000:54:01

I go "OK, he left," we're like, "Phew! That was pretty intense."

0:54:010:54:04

So I'm up trying to get just another shot of the krill

0:54:040:54:06

and sure enough, wide open, he comes through one last time.

0:54:060:54:09

I was kind of in the wrong spot,

0:54:090:54:10

I had to do some serious evasive manoeuvres.

0:54:100:54:13

But he comes through, closes his mouth...

0:54:130:54:15

It was just amazing.

0:54:150:54:17

The whole thing probably lasted ten minutes

0:54:230:54:25

but it was hands down, without a doubt, no questions,

0:54:250:54:29

the most intense, amazing thing that I've ever seen.

0:54:290:54:31

To share the water and to look eye-to-eye with a blue whale

0:54:410:54:45

is something I will never, ever forget.

0:54:450:54:47

These shots give John a unique insight

0:54:500:54:53

into the feeding behaviour of blue whales.

0:54:530:54:55

Let's just look at the side of his mouth there.

0:54:550:54:58

So, basically, the water flow, you'd expect,

0:54:580:55:00

would be coming out the back there.

0:55:000:55:02

Yeah, look at that little fold there,

0:55:020:55:04

that is really interesting.

0:55:040:55:06

That's a great view.

0:55:100:55:12

That's fantastic.

0:55:120:55:14

Notice the full rotation there. Oh, that is...

0:55:140:55:18

And the full inversion.

0:55:180:55:20

OK - that's, again, a unique chance

0:55:200:55:22

to see a perspective we don't get to see.

0:55:220:55:24

With this close collaboration,

0:55:270:55:29

the team have filmed blue whales as never before

0:55:290:55:33

and at last have started to reveal

0:55:330:55:35

the secret life of the ocean's greatest hunter.

0:55:350:55:38

Next time, the hunt is on out in the open.

0:55:450:55:48

On the deserts and grasslands...

0:55:500:55:52

..where hunters and hunted have nowhere to hide.

0:55:590:56:03

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