Ocean.Giants.S01e01.Giant.Lives
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TVTranscript
00:00♪♪
00:10♪♪
00:20♪♪
00:30♪♪
00:40This is a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet.
00:49In fact, the largest animal that has ever lived.
00:54♪♪
01:04It's 30 meters long and weighs nearly 200 tons.
01:10♪♪
01:17For millions of years, these giant whales
01:21and their super-intelligent cousins, the dolphins,
01:25have ruled the world beneath the waves.
01:29♪♪
01:38Sadly, our relationship with them has not always been a friendly one.
01:43In the past, we persecuted them.
01:46But today, we are reaching out to them
01:51and experiencing a sense of wonder that's hard to explain.
01:56♪♪
02:03As we explore the seven seas, we'll come face-to-face
02:06with the world's most extraordinary whales and dolphins,
02:12uncovering their secrets alongside the scientists
02:15who dedicate their lives to understanding them.
02:18The great mystery is, what are the whales doing here?
02:21These killer whales just demand respect.
02:23I mean, they've just taken out a minke whale
02:25that probably weighs more than 10 tons.
02:28I think we could talk the dolphins within five years.
02:33Sharing these breathtaking encounters,
02:36two of the world's top underwater cameramen.
02:40I've waited a long time to see a blue underwater,
02:43and that was just magic.
02:47Fantastic. Today is the best day of my life.
02:51♪♪
02:53Whales are born to be big.
02:56♪♪
02:59Even this newborn baby weighs over a ton.
03:04♪♪
03:10So what is it like to live your life as an ocean giant?
03:17♪♪
03:27♪♪
03:40Part of our attraction to whales
03:43has always been their gentle nature.
03:46♪♪
03:48But we are beginning to discover a different story,
03:52one spiced with sex and violence.
03:56♪♪
04:00Every spring, thousands of humpback whales
04:03are drawn to Hawaii, the world's most remote island chain,
04:08to do battle.
04:11♪♪
04:21A scientific team heads out over the tropical seas of Maui...
04:25♪♪
04:28...for a bird's-eye view of one of nature's greatest showdowns.
04:33♪♪
04:39Gangs of humpback whales posture, ram,
04:43and can even kill each other.
04:46♪♪
04:50So what has driven these giants to fight?
04:54♪♪
05:01The answer to this question needs a close-up view
05:04of the action from underwater.
05:08Jeff Kalbash has spent 15 years watching fighting whales,
05:14trying to make sense of their belligerent behavior.
05:17Okay, she is ready to go.
05:20He's joined by ex-Cousteau cameraman Didier Noirot,
05:25who's hoping to find more clues
05:27by going right into the thick of the action.
05:30Humpbacks are my favorite whales.
05:33I filmed them many times before.
05:36But there is one thing I'm really keen to see,
05:40is to see the fight of the males.
05:43It's going to be very dangerous.
05:45You can be hit by the tail, and I guess you can die.
05:49They go so fast underwater despite their size,
05:53and that's going to be like a challenge for me.
05:57♪♪
05:59There's news of a showdown beginning a kilometer offshore.
06:04♪♪
06:06See that pectoral fin, the white?
06:10Oh, going up.
06:12Rolling over.
06:15A female humpback announces she's here.
06:20And she's ready to mate.
06:26Slapping the surface can be heard from a kilometer away.
06:34And almost immediately, a gang of suitors is headed her way.
06:39♪♪
06:42One, two, three, four, five, there's definitely six.
06:45Seven pounds.
06:48Before long, she's surrounded by male admirers.
06:53To help her choose the strongest mate,
06:56she sets the ultimate fitness contest.
07:00♪♪
07:05She sets off on a marathon swim
07:08with the pack of jostling males in hot pursuit.
07:11♪♪
07:14Each one is trying to win her affections
07:17by staying as close to her as possible.
07:20♪♪
07:28Ready to go?
07:29Yes, it's time to go.
07:31♪♪
07:44These lustful rivals could do battle at any minute.
07:48♪♪
07:52Didier must stay alert.
07:56He can't risk diving with scuba tanks,
08:00as any dispelled air could be interpreted as a challenge
08:03by the males, who blow bubbles as a sign of aggression.
08:08Like now.
08:14Suddenly, the female comes into view,
08:17escorted by a bubble-blowing lead male, or primary.
08:22♪♪
08:34It's a good start to the filming.
08:39There was the two animals right here,
08:41and I could tell that wasn't the female or the primary,
08:44and so we were looking, and then all of a sudden,
08:46Didier's like, oh, he hits me,
08:48and right behind us is the primary coming with a bubble trail.
08:53Bubble trail, which I filmed.
08:55Yes.
08:56Jeff believes the primary blows a 30-meter curtain of bubbles
09:02to screen the female from other challengers.
09:11And with lungs the size of a car,
09:14it's the biggest male that can expel the most air.
09:24This hot pursuit can last all day and cover kilometers of ocean.
09:31To stand a chance of catching the action, the team must race ahead.
09:37♪♪
09:46Meanwhile, the competition escalates to explosive shows of strength.
09:57For the dive team, it's like jumping into six lanes of traffic.
10:06♪♪
10:16Testosterone-fueled giants charge by at 32 kilometers per hour.
10:22♪♪
10:37A male upends into the crucifix block,
10:42a tactic to stop a rival in its tracks.
10:45♪♪
10:55♪♪
11:05♪♪
11:17A huge male charges straight for his bubble-blowing rival,
11:21ramming him off course.
11:23♪♪
11:39For Didier, it is the dive of a lifetime.
11:46It was amazing.
11:47All was perfect. Good dropping. Thank you. Good advice.
11:51We are just at the right time at the right moment.
11:54We saw the collision, and then that male released all his bubbles.
11:59♪♪
12:07Using his weight advantage, the bigger male takes the lead.
12:12But the female has yet to choose her mate, and the marathon continues.
12:18Go! Go! Go!
12:20♪♪
12:28Then, suddenly, the mood changes.
12:32♪♪
12:36The female has vanished, perhaps having eloped with her chosen male.
12:41And without the object of their desire, the heat has gone out of the battle.
12:46♪♪
12:56Minutes after duelling in the high seas,
12:59the males are caressing each other in a graceful ballet.
13:04♪♪
13:14♪♪
13:24♪♪
13:34♪♪
13:42♪♪
13:47They start to dance like a ballet.
13:53How beautiful to watch them just moving and turning and touching.
13:58Very spectacular. Very spectacular.
14:01♪♪
14:14Despite the scientists' best efforts, no one has ever seen humpbacks mating.
14:21♪♪
14:31But everything points to the female choosing the biggest-blowing
14:35and hardest-hitting male to be the father of her young.
14:39♪♪
14:51It's not just humpback males for whom size really matters.
14:58♪♪
15:02Here off the coast of Argentina is the biggest whale orgy on the planet.
15:09♪♪
15:19In the sheltered bays of Peninsula Valdez,
15:237,000 southern right whales come to mate,
15:28give birth, and raise their young.
15:33♪♪
15:38There is something about these far larger whales
15:42that makes them surprisingly gentle lovers.
15:46Here in Peninsula Valdez,
15:48a 40-year project studying the lives of these extraordinary creatures
15:53offers our veteran cameraman a unique opportunity
15:56to get up close and personal with these gentle giants.
16:00And Didier can't wait.
16:03I love southern right whales.
16:05They are probably the friendliest of the whales.
16:08They are very approachable.
16:10They don't mind the divers.
16:12And here in Patagonia, the water is very clear,
16:15so I'm really looking to do something fantastic.
16:19Exploring the mating habits of these friendly whales
16:23is Dr. Mariano Sironi.
16:26♪♪
16:35Tragically, it's their very friendliness
16:38that made them such easy targets for the early whalers
16:41and made them the right whales to hunt.
16:46Today, these giants are making a slow but promising recovery
16:50thanks to conservationists like Mariano
16:53and to their amorous nature.
16:57You see the male in the right position under the female.
17:01You see the flipper of the male hugging the female
17:04and they are belly-to-belly.
17:07♪♪
17:14Both sexes are very promiscuous,
17:17and the males are equipped
17:19with a particularly astonishing adaptation for mating,
17:22a pair of giant testicles.
17:25There are two testicles together can weigh up to one ton.
17:29And the testes of the right whale are 20 times heavier
17:33than those of the blue whale.
17:35So that's an indication of a very sexual species.
17:42Mariano is investigating the link
17:45between the size of a male's giant testicles
17:48and his chances of paternity.
17:52But making sense of this mass of writhing bodies
17:56at the surface is difficult.
17:59To complete the picture, Didier must get in the water.
18:04Thank you. Let's go.
18:20With most whales, getting close to them is the challenge.
18:25With these whales, the problem is getting too close.
18:34♪♪
18:44They are so friendly that a diver must be careful
18:48not to be accidentally crushed by one of these 80-ton giants.
19:04Underwater, it becomes abundantly clear
19:07that males not only boast giant testicles,
19:10but that at three meters long,
19:13they have the biggest penis in the animal kingdom.
19:19And one which appears to have a mind of its own.
19:23When they finally mate, it's belly-to-belly.
19:42But this is just the start.
19:44It's not the end of the world.
19:48But this is just the start for the female
19:51as she goes on to mate with the rest of the males,
19:54sometimes up to five or six at a time.
20:07That was just fantastic.
20:09What I have seen just now is the most amazing spectacle
20:15I have ever seen underwater.
20:22Didier's intimate images of the mating
20:25will be invaluable to Mariano's study.
20:31By mating with a variety of males,
20:34the female ensures that the battle for paternity
20:37goes on inside her and not in the open seas.
20:45But it's still the biggest male
20:47that stands the best chance of winning that battle
20:50because by having the longest penis and largest testicles,
20:54he can flush out any competitor's sperm.
21:05For male southern right whales, size really does matter.
21:15And in 12 months' time, this female will give birth to a calf
21:19that will inherit its father's strength
21:22and, most importantly, his size.
21:33But here off the west coast of Mexico,
21:36it's the size of the mother that matters.
21:40For the first three months of their lives,
21:43when they are at their most vulnerable,
21:45the company of their mothers is the only thing that matters.
21:49The mother's instinct to protect her children
21:52is the most important thing.
21:56In the most violent moments of their lives,
21:58the mother's instinct to protect her children
22:01is the most important thing.
22:03And in the most difficult moments of their lives,
22:06For their lives, when they are at their most vulnerable,
22:08the calves live in peace, feeding only on their mother's milk.
22:21But for his mother, there's nothing to eat here.
22:26For her own survival, she must leave this safe haven
22:31and lead her calf on a perilous journey.
22:35The longest made by any mammal.
22:41From the barren waters of Mexico,
22:44they will swim almost 9,000 kilometres
22:48to the rich feeding grounds of Alaska.
22:53During its 50-year life,
22:55a calf will swim over half a million kilometres.
23:04As they head north from Mexico,
23:06they hug the coastline, hiding in the murky shallows.
23:19But at Monterey Bay, California,
23:21they can take a shortcut across the deep mouth of the bay.
23:25And that's a gamble.
23:27They're now exposed to attack.
23:35At dawn, a scientific research team
23:38heads out into the troubled waters of the bay.
23:44But what could possibly take on a 30-ton whale,
23:48especially one defending her calf?
23:52No one knows better than underwater cameraman Doug Allen.
23:57Ten years ago, he filmed a ferocious attack
24:01in this exact spot.
24:04And what he saw was the ocean's top predator in action,
24:08killer whales.
24:16The intensity of the battle has left a lasting impression.
24:22It's a very harrowing experience
24:24watching killer whales take down a grey whale.
24:28Killer whales take down a grey whale calf.
24:32The calf tries so hard, obviously, to survive.
24:34The mother does all she can, too.
24:38The killer whales are just so relentless.
24:40They hurry, hurry, and they will just take those two apart.
24:45A male killer whale is ten tonnes of pure power,
24:49a cunning mind and 60 teeth.
24:54The killer whale's strength is in numbers.
24:57They launched coordinated attacks to outmanoeuvre the mother.
25:05The mother is able to keep her balance
25:07and she's able to keep her mouth shut.
25:09She's able to keep her mouth shut.
25:12But the killer whales had chosen their victim well.
25:21The mother was neither big enough nor strong enough
25:24to withstand the onslaught,
25:26and the killers drove a wedge between mother and calf.
25:31After six hours, the battle was over.
25:33The mother exhausted, the calf killed and eaten.
25:43The killer whales have gained a lethal weapon.
25:47They've used it on their prey.
25:49The killers have used it on the prey.
25:51The killer whales have used it on the prey.
25:54The killer whales have used it on the prey.
25:56Half-killed and eaten.
26:05A decade on.
26:08John is waiting for this season's killer whale attacks to begin.
26:13What's happening, John?
26:14They got killer whales.
26:15They're about a mile north of the ship over here, the Miller Freeman.
26:18Yeah.
26:19And the killer whales were chasing something when they arrived.
26:21They've stopped.
26:27They've stopped.
26:32John is planning to attach state-of-the-art satellite tags
26:36to these killer whales for the first time.
26:47Well, we've got a group of killer whales coming up on us.
26:49As we're coming up, we can see there are birds overhead
26:51and you can smell a really strong fishy smell right now.
26:54That's a good indication they've killed recently.
26:56That's the blubber smell of a whale.
27:03The attack is over, but the killer whales are now feeding on their victim.
27:11The bulk of the carcass is probably sinking down
27:13and they're trying to hold it up,
27:14but we have seen a whale with a big chunk of flesh in its mouth.
27:17I think they're probably dismantling it right now.
27:20These killer whales just demand respect.
27:23The feasting whales offer John the best chance to secure a tag.
27:29Right under us here.
27:31Going forward, so if you go forward a little...
27:35To work properly, the tag must be positioned perfectly on the dorsal fin.
27:40John's aim has to be spot-on.
27:43That's some juby I'm waiting for. OK, this one's coming up, Cam.
27:47Perfect.
27:49When you tagged those whales, they just didn't flinch at all.
27:52That's the nice thing about these small tags. It's an issue of scale.
27:55We're putting a 40-gram tag on a seven-ton whale.
27:58They don't notice it.
28:02The signals are going to get pinged from the tags up to some satellites
28:05and we can receive the signals on my phone here.
28:07That's going to allow us to track them over the next few weeks, hopefully.
28:13John can now track their movements
28:15and, critically, work out how often grey whales are attacked.
28:26Only one week later, some extraordinary results come through.
28:32Rather than wait in ambush in the bay,
28:34these killer whales have headed way up the coast.
28:38So here's Monterey Bay and you can get an idea of the scale.
28:40It looks pretty small on this chart.
28:42Well, the first group we tagged, in eight days now,
28:45have moved all the way to the top of this chart
28:47to northern Oregon by the Umpqua River.
28:49It's over 700 kilometres.
28:54The hungry killer whales have had to broaden their search for prey
28:58way beyond Monterey Bay.
29:04Perhaps because there are far fewer grey whale mother and calves
29:07undertaking their epic migration this year.
29:13It's highly likely that this immense migration,
29:16probably the longest regular migration of any mammal,
29:19is largely due to the threat of predation by killer whales.
29:25Grey whales may choose to breed in Mexico,
29:28thousands of kilometres away from their northern feeding grounds,
29:32simply to keep the calves safe from killer whales for as long as possible.
29:42After three months travelling, the grey whales finally make it to Alaska.
29:51The emaciated whales can now gorge themselves.
30:00Each day, they sieve out over a tonne of shellfish from the muddy seabed.
30:13But it's only the largest, strongest and most determined mothers
30:18who can save the lives of their calves on this most gruelling of migrations.
30:43Further north, within the Arctic Circle,
30:46lives a whale three times the size of a grey whale.
30:52And it's grown massive for even more extraordinary reasons.
31:07As it stays in the Arctic all year round,
31:10it doesn't need to be big to survive lengthy migrations.
31:18And protected by the maze of shifting pack ice,
31:22it has less to fear from killer whales.
31:41It's a bowhead whale, named after its enormous curved upper jaw.
31:50So why is this whale so big?
32:10In eastern Greenland, a scientific team
32:13is attempting to unlock the secrets of this little-known giant.
32:27Cameraman Doug Allen has 30 years' experience filming at the frozen poles.
32:35Every time I come to the Arctic, I think,
32:38this is it, never again. Next shoot, Caribbean.
32:41But there is something special about this. It always keeps pulling you back.
32:49In the last two centuries, bowheads were almost wiped out by commercial whalers
32:54and are notoriously wary of humans.
33:01No-one knows this better than Doug.
33:04I think if bowheads had personalities, they'd be a little bit sad.
33:08I think they've had such a lot of bad things done to them, they're almost wiped out,
33:12that somehow I think they're coming back.
33:15They'd like to be friendlier, but they just don't yet know how to trust us.
33:22During the winter, bowheads are impossible to track,
33:26but in spring, they announce their presence with song.
33:31Eavesdropping on these mysterious giants is scientist Oti Tervo.
33:37She's one of the very few whale researchers
33:40prepared to tough it out in this brutally hostile part of the world.
33:53Oti suspects that these are mating calls
33:56and that the bowheads may be gathering somewhere close to breed.
34:01Can I have a listen?
34:10Says the other one, I like you.
34:16Oti has never been able to see bowheads under the ice before
34:20and hopes that Doug's camera
34:22might offer new insights into the world of these secretive whales.
34:30Unfortunately for Doug, bowheads are the masters of concealment,
34:34able to hold their breath for up to an hour and a half.
34:41To make matters worse, the elements aren't exactly inviting.
34:46It's minus 20 degrees Celsius,
34:49and Doug hasn't even got in the water yet.
34:53But at least there's a whale.
35:15Ah!
35:33She just had me coming, I think.
35:36Bowheads are remarkably alert to danger.
35:39One small splash and this one simply melted away.
35:44The only hope is for a whale that is a little less skittish.
36:03Gosh, these whales, gee, they're hard to get close to.
36:14As the game of cat and mouse continues, the Arctic weather closes in.
36:30Even with his insulated dive suit,
36:32Doug is close to hypothermia after just two hours.
36:38I must be mad.
36:44But how do bowheads survive this cold?
36:53It's all to do with being a giant.
37:02The bigger and rounder the body, the better it is at retaining heat.
37:07Wrapped in 50 tonnes of insulating blubber,
37:10these whales are the fattest animals on the planet.
37:14Indeed, half their entire body weight is fat.
37:18With the whales so close, it's an ideal opportunity
37:21for the scientists to work on the whale's metabolism.
37:27The whale's metabolism is very fast.
37:31It's a very fast-moving organism,
37:33which means its metabolism is very fast.
37:38The whale's metabolism is very fast.
37:42It's a very fast-moving organism.
37:45With the whales so close, it's an ideal opportunity
37:48for the scientists to collect a DNA sample.
37:58No more than a pinprick to these fat-coated giants.
38:15A series of bowhead tissue samples is revealing some extraordinary links
38:19between their size and their age.
38:24There are some estimates that the whales could be over 200 years old,
38:27so this could be a sample of a 200-year-old whale.
38:31That would make that animal one of the oldest living animals on the planet.
38:35Yes, it would definitely be the oldest mammal we know of right now.
38:46Bowheads can live for over 200 years
38:49because they have a lower body temperature than any other whale.
38:54And the lower your body temperature, the slower you age.
39:08These enormous whales can afford to live life slowly,
39:12roaming the rich Arctic waters,
39:15simply opening their mouths and filtering all the food they need.
39:23Uniquely, a bowhead's backbone never fuses,
39:28so all that time, they never stop growing.
39:33Just think of all the wisdom that's in that whale.
39:37200 years, he's swum around the Arctic, slowly finding his way around.
39:41They are amazing, and still mysterious, too.
39:48Although this gentle giant can grow for centuries,
39:52there is one whale that is even bigger.
39:56Only in the vastness of the ocean
39:59could there live the largest creature on Earth.
40:09This whale is the largest of all the whales on the planet.
40:14It is the largest of all the whales on the planet.
40:18It is the largest of all the whales on the planet.
40:22The Blue Whale.
40:45Before commercial whales could even be seen,
40:49before commercial whaling,
40:52300,000 blue whales cruised the oceans.
41:02Today, less than 10,000 remain.
41:12We know almost nothing of their lives,
41:14and for years assumed that, like the other great whales,
41:18they migrated to cold, rich seas to feed.
41:28Yet in the warm, tropical waters of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean,
41:33blue whales seem to be living here all year round.
41:45An international team of scientists, led by Anuki Langitune,
41:50has pioneered blue whale research here
41:53through the decades of civil war.
42:01This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for cameramen Doug and Didier,
42:06who have never managed to film blue whales before.
42:10They're not easy to approach, like southern red whales.
42:14They're not friendly like humpback whales.
42:17These are very difficult characters.
42:20If I get one shot of a blue whale underwater,
42:23that would be a dream come true.
42:28They head 30 kilometres out into the open ocean.
42:32Blue whale territory.
42:38Despite Anuki's decades studying blue whales,
42:41she is still unsure how many there are off Sri Lanka.
42:45And why?
42:47Sri Lankan blue whales seem to be pretty unique.
42:50They seem to stay around here year round.
42:53And the real mystery is, what are they feeding on?
42:57And what is there to sustain them throughout the year in these waters?
43:02But at least they're sticking around.
43:05So what holds them to this patch of blue sea off Sri Lanka?
43:13By measuring how temperature and salinity change with depth,
43:18scientist Asha DeVos believes she has the answer.
43:23What I've discovered is that along our coastline,
43:26there are these areas of upwelling, pretty large areas,
43:30which are bringing in the blue whales.
43:32These are pretty large areas,
43:34which are bringing all this cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths to the surface,
43:39which might be providing conditions for whale food.
43:42The upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water is unusual for the tropics,
43:48but appears to contain the perfect food for blue whales, whatever that is.
43:55Any images of whales feeding in Sri Lanka will not only be a first,
43:59but will also help support Asha's theory.
44:30Ironically, the water is so full of nutrients, it's too murky to film in.
44:37I could see that guy almost coming, and he put his head down.
44:41Of course, we're an 80-foot whale.
44:43When the head goes down, it's 80 feet down.
44:46I just lost the head.
44:48Lovely view of the tail going through, big, big tail.
44:53I swam very fast toward the whale.
44:55But then, all of a sudden, I saw all the massive animals coming to me so quickly.
45:02What an experience.
45:04I was lucky not to be hit, but I really want to see it again.
45:11So far, the footage suggests that if the whales are feeding, it must be at depth.
45:18Ari Freelander, another member of the research team,
45:22is investigating the duration and depth of each whale's dive.
45:27I think that's the animal from that third group, so that dive time is about seven minutes.
45:32I'd probably say, just based on that dive time, maybe between about 50 and 200 meters,
45:37I think it's pretty clear that these guys are feeding,
45:39and they're lunging quite a bit down there, too.
45:42Ari is now convinced the whales are feeding at great depth.
45:46But on what?
45:52The whales leave behind crucial evidence floating on the surface.
45:59This is whale poo.
46:01Whale poo?
46:03That's right. It's red in color.
46:05It's a red whale poo.
46:06This is whale poo.
46:08Whale poo?
46:10That's right. It's red in color.
46:12And that gives us a clue to what it is, actually.
46:15It's full of krill.
46:17And that's what they feed on?
46:19That's right.
46:22The largest creature in the ocean feeds almost exclusively on one of the smallest.
46:28Krill.
46:30A crustacean just a few centimeters long.
46:36Krill are normally found in cold polar seas,
46:40but the unusual conditions off Sri Lanka allow krill to thrive in these tropical waters.
46:49So is that why the blue whales are here?
46:55We see these animals diving.
46:57We're counting how long they're down,
46:59and I've got 100% confidence that these guys are diving deep down,
47:03and they're finding these really dense patches of krill,
47:06and they're lunch feeding through them.
47:08We've made an animation of how these whales feed at depth.
47:13The blue whale dives to 200 meters beneath the krill, hiding in the gloom.
47:22The whale then powers up through the swarm,
47:26gulping its own body weight of water into its ballooning throat.
47:34It then strains out the nutritious krill through its fine mesh of baleen.
47:46Each lunge requires huge effort.
47:50But if you have a mouth as big as a blue whale's,
47:53you can catch so much food that the whole process becomes extraordinarily efficient.
48:04Their size is the secret of their success.
48:10Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:33Didier and Doug make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:38Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:43Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:47Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:51Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:55Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
48:59Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
49:03Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
49:07Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
49:11Doug and Didier make one final attempt to get up close to the deep-feeding giants.
49:15It was certainly the biggest whale that I've ever seen.
49:18It just looked enormous underneath me.
49:21I've waited a long time to see a blue underwater, and that was just magic.
49:26Huge animal. Fantastic. Today's the best day of my life.
49:31Pumped up on tons of krill, blue whales can grow as long as a jetliner,
49:37weighing almost 200 tons, twice the size of the largest dinosaur.
49:50But worryingly, the blue's giant size and its giant appetite are now putting it at risk.
49:56We know that climate change is occurring.
49:59And in places like Antarctica, the temperatures have skyrocketed.
50:03And we also know that krill has started to decrease.
50:06And when you don't have enough food, blue whales are going to have trouble surviving.
50:10So, as climate change happens, as krill starts to be depleted,
50:14blue whale survival could be in jeopardy.
50:20Blue whales are still endangered, but they are recovering.
50:23For their recovery to continue, it's not just the whales themselves that will need protection,
50:29but the seas and the other creatures they depend on.
50:40We may have missed the chance to live with the great dinosaurs of the past,
50:45but we do have the good fortune to be sharing our time with them.
50:49But we do have the good fortune to be sharing our time with the largest creatures that ever lived.
50:58These magnificent ocean giants.
51:19Transcription by ESO. Translation by —