All language subtitles for Hostile Planet - 01x02 - Oceans Eng

Bear: Three days of digging

And this olive ridley
turtle is free,

But not safe, until
she gets to the sea,

Where early life evolved and

Where nearly 80% of
animals still live.

Of all the hatchlings born this
year on the costa rican coast,

Only 10% will make it.

# #

Now she's in her element.

But her journey
has just begun.

In ten years' time, she will
return to these shores

To lay eggs of her own,

If she survives.

The ocean is a fluid
and unpredictable world,

And all those that live
here are at its mercy.

(theme music plays).

Our planet's oceans
cover 70% of its surface,

And provide an incredible
99% of its habitable space.

This may be an
alien world to us,

But it's home to an
extraordinary range of animals,

From the biggest,

To the strangest
creatures in our world.

Even for the most
marine adapted,

Life isn't easy.

Survival at sea is a
completely different game

To survival on land,

Especially when the
rules keep changing.

Where the atlantic
and indian oceans meet,

New conflicts between
old foes are brewing.

Rising sea temperatures
are pushing fish eastward

To cooler waters.

Those that feed on
them have followed.

Fur seals.

Their new home is treacherous,

And it's not just the waves,

It's what lies beneath.

Not the best place
to learn to swim,

But the perfect hunting ground
for a great white shark.

This pup has strayed
too close to the edge.

Now it's out of its depth.

A pup can outmaneuver a shark,

But only for so long.

Half of all such encounters
end badly for seals.

(barking).

The adults must deal with
this persistent menace,

But how?

It takes one brave
seal to lead the way.

Others join.

Soon they are a mob,
harassing the intruder.

It's a risky strategy;
sharks can turn on a dime.

Together they have
overcome a giant.

The pups are safe,
at least for now.

Shallow continental seas are
the most productive waters in

Our oceans.

They are also some of
the most competitive.

During winter, these freezing
fjords are the stage for one

Of the biggest wildlife
spectacles on the planet.

This orca pod
comes here every year.

They're led by a matriarch;

She could be 70 years old.

For a pod that
specialize in hunting fish,

This is an unmissable event.

Herring.

Billions of them.

More fish here than
people on the planet.

But the bigger the shoal,

The harder it is to
single out a target.

The orca need to come at the
problem from another angle.

Coordinating their attack,
they divide and conquer.

Herders work to
split the shoal.

Then in come the big hitters,

Slamming their tails,
creating a shockwave,

Stunning up to 30
fish with each blow.

They must work quickly.

They're not the
only hunters here.

Humpbacks, six times
the weight of an orca.

They can devour more than 200
pounds of herring in one gulp.

The orca simply can't compete.

But they can switch tactic,

As long as they're
prepared to face down

The most dangerous
predator in the ocean.

Bear: In the ocean,
where there is food,

There's usually a fight.

Off the fjords of norway,
these orca are about to take

On the most aggressive
ocean hunters of all,

Us.

Fishing boats like
this can scoop up

800 tons of herring a day,

Out-fishing orca and
humpbacks combined.

Desperation has
forced these orca

To turn this new obstacle
into opportunity,

Picking off the fish
that slip through

Their competitors' nets.

Recently imposed quotas ensure
there are enough herring for

Humans and whales.

But the global
picture isn't so bright.

We are consuming more
fish than ever before.

Reducing many stocks to
little more than scales.

Unbalanced oceans
are open to invasion,

By strange life forms.

They start life as
pinhead sized polyps,

But what they lack in size
they make up for in numbers.

Gorging on tiny plankton,

They grow, mutate and multiply

Into an army of clones.

Now each polyp becomes
a production line

With one purpose.

Creating new jellyfish.

Bodies that are 95% water

Can easily grow and grow,

Until they are monsters.

No bones, no
blood or even brains,

But perfectly suited to
today's transforming seas.

Resistant to
increasing temperature,

Decreasing oxygen,
changing salinity,

Rising acidity, even
plastic pollution.

When a jellyfish
swarm takes over,

Some ecosystems
never fully recover.

Our impact also extends to the
biggest marine habitat of all.

The open ocean.

It covers more
than half the globe,

But food here is
increasingly scarce.

Yet one animal perseveres,
despite needing

One and a half million
calories every day.

The blue whale, the largest
animal ever to have lived.

She's as long as
an 18 wheeler,

With a heart as big as a car

And a tongue that weighs
as much as an elephant.

Just this year, she's
swum far enough to have

Circumnavigated the globe.

All in search of this.

Krill.

One of the most
important species

In the marine food chain.

With each monumental gulp,
she takes in enough water and

Krill to fill a school bus.

Her tongue forces the water
back out through the bristly

Plates on her jaw, trapping
up to two million krill.

Blue whales were hunted to
the brink of extinction.

Although they're
still endangered,

Since a ban on
whaling in the 1960s,

Their numbers have
increased worldwide,

And here, off the
coast of california,

They have almost
completely recovered.

The vast, open ocean
can be a lonely place.

This green turtle has spent
30 years out here on her own.

Somehow, she's found enough
food to survive and grow.

Now she's ready
to return home,

But it will be a
dangerous journey.

It's the breeding season,
and hundreds of turtles are

Gathering to try
and win a partner.

Males mate about four
times as often as females,

So she attracts a
lot of interest.

This male is
quick to latch on.

But the others won't
give up without a fight.

Bear: Off the
coast of malaysia,

It's green turtle
breeding season.

This female has found a mate,

But other males are intent
on splitting the pair.

Targeting the
male's soft flesh,

They try to
force him to let go.

But the female has
the most to lose.

The fiercer the pursuit,
the more oxygen she burns.

A stressed turtle
can drown in minutes.

She's desperate to reach
the surface and breathe,

But one challenger
just won't give up.

The female is
running on empty.

Finally, the intruder
backs off just long enough.

She's safe, but in just a few
weeks she will face the final

Hurdle in her epic
struggle to continue her line.

Where the tropical sun
meets the shallow seas,

You find the busiest
ocean habitat of all:

Coral reefs.

They account for less than
a thousandth of the sea floor,

But are home to a
quarter of all marine species.

In this crowded
and dangerous place,

Finding shelter is essential.

Some hide in the coral maze,

Others seek sanctuary
in the shoal.

But neither tactic
guarantees safety.

Lionfish are one of the most
efficient killers on the reef.

Yet there is a far
greater threat facing

All those who live here.

Our seas have been steadily
warming for the past 75 years.

Now it's happening
faster than ever before.

It's having a profound impact
on life throughout our oceans.

Coral reefs are
particularly vulnerable.

Just a 3 degree temperature
rise is too much for coral.

It forces them to expel
the algae that feed them

And give them their color.

This bleaching is the
first step towards an

Almost irreversible demise.

Unless temperatures drop,
the reef becomes a wasteland.

In three decades,

We've lost over a quarter
of the world's corals,

Home to around
4000 species of fish.

If warming continues,
we could lose the rest.

Even those that live far
below aren't safe from

Rising ocean temperatures.

Opalescent squid.

In the past few years, warming
seas disrupted their mating

Habits, and their numbers
have fallen dramatically.

But this year, an influx
of cold water has revived

Their breeding ritual.

A trip to the shallows
to mate by moonlight.

Males grab the females
and fertilize their eggs,

Which are then
deposited on the sea floor.

It's a brief and
brutal affair.

Within days of
mating they will all die.

But their legacy lives on.

Each capsule contains
up to 300 new lives.

One successful breeding season
can go a long way towards

Reversing their
recent bad fortunes.

Those still alive retreat
back to a place beyond

The reach of the sun,

Where crushing pressures
have morphed bodies,

Into the stuff of nightmares.

Bear: To reach one of the most
hostile environments on earth,

You must descend
thousands of feet,

Beyond the sun's reach,
down into the ocean's depths.

The pressure here would
crush you like a soda can.

There is life, just
not as we know it.

75% of animals
make their own light.

Eyes are super-sized

To catch what tiny
luminescence there is,

And soft bodies dominate.

In this vast,
abyssal wilderness,

One of the toughest
trials is finding a mate.

Angler fish have a
grizzly solution.

This giant female's
tiny hanger-on

Is a male angler fish.

Many males never find a mate.

Those that do, never let go.

His mouth fuses
with her very tissue.

His only
nourishment, her blood.

Bonded for life.

This alien environment
is full of surprises.

It even snows down here.

Flakes of organic
matter fall for weeks

Towards the sea floor.

Along the way, they
fuel an ecosystem of

Microscopic animals
and graceful giants.

The stygiomedusa jellyfish.

Its ribbon-like arms extend
up to 30 feet to absorb tiny

Planktonic creatures,
or so we believe.

Even today, the lives of
these deep-sea monsters

Remain shrouded in mystery.

But the biggest
surprise of all,

This marine underworld
is one of the most

Stable habitats on the planet,

Out of touch with what's
happening far above.

The sun has fueled a monster.

It heats surface waters until
they evaporate and build into

Oceanic storms that
render humans powerless.

And when conditions
are just right,

They grow into one of the
most formidable forces

On the planet:

Hurricanes.

They form over tropical seas,

Then their devastation spreads.

They release so much energy
that just one could power

Our entire planet for a week.

And as global
temperatures rise,

Hurricanes are
growing stronger.

This is the calm
before the storm.

Most people are
already taking shelter.

But just off shore,
others are on the move.

Mullet in their millions.

Few have heard of it,
but this is one of the

Largest gatherings of any
animal in the united states.

The mullet need to reach
their spawning grounds

Further south before
temperatures drop too low.

Such a mass of fish in the
sea doesn't go unnoticed.

Expert hunters attack the
shoal from every angle.

Below are the tarpon
and blacktip sharks.

Above, pelicans, and osprey.

As the waves are whipped up
by the approaching storm,

The pendulum swings
in the mullet's favor.

In the turbulent,
shallow water,

They're harder to target.

Finally, the swells
grow too powerful,

As the storm makes landfall.

Along the coast, ocean
storms create some of

Nature's most awe
inspiring wonders.

Nazar� in portugal

Sees some of the biggest
waves in the world,

Towering as high as ten stories.

But the stormier
our seas become,

The more those living
on the coast suffer.

An island on the
edge of existence.

Home to rockhopper penguins.

A dense layer of fat
gives them some protection.

Still they take a battering.

This mother
can't back out now.

Her chick needs food.

And its dad's turn
to hold the fort.

Life in the colony is tough.

Declining fish stocks
and rougher seas

Have made food
harder to come by.

Mum has to hunt,

And what was already a rough sea

Is about to get a
whole lot rougher.

The most powerful storm in
almost 30 years is closing in.

Worse than anything these
penguins have faced before.

Bear: On the far
south of the globe,

A brutal storm is
finally subsiding.

But for these
rockhopper penguins,

The waves are still deadly.

The latest shift
of hunters returns.

But this chick's mum
is nowhere to be seen.

Then, she appears.

Amongst the last stragglers.

# #

Home and dry.

(squawking, peeping).

In just 12 hours, she'll
return to battle the waves.

And risk her life for
her chick once more.

Right from the very beginning,

The ocean has been a cradle
of life on our planet,

And the many creatures
that still live here are

Really a legacy of that
irrepressible will to

Succeed in a turbulent world.

No matter what the
ocean has thrown at them,

Somehow they've
managed to endure.

Against near impossible odds,
this mum-to-be has found her

Way back to the beach
where she was born.

It's the first time
she's been on land

Since hatching over
a decade ago,

And she's not alone.

Hundreds of thousands of
female olive ridley turtles

Are returning to the
costa rican coastline

To lay their eggs.

A cycle of life sustained by
the sea for 30 million years.

Never has their
journey been harder,

Yet so far, these
turtles are still

Holding on in these
fast changing times.

Captioned by cotter
captioning services.