Original subtitles

[narrator] This is The Americas,

an extraordinary journey across Earth's great supercontinent.

[bird screeches]

The widest variety of life on the planet.

The untold story

of our home.

[epic orchestral music playing]

Tonight on The Americas...

The West Coast.

[seagulls squawking]

Here, the mighty Pacific Ocean

drives the rhythms and fortunes

of life on land, shore, and sea.

Journey from the tallest trees...

to the deepest waters.

And witness a world first...

the extraordinary new behavior

of the largest animal that's ever lived.

[bird squawks]

In a world that spans both land and sea,

who will be the winners...

[rustling]

- ...here on the West Coast? - [howls]

[epic orchestral music continues]

[seagulls squawking]

This coastline stretches 2,000 miles

from sunbaked Californian shores,

past cloud-piercing forests in Oregon,

to the vast wilderness of British Columbia, Canada.

Here, a maze of islands clings to the coastline,

and the running tides are some of the most extreme in the Americas.

- [bright music playing] - [bird squawking]

[burbling]

[bright music continues]

Now to see what the receding waters have served up.

[chirping]

[calm music playing]

And slipping out of the forest,

a hunter

that is found nowhere else on Earth.

A sea wolf.

Related to gray wolves,

their ancestors moved to these coasts over 10,000 years ago.

[gentle music playing]

They've developed an unusual talent

for finding seafood.

A butterfish.

A local delicacy.

[birds chirping]

This female is a lone wolf.

Once they come of age,

wolves are often driven out of their parents' pack.

Now, she needs to find a territory of her own.

[wolf howling]

But it's all too easy to stray onto someone else's turf.

And they've already picked up a scent.

[sniffing]

[uneasy music playing]

A confrontation could be fatal.

[wolves barking]

Time to get out of here.

[tense music playing]

[tense music continues]

The incoming tide will cover her tracks.

- A close call. - [wolf snarls]

But this is the life of a lone wolf.

Scratching a living where you can.

[low-spirited music playing]

[sniffs]

A powerful scent on the wind

could change everything.

[tense music playing]

But following it

means entering hostile territory.

[tense music continues]

[waves crashing]

The immense body of a humpback whale,

washed up by the tide.

[flies buzzing]

It could be enough food for months.

[sniffing]

But she's not the first to find it.

Being here is risky.

If a pack turned up now, there would be no way out.

[chilling music playing]

[crow cawing]

- [distant barking] - [crow caws]

[ominous music playing]

A pack?

[howling]

No.

Another lone wolf.

[howling]

A male.

[panting]

[soaring music playing]

A new pack starts with the pairing of two lone wolves.

Perhaps they will claim part of this remarkable coast

as their own.

[seagulls squawking]

The unusual relationship that sea wolves have with the ocean

is what makes them so special.

And it's the same intricate connection between land and sea

that defines so much of life on the West Coast.

[crashing]

Like here,

where cold waters from the Pacific

collide with the warm air from the land,

creating an ethereal fog.

As it rolls in,

it brings nitrogen and phosphorus from the ocean.

[stately music playing]

In California,

this giant redwood forest collects nearly half its water

and vital nutrients from the fog.

Helping these trees grow into the tallest on Earth.

The largest, nearly 400 feet high,

may have stood here for over 2,000 years.

These misty forests are also home to a daredevil.

Willing to take a leap of faith,

all in the name of love.

[bird squawking]

Among the towering redwoods of Northern California

lives an animal who certainly knows

how to make an entrance.

[rustles]

[whimsical music playing]

A wandering salamander.

Only found in these humid coastal forests,

it uses the moist fog to help absorb oxygen

directly through the skin.

[pulse thumping]

No lungs required.

[light music playing]

To find a mate,

he sets out on an extraordinary journey.

Wandering salamanders spend most of their lives high in the canopy.

A female could be 200 feet above him

in any one of these colossal trees.

His flexible body and long limbs

mean he can scale this trunk with impressive speed.

He'll need to.

It's the human equivalent of five Empire State Buildings.

[dramatic music playing]

And the redwood's fibrous bark makes it dangerous.

Even for this expert.

[tense music playing]

[suspenseful music playing]

[suspenseful music continues]

Made it.

His goal is within reach.

A fern mat.

[calm music playing]

They grow on the branches of these gigantic trees.

These high-rise homes have everything a salamander needs.

Not only do they absorb and retain the forest moisture,

they have food.

And, yes,

his perfect match.

[sprightly music playing]

Just one problem.

Another male got there first.

[sprightly music ends]

Nothing for it but to keep searching.

[whimsical music playing]

[light rustling]

Another fern mat?

[quirky music playing]

And another couple.

This is not going to plan.

[spirited music playing]

[spirited music continues]

Not again.

Strike three.

[somber music playing]

This search for love has reached

the end of the road.

But there are more fern mats in other trees.

And he has a trick.

One that has never been filmed before.

[tense music playing]

[dramatic music playing]

Using his tail as a rudder

and spreading his arms and legs,

he can steer through the air,

safely gliding 200 feet down.

[dramatic music continues]

[rustles]

He may be back where he started,

but base jumping is the fastest way to get around.

Now, to renew his quest for a mate

by scaling a different tree.

He's not called a wandering salamander for nothing.

[bird squawking]

Whether through tide or fog, the influence of the Pacific

is never far away.

[crashes]

But this ocean is dangerous.

To succeed here, one animal needs nerves of steel.

[crashing]

California's Central Coast is pounded by some of the biggest surf in the world.

[dramatic music playing]

But these brave animals face it head-on.

Sea otters.

To find food, they must enter the impact zone.

The mussels they want grow on these wave-pummeled rocks.

The otters' webbed feet make them powerful swimmers.

But it isn't easy.

[haunting music playing]

[crashing]

They must time their dives between the 20-foot waves.

[ethereal music playing]

[burbling]

The reward is a supply of top-quality protein.

[ethereal music continues]

[bird chirps]

[stately music playing]

But for an otter mom, hunting here can be a risk too far.

[otter chirps]

While she dives...

[brays]

She has to leave her baby on the surface...

[brays]

...drifting on the strong currents.

[tense music playing]

Mom cries out for her pup.

[braying]

And he recognizes her unique call.

[chirping]

[chirps]

[lively music playing]

She's found him.

[snorts]

To provide for her growing youngster,

Mom needs to eat 25 pounds of seafood every day.

There may be plenty of food here,

but there is somewhere close by with calmer waters.

Monterey Harbor.

[tranquil acoustic music playing]

There may not be as much food here,

but it seems like a safer place for a mom to leave her pup.

[thumping]

Or maybe not.

[engine rumbling]

This harbor has hazards of its own.

[tense orchestral music playing]

The mom can never really relax.

[engine revving]

She needs a plan.

[playful music playing]

There's an idea.

With pup securely anchored, Mom can hunt without worrying.

[thumping]

That's not doing the paintwork much good,

but a ship's hull does make a fine mussel cracker.

Sea otter pups depend on their mothers for six months.

[seagull squawks]

All that time, moms have to feed almost nonstop.

Whether it's big surf

or harbor living,

sea otters have worked out

how to make the most of two very different worlds

on the West Coast.

[boat engine rumbling]

Monterey has been a bustling harbor for more than a hundred years,

making the most out of the bountiful waters.

Its secret lies just beyond the harbor wall.

[energetic music playing]

[burbling]

Beneath the surface...

in places more than two miles down...

lies Monterey Canyon.

At its deepest, colossal walls descend a mile further,

rivaling the Grand Canyon in scale.

Lurking down here is a truly bizarre collection of creatures,

all evolved to live in near-total darkness

and under crushing pressure.

[ominous music playing]

Like this barreleye,

gazing upwards through its own transparent head,

trying to pick out the faint silhouette of any prey above.

This is a new frontier of exploration

where we search for the weird and the wonderful.

Some animals here almost defy imagination.

This is known as a giant larvacean,

even though it's only three inches long.

Every day, it secretes two strange structures from its head,

both made of mucus.

A food filtration system powered by its tail.

And a huge net, which traps thousands of particles

as they drift through the darkness.

And while the animals are extraordinary,

so too, is the canyon itself.

It funnels cold, nutrient-rich water to the surface on a vast scale.

[bright music playing]

Helping reefs to flourish

and providing a home for a nine-brained behemoth

that has a secretive ritual

few people have ever witnessed.

[mysterious music playing]

On the cold-water reefs off the West Coast,

the red rock crabs have a problem.

Every day, they're forced into a deadly game of hide-and-seek

with a stealthy and clever hunter,

who not only has a brain in her head

but one in each arm as well.

You'd better have a good hiding place...

[whooshes]

...from a giant Pacific octopus.

They are the world's largest,

up to 16 feet across.

Any crab she finds is smothered and subdued

with toxic saliva.

[cracking]

Then cracked open with her razor-sharp beak.

Her hunting success over the last four years

has been preparing for this moment.

She sends out a scent to attract a suitor.

[dramatic music playing]

And someone's homing in.

A huge male

who finds her irresistible.

He has a special mating arm

to gently transfer a packet of sperm.

[gentle music playing]

[huffs]

A tender ritual that has never been filmed before in the wild.

Their embrace can last four hours.

[gentle music continues]

But once it's over, they part ways.

Never to meet again.

Her work is just beginning.

First, she creates a barricade.

Until there is no way in...

or out.

Nine months pass.

She is now guarding 100,000 eggs.

Every day, she has gently cleaned them

and made sure they're bathed in oxygen-rich water.

[flutters]

[whooshes]

All this time, she's never left her den.

And by now, she has grown very weak.

But at last, the eggs are ready to hatch.

Just the size of a grain of rice,

each miniature octopus

must now take its chances in the vast Pacific Ocean.

[whimsical music playing]

But this is something no octopus mom survives.

By starving herself,

she sacrificed her own life to give her offspring the best chance.

[somber music playing]

Less than one percent will become adults.

The lucky ones will descend back to the depths

and grow into giants,

just like Mom.

To succeed on the West Coast can take everything you've got.

[barking]

But when the conditions are right,

the rewards can be huge.

[soaring music playing]

[seagulls squawking]

Just a hundred miles from Los Angeles

lies a chain of protected islands

that are a magnet for marine life.

Their most westerly point is a remote beach

with classic California vibes,

even though there's not a surfboard in sight.

San Miguel Island hosts

the largest gathering of sea lions and seals on Earth.

[herd barking]

Every summer, 120,000

make the soft, secluded sands their home.

[barking continues]

[upbeat rock music playing]

And while the beach is their sanctuary,

the water holds the key to their survival.

[sniffs]

It's time to hit the surf.

[barking]

Why go around when you can go over?

[bull grunting]

This is a pretty chill crowd.

[grunting]

They may be ungainly on land,

but when they reach the water,

it's poetry in motion.

[soaring music playing]

[soaring music continues]

At top speed, they can reach 25 miles per hour.

And although they can easily travel 100 miles from shore

in search of food,

at this time of year,

the food comes to them

as billions of anchovies migrate inshore.

But catching one

is much harder than it looks.

The anchovies cluster together for safety

into what's known as a "bait ball."

This dazzling wall of fish makes it difficult to pick one out.

So the sea lions wait.

Help is on the way.

[tense music playing]

Skipjack tuna are an anchovy's worst nightmare.

They trap the bait ball at the surface.

[dramatic music playing]

But won't risk getting close to the sea lions.

And in a surprising turn of events,

the anchovies seem to swarm around the sea lions for protection.

Which suits the sea lions just fine.

[thrilling music playing]

Got one.

[thrilling music continues]

When the fish are running in such huge numbers,

it draws attention.

[seagulls squawking]

And that means attack from all sides.

[tense music playing]

Each predator uses a different strategy.

But one is rather more effective than others.

[whooshes]

[seagulls squawking]

A pod of humpback whales brings an end to the mayhem

with one gulp.

[whooshing]

[light music playing]

In summer on the West Coast,

every day can bring an extraordinary feeding frenzy.

But for the sea lions,

it's now time to head for shore

before doing it all again tomorrow.

[whooshes]

Further out in the open ocean,

dolphins herald the arrival of a titan.

[blasts]

The biggest animal to have ever lived,

a blue whale.

And in a world first,

they've been filmed behaving in ways never seen before.

At over a hundred feet long,

only a blue whale...

[blasts]

...can make this boat look like a toy.

Every summer, blue whales migrate 900 miles from Central America

to make the most of the West Coast's productive seas.

And this year, they've brought someone special.

[soaring music playing]

This is the world's biggest baby.

At birth...

[both blasting]

...she's already the size of a pickup truck.

[soaring music continues]

She still depends on Mom's milk

and puts on a staggering 250 pounds a day.

[graceful music playing]

Blue whales were once hunted to near extinction.

Now they are protected.

[low humming]

Today, the West Coast is one of their global strongholds.

[whooshing]

And that brings us an extraordinary opportunity.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see just one blue whale.

Yet here are two.

And in a moment of astonishing rarity,

two becomes four.

[uplifting music playing]

[whooshes]

What happens next has never been filmed before.

The group begins racing.

They seem to be playing around.

One even throws in a barrel roll.

Why?

This is so unprecedented, scientists can't be sure.

[uplifting music continues]

But it appears to be three males competing to impress a female.

[burbling]

The world's largest dance-off.

[uplifting music swells]

Then, as a finale,

a blue whale weighing well over 100 tons

powers itself out of the water.

This is so remarkable,

it's rewriting what we know about blue whales.

Nature still has the power to astound us.

Here...

on America's West Coast.

[epic orchestral music playing]

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