All language subtitles for Asia (2024) - S01E01 - Beneath the Waves (1080p BluRay x265 Silence)

Of all the wonderful places
in the world,

one continent holds
more riches than any other

It covers almost
a third of the land on Earth.

In the south
stand vast forests.

And to the north...

...lies an immense
frozen wilderness.

Much of the centre
is dominated by deserts.

And at its heart

are the world's
highest mountains.

Off the coast
of this continent

stretch the richest seas
on Earth.

And that's not all.

This is the most populous place
on the planet.

Here, animals live
alongside humans

in the most remarkable ways.

If you think you've seen
the best the natural world

has to offer, think again.

There's nowhere else on Earth
with so many untold stories.

Welcome, then, to Asia.

Asia is the largest continent
on Earth.

With a coastline
over 100,000 miles long,

it's surrounded by three oceans

and 21 seas.

Its waters stretch from Arabia,

through the Indian Ocean
and Southeast Asia,

to the edge of the Pacific.

Connected by

some of the world's
most powerful currents...

...these seas are
the richest on the planet.

And the animals
in Asia's oceans

are as spectacular
as they are diverse.

In the warm waters
of the Western Pacific

lives a dramatic little fish

with pouting lips
and dazzling stripes...

...the flamboyant Moorish idol.

This one is looking
for a partner.

Moorish idols
normally breed in pairs.

But here, they do something

that no others
of their species do.

They congregate
in huge numbers...

...before swimming away
from the reef to spawn.

But so many fish
attract attention.

A grey reef shark...

...and it's not alone.

With so many hiding places,
there is safety on the reef...

...but they must get out
past the sharks.

Finally,
they make a break for it.

Now in open water,

they can swim into the blue.

But they've been spotted.

A few sharks can be avoided...

...but hundreds
are a different matter.

To have any chance of survival,

they must stay
in a tight group.

The sharks
try to split them up...

...and pick them off.

After two hours of chasing...

...only the strongest are left.

The few survivors
swim in tight spirals,

desperate to avoid capture.

The sharks, tired and full,

one by one
abandon the chase...

...until only the luckiest

and fittest Moorish idols
survive.

No-one knows exactly
where they spawn.

But the developing young
are carried away to safety

by the currents.

From the Western Pacific

comes one of the most powerful
currents in the world,

the Indonesian Throughflow.

It sweeps between
Borneo and Sulawesi

and into the Flores Sea,

where it hits Indonesia's
Lesser Sunda Islands.

Here, water is forced
between the islands

at a rate of 15 billion litres
a second.

And this produces
some of the world's

most intense currents...

...and whirlpools.

Off the island of Komodo,
the water is funnel led

into fast-flowing torrents

which concentrate
the plankton it carries...

...providing food...

...for giants.

Manta rays.

With a wingspan
of up to five metres,

these mantas exploit
the powerful currents.

They feed by filtering plankton
from the water.

Such a feast makes this
an excellent place

to produce young.

When the adults need a break,
they head off

for a bit of pampering.

Out of the main flow
are cleaning stations...

...staffed by hundreds
of butterfly fish.

The cleaners remove
parasites and dead skin

and get a meal
in exchange for their services.

And the mantas get

a welcome break
from the ripping currents.

Refreshed,

they can go back to feeding.

As the Indonesian Throughflow
continues,

one branch flows past Bali...

...to Java...

...and some of the richest
coastal forests on Earth.

Mangroves.

These are places where
nothing is as you might expect.

Trees grow in the sea...

...and fish live on land.

A dusky-gilled mudskipper...

...only five centimetres long,

but a master of these swamps.

As long as they can stay wet,

they can absorb oxygen
from the air,

and they spend most of
their life out of water.

Joints in their pectoral fins
enable them to walk...

...and they can leap

with a flick of their tail.

This one is seeking a mate
with whom to start a family.

But first, he needs to dig

a breeding burrow.

Mudskippers will shift

up to 300 times
their body weight in mud...

...one mouthful at a time.

Tiring work!

With the dirty job done,

it's time to find a female.

But the mangroves
are full of obstacles.

A special set
of grasping belly fins,

however, enables skippers

to become climbers.

And when there is a dead end...

...a mudskipper

simply skips across
the water's surface,

a metre at a time.

What's this?

An open arena...

...full of females.

Excellent!

But there are also other males
here looking for partners.

To win a female,
they must duel.

But no-one is backing down.

Victory, and the opponent
beats a hasty retreat.

And it looks like this male...

...has caught someone's eye.

A quick wave
should seal the deal.

It's a date.

They head back to his place...

...ready to start
a family of their own.

Mangrove forests are essential

for the survival
of Asia's mudskippers...

...and trap
four times more carbon

than forests
growing on dry land.

Today, Southeast Asia
holds a third

of what is left
of these precious forests...

...adding clean, fresh water
to the Indonesian Throughflow

as it travels.

Sweeping away from Indonesia,

the current heads west
across the vast Indian Ocean...

...carrying with it
a whole host...

...of drifters.

And some objects
provide entertainment

for one of Asia's giants.

A baby sperm whale

plays with a mangrove seed,
so practising his coordination.

He produces

pulses of high-frequency sound
from his large head -

sonar that will eventually
enable him

to locate prey
in the black depths.

And zeroing in

on a tiny seed is
great practice for doing so.

When you're as big as this,

grabbing something
the size of a pencil

is not easy.

With play over, it's time
to get back to the family.

The grown-ups are taking a nap.

It's thought that the reason
they sleep upright

is to make it easy

to bob up for air.

The calf is keen to join in.

But it's not as easy
as it looks.

Staying vertical
takes practice.

And when you
get the hang of that...

...the next challenge...

...Is buoyancy.

Holding just the right amount
of breath

is an art.

Too little...

...and you sink.

The adults tenderly
correct his mistakes.

He still has a lot to learn.

In his 70-year lifespan,

he will explore
much of the Indian Ocean.

From here, the Indonesian
Throughflow continues west.

But a very different kind of
traffic is moving northwards.

Shipping.

Major international cargo lanes
run from the Indian Ocean

into the Red Sea,
which divides Asia from Africa.

At its northern end
is the Suez Canal.

One third of the world's
container freight

travels along it and emerges
into the Mediterranean...

...one of the planet's
most polluted seas.

Here, on Asia's
westernmost coastline,

this Israeli power station
discharges

water ten degrees hotter
than the surrounding sea.

Astonishingly, this has become
a refuge for one of

the most vulnerable
of species...

...dusky sharks.

Mediterranean sharks are
the most endangered on Earth.

But up to 100 females
come here in winter...

...and each one of them...

...Is pregnant.

It's thought the warmth
speeds up the development

of their unborn young.

This power station has created
a shark sanctuary by accident.

But elsewhere in Asia,

deliberate steps are being
taken to protect marine life.

Over 5,000 miles away,

on the other side
of the continent...

...life is booming
in the unlikeliest of places.

The tiny island of Tyuleniy
in far-eastern Russia.

A disused hunting settlement.

Here, enormous numbers
of fur seals

were once killed annually
for their skins.

But hunting restrictions
have produced

a spectacular recovery.

Over 100,000 northern fur seals
now come here each summer.

It's one of the largest
colonies in the world.

The beaches are jam-packed.

Huge territorial males
compete for space.

It's dangerous for
the tiny pups, which weigh

just a fiftieth
of the adult bulls.

The aggressive males
are only focused

on the next challenge.

When fights break out,
the pups are ignored.

In the aftermath,
many pups lie injured.

Life on the beach
is full of danger...

...but it's no safer
in the sea.

Orca.

Fur seals returning from fishing
must run the gauntlet.

But these orca
are specialists...

...ramming and tail-slapping
to stun their prey.

And when their victim
has been disabled...

...they drown it.

Many pups
are left as orphans.

But enough will survive
to support

this now healthy population
of northern fur seals.

This richness
in Asia's shallow seas

can also be found
in some of its deepest waters.

Every night,

billions of creatures
travel up from the abyss.

It's the largest regular
movement of life on the planet.

Strange life forms

come up to feed
in the surface waters...

...among them jelly-like salps,
which have tiny crustaceans

living inside their bodies.

As dawn arrives, they return
to the safety of the deep.

But some creatures,
gathering in the Sea of Japan,

are about to embark
on a one-way trip

out of the depths,
never to return.

Firefly squid.

They live for just 12 months.

It's thought that they use

their blue
bioluminescent lights

to confuse predators...

...and their green lights to
communicate with one another.

No other deep-sea animal
can see green.

It's the squids'
own secret code.

Some quarter of a billion
females

are heading to the surface.

In the shallows, they lay
thousands of eggs in strings...

...the final act
of their short lives.

With this done, their bodies
are programmed to die.

Here, on the north coast
of Japan...

...they wash up on the beaches
of Toyama Bay.

Their lights fade
as life drifts away.

Their eggs, however...

...are beginning to hatch.

Sinking into the vast darkness
of the deep sea,

they won't return to
shallow water for a year,

when it will be
their turn to lay eggs...

...and then die.

2,000 miles south,
in the Western Pacific,

lie wide expanses
of shallow seas

around the Philippines,
Malaysia and Indonesia...

...the so-called
Coral Triangle.

Here, there are more abundant
coral reefs than anywhere else.

It's the richest concentration
of marine life on the planet.

Three quarters of the world's
coral species are found here...

...and over 3,000

species of fish.

It's every bit as diverse
as the Amazon rainforest.

Coral reefs truly are
the ocean's bustling cities.

Many residents have evolved

ingenious ways of solving

the problems of living
in such close quarters.

But some appear to be
completely defenceless.

Meet the sea bunny.

Just a few centimetres long,
this tiny sea slug

has no shell for protection...

...no eyes to spot danger...

...and travels...

...at a snail's pace.

It's looking for food.

What appear to be its ears

are, in fact, finely tuned
chemical sensors

that enable it to "smell"

its way to its next meal.

But on the reef,
predators are everywhere.

When you can't see...

...it can be hard
to avoid trouble.

Alien-like beasts patrol the
nooks and crannies of the reef.

This one filters its food
from the water...

...and is no threat
to the sea bunny.

But not everything here
is quite so harmless.

The moray eel,
powerful and fast...

...but apparently not keen
on slug for dinner.

A scorpion fish,
one of the reef's

most deadly inhabitants.

Extravagantly camouflaged,
it waits for prey

to come close...

...then swallows them whole.

But the sea bunny
just walks all over him.

And now it's headed
straight for

a deadly poisonous
blue sponge.

Blind and hungry,
it's about to take a bite.

It seems that its luck
has finally run out.

But no - this is actually
its favourite food.

It's immune to the poison...

...and by eating the sponge,

the sea bunny has made itself
toxic to predators.

No wonder it's untouchable.

As long as it can maintain
its blue sponge diet,

the sea bunny will be protected

against the dangers
of the reef.

With so many
complex survival strategies...

...life for predators
on the Coral Triangle

can require complex tactics.

This snake,
a black-banded sea krait...

...has venom ten times stronger
than a cobra...

...a forked tongue
that enables it

to sniff out prey underwater...

...and a flexible body,

so it can squeeze into crevices

on the reef to look for prey.

A formidable killer,
it would seem.

Yet hunting fast prey
is not one of its abilities.

It's slow, with poor eyesight -

hardly the deadliest
of assassins.

If only it were
fast and agile...

...like these bluefin trevally.

They rely on sheer speed

to catch their prey.

Unlike the snake,

they're too big to get between
the arms of the coral.

But these two
struggling species have found

a solution.

They work as a team.

The trevally leads...

...indicating places
where prey could be hiding...

...which the snake
then investigates.

As they roam the reef,

they're joined
by more trevally...

...and more snakes.

Soon, they are an army.

The trevally find a target.

The shakes head in...

...and the trevally
cover the escape routes.

There's nowhere left to hide.

The trevally catch the fish

that are flushed out...

...and the snake eats

anything left inside.

Each species

benefits from the partnership.

The hunts are so successful

that they attract hundreds
of trevally and snakes.

This behaviour
is extremely rare

and has only been seen
in Asia's Coral Triangle.

Innovation and teamwork

are critical to success

in these competitive waters.

These relationships
and strategies,

developed over millennia,
are a consequence

of the extraordinary richness
of Asia's seas.

And whilst our influence
is now not far away,

Asia's oceans still remain
a world of wonder,

offering spectacles not found
anywhere else on Earth.

The Asia team explored

many of the continent's
21 seas.

They spent thousands of hours

underwater, filming the
spectacular diversity of life.

But their biggest challenge
was getting up close

with some of the most powerful
currents on earth.

The Indonesian Throughflow

carries ten times more water

than all the world's rivers
combined.

The tide has to make its way

from the Pacific to the Indian,

and that's a huge amount
of water.

And as it does that,
it gets squeezed through

these islands, which
creates intense currents

but also brings
an incredible amount of life.

The team want to capture

this immense power
up close,

but the fast currents
are making filming difficult.

For their first attempt,
they use a pole-mounted camera.

But getting the boat into
position is almost impossible.

We're fighting a losing battle.

We'll drop it.

Let's go back
to the main boat.

David thinks he has a solution,

but it's radical.

He's going to
get in the water himself,

using a floating camera rig
to film inside the vortex.

We'll see the swirling water,

literally the opening
of the funnel of the whirlpool.

That's what I want.
It's like the epic shot.

If the shot works,

it's going to be amazing.

It's going to really tell the
story of the currents nicely.

So I think what we have to do
is put David

up current, initially,
but close-ish in to the island,

to get those swirls
as you come past.

What's the normal advice

- for divers here?
- Normally, we'll actually jump

right next to the island,
where there's no current.

There you stay
out of the current entirely,

which is the opposite to
what you're gonna be doing!

- Yes.
- OK, yeah.

This challenge is unlike

anything David has faced
in 30 years of film-making.

I'm going to
add two life jackets

to the camera rig,

and, you know, if I start
to get sucked down,

I'm going to just
hang on to that.

The key to
staying safe will be buoyancy.

Yeah, I don't know
if I can get this third one on.

Three life jackets should resist

the pull of the whirlpools.

It's not that bad.

- What do you think? Money?
- Yeah.

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH;
The team decide

to dive on the rising tide,
when the currents are weaker.

I think I'm plenty floaty!

David's home-made protection

is holding up well.

The current is running fast,

but the whirlpools
aren't forming.

- David, nothing?
- Nothing.

- Nothing at all?
- Like, I...

I feel the current,
and I, like,

I don't see
any, like, whirlpools,

bubbles, hardly anything
in the water.

- Do you want picking up?
- Yeah.

It seems that if David

is to get his shots...

...he'll have to brave
the much faster falling tide.

Preparation...

...will be key to success.

Whirlpools only last
a few seconds,

So to get
in the right position,

the team needs eyes in the sky.

Drone's in the air.

OK, copy, copy.
What do you guys see?

The current looks strong

on that eastern edge
of the island.

If you can spot

good places where the
whirlpools are cropping up...

Mark, Mark,
the swirl's forming

- on the edge you're at.
- Right, thanks, mate.

Look, we've got some...

...definitely
some forming here.

David must get to

the whirlpools
before they dissipate.

- Is this a good spot?
- Yeah.

- Yeah, I call it right here.
- OK.

Clear to go.

You're going to get
sucked in pretty quickly.

Behind you, David.

Mark is ready with a throw rope

in case of trouble.

You OK?

Do you want the rope?

He's OK. He wants to carry on.

David's commitment is paying off.

He's starting to get the shots.

But the whirlpools
are growing stronger.

That is putting him
right in the whirlpool zone.

He's getting sucked in.

All he can do now is hang on.

OK, can we get
closer to David?

Whoa!

At last,
the whirlpool spits him out.

David, you OK?

Yeah.

It's hairy.

It's not doing anything
for my nerves, let alone David's.

It's time to get back

into the safety of the boat.

- OK?
- Yeah.

It had me. I could feel myself
going blubble-ubble-ubble.

- Really?
- Like that, but I had enough...

| Kinda kept my hands
on the camera.

- Yeah.
- I didn't even see it coming.

- Suddenly I was just like...
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A good whirlpool, huh?

David's plan has succeeded.

Yeah!

He's faced Asia's

ripping whirlpools
and captured their fierce beauty

as never before.