All language subtitles for Secrets.of.the.Whales.S01E04.Ocean.Giants.720p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-LAZY_eng

SIGOURNEY:
From the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

A sign.

This is the breath of a giant.

And not just any giant...

but a sleeping one.

A family of sperm whales
takes an afternoon nap.

They rest as tall as 40-foot trees...

and as still as statues.

But one young whale wants to get moving.

This baby is the future
of her entire clan.

(THEME MUSIC BEGINS)

SIGOURNEY: Their hopes rest solely
on her ability to learn their ways...

their culture...

and their secrets.

(THEME MUSIC CONCLUDES)

SIGOURNEY: Moby Dick was a sperm whale...

portrayed as a monster.

They may be more than 50 tons,

but sperm whales are gentle giants.

They have deep family connections.

Generations of females
learn from each other.

And groups of families
share a common language.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY:
Their chatter sounds like Morse code.

(CLICKING CONTINUES)

SIGOURNEY: They make these clicks
with air-filled sacks

inside their enormous heads.

Their heads can be a third
their body length,

and inside, the largest brains
that have ever existed on our planet.

Six times the size of ours.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY: And now, finally,

these sperm whales reveal a little
of what they’re thinking...

in a very special place they call home.

Dominica marks the middle of a string
of eastern Caribbean islands.

These islands are home
to more than 20 sperm whale families

that never leave these waters.

This family has lost many calves

to boat strikes and entanglements
in marine debris.

They’ve had few babies survive
to adulthood.

But now, a new addition.

Just six months old,
yet already 12 feet long.

Like all mammal babies,
she relies on milk from her mother.

But exactly how sperm whales feed
has been a mystery to science.

She has no lips for sucking
and mom's nipples are inverted.

Now, at long last,
we see sperm whale nursing in action.

The young calf pushes her lower jaw
into the nipple cavity

and the milk is injected into her mouth.

It's thick like yogurt,
with ten times more fat than human milk.

SIGOURNEY: A 15-minute snooze
while feeding is ample for mom.

Sperm whales sleep less
than any other mammal on the planet.

The older females call nap time over.

This is no dictatorship.

Sperm whale families
make decisions as a group.

Scientists have tracked whales quibbling
for an hour or two

-over a change of direction.
-(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY:
The new baby may not get much of a say...

but she listens...

and learns.

This time, the adults all agree.

It's time for work.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY: Each adult must eat
hundreds of squid every day.

The countdown begins for one of the most
incredible feats in nature...

a sperm whale's deep dive to feed.

They suck in the air.

Their blood can hold eight times
more oxygen than our blood.

The tail flukes come all the way
out of the water.

That means they're headed down...

maybe more than 3,000 feet.

More than twice as deep
as the Empire State Building is high.

The calf chooses to wait this one out.

It'll be another three years

before she's learned enough
to feed on her own in the deep.

(WHALE CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY: You might think she'd get lost
in the vast blue...

but she can track her mom's hunting clicks

and she can call anyone in her family
at any time.

She's learning an entire language,

passed on by generations of mothers

and shared by her entire
eastern Caribbean whale clan.

-(WHALE CLICKING)
-SIGOURNEY: She calls out

with a distinct series of clicks.

Each pattern is called a coda.

But not everyone listening is a whale.

Whale biologist Dr. Shane Gero
has known this family for 16 years.

He hopes to track the chatter
to the new baby.

(WHALES CLICKING)

Yeah, there's good clicks off
of Morne Espagnol to the northeast.

SHANE:
The sperm whale world is a world of sound.

They use clicks to find food
and navigate in this darkness.

And they use other sounds
to talk with one another.

SIGOURNEY: Alongside Shane,
fellow National Geographic explorer

and world-famous photographer
Brian Skerry.

He's on a three-year mission to document
whale societies around the globe.

BRIAN: These animals only surface
for brief intervals.

That means you have to be ready
all the time.

But finding a female calf
will really tell us how this pod is doing.

That things are going to be
hopefully bright in their future.

Yeah. Yeah, they headed, uh, east?

SIGOURNEY: Over the past few years
Brian has spent months here...

trying to get just one good photo.

This may be his chance...

if the baby whale will allow it.

SHANE: There's the little one.

The little guy is still on the surface,
huh?

SHANE: She's taking her time, though.

(WHALE CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY: She's all by herself...

when the strange-looking creature
moves in.

It's enough to scare
many youngsters away...

but this baby is curious.

(WHALE CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY:
Perhaps a game of hide and seek.

She uses the sargassum weed like a loofah,

possibly wondering
why Brian isn't doing the same.

It's a rare encounter.

SHANE: This one can't be more
than about six months old. So...

It's incredible,
the little calf is just playing

and Brian's right there taking photos.
It's amazing.

SIGOURNEY: Then Brian puts down his camera
to be in the moment.

Wow. That is one beautiful,
generous sperm whale calf.

Oh, my goodness.

You know, in the beginning
I'm just shooting, right?

But after a while, I mean, it's just like,
I want to enjoy it.

I want to look at her and talk to her,
you know?

And I'm saying,
"Thank you. Thank you for this."

Just fantastic.

This animal that for so long
has been portrayed as a monster...

to have a moment like this
just shatters any of that.

It's just not at all what they are.

You know, we've spent
the last 15 years trying to understand

what it's like to live as a whale family.

And their families are rich

-and experience joy...
-BRIAN: Oh, man!

-...in the same way that we do, you know?
-BRIAN: So crazy.

BRIAN: The more that we see them
like ourselves,

the more empathy we have for them.

I think humans will begin to realize
that we have brethren in the sea

and that we can learn a lot from them.

(WHALE CLICKING)

SHANE: We got to give her a name.

SIGOURNEY: Brian names her Hope...

and for good reason.

In the past 15 years,

this family had only one female
survive to maturity.

And even that calf suffered terribly.

Hope's cousin was seriously injured
by an entanglement in fishing gear.

Sperm whale society
is based around females.

If Hope doesn't make it,
we may lose her family.

And at a crucial time.

Marine debris threatens her entire clan...

about 20 families.

BRIAN: By 2030, we could see
all of these families gone.

SHANE: When you remove whales
out of an ecosystem

there's a whole chain reaction.

You lose all of the wisdom
of how they lived there

and how they survived
in that part of the ocean.

BRIAN:
We could lose the Caribbean culture.

SIGOURNEY: Whales having unique cultures
is a bold new concept...

but undeniable.

Each clan has one or two hundred animals,

has its own language, its own way of life.

SHANE: Behavior is what you do,
but culture is how you do it.

And just like some humans eat with forks
and other humans eat with chopsticks,

sperm whale clans from around the world
do things differently.

And that's not because they're
different species...

but how they've learned to live
is different.

SIGOURNEY: If Hope can make it
through the next year,

her chances of reaching adulthood
dramatically increase.

Her family may prevail.

Now, Brian and Shane head out
to search for different whale clans...

to discover what we would lose
if an entire whale culture disappears.

Sperm whales that pass by the nine islands
of the Azores are true nomads.

In between North America and Europe,
they keep on the move.

Compared to Dominica,
this cultural group is supersized.

Up to a third bigger.

And where Hope's family
was made up of females,

this gathering is all male.

These younger teenagers
grew up in a family led by strong females

who matured around 30 years old.

But males don't mature until 50.

This may be their first time
hanging out with a big male.

Now, Mr. Big is about to show them
how he uses size to hunt giant squid.

Sperm whale skulls hold
the world's largest bio-sonar.

Like bats on the hunt,
they send out a series of clicks

and listen back to locate prey.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY: These are different
than conversational clicks.

And up to 230 decibels.

That's intense enough
to rupture a human eardrum.

Down at 3,000 feet, the pressure is like
having half a ton of weight

pressing on every square inch
of your body.

The prize for this incredible effort
is the famed giant squid.

Today, the whales share their scraps.

SHANE: Yeah, got it.

Whoa. It's heavy as... (GRUNTS)

SIGOURNEY: Dr. Shane Gero
and photographer Brian Skerry...

It's a big bowl of jelly.

...are lucky to find some leftovers.

It's likely they just fly through
and catch whatever piece they can.

-Right.
-And then that means there's scraps

left behind.

It's easy to forget that
they're predators, right? Because they...

-Exactly.
-...what we see at the surface

is mostly them socializing or resting.

But when they go down, when they disappear
from where we can see...

-Yeah.
-...that's what they're doing,

and this is a bit of evidence of that.

The hunt is on.

SIGOURNEY: It's not uncommon to see
such scraps where sperm whales hunt...

but as the whales continue
to forage deep...

Get out now.

...Brian finds something
even more incredible.

I could see a couple of birds
landing on what I thought was

a piece of driftwood.

Turns out it's a squid.

SIGOURNEY: It's the famed giant squid...

rarely seen.

It's the best, most intact specimen
that I have seen, you know,

during this kind of whale work.

SHANE: Wow! That is awesome.

It's pretty unbelievable. I've never been
beside a squid this large.

You have this amazing, circular scar
of a sperm whale tooth having punctured it

and that may be why we were able
to recover this

is that it came back to the surface
with it stuck in its mouth.

We have better maps of Mars
than we do of the deep ocean

but sperm whales are going down there
every hour for 45 minutes

and finding these amazing animals

when it's hard for us
to even get a picture of one.

SIGOURNEY: Squids have beaks like birds.

And the bigger the squid,
the bigger the beak.

It's really heavy.

SHANE: The squid they eat in Dominica
are quite small.

The beaks we're catching are very little.

These are huge!

You can see how big it is compared to me.

It's a sign that not only
are the sperm whales different here,

but what they are eating
is dramatically different

and so probably, the way they catch it
would probably be quite different as well.

SIGOURNEY:
How the sperm whales of the Azores speak

may also be unique.

There's lots of codas.

SIGOURNEY:
Shane uses the ship's hydrophone

to tune into these nomadic families
for the first time.

(WHALE CLICKING)

Have a listen.

SIGOURNEY: He hears

-an entirely different language.
-Wow.

The rhythm in Dominica is one plus
one plus three.

-Right.
-And here they're still using five clicks

but they're all regular spaced,
you know, it's...

They're much more slower
and deliberate here.

(WHALES CLICKING SLOWLY)

SIGOURNEY: The series of clicks
these nomads use to identify themselves

is just one of their codas.

Sperm whales use dozens
of other codas to chat.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SHANE: We can write entire books
using only 26 letters.

Sperm whales have at least
24 different coda types.

So, it's really limitless
what they might be saying to each other.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY:
These whales are entirely different

to Hope's clan in Dominica.

And there may be even more
cultural clans elsewhere.

To find out, Shane and Brian
have one last stop

to check out one of the largest
aggregations of sperm whales

on the planet.

Off the coast of Sri Lanka,
hundreds of sperm whales,

some groups 40 strong.

These enormous aggregations
are new to science.

We don't know why these whales
gather like this or even how often.

It's a mystery local scientist

and National Geographic explorer
Asha Devos wants to solve.

It's been shown in places like Dominica
that the sperm whales have culture there

and that's something we're interested
to unravel a bit more

out here in Sri Lanka.

SIGOURNEY: Shane joins Asha
to see how these whales may differ

from Hope's group in Dominica.

The environment has such a strong
influence on the animals

and that's super important.

And we can't, you know,
there's no golden rule across the board,

we can't say sperm whales
in Dominica do this

so they can be protected like this

therefore, we should protect
all sperm whales

in the same way or take the same measures.

SIGOURNEY:
Even from the surface it's apparent.

SHANE: From the very first second
we saw sperm whales here

it was immediately clear
that things are very different.

SIGOURNEY: What's common here
is rare in the Caribbean.

SHANE: There's so many.

If you looked at a day like this
in Dominica,

I think we've had two in 15 years

-where there's this many animals.
-Oh, really?

SIGOURNEY: Brian hopes to find some clues
as to what's going on.

-Got it?
-Thanks.

SIGOURNEY: Why the big party?

BRIAN: As soon as I jump in the water
I here this cacophony of sound.

(WHALES CLICKING)

BRIAN: I can see between 12 and 18 whales

and some are resting
like trees in a forest.

Others are sort of horizontal.

SIGOURNEY: These whales aren't thrilled
to have an intruder crash their fun.

They're not aggressive

but they let Brian know
he's not exactly welcome...

in the best way they know how.

Whale poop.

Whales fertilize
the top of the water column

boosting plankton growth.

That feeds fish...

and it even helps combat climate change.

This act is also an opportunity.

SHANE: It's right here.
You might actually be able to get it.

MAN 1: Yeah.

-ASHA: It's squid, look.
-SHANE: Yeah.

Super cool, you can see the suction cups
on the bottom of this squid leg.

SIGOURNEY: Asha scoops the poop
to find out what these sperm whales eat.

So, right here, we have a squid beak

that we fished out of some
of the sperm whale poop.

Different clans
have different dietary habits,

so, once we analyze these we'll get
a bit of a sense of the differences

between here in Sri Lanka and some
of the sperm whales out in Dominica.

SIGOURNEY: Shane Gero's methods
rely on sound.

SHANE: When you put
the hydrophone in the water

that's where the exciting stuff happens.

SIGOURNEY: He's about to hear
their live communications

for the first time.

He'll learn if Sri Lankan whales
speak the same language as Hope...

and the other whales of Dominica.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SHANE: That's a massive difference
than what we've seen off Dominica.

Part of that is that they belong here.

and they are signaling that
this is where they're from.

SIGOURNEY:
This is an entirely different language.

A clan with its own unique culture.

But the challenges sperm whales face
everywhere are the same.

This whale is missing part of its jaw.

It's not hard to guess how it happened.

The turtles around here make it obvious.

Human debris can be a killer
for any marine animal.

MAN:
And make sure I get behind this debris...

SIGOURNEY: The National Geographic divers
save as many turtles as they can.

Yeah.

SHANE: Okay,
let me get the log off first.

It's lucky, it doesn't look like
it's dug in anywhere.

Ready?

Okay. Okay. Okay.

-That's the third one that I've cut out.
-MAN: Yup.

And if you're saying you've seen

-the same.
-Yeah.

I mean, we spend a lot of time
on the water

-but that's way too many.
-MAN: But still.

-That's way too many, yeah.
-Yeah.

SIGOURNEY:
Now they are anxious about Hope's chances

and her endangered clan in Dominica.

Back to where their investigation started.

It's been more than a year
since Shane has seen Hope.

We sound crazy because...

SIGOURNEY:
She is critical to her family's survival.

If she's still alive.

But something strange is going on.
Unusual commotion.

The resident groups here
are usually small families,

moms hanging with their kids.

But now, females from throughout the clan
have come together.

It could indicate that something is wrong.

While there's no sign yet of baby Hope...

there is a visitor.

An outsider.

And he's quite the sex symbol.

Some young males
also admire this superstar.

It's rare here for a male
to attract so many fans.

The ladies will decide
who he gets to mate with.

Not him.

But first, the whale equivalent of a hug.

(WHALES CLICKING)

SIGOURNEY:
They enjoy the stranger's touch.

Bigger than a bus.

As sensitive as a lamb.

Now, they swim in formation.

This outsider is from another clan.

Maybe another ocean.

He will boost the gene pool
of the sperm whales here.

But scientist Shane Gero
is still concerned.

Too many have died from entanglements
in fishing gear.

Baby Hope may have suffered the same fate.

All right. So you have a juvenile here,
coming on the port side of the boat.

-MAN: Okay.
-And then the adult's back here.

MAN: Right.

SIGOURNEY: They search on.

If she's still alive,

Hope is one of the last chances
for this clan's unique culture to survive.

MAN: It's definitely a sign.
You seeing them, chief?

SHANE: Hold on, hold on.

Are they both gonna go?
Are we gonna get calf with...?

SIGOURNEY: Then...

there she is.

SHANE: Yeah!

SIGOURNEY:
Shane recognizes her markings instantly.

Hope has survived
her first two crucial years.

Wow, she's so grown up.

Wow! She's huge!

The big take home that I've gotten
from spending thousands of hours

in the company of sperm whales
is the power of community.

Where you feel most at home
and most belong

is really important to anything,
whether you're a whale or a human.

If we're going to preserve life,
whether it's ours or theirs,

it's really important that we protect
cultural diversity

both in our own societies
and the ecosystem as a whole.

SIGOURNEY: We still have much to learn
about sperm whale culture.

But we know from other whale species
that each clan fills a vital niche.

Orca families have very specific
hunting skills

depending on where they live.

(WHALES SQUEALING)

SIGOURNEY: Belugas use complex language

and teach their young
about traditional birthing grounds.

Some male humpbacks create a new song
each year

and share it around the world.

This is culture.

And sperm whale Hope,
may she live up to her name.

She has the chance to pass on
her family's stories...

their unique knowledge
of their native waters...

their traditions...

and their secrets.

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

Feel the sunshine.

I've had a fair bit of experience
diving really deep.

MAN: Okay. Hang on. Steady, guys.
Steady, steady, steady, steady, Donnie...

But I need a sub to do it,
to withstand the pressure.

This is Deepsea Challenger.
Do you copy? Over.

JAMES: These sperm whales
are going down 3,000 feet,

and they're doing it
over and over every day.

They're so streamlined.
They just tuck their fins in.

One or two tail moves to keep them going.

Get them to where their lungs compress.

And then they go negative,
and then they can just fall.

They can just fall after that...

in stillness.

There's a peacefulness
in the way they dive.

They have to conserve their energy
to get down to that depth...

two-thirds of a mile down.

(WHALES CLICKING)

Pitch black. Utter darkness.
Using only sound.

Seeing the world around you
only through sound.

These sperm whales can emit
230-decibel sound pulse.

(WHALES SQUEALING)

JAMES: I mean, that would blow

our eardrums in if we were
adjacent to them

when they fire that thing off.

Wow! That is awesome.

JAMES:
This is what they're going down there for.

It's not a giant, giant squid. (CHUCKLES)

Not a very big giant squid,
but it's definitely a giant squid.

It's really heavy.

JAMES: So way down in the twilight zone...

you have this incredible biomass
down there.

SHANE: These are huge.

And this is the great diurnal migration
up and down through the water column.

You know, all that krill
and all that zooplankton down there.

And the squid are feeding on that.

And then the sperm whales drop down
into that territory and feed on the squid.

(WHALES CLICKING)

JAMES: So, it's amazing how they're
communicating with these clicks

and these complex sequences, codas
which we don't know how to decipher yet...

but they could carry
a tremendous amount of information.

Maybe someday we'll be able
to decipher their language

and communicate with them.
Wouldn't that be amazing?

(WHALES CLICKING)