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NARRATOR:
Our oceans once churned with giants...

...diving deep through liquid space.

Today...

...they're few...

...and fragile.

Blue whales are the largest creatures
to ever breathe on our planet.

We know little about them.

Their calls travel hundreds of miles.

But we can barely hear them.

They eat thousands of pounds
of food every day...

...and we don't know how they find it.

Although they may live
as long as we do

we only guess at how they meet
or when they mate.

If we're to protect them

we must answer
one of the biggest questions of all:

Where are blue whales born?

Now a handful of experts
launches into the unknown.

Hundreds of miles offshore

in remote and dangerous waters

they hope to find
what they've never seen:

A brand-new baby blue.

I hear them.

Over here. Thirty--

Hundred-- Hundred yards.
Hundred yards.

MAN:
You comfortable up there?

- Erin, you okay?
ERIN: Yeah.

It's September in California

and a rare chance to get close
to blue whales.

Whaling decimated their numbers

and now the remaining few
struggle for survival

in vastly changed seas.

Our oceans are busier

and blue whales feed inside
dangerous shipping lanes.

The waters are noisier,
so calls between whales may get lost.

And despite international laws

blue whale meat
may still appear in foreign markets.

Protecting the blue giants is a challenge
even for an expert team.

Every year, three whale scientists
spend several weeks

in the Santa Barbara Channel,
where the giants feed.

They must identify which parts of the sea
are important for these blues

including the mysterious places
where they're born.

Keep an eye out. Remember they tend
to come up a second time.

John Calambokidis

is a founder of Cascadia Research
in Olympia, Washington.

JOHN: Well, this blue whale population
here in the eastern North Pacific

represents the largest remaining
blue whale population on Earth.

So it's critical we figure out
what areas are critical to them

in terms of feeding areas
on the California coast

but also breeding areas
they may be using.

John works closely
with Dr. Erin Oleson.

Seemed like
it was gonna come up again.

JOHN:
Yeah.

Erin is from Scripps Institute
of Oceanography in San Diego, California.

Okay, got it out here, 30 meters.

Dr. Bruce Mate is the director
of the Marine Mammal Institute

at Oregon State University.

Right down here.

This year, the scientists hope to solve
one of the greatest mysteries of the sea:

Where these blue whales are born.

Most of the time, blues swim far offshore,
only briefly surfacing.

MAN:
There it comes up.

But in late summer,
when many gather to feed--

Oh, I guess we'll pick it up.

--The researchers get a chance
to tag them.

BRUCE:
Here come the flukes.

Come on, lift baby, lift.

We have a chance here
better than anywhere else in the world

of putting tags on,
tracking their migration

and reuniting with the animals
to find out where they go to breed and calf.

This year's work is phase one
of an ambitious expedition.

Phase two will follow the whales
during their winter migration.

There's a blow out at 9 o'clock.

It just came up.

BRUCE: Among all the whale species,
this animal is one of the most magnificent

and has a place
unmatched in the ecosystem.

I mean, animals that live in half
an ocean basin.

They're awesome.

I'll always love them.

Bruce's goal is to attach satellite tags
to the whales.

MAN: So we want the one on the right,
correct?

BRUCE:
That's correct.

The idea is to follow the animals
when they head south for the winter.

They believe that these blues mate
and give birth somewhere in the tropics.

Okay, he's going down,
you might back off just a little bit.

Blue whales are only at the surface
for a few seconds at a time.

BRUCE:
He's turning right.

We're not gonna make that.
Hold on, hold on.

And he's out of here.

They're committed
to coming to the surface.

We'll position ourselves
back around the tail

where we can see them
through the water.

And then as we see the commitment
of the animal rising

we'll move just forward to the dorsal fin,
place the tag in a good place

where it can be heard by the satellite
every time the animal surfaces.

Safety off.

Get up a little. Get up. Get up. Get up.

Nice job, everyone. Nice job.

When the whale surfaces to breathe

its tag sends the animal's coordinates
via satellite to Bruce's computer.

The data will help him track
each whale's migratory path.

BRUCE:
We're at the flukes right now.

Safety off. Safety off.

They use a crossbow to retrieve
small skin and blubber samples.

Nice job, everybody. Nice job.

Excellent.

That animal's not spooked.

DNA analysis will reveal the sex
of each animal.

Each whale's genetic identity
is stored in an international database.

There are nine distinct
blue whale populations in the world.

The whales that John, Bruce and Erin
study in California

are the eastern North Pacific blues

and they migrate from north to south
and back again, every year.

The best way to protect them
is to discover where they go

and to learn what they'll encounter
along the way.

The scientists hope to meet these blues
near Costa Rica

and prove what's
never been confirmed there

blue whales feeding during winter,
mating and giving birth.

JOHN:
Another pair coming right at us here.

John records the life histories
of whales.

JOHN:
And here goes the high arch that--

It's the best--

Get the best view of the markings.

It's possible to identify a blue whale
using a concept similar to fingerprinting.

Blue whales aren't simply blue.

They're born with distinct marks
on their back

and these dorsal patterns
never change.

John identifies individual whales

and then matches them to known
animals in his photographic database.

JOHN: The natural markings on these
blue whales let us recognize individuals.

And since 1986

we've been collecting them consistently
on blue whales.

And we've been able to use that
to estimate the population size

show that there's a little over
2000 animals in this population

and also track their movements.

Though they're twice the size
of better-known whales

even top experts
know little about blues.

An adult female blue whale
can weigh almost 200 tons

heavier than 25 fully-grown
elephants.

Her heart alone is as large as a small car
and weighs close to a thousand pounds.

She's as long as two city buses
bumper to bumper.

Blue whales also make
some of the loudest calls of any animal

but we require special technology
to hear them.

JOHN:
And which B-Probe is that?

Nineteen.

Erin Oleson decodes
which whales make certain sounds

and what they might mean

by comparing the acoustic signals
to the behavior they observe.

Erin and John
deploy a different kind of tag

called a B-Probe,
which attaches with suction.

Okay, we just had a whale surface.

It might be close enough for us to get to
to tag, so we're gonna approach

see if we can get there in time
while it's still at the surface.

Getting close enough to attach the probe
is a delicate dance.

JOHN: The tag records how deep
the whale dives, its pitch and roll.

We're looking at how it approaches
the prey.

And also, the tag's recording the sound.

So in the case of ships coming through
the shipping lanes

we'll get the sound of the ship,
how loud that is to the whale.

And also, be able to start getting data
to evaluate is that noise affecting whales.

Oh, don't do that.

John needs to match the whale's speed
of around five knots

and then anticipate when it will rise.

He's had years of practice.

Blue whales are like icebergs

with only small portions of their bodies
visible at one time.

The B-Probe can stay on
as long as two days.

Then they must retrieve it
in order to create a dive profile.

Erin and John's research may reveal
if the blues' voracious appetite

places them in peril.

JOHN: This is one of the areas where
we have extremely heavy shipping traffic

coming through an area
of blue whale feeding.

And we wanna see is that having
any affect on blue whales.

So we're also trying to get tags deployed
on whales that are in the shipping lanes.

He uses the data
to identify danger zones.

We got one up at 3 o'clock.

Two whales over at 3 o'clock.

In California,
blue whales are often seen in pairs.

BRUCE: I still like the one ahead of us,
on the left.

Both Bruce and John
try to attach their tags to lead animals

because they suspect
they're females.

JOHN:
That's who we want, I think.

Yeah, all light-colored, that's the lead.

Okay, approach on right.

ERIN:
That was pretty solid contact.

Bruce's tags on California females

should lead them to places
where the whales will give birth.

JOHN:
Wow, such an explosive blow.

It's wonderful.

Pregnant females in California
are about seven months along.

The fetus has tripled
over the past few months

and now stretches nearly 12 feet.

Over the next few months

the baby whale grows
over 1 inch per day.

Their two weeks of work off California
are productive.

John identifies
many individual whales

and Erin records calls the animals make
while feeding.

Bruce places 15 tags on blue whales.

The scientists plan to rendezvous
with the tagged whales in a few months

far to the south

if the whales make it there safely.

Yup, it's bloated

so it's at least 12 hours.

Probably.

Onboard the main research vessel,
Bruce spots a corpse.

BRUCE:
It does look pretty fresh.

It looks very fresh.

We want to look it over closely
to see what we've got to deal with.

The death of any blue whale is a loss

but if this whale is a pregnant female,
it's even more tragic.

Near the end of their tagging work

the discovery of a dead blue whale
signals trouble.

I don't think we tagged animals
that small.

I don't think so either.

BRUCE:
What we're seeing is skin erosion here.

And the degree of bloating and smell,
it's probably at least two to three days.

A lot of the skin's come off
on the peduncle

and the pectoral flipper,
and areas like that.

Oh, yeah, and we've got
sharks here too.

Blue sharks attempt to feed
on the corpse.

Blue whales are so immense
that they have few predators.

It's unlikely this whale
died from natural causes.

BRUCE:
They haven't gotten it apart yet.

Once they start getting it apart

there'll really be a frenzy
of working those areas.

They need more information
to determine the cause of death

and if they have a record
of this individual whale.

BRUCE:
Four, three, two, one.

Good deal.

MAN: All right, we have a good sample.
BRUCE: All right.

We've got a sample,
that's what we need.

Well, that will tell us the genetic identity
of this animal.

And, hopefully, between our collection
and John's, we'll know who this is.

Blue whales can sink
soon after death

and researchers would lose the chance
to prove their dark suspicions.

It takes three days for the wind and waves
to push the 100-ton blue whale

onto a beach in Ventura, California.

REPORTER 1: Earlier today, a blue whale
was spotted floating lifeless in the water--

REPORTER 2: Beachgoers caught sight
of this dead blue whale

washing ashore in Ventura County.

REPORTER 3: Marine mammal experts
locally say their investigations show

it had nothing to do with underwater
sonar use in Southern California waters.

I think we might need
that corner dug out.

NARRATOR:
The whale is a female

but doesn't appear to be pregnant.

An onsite examination
reveals what killed her.

When we first saw this three days ago,
we saw a white line that was straight.

And it made us suspicious that maybe
this animal had been struck by a ship.

It should look like the area up there
where it's white. Instead it's all bruised

sub-dermal bleeding
that goes right into the blubber as spots.

And the muscle tissue is just mush.

So this animal, we feel, has been

hit by a vessel
and it had to be while it was alive

because if it had been dead
and hit by a vessel

you wouldn't have
the bleeding issues.

So I think we've found the cause of death
on this animal.

Bruce, John and Erin's work
in California

takes place just before the blue whales
begin their long journey

toward the equator.

The death of one blue whale
might foreshadow danger

for the eastern North Pacific
population.

The scientific team
plans to follow female blues

to their calving grounds.

Now, they have new evidence
the route is perilous.

Before they migrate,
the whales' rich feeding grounds

intersect with high-traffic shipping lanes
in the Santa Barbara Channel.

This big whale
met with a much bigger foe

an enormous cargo ship.

Within two months

at least three more dead blue whales
appear in California.

They're all victims of ship strikes.

Until now

researchers saw one blue whale fatality
in this area every few years.

Four during one season
means something is very wrong.

One whale was pregnant

and its large, aborted fetus
lies nearby.

This baby would have been born
in a few months.

The scientists' mission
to follow blue whales into the tropics

takes on new urgency.

They must learn the gentle creatures'
entire life cycles

to understand how to protect them.

Bruce placed 15 satellite tags
on blue whales that he hopes are females.

He managed to obtain 10 biopsy samples
from the same whales.

In his lab in Newport, Oregon

he works with geneticist
Dr. Scott Baker.

BRUCE:
Hey, Scott.

Things went well in California.

So these are the biopsy samples.

I would be grateful if you could tell us
what sex these animals are.

SCOTT:
No problem.

So these are the blues.

BRUCE:
Yup.

Seven of the 10 whales
are confirmed to be females.

Further tests reveal

that some of the females
have elevated hormone levels.

This means that some
might be pregnant.

This is a new process
and it's not foolproof.

Scott's work in genetics helps protect
big blues from another deadly enemy.

Blue whales are protected

by an international ban
against hunting them.

Scott investigates whether endangered
whales are still being hunted

and if their meat appears in markets.

In Acapulco

Bruce, John and Erin
ready for phase two of their expedition.

BRUCE: Hey, John.
- Hey, Bruce.

- Welcome aboard. Good travel?
- Nice to see you.

- Yeah.
- Good.

It's early January,
and this voyage will last nearly a month.

JOHN:
Got some stuff to unload.

Everything made it through
luggage-wise?

- Everything made it through.
- Super.

We should be in good shape.

Oregon State's research vessel,
the Pacific Storm, sleeps 14 people

and all berths are taken.

There's all Erin's stuff.

The scientists have hundreds of pounds
of equipment

to find, study and listen for whales.

Thank you.

JOHN:
Oh, nice job there.

One of the exciting parts of this expedition
is that it's one of the more detailed looks

at what they do
on their winter breeding grounds.

They've seen feeding before,
in the north.

Most big whales
don't feed during winter months

but they believe blues are different.

JOHN: I think it's probably
an important strategy for them

to be able to make it
through the lean times.

They suspect blue whales
mate far offshore.

JOHN: Regrettably, we don't actually get
to see mating in hardly any species at all.

I've seen it in gray whales a few times.

Humpbacks have rarely been seen,
although we know where that's happening.

They've never seen a blue whale
give birth, or a newborn calf.

Seeing a birth, or an infant blue,
would be world news.

Confirming all these behaviors
is vital for blue whale protection.

Bruce notes the location of the tagged
whales that are still reporting by satellite.

Satellite data reveals some unexpected
movements from the tagged whales.

One female heads away
from the suspected calving grounds.

She's swimming toward Alaska.

Many of the tagged whales arrive
in western Baja and stay there.

But a few do continue farther south

and into the unknown.

Her destination is the target
of this expedition.

It's where the experts will succeed or fail
in their quest.

Mother blues are the biggest animals
to ever live on Earth.

The scientists will be searching for them
in a strange, restless expanse of sea.

JOHN:
It's this incredibly productive area.

There are blue whales
seen year-round.

We don't know if it's the same whale.

It may well be
one of the primary breeding areas.

We also don't know
if it's a major calving area

so we have quite a few mysteries
about this.

Though they've seen 40-foot long calves
in California

those babies
are already 6 months old.

Now they'll search for brand-new blues,
half that size.

If the tropical ocean is the birthplace
for these blue whales

just getting there will be a challenge
for the crew of the Pacific Storm.

Four months
after tagging 15 blue whales

Bruce, John and Erin
are thousands of miles from California.

They continue to track the whales
that are south of Baja.

Their hopes rest with a female
in this group that might be pregnant.

I guess there's nothing we can do
except slog on.

We'll weather the weather.

MAN: Well, we've got only two soldiers
that are kind of weak.

So it's a pretty good attrition rate so far.

Captain Gordon Fox
has faith in his vessel.

Pacific Storm is a trawler
that's built for rough seas.

GORDON:
We're all a little frustrated

and know that we won't have every day
like this here.

This is a famous place
for poor weather.

The wind and waves make it impossible
to see any whales.

JOHN:
We are now just about 100 miles

from what would be the center
of that windiest area.

So we're getting closer to it.

They believe that blue whales
from California

travel through here to warmer water,
to feed, to mate and to give birth.

JOHN:
The odds of spotting something

have to be close to the boat
to see in these conditions.

But I think it's probably
not that many whales around

but I think even if they were,
we'd sure have a tough time seeing them.

Blue whales spend 90 percent
of their lives underwater.

They only surface for seconds
at a time

in order to spew their foul breath
into the air.

After they fill their closet-sized lungs,
they dive again.

In calm conditions, blues can be spotted
from a considerable distance

because their blows
are like giant geysers.

Today, even big blows will be swallowed
by the swells

and their mist lost to the sea spray.

It's not easy to find blue whales.

There simply aren't many left.

More than a century
of commercial whaling

pushed the species
close to extinction.

Since 1966,
it's been illegal to hunt blue whales

a ban that can be difficult to enforce.

While the Pacific Storm
rides out the weather

Bruce's colleague, Scott Baker

continues his mission in Japan
to protect endangered whales.

Some cultures view whales
as a traditional food source.

Japan is one of the few nations

to continue whaling
under international guidelines.

Inside fish markets,
special stalls offer whale meat for sale.

Every year, these two scientists
pose as tourists

while they search
for protected whale products.

They report their findings to the
International Whaling Commission

which regulates hunting
of these marine mammals.

STEVE: Blue whales have always
captured everyone's imagination

because they're so enormous.

But what do we really know
about them?

Dr. Steve Palumbi is a population biologist
and an expert on whale genetics.

STEVE: And to find out what we can
about them

it's like grabbing little bits of information
out of this big, wide deep ocean

trying to weave it together into a tapestry
that tells us what their lives are like.

Scott and Steve have pioneered testing
and identification of whale meat.

They are committed
to protecting big blues.

While it's rare to find blue whale meat
in the markets

a previous investigation
uncovered a mystery.

The eastern North Pacific
blue whales

once numbered more
than 10,000 animals.

In Antarctica, the population reached
hundreds of thousands.

Unrestricted whaling reduced this number
to fewer than 2000 animals.

In some places, blues seem to be making
a slow comeback

but they may never regain
their strength.

Strict monitoring is the best defense
for endangered whales.

Steve and Scott
are the blue whale police.

Surveys of whale meat markets
over the years

have given us an indication
of low levels of continued illegal hunting

of a few species.

In Norway, Iceland and Japan

it is legal to take regulated numbers
of minke whales

and to sell minke whale products.

Minke whales are small cousins
of big blues.

Vendors don't often sell whale meat
to Westerners.

STEVE: The whale meat markets
in Japan are, of course, local

and somebody flying in from California
to buy whale meat

is just not going to work.

The investigation starts with a purchase
by a Japanese colleague.

SCOTT: So a key to the success
of the market surveys

has been our ability
to work closely with Naoko.

Naoko Funahashi works for the
International Fund for Animal Welfare.

SCOTT: So it's been very important
for us to have her

partly because she can purchase
whale meat

without arousing any suspicion.

And because she's developed
this intimate knowledge

of the many specialty whale shops

and to everything from the supermarket
to specialty restaurants.

Whale meat resembles steak

because whales are mammals
and not fish.

STEVE: We could probably take a piece
out of it there.

- Has this got the ICR stamp on it?
- Right.

I think so. Well, to the--

- Right there, yeah.
- Yeah.

STEVE: So this is the expiration date?
NAOKO: Yeah.

That's amazing.

After Naoko passes the meat
to Steve and Scott

the geneticists retire to a hotel
in Tokyo.

They begin to prepare their portable
genetics lab and lock the door.

The weather has cleared

and the Pacific Storm's
crew searches for blue whales.

Their targets could be anywhere
inside a phenomenon

of wind and currents
called the Costa Rica Dome.

The Dome is about a thousand
square miles of open ocean

where cold water from the deep

rises to just below the warm,
tropical surface.

Winds and currents
push the warm water aside

to allow for upwelling of nutrient-rich,
cold water.

The boundary between temperatures
resembles the shape of a dome.

Its position changes from year to year
and is constantly moving.

The Dome is elusive.

The combination of warm and cool water
makes for excellent blue whale habitat.

Cold water is often rich
with plankton and krill

which makes up nearly all
blue whale meals.

The scientists are eager to discover
if blues are feeding during winter months.

They hope to identify a second important
feeding location for the whales.

The largest animal on the planet
feeds on one of its smallest.

It takes about 2000 pounds of krill
to fill a blue whale's stomach

and they can devour 7000 pounds

of the small, shrimp-like crustaceans
every day.

BRUCE: Well, it's basically like a freight
train, an animal, you know, of huge size

diving deep into pitch blackness
trying to find its prey

and feed that massive body.

And I think that's kind of an amazing thing
they can pull that off.

Blue whales don't have teeth.

When they open their cavernous mouths,
pleats of skin expand their throats

allowing them to suck in krill
and tiny crabs.

This is exclusive footage
of a blue whale gulping krill

from the whale's perspective.

The video was recorded
with a unique device.

National Geographic's Crittercam

collects data and video
of animal behavior.

The camera is attached
to the whale's back with suction.

The lens faces forward.

Close to the surface

the whale sees a swirling,
dense mass of krill.

The blue targets its snack
and engulfs the entire living ball.

The animal surfaces to breathe
and quickly dives again.

Cousins of blues, like humpbacks

generally don't eat during winter months
when they're mating and calving.

But blue whales are three times heavier
than their relatives.

Blues are so big
that they may need to eat continuously

in order to keep their energy reserves
all year round.

Mating and calving require the giants
to expend energy

and a productive place
could provide the fuel.

The Dome offers more than food.

The tropical surface water acts like
a liquid crib for babies of many species.

They don't need to work as hard
to stay warm.

The combination of comfort
and a good food supply

could lend itself
to a superb blue whale nursery.

John and Bruce believe
that females arrive at the Dome

near the end of their year-long
pregnancies.

A whale that's nine months along
carries an 18-foot fetus.

Mother blues might eat krill

while inside,
baby blues continue to grow.

The Pacific Storm
seems to be in the right vicinity.

Yeah, this is John up above,
I have a sighting to be recorded.

MAN [OVER RADIO]:
Stand by, John.

NARRATOR: The vessel approaches
what appears to be a small whale.

They slow down to take a closer look.

The Pacific Storm's crew
investigates their first sighting.

It's a 6-foot long whale shark,
an infant of the largest fish on the planet.

Whale sharks can reach 40 feet.

It's extremely rare to see a whale shark
this small.

Swimming along with the sheltering
flotsam is a second baby.

The juvenile loggerhead is curious.

Sea turtles of this size
are also rarely seen.

The presence of these two youngsters
seems to indicate

that they're near the Dome.

But only technology can prove it.

You guys are getting the hang
of this stuff.

Bruce oversees the deployment
of the CTD.

CTD stands for conductivity, temperature
and depth.

BRUCE: This will be the definitive way
of really finding it.

They're looking for a sharp
temperature change near the surface.

BRUCE:
We're coming up on seven minutes.

They compare the data to readings
taken earlier on the trip

in other areas of the ocean.

BRUCE:
Get ready, stop.

The Costa Rica Dome
is the scientists' goal.

Proof that they've found it is subtle.

It's a major victory

since the Dome can shrink,
grow and move at any time.

I'm so happy to be here
at the Costa Rica Dome, finally.

[LAUGHS]

This is a dream come true.

Bruce hopes to find the whales
he tagged in California

and place new satellite tags

on any whales they encounter
at the Dome.

Erin and John will deploy B-Probe tags
and take photographs.

John's photos may identify
eastern North Pacific whales.

The team may also use the crossbow

to take small skin and blubber samples
for DNA analysis.

They're all hoping to locate
a mother and a calf.

BRUCE:
So we're doing well.

And tomorrow
we're gonna hope for lots of whales

calm weather, slow whales,
whales that like to stay at the surface.

All we need now is whales
and good fortune.

Bruce tracks the tags
that are still reporting.

The news from Oregon State
via the Storm's satellite e-mail is mixed.

This is the one we want.

Of the 15 whales Bruce tagged
in California

eight can be located,
but only three are now at the Dome.

Only one tagged animal confirmed
to be female has traveled to the Dome.

Calling Long John.

This whale
has elevated hormone levels.

She's still miles away.

It will take the Storm a day to reach her
if she stays in the same place.

JOHN: Well, yeah.
- Are you an optimistic person or--?

In general.

[CHUCKLING]

I try to find the positive, or whatever.

So the good thing
is that we haven't seen anything.

Means they're thick somewhere.

There are really lots of them.
We're gonna hit it big.

Blue whales can travel a hundred miles
in a day in any direction.

BRUCE:
We've got a location.

While the Pacific Storm
can track the female via her satellite tag

there's a delay
in receiving the information.

They can only pinpoint where she was,
not where she is.

BRUCE:
Well, I bet the information is good.

And, actually, this is where
the animal was two days ago.

The scientists motor
toward the female's signal

and they hope she's traveling slowly.

In a Tokyo hotel room

geneticists Scott Baker
and Steve Palumbi

continue their investigation
into protected whale meat.

STEVE: A piece of whale meat
is purchased in, say, a market in Japan

and then we get the DNA out of it,
then we copy the DNA.

And trip by trip, year by year,
actually now decade by decade

we've built a picture
of how the whale meat market works

that we could have never gotten
any other way.

This is the detective work
within the market

to find out what's really going on
here

at the level of individual pieces
of whale meat.

Steve and Scott don't take restricted
products over international borders

so they need to make exact,
synthetic replicas of the DNA.

STEVE:
The convention for

the International Trade
of Endangered Species is very clear.

It says we cannot move an endangered
species across international borders

without a permit.

Not only can we not move a species,
we cannot move a product of a species.

And I think that's an enormously important
and powerful international agreement.

So even though we can extract the DNA,
we can't take it home.

They begin by creating copies
of the DNA sequences.

STEVE: When you see it,
it's just a piece of meat.

You can't tell what they are
just by looking at them

but they still have their DNA in them.
And we can identify that DNA

and we can compare it to the DNA
of all the whales in the world

and we can find a match.

And by finding a match,
we can get a good identification

of what that particular piece
of whale meat was.

Once they've made exact copies

Steve and Scott take the replicas
back to the States.

If they uncover DNA
from a blue whale

they'll attempt to trace
the animal's history and file a report.

Don't know much about blue whales.

We know the numbers are low.
We know they're in big trouble.

We know they've been protected
all around the world for decades.

They have no business
being in a meat market.

Back at his lab in California

Steve submits copies of whale DNA
to GenBank for analysis.

GenBank has stored genetic information
for decades.

Every year, he worries what they'll find.

STEVE: In GenBank are sequences from
virtually all of the big whales of the world.

So I've got a good chance

if this is a whale, that I can get a match
to one or other of them.

An earlier sample
produced alarming results.

STEVE: So the top hit comes out
as Balaenoptera musculus.

That's a blue whale.

That's unexpected.

We wouldn't expect a blue whale
sequence to be in that market.

Proof that a blue whale
had been killed for meat was horrifying

but the DNA revealed something else
disturbing.

This blue whale's genes
were abnormal.

Steve needed to know where this strange
blue whale came from

and how its meat arrived
in a Japanese market.

The Pacific Storm turns towards
the last known coordinates

of the only tagged female blue whale
at the Dome.

This is the whale they're hoping
will have a new calf

or is about to give birth.

- It's 22 miles away?
GORDON: Twenty-two miles.

Well, this is the female that we tagged off
Santa Barbara in September.

It's the only known sex animal we've got
and we're hoping it's gonna have a calf.

It's gonna be the biggest priority
of the day.

Satellite tags and binoculars
aren't the only way to find blue whales.

The scientists can listen
for their powerful calls.

Erin Oleson launches a device

developed by the Allied forces
during World War II

called a sonobuoy.

The sonobuoy picks up sounds,
then radios them back to the ship.

It hears any sounds
within 10 miles underwater

transmits them as a visual display
to Erin's computer

and allows her to pinpoint the direction
the sounds are coming from.

[WHALE CALLING]

Blue whale calls are very different

from those made
by better-known humpbacks.

Humpback calls
are much higher in frequency

than those made by blues
and are easily heard by human ears.

[WHALE CALLING]

Big blues emit very low frequency calls
ranging from 10 to 40 hertz.

One hertz equals
one vibration per second.

Low frequencies travel farther
than higher ones

and it's thought in good conditions

that blue whales can hear each other
up to a thousand miles away.

ERIN: Hey, this is doing better
than we've done so far.

JOHN:
I know.

It's only doing better
when we find the whale.

A human voice usually falls
within 90 to a thousand hertz.

Many sounds made by blues
are so low

that Erin has to speed them up
in order to hear anything at all.

She listens carefully
and finds the calls visually.

Erin's past research shows
that when blues feed off California

males can be very vocal.

Male blues often make repetitive calls,
composed of A and B tones.

Erin thinks these songs
are advertisements to females

or notices to other males.

In California, both males and females
make a sound termed the D call.

ERIN: They probably serve
some communicative

keeping in touch,
maintaining contact

or even advertising food
sort of context.

Both the sounds blue whales make
and their ability to hear each other

are little understood.

ERIN: So these are really low frequencies
that blue whales are producing

which probably translate
into really large ears

and how exactly those ears function,
I don't know

but it does suggest
that the ear is quite large.

Large inner ears suggest that blue whales
might pick up sounds

beyond each other's calls
such as approaching ships.

Far from the Costa Rica Dome

another scientist investigates
how the giants hear

and if this could be connected to the
deaths from ship strikes in California.

Dr. Darlene Ketten
is an expert on whale hearing

at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution.

If we don't know what blue whales
can hear

then we don't know what sounds
we can use without having an impact

and what sounds will have an impact,
and how to do that judiciously.

Blue whale ear specimens are rare

but she has the inner ear of a blue
that was recently killed by a ship.

She's looking for clues that might shed
light on the deadly collisions

between cargo ships and whales.

The ear bones of a human occupy a space
inside our heads that's a half inch wide

but in blue whales, they're a foot long.

Quite frankly, I don't think
I'm gonna get to visit another planet.

This is another planet.

This is one of the most alien creatures
that has ever existed.

Darlene uses
computerized tomography, CT

and magnetic resonance
imaging, MRI

to construct three-dimensional images
and models of the ears.

DARLENE:
So the least volume at any given time

is probably going to be
in this orientation.

I'm gonna start slicing through it now.

Yup, good.

Darlene discovers reasons
for the low frequency sounds

that blue whales make.

Huge middle ear bones.

Oh, soft tissue in the middle ear too.

One possibility is communicating
across great distances.

One reason they need to communicate
great distances is they're great animals.

So there's gonna be
a lot of inter-body distance.

Another one
that's definitely speculation

but it's a fascinating one to consider
is how does a blue whale navigate?

Maybe it's imaging Bermuda,
it's imaging seamounts

it's imaging coastlines,
and perhaps that's one of the cues.

I'm not saying that we know
that's the case

possibly they're using it
for very complex imaging.

But we just don't know.

Darlene, along with Bruce, John, Erin
and other scientists

worries about the industrial noise
in today's oceans.

For animals like the blue whale,
the baleen whales

ship sounds
are a very important issue.

And the reason for that is ship sounds
tend to be in the lower frequencies.

Propeller noise, cavitation noise,
the hulls moving through the water

therefore, animals
that are most sensitive in that range

have the highest probability of impact
from those sounds.

Now, on the other hand, if you decrease
the ship noise so that it's totally silent

then how does the whale know
it's coming?

Darlene must continue her research

in order to determine if ship noise
does confuse blue whales.

At the Costa Rica Dome

there's little industrial noise
in the sea that might disturb the whales.

Few ships pass through the area
during any 24-hour period.

Erin's sonobuoy results are coming in.

This, yeah, very faint,
and then this is also a blue whale.

She can hear and see
what are definitely D calls.

ERIN:
Very exciting.

It might be the female they're tracking.

Usually, there's other animals
in the general vicinity.

MAN:
That's why they intimidate.

ERIN:
Probably. I mean, they're--

It could just be that one whale is making
D calls and the other ones are not

but it's usually not completely alone.

There may be multiple animals
in the area

but the calls are coming from
the direction of the female blue whale

the scientists hope has a new calf.

Captain Gordon finds the female whale
on his screen.

Our mama is right there,
22 miles away.

Blue whale science is still in its infancy,
and pregnancy tests are difficult to read.

This whale's hormone levels
were high in California

and they wonder if this will mean
a birth at the Dome.

It takes the blues weeks
to reach the Dome

once they leave California waters.

Pregnant females arrive
near the end of their last trimester.

Top experts on blue whales suspect
that babies are born sometime in January.

Confirmation
of their most important theory

now rests on this one female.

She is a symbol of hope
for the species.

We've narrowed the search
from finding blue whales

on the Costa Rica Dome
to finding this one animal.

After traveling for 20 miles
at the Storm's top speed of 10 knots

a breakthrough.

The crew of the Pacific Storm
finally spots what they're searching for.

Got a blow over here. Right here.

Whale sign.

Bridge, we have a whale sighting.

Okay, John, can you tell me
which way from the course I'm on now?

About 60 degrees to the right.

BRUCE:
That is a big whale.

As they approach the tagged female blue,
they see a second whale.

Gordon, this is Bruce
on the flying bridge.

GORDON [OVER RADIO]:
Okay.

Yeah, we feel pretty confident
that there may be two animals up here

at 11 o'clock position.

We're not gonna get too much closer
than this.

John's gonna get ready.

They'll start pulling things together
on the back deck

and get ready to launch
the stern-mounted boat.

Bruce, John and Erin

only approach whales
from the smaller boats.

They're about to find out
if this female has a calf.

Okay. Got it in sight.

She's normal-sized for a blue female
and without a calf.

While there are other adults nearby,
she is clearly alone.

In the morning,
they must continue to search

the hundreds of square miles
of endless sea

that make up the Costa Rica Dome
for a miracle.

In Monterey,
DNA detective Steve Palumbi

is hot on the trail
of other blue whales.

In the mid-'90s,
he brought a synthetic copy

of suspicious whale DNA
back to his lab in California.

When he analyzes that replica,
he finds what he feared: blue whale.

It is a match for an individual whale
already in GenBank.

Not only is it a good match
to a blue whale sequence

it's a perfect match to this blue whale
sequence that's on GenBank.

It is a shocking discovery.

No blue whale has been hunted legally
for a very long time

and blue whales are not abundant
enough to even consider hunting.

So if there's illegal trade in blue whales,
then that's a major, major problem.

There's something else
that is problematic about this whale.

Mitochondrial DNA,
the genetic legacy from the mother

is definitely blue whale.

Further analysis
reveals the other parent is not.

It was a blue whale sequence

but it was from a whale
that had a blue whale mother

but a fin whale father.
It was a hybrid.

And that makes it pretty much unique
in the whale genetics world.

This bizarre whale is a cross
between the two largest whale species.

Adult blue whales can reach close
to 100 feet long.

Fin whales are the next largest,
stretching approximately 80 feet.

Hybrid whales are rare.

Scott Baker has a theory
why they exist.

SCOTT: They've been reduced
to low numbers.

And they may simply be unable
to find opportunities to mate with their--

Members of their own species.

This whale's meat was found
in a Japanese market

but the whale came from the Atlantic.

The hybrid whale came from Iceland.

Icelandic whalers
do not take blue whales.

In the decade
before the DNA detectives

discovered the blue whale
in Japan's market

Iceland legally killed
nearly 300 fin whales for research.

The crew on the small, black whaler,
number eight

killed what they thought
was a fin whale.

It appeared to be a fin whale
from the top.

And so when the boat approached
and the harpooner took the shot

he killed a whale
thinking it was a fin whale

which was the target of the research.

When the animal came up
on the flensing ramp

and it turned stomach up,
there was the realization

because of the pattern
of yellow coloration

that this was an unusual whale
and perhaps a hybrid.

Gisli Vikingson is a marine biologist
in Reykjavik.

He remembers the day
that this whale was brought to shore

and he's seen other hybrid whales
in his home waters.

GISLI: These examples that
we have discovered in Iceland

they all look like fin whales
on the dorsal side.

And that's the only side you see
when you're whaling.

And that's the reason
why they were taken.

Icelandic law allowed specimens
taken for science

to be sold on the international market
for meat.

The whale known
as Iceland Number 26

was frozen, stored and shipped to Japan
for consumption as a fin whale.

After being hunted for science

and was part of a large shipment
that went from Iceland to Japan

and entered the whale meat market
there.

Steve and Scott's team
found it in the fish market

after it was released for sale.

Blue whales remain protected
worldwide

but if their numbers increase,
that might change.

SCOTT:
Now, that could change.

It's likely to change for some populations
of whales that appear to be recovering

and their numbers are growing to
the extent that they may become targets

for future commercial whaling.

Steve and Scott have genetic proof
that blue and fin whales mate

possibly because blue whale numbers
are so low.

Thousands of miles from Iceland,
at the Costa Rica Dome

Erin Oleson believes
blue and fin whales can communicate.

ERIN: There's no doubt in my mind
that they can certainly hear each other

and that they are potentially
recognizing

you know,
"I'm a fin whale, that's a blue whale

maybe I wanna go over there
and interact with him, maybe I don't."

Oh, yeah.

Icelandic waters aren't the only place
blue and fin whales meet.

John's seen suspected hybrid whales
in California

and he's heard of them
appearing in other places.

JOHN: Over the years, we've had
a number of sightings and encounters

with whales that look different

kind of partway between a
combination of species, fin, blue and sei.

I've been interested
in trying to get samples

from these unusual animals that we see
to find out if they are, in fact, hybrids.

Blue whales are so few
they may be breeding with other species.

If they find a calf at the Dome

they may need to determine
if it's even a true blue whale.

The crew of the Pacific Storm
is over their disappointment

that the tagged female
does not have a calf.

They haven't given up.

Dawn brings mounting concerns.

Looks like it's still calling
for some pretty tough winds and seas

tomorrow and the next day.

I mean, some of this
is kind of scary stuff.

Their return to port
will be against currents and winds.

I like this little warning.

"Hazardous conditions,
use extreme caution."

They still need to prove
their three theories.

They need to know
where these blue whales mate

if they feed during winter

and most important

if they travel to the Costa Rica Dome
to give birth.

While the tagged female
has vanished

plenty of blues now surround
the Pacific Storm.

Got another one, 64 degrees now.

Oh, man.

This is genuinely exciting.

[LAUGHS]

John returns
with a strange-looking sample.

Whale feces.

This foul liquid is a tremendous triumph
for the scientific team.

It's absolute proof that blue whales eat
during winter months.

I took that stuff we scooped up
with our hands, and I put it in alcohol.

Looks like we got a nice fecal sample.
It was brick red.

The consistency you usually get
with krill.

And they certainly wouldn't be excreting
this if they weren't feeding, so.

The scientists have now confirmed
the first of their three theories

about blue whale behavior
at the Dome.

JOHN:
Have your visual?

ERIN:
Yes.

The two larger mysteries,
mating and calving, remain unanswered.

ERIN:
Coming up, I think.

But blue whales are behaving differently
here than in California.

ERIN:
You see him?

The fluke is about 10 meters
in front of me.

John takes photographs

that reveal behavior
sometimes called "sharking."

The animal swims rapidly on its side

and displays half a fluke
above the sea's surface.

ERIN:
I don't see him anymore.

At the Dome, blue whales
seem to be doing plenty of sharking.

JOHN: And this sharking or this maneuver
where the flukes are half seen

or a pectoral flipper
is out of the water

as an animal rapidly moves in
rotating underneath another animal.

Those are the things we think are all
the elements of getting ready to mate.

There's more interesting behavior.

Three or more whales
are engaging in hidden activity.

JOHN: It's unusual to have
three whales together

just logging at the surface,
hardly moving at all.

Usually when you get these trios,
they're really active, interacting.

And these guys are just laying
at the surface hardly moving.

I've never seen this before.

Even for experts, the exact meaning
of the whales' odd groupings

is hard to decipher.

ERIN:
I think it's this one. Well, I'm not sure.

This is the season for mating
in other species of baleen whales.

JOHN: When you see flukes up in the air,
in pairs, or triads

a lot of fast movements in the water

a lot of animals rolling over
where they're upside down

under another animal.

So we saw a lot of evidence that we would
say for other whales like grey whales

and humpbacks, of which
we're more familiar, is mating activity.

ERIN:
That was nice.

They're confident in their confirmation
of blue whale courtship.

Two of the three goals
have been achieved.

The Holy Grail of the expedition
is elusive.

The scientists are making progress
when misfortune strikes John and Erin.

JOHN:
I've got the engine cover open.

The color of the smoke is a dark grey,
it's not water vapor

and it's just kind of swirling around.
We can't identify its source.

There's a problem with the spare RHIB
they've been using.

BRUCE [OVER RADIO]:
So, John

we're gonna plan to swing around you
and come around the side.

JOHN:
Are you guys gonna want a rope?

The Storm's engineer will do his best,
but time is precious.

It's the water pump,
and will take hours to fix.

MAN:
I can fix it, but it's gonna take a while.

JOHN:
Okay. Should we bring it on board, or...?

It's coming down.

They notice more damage.

The walkway that hangs over the front
of the RHIB is cracked and must come off.

JOHN: And it looks like the hint
of a starting on the other leg too.

MAN:
Really?

Okay.

John scans the sea
from the crow's nest.

Then the moment
they've been hoping for.

MAN:
Well, it's--

- Yup, I see it, I see it.
- About 500 yards or so.

Very good.

Oh, tell me that one of them
is a small blow, please.

[LAUGHING]

Close by, a big blue whale
breathes into the clear air.

Then a much smaller blow
puffs skyward.

It is a mother, and she's traveling
with a very small calf.

GORDON:
Okay. Keep your eye on that lad.

I'll get the boat at it.

They could be on the verge
of a big moment in blue whale research.

A birth must happen very quickly,
just below the sea's surface.

A newborn whale would emerge
back-end first.

Fast clotting in the whale's blood
inhibits bleeding

as that would attract predators.

Blue whales are mammals
and they breathe air

a baby must swim well
just moments after birth.

It's a cute little guy.

I was surprised that she let him
come over this far, close to the boat.

Nobody's really kind of seen this stuff.

If this whale is an infant

then Bruce, John and Erin
may have the evidence they need.

BRUCE:
That's a small calf.

What would you estimate the length
on that?

JOHN:
I can't do it yet.

But it's a small one.

JOHN: As soon as we get closer
we'll be able to see that body better.

If they can get close to the pair

they'll allow National Geographic's
photographers into the water

for visual proof of the baby's size
and condition.

John and Erin head out
in the repaired RHIB.

Blue whales can be difficult to see
in the best of circumstances.

With the light disappearing,
the pair has vanished.

It's impossible to know
if the mother and calf will stay nearby.

Dawn breaks at the Costa Rica Dome.

The scientists on the Pacific Storm

need to confirm
their most important theory.

They launch both RHIBs.

Incredibly, they quickly relocate
the mother and her calf.

John goes for a better look.

Calves seen during summers in California
are already 40 feet long.

And this one appears smaller.

John and Erin must get closer.

No, this is good.
They still seem pretty relaxed.

No big reaction.

They're hoping
this is an infant blue whale.

A close inspection will also remove
any doubt that it's a true blue.

There are three ways
to determine the calf's age.

If the mother wears a tag

then she probably came to the Dome
from California.

But she isn't a tagged whale.

The second method is to compare
the calf's size to its mother.

From whaling records, they know that at
birth blue whales are close to 25 feet long.

An underwater view
will provide a true size comparison

and allow the researchers
to use their third technique.

If they see the baby close-up,
they will search for fetal folds

which are still visible
for some time after birth.

Before a whale is born, it nearly outgrows
the warm womb of its mother.

Snugly packed inside her

the baby's soft skin
is bunched and folded.

These fetal folds don't disappear

until movement and seawater
gently stretch the baby's skin.

JOHN:
Range?

ERIN:
Uh, 20 meters to his nose.

His nose is right--

They're cautious
about disturbing the pair.

JOHN: Still got him?
ERIN: He's not moving.

JOHN:
Huh?

ERIN: He's not moving.
JOHN: Okay.

Baby blues are rare and precious.

JOHN:
How far? Keep talking to me.

ERIN:
Uh, 15 meters and he's parallel.

JOHN:
Okay, we're parallel with him.

Then it happens.

The baby whale swims towards the RHIB
and to the underwater photographers.

Blue whale infants are the largest babies
in the history of life on Earth.

They nurse for about seven months
until they double in size.

Blue whale milk
is about 40 percent fat

and a calf gains 200 pounds
every day.

This translates to over 1 inch per day.

This is the first video of a brand-new blue,
filmed at the Costa Rica Dome.

This baby will struggle to become an adult
and needs 10 years to reach full maturity.

JOHN:
There's such a close tactile relationship

between mother and child in whales.

It's typical of mammals
to care for offspring.

But there's a very endearing part of seeing
a very close physical relationship

with mother and calf whales.

The still photographs
may reveal faint fetal folds.

From the shape of its dorsal fin

to the markings that will stay
the same throughout its life

this calf is a true, new, baby blue.

Its mother swims underneath

allowing the baby to rest
close to the surface.

It's less than half the length
of its parent.

The scientists know the calf
was born at the Dome.

They don't know if its mother
is an eastern North Pacific blue.

They have no idea
where she will take her baby.

The next challenge is a positive ID
of baby blue's mother.

One good image of the mother whale's
dorsal patterns

will reveal if John's
ever photographed her before.

If he gets the photo

once he's back in Washington State,
he'll search for a match.

If he finds a match

he'll know where the pair will likely go
once they leave the Dome.

He already has a hunch
about this baby whale's mother.

John gets his shot.

A clear image of the mother blue whale
as she takes a breath.

The Pacific Storm heads back
to Acapulco.

Those on board feel that the expedition
has been a success.

They explored
the secret world of blue whales

and witnessed three things
never confirmed before.

BRUCE: By coming here, we have
confirmed that the animals are feeding.

We see them defecate, they poop.

And we have seen the animals
in pre-mating behavior.

And we've also seen a calf.

So we know for a fact
that this is a calving area

which is a wonderful confirmation

something we have suspected
for some time.

This calf was too small
to have been born anywhere else

and come with its mother to here.
So we're quite confident now

that this is one of the very important
areas for blue whales in the entire world.

Erin Oleson adds her own triumphs
to the voyage.

ERIN:
Generally, singing is a lone male

off swimming around at high speed
by himself

whereas here,
it was closely associated animals

that were interacting with each other.

And we don't know what they were doing,
but it is definitely a new finding

related to the production of song
by blue whales.

As they return, questions remain.

Can John identify baby blue's mother?

Only John can answer
the final questions.

Did the mother blue travel to the Dome
from California to have her baby?

Does the pair belong
to the eastern North Pacific blues?

He needs to know what parts
of the Pacific this calf will call home.

John has one half of the puzzle
from his fieldwork.

The other may live somewhere
in his thick catalogs

- of blue whale identities.
- That's a good match.

At his research facility
in Olympia, Washington

he hits pay dirt.

Those are great matches. Perfect.

- No, that's a definite match.
- Mm-hm.

JOHN: That's great.
So left side lines up perfectly.

Let's take a look at the right here
and make sure that works as well.

Yeah, you can see that spot patt--
Three-spot pattern is right there.

Okay, that's a good match.

He knows baby blue's mother.

He's met her several times
over the last 22 years

and has photos of her
when she was a calf herself in California.

And that's the first sighting
of the animal.

So that gives us an age on this animal.

So that means when we saw it in 2008,
we're talking about at least 22 years old.

She belongs to the eastern North Pacific
population of blues

and she traveled thousands of miles
through open ocean

to have her baby
at the Costa Rica Dome.

They now suspect she'll return
to California's Channel Islands.

This means the mother
will bring her new baby to the krill beds

which are full of food,
but fraught with danger.

They will swim from tranquility
into industry, from safety to peril.

JOHN: Some of the highest density areas
that blue whales use

where there's dense krill and animals
return every summer to feed

are intersecting with areas
of increasing shipping traffic.

And ships are not only becoming
more numerous

they're becoming bigger,
they're becoming faster

as they bring more goods
to some of these harbors.

That's sort of a recipe for disaster.

While the team investigates
how industrial noise affects blue whales

and while they monitor whaling
worldwide

they know that ship strikes
pose the biggest threat to the baby blue.

Continued research offers the best hope
for new shipping paths

that give blue whales
the space they need.

All of the scientists worry about the future
of the largest creatures alive.

Bruce and John are even investigating
the long-term impacts

of tagging blue whales
for research purposes.

JOHN: These threats become
difficult to study

but when they become more difficult
to study

they become a bigger threat
because they could be having an impact

and we wouldn't even know it,
unless we're watching really carefully.

The challenge of protecting big blues
has only just begun.

Blue whales continue to follow
their secret paths

and the scientists can only hope
for close encounters.

But now, many sharp eyes,
in many places

keep watch for a young blue calf,
swimming alongside its attentive mother.

The DNA detectives did not find
blue whale meat in the market

on this year's trip,
but they continue to be vigilant.

It's probably harder to be a whale
like that than it's ever, ever, been before.

Does that mean that they're doomed?

No, I think there's hope, that, in fact,
with people caring about them

and people saying, you know

these behemoths of the sea
need to be protected.

And we have ways,
I think we have the power

to protect them
and let them have that chance.

For blue whales to have a chance

we must respect the oceans
over the years and decades to come

for this baby blue

and for ourselves.