1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:25,000 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud 1 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:39,590 Our planet's continents are fringed by shallow seas. 2 00:00:41,010 --> 00:00:45,930 Rarely more than two hundred meters deep they lie on the continental shelves 3 00:00:46,060 --> 00:00:49,190 which may stretch sometimes for hundreds of miles 4 00:00:49,230 --> 00:00:53,980 before the sea floor drops into deeper darker waters. 5 00:00:59,530 --> 00:01:04,410 All together they constitute a mere eight percent of the world's oceans 6 00:01:04,450 --> 00:01:09,750 but they contain the vast majority of it's marine life. 7 00:01:43,910 --> 00:01:49,620 A male humpback whale sings to attract a mate. 8 00:02:10,850 --> 00:02:14,900 The whales have just returned to their breeding grounds 9 00:02:14,980 --> 00:02:18,360 in the shallow seas of the tropics. 10 00:02:25,070 --> 00:02:29,500 The calf is no more than a few weeks old. 11 00:02:34,580 --> 00:02:39,090 Despite being three meters long and weighing nearly a ton 12 00:02:39,210 --> 00:02:42,590 he is nonetheless vulnerable. 13 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:48,140 but his mother watches over him 14 00:02:48,350 --> 00:02:53,440 and, as he begins to tire, she supports him close to the surface 15 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,320 so that he can breathe more easily. 16 00:03:20,420 --> 00:03:25,220 These shallows around the equator are excellent nurseries. 17 00:03:25,260 --> 00:03:30,640 They're warm, calm, and contain very few predators. 18 00:03:33,270 --> 00:03:38,310 The playful calf is now drinking five hundred liters of milk a day 19 00:03:38,820 --> 00:03:41,110 but his mother must starve. 20 00:03:41,650 --> 00:03:45,200 There is nothing for her to eat here. 21 00:03:52,330 --> 00:03:54,960 Like many tropical shallow seas 22 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,380 these crystal clear waters are virtually lifeless. 23 00:03:58,630 --> 00:04:00,920 They receive year round sunlight 24 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,970 but they lack the nutrients essential for the growth of plankton. 25 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,890 The mother will be trapped here for the next five months 26 00:04:09,050 --> 00:04:16,100 until her calf is strong enough to make the journey to the feeding grounds, near the poles. 27 00:04:39,420 --> 00:04:43,760 Coral reefs are oases in a watery desert. 28 00:04:44,840 --> 00:04:47,680 Most tropical shallows are barren 29 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:54,220 but these coral havens contain one quarter of all the marine life on our planet. 30 00:05:13,580 --> 00:05:15,870 Reefs are the work of polyps 31 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,920 tiny colonial animals like minute sea anemones 32 00:05:20,330 --> 00:05:26,670 yet the great barrier reef is so big it can be seen from the Moon. 33 00:05:32,550 --> 00:05:35,810 It's actually two thousand separate reefs 34 00:05:36,020 --> 00:05:40,560 that together form a barrier stretching for over a thousand miles 35 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,690 along Australia's northeastern coast. 36 00:05:47,070 --> 00:05:49,450 Despite it's vast size 37 00:05:49,490 --> 00:05:54,950 this reef does not contain the greatest variety of marine life on the planet. 38 00:05:56,450 --> 00:06:00,920 For that one must travel north to Indonesia. 39 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:34,160 There are individual reefs in Indonesia that contain almost as many kinds of fish 40 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:37,240 as live in the whole of the Caribbean. 41 00:06:38,910 --> 00:06:43,170 There are also ten times the number of coral species. 42 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:51,590 Corals thrive in these waters with the help of microscopic plants, algae 43 00:06:51,590 --> 00:06:55,390 that grow within the tissues of the polyps 44 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:06,650 and the polyps feed by snaring passing morsels with their tentacles. 45 00:07:18,830 --> 00:07:25,250 At night, the algae are inactive but then, the polyps put out even more tentacles 46 00:07:25,380 --> 00:07:29,420 so coral in effect feeds around the clock. 47 00:07:47,150 --> 00:07:53,320 This well balanced alliance brings benefits to both polyps and algae 48 00:07:53,570 --> 00:07:59,030 and between them, they turn the barren seas into rich gardens. 49 00:08:09,210 --> 00:08:13,170 The Indonesian reefs contain such a variety of life 50 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:16,380 because they lie at a giant crossroads. 51 00:08:16,630 --> 00:08:23,060 This is the meeting place for different seas the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. 52 00:08:25,890 --> 00:08:29,270 Here everything demands a closer look. 53 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:34,900 On the surface of this sea fan, there are two polyps that are not polyps. 54 00:08:35,530 --> 00:08:42,160 They're pygmy sea horses, the world's smallest, less than two centimeters high. 55 00:08:54,670 --> 00:09:01,050 They are males, settling a territorial dispute, by head butting. 56 00:09:09,650 --> 00:09:12,070 An electric flash? 57 00:09:13,270 --> 00:09:17,450 No, the display of a file clam. 58 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,540 Perhaps this extraordinary pulsation of the clam's fleshy mantle 59 00:09:26,620 --> 00:09:33,210 is a warning to frighten away nibbling fish, but no one really knows 60 00:09:47,310 --> 00:09:52,060 And there are snakes here, too, lots of them. 61 00:09:57,570 --> 00:10:03,240 These are banded sea crates. They lay their eggs on land 62 00:10:03,410 --> 00:10:06,910 but they hunt here in the water. 63 00:10:11,170 --> 00:10:15,040 They're too slow to catch fish in a straight chase 64 00:10:15,210 --> 00:10:19,920 so they seek prey that is hiding in the nooks and crannies of the coral. 65 00:10:22,430 --> 00:10:26,970 Their bite is highly venomous and paralyzes their victims. 66 00:10:31,900 --> 00:10:36,900 And on this reef the snakes do not hunt alone. 67 00:10:42,490 --> 00:10:47,740 Shoals of yellow goatfish and trivali are seeking similar prey 68 00:10:47,990 --> 00:10:53,790 And they attract the snakes' attention. As one group of hunters searches the reef 69 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,750 they're joined by the other. 70 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:09,180 At least thirty snakes have now joined the caravan. 71 00:11:15,100 --> 00:11:21,400 The big fish scare the prey into cracks and there the snakes can catch them 72 00:11:22,070 --> 00:11:27,950 And anything fleeing from the crates will swim straight into the mouths of the waiting trivali. 73 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:31,370 There's nowhere to hide. 74 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:42,970 As the raiders scour the reef, more and more snakes join the hunt. 75 00:12:04,950 --> 00:12:10,240 This cooperation between snakes and fish, spectacular though it is, 76 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:17,460 has only recently been observed, for it only happens on the most remote reefs in Indonesia. 77 00:12:26,430 --> 00:12:30,310 Perhaps such hunting alliances were once a common sight 78 00:12:30,470 --> 00:12:36,690 but today no more than six percent of Indonesia's reefs are in their pristine state. 79 00:13:05,130 --> 00:13:09,640 Beyond the coral stretches a world of shifting sand. 80 00:13:10,470 --> 00:13:14,350 Out there with nowhere to hide survival is not easy 81 00:13:14,600 --> 00:13:17,520 and camouflage can be crucial. 82 00:13:20,060 --> 00:13:27,030 If this wasn't moving, you might think it was a shell or a rock. In fact it's an octopus. 83 00:13:29,070 --> 00:13:33,660 A gurnard. It's huge pectoral fins disguise it's shape 84 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,710 and they can also help in clearing away sand when searching for food. 85 00:13:43,130 --> 00:13:46,590 The jawfish hides underground. 86 00:13:48,590 --> 00:13:52,800 The wonderpus octopus on the other hand has such a powerful bite 87 00:13:52,850 --> 00:13:57,730 that it has a special warning display to tell others to keep out of it's way. 88 00:14:09,990 --> 00:14:13,370 Here and there, plants manage to take root 89 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:17,040 and they're cropped by green turtles. 90 00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:22,460 Seagrasses are the only flowering plants that have managed to grow in the sea 91 00:14:22,750 --> 00:14:25,380 although they put out a few ribbon like leaves 92 00:14:25,460 --> 00:14:29,880 they produce very extended networks of fleshy stems, risomes, 93 00:14:30,050 --> 00:14:32,550 that are buried in the sand. 94 00:14:39,390 --> 00:14:42,690 At their lushest they can transform the sea bed 95 00:14:42,850 --> 00:14:45,270 into an underwater meadow. 96 00:14:46,270 --> 00:14:52,570 The largest expanse grows in the shallow waters of Shark Bay, in Western Australia. 97 00:14:55,030 --> 00:15:00,750 These vast aquatic grasslands stretch for fifteen hundred square miles 98 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:06,210 and, like terrestrial prairies, they support herds of grazers. 99 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:08,510 Dugongs. 100 00:15:21,980 --> 00:15:25,360 Dugongs are the largest herbivores in the sea. 101 00:15:25,770 --> 00:15:28,650 They can be three meters long and weigh half a ton 102 00:15:28,780 --> 00:15:33,070 and they eat nothing but seagrass, mostly the fleshy risomes, 103 00:15:33,150 --> 00:15:36,530 which they excavate with their mobile lips. 104 00:15:51,670 --> 00:15:56,340 A herd can clear a patch of seagrass the size of a football pitch 105 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:58,390 in a single day. 106 00:16:22,790 --> 00:16:27,250 Food is not evenly distributed in the tropical shallow seas 107 00:16:27,330 --> 00:16:29,380 and it can take a lot of finding 108 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:35,840 but bottlenose dolphins are inquisitive, energetic,1 and very intelligent 109 00:16:36,050 --> 00:16:39,720 and they have discovered a shoal of baitfish. 110 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:52,230 Together, they ride a wave, using it to carry them into the shallows 111 00:16:52,690 --> 00:16:56,530 and there, it will be easier to make the catch. 112 00:17:23,430 --> 00:17:25,310 In Western Australia 113 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:29,730 these dolphins have taken on an ever tougher challenge. 114 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:33,690 The fish have taken refuge close to the beach 115 00:17:33,820 --> 00:17:37,280 where the water is only a few centimeters deep. 116 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:46,450 Tail slapping is a method dolphins often use to stun their prey 117 00:17:46,750 --> 00:17:49,330 but it doesn't seem to work here. 118 00:17:59,430 --> 00:18:02,260 The fish are tantalizingly close 119 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:08,640 but they're still out of reach, so the dolphins try another technique. 120 00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:17,440 Vigorously pumping their tails, they work up some speed 121 00:18:17,740 --> 00:18:20,070 and then, they hydroplane. 122 00:18:48,350 --> 00:18:55,060 Their momentum carries them right through the shallowest waters, and onto the fish. 123 00:19:05,660 --> 00:19:09,410 Now they're in real danger of being stranded 124 00:19:09,790 --> 00:19:12,540 but fortune favors the brave. 125 00:19:21,050 --> 00:19:24,260 Younger dolphins lie alongside, watching 126 00:19:24,550 --> 00:19:27,680 but so far only eight individuals here 127 00:19:27,810 --> 00:19:30,810 have mastered this daring technique. 128 00:20:21,570 --> 00:20:27,160 Although most life in tropical waters is concentrated around the coral reefs 129 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:28,990 and the seagrass meadows, 130 00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:32,660 there are some spectacular exceptions. 131 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:43,010 The desert of Bahrain seems a very unlikely place 132 00:20:43,130 --> 00:20:46,840 to find a crowded bustling colony of seabirds 133 00:20:47,510 --> 00:20:53,890 But every year, a hundred thousand socotra cormorants gather here to breed. 134 00:21:00,690 --> 00:21:02,360 It's swelteringly hot 135 00:21:02,610 --> 00:21:07,700 and only vigorous panting can prevent the birds from fatal overheating. 136 00:21:08,450 --> 00:21:12,080 This hardly seems a good place to rear young 137 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:17,870 but at least, there are no land based predators here. 138 00:21:18,370 --> 00:21:21,880 The only source of trouble is likely to be the neighbors 139 00:21:22,170 --> 00:21:26,630 so each nest is built just beyond pecking reach 140 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,360 But what about food? 141 00:21:44,820 --> 00:21:49,110 There's only bare sand and the warm shallow sea beyond. 142 00:21:49,450 --> 00:21:55,500 Neither seem likely to produce enough nourishment to support bird life on this scale. 143 00:21:59,670 --> 00:22:03,290 The answer is blowing in the wind. 144 00:22:05,300 --> 00:22:09,340 Sand whipped up by Shamals offshore winds 145 00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:12,760 blows into the seas of the Arabian Gulf. 146 00:22:13,180 --> 00:22:16,980 With the grains come nutrients, which act as fertilizer 147 00:22:17,060 --> 00:22:21,650 and they transform the shallow sea into a rich fishing ground 148 00:22:27,820 --> 00:22:33,370 So, paradoxically, it's the roasted sands of Arabia that prevent the gulf 149 00:22:33,530 --> 00:22:37,040 from being another desert in the sea. 150 00:22:50,090 --> 00:22:53,550 The whale calf is now five months old. 151 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:55,810 He's almost doubled in size 152 00:22:55,930 --> 00:22:59,890 and his days in his tropical nursery are coming to an end. 153 00:23:00,350 --> 00:23:03,770 It has been a warm and safe place in which to grow up 154 00:23:04,060 --> 00:23:07,360 but there's nothing to eat here for his mother. 155 00:23:09,110 --> 00:23:13,700 She has been living off her fat reserves for the last eight months 156 00:23:13,990 --> 00:23:16,280 and she's close to starving. 157 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,750 She must leave now, while she still has enough energy 158 00:23:19,750 --> 00:23:25,130 to guide and protect her calf, on the long voyage ahead. 159 00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:47,610 All across the tropics, humpbacks are heading away from the Equator 160 00:23:47,730 --> 00:23:54,070 towards the rich temperate seas of both the southern and the northern hemispheres. 161 00:23:56,990 --> 00:24:02,330 These are colder, rougher, and more dangerous waters. 162 00:24:14,380 --> 00:24:17,600 Mother and calf must stay close. 163 00:24:36,610 --> 00:24:40,950 They can send sound signals to one another, above the roar of the ocean 164 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,370 by slapping fins on the surface. 165 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:11,360 In winter, the temperate seas are lashed by violent storms. 166 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:35,590 The turbulence stirs the water, and draws nutrients up from the depths 167 00:25:43,890 --> 00:25:47,690 but nutrients alone can not support life. 168 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,020 There must also be sunlight. 169 00:25:54,230 --> 00:25:58,400 In the spring, as the sun daily climbs higher in the sky 170 00:25:58,660 --> 00:26:00,950 the algae start to grow. 171 00:26:01,830 --> 00:26:07,500 Blooms the size of the Amazon Rainforest turn the seas green. 172 00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:13,250 Individually the algae are tiny 173 00:26:13,670 --> 00:26:19,970 but together, they produce three quarters of all the oxygen in our atmosphere. 174 00:26:23,510 --> 00:26:27,600 They're eaten by an array of bewildering creatures. 175 00:26:27,890 --> 00:26:30,980 Salps appear in the plankton soup. 176 00:26:36,730 --> 00:26:43,410 Individuals link together to form chains which can stretch for fifteen meters. 177 00:26:53,790 --> 00:27:00,050 Pumping water through their bodies they strain out algae and other edible particles. 178 00:27:10,850 --> 00:27:14,020 Comb jellies cruise through the water. 179 00:27:14,270 --> 00:27:17,570 They too flourish in this seasonal soup 180 00:27:17,780 --> 00:27:22,280 and for short periods, they appear in astounding numbers. 181 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,660 Krill, shrimp like creatures. 182 00:27:25,950 --> 00:27:29,250 By weight they're the most abundant animals on the planet. 183 00:27:29,450 --> 00:27:33,670 A single swarm can contain two million tons of them 184 00:27:42,590 --> 00:27:46,220 and that is a lot of fish food. 185 00:27:55,730 --> 00:28:01,030 The shallow temperate seas support the greatest concentrations of fish on our planet. 186 00:28:01,530 --> 00:28:05,660 Huge shoals migrate from their overwintering grounds in the depths 187 00:28:05,740 --> 00:28:08,740 to feed in these rich waters. 188 00:28:17,670 --> 00:28:23,630 It's these shoals that support most of the world's sea mammals. 189 00:28:24,510 --> 00:28:29,760 Sea lions have all the agility and speed needed to collect what they want 190 00:28:30,350 --> 00:28:33,560 and seemingly delight in doing so. 191 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,890 Dusky dolphin, often in pods two hundred strong 192 00:29:12,970 --> 00:29:15,480 work together to reap the harvest. 193 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:24,440 They break up the shoals into smaller, more manageable balls, and all the hunters benefit. 194 00:29:51,930 --> 00:29:56,770 By midsummer, the surface nutrients have all been absorbed. 195 00:29:57,230 --> 00:30:01,770 The algae die and the food chain collapses. 196 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:08,820 In a few special places, however 197 00:30:08,910 --> 00:30:14,040 the temperate seas sustain these levels of life throughout the summer. 198 00:30:14,450 --> 00:30:19,210 Along the coast of California, ocean currents carry a constant supply 199 00:30:19,210 --> 00:30:23,040 of nutrients up from the depths to the surface layers. 200 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:30,590 These upwellings fertilize forests of giant kelp, that thrive in the summer sunshine. 201 00:30:37,810 --> 00:30:41,900 The algal towers are as high as a three story house 202 00:30:42,060 --> 00:30:45,780 and they can grow by half a meter a day. 203 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:05,250 Life in the kelp is as full of drama, as in any other forest 204 00:31:05,590 --> 00:31:08,550 but the cast is less familiar. 205 00:31:09,090 --> 00:31:13,340 An army of sea urchins is mounting an attack. 206 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:22,900 The urchin plague strikes at the kelp's holdfasts their crucial attachments to the rock. 207 00:31:37,540 --> 00:31:44,830 Holdfasts are extremely tough, but each urchin has five teeth, which are self sharpening 208 00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,670 and are replaced every few months. 209 00:31:55,180 --> 00:31:58,810 Urchins fell vast areas of kelp forest 210 00:31:58,970 --> 00:32:03,730 creating clearings know as urchin barrens 211 00:32:06,690 --> 00:32:10,610 yet barrens is a poor description. 212 00:32:14,570 --> 00:32:18,700 Millions of invertebrates invade the seabed. 213 00:32:33,930 --> 00:32:37,220 The most fearsome predator here is a giant. 214 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:44,980 The sunflower starfish is a meter across, with an appetite for brittle stars. 215 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,830 It uses it's feet to taste for prey. 216 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:18,220 When it's actions are speeded up, it becomes clear that the predator's fondness for the brittle stars 217 00:33:18,260 --> 00:33:23,730 is almost matched by the brittle stars ability to get out of the way. 218 00:33:35,900 --> 00:33:41,660 Sand dollars flat sea urchins cluster together as a defense 219 00:33:47,370 --> 00:33:51,920 But it doesn't seem to work against the sunflower starfish. 220 00:33:52,340 --> 00:33:59,300 The predator extrudes it's stomach, and wraps it around it's victims liquefying their soft parts. 221 00:34:00,220 --> 00:34:04,430 Nothing is left of them, except their white skeletons. 222 00:34:11,690 --> 00:34:16,150 The Californian upwellings are seasonal and relatively small 223 00:34:16,530 --> 00:34:19,240 but in Southern Africa they're so big 224 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:25,450 they create seas rich enough to support colonies of over a million seals. 225 00:34:30,330 --> 00:34:35,460 The Benguela Current sweeps along the western coastline of Southern Africa 226 00:34:35,630 --> 00:34:39,680 driving nutrient rich waters up to the surface 227 00:34:41,050 --> 00:34:48,230 and then, at the southern tip of Africa it meets the Agulhas Current, arriving from the east. 228 00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:52,150 The result: even richer waters. 229 00:35:03,910 --> 00:35:09,460 The seals here thrive on a diet of fish and squid. 230 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:16,460 In temperate seas there may actually be more squid than fish. 231 00:35:23,890 --> 00:35:28,060 These are choker squid, and they lay their egg capsules 232 00:35:28,140 --> 00:35:33,440 in sandy shallows bathed by the warmer Agulhas Current. 233 00:35:41,950 --> 00:35:46,450 Each capsule contains a hundred tiny squid. 234 00:35:51,750 --> 00:35:54,580 Within a few days they develop spots of pigment 235 00:35:54,630 --> 00:35:59,300 which, when they're adult, they will use to communicate with one another. 236 00:36:11,940 --> 00:36:14,980 With females continuing to lay eggs 237 00:36:14,940 --> 00:36:22,070 and males still preoccupied with repelling rivals, the squid drop their guard. 238 00:36:25,660 --> 00:36:27,330 Stingray. 239 00:36:34,920 --> 00:36:39,590 Short tailed stingray can be up to two meters across. 240 00:36:45,550 --> 00:36:51,100 They're the largest of all the stingrays, and they have appetites to match. 241 00:37:20,170 --> 00:37:23,380 Another predator is on the prowl. 242 00:37:25,510 --> 00:37:29,300 The aptly named ragged tooth shark. 243 00:37:33,390 --> 00:37:39,980 Raggies grow to three meters long, but they share these waters with a shark twice their size. 244 00:37:57,210 --> 00:38:00,040 The great white. 245 00:38:01,420 --> 00:38:05,300 The largest predatory fish on the planet. 246 00:38:11,970 --> 00:38:17,140 Each dawn cape fur seals leave their colony to go fishing. 247 00:38:18,350 --> 00:38:22,570 To reach the open sea, they must cross a narrow strip of water 248 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:27,650 and that is patrolled by great whites. 249 00:38:36,750 --> 00:38:40,830 Each seal is indeed swimming for it's life. 250 00:39:04,190 --> 00:39:07,400 The shark relies on surprise. 251 00:40:08,590 --> 00:40:13,720 The great white's turn of speed is powered by a high metabolism. 252 00:40:14,010 --> 00:40:17,060 They only thrive in cold temperate seas 253 00:40:17,060 --> 00:40:23,810 for only these waters contain sufficient food necessary to fuel such a ravenous predator. 254 00:40:56,550 --> 00:41:00,430 As you travel towards the poles north or south 255 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:05,400 the colder, stormier seas can become even richer. 256 00:41:07,230 --> 00:41:10,780 Midway between South Africa and the South Pole 257 00:41:11,190 --> 00:41:14,860 lies the isolated island of Marion. 258 00:41:20,660 --> 00:41:24,620 The island sits in the infamous "roaring forties" 259 00:41:24,750 --> 00:41:29,670 where incessant gale force winds draw nutrients up from the depths 260 00:41:29,750 --> 00:41:33,460 ensuring plenty of food for king penguins. 261 00:41:36,510 --> 00:41:41,810 The kings are returning from a three day fishing trip, with food for their chicks 262 00:41:42,020 --> 00:41:47,770 But first they must cross a crowded beach, threading their way between gigantic 263 00:41:47,940 --> 00:41:51,440 and bad tempered elephant seals. 264 00:42:02,410 --> 00:42:05,750 The two hundred thousand penguins breeding here 265 00:42:05,710 --> 00:42:09,250 are testament to the richness of the fishing. 266 00:42:13,340 --> 00:42:17,090 King chicks are dependent on their mothers for over a year 267 00:42:17,180 --> 00:42:21,430 and this puts a great deal of pressure on the parents. 268 00:42:35,650 --> 00:42:42,330 Being flightless, the returning penguins must cross the open beach on foot. 269 00:43:14,820 --> 00:43:19,450 Fur seals, that have come to the beach to breed, are waiting for them. 270 00:43:27,870 --> 00:43:30,710 Fur seals normally live on krill 271 00:43:30,870 --> 00:43:36,750 but these have now acquired an unexpected taste for blubber rich penguins. 272 00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,480 Penguins may be featherweights by comparison 273 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,900 but they have razor sharp bills and a feisty character. 274 00:44:39,980 --> 00:44:42,320 The seal could easily lose an eye. 275 00:44:42,490 --> 00:44:48,700 The only safe way to grab a penguin is from behind, and the birds are well aware of that. 276 00:45:11,220 --> 00:45:14,060 Both animals are clumsy on this terrain 277 00:45:14,190 --> 00:45:16,980 but the penguin has the more to lose. 278 00:45:29,330 --> 00:45:30,790 Made it. 279 00:45:31,830 --> 00:45:35,210 Two out of three penguins survive the seal attacks 280 00:45:35,250 --> 00:45:38,960 and succeed in reaching their ever hungry chicks. 281 00:46:09,450 --> 00:46:14,040 The humpbacks are nearing the end of their epic journeys. 282 00:46:19,420 --> 00:46:25,130 After two months and thousands of miles, they're entering the polar seas 283 00:46:25,300 --> 00:46:28,640 both in the north and the south. 284 00:46:39,230 --> 00:46:46,150 In the far north, winter is over at last and the ice is starting to melt. 285 00:46:50,070 --> 00:46:53,540 The Aleutian Island chain running west from Alaska 286 00:46:53,740 --> 00:46:56,410 is the gateway to the Bearing Sea. 287 00:46:56,660 --> 00:47:03,630 With the retreating ice, rough weather and ferocious currents stir up these shallow seas. 288 00:47:03,750 --> 00:47:08,680 Add sunshine and the mix is spectacularly productive. 289 00:47:18,850 --> 00:47:25,530 Five million shearwaters have flown almost ten thousand miles from Australia to get here. 290 00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:29,820 In all eighty million seabirds come here for the summer 291 00:47:29,900 --> 00:47:34,740 the greatest concentration to be found anywhere on Earth. 292 00:47:47,840 --> 00:47:51,430 The humpbacks have finally arrived. 293 00:48:10,570 --> 00:48:14,820 The giant shearwater flocks hunt the krill swarms 294 00:48:14,870 --> 00:48:19,580 sometimes diving to depths of forty meters to reach them. 295 00:48:43,100 --> 00:48:48,570 A large humpback eats three tons of krill a day. 296 00:49:00,910 --> 00:49:05,290 The polar seas in summer are the most productive on the planet 297 00:49:05,420 --> 00:49:09,130 and the whales gorge themselves round the clock. 298 00:49:16,300 --> 00:49:21,640 The fat reserves they lay down now will keep them alive during the year to come 299 00:49:23,180 --> 00:49:25,730 but it may not always be this way. 300 00:49:26,020 --> 00:49:29,440 Fish and krill stocks are declining so rapidly 301 00:49:29,650 --> 00:49:34,280 that spectacles like this may soon be part of history. 302 00:49:43,620 --> 00:49:49,670 Once the mother and calf have reached their feeding grounds, they will separate. 303 00:49:52,760 --> 00:49:57,220 With luck, the calf will make the epic journey across the oceans 304 00:49:57,220 --> 00:50:01,350 from equator to pole another seventy times 305 00:50:01,970 --> 00:50:05,600 cruising back and forth between the shallow seas 306 00:50:05,940 --> 00:50:13,280 where life proliferates so abundantly on our planet. 266 00:50:20,985 --> 00:50:35,985 © anoXmous @ http://thepiratebay.sx/user/Zen_Bud