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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:06,607 --> 00:00:09,410 For centuries we've fantasized 2 00:00:09,410 --> 00:00:12,746 about alien life on other planets. 3 00:00:12,746 --> 00:00:16,917 And because life as we know it needs water, 4 00:00:16,917 --> 00:00:20,121 we imagined seas on the moon, 5 00:00:20,121 --> 00:00:22,690 rivers on Mars, 6 00:00:22,690 --> 00:00:26,727 and lakes beneath Europa's icy surface. 7 00:00:26,727 --> 00:00:31,132 So far, we've discovered only dust 8 00:00:31,132 --> 00:00:34,268 except on this watery blue marble, 9 00:00:34,268 --> 00:00:38,239 where inner space hides creatures 10 00:00:38,239 --> 00:00:42,476 as weird as anything extraterrestrial. 11 00:00:42,476 --> 00:00:45,012 There are oceans of oddballs... 12 00:00:45,012 --> 00:00:46,714 with strange shapes, 13 00:00:46,714 --> 00:00:51,185 strange rituals, and strange bedfellows... 14 00:00:51,185 --> 00:00:55,189 right here in Earth's own 15 00:00:55,189 --> 00:00:57,158 "Alien Abyss." 16 00:01:04,031 --> 00:01:05,666 Sci-Fi writers have come up 17 00:01:05,666 --> 00:01:07,868 with some pretty strange rituals 18 00:01:07,868 --> 00:01:09,170 for their alien characters. 19 00:01:10,404 --> 00:01:12,140 Turn off that tickle ray! 20 00:01:15,143 --> 00:01:16,810 But science fiction 21 00:01:16,810 --> 00:01:19,613 doesn't even scratch the surface 22 00:01:19,613 --> 00:01:22,716 of what goes on right under our noses. 23 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,290 The ocean is full of alien lovers 24 00:01:29,290 --> 00:01:33,161 of free-love love-ins... 25 00:01:33,161 --> 00:01:36,230 swashbuckling sex shifters... 26 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,270 And works of erotic alien art. 27 00:01:44,872 --> 00:01:48,676 Every animal faces two fundamental challenges. 28 00:01:50,411 --> 00:01:53,914 There's transferring your genetic material... 29 00:01:58,352 --> 00:02:01,489 And making sure some of your offspring survive 30 00:02:01,489 --> 00:02:05,793 to carry on your own peculiar genes. 31 00:02:05,793 --> 00:02:08,929 As long as you meet those simple criteria, 32 00:02:08,929 --> 00:02:11,932 anything goes. 33 00:02:11,932 --> 00:02:14,034 And there's some pretty strange ways 34 00:02:14,034 --> 00:02:18,572 to get your DNA into the next generation. 35 00:02:18,572 --> 00:02:21,008 Let's start with the Big Bang. 36 00:02:27,415 --> 00:02:32,220 In the beginning, darkness was over the face of the deep... 37 00:02:32,220 --> 00:02:34,988 because it was night 38 00:02:34,988 --> 00:02:38,326 at the bottom of the sea. 39 00:02:38,326 --> 00:02:41,395 And then there was light. 40 00:02:43,130 --> 00:02:45,633 It was the moon, 41 00:02:45,633 --> 00:02:50,037 and verily did the squid answer the moon's call. 42 00:02:50,037 --> 00:02:54,808 They had a massive orgy, and everybody died. 43 00:02:54,808 --> 00:02:56,677 Wait, what? 44 00:02:56,677 --> 00:02:58,479 Let's back this up a bit. 45 00:03:00,648 --> 00:03:03,116 This is the opalescent squid. 46 00:03:07,955 --> 00:03:11,259 It lives along North America's Pacific Coast 47 00:03:11,259 --> 00:03:12,993 over the continental shelf. 48 00:03:16,764 --> 00:03:20,568 It's an unremarkable squid in most respects... 49 00:03:20,568 --> 00:03:24,772 medium-sized, short-lived. 50 00:03:24,772 --> 00:03:27,675 Seriously, six to nine months of feeding on krill, 51 00:03:27,675 --> 00:03:29,443 and that's it. 52 00:03:29,443 --> 00:03:31,945 But at least it ends with a bang. 53 00:03:31,945 --> 00:03:34,515 That really is the scientific term-- 54 00:03:34,515 --> 00:03:36,650 big bang mating. 55 00:03:37,785 --> 00:03:39,887 And so here we are, 56 00:03:39,887 --> 00:03:43,957 one moonlit night half a year or so after these guys hatched. 57 00:03:46,193 --> 00:03:48,629 All the local squid of breeding age 58 00:03:48,629 --> 00:03:52,065 have moved into shallow inshore water... 59 00:03:52,065 --> 00:03:55,202 so everyone can check each other out. 60 00:03:56,670 --> 00:03:58,872 Then the pairing up begins. 61 00:04:01,375 --> 00:04:04,612 Males take willing females in a tender embrace. 62 00:04:06,547 --> 00:04:08,349 They've prepared for this moment 63 00:04:08,349 --> 00:04:10,150 by storing up packets of sperm 64 00:04:10,150 --> 00:04:13,787 called spermatophores under their mantles. 65 00:04:13,787 --> 00:04:16,924 That's the part that looks like a long pointy hat. 66 00:04:19,327 --> 00:04:22,663 Mating is as simple as handing one of these packets over 67 00:04:22,663 --> 00:04:25,198 and hanging on. 68 00:04:25,198 --> 00:04:28,201 Most males use the guard strategy. 69 00:04:28,201 --> 00:04:30,371 They try to hold on to their partner 70 00:04:30,371 --> 00:04:32,473 to the bitter end. 71 00:04:32,473 --> 00:04:36,977 Their plan is to make sure she doesn't mate with anyone else. 72 00:04:38,846 --> 00:04:40,948 This is, after all, their one shot 73 00:04:40,948 --> 00:04:44,051 at staying in the gene pool. 74 00:04:44,051 --> 00:04:47,187 The guards flash angry red at any males 75 00:04:47,187 --> 00:04:50,424 that try to muscle in. 76 00:04:50,424 --> 00:04:52,660 And plenty do. 77 00:04:55,796 --> 00:04:59,066 Sneaky little guys called sneakers. 78 00:05:01,369 --> 00:05:05,373 Their game plan is to sneak up on as many females as possible 79 00:05:05,373 --> 00:05:09,777 and sneakily sneak their sperm under her mantle... 80 00:05:09,777 --> 00:05:12,380 even if she's already attached. 81 00:05:21,221 --> 00:05:25,759 Once the frenzy has died down, the females lay eggs. 82 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,137 These they attach to the sandy bottom with a sticky cement. 83 00:05:41,809 --> 00:05:43,176 And that's it. 84 00:05:44,578 --> 00:05:47,515 Males and females have saved up all their energy 85 00:05:47,515 --> 00:05:51,051 for this one night of synchronized mating. 86 00:05:52,420 --> 00:05:55,823 And then everybody dies. 87 00:05:55,823 --> 00:05:59,092 By morning, scavengers have already eaten 88 00:05:59,092 --> 00:06:01,061 most of the adults. 89 00:06:03,464 --> 00:06:06,434 The eggs, with their tough protective protein sheaths 90 00:06:06,434 --> 00:06:09,970 are not that appealing. 91 00:06:09,970 --> 00:06:12,940 Although the parents pay a high price, 92 00:06:12,940 --> 00:06:15,509 squid babies are cheap to produce. 93 00:06:19,179 --> 00:06:23,150 Each mom and dad pair can make 4,000 potential replacements 94 00:06:23,150 --> 00:06:26,720 for themselves and leave the rest to chance. 95 00:06:32,993 --> 00:06:35,929 Octopuses, close relatives of squid, 96 00:06:35,929 --> 00:06:39,467 are easily the most alien creatures in the ocean... 97 00:06:39,467 --> 00:06:43,537 so, of course, they do once-in-a-lifetime mating 98 00:06:43,537 --> 00:06:45,573 their own peculiar way. 99 00:06:47,140 --> 00:06:50,177 They do it slowly. 100 00:06:50,177 --> 00:06:52,580 In preparation, males and females 101 00:06:52,580 --> 00:06:55,215 begin digesting their own muscle tissue 102 00:06:55,215 --> 00:06:58,719 to make sperm and eggs. 103 00:06:58,719 --> 00:07:01,689 There is one problem, though. 104 00:07:01,689 --> 00:07:04,625 Mating requires meeting. 105 00:07:04,625 --> 00:07:07,561 And if there's one thing an octopus hates, 106 00:07:07,561 --> 00:07:09,497 it's another octopus. 107 00:07:14,401 --> 00:07:17,505 Encounters usually lead to violence... 108 00:07:22,543 --> 00:07:25,946 Sometimes even... 109 00:07:25,946 --> 00:07:28,148 cannibalism! 110 00:07:32,786 --> 00:07:37,525 Hence this male day octopus approaches a female with care. 111 00:07:39,226 --> 00:07:41,562 He has one thing going for him, though. 112 00:07:41,562 --> 00:07:44,264 Because they don't meet many of their own kind, 113 00:07:44,264 --> 00:07:47,868 the female is not fussy. 114 00:07:47,868 --> 00:07:49,703 He'll do. 115 00:07:52,773 --> 00:07:55,342 Not that she's going to stop hunting fish 116 00:07:55,342 --> 00:07:59,212 just because some guy puts his hectocotylus inside her. 117 00:08:01,014 --> 00:08:02,550 He doesn't mind. 118 00:08:02,550 --> 00:08:05,753 He's literally thinking with his reproductive organ. 119 00:08:08,388 --> 00:08:10,858 His hectocotylus is one of his arms 120 00:08:10,858 --> 00:08:12,826 adapted for sperm delivery, 121 00:08:12,826 --> 00:08:17,565 and like all his arms, it has its own brain cells. 122 00:08:17,565 --> 00:08:20,233 Being able to keep his reproductive partner 123 00:08:20,233 --> 00:08:22,335 at arm's length is quite handy 124 00:08:22,335 --> 00:08:26,907 for an octo-dad because, you know... 125 00:08:26,907 --> 00:08:28,776 cannibalism. 126 00:08:31,579 --> 00:08:35,749 But inseminating is a delicate operation. 127 00:08:35,749 --> 00:08:38,351 A male must snake his hectocotylus 128 00:08:38,351 --> 00:08:41,254 into his partner's siphon. 129 00:08:41,254 --> 00:08:43,190 That's the tube she also uses 130 00:08:43,190 --> 00:08:46,293 for breathing and jet propulsion. 131 00:08:46,293 --> 00:08:49,262 If he succeeds, he'll leave a packet of sperm 132 00:08:49,262 --> 00:08:51,832 in a holding area below her ovaries 133 00:08:51,832 --> 00:08:55,068 ready for her to use. 134 00:08:55,068 --> 00:08:57,470 If she doesn't eat him first, 135 00:08:57,470 --> 00:09:00,874 he'll die in a matter of months. 136 00:09:07,615 --> 00:09:10,818 A female octopus may keep her packet of sperm tucked away 137 00:09:10,818 --> 00:09:15,088 for several weeks before she's ready to use it. 138 00:09:15,088 --> 00:09:16,624 When she does, 139 00:09:16,624 --> 00:09:20,260 she signs her own death warrant. 140 00:09:20,260 --> 00:09:22,262 This blue-ringed octopus 141 00:09:22,262 --> 00:09:24,998 is looking for her final resting place. 142 00:09:24,998 --> 00:09:28,235 Sorry, I mean nesting place. 143 00:09:28,235 --> 00:09:33,240 Barely 20 centimetres long, all she needs is a nice rock. 144 00:09:35,743 --> 00:09:39,512 Whereas a female giant Pacific octopus 145 00:09:39,512 --> 00:09:41,649 needs a full-sized cave. 146 00:09:45,653 --> 00:09:48,488 She strings her eggs up from the ceiling, 147 00:09:48,488 --> 00:09:50,323 tens of thousands of them. 148 00:09:54,494 --> 00:09:56,964 She tends every one of them for six months, 149 00:09:56,964 --> 00:10:00,467 grooming and blowing oxygen-rich water over them. 150 00:10:02,369 --> 00:10:04,371 She doesn't eat. 151 00:10:04,371 --> 00:10:06,406 Food scraps could attract predators 152 00:10:06,406 --> 00:10:08,842 or be a source of infection. 153 00:10:11,111 --> 00:10:13,747 Her final, most alien act 154 00:10:13,747 --> 00:10:17,017 is to starve herself to death for her children. 155 00:10:18,986 --> 00:10:21,922 With her last remaining strength, 156 00:10:21,922 --> 00:10:25,358 she blows the hatching eggs out into the water. 157 00:10:27,961 --> 00:10:29,863 Despite all her care, 158 00:10:29,863 --> 00:10:34,702 only one in a hundred of these newborn orphans will survive. 159 00:10:34,702 --> 00:10:38,405 The rest are insurance. 160 00:10:40,207 --> 00:10:42,209 Taken to extremes, 161 00:10:42,209 --> 00:10:45,512 this strategy of making a lot of extra babies 162 00:10:45,512 --> 00:10:47,514 is something of a dark art. 163 00:10:47,514 --> 00:10:50,417 It's called predator swamping... 164 00:10:51,919 --> 00:11:03,363 A brutally practical way to win at reproduction. 165 00:11:03,363 --> 00:11:05,465 Out there in the abyss, 166 00:11:05,465 --> 00:11:10,037 an alien army lurches unseen towards the shore... 167 00:11:10,037 --> 00:11:12,372 ready to take on any predators 168 00:11:12,372 --> 00:11:14,742 that might threaten their babies. 169 00:11:14,742 --> 00:11:18,779 Their strategy-- overfeed the enemy. 170 00:11:22,582 --> 00:11:25,318 The well-armored American horseshoe crab 171 00:11:25,318 --> 00:11:27,520 looks like a spaceship 172 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,791 but, really, it's more of a time traveler. 173 00:11:33,093 --> 00:11:34,895 They have changed very little 174 00:11:34,895 --> 00:11:38,598 for 450 million years. 175 00:11:38,598 --> 00:11:41,935 They're not crabs or even crustaceans, 176 00:11:41,935 --> 00:11:45,605 but relatives of now-extinct sea scorpions. 177 00:11:47,975 --> 00:11:50,210 Their tail has no sting. 178 00:11:50,210 --> 00:11:52,145 It helps the crabs right themselves 179 00:11:52,145 --> 00:11:55,883 if they tip over on their long spawning journey. 180 00:12:00,220 --> 00:12:03,323 Some have walked for 100 kilometres 181 00:12:03,323 --> 00:12:04,792 from the continental shelf 182 00:12:04,792 --> 00:12:07,427 to be at the love-in in Delaware Bay. 183 00:12:08,996 --> 00:12:12,032 It's business time. 184 00:12:12,032 --> 00:12:14,267 They are guided by the phases of the moon 185 00:12:14,267 --> 00:12:16,804 to spawn at extra-high tides, 186 00:12:16,804 --> 00:12:19,539 laying their eggs on the beach. 187 00:12:23,076 --> 00:12:25,412 The larger females release pheromones 188 00:12:25,412 --> 00:12:28,581 that drive the smaller males wild. 189 00:12:30,117 --> 00:12:33,921 The lucky ones get a ride up the beach with a partner. 190 00:12:35,588 --> 00:12:38,225 As she lays her eggs in the sand, 191 00:12:38,225 --> 00:12:40,360 he fertilizes them. 192 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,530 It's an orgy of confusion. 193 00:12:45,598 --> 00:12:48,902 They haven't spent those 450 million years 194 00:12:48,902 --> 00:12:51,404 working on their choreography. 195 00:12:57,510 --> 00:12:59,712 Lesser males trail behind, 196 00:12:59,712 --> 00:13:03,083 scattering sperm as they go. 197 00:13:03,083 --> 00:13:04,751 On the beach, 198 00:13:04,852 --> 00:13:09,056 the fertilized eggs are safe from marine predators. 199 00:13:09,056 --> 00:13:12,259 Unfortunately, they're easy pickings 200 00:13:12,259 --> 00:13:14,227 for land predators. 201 00:13:19,199 --> 00:13:21,134 The eggs are an important food source 202 00:13:21,134 --> 00:13:23,203 for hordes of migrating seabirds 203 00:13:23,203 --> 00:13:27,240 that time their stopover with this bonanza. 204 00:13:29,209 --> 00:13:31,511 It looks like slaughter, 205 00:13:31,511 --> 00:13:33,513 but across the bay, 206 00:13:33,513 --> 00:13:35,615 hundreds of thousands of females 207 00:13:35,615 --> 00:13:37,350 lay billions of eggs. 208 00:13:37,350 --> 00:13:40,320 There is no way the birds can eat them all. 209 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,156 That's predator swamping. 210 00:13:43,156 --> 00:13:45,158 In a fortnight's time, 211 00:13:45,158 --> 00:13:49,062 the survivors will hatch and be washed into the sea. 212 00:13:50,931 --> 00:13:53,633 Clearly, there are some strange goings-on 213 00:13:53,633 --> 00:13:56,269 down there in the abyss... 214 00:13:56,269 --> 00:13:59,606 but so far, there's been at least one familiar thing 215 00:13:59,606 --> 00:14:01,441 to hold on to. 216 00:14:01,441 --> 00:14:05,212 It takes a female and a male to make a baby, 217 00:14:05,212 --> 00:14:07,214 doesn't it? 218 00:14:07,214 --> 00:14:09,950 Well, not quite. 219 00:14:17,958 --> 00:14:21,794 Coral reefs are fascinating, colourful places... 220 00:14:21,794 --> 00:14:25,933 full of fascinating, colourful creatures. 221 00:14:25,933 --> 00:14:27,634 Some of the parents here 222 00:14:27,634 --> 00:14:29,937 look like they come from outer space-- 223 00:14:29,937 --> 00:14:33,073 all bulging eyes and weird appendages. 224 00:14:33,073 --> 00:14:36,343 But strangeness is in the eye of the beholder. 225 00:14:38,245 --> 00:14:41,949 Take the traditional division of male and female genders. 226 00:14:43,816 --> 00:14:45,953 Those fall apart on the reef, 227 00:14:45,953 --> 00:14:49,389 where gender can flow as freely as the currents. 228 00:14:51,824 --> 00:14:53,793 Ribbon eels, for instance, 229 00:14:53,793 --> 00:14:56,163 are small morays with colourful bodies 230 00:14:56,163 --> 00:14:59,566 and even more colourful sex lives. 231 00:14:59,566 --> 00:15:04,004 Like other morays, they spend much of their time in burrows, 232 00:15:04,004 --> 00:15:06,706 picking off passing fish. 233 00:15:09,309 --> 00:15:11,311 The males are blue. 234 00:15:11,311 --> 00:15:13,446 The females, yellow. 235 00:15:14,982 --> 00:15:16,783 Nothing weird about that, 236 00:15:16,783 --> 00:15:19,519 except that they are all born 237 00:15:19,519 --> 00:15:22,990 as males and black. 238 00:15:22,990 --> 00:15:26,193 Within a few years, juvenile males turn blue, 239 00:15:26,193 --> 00:15:29,396 signalling they're ready to mate. 240 00:15:29,396 --> 00:15:33,000 But who with if they're all born male? 241 00:15:34,267 --> 00:15:39,006 Older versions of themselves is who. 242 00:15:39,006 --> 00:15:41,674 When they reach about a meter in length, 243 00:15:41,674 --> 00:15:45,545 the males turn yellow and female. 244 00:15:47,147 --> 00:15:50,117 Ribbon eels are sequential hermaphrodites-- 245 00:15:50,117 --> 00:15:54,021 first one gender, then the other. 246 00:15:54,021 --> 00:15:57,657 There are also fish that swing the other way. 247 00:15:57,657 --> 00:15:59,926 Parrotfish, for example. 248 00:16:00,027 --> 00:16:02,429 They start life as females 249 00:16:02,429 --> 00:16:06,766 and only become colourful males when they reach a certain size. 250 00:16:06,766 --> 00:16:11,038 Some gobies can change sex repeatedly in either direction. 251 00:16:12,705 --> 00:16:14,474 They can go from producing eggs 252 00:16:14,474 --> 00:16:17,044 to producing sperm in a matter of days, 253 00:16:17,044 --> 00:16:20,580 depending on what the local population needs. 254 00:16:22,182 --> 00:16:25,585 Cleaner shrimp start life as males... 255 00:16:25,585 --> 00:16:29,456 and grow up to become monogamous hermaphrodites. 256 00:16:29,456 --> 00:16:31,158 Cute couple. 257 00:16:32,259 --> 00:16:35,062 And the sorority of soft squishy sea slugs, 258 00:16:35,062 --> 00:16:37,497 otherwise known as "nudibranchs" 259 00:16:37,497 --> 00:16:39,132 is also a fraternity. 260 00:16:41,234 --> 00:16:45,772 Nudis are simultaneous hermaphrodites. 261 00:16:45,772 --> 00:16:47,107 They maintain a full set 262 00:16:47,107 --> 00:16:49,509 of male and female reproductive organs 263 00:16:49,509 --> 00:16:51,544 all their lives. 264 00:16:51,544 --> 00:16:54,414 There are over 3,000 species of nudibranch, 265 00:16:54,414 --> 00:16:57,450 so you know they're onto a good thing. 266 00:16:57,450 --> 00:17:01,388 They're a Mardi Gras of dazzling colours... 267 00:17:01,388 --> 00:17:05,092 and dazzling abilities. 268 00:17:05,092 --> 00:17:07,894 This one has a detachable penis 269 00:17:07,894 --> 00:17:10,230 coiled up inside its body. 270 00:17:10,230 --> 00:17:13,933 Every time it mates, it sheds the end of its penis 271 00:17:13,933 --> 00:17:17,104 like a lizard sheds its tail. 272 00:17:17,104 --> 00:17:19,106 For all their abilities, 273 00:17:19,106 --> 00:17:21,941 nudis still need to meet another of their kind. 274 00:17:21,941 --> 00:17:24,544 They can't fertilize themselves. 275 00:17:26,613 --> 00:17:30,317 Being hermaphrodites guarantees that when they do meet someone, 276 00:17:30,317 --> 00:17:33,386 it'll be someone with the opposite sex. 277 00:17:35,122 --> 00:17:38,891 How do they decide which one is what one? 278 00:17:38,891 --> 00:17:40,560 They don't. 279 00:17:41,994 --> 00:17:44,731 When two nudibranchs fancy each other, 280 00:17:44,731 --> 00:17:46,366 they line up their organs, 281 00:17:46,366 --> 00:17:49,869 male to female and female to male 282 00:17:49,869 --> 00:17:53,140 and each fertilizes the other. 283 00:17:55,242 --> 00:17:59,179 This little weirdo is no nudibranch. 284 00:17:59,179 --> 00:18:02,349 The big giveaway? No gills. 285 00:18:02,349 --> 00:18:05,518 That's these feathery bits on the nudi. 286 00:18:07,254 --> 00:18:10,490 This alien dancer is a marine flatworm, 287 00:18:10,490 --> 00:18:13,893 but it, too, is a simultaneous hermaphrodite 288 00:18:13,893 --> 00:18:15,528 with a difference. 289 00:18:17,630 --> 00:18:20,032 Flatworms are not sharing and caring 290 00:18:20,032 --> 00:18:22,335 like their sea slug relatives. 291 00:18:24,271 --> 00:18:27,707 When two flatworms arrange an assignation, 292 00:18:27,707 --> 00:18:29,842 it's a duel. 293 00:18:29,842 --> 00:18:33,380 Both combatants know that the cost of rearing children 294 00:18:33,380 --> 00:18:36,416 is much higher than the cost of a bit of sperm. 295 00:18:36,416 --> 00:18:39,952 They fight for the right to be the dad. 296 00:18:39,952 --> 00:18:42,755 It's called penis fencing. 297 00:18:46,293 --> 00:18:49,696 And if that's not weird enough, get this-- 298 00:18:49,696 --> 00:18:53,233 the father-to-be is the one that manages to stab the other 299 00:18:53,233 --> 00:18:56,203 with his penis and inject his sperm. 300 00:18:57,470 --> 00:19:00,740 Scientists call it traumatic insemination. 301 00:19:04,110 --> 00:19:05,878 And finally in our roundup 302 00:19:05,878 --> 00:19:08,381 of alternative reproductive strategies, 303 00:19:08,381 --> 00:19:11,684 a shout-out to the seahorses. 304 00:19:11,684 --> 00:19:14,454 These most bizarre-looking fish 305 00:19:14,454 --> 00:19:17,123 have perhaps the most novel division of labor 306 00:19:17,224 --> 00:19:19,826 among the sexes. 307 00:19:19,826 --> 00:19:21,594 Mom made the eggs, 308 00:19:21,594 --> 00:19:25,798 but it's dad that incubates them in his brood pouch. 309 00:19:27,099 --> 00:19:28,901 This alien dad boldly goes 310 00:19:28,901 --> 00:19:32,239 where no other fathers have gone before... 311 00:19:32,239 --> 00:19:33,973 into labor. 312 00:19:35,708 --> 00:19:38,745 It works for them because it frees the female up 313 00:19:38,745 --> 00:19:41,981 to start making a new batch of eggs. 314 00:19:43,883 --> 00:19:45,618 But even more traditional creatures 315 00:19:45,618 --> 00:19:47,587 can have some seriously strange ways 316 00:19:47,587 --> 00:19:49,856 to spawn the next generation. 317 00:19:52,158 --> 00:19:56,529 Sometimes making new life is dicing with death. 318 00:20:05,037 --> 00:20:09,542 Penguins may be familiar, but they're aliens twice over. 319 00:20:12,479 --> 00:20:15,415 Birds so fully adapted to the life aquatic 320 00:20:15,415 --> 00:20:19,286 that, on land, they're like fish out of water. 321 00:20:19,286 --> 00:20:22,755 And yet, that terrestrial environment 322 00:20:22,755 --> 00:20:25,157 is where they go to raise their young. 323 00:20:31,664 --> 00:20:34,233 King penguins are slightly smaller relatives 324 00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:36,436 of the more famous emperor. 325 00:20:36,436 --> 00:20:39,005 They breed on rocky subantarctic islands 326 00:20:39,005 --> 00:20:41,207 like South Georgia. 327 00:20:44,811 --> 00:20:48,147 They share the emperor's fancy clothes... 328 00:20:48,147 --> 00:20:52,018 so you might think you know how this tale goes. 329 00:20:52,018 --> 00:20:53,686 You don't. 330 00:20:53,686 --> 00:20:57,324 This one is much darker and disturbing. 331 00:21:00,126 --> 00:21:02,662 It starts out normally enough. 332 00:21:02,662 --> 00:21:04,831 One fine spring day, 333 00:21:04,831 --> 00:21:08,701 some prospective penguin parents waddle up the beach. 334 00:21:08,701 --> 00:21:11,504 Before they start courting, they moult. 335 00:21:11,504 --> 00:21:14,006 Got to look your best. 336 00:21:14,006 --> 00:21:16,809 Fresh feathers are ready at the start of summer 337 00:21:16,809 --> 00:21:19,045 when their food is most plentiful. 338 00:21:19,045 --> 00:21:22,382 It's a great time for highly energetic activities 339 00:21:22,382 --> 00:21:23,616 like courting... 340 00:21:25,752 --> 00:21:27,654 mating... 341 00:21:27,654 --> 00:21:30,890 and taking it in turns to incubate the egg. 342 00:21:32,459 --> 00:21:35,895 It gets really busy when the thing hatches. 343 00:21:37,530 --> 00:21:41,401 The little darlings are insatiable. 344 00:21:41,401 --> 00:21:46,172 Cue weeks and weeks of fishing and feeding... 345 00:21:46,172 --> 00:21:49,442 fishing, and feeding. 346 00:21:52,479 --> 00:21:54,080 The brown, fluffy chicks 347 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:56,883 segregate themselves in crèches. 348 00:21:56,883 --> 00:22:00,152 They're so big and un-chick-looking 349 00:22:00,152 --> 00:22:03,122 that early explorers thought they were a separate species, 350 00:22:03,122 --> 00:22:06,593 which they called "the wooly penguin." 351 00:22:06,593 --> 00:22:08,895 And then comes the alien twist. 352 00:22:10,296 --> 00:22:13,900 Winter is here, and the chicks are not ready. 353 00:22:18,170 --> 00:22:20,440 Having diligently fed them for weeks, 354 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,175 their parents abandon them. 355 00:22:30,517 --> 00:22:33,953 The chicks must fast through the winter. 356 00:22:33,953 --> 00:22:37,223 One breeding season simply isn't long enough 357 00:22:37,223 --> 00:22:39,626 to raise them to adulthood. 358 00:22:44,230 --> 00:22:46,198 Come the following spring, 359 00:22:46,198 --> 00:22:49,301 mom and dad return to find the survivors 360 00:22:49,301 --> 00:22:51,303 and fatten them up again. 361 00:22:51,303 --> 00:22:53,773 Still alive, Junior? Wake up! 362 00:23:02,081 --> 00:23:05,084 Junior fledges just as summer arrives, 363 00:23:05,084 --> 00:23:07,954 and food in the sea is plentiful again. 364 00:23:07,954 --> 00:23:09,922 That's good. 365 00:23:09,922 --> 00:23:12,925 By now, it's too late in the season for mom and dad 366 00:23:12,925 --> 00:23:16,195 to start a new family with any hope of success. 367 00:23:18,197 --> 00:23:20,199 But they do it anyway. 368 00:23:20,199 --> 00:23:22,735 That's not so good. 369 00:23:23,770 --> 00:23:26,939 These late-born chicks usually die. 370 00:23:28,307 --> 00:23:30,276 But at least that frees mom and dad up 371 00:23:30,276 --> 00:23:33,145 to start early again in their third year. 372 00:23:35,147 --> 00:23:37,149 Strange birds. 373 00:23:45,191 --> 00:23:50,062 If birds can swim, then why shouldn't fish... 374 00:23:52,699 --> 00:23:54,400 Fly? 375 00:24:03,242 --> 00:24:07,680 These magnificent mutants have fins so aerodynamic, 376 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,717 they can leave the sea behind. 377 00:24:11,784 --> 00:24:13,152 In the right conditions, 378 00:24:13,152 --> 00:24:16,222 they can fly for hundreds of meters. 379 00:24:22,895 --> 00:24:25,765 The wide-open seas of the Caribbean 380 00:24:25,765 --> 00:24:28,768 are bound with freaky flying fish. 381 00:24:31,738 --> 00:24:36,242 The sea and the airspace above... 382 00:24:36,242 --> 00:24:41,080 flying is a great way to escape marine predators. 383 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,884 There's no telling where they'll touch down. 384 00:24:50,990 --> 00:24:54,293 This flock is looking for a place to spawn... 385 00:24:54,293 --> 00:24:58,230 but they're open-water fish, always on the move. 386 00:24:58,230 --> 00:25:02,569 No solid reefs or seagrass beds for them. 387 00:25:02,569 --> 00:25:05,938 So, when nature provides a suitable landing pad, 388 00:25:05,938 --> 00:25:08,007 they waste no time. 389 00:25:09,809 --> 00:25:11,711 The early birds launch themselves 390 00:25:11,711 --> 00:25:13,179 onto the palm frond 391 00:25:13,179 --> 00:25:15,347 and wiggle into the safest crevices 392 00:25:15,347 --> 00:25:16,716 to spawn. 393 00:25:23,322 --> 00:25:26,593 Below the waves, more flying fish respond, 394 00:25:26,593 --> 00:25:30,597 working themselves up into a lather of eggs and sperm. 395 00:25:32,899 --> 00:25:34,967 Within minutes, hundreds of fish 396 00:25:34,967 --> 00:25:37,069 cover the floating island. 397 00:25:40,940 --> 00:25:45,044 The drive to find a safe place for their eggs is so strong, 398 00:25:45,044 --> 00:25:48,414 some become entombed in their own spawn. 399 00:25:52,284 --> 00:25:55,287 The survivors leave the next generation 400 00:25:55,287 --> 00:25:59,626 to drift with the currents and hatch who knows where. 401 00:26:00,860 --> 00:26:03,195 It's time to fly. 402 00:26:07,199 --> 00:26:10,136 Straddling two worlds is never easy. 403 00:26:10,136 --> 00:26:13,272 You'll always be part alien in both. 404 00:26:13,272 --> 00:26:17,209 Sea turtles are land animals that returned to the sea 405 00:26:17,209 --> 00:26:19,245 millions of years ago. 406 00:26:19,245 --> 00:26:21,948 They must surface to breathe. 407 00:26:21,948 --> 00:26:24,050 That's turned their mating ritual 408 00:26:24,050 --> 00:26:26,185 into a dance with death. 409 00:26:28,655 --> 00:26:32,524 This receptive female has a male hanging off her back. 410 00:26:36,663 --> 00:26:37,997 Scrap that. 411 00:26:37,997 --> 00:26:42,201 She has a whole bunch of males trying to get on her back. 412 00:26:43,302 --> 00:26:45,371 The first guy won't let go, 413 00:26:45,371 --> 00:26:48,708 hoping to prevent any other males mating with her. 414 00:26:50,342 --> 00:26:54,080 Pretty soon, an all-out brawl erupts... 415 00:26:58,818 --> 00:27:00,586 On her back. 416 00:27:03,489 --> 00:27:06,092 She's treading water with multiple hitchhikers 417 00:27:06,092 --> 00:27:08,227 weighing her down. 418 00:27:08,227 --> 00:27:10,529 She's a champion breath-holder, 419 00:27:10,529 --> 00:27:14,366 but this is an underwater workout. 420 00:27:14,366 --> 00:27:17,704 If she can't surface, she'll drown. 421 00:27:27,213 --> 00:27:29,415 Such testosterone tournaments 422 00:27:29,415 --> 00:27:31,918 are not uncommon in the animal world, 423 00:27:31,918 --> 00:27:35,587 but there are other ways to win a partner over. 424 00:27:35,587 --> 00:27:40,126 How about making a bit of a song and dance? 425 00:27:46,432 --> 00:27:48,735 The song of the humpback whale... 426 00:27:50,903 --> 00:27:53,205 Ethereal... 427 00:27:53,205 --> 00:27:55,207 otherworldly... 428 00:27:55,207 --> 00:27:58,811 alien even... 429 00:27:58,811 --> 00:28:02,314 and utterly mysterious. 430 00:28:02,314 --> 00:28:04,851 Here's what we do know-- 431 00:28:04,851 --> 00:28:06,518 only the males sing 432 00:28:06,518 --> 00:28:09,088 and only in the breeding season. 433 00:28:09,088 --> 00:28:11,758 So it has something to do with sex. 434 00:28:15,962 --> 00:28:19,598 During the winter, the waters around Hawaii resound 435 00:28:19,598 --> 00:28:22,134 with this submarine, soul music. 436 00:28:26,305 --> 00:28:30,109 The half-hour songs have structure and phrasing. 437 00:28:31,443 --> 00:28:35,114 Catchy new tunes spread from male to male. 438 00:28:37,784 --> 00:28:40,286 It's some sort of communication... 439 00:28:41,888 --> 00:28:43,455 Perhaps the closest thing 440 00:28:43,455 --> 00:28:47,794 to an alien language we have on Earth. 441 00:28:47,794 --> 00:28:50,296 Mothers with young calves 442 00:28:50,296 --> 00:28:52,631 are the object of the singers' attention, 443 00:28:52,631 --> 00:28:55,167 because right after she gives birth, 444 00:28:55,167 --> 00:28:57,937 she ovulates. 445 00:28:57,937 --> 00:29:00,572 Does this male's soulful music 446 00:29:00,572 --> 00:29:03,442 help to trigger that process? 447 00:29:03,442 --> 00:29:06,312 Is it a tender serenade 448 00:29:06,312 --> 00:29:09,115 or a warning to other males? 449 00:29:09,115 --> 00:29:11,083 All have been suggested, 450 00:29:11,083 --> 00:29:14,821 but the truth is we have no idea. 451 00:29:14,821 --> 00:29:17,957 What's soon apparent is that singing alone 452 00:29:17,957 --> 00:29:20,126 isn't enough to win her over... 453 00:29:21,660 --> 00:29:24,030 Not with an entire fleet of bulls 454 00:29:24,030 --> 00:29:26,598 all with the same idea. 455 00:29:29,301 --> 00:29:31,170 When the song is over, 456 00:29:31,170 --> 00:29:34,473 testosterone gets the better of the males. 457 00:29:34,473 --> 00:29:37,944 Mom takes off, baby in tow, 458 00:29:37,944 --> 00:29:41,914 and her suitors in hot pursuit. 459 00:29:41,914 --> 00:29:46,652 They blow bubble curtains to disorientate their rivals... 460 00:29:46,652 --> 00:29:50,990 and showcase their strength... 461 00:29:50,990 --> 00:29:52,524 by lashing out 462 00:29:52,524 --> 00:29:55,862 and making an altogether less musical cacophony. 463 00:29:59,165 --> 00:30:01,868 This heat run takes a lot of energy. 464 00:30:06,505 --> 00:30:09,876 The biggest males with the biggest energy reserves 465 00:30:09,876 --> 00:30:11,810 have the advantage... 466 00:30:12,979 --> 00:30:16,515 And presumably the best chance to mate 467 00:30:16,515 --> 00:30:18,951 if she accepts him. 468 00:30:18,951 --> 00:30:20,987 We can't be sure of that 469 00:30:20,987 --> 00:30:25,224 because no one has ever seen humpbacks make the beast 470 00:30:25,224 --> 00:30:27,293 with two humps. 471 00:30:29,495 --> 00:30:32,231 If you don't have the chops for a song, 472 00:30:32,231 --> 00:30:34,533 try a visual serenade. 473 00:30:36,835 --> 00:30:39,471 No one knows how to turn on the colour 474 00:30:39,471 --> 00:30:42,841 like the flamboyant cuttlefish... 475 00:30:42,841 --> 00:30:46,412 an intelligent life form that likes to flaunt it 476 00:30:46,412 --> 00:30:48,547 when it flirts. 477 00:30:54,086 --> 00:30:57,689 This tiny walking cuttlefish lives and loves 478 00:30:57,689 --> 00:31:01,427 on the sandy seafloor around Indonesia. 479 00:31:05,664 --> 00:31:09,601 It's one of only three known toxic cephalopods. 480 00:31:11,203 --> 00:31:14,840 So people have assumed that its famous flamboyance 481 00:31:14,941 --> 00:31:17,443 is some sort of warning signal. 482 00:31:20,112 --> 00:31:22,581 But recently scientists have discovered 483 00:31:22,581 --> 00:31:25,751 that the flamboyant cuttlefish's natural state 484 00:31:25,751 --> 00:31:28,020 is actually rather drab. 485 00:31:29,788 --> 00:31:32,558 They're usually so well camouflaged, 486 00:31:32,558 --> 00:31:34,961 scientists don't notice them... 487 00:31:34,961 --> 00:31:38,730 perfect for a daytime hunter. 488 00:31:38,730 --> 00:31:41,867 They only turn on their spectacular display 489 00:31:41,968 --> 00:31:44,136 for two reasons. 490 00:31:44,136 --> 00:31:47,673 One is to tell a camera operator to back off. 491 00:31:48,807 --> 00:31:52,011 The other is when they want some. 492 00:31:54,213 --> 00:31:57,083 The much smaller male has a visual vocabulary 493 00:31:57,083 --> 00:31:59,218 of seduction. 494 00:31:59,218 --> 00:32:04,156 The female usually stays drab and utterly ignores him. 495 00:32:10,096 --> 00:32:13,832 He makes tender kissing gestures with his arms 496 00:32:13,832 --> 00:32:17,069 and strobes his admiration for her. 497 00:32:21,573 --> 00:32:24,376 And then... 498 00:32:24,376 --> 00:32:27,613 Is this the moment she turns into an alien monster 499 00:32:27,613 --> 00:32:30,116 and devours him? 500 00:32:30,116 --> 00:32:31,750 No. 501 00:32:31,750 --> 00:32:35,187 This terrifying gesture is her way of telling him 502 00:32:35,187 --> 00:32:38,124 he's been accepted. 503 00:32:38,124 --> 00:32:41,627 He gallantly responds by depositing a packet of sperm 504 00:32:41,627 --> 00:32:44,496 near her mouth for her to use at will. 505 00:32:51,803 --> 00:32:54,840 Mom lays her eggs somewhere vaguely safe, 506 00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,043 and that's her job done. 507 00:33:04,050 --> 00:33:07,319 Her hatchlings are perfect miniatures. 508 00:33:08,854 --> 00:33:11,357 They erupt flamboyantly... 509 00:33:15,961 --> 00:33:19,698 But soon settle down into cryptic colours. 510 00:33:23,269 --> 00:33:27,073 If you can't sing or serenade in semaphore, 511 00:33:27,073 --> 00:33:30,076 then you'd better be handy. 512 00:33:30,076 --> 00:33:34,080 You're going to have to build a love nest. 513 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:46,192 But what sort of alien fish makes a nest? 514 00:33:46,192 --> 00:33:49,428 The sea, with its shifting waves and currents, 515 00:33:49,428 --> 00:33:50,662 is a difficult place 516 00:33:50,662 --> 00:33:53,565 to construct a monument to love. 517 00:33:55,101 --> 00:33:58,270 Very few fish can truly be called builders. 518 00:33:58,270 --> 00:34:01,607 It's an altogether alien thing to do down here. 519 00:34:04,009 --> 00:34:06,678 The fact that the garibaldi tries it at all 520 00:34:06,678 --> 00:34:09,315 in California's swirling kelp forests 521 00:34:09,315 --> 00:34:12,284 makes him a very strange fish indeed. 522 00:34:13,819 --> 00:34:17,323 His nest is the dark patch on this rock. 523 00:34:17,323 --> 00:34:18,790 Don't laugh. 524 00:34:18,790 --> 00:34:20,226 He's carefully constructed it 525 00:34:20,226 --> 00:34:22,361 by trimming a patch of red algae 526 00:34:22,361 --> 00:34:23,729 to the right length 527 00:34:23,729 --> 00:34:26,165 and eating away everything else. 528 00:34:28,334 --> 00:34:33,139 To be fair, the females don't seem that impressed either. 529 00:34:33,139 --> 00:34:34,740 What they're really looking for 530 00:34:34,740 --> 00:34:37,943 is a nest that already has eggs in it. 531 00:34:37,943 --> 00:34:40,879 After all, that must mean other females 532 00:34:40,879 --> 00:34:44,015 thought he was worthy. 533 00:34:44,015 --> 00:34:47,886 So how does a guy attract that all-important first female 534 00:34:47,886 --> 00:34:51,257 to his empty nest? 535 00:34:51,257 --> 00:34:54,193 He's gonna have to dance. 536 00:34:54,193 --> 00:34:59,165 Once he convinces one female, the rest will follow. 537 00:35:20,552 --> 00:35:24,490 A week later, his hard work and suave moves 538 00:35:24,490 --> 00:35:26,225 have paid off. 539 00:35:26,225 --> 00:35:30,262 His nest is laden with masses of yellow eggs. 540 00:35:32,030 --> 00:35:35,534 He's now busier than ever seeing off egg thieves, 541 00:35:35,534 --> 00:35:37,736 real or imagined. 542 00:35:53,819 --> 00:35:55,787 In a bizarre twist, 543 00:35:55,787 --> 00:35:59,358 dad can be the worst egg thief of all. 544 00:35:59,358 --> 00:36:03,395 The females like to lay their eggs next to fresh ones, 545 00:36:03,395 --> 00:36:06,365 so papa garibaldi eats some of the older ones, 546 00:36:06,365 --> 00:36:08,500 gambling that they'll be replaced 547 00:36:08,500 --> 00:36:10,602 by even more fresh eggs. 548 00:36:15,607 --> 00:36:19,245 For decades, the garibaldi nest was the state of the art 549 00:36:19,245 --> 00:36:21,880 as far as fish nests were concerned. 550 00:36:23,549 --> 00:36:26,918 We only really showed it to you to emphasize how impressive 551 00:36:26,918 --> 00:36:29,755 the next international man of mystery 552 00:36:29,755 --> 00:36:31,990 really is. 553 00:36:31,990 --> 00:36:33,992 Around the turn of the century, 554 00:36:33,992 --> 00:36:37,095 it seems aliens landed in Japan. 555 00:36:38,630 --> 00:36:40,098 We can infer this 556 00:36:40,098 --> 00:36:43,101 because they made their signature crop circles. 557 00:36:47,673 --> 00:36:51,109 Curiously, they only invaded this one shallow bay 558 00:36:51,109 --> 00:36:53,312 off Amami Island. 559 00:36:54,913 --> 00:36:56,382 Question was, 560 00:36:56,382 --> 00:37:00,386 who or what was making the circles? 561 00:37:00,386 --> 00:37:03,054 Was it an octopus's garden... 562 00:37:05,056 --> 00:37:07,559 The lair of an evil super villain... 563 00:37:09,395 --> 00:37:12,331 The work of a school of merry pranksters... 564 00:37:14,199 --> 00:37:16,935 Or a bizarre natural phenomenon? 565 00:37:18,069 --> 00:37:22,574 After ten years of searching, the culprit turned out to be-- 566 00:37:22,574 --> 00:37:25,010 drum roll, please... 567 00:37:27,613 --> 00:37:30,482 E, none of the above. 568 00:37:30,482 --> 00:37:33,585 It was a nondescript, 12-centimeter-long fish 569 00:37:33,585 --> 00:37:36,822 no one had ever heard of before. 570 00:37:36,822 --> 00:37:39,090 Not an actual extraterrestrial 571 00:37:39,090 --> 00:37:41,760 but new and very alien to science. 572 00:37:46,498 --> 00:37:49,335 Take a bow, white-spotted pufferfish 573 00:37:49,335 --> 00:37:52,404 from Amami Island off southern Japan. 574 00:37:59,177 --> 00:38:01,513 This small sand-colored fish 575 00:38:01,513 --> 00:38:04,015 living in a featureless sandy bay 576 00:38:04,015 --> 00:38:05,451 does something so odd 577 00:38:05,451 --> 00:38:08,520 that it's the only fish that does it. 578 00:38:12,991 --> 00:38:14,660 Art. 579 00:38:22,368 --> 00:38:25,537 Like so many male endeavours, 580 00:38:25,537 --> 00:38:29,408 his art serves one purpose... 581 00:38:29,408 --> 00:38:32,043 to impress a female. 582 00:38:32,043 --> 00:38:34,913 There, that should do it. 583 00:38:34,913 --> 00:38:36,948 But let's back this up a bit... 584 00:38:36,948 --> 00:38:38,384 because this love nest 585 00:38:38,384 --> 00:38:40,652 is a marvel of science and engineering, 586 00:38:40,652 --> 00:38:42,187 as well as art 587 00:38:45,023 --> 00:38:46,758 He starts on a featureless plane 588 00:38:46,758 --> 00:38:48,494 of mostly coarse sand. 589 00:38:51,262 --> 00:38:53,399 But he knows that female puffers 590 00:38:53,399 --> 00:38:57,536 like to lay their eggs in soft, fine sand. 591 00:38:57,536 --> 00:39:01,540 And he's too well camouflaged to attract attention. 592 00:39:02,941 --> 00:39:06,311 He sets to work, solving both problems. 593 00:39:08,313 --> 00:39:11,282 First, he clears a rough circle. 594 00:39:11,282 --> 00:39:15,921 Then he starts plowing furrows from the outside to the centre. 595 00:39:18,924 --> 00:39:22,794 With only his fins for tools, he works for ten days or more 596 00:39:22,794 --> 00:39:26,131 to make an intricate design two meters across. 597 00:39:32,904 --> 00:39:36,174 His geometric precision can only be described 598 00:39:36,174 --> 00:39:38,343 as out of this world. 599 00:39:44,483 --> 00:39:47,486 No matter from which direction the current flows, 600 00:39:47,486 --> 00:39:51,322 it funnels the finest sand to the middle of his nest. 601 00:39:55,761 --> 00:39:59,498 There, his pièce de résistance. 602 00:40:01,733 --> 00:40:04,670 Now for those finishing touches... 603 00:40:07,405 --> 00:40:11,376 And just try résistance-ing that, ladies. 604 00:40:13,945 --> 00:40:17,616 His masterwork quickly gets noticed. 605 00:40:17,616 --> 00:40:21,453 He stirs up the fine sand to show it off. 606 00:40:32,263 --> 00:40:35,300 A peck on the cheek. 607 00:40:35,300 --> 00:40:37,769 And watch closely. 608 00:40:37,769 --> 00:40:41,773 Ten days of tireless work have led up to this moment. 609 00:40:45,210 --> 00:40:47,779 Talk about an anticlimax. 610 00:40:49,481 --> 00:40:50,716 The male stays 611 00:40:50,716 --> 00:40:53,552 to see if he can attract a few more females 612 00:40:53,552 --> 00:40:55,854 and to protect his developing eggs 613 00:40:55,854 --> 00:40:58,189 from the resident, evil genius. 614 00:41:18,009 --> 00:41:21,012 But the male no longer maintains his nest. 615 00:41:26,585 --> 00:41:29,054 It slowly deteriorates. 616 00:41:38,730 --> 00:41:41,700 When his eggs hatch in a few weeks' time, 617 00:41:41,700 --> 00:41:44,903 he'll start a completely new work of art. 618 00:41:50,809 --> 00:41:54,379 A parent dedicated enough to protect his eggs 619 00:41:54,379 --> 00:41:57,583 is hard to find in the sea. 620 00:41:57,583 --> 00:42:01,086 Most marine creatures simply sow their wild oats 621 00:42:01,086 --> 00:42:03,755 and let nature take its course. 622 00:42:05,657 --> 00:42:07,593 Extremists gather in huge numbers 623 00:42:07,593 --> 00:42:09,595 to broadcast their genetic material 624 00:42:09,595 --> 00:42:11,863 to the world in unison. 625 00:42:21,139 --> 00:42:22,974 In the Alien Abyss, 626 00:42:22,974 --> 00:42:26,978 broadcast spawning is the rule rather than the exception. 627 00:42:29,648 --> 00:42:33,284 Even the coral itself does it. 628 00:42:33,284 --> 00:42:35,721 What is broadcast spawning? 629 00:42:37,155 --> 00:42:40,692 All the males and females release eggs and sperm 630 00:42:40,692 --> 00:42:43,962 into the water at exactly the same time. 631 00:42:50,836 --> 00:42:53,204 This magical wonder of the natural world 632 00:42:53,204 --> 00:42:55,641 is the reef mating with itself. 633 00:42:57,308 --> 00:43:00,178 Timing is everything. 634 00:43:00,178 --> 00:43:01,913 Guided by the moon, 635 00:43:01,913 --> 00:43:06,517 the corals spawn in supernatural synchronicity. 636 00:43:10,689 --> 00:43:13,091 In the space of half an hour or so, 637 00:43:13,091 --> 00:43:17,028 millions of coral polyps release eggs and sperm 638 00:43:17,028 --> 00:43:18,930 into the water. 639 00:43:18,930 --> 00:43:21,933 Each is only viable for a few hours, 640 00:43:21,933 --> 00:43:26,571 so they need to get together quickly to create new life. 641 00:43:26,672 --> 00:43:28,373 To maximize their chances, 642 00:43:28,373 --> 00:43:31,743 the fatty egg and sperm cells float up to the surface, 643 00:43:31,743 --> 00:43:34,379 where there'll be in closer contact. 644 00:43:34,379 --> 00:43:38,149 The newly created embryos will drift off on the currents 645 00:43:38,149 --> 00:43:40,886 to start new colonies elsewhere. 646 00:43:42,220 --> 00:43:44,956 The famous plankton soup that feeds everything 647 00:43:44,956 --> 00:43:46,958 from jellyfish to whale sharks 648 00:43:46,958 --> 00:43:49,861 is made up almost entirely of the eggs 649 00:43:49,861 --> 00:43:53,231 and developing young of broadcast spawners. 650 00:43:56,702 --> 00:43:59,270 A tidal channel in one coral atoll 651 00:43:59,270 --> 00:44:03,775 attracts one of the world's largest spawning aggregations. 652 00:44:03,775 --> 00:44:07,545 No, not the sharks. 653 00:44:07,545 --> 00:44:09,715 They're here to watch the show-- 654 00:44:09,715 --> 00:44:11,582 watch and snack. 655 00:44:13,985 --> 00:44:16,254 700 or more gray reef sharks, 656 00:44:16,254 --> 00:44:20,425 collectively known as the wall of sharks. 657 00:44:20,425 --> 00:44:23,461 More apex predators than could possibly survive 658 00:44:23,461 --> 00:44:25,296 in such a small area, 659 00:44:25,296 --> 00:44:28,633 if it wasn't for one thing. 660 00:44:28,734 --> 00:44:30,802 A progression of different fish species 661 00:44:30,802 --> 00:44:34,740 come here to broadcast spawn over the winter months. 662 00:44:34,740 --> 00:44:36,775 The most spectacular show 663 00:44:36,775 --> 00:44:40,145 is the one put on by the camouflage grouper. 664 00:44:44,883 --> 00:44:48,019 Camouflage groupers from all over French Polynesia 665 00:44:48,019 --> 00:44:51,189 descend on Fakarava Atoll to spawn. 666 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:57,595 The groupers are sequential hermaphrodites. 667 00:44:57,595 --> 00:45:01,366 They start life as females, which are slightly darker. 668 00:45:04,369 --> 00:45:05,771 The older male fish 669 00:45:05,771 --> 00:45:09,140 are normally solitary and territorial. 670 00:45:09,140 --> 00:45:13,244 Confronted with so many rivals, they get into fights. 671 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:17,682 Some mute their camouflage colours 672 00:45:17,783 --> 00:45:20,952 in an attempt to avoid confrontations. 673 00:45:20,952 --> 00:45:23,822 But often, it's just too crowded. 674 00:45:30,061 --> 00:45:32,898 Because groupers come from far and wide, 675 00:45:32,898 --> 00:45:36,167 they not only maximize their chances of success. 676 00:45:36,167 --> 00:45:39,905 They also minimize inbreeding. 677 00:45:39,905 --> 00:45:42,507 Their numbers build for two weeks, 678 00:45:42,507 --> 00:45:45,043 leading up to the full moon. 679 00:45:45,043 --> 00:45:47,946 By day, an eerie truce holds 680 00:45:47,946 --> 00:45:51,149 between the sharks and their snacks. 681 00:45:56,121 --> 00:45:58,990 The sharks are nocturnal predators. 682 00:46:04,029 --> 00:46:07,165 At night, they turn into highly active, 683 00:46:07,165 --> 00:46:10,668 agitated hunters that ferret out food. 684 00:46:22,647 --> 00:46:26,184 Thanks to the massive aggregations of spawning fish, 685 00:46:26,184 --> 00:46:30,055 hundreds of sharks rarely need to leave the area. 686 00:46:35,260 --> 00:46:39,530 Morning reveals brutal injuries among the survivors. 687 00:46:39,530 --> 00:46:41,867 These must be some of the bravest 688 00:46:41,867 --> 00:46:44,602 prospective parents in the ocean. 689 00:46:46,437 --> 00:46:50,041 Finally, at dusk on the night of the full moon, 690 00:46:50,041 --> 00:46:53,244 the groupers are ready to spawn. 691 00:46:53,244 --> 00:46:56,214 The females take in water to hydrate the eggs 692 00:46:56,214 --> 00:46:58,716 they have been carrying all this time, 693 00:46:58,716 --> 00:47:01,119 causing their bellies to swell. 694 00:47:02,487 --> 00:47:05,323 Groups of groupers rise into the tide 695 00:47:05,323 --> 00:47:08,193 to release millions of eggs and sperm... 696 00:47:17,402 --> 00:47:20,538 While still dodging the sharks. 697 00:47:27,178 --> 00:47:30,748 Within an hour and a half, it's all over. 698 00:47:37,388 --> 00:47:41,326 The extra-high full moon tide sweeps the fertilized embryos 699 00:47:41,326 --> 00:47:45,096 out to sea to join the plankton soup. 700 00:47:46,364 --> 00:47:49,634 Groupers spawn conventionally for fish, 701 00:47:49,634 --> 00:47:52,337 just on an alien scale. 702 00:47:52,337 --> 00:47:54,605 But what about the secondary players 703 00:47:54,605 --> 00:47:55,941 in this tale... 704 00:47:55,941 --> 00:47:57,508 the sharks? 705 00:47:57,508 --> 00:48:00,811 As it turns out, they're the real weirdos 706 00:48:00,811 --> 00:48:02,413 when it comes to mating. 707 00:48:09,654 --> 00:48:12,357 Sharks don't broadcast their eggs and sperm 708 00:48:12,357 --> 00:48:14,392 to the world. 709 00:48:14,392 --> 00:48:18,196 They're strictly person to person... 710 00:48:18,196 --> 00:48:21,967 and it's awfully awkward... 711 00:48:21,967 --> 00:48:24,135 because doing it in the open water 712 00:48:24,135 --> 00:48:28,806 is about as easy as it would be in the weightlessness of space. 713 00:48:30,675 --> 00:48:34,645 And the only thing these freaky fish have to hold on with... 714 00:48:36,047 --> 00:48:37,815 Is their teeth... 715 00:48:42,853 --> 00:48:45,423 Which makes it almost impossible for him 716 00:48:45,423 --> 00:48:48,193 to pump air over his gills. 717 00:48:52,030 --> 00:48:55,366 If she's not interested, the female can arch her tail 718 00:48:55,366 --> 00:48:57,068 to prevent access, 719 00:48:57,068 --> 00:49:00,705 knowing he'll run out of breath. 720 00:49:00,705 --> 00:49:02,140 Only if she consents 721 00:49:02,140 --> 00:49:04,109 can he insert one of his claspers 722 00:49:04,109 --> 00:49:06,711 into her cloaca. 723 00:49:09,914 --> 00:49:13,518 He fills a sack that runs along his belly with seawater 724 00:49:13,518 --> 00:49:17,122 to pump his sperm inside her... 725 00:49:17,122 --> 00:49:19,590 before he suffocates. 726 00:49:25,230 --> 00:49:28,499 Whether it's alien crop circles, 727 00:49:28,499 --> 00:49:32,103 otherworldly orgies... 728 00:49:32,103 --> 00:49:35,206 or synchronized spawning... 729 00:49:35,206 --> 00:49:37,875 the most bizarre rituals in the ocean 730 00:49:37,875 --> 00:49:40,345 are usually about finding a mate 731 00:49:40,345 --> 00:49:42,347 and passing on your genes. 732 00:49:44,249 --> 00:49:46,284 But you have to wonder, 733 00:49:46,284 --> 00:49:49,754 who are the real aliens down here-- 734 00:49:49,754 --> 00:49:53,091 the creatures going about their business 735 00:49:53,091 --> 00:49:54,892 or the ones in space suits 736 00:49:54,892 --> 00:49:57,195 recording what goes on 737 00:49:57,195 --> 00:50:00,565 down in the Alien Abyss? 55121

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