All language subtitles for Nature.S44E08.Parenthood.Oceans.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

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Incredible ingenuity...

dedication...

and extraordinary teamwork.

This is what it takes
to be a parent on our planet.

Meet the hard-working parents
raising their families...

doing all they can to protect...

and provide
for the next generation.

Discover the extraordinary ways

animal parents navigate
their world.

But a changing planet
is forcing them to adapt.

Success for all parents

has perhaps the greatest
of consequences.

It ensures the future
of life on Earth.

This is "Parenthood."

A newly born
bottlenose dolphin --

its skin still creased
by the tightness of the womb

from which
it has only just emerged.

Its mother is devoted to it

and will care for it
for the next five years.

That is an unusually long time

for any oceangoing animal.

Most marine creatures
simply abandon their young

as soon as they appear.

But those who care for them do
so in some very remarkable ways.

Coral reefs occupy
less than 1% of the floor

of the world's oceans,

but they provide homes for over
a quarter of all marine species.

Indonesia's reefs are
among the most diverse on Earth.

Over 2,000 species of fish
live here,

and most reproduce
in the simplest of ways.

Females release their eggs,

and the males rush in
and fertilize them.

The young are then swept away,

and few, if any,
will meet their parents again.

But one fish behaves
very differently --

the Banggai cardinalfish.

The adults spend most
of their time among sea urchins,

protected to some degree
by the urchins' spines.

When a female is ready to spawn,

she leads a male away
from the shoal.

She displays to him,
quivering her distended fins.

And then she releases
a mass of eggs,

which he...

takes into his mouth.

He hasn't swallowed them.

On the contrary,
he is protecting them.

But for the next four weeks...

he won't be able to eat.

Starvation, however,
is the least of his worries.

There are predators around...

...of many kinds.

An unguarded baby fish
would be quickly eaten,

so the hatchlings stay
inside their father's mouth.

This anemone could provide
the male with a home,

for although its tentacles have
stings, he is immune to them.

But his predators are not.

The resident anemone fish
is also immune,

but this one doesn't
welcome strangers.

This anemone, however,
seems to have vacancies.

The male picks his moment

to leave the safety
of the urchin's spines.

Here...

he is not alone.

But this anemone fish
doesn't mind sharing.

He has found a new home
for his young.

But they seem unwilling
to leave his mouth...

...so he gives them
a little encouragement.

But there's always one
who is reluctant to leave.

Here, among
the anemone's tentacles...

they will remain until an urchin
appears who has vacancies.

His 30 days of fasting

have given his young
an excellent start in life.

But parental responsibilities

extend far beyond
providing shelter

for the mammals
that live around the reef.

A bottlenose dolphin mother
spends five years

showing her calf the skills
necessary for survival.

And she does so through play.

The lessons start with a trick.

First...

balance a piece of coral
on your nose.

Second, take it up
to the surface.

Third, drop it.

And then,
before it reaches the bottom...

...catch it.

All adults can perform
this trick.

Perfecting it is, therefore,
a rite of passage for this calf.

First, balance the coral.

This is not easy.

Try again.

Step one,
balance the coral.

Or bite it...

and skip to step two.

Now...catch it.

Got it.

Just in time.

There are also other
more important skills

that a calf must learn.

The mother leads her youngster
to one particular kind of coral

that is almost hidden.

One that has a special,
extraordinary characteristic.

It produces antifungal chemicals

which dolphins rub
on their skin.

These dolphins
remarkably medicate themselves,

and they pass on this knowledge
to their young.

Passing on skills such as these
is part of good parenting.

The south coast of Australia.

Here the shallow sea
for 5,000 miles

is carpeted by dense seaweed.

These underwater meadows thrive
in the cold, turbulent water.

And one remarkable fish
has evolved here

and exists nowhere else --

the weedy sea dragon.

It's marvelously camouflaged

and an exceptionally dedicated
parent.

In spring,
male and female dance together.

They mirror
each other's actions.

He seals their bond by attaching
her eggs to his tail.

The eggs are bright pink

and make him
dangerously conspicuous.

But within a few weeks,

the eggs become covered
by algae...

...and that makes them
less obvious.

After six weeks, his
parenting duties come to an end.

The baby dragons begin to hatch.

They're just half an inch long,

perfect miniatures
of their parents.

They share their micro world

with one of the strangest
creatures in the seas.

Skeleton shrimps.

They're seldom noticed, but
they live in oceans worldwide.

They're armed
with formidable weapons,

and they are remarkably
attentive parents.

About 25 juveniles
cling to their mother

until they're strong enough
to grip the seaweed.

She needs to feed them...

and the best food is
at the top of the seaweed.

And that is
where she takes them.

Carrying as many young as this
is exhausting...

...and if she stops,

she risks everything.

She falls onto an urchin,

which catches her
with its tube feet

and starts transporting her
towards its mouth.

But she wriggles free
and resumes her climb.

Skeleton shrimps
live in colonies

and compete for
the best feeding places.

This looks good.

And she waits for
something edible to drift by.

This mysid is big enough
to provide a meal

for the shrimp's entire brood.

Her young clamber over her head
to claim a share.

Once fed, they leave,

giving her a break from the
responsibilities of motherhood.

Seaweed, wherever it grows,
provides animals

with both food and shelter.

The Shetlands --

the northernmost
of the British Isles.

It has the densest population
of Eurasian otters in the world.

These three cubs are
five months old.

They're still totally dependent
on their mother for food.

She finds it in the seaweed...

...where there are great numbers
of small fish.

The fish are well camouflaged
and not easy to see...

...but she uses her whiskers
to feel for them.

Otter mothers usually produce
one or two cubs at a time.

Triplets like these
are extremely rare,

and each cub needs to eat

a quarter of its body weight
every day...

...so this mother has to catch
a lot of food.

She must also feed well herself
if she's to survive the winter.

The youngsters squabble
over every fish.

The biggest
and most vigorous cub

is the first to get food,

and the smallest
often goes hungry.

This small male, however,
decides to fish for himself

and joins his mother
farther out to sea.

He's caught something.

Unfortunately, it's something
that bites back.

It's a crab...

which is easy to catch,
but not very nutritious.

His mother has been
too busy to notice...

that he has strayed...

...and now he is lost.

Over a quarter of otter cubs
don't survive their first year.

Many because they lose touch
with their mothers.

All he can do
is to keep calling.

Winter in Shetland is very cold

and life becomes hard
for otters, both old and young.

The bigger the cubs grow,
the more food they need,

and soon she will leave them
to find food for themselves.

California's Channel Islands
are surrounded

by one of the richest
of marine nurseries.

A forest of giant kelp.

This area has now
been declared a marine reserve

where fishing is totally banned.

As a consequence,

over a thousand
different species of animals

now live here.

Among them giant sea bass,

which elsewhere are
critically endangered.

On the floor
of this submarine forest

lives a particularly
territorial species --

the Garibaldi.

This male has built his nest in
the center of his territory...

and here he cultivates
a particular kind of red algae.

He carefully prunes it

so that the females
can lay their eggs on it.

Several have already done that.

So now he has a potential brood
of over 150,000.

He devotes his time to keeping
the eggs free from algae

and driving off
hungry intruders.

Some visitors, however,
are so big they're best ignored.

His most dangerous enemy,
however,

is in fact relatively tiny...

...a little blue-banded goby...

...which takes advantage
of the constant intruders...

...to steal
the Garibaldi's eggs.

But the biggest threat of all
comes from the sea urchins.

They eat virtually everything
in their path...

from the nest of the Garibaldi

to the entire kelp forest.

He does all he can
to keep the urchins away.

His neighbors help.

Inside the reserve,

there are enough fish
to keep urchin numbers in check.

But the reserve is tiny.

Outside it, humans
have caught most of the fish

that once kept down
urchin numbers.

And that, combined
with an ever warming sea,

has created a plague of urchins

that have devastated
the sea floor.

They have destroyed
the kelp forests

along great stretches
of California's coast...

and now we ourselves
are adding to that damage

by using our seas as
dumping grounds for our waste.

Many animals have changed
their parental behavior

in order to survive
in this new world.

Pale octopus are
relatively short-lived,

and this female has
just over a year in which

to breed and raise her young.

To do that,
she has to find a safe den.

She must choose carefully.

Good dens are rare.

A discarded toilet
could perhaps serve...

but this one is engaged...

...and is already
being fought over.

A squirt from its owner's
ink sack makes things clear.

She keeps looking.

Many of the available den sites
are too exposed.

She wants somewhere
a little more secluded.

This plastic pipe
is also occupied...

by a male.

But he is signaling
his readiness to breed.

It's an irresistible
performance...

...so she inspects his den.

It may not look like much,

but to her,
apparently, it will do.

He nudges her into his home.

She gives his den
and him her seal of approval,

and the two mate.

A few days later, she starts
laying her eggs inside the pipe.

She will eventually produce
about 500 of them.

She strokes them
with her suckers

to keep them clear of algae.

Her home will hide her...

and is easy to defend.

But laying her eggs will be
the last act of her life.

All octopus mothers
die in their dens.

As her eggs hatch, she takes
her young in her arms...

...and uses her siphon
to propel them to independence.

In their year-long lives,

13 million tons of plastic
will have been dumped

onto their ocean homes.

Her final resting place was the
home that she set out to find...

but perhaps not the grave

that anyone might consider
appropriate

for such a dedicated parent.

As our seas change,

those species with
sufficient intelligence to adapt

are finding new ways
to support their offspring.

And there are
few sea creatures more inventive

in their search for food
than killer whales.

They're powerful, swift,
and agile.

But the key to their success
lies beyond their physicality.

It comes from their sociability

and the way they use
their complex relationships

to teach one another.

Each family is led by
its grandmother, the matriarch.

She may live into her 80s,

far beyond the age
of producing calves of her own.

But her responsibilities
as a leader never cease.

She plays a key part in teaching
them all how to hunt.

She initiates a chase...

...and the rest of the family
join her.

But this is not a game.

One deliberately stops swimming

in order to enable the others
to practice a particular skill.

They push it beneath the surface

and submerge its blowhole
to prevent it from breathing.

They are practicing the actions

they will use
to drown their prey.

And these orca need to be
on top of their game.

They hunt the largest animals
that have ever lived.

Blue whales.

Such prey are too big
for most orca to tackle...

but this matriarch
has found one.

The blue whale seems
to have been caught off guard.

Working as a team,

the orca keep their victim's
blowhole beneath the surface...

...exactly as the matriarch
taught them to do.

The hunting of blue whales
by orca

has only recently
been documented --

a new behavior
that is a response to changes

in their ocean home.

But many animals today

are finding it hard
to change their habits.

A trawler, fishing
off the coast of South Africa.

It has attracted thousands
of seabirds...

...and hundreds of fur seals.

The trawler's presence
illustrates the problem

that all these animals
are now facing.

They're having to compete
for their food with us.

This trawler has collected its
fish from the ocean's depths.

But such fish
are low in nutrients.

They're junk food for the birds
and the seals.

An adult Cape gannet male is
flying in this crowd.

He's picked up what he can,

and now he must begin the
long flight back to his family.

His home is Malgas Island,

the world's second largest
Cape gannet colony.

Using his own particular call,

he locates his lifelong partner
and their chick.

But the fish he had scavenged

doesn't contain enough energy
to nourish his chick.

Gannet chicks need
rich, oily foods

such as sardines
and anchovies --

the natural prey
of these gannets.

As the parents change guard,

the mother takes her turn
and heads out to sea.

She must find suitable food
if their chick is to survive.

Cape gannets have nested on
Malgas Island for generations.

But due to our overfishing,

the gannets must now fly
further out to sea

to find what they need.

At last, a hopeful sign --

common dolphins.

The gannet mother knows
they will lead her to food.

And she's not alone.

Sardines.

She dives at 50 miles an hour...

...but fails to catch anything.

The dolphins now encircle
the sardines...

...and drive them upwards,

trapping them
against the surface.

For the gannets,
it's the time to strike.

They dive as deep as 65 feet.

The mother makes
one last dive...

...and catches one more fish.

Now she has enough food
for her chick.

This hard-won meal is the last
she will give this chick.

It's now ready for independence.

The chick makes its way
to the edge of the colony

where the wind is strongest.

But first, she has to find her
way through 40,000 neighbors.

She joins dozens of others...

...all preparing
for their first flight.

She watches others
make their attempts.

Those who catch the wind
lift off and are away.

Those who don't have to face
the fury of the Atlantic Ocean.

And great danger lurks
beneath the waves.

Cape fur seals.

Gannets aren't usually taken
by seals,

but in this depleted ocean,

prey of any kind
is worth having.

The food she took
from her parents

will only sustain her
for a further day or so.

She waits for a gust of wind.

Her timing...

is not good.

Safe in the shallows.

Few get such a second chance.

She must try again.

She's made it.

The depleted ocean will remain

a hugely challenging place
for her.

But the oceans are
ecologically very resilient,

and they can recover faster
than any other habitat on Earth,

given the right protection.

Gannet parents stay together
for life, up to 20 years.

If their ocean home
is given the chance to recover,

the vast shoals of fish
on which so many depend

could reappear within
the lifetime of these parents...

...and they could live
to see a brighter future.