All language subtitles for Secrets.of.the.Whales.S01E02.WEB-DL.DSNP

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: There are songs around
the world that rise up to be heard.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Voices that unite
communities and cultures.

This young humpback
will learn the power of such language.

He'll connect to others...

and broadcast loud, and long, and clear.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: But that's later.

For now, he's a baby learning to speak.

In whispers at first...

with his mother.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY:
It is a tender language, of love...

-commitment...
-(WHALE VOCALIZING)

...and sacrifice.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: This whale mother traveled
more than 4,000 miles,

from Antarctica
to the warmth of the equator,

to have her baby.

Now, together, they will journey back.

In all this time, she won't eat.

Yet, her child drinks from her
all the way to the pole.

It's an epic voyage with a purpose.

To see if this baby has
what it takes to thrive.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: And to become
the singing sensation of a hidden world.

(WHALE SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY: Only now are we beginning
to understand how much

humpback whales are like us.

They breathe air...

have large brains...

and big hearts.

But they also have culture.

Their world depends
upon educating their young,

and sophisticated communication.

(WHALE VOCALIZING SOFTLY)

SIGOURNEY: And in at least one place,
they even foster special friendships.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

SIGOURNEY: It's summer in Sitka, Alaska.

Stand by for the spectacle of the season.

(SEA LIONS BARKING)

SIGOURNEY: The sea lions know it's coming.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY: And the gulls...

they mark the spot.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY: Only about a hundred
Alaskan humpbacks

can put on a show like this.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY:
It's called bubble-net feeding.

Each individual whale plays a role
in using bubbles to corral fish.

Think of it like an orchestra.

(ORCHESTRA MUSIC TUNING)

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY:
First, there are trumpeters.

(WHALE MOANS)

They use sound
to scare herring into a group.

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY:
Then, herders bring them in closer.

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY: The final members
of the ensemble are bubblers.

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY:
They blow bubbles that force fish

into tight balls near the surface.

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY:
They talk to each other to coordinate.

(WHALE TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY:
And then, the orchestra becomes a ballet.

(WHALES BELLOW)

SIGOURNEY: This is only a small part
of the real magic going on here.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

These whales are not family.

SIGOURNEY: Yet, every year,
they somehow find one another

in the dark depths
of the Gulf of Alaska...

and regroup like old friends.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY:
Working solo is just as effective,

but they've chosen to perform
as a group for decades.

Only today, they have a dedicated fan
trying to track them down.

National Geographic explorer,
and world-famous whale photographer,

Brian Skerry.

God, I love that. Love that.

These giant animals, 43 feet long.
You know, 50, 70 tons.

I would love to get an answer
for how it's all working

and exactly what is going on down there.

These are highly social animals,
maybe even more than we ever comprehended.

SIGOURNEY: Brian spends weeks
trying to find and document

this type of feeding.

It's a sign that humpback whale clans
have a culture all their own.

BRIAN: You know, these are not just
big fish swimming around in the ocean.

There's a lot more cognition.

There's social behaviors,
and they work cooperatively.

They have formed these bonds,
these relationships.

Clearly, there's a complexity
that's occurring on a very high level.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

SIGOURNEY: This is just one ritual
in a unique whale society

full of different traditions.

And it all begins with communication.

Scientist Andy Szabo has spent his life
gaining a deep understanding

of humpback language.

(WHALE TRUMPETING OVER HEADPHONES)

-Listen to that.
-Yeah, I'd like to.

(WHALE TRUMPETING OVER HEADPHONES)

That's definitely a feeding call.

BRIAN: That is wild.

(WHALE CONTINUES TRUMPETING)

That's that long, that...

-(ANDY IMITATING WHALE TRUMPETING)
-Yeah, no kidding. Wow.

(WHALES VOCALIZES, TRUMPETING)

(DEEP BELLOWING)

SIGOURNEY: If Andy interprets correctly,

the whales will tell him
when and where they'll surface.

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

BRIAN:
Oh, they're gonna be right around us.

Holy... Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

Wow!

(SEAGULLS SCREECHING)

BRIAN: Oh, oh, oh.
Right here, beside us again!

ANDY: Right there, right there.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS RAPIDLY)

SIGOURNEY: These old friends
have been meeting up every year

in this same place for decades.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

BRIAN: I can see the bubble net.

Oh!

ANDY: It's pretty cool.

There's not a lot of animals out there
that have... enduring bonds

like this that will persist for,
in the case of these whales right here...

forty-plus years.

BRIAN: Maybe, there is a social element
to this culture.

Maybe these groups of whales
enjoy working together.

When you see something
like this bubble-net behavior,

I can't help but wonder,
"What's going on elsewhere in the world?"

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: The world's humpbacks
fall into three groups.

The Atlantic and Pacific populations
stick to the Northern Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, the Southern Ocean humpbacks

take their social communications
to a whole different level.

(WHALE VOCALIZES SOFTLY)

There are lots of ways
for humpbacks to converse.

Like people, a lot of their communication
is non-verbal.

It's complex...

and with humpbacks, way more spectacular.

Off the coast of Western Australia,

what's likely the world's
largest migration of humpback whales

turns the water into a highway.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: They are all talking,
not only with words, but with actions.

(WHALES BELLOWING)

SIGOURNEY: Scientists used aircraft
to count as many as 30,000 humpbacks

charging down the coast.

They pass the west Australian
capital of Perth.

And steam south towards Antarctica.

(WHALES SQUEAKING)

SIGOURNEY:
They use breaches to talk to each other.

(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)

SIGOURNEY: Underwater, the splash
can be heard for miles.

Big leaps tell other whales
where they are,

maybe even call them over.

Just as common in whale chat
is fin slapping...

and humpbacks have the largest fins
of any whale.

It's like raising your hand
to attract a waiter.

And it may be a way for this mother
to call over her calf.

(CALF VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: For the calf,
breaching is less about chat.

It's pure play.

A single calf may breach
as many as 40 times in a row.

(CALF VOCALIZING)

And for this adult male,
it's more about attracting a mate.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: The bigger the splash,
the more he'll stand out.

But his hulking 40-ton body
isn't enough on its own.

He also needs to romance with a melody.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

His is a special tune.

(WHALE DEEP VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Just a few months ago,

each male was singing a song
from last year.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: During mating season,
males introduce variations.

(WHALE RHYTHMIC POPPING SOUND)

Together, they craft a new number one hit.

(WHALES VOCALIZING,
RHYTHMIC POPPING SOUND)

SIGOURNEY:
Then, all the male humpbacks join in

and start singing the exact same tune.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: And where it goes from here
is one of the greatest communication feats

on the planet.

(DISTANT WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Somehow, it travels...

and travels.

Across a continent,
an incredible 3,000 miles.

All at once, the male humpbacks
on the East Coast of Australia

take up this new hit from the West.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Soon, all the males
sing the exact same whale song...

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

...and this infectious tune
may spread even farther east.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

SIGOURNEY: In the South Pacific,
there are 15 Cook Islands...

some of the most remote places
on the planet.

There are stories that male humpbacks
somehow use coral

to boost their sound.

National Geographic photographer
Brian Skerry

heads down to see if he can capture
this behavior on camera.

BRIAN: I can hear this haunting melody.

(WHALE BELLOWING)

This sound of a humpback whale
doing its song.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

BRIAN:
It resonates within my entire body cavity.

I swim down to a depth
of maybe 30 or 40 meters,

and there is the whale.

SIGOURNEY: And he's using the coral.

This is rarely seen behavior,
and barely studied.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY:
He's head-first in this ring of coral,

working it like a tenor in an opera house
to broadcast his song.

BRIAN: He's taking this place, the corals,
to amplify the sound.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

BRIAN: Using it as a natural amphitheater
to project that sound outward.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: This whale projects his voice.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: But does he sing the same song
that the unrelated humpbacks first created

more than 5,000 miles away
in Western Australia?

Whale biologist Nan Hauser
will be able to tell from a phrase or two.

NAN: It's clear.

-(WHALE VOCALIZING OVER DEVICE)
-Yes!

Yes! (CHUCKLES)

Oh, my gosh.

SIGOURNEY: She confirms the same tune
has traveled from whale to whale,

a fifth the way around the globe.

When we do get little pieces
solved of that mystery,

it's a gift from the whale,
because they don't have to give it to us.

SIGOURNEY: The songs likely help
female humpbacks choose a mate,

but Nan's trying to figure that out.

NAN: This whole complex behavior
that humpbacks have,

is... it's staggering.

Sometimes at night I just fall asleep,

trying to imagine
what it could possibly mean.

We know that these phrases
are being passed

from west to east,

starting in Western Australia,
to Eastern Australia,

and then all the way across
to French Polynesia.

There are no other mammals
that use song this way.

There are none.

It's a cultural phenomenon.

It's a ripple!

It's horizontal cultural transmission.

SIGOURNEY: The song of the season
is like a viral pop tune.

And as it spreads, the art of the song
is handed down to the next generation.

Brian and Nan
aren't the only ones listening.

This newborn male also takes in the tunes.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: It could be another ten years
or more before he's ready to introduce

his own song variations.

For now, he's listening,
learning, and exploring.

And he discovers quite the curiosity.

BRIAN: He kinda' got a glimpse of me,

and it was almost like
he just stopped and...

(CHUCKLES) ...you know, he was kinda like,
“Whoa, who are you?”

It's like a human toddler.
It's like a little child that, you know,

sees things for the first time.

SIGOURNEY: Brian is a strange-looking,
one-eyed creature

with a tube for a mouth.

It seems worthy of show and tell.

Brian follows the calf to its mom...

and gets a rare glimpse
of humpback whale kinship.

BRIAN:
You just really sense this emotional bond.

That's really special.

These moms invest so much time
in their calves.

(WHALES SQUEAKING)

BRIAN: And the calves stay with their moms
for about a year,

and during that period...

Mom is teaching them so many things
that they need to know to live.

It's learned behavior.
It's what humans do.

Those family relationships...

are as important to them
as families are to us.

(WHALES VOCALIZING AND SQUEAKING)

SIGOURNEY: Mom and calf stay close...

as the calf learns one of the most
important lessons of its life...

how to get to Antarctica.

His first solid meal depends on it.

He will have to stay close to Mom.

It will be grueling, and relentless...

and it will test them both.

NAN: They don't even deviate
by one degree.

That means they're following
a straight line, straight as an arrow.

And that's amazing, because you're talking
about this vast blue ocean

with no landmarks.

SIGOURNEY: This mother and her calf
are not alone.

They are part of something much bigger,

a network of singers
and global communicators.

Humpbacks pour down
the east and west coasts

of the southern continents, Australia...

Africa, South America.

Almost 100,000 whales.

Their chorus is very different now.

The males sing much less
during this journey.

(WHALES SQUEAKING)

SIGOURNEY:
While Mom and calf talk in whispers,

forty decibels lower
than an adult conversation.

Mom continues to fast...

and only pauses to rest and nurse.

They are mammals like us,
only she feeds her baby

an incredible 150 gallons of milk a day.

They power on south like steam trains.

After some 5,000 miles...

Mom and son near the bottom of the world.

(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)

At first, just a few humpbacks arrive...

then hundreds...

then thousands.

This last chapter of their yearly cycle
is a rendezvous.

There's lots of chatter.

(WHALES WHISTLING)

SIGOURNEY: Old friends reunited...

(WHALES WHISTLING)

...and new ones to meet.

(WHALES VOCALIZING AND TRUMPETING)

SIGOURNEY: The youngster
from the Cook Islands has grown strong,

and gained nine tons in six months
on Mom's milk alone.

He's spent most of his energy
keeping up with her,

but now he can play again.

All are famished, especially the mothers.

And that's why they're here.

Antarctica has been busy
preparing a feast for these giants.

With summer, comes endless sunshine
that melts the glaciers.

The freshwater flushes in nutrients
and turns the ocean milky.

Algae grows on the bottom of ice floes.

And a tiny creature
that eats nothing but algae

swims deep beneath Antarctic ice.

Krill.

Shrimp-like crustaceans
just two inches long...

and almost transparent.

Inside their bellies,
you can see the algae they've eaten.

Individually, a krill doesn't look like
much of a meal.

(WHALE BELLOWING)

SIGOURNEY:
But the whales are here to buy in bulk.

As a single mass,

krill outweigh the world's
entire human population

by more than 90 million tons.

For the next four months,
this humpback mother will try to eat

around 5,000 pounds of krill a day.

She'll talk to other humpbacks
about where to find them.

(SQUAWKING)

And put on as much as 12 pounds
of bodyweight per hour.

In between meals,

she pauses her home schooling
and catches a nap.

She rests at the surface
for an hour or more...

and sometimes her calf joins her.

They sleep through changing currents.

(WIND BLISTERING)

SIGOURNEY: Noisy neighbors.

(PENGUINS SQUAWKING)

SIGOURNEY:
And nature's endless renovations.

(BIRDS SQUEAKING)

SIGOURNEY: Each time they wake up,
their work is a little bit harder.

As the season wears on,
the krill thins out,

and must be rounded up.

Like the humpbacks
that eat herring in Alaska,

this mother also has a special skill.

She calls out,
and finds a willing teammate.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Her baby waits behind.

Together, they dive down to the krill,
and do this.

It's a highly specialized form
of bubble-net feeding

that only some whales down here practice.

The dual stream of bubbles
scares the krill into a tight ball...

ready for scooping.

(WHALES VOCALIZING)

SIGOURNEY: Learn to do this well,
and every summer the living will be easy.

Mother needs to teach her calf.

But the fun-loving youngster
tires of watching

and wanders off on his own.

It's a dangerous choice.

He may not realize what's at stake.

Orcas patrol this part of Antarctica,
ready to attack the young and the weak.

(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)

Humpback and orcas are mortal enemies.

(ORCA WHISTLING)

SIGOURNEY: And this is why.

This orca stumbled across
this lone humpback calf

and makes a move.

It's likely a test,
to see if the humpback is vulnerable.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

SIGOURNEY:
But the orca has a calf of her own.

And even young humpbacks
have sharp barnacles

growing on their flippers,
making them into powerful weapons.

The table is turned.

The bold humpback calf
is safe for the moment...

but the orca's pod is nearby,

and no telling what will happen
if they return in numbers.

He doesn't stay to find out.

-(WHALE VOCALIZING)
-SIGOURNEY: The humpback mom calls.

(WHALE WHISTLING)

SIGOURNEY: Her baby knows
what this communication means...

"Get back to Mom ASAP."

She's not happy he swam off.

Once they leave these feeding grounds,
the calf will be weaned...

and he won't eat again
for another eight months.

But before he can join his elders
in the feast,

he must master making the perfect
P-shaped ring of bubbles.

Almost always in a clockwise direction.

Like a toddler learning to walk,

his first attempts are adorable,
but all wrong.

Over the course of a few weeks,
he gains more confidence.

His letter Ps start to show promise.

Now, the moment of truth.

Mom invites him to join them for a try.

If he's learned well, there will be three
perfect P-shaped rings,

and the third will be his.

Now that he's got the hang of it,
there's no stopping him.

What he's done is more significant
than learn how to bubble-net.

He has learned a custom...

a secret passed down through the ages
with sophisticated communication.

And these are traditions he will pass on.

How to feed...

how to sing...

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

...how to connect.

This is also what culture looks like
for other whale species.

Some have even stronger ties
with their clan...

behaviors that define distinct tribes...

(WHALE SQUEAKING)

...and communication even more advanced.

(WHALE SQUEAKING)

SIGOURNEY: This is the incredible nature
of the love, the songs,

and the Secrets of the Whales.

(WHALE SCREECHING)

JAMES: The ocean is not the easiest
environment to shoot in, you know?

You've got wind.
You've got sea sting.

You've got rapidly-changing weather.
You've got saltwater,

which is hell on your camera equipment
and your electronics.

Any time you're shooting underwater,

everything just goes up
by a couple of orders of magnitude

in terms of difficulty.

(WHALE VOCALIZING)

BRIAN: Let's hope they're here tomorrow.
I mean...

I guess let's see if they come up...

-ANDY: Yeah.
-...feeding here.

But now and then you get lucky.

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

JAMES: Oh, right there.

BRIAN:
Oh, it's gonna be right around us. Holy...

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

Wow!

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

JAMES: This is probably
one of the most amazing things I've seen

in years of trying to go out
into the ocean

and wrestle away a bit of imagery.

You know, in the months,
if not years, of preparation,

and the hours and hours long weeks
that you spend at sea.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

You know,
the whales didn't get the script.

You know,
they didn't get the memo, you know?

"Show up at 9:00 a.m. We'll be there."

You know, the interesting thing here
is that these individuals

are not family members.

They travel from widely separate places
in the ocean

to come back to this place,
like a reunion, every year,

to do this group feeding strategy.

They can do it as effectively
on their own, individually,

but they choose to do it together.

There's a social component to it.

There's a, maybe a joyful component to it,
or a comforting component to it.

The keyword here is tradition.
It's something they elect to do.

Something that has value to them.
It's learned.

It requires communication.
It requires coordination.

That's a tradition.

It might be like getting together
for Thanksgiving dinner is to us.

It has meaning.
It has cultural meaning.

The great sort of observation,
if not discovery, of this show

is that there is
demonstrable whale culture.

(WHALES WHISTLING)

JAMES: (CHUCKLING) Look at Brian.

He's like, "Wow!"

(WHALES WHISTLING)