01x02 - Giants of the Deep

[bunniefuu]

[James Cameron] The Ocean.

the last frontier on earth.

So much is unexplored

and unexplained.

To change that

a kickass team of insanely

talented specialists is

setting out to push the

frontiers of what we know

about our oceans.

[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh.

[James Cameron] Zoleka Filander,

deep sea scientist.

[Zoleka Filander] Being a

deep sea researcher means

having front row tickets to

the best movie that everybody

wants to watch.

[James Cameron]

Melissa Márquez

[Melissa Márquez]

Straight ahead, 12:00.

[James Cameron]

Shark biologist.

[Melissa Márquez] We just saw

what no one has seen before.

[James Cameron]

Eric Stackpole

[Eric Stackpole] Scan now!

[James Cameron]

Ocean tech innovator.

[Eric Stackpole] I love

building tools that allow us

to see things in ways

we've never seen before.

[gasps]

[James Cameron] And Aldo Kane

[Aldo Kane] This is insane.

[James Cameron] Former

Royal Marine; special ops.

[Aldo Kane] It doesn't

get any more cutting-edge

exploration than this.

[James Cameron]

Their secret weapon

the OceanXplorer.

The most technologically

advanced research vessel

ever built.

There's never been a more

urgent need to understand

our ocean and the

animals that call it home

Because their lives

and ours depend on it.

[Eric Stackpole] Okay

here we go. 2:00, 2:00.

[James Cameron] This time

the team track sperm whales,

down into an alien world.

[Edith Widder] What is that?

[James Cameron] Full

of fantastical creatures.

[Melissa Márquez] No, h*, oh!

[theme music plays].

[James Cameron] The OceanXplorer

is heading for deep water.

Just off the Azores.

A chain of tiny volcanic islands

in the middle of the Atlantic.

And a rich oasis for an

abundance of marine life.

[squawking]

Every summer nearly

1,000 sperm whales gather here.

They're easily identified by

their distinctive

sideways spout.

These whales spend most of their

lives deep below the surface.

But using the full scope

of the OceanXplorer's tech,

the team hopes to shine a

light on their lives down

in these black depths.

[Eric Stackpole] Standby 9:00.

[James Cameron] Sperm whales

were hunted here as recently as

1987 and they

live up to 70 years,

so some of them may

still remember that.

They're understandably

nervous around boats.

So Aldo and Melissa

approach cautiously.

[Melissa Márquez] You

got your eyes on them?

They're sneaky I tell 'ya.

[gasps]

Oh my God, they're

right underneath us.

They're right underneath us.

[Aldo Kane] Wow, look at that.

It's a whole family pod.

[Melissa Márquez]

That's gorgeous.

[Aldo Kane] That

is a first for me.

[Melissa Márquez] Yeah!

[James Cameron] Sperm whales

are the largest toothed predator

on the planet.

To study these giants

up close and personal

Aldo and Melissa join

them beneath the waves.

[Melissa Márquez]

Getting under the water and

just seeing this giant animal,

you can feel it looking at you,

trying to figure out

what the heck you are.

[James Cameron] But

they won't have long.

Sperm whales spend just 20%

of their lives at the surface.

[Aldo Kane] When

they dive, it's phenomenal.

One swoosh of their

tail and they are gone.

[James Cameron] These whales

are diving a mile deep for up

to an hour at a time.

The buoyancy of their huge

lungs and the thick blubber

should make that

almost impossible,

but not only do they manage it

they make it look effortless.

[clicking]

But exactly how they dive

so deep has never been filmed.

[clicking]

If the team can get

a camera on a whale it

could further

their understanding.

They recruit the

help of Rui Prieto.

A world leading whale biologist,

he's been studying them in

the Azores for over 20 years.

[Rui Prieto] We want to see what

they are actually doing, uh,

while they are underwater.

[James Cameron] Eric sets

to work helping Rui build

a camera tag that can

withstand the immense pressure

of a sperm whale dive.

[Eric Stackpole] Okay, so this

is the power system and then,

we've just got

the little camera.

You know, the whole thing

looks pretty simple but I mean

the thing that keeps going

through my mind is, you know,

we're gonna have, you know,

maybe one window and one chance

of putting this

together the right way.

[Rui Prieto] So do you think

that's something we can do?

[Eric Stackpole]

Fingers crossed, right?

I guess we'll find out.

[James Cameron] If

they can pull this off,

they'll get the

first ever footage

of a deep sperm whale

dive in the Azores.

- Can you swing it?

- Yeah.

[Rui Prieto] Let's turn

a whale into a cameraman.

[Crew] You have a green light.

[Pilot] Copy green light.

Green deck we're off.

[Rui Prieto] We need to

start looking for blows, okay?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

[Eric Stackpole] Oh looks

like there could be

something over there.

Four, five, six,

seven, eight, nine, ten.

I count 11 whales here.

All in a tight cluster.

Okay, here we go.

2:00, 2:00, you should

have a pretty good eye.

300-400 meters.

[Rui Prieto] Breaching.

[Melissa Márquez] No, h*, oh!

We think breaching

might be a form of

communication between

a sperm whale family,

however sometimes it might just

be the teenagers fooling around

and you know,

blowing off some steam.

[Rui Prieto] Let's

go there very slowly.

Slow and steady wins the race.

[Aldo Kane] Is that speed okay?

[Rui Prieto] Need to gain

a little bit on them because

they are almost diving.

[Aldo Kane] When you're piloting

a boat this close to whales,

there's absolutely

no room for error!

You're dealing

with a live animal.

So the whole thing

has to be 110% perfect

or it's an aborted mission.

That's it.

- Well done.

- Well done dude. Tag on.

[Aldo Kane] OceanXplorer

this is Eagle Ray over.

[Crew] Eagle Ray, OceanXplorer.

Go ahead.

[Aldo Kane] Tag deployed and we

will mark location on the GPS.

[Crew] Copy that. Nice work!

[James Cameron] The tag

is designed to release after

eight hours, and send a signal

to help the team locate it,

somewhere in the

middle of the Atlantic.

[Eric Stackpole] It is

an intense feeling to spend

all this time on something

and then watch it just go into

the abyss on the

back of a whale.

[beeping]

Oh what's this

directly in front of us?

[Aldo Kane] Confirm you

have visual on the tag?

[Eric Stackpole] Affirmative

we're looking at something

orange in the water,

it could be the tag.

[Aldo Kane] Roger that

We are making our way to

your location now, over.

[Melissa Márquez] Oh I see it!

[Aldo Kane] We have

visual on the tag.

[Melissa Márquez]

Little bit more Aldo.

Yeah, there you go. Right there.

- You got it? Heavy.

- Yep got it.

[Eric Stackpole] I'm dying to

know. How does the tag look?

[Aldo Kane] The tag does

look in good condition and

the camera looks

like it is still dry.

[Eric Stackpole] Yes!

All right, great job guys.

[Eric Stackpole]

Should I cut this?

[Rui Prieto] Yes, please.

Now, it could be some water

inside so we need to be careful.

Very slowly. Very carefully.

[Eric Stackpole] I'm like,

excited and nervous

at the same time, you know,

like did everything

work properly?

Did the batteries last?

[Rui Prieto] Yes. Yes.

- Got it?

- Take it off.

[Rui Prieto] It's dry. Okay.

[Eric Stackpole] And

then there's our SD card.

- You got it?

- I, I got it.

[Rui Prieto] This is it.

This is what we've been

working all this time for.

Let's plug this to

the computer and see.

- Okay, yeah.

- Okay.

[Rui Prieto] Anything that

comes off this thing is new.

[gasps]

[Eric Stackpole] Oh my God!

[laughs]

[Rui Prieto] That's the, the

blowhole and it's going down

because it's,

it's getting darker.

[James Cameron] As

they dive, sperm whales

undergo an

incredible transformation.

The pressure of the water

compresses their lungs and

with less volume inside,

they become less buoyant,

allowing them to dive

faster with minimum effort.

As she dives faster, the

force of the water pushes

the camera sideways.

At 450 feet it flips.

- It's pointing backward?

- Yes, it's pointing backwards.

[Rui Prieto] We can

actually see the flukes beating.

[James Cameron] Eric and Rui

are the first people ever to see

a sperm whale use its

body and tail flukes to dive

into the deep.

[Rui Prieto] I'm learning a

lot about how they actually

flex their, their flukes.

It's very slow. It's very calm.

[James Cameron] Then at 900 feet

the whale's behavior changes.

[Eric Stackpole] Look,

the tail's stopped moving.

[Rui Prieto] Yeah it's,

it, it's called gliding.

They use the, the, the

momentum that they have

to glide and keep energy.

- I see.

- And I've, I've never seen it.

[Rui Prieto] So it,

it, it's just amazing.

[James Cameron] Its tail

may have stopped moving but

this whale is still diving.

With gravity doing the work,

it can save energy and

preserve precious oxygen.

[clicking]

[Rui Prieto] Listen.

[clicking]

[Eric Stackpole] It's hunting.

This is the hunting sound.

[Rui Prieto] Yeah.

[James Cameron] Sperm whales

use sound to hunt in the dark.

[clicking]

When their sonar clicks

hit an object and bounce back,

the whale can locate a

target over a mile away.

[clicking]

[Eric Stackpole] It's getting

lighter in the background

you notice that?

[Rui Prieto] Yeah. Yeah. The,

the water is becoming clearer.

[James Cameron]

No luck this time,

so the whale begins its

journey back to the surface.

[rapid clicking]

[Eric Stackpole]

I hear a different,

a slightly higher

pitched clicking.

[Rui Prieto] Yes. It was a coda.

[rapid clicking]

[Eric Stackpole] It's

communicating with its family

just like morse code for whales!

[rapid clicking]

[Rui Prieto] Another one.

Someone is answering.

[James Cameron] Each family

unit has a unique, "Coda,"

that can be heard

from up to two miles away.

[clicking]

- Wow, two, two! Two.

- Two! Another one!

[James Cameron] This is how

a surfacing whale reconnects

with its family.

[clicking]

[Rui Prieto] So

you hear the coda's,

and then the other one comes in.

[Eric Stackpole] Yeah. Yeah.

Do we know that they do this?

[Rui Prieto] We know that they

talk to each other using codas,

but I've never seen

them come together.

[clicking]

[Eric Stackpole] Oh! I

can't believe we got this all.

[clicking]

[Rui Prieto] They are

completely interacting.

Nothing like that

has ever been filmed.

It's just amazing.

[Eric Stackpole] We're

seeing something that has

never been seen before.

These huge whales, going to a

part of the world that we know

almost nothing about and

we get a first person view.

I'm right next to Rui and he's

spent his entire life trying to

understand these animals

and this is something

he's never seen before.

[whimsical music plays]

[James Cameron] Once back at

the surface some sperm whales

spend their time socializing.

Re-establishing family bonds.

Others grab a quick power nap.

But their time

together is brief.

After just 15 minutes,

they'll dive again,

in their

never-ending pursuit of prey.

Sperm whales eat up

to a ton of squid a day.

And with nearly

1,000 sperm whales here,

that's a lot of squid.

So what kind of squid are

hiding down there in the depths

that could satisfy

such voracious appetites?

To find out, the team need

to get down there themselves.

[James Cameron] The

mission will be led by Zoleka,

the OceanXplorers'

deep sea researcher.

[Zoleka Filander]

For this mission,

I'm partnering with Edie Widder,

one of the world's most

experienced deep sea biologists.

- You ready to dive?

- Yes!

[Pilot] SO Neptune, we

are ready to shut hatches.

[Crew] SO Bridge.

You are clear to roll sub out.

[James Cameron] Edie's

been pushing the envelope in

ocean exploration

for over 40 years.

[Pilot] That's

Neptune in the water.

Venting now.

Depth 2.0 meters.

Vents secure, descending over.

[Zoleka Filander] Every

time we dive into the deep,

we are heading into the unknown.

[Edith Widder] We are explorers

and this is our spaceship.

[James Cameron] 600 feet down

the team enters

the twilight zone.

A world dominated by darkness,

and alien creatures.

[Edith Widder] Oh look at that.

Look at that.

[Zoleka Filander]

What are you seeing?

[James Cameron]

It's a glass squid.

A rare sighting.

[Edith Widder] Being transparent

that's a defense mechanism.

It's such an amazing adaptation.

You see it a lot in the ocean,

but you don't

see it much on land.

[James Cameron] At 1500 feet,

they find even

more signs of life.

- What is that?

- Where? Where?

[Edith Widder] Look, turn to

the right, turn to the right.

[Zoleka Filander]

It's ink. But it's so much.

[Edith Widder] Oh my God!

[Pilot] Oh yeah. That's

a massive plume of ink.

[Zoleka Filander]

Where is the squid though?

- Oh squid.

- Squid!

[James Cameron] A bird squid.

- Hello.

- Hello.

[James Cameron] And

this one has attitude!

- Oh my gosh.

- Beautiful. Oh look at it.

[laughter]

[Pilot] I think he's

trying to eat Zoleka.

[Zoleka Filander]

Yeah. I'm squid food.

[James Cameron] As the

sub dives to 2500 feet,

Zoleka spots

something extraordinary.

[Zoleka Filander] Oh my word.

Is that a whiplash squid?

Look how exquisite it is.

[James Cameron] All squid

can change color by expanding

or contracting cells in their

skin called chromatophores.

[Zoleka Filander] Do

you think, do you think

it's signaling to other squid?

Yoo!

Is this an alarm signal?

How does one even decode

what we're really seeing here?

I'd like to think I'm a

level-headed scientist but wow.

When you come across

an encounter like this,

it's absolutely

stunning, absolutely stunning.

This is why we do it Edie.

[James Cameron] Sperm whales

do prey on whiplash squid but

they're so small, they'd need

to eat thousands every day.

At 3300 feet, they approach the

boundary of the midnight zone.

[Zoleka Filander] The

midnight zone is pitch black

and it's freezing.

But as hostile as this place is,

this is where the

sperm whale finds its food.

So it's important that we

go take a look down there.

[James Cameron] But the sub

reaches its maximum dive depth.

It can't go any further.

[Pilot] Control,

control, Neptune

passing five zero meters,

clear to surface.

[James Cameron] If they want

to search the midnight zone for

larger sperm whale prey

the team will have to

mobilize the ship's ROV.

A remotely operated vehicle.

[Eric Stackpole] The ROV is

capable of going to depths of

20,000 feet.

So getting to 5,000 feet where

the sperm whales are going,

should be no problem at all.

[James Cameron]

Melissa baits the ROV with

deep-water squid's

favorite meal,

other squid.

[Melissa Márquez] And that

is a squid ready to be lifelike

in the water column.

[James Cameron] Through

its tether to the ship,

the ROV sends

back a live picture.

[Eric Stackpole] Exploring

the deep you often see something

that you have never seen before,

but you hope that you're gonna

see something

no-one has seen before.

[Pilot] Lights off.

[Eric Stackpole] Oh,

incoming, incoming, here we go.

- Keep, whoa.

- Whoa!

[Edith Widder] What is that?

[Zoleka Filander]

Bingo. Kitefin shark.

[James Cameron] The squid

lure has drawn in more than

the team bargained for.

[Zoleka Filander] He

looks like a good size.

These guys can get up to

like 30 pounds on average.

Sperm whales, yeah they do

eat them but actually have

a preference for squid.

[James Cameron] After hours in

the deep and just one encounter

with the kitefin, the

team wonders if the noise from

the ROV could be

scaring off the squid.

Time to try a

different approach.

[James Cameron] Marine biologist

Nathan Robinson has the perfect

camera rig for this mission.

[Nathan Robinson] The

angler is a stealth camera,

makes no noise.

It's also very

light sensitive so this

actually really is perfect for

seeing animals in the deep sea.

Going down.

Okay, keep letting it go.

[Aldo Kane] Lowering the

angler on a fishing line may

look low tech, but

this is our secret weapon.

It can dive to 6,500 feet and

then just sit there completely

silent and still, so as not

to scare away any wildlife.

[James Cameron] The angler

is armed with an E-Jelly.

An LED array that mimics

the defense mechanism of

the Atolla jellyfish, which

lights up when threatened to try

and attract an

even larger predator in

the hope that it will

scare off the attacker.

After hours in the deep, the

rig is ready to be retrieved.

Only once back aboard,

will the team discover if

their covert mission

has been a success.

[Nathan Robinson] Right, you

ready to bring it to the lab?

[Eric Stackpole] Yeah.

Okay. So now we're

going down to the bottom.

Oh my God, what a catch.

[James Cameron] These

flying squid are known

sperm whale prey.

[Nathan Robinson] We've

been seeing a ton of squid,

conducting these hit

and run attacks on the bait

and the E-Jelly.

They are large, very

nutritious food items for

something like a sperm whale.

[James Cameron]

Hours into the footage,

Nathan and Eric spot

something even larger,

and they gather

the rest of the team.

[Nathan Robinson]

Just watch this.

[Eric Stackpole] What the heck!

[Edith Widder] That

is a really big squid.

[Nathan Robinson] So this

species is the third largest

in the oceans.

[Edith Widder] Dana octopus

squid is the, the common name.

It's got light organs

on the ends of its arms,

that are like

the size of lemons.

Look at them!

They're glowing so bright.

[Eric Stackpole] Why would you

have such bright lights there?

- To blind you.

- Oh!

[Nathan Robinson] It's like

a deer in the headlights

[Edith Widder] Yeah.

[Nathan Robinson] So

you've got your little critter,

your crustacean

that you want to eat,

you shine these big kinda

lemon size lights right at it,

it can't see what's

coming from what direction

and then bam you take it down.

[James Cameron] Weighing as

much as a full-grown gorilla,

a sperm whale only needs to

hunt five of these giants a day.

[Nathan Robinson] This is

actually the most common, uh,

species that sperm whales

eat in terms of weight.

[Eric Stackpole] This is

actually, this is staple food.

- This is, exactly.

- This is number one.

[Nathan Robinson] This is

what they're eating, yeah.

[Edith Widder] But

they've hardly ever been seen.

[Nathan Robinson] I'm

actually pretty sure this is

the first footage we

have of dana octopus squid,

in the Atlantic.

[Edith Widder] This is amazing.

[James Cameron] Thanks

to the deep-water team,

we've seen squid down

there large enough to feed this

huge population of sperm whales.

But what's fueling

this rich ecosystem?

It's all down to the

tiniest organisms in the ocean.

When deep ocean currents hit

the island's underwater slopes,

nutrient rich water is

forced up toward the surface.

These nutrients feed

microorganisms that form

the base of the food web,

and the more there are,

the more life this

ecosystem can support.

To find out just how rich

these waters are Edie and Zoleka

once again take a

dive into the deep.

The density of this

microscopic life is difficult

to judge in these dark waters

but Edie has a

magic trick to reveal it.

[Zoleka Filander] 600 meters.

[Edith Widder] Oh

I hope this works.

[Pilot] Okay, you ready?

[Crew] We're ready.

[Pilot] Three, two, one.

Lights coming on.

[Edith Widder] Nothing.

Let's drop down.

[Pilot] Control, Neptune.

We are descending.

[Edith Widder] Okay

let's try it again.

[Pilot] Okay three,

two, one, lights coming on.

[gasps]

[cheering]

[Zoleka Filander] It worked!

[laughs]

Wow!

Bioluminescence in action.

It's like I'm wrapped

in a blanket of stars.

This is the base

of the food chain.

The fish eat the plankton

and the squid eat the fish and

then the sperm whales

are feeding on the squid.

This is where it all begins.

Smallest to the biggest.

[Edith Widder] That's fantastic.

[James Cameron] Edie's witnessed

this bioluminescent phenomenon

her entire career, but has

never had the technology to

share it with the world

Until now.

[Zoleka Filander] Wow.

Thanks Edie, we got it.

[Edith Widder] It's

like having seen UFOs and

now suddenly there's evidence.

Okay. Can we do that again?

[Pilot] Absolutely.

[James Cameron] Without this

abundance of tiny life,

the squid and the sperm whales

couldn't survive here.

[Zoleka Filander] It's very,

very humbling to think that

no matter how tiny you are

you can do gigantic things.

[Pilot] Control, control.

Neptune's ascending over.

[Crew] Clear to surface.

Clear to surface.

[Crew 2] Welcome back Neptune.

Blow your tanks.

[Pilot] Well did

you enjoy that dive?

[Edith Widder]

Oh. Are you kidding!

That was actually

on my bucket list.

You know, as I get older,

every expedition I go on,

I figure this might be the last

and if this is the

last it's the best.

It's just been

absolutely amazing.

[James Cameron] In their

time here in the Azores,

the team has captured

the first ever images of

a sperm whale diving

into these deep waters.

[Eric Stackpole] This is the

culmination of a huge amount of

effort and many

sleepless nights,

but at the end of the day

we got those few minutes of

incredibly priceless footage

that made the

whole thing worth it.

It was awesome!

[James Cameron] They've

added to the image catalogue of

the squid that

feed the sperm whales.

[Melissa Márquez]

Thanks to the OceanXplorer,

we've been able to dive deep

into the world of sperm whales

here and discovered this

interaction between them and

massive squid that's

never really been observed

here before, which

is pretty mind blowing.

[James Cameron] And

they've documented the normally

invisible riches that

fuel this entire ecosystem.

[Edith Widder] It's fabulous!

[Zoleka Filander] I am one

of the few people to witness

a bioluminescence light show

and I'm so excited to share

this with the world.

That is mind blowing.

[Aldo Kane] We've still got so

much to learn about these whales

but seeing them live in

harmony they could definitely

teach us a thing or two.

[Melissa Márquez] No, h*, oh!

[James Cameron]

From the largest,

to the tiniest creatures.

The team has made significant

discoveries here in the Azores.

[clicking]

[Rui Prieto] Nothing like

that has ever been filmed.

[James Cameron] A rich hotspot

for life in the Atlantic,

and a blueprint for

healthy oceans everywhere.