Our Oceans (2024) s01e05 Episode Script

[water rushing]
[Barack Obama] In our most remote ocean
[bright string music playing]
over a thousand miles
from the nearest continent.
Zavodovski Island.
It's prone to volcanic eruption,
sparse in vegetation,
and lashed by storms.
[wind whistling]
Yet, Zavodovski is home
to over 2,000,000 chinstrap penguins.
[serene music playing]
[penguins squawking]
They're here because
the surrounding waters provide
some of the best fishing on the planet.
[chicks chirping]
These youngsters are
used to having their meals delivered.
The challenge is
for those making the delivery.
[dramatic music playing]
A mother chinstrap,
full of krill for her chicks.
Just one thing stands in her way.
The sheer cliffs
that surround this island fortress.
It's hard enough
for those trying to get down.
[dramatic choral music continuing]
How will she get up?
She could scramble up the rocks.
[frantic squawking]
Maybe the solution is not
to fight the ocean,
but to ride it.
[rousing, dramatic music playing]
Go with the flow.
[squawking]
But the flow runs both ways.
[foreboding music playing]
The whitewater shows no mercy.
To have any chance
of getting food to her chicks,
she'll have to tighten her chinstrap
[daunting music playing]
and brace herself
to ride the biggest wave of all.
[tense music building]
[triumphant music swells]
Made it!
[overlapping chirping, squawking]
Now the final challenge
a one-mile climb
up the side of an active volcano
to deliver her precious cargo.
[uplifting music playing]
The mighty chinstrap proves that anyone
tough enough to survive gets rewarded,
in this, the most isolated ocean of all.
[majestic music playing]
The Southern Ocean
completely surrounds Antarctica.
It's home to the coldest waters
on our planet,
where winters can drop below -50 degrees,
and winds reach almost 200 miles per hour.
This remote ocean is where
the global ocean current is most powerful,
long protecting hidden worlds.
[music trails off]
At the outer fringes of the Southern Ocean
lies the coast of southern Australia.
[enchanting music playing]
Its cold waters are home
to extraordinary species.
Many found nowhere else.
[quirky music playing]
Just offshore lives the handfish.
One of few fish that prefers
to walk rather than swim.
And this spotted handfish is
one of the rarest fish in the world.
Fewer than 3,000 exist
which makes what she's guarding
extremely precious.
She's laid her eggs
in the only place she can.
The stem of a sea tulip.
[delicate, wondrous music playing]
Raised off the silty bottom,
they're anchored against the current.
But this does dangle them
in clear view of hungry neighbors.
[tense music playing]
Luckily for her young,
she's one tough mother.
Tail whips
[forceful drumbeat playing]
take care of hermit crabs.
Giant sea slugs are bitten
into submission.
She has an answer for every invader.
But even she has a nemesis.
A monster sea star,
ten times her body weight.
[low, distressing music playing]
Each of its hundreds of feet can feel,
taste, and smell.
And they've locked onto
the scent of her eggs.
Biting and pushing are futile.
[music intensifies]
It's unstoppable.
But she can't give up.
So, she makes a risky move.
Offering herself to the sea star
[suspenseful music playing]
in a desperate attempt
to lure it away from her eggs.
It seems like a remarkable sacrifice.
But then
[wondrous music playing]
she gives it the slip.
Thanks to resilient moms like her,
spotted handfish still have
a fighting chance.
In the Southern Ocean, you have to do
whatever it takes to survive.
And the further south you go,
the more hostile the ocean becomes.
The great current flows full circle
around the Southern Ocean.
A rotating wall of water,
up to two-and-a-half miles deep
and a thousand miles wide.
It's known as the Circumpolar Current.
And in its path
is South Georgia,
one of the most remote islands
in the world.
Yet, for a few weeks every spring,
it becomes the busiest place of all.
A density of coastal wildlife
found nowhere else.
It's the breeding season,
and every inch of this beach
is contested by giants.
[low, croaky bellowing]
Bull elephant seals,
onshore to battle for breeding rights.
They can grow up to 20 feet long
and weigh more than 8,000 pounds.
[harsh, aggressive music playing]
These enforcers are
as big and bad as they come.
But even the ultimate tough guy
was small once.
[gentle music playing]
[penguins squawking]
A baby born just hours ago.
He'll face many challenges
in his quest to become a giant himself.
First, he needs to fill out
his oversized birthday suit
with his mother's rich milk.
Because he has competition.
A south polar skua
[mischievous music playing]
who has no qualms
about stealing from a baby.
[mother seal grunts]
[mother seal brays]
[mother seal braying]
This skua's off to find an easier target,
and the pup's learned a lesson.
Stay close to Mom.
But his next test won't be so easy.
[chilling music playing]
With the beach overcrowded,
tensions are growing.
Giant males stop at nothing
to defend their territories.
[panicked squawking]
They don't care
who gets caught in the crossfire.
[newborns yawping shrilly]
Being crushed is the number one
cause of death for newborns.
[bright music playing]
But today, this little pup
has been given a second chance.
And so far, Mom's never left his side.
Over the new three weeks,
he'll put on 150 pounds,
and then everything changes.
[pensive music playing]
Because one day,
he wakes up to a terrible shock.
Mom is gone.
Having given him
nearly half her body weight in milk,
she has to return to the ocean to feed.
He can't follow because he can't swim.
He needs to find a safe place to learn.
[wind rushing]
[whimsical music playing]
But, he's easily distracted.
[huffing]
[wondrous music playing]
The seminal moment
for every elephant seal pup is
their first contact with water.
[mysterious music building]
[wondrous music playing]
On entry,
an extraordinary reaction occurs.
He holds his breath.
His heart rate slows.
Blood diverts to his brain.
It's the first step on his journey
to becoming a marine mammal.
But he still has a lot to learn.
After a month of practice
in the shallows with other pups,
he's ready to enter the ocean
for the first time.
Over the next few years,
he'll learn to hold his breath
for more than two hours
and dive to a depth of over 6,000 feet.
And one day, he'll return to these shores
as the largest, toughest seal
in our oceans.
[sweeping, majestic music playing]
From South Georgia,
the great current surges on
at five billion cubic feet per second.
Driven by ferocious winds
and the turning of the earth,
it becomes the most powerful
movement of water on the planet.
A gigantic barrier to the other oceans.
[majestic music swells]
And at its center is
the most isolated continent of all.
[wind whistling]
Antarctica.
Over five million square miles
of frozen wilderness.
[measured, mysterious music playing]
Many of the continent's vast glaciers
extend out from land
as floating ice shelves
on the ocean's surface.
At the ocean's southernmost point,
the current pushes
under the Ross Ice Shelf,
which is larger than
the state of California.
The ice here can be over 800 feet thick.
And yet, where the current flows,
there is life.
[bright, wondrous music playing]
Invertebrates have existed down here,
seemingly unchanged,
for millions of years.
All of them clamoring for their next meal.
Including an Antarctic sea spider.
[eerie music playing]
He's the size of a dinner plate,
and may not have eaten for several months.
With all the competition here,
that's unlikely to change anytime soon.
He needs to find somewhere
where he has the advantage.
A place where the water is so cold,
it's on the brink of freezing.
Where ice crystals can grow
on any surface they touch
[eerie, mysterious music playing]
forming ice caverns.
But their beauty hides their danger.
Because any creature
that touches the ice here
can become trapped.
But all that danger
presents a risky opportunity
for the sea spider.
Using his long, spindly legs,
he tiptoes across the ice
being careful not to trigger its grasp
and slurps up his jelly dinner.
Who needs a web
when you've got an ice cavern?
[dramatic music playing]
These super-cold conditions are sustained
by the Circumpolar Current,
which acts as an icebox,
holding in the cold.
And as winter descends,
the ocean's surface around Antarctica
freezes into a vast sheet of solid ice.
Covering up to seven million square miles,
it's the perfect cover
for the most important species
in the Southern Ocean.
One with immeasurable power over others.
[eerie, alien music playing]
[music intensifies]
[music halts abruptly]
Antarctic krill.
[intricate, pensive music playing]
Trillions of these tiny, shrimp-like
crustaceans feed on the algae
that grows beneath the sea ice.
Their combined weight is thought to be
over 400 million tons.
The greatest mass of any wild animal.
When summer arrives, the ice melts,
and krill hunters swoop in.
From resident gentoo penguins
to great whales who've traveled
thousands of miles.
It's the great annual feast.
Then, winter comes and the whales depart,
and the sea freezes over again.
Only the hardiest remain behind.
[rousing, spirited music playing]
Who said they can't fly?
Emperor penguins.
[grunts]
After two long weeks at sea,
these parents need to return
to their chicks,
who are waiting on thicker sea ice
several miles away.
So, despite just completing an epic swim,
they quickly transition to the track.
[suspenseful, adventurous music playing]
All fully equipped with the technical gear
required to survive in extreme conditions.
Thick blubber protects them from the cold.
Waterproof plumage keeps them dry.
Even their legs are feathered.
Every adaptation refined by evolution
to endure our harshest ocean.
They've almost made it home safely
[penguins squawking]
when the unexpected
[ice crackling]
puts a stop to everything.
The life of every emperor penguin
rests on the presence of this sea ice.
So, while a small crack
may seem harmless to us,
to them it signals a frightening change.
And while they may not know why,
they're right to be concerned.
[suspenseful music playing]
The climate crisis has reached
our oceans' most isolated region.
[chicks squawking]
The penguins' world is suffering
from record-breaking heatwaves,
up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
If the sea ice melts before their chicks
have developed waterproof coats,
they'll drown.
Multiple colonies have already suffered
premature ice loss,
causing the deaths
of tens of thousands of chicks.
For nature's toughest
endurance specialists,
this may be
the most difficult challenge of all.
[ice creaking, groaning]
Scientists fear
that if the warming continues,
by the end of the century we may have
a Southern Ocean without emperor penguins.
As the current continues its journey,
its path is narrowed
by the Antarctic peninsula,
where fierce winds and strong currents
force deep water
to well up to the surface.
This water, which originated
in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans,
is warmer today than ever before.
The upwelling acts as a secret entrance,
allowing warmth to infiltrate
the Circumpolar Current,
further adding to the melt.
With its defenses breached,
summers have become so extreme
that sea ice around the peninsula
has become increasingly scarce.
The greatest ice loss since records began.
[somber music playing]
Without ice to feed beneath,
most of the krill
have abandoned these waters,
along with many of the animals
that depend on them.
Some of the last remaining sea ice is
protected deep within the fjords,
and clinging on is
an ice-dependent creature
who's not going down without a fight.
[forceful, intense music playing]
The crab-eater seal.
This rugged young male is
as tough as they come.
He's a fighter.
And he's got the scars to prove it.
Born on the sea ice,
he's never set a flipper on land.
[music trails off]
But lately,
his world has become unrecognizable.
He's found one of the few remaining
pieces of ice he can haul out on.
And he's joined
by another species of seal,
a Weddell,
who's also seeking refuge.
The bay is unusually quiet.
[menacing music building]
[jarring stinger]
[menacing music continuing]
Orca.
Antarctica's killer whales.
But these are not any old killer whales.
They are seal hunters
and they've covered all the exits.
For the seals,
the sea ice has become a life raft.
Luckily, the sharp edges of the ice
prevent the killer whales,
and their thin skin,
from getting too close.
As long as the seals stay on their raft,
they're safe.
But this pod isn't going anywhere.
[dramatic, forceful music playing]
Working together, they channel their power
to create a single, large bow wave.
The crabeater gets right back on,
with the Weddell trailing behind.
But the wave hunters
are just getting started.
The Weddell,
slower-moving and with more body fat,
is the easier target.
And unlike the crabeater,
Weddells aren't natural-born fighters.
[dramatic, suspenseful music playing]
[Weddell bleating plaintively]
It's a quick death for the Weddell.
[water rushing]
But the hunt
is not over.
These killer whales are struggling
to find enough food.
The fiery crabeater
[snarling, hissing]
is not their first choice of prey.
But without much sea ice,
they'll take what they can get.
As they regroup,
he seizes the moment to slip away.
[frantic, dramatic music playing]
A piece of ice, jammed between two others,
protects him from their attack.
[distressing music playing]
But in an astonishing display
of tactical intelligence,
the killer whales begin to free the ice.
[distressing music intensifying]
[frantic, intense music playing]
This larger piece should put an end to it.
But the hunters aren't finished.
[foreboding music playing]
[ice cracking, creaking]
[tense music playing]
Using a series of subsurface waves,
they dismantle what remains.
[menacing music playing]
[frantic music playing]
Now they work from below
to tip the ice over.
[snarls]
But the crabeater still has
some fight left.
But no matter how hard he tries,
he can't shake them off.
Until there's nowhere left to run.
After four hours of continuous assault,
he is totally exhausted.
[somber, distressed music playing]
But the waves are getting smaller.
And less powerful.
The killer whales are exhausted too.
You win.
[somber, distressed music playing]
The killer whales head out
into an uncertain future.
There are only around 100 of these
specialist wave hunters in the world.
As the sea ice declines,
so do their prospects.
If they lose their ability
to hunt like this,
we'll lose them too.
All Antarctic wildlife
depends on the sea freezing.
[mysterious music playing]
Even deep beneath the surface.
Because each year, as it chills,
250 trillion tons of surface water
plunges into the depths,
taking the great current with it.
At 3,000 feet, darkness and cold
combine with enormous pressure
to slow the pace of life.
Here, at the bottom of the Southern Ocean,
are the oldest living animals on Earth.
This volcano sponge was alive
before the pyramids were built.
They can live for 15,000 years.
[wondrous music playing]
The Southern Ocean is the birthplace
of countless deep-sea creatures.
And by riding the great current,
they've spread out from Antarctica.
So that today,
the weird and the wonderful
have made it
into the depths of every ocean.
Revealing that, thanks to the current,
the Southern Ocean is more connected
than we've ever imagined.
It's the planet's beating heart,
pumping out a cold, deep flow of water
which powers the global ocean current
[majestic music playing]
on its 75,000-mile journey
from one ocean to the next.
Forming one interconnected body of water
that is our one great ocean.
[distressing music playing]
But because the current
connects every ocean,
what we do anywhere
can impact lives everywhere.
A piece of trash carried by the current
can end up on the other side of the world.
Thanks to our actions,
our oceans are now the hottest on record.
As the current spreads this heat
around the world,
fish populations move,
making them harder to protect.
And ice melt is accelerating
[agitated growling]
[yelps]
which could threaten
the future of the great current itself.
Without it,
our weather would become
even more extreme.
If we don't keep the oceans healthy,
they may no longer sustain us.
Yet here, in the Southern Ocean,
we've shown that we can step up
when it matters most.
[whale calls out]
[stirring music building]
This southern right whale is living proof.
We once hunted her kind until there were
fewer than 100 breeding females left.
But at the eleventh hour,
countries around the world pulled together
to protect the great whales.
And Southern rights have made
a remarkable recovery.
Today, thousands of them
journey from Antarctica
to breed along
the southern coast of Australia.
Proving that if we give ocean life
a chance, it can bounce back.
And if we can help save a species
from the brink of extinction,
surely we can work together
to bring our oceans back to health.
More and more of us are taking action.
Cleaning up our waste.
Pledging to reduce emissions.
Protecting species
and their homes.
If we act now,
we still have the power
to help heal our one great ocean.
[rich, full whale song]
[bright, wondrous outro music playing]