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(gentle ambient music)
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- [Narrator] Over millennia and across cultures,
whales and dolphins are seen as guardians
and guides to humans at sea.
We know them to be intelligent, altruistic,
and emotionally aware of each other and us.
Before even our oldest ancestor,
the first of the great apes was born,
cetaceans were the most intellectually
and sensitively complex creatures the planet had ever seen.
(water roaring)
- Cetaceans, and for us, they're the spirit,
the voice of the ocean.
- Actually, cetaceans the world over are a lot like humans.
- There is so much we don't know yet,
and I feel that we're only really scraping the surface
of their intelligence.
(soft tense music)
(blowhole huffing)
- [Narrator] They are the ocean's souls,
guides and protectors, here to lead us
towards a more connected future.
What if their intelligence and sense of family
is not only linked to our origins, but also to our future?
What if whales, dolphins, humans, and all life on Earth
are meant to depend on each other?
To co-exist and learn from one another,
to see and support each other as one family.
Maybe our very survival depends on extending
our sense of family across species and around the world.
(dramatic music)
(gentle music)
Whales and dolphins build family bonds
through play, language, touch, sharing food,
teaching and raising their young, nursing their sick,
and caring for one another, just as we do.
We see compassion and awareness reflected so clearly
in our underwater relatives.
(blowhole huffs)
It's hard not to see something profoundly familiar
in the bond between a whale mother and her calf.
Even in silence, it's easy to recognize the joy
from a loved one's touch.
There is a special tenderness in a whale's embrace,
an unlimited attention.
(somber music)
The feeling exists beyond any language.
As humans, we call it love.
(whales chirping)
(somber music)
Whales and dolphins demonstrate care for one another
through touch, sound, and passionate play.
Each species has their own unique language of affection.
(water splashes)
Courting humpback pairs rest on the ocean floor
in complete stillness, nose to nose.
Dolphin species, including orcas,
show affection in an energetic and enthusiastic way.
They will even make friendly physical contact
with other species.
(bright music)
At times, dolphins seek out mates
based on which males are the most popular
among their social groups,
showing that affection and friendliness
are highly valued qualities in pods
that are bonded by social care and love,
not just genetic relationships.
(gentle music)
A mother can carry its calf's small carcass
over a thousand miles as if she wouldn't accept
the loss of her child.
- What I find astonishing is that anybody ever questions
whether other creatures feel pain
in the same way that we do.
They can't feel what we feel.
And it extends not just to physical pain like being stabbed
or otherwise wounded.
You can wound your heart.
(gentle music) (blowhole huffs)
- There's also examples of J35,
a Southern Resident killer whale in the Pacific Northwest.
She gave birth to one of her calves,
and the calf lived for 30 minutes.
Sadly, the calf died.
For 17 days after that, she carried around her calf
on her nose, in her teeth, on her rostrum.
For 17 days, it was called the tour of grief.
It's really hard to be a scientist and not see that
as an emotion, not see it as mourning.
I think that's where us scientists sometimes need
to humanize that in the point that they do have emotions.
(blowhole huffs)
- [Narrator] When these close family bonds are broken
by death or capture, they call out in panic,
searching for the relatives that make them feel safe.
Even after decades in captive confinement,
orca and dolphins continue to call out
to the families they've once lost.
Whales and dolphins have suffered greatly
at the hands of humans, and yet when wild whales
are approached with calm and respect,
they view us with patience, curiosity, and compassion.
(whales chirping)
(blowhole huffs)
Whales carry the wisdom of memory.
Many cetaceans living today have suffered anger,
sadness, and the loss of a relative
to hunting or entanglement.
(soft somber music)
(Yann speaking in French)
Yet they seem to view us with great forgiveness
beyond our human capacity to understand.
(whale chirping)
Dolphins clearly express their joy
while doing leaps and spins with visible exuberance.
(bright music)
- The more you see them, and diving with them,
hundreds of hours being in the water with the dolphins,
every time is different.
(bright music continues)
Some days are really surprising that you see, for example,
when they are playing football with a puffer fish
and they are together and it's actually kind of teamwork,
when they balance poor puffer fish in this way.
(bright music continues)
- [Narrator] We have such a strong emotional interest
in these magnificent animals because their need
for emotional connection so closely mirrors our own.
When we witness their grief and fear,
their joy and affection, we have a chance
to remember our own ocean souls.
(cetaceans chirping) (soft somber music)
- The dolphins and whales and other marine
are communicating to one another, but can we tune in?
Can we figure out what it means,
and maybe get a conversation going?
It's a wonderful dream.
I hope it comes true.
(blowhole huffs)
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Communication is a matter of survival.
It is how we ask for our needs met
when we cannot meet them ourselves.
As highly intelligent species,
many cetaceans live and love in family groups,
depending on each other for protection, food, and comfort,
even more than we do.
It is communication that makes social survival possible.
Without it, each of us, human and animal,
would be completely isolated within our own experience.
Language allows us to bond, build, and thrive together.
- The greatest skill the cetaceans have
in terms of how they communicate with each other is
not just the fact that they can communicate
across huge distances, some species,
but also the way that they transmit information
about the world around them,
the three-dimensional world around them.
And effectively what we're seeing,
what we're learning as the years go by
is that cetaceans have abilities, which to humans,
are basically supersensory,
things that we could never replicate,
but things that we're learning that these animals use
to understand and exist in this very hostile,
alien environment, things that have evolved
over the course of about 50 million years or so.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Whales and dolphins rely on language
and sound communication in an even bigger way.
Hearing is their most critical sense
and the basis of their daily survival.
(gentle music continues)
(whale chirps)
Cetaceans' sonic communication is more important
than human sight.
They cannot navigate without the listening
and transmitting abilities of sound.
(whales clicking)
(Francois speaking in French)
(Francois clicking)
(Francois speaking in French)
(singer singing in foreign language)
(soft ominous music)
(Francois speaking in French)
(whale clicking)
A whale song might be what first comes to mind
when thinking of their communications.
(soft somber music)
However, dolphins are the most articulate and expressive.
(dolphins chirping)
Dolphins have languages
with more than 60,000 different words.
That's more than many human languages.
They combine distinctive combinations
of clicks, whistles, and trills to communicate
complex ideas to one another.
(somber music continues)
The basic communication of survival begins at birth.
Every species of whale and dolphin
has their own unique assigned word.
Immediately following the birth of a calf,
mother dolphins repeatedly call out
their own signature whistle.
(dolphin clicking)
This allows time for the new baby
to imprint on the unique voice and name of its own mother
before hearing the names of the rest of the pod.
- When we know about the whistling and also the calfs
when they learn their own signature whistle,
when they come, maybe they even have a whistle
or like a name, a signature name for me, for myself,
because I'm sure they also talk about who is coming,
what's going on, when they come to you in front
and they scan you, and they even have a template probably
from different people, so also from their group members.
(dolphins whistling)
- [Narrator] Two dolphins can even talk
about a third animal who is not present
by using the absent animals' signature whistle,
showing their ability to gossip or exchange information
about each other.
(dolphins whistling)
Toothed whales, like dolphins, orcas, and sperm whales,
use sound to navigate, locate prey,
and coordinate group hunting by echolocation.
By sending out sonic pulses and reading the echoes
that bounce back, they can create an image
of what is around them, and each pod member
receives the picture at the same time.
In quiet waters, they can navigate every element
of their world without using sight,
entirely dependent on sound.
(water splashing)
Humpback songs are emotive vocalizations
made only by males at mating grounds,
and they play a key role in attracting females.
These songs evolve and change every year.
(whale chirping)
Humpback calls, on the other hand, are the basis
of their communication and remain remarkably static
and consistent, even over generations.
(whales chirping)
Now, can you imagine losing your ties to your loved ones,
your ability to communicate and connect,
being forced into an ever louder and lonelier existence
as humans intrude into their habitats?
(dramatic music)
The conditions underwater are hugely altered
by the global daily traffic of over 50,000 shipping vessels,
sonic explorations, and other human technologies.
And whales and dolphins are struggling to keep up.
- For these animals, sound is how
they can see the environment.
So if there's a lack, they have any problem
with sound production, emission, or reception,
it's like for us to be blind.
(singer vocalizing) (soft ambient music)
- [Narrator] The stress, isolation, and psychological damage
of noisy oceans mean no feeding, no meeting, no mating,
no offspring, and no future.
(soft ominous music)
(waves crashing)
When survival is the only goal,
life's needs become very focused.
We must be fed, protected, and sheltered.
(bright dramatic music)
But if we receive more deliberate care and teaching
from those that love us,
(bright dramatic music continues)
if we are taught and nurtured by their careful attention,
then it becomes possible for us not just to survive alone,
but to thrive together as a family.
(bright dramatic music continues)
(water splashing)
An orca's family, or its pod, is its everything.
Each of these groups has a unique social structure,
often centered around several matriarchs,
and its own style of communication
that has been passed down from generation to generation,
giving each pod its own culture.
(gentle music)
- Killer whale societies are matriarchal,
so grandma rules the roost.
Even though the male is far bigger in size,
it's actually the female that's the dominant one.
The killer while matrilineal society is grandmas,
it's mothers, it's sisters, it's daughters,
and they all live together.
They care for each other.
They feed together. They swim together.
Family life for them is critical.
- This is the things that are sort of similar
to what we do in the human world
that we can see reflected in these animals
and these different populations around the world,
which makes us become so much more connected to them.
(water splashes)
(blowhole huffs)
- [Narrator] In a rare and tender display of care,
there is even evidence of elder female orca
acting as midwives attending to the birth of calves.
These elders support calves during their first breaths,
gently bringing them to the water's surface
while the mother rests and recovers.
This evidence of care that mother and baby
are guided are supported during birth,
changes the way that orca enter the world.
Females also shape the family dynamic of sperm whales,
living in related pods of grandmothers, aunts, mothers,
and daughters who cooperate for life
in raising the pods' young together.
(gentle music)
(Francois speaking in French)
(blowholes huffing)
(singer vocalizing)
- [Narrator] While female sperm whales cooperate for life,
males lead a more solitary existence,
maturing slowly spending around a decade
within the care of the pod.
They then migrate alone as they grow to maturity
before forming short-term bachelor groups,
moving back into the range of females
when it's time to battle for the right to mate.
Like elephants, lions, and great apes,
large male whales engage in shows of strength and skill
to drive off weaker competitors away from females.
(water sloshing)
Groups of male dolphins form relationships early in life
that continue for decades, and each friendship appears
to serve a different purpose.
(gentle music)
Some are for hunting.
Some are for protection.
And some are purely for playing and socializing.
(dolphins chirping)
- The ones that have the strongest social bonds
to other males, so the the males that we saw
most often together, that these males
that were often seen with others,
that they also obtained the most females.
(dolphins chirping) (gentle bright music)
- [Narrator] Cetacean family ties
exceed the pure biological imperative.
If a calf becomes an orphan,
there is always someone in the pod
to take on the guardian role.
(soft tense music)
Even more incredible is their capacity for empathy,
sometimes resulting in a truly special phenomenon,
an intraspecies adoption.
- Sometimes you see very interesting behavior.
In French Polynesia, we saw these dolphins,
these bottlenose dolphins that have adopted
a melon-headed whale, and this is unique.
We believe it was an orphan that got accepted
by the group, and it behaves like a dolphin.
So, it's also very interesting behavior
that you don't see very often.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] This desire to nurture and nourish
another being through adoptive care is altruistic,
deliberate, and sustained through emotional connection.
(gentle music continues)
These conscious relationship bonds,
the foundation of cetacean families,
mirror how humans live and love each other.
(water splashing)
The minds of cetaceans have evolved much like ours.
We are all dependent on caring for each other.
It keeps us alive.
(bright gentle music)
It is surprising that the best test we have
for cognitive self-awareness, the neurological soul,
involves a mirror.
(soft suspenseful music)
- They can recognize themselves,
they can recognize other individuals.
It's about visual recognition,
but it's also about using language
to identify each other.
It's a highly complicated way,
a highly effective way of communicating.
Those levels of complexity suggest
high levels of intelligence.
- The biggest brain on the planet is not a human brain.
It's a sperm whale! (chuckles)
(whale clicking)
What do they know?
What can they do with all that gray matter
that is equivalent to ours?
Plus, they live in an environment
where they use capabilities that we can only dream about
using sound to echolocate.
Oh, we can't do that.
I mean, not with what we have built in with our brains.
(soft suspenseful music continues)
- [Narrator] Whales and dolphins possess deep intelligence.
Their enormous brains have complex capacities
to remember, teach, communicate,
and coordinate over vast distances.
This is what enables their survival
in every ocean on Earth, from coral reefs
to the polar ice caps.
The connection between intelligence and social cooperation
might begin with cetaceans' capacity for emotional empathy,
as evidenced by a high concentration
of spindle cell neurons in their brains.
(tense music)
In humans, these neurons are responsible
for complex skills like language acquisition,
memory, social intelligence, and compassion.
(singer vocalizing) (tense music continues)
(birds squawking)
Orcas are also incredibly inventive hunters,
constantly adapting to quickly changing circumstances.
(soft ominous music)
(water splashes)
(soft ominous music continues)
While stealing fishermen's catches,
they are able to out-think and outmaneuver
every method used to try and curtail their feeding.
People often wonder about cetacean intelligence.
If they're so smart, why haven't they built
what we've built?
The answer is pretty simple.
Cetaceans don't have hands that would allow them
to modify their environment.
(soft ambient music)
- They can't write things down.
They don't have a library they stow away somewhere,
but they've got a library in their heads
of experiences that do get transmitted
from generation to generation.
(water splashing)
- [Narrator] Over time, the pod and the broader species
develop tools, techniques, and social structures
that evolve over time.
Each generation builds on the wisdom of their ancestors.
And since cetaceans lack the physical dexterity
to modify that external environment,
their intelligence is focused inward on cooperation,
family bonds, and unique, strategic friendships.
(blowholes huffing)
- Orcas can live up to 80 years or more,
and they have these strong family bonds
that will remain with them for the whole of their lives.
They actually go through menopause,
which is pretty rare in the animal kingdom.
- It gives the females an opportunity
to pass on the knowledge and the experience
that they've acquired over the years
and pass that on directly through cultural learning
to these younger animals.
And that's a really remarkable thing,
that you take a back seat,
you don't compete with your offspring,
but you actually take part in learning
and nurturing and passing on culture.
(suspenseful music) (water splashing)
- [Narrator] Bottlenose dolphins
also bond over special cultural learning,
like having a shower after waking up every morning.
(gentle music)
- It's like a underwater spa kind of
to clean themself, and we are analyzing right now
the substances of this particular substrate,
and it looks like that they are antibacterial
and even antifungals.
They probably are aware of self-medication as well,
because it could be a very nice prevention for skin disease.
(gentle music continues)
- [Narrator] Obviously they use their intelligence
for problem solving.
Many behaviors in dolphins remind us
of our human capacity to care and nurture.
Mothers show special strategies for watching
over their calves, even while they sleep.
- Dolphins, they're sleeping only with one brain side,
one is awake and the other one is sleeping,
and the opposite eye of the sleeping brain side is closed.
The eye which is open looks towards the calf,
so they are having a connection also during sleeping.
- [Narrator] This echoes the notion of sleeping
with one eye open that is so familiar
to human parents watching over a new baby.
(gentle music continues) (water splashing)
(beach goers chattering)
Planet Earth is our place in the universe,
our one and only home.
But humans are not alone here and we are not alone
in our experiences of love and family.
The Earth is a vast interspecies community
with a capacity for intelligent interaction.
(soft music)
- When we first meet them, they're so awesome.
Just their breathing is awesome.
Just the exhalation of the breath of a great whale
is like nothing else in the world.
(blowhole huffs)
(Yann speaking in French)
- [Narrator] Like us, whales and dolphins in every ocean
of the world live long lives
rooted in relationships and learning
alongside their family and friends.
(dolphin chirping)
- Normally, particularly with primates, with humans,
if you do something for someone,
oftentimes there's a reason why,
you expect some kind of a payback in the future,
but with cetaceans, so what is the case?
What is the point here?
We know that there are lots of documented cases
of humpbacks particularly intervening
and protecting other species, non-cetacean species,
seals and sea lions for example, from attacks by sharks
and sometimes from attacks by killer whales.
(whale clicking) (gentle music)
- [Narrator] Our water-bound cousins have always shown us
incredible levels of interspecies kindness.
Some fishermen around the world
wouldn't possibly fish without the help
of their dolphin relatives.
(Luis speaking in foreign language)
(gentle music)
The ties between cetaceans and humans
are physical, spiritual,
(water splashing)
and emotional.
The ocean is a part of us.
Historically, around the world, whales were hunted
in small numbers by ancient tribes for food.
But advances in technology led
to faster engines and larger boats.
Whaling became a global commercial enterprise
that pushed many species to near extinction.
Some will never recover.
(ominous music)
Humans turned their fat into oil to provide heat
and light for cities around the world,
collected their ambergris for perfume,
sold their meat and carved their bones.
(blowhole huffs)
In the 20th century alone, nearly 3 million whales
were killed by whalers.
Today, commercial hunting continues
in a handful of countries, by choice, not necessity.
(soft somber music)
Those who continue hunting cetaceans
have not recognized that the animals they are killing
are the most sensitive of all,
the most intelligent of all.
The most like us.
- We're still killing them, not so much deliberately today,
but inadvertently through all the stuff we put in the ocean,
the nets that entangle them,
the noise that we put into the ocean
that disrupts their hearing,
disrupts their means to communicate.
(somber music)
- We can examine, we can excavate
and we can check levels of stress that the animal's
been exposed to because of the hormones
that are present in the tissue of an ear plug
from the ear canal of a large baleen whale.
(water sloshing)
We can see the peak of commercial whaling
and how that affected populations of whales.
We can also see the period when the moratorium,
the ban effectively on commercial whaling was brought
into effect and the associated decrease in stress levels.
But actually, since the 1970s and into the 1980s
through to the present day,
we're seeing an increase again in the levels
of stress hormones which are being produced by large whales.
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] Science can now explore
more than just their biology.
We are gaining a deeper understanding
of the critical role that they play
in the health of our oceans and our environment.
(blowhole huffs)
(gentle music continues)
- Whales really are our allies in our battle
to mitigate climate change.
Whales also defecate at the surface,
and this poo is rich in nutrients,
particularly iron and nitrogen,
which are essential for phytoplankton growth.
And it's this phytoplankton acting like trees do on land,
that plays a key role in removing carbon from the air
whilst forming the basis of the marine food chain
that sustains all ocean life.
Over its lifetime, a whale stimulates the growth
of a rain forest of phytoplankton in the ocean,
capturing as much carbon dioxide as thousands of trees.
Even at its death, the whale can lock carbon
at the bottom of the ocean for hundreds of years.
(water roaring)
(man cheers)
- Yes! - Yeah!
- [Man] Oh my God.
- [Narrator] Whales and dolphins have enormous
environmental and personal value to humans and the planet,
(gentle music)
as well as playing a critical role in our global economy.
Worldwide, whale-related ecotourism
generates over 2.5 billion U.S. dollars
and supports nearly 20,000 jobs.
But more importantly, these encounters have the power
to change people's lives.
(Ryuzo speaking in Japanese)
(gentle music)
- The first time I got eye to eye with an orca,
it really changed my life.
And what is remarkable is that this change is
in the way of a better life.
Like if the Orca, they had this power
to repair your injuries.
(singer singing in foreign language)
- [Narrator] Encounters between humans and cetaceans
enable transformation and healing.
When wild whales and dolphins demonstrate
compassionate curiosity, our hearts and souls are touched.
(singer singing in foreign language)
(Miguel speaking in foreign language)
(gentle music)
- [Narrator] It is believed that people exposed
to whale and dolphin sounds underwater,
either on animal therapy sessions with wild animals
or simply by an encounter, experience changes
to the nervous system and immune function
that facilitates healing.
(suspenseful music)
We have scientific proof of how important cetaceans
are for the planet and for humankind.
We now understand that we owe them our respect,
admiration, and protection.
(singer singing in foreign language)
(waves crashing)
(somber music)
(wave crashing)
(gentle music)
(water splashes)
(gentle bright music)
In so many ways, cetaceans are just like us.
They have a rich family life, complex friendships,
and form groups for life.
They have individual names and speak in unique dialects.
They mourn, grieve, and suffer as deeply as we do.
And what's so amazing is that their capacity
for joy, empathy, and compassion exceeds even our own.
(gentle music)
There is an endless amount we can learn from them.
All we need to do is open our minds to the fact
that we share this planet
with a species that is in many ways more evolved than us.
(cetaceans chirping)
(singer vocalizing)
(singer singing in foreign language)
(gentle music)
(singer vocalizing)
(cetaceans chirping)