OCEAN GIANTS 04 Introduction
GIANT LIVES
DEEP THINKERS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Blue Whale Southern Right Whale Bowhead Whale Grey Whale
Humpback Whale Dolphins
VOICES OF THE SEA
BEHIND THE CAMERA
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Sperm Whale Boto Narwhal Killer Whale
Doug Allen Didier Noirot
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INTRODUCTION The whale is the largest and most majestic animal to ever inhabit our planet. Originally a land dwelling four-legged creature that returned to the waters vmillions of years ago, they now populate the earth’s oceans. The oceans once teemed with these wonderful mammals that, like us, breath oxygen, give birth to live offspring and have a complex family- and social structure. This book looks at the BBC programme Ocean Giants which shows how truly amazing these animals are. Despite an overwhelming majority vote amongst the Earth’s population to protect the whales, there are still some nations that kill them for money. Help stop this senseless killing. Learn and educate yourself with facts about whales and begin to understand this majestic animal and how it shares the world we reside in. These mammals are particularly intelligent mammals and like humans, place much value on their families and the role that each member plays within the unit. Notably, the individual families also travel and migrate together in pods and each family member continues to play a vital role within that pod, as a greater unit of the family. These groups demonstrate the sociable nature of whales, and their unspoken cooperation with one another is evidence of the insight and sense of responsibility of the animals. Whales have long been esteemed by the human race. Their often-awesome scale is juxtaposed by their slow, quiet nature, and their irrefutable insight. Their means of communicating with one another and their demonstration of distinctly human characteristics continues to fascinate researchers as they delve further into these magnificent creatures and their psyche. The common term “whales” often excludes the smaller species, such as porpoises and dolphins. However, the fact remains that these are, essentially, part of the cetacean family and should be included in the terminology.
The largest animal ever to have lived, as far as scientific knowledge extends, is the Blue Whale, which reaches a length of just under 33 metres. These mammals are split into two main categories; toothed and baleen. As their name would imply, toothed whales have a distinct set of teeth and include orcas, dolphins and the Sperm Whale. These animals feed on fish, squid and even larger mammals, such as seals (depending on their own size). Baleen whales have baleen plates that act as filters in their mouths, rather than teeth. They draw water and food into their mouths and then filter the food from the water by pushing it through their plates. The Blue and Humpback whales are excellent examples of baleen whales. Whales are mammals and, therefore, have lungs rather than gills. They decide when to breathe, and come to the surface to do so through a blowhole on the top of their heads. They also surface to breach (lifting their bodies partially out of the water) and slap the water with their tails in impressive displays. These mammals communicate with one another using whale songs, which often sound very high-pitched to the human ear. These songs are unique and fascinating when considered in more detail. Their numbers were decimated by humans for profit and many whale species were driven to the brink of extinction and are still in grave danger of vanishing forever. Unfortunately, these mammals have long been hunted for their valuable meat as well as their fat or oil, their baleen plates and even the ambergris of the Sperm Whale (used in the production of perfume). Whaling, particularly before regulations were passed in many places in the world, ensured that some species were almost completely decimated. In the 1900’s alone, over 2 million whales were slaughtered.
Humpback mother with new born calf of the coast of USA.
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Chapter One
BLUE WHALE
Balaenoptera musculus
Only in the vastness of the ocean could there live the largest creature on earth. The blue whale. Before commercial whaling 300,00 blue whales cruised the oceans. Today less than 10,000 remain. We know almost nothing of their lives and for years assumed that like the other great whales they migrated to cold rich seas to feed.
approach like southern right whales and not friendly like humpback whales. They are elusive and perfectly streamlined blues are one of the fastest ocean giants powering along at over 30 miles an hour. The largest creature in the ocean feeds almost exclusively on one of the smallest, krill. A crustacean just a few inches long Krill are normally found in cold polar seas.
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to have lived, bigger even than the largest of the dinosaurs. These jumbo-jet-sized giants inhabit the open ocean, where they are found most frequently along the continental shelf edges and near polar ice. They are so big that a blue whale’s blood vessels are wide enough for a human to swim through. A single calf is produced every two to three years, and from birth each calf consumes up to 50 gallons of milk every single day, leading to a colossal weight gain of 90 kilograms per day in its first year of life. Blue whales are not easy to
Recently Scientists have discovered that along the Sri Lanken coastline unusual conditions allow krill to thrive in tropical waters. The upwelling of cold nutrient-rich water is unusual for the tropics but appears to contain the perfect food for blue whales. The Indian Ocean blue whales are unique as they live there all year round. The blue whales feed by diving deep down and find dense patches of krill and lunge-feed through them. They dive to 600 feet below where the krill are hiding in the gloom. The whale then powers up through the swarm gulping its own body weight of water
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GIANT LIVES
The Blue Whale is the largest animal that has ever lived on planet Earth.
BLUE WHALE
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Length - 32 m Weight - 200 Tons (Max.) Type - Baleen Life span - 80~90 years Food - Krill
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GIANT LIVES
into its ballooning throat It then strains out the nutritious krill through its fine mesh of baleen. Each lunge requires huge effort but if you have a mouth as big as a blue whale’s you can catch so much food that the whole process becomes extraordinarily efficient. Their size is the secret of their success. Pumped up on tonnes of krill blue whales can grow as long as a jetliner weighing almost 200 tonnes twice the size of the largest dinosaur. Worryingly the blue’s giant size and its giant appetite are now putting it at risk. We know that climate change is occurring and that in places like Antarctica the temperatures have skyrocketed. We also know that krill has started to decrease and when you don’t have enough food blue whales are going to have trouble surviving
So as climate change happens as krill starts to be depleted blue-whale survival could be in jeopardy. Blue whales are still endangered but they are recovering slowly For their recovery to continue it’s not just the whales themselves that will need protection. For their recovery to continue it’s not just the whales themselves that will need protection but the seas and the other creatures they depend on. We may have missed the chance to live with the great dinosaurs of the past but we do have the good fortune to be sharing our time with the largest creatures that ever lived these magnificent ocean giants
BLUE WHALE
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HOW BIG IS BIG?
Comparing Blue whales length and weight
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Blue Whale weighing 200 tonnes.
Would be the equivalent to...
32M 15M 6M
Full sized Blue whale can reach to a staggering 32 metres long, this makes it the biggest animal ever!
Even a fully grown humpback whale is dwarfed by the mighty Blue whale.
A large female Great White Shark measures 6 metres which looks small when compared to the Blue whale.
2667 40 OR
Humans each weighing 70 Kg.
Elephants each weighing 5 tonnes.
SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE Eubalaena australis
A southern right whale’s head measures one third of its total length. It is one of the easiest whales to identify as the enormous head is also covered in white-coloured outgrowths of tough skin. These callosities form a unique pattern on each whale, like fingerprints in humans. Courtship and mating is both tender and graceful, without any animosity between males mating with the same female. Females calve once every three years, giving birth to a weighty 1,500kg calf. Despite their great size, the young are brought up on a diet of high-fat milk and remain in shallow waters, safe from the likes of orcas and great white sharks. Southern right whales are only found in the oceans of the southern hemisphere. They inhabit waters close to Antarctica during the summer and migrate northwards to coastal areas in winter. In the sheltered bays of Peninsula Valdes, Argentina, southern right whales come to mate give birth and raise their young. Their tails alone match the wing span of a light aircraft.
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SOUTHERN RIGHT
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They are known to be the friendliest of the whales and are very approachable they don’t mind the divers. Tragically it’s their very friendliness that made them such easy targets for the early whalers and made them the “right” whales to hunt Today these giants are making a slow but promising recovery. Both sexes are very promiscuous and the males are equipped with a particularly astonishing adaptation for mating, a pair of giant testicles! Their two testicles together can weigh up to one tonne. The testes of the right whale are times heavier than those of the blue whale which indicates a very sexual species.
Length - 15 m Weight - 47 Tons (Max.) Type - Baleen Life span - 50~60 years Food - Amphipods
SOUTHERN RIGHT
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Southern Right Whales have the biggest penis in the animal kingdom. 18
Underwater it becomes abundantly clear that males not only boast giant testicles but that at nine foot long they have the biggest penis in the animal kingdom. And one which appears to have a mind of its own! When they finally mate it’s belly to belly. But this is just the start for the female as she goes on to mate with the rest of the males sometimes, up to five or six at a time. After an hour of being spellbound by this extraordinary courtship. By mating with a variety of males the female ensures that the battle for paternity goes on inside her and not in the open seas. But it’s still the biggest male that stands the best chance of winning that battle because by having the longest penis and largest testicles he can flush out any competitor’s sperm. For male whales size really does matter.
SOUTHERN RIGHT
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BOWHEAD WHALE Balaena mysticetus Within the Arctic Circle lives a whale three times the size of a grey whale, It’s a bowhead whale named after its enormous curved upper jaw. It’s grown to massive size for even more extraordinary reasons as it stays in the Arctic all year round it doesn’t need to be big to survive lengthy migrations and protected by the maze of shifting pack ice it has less to fear from killer whales. So why is this whale so big? In eastern Greenland a scientific teams are attempting to unlock the secrets of this littleknown giant. In the last two centuries bowheads were almost wiped out by commercial whalers and are notoriously wary of humans and are remarkably alert to danger. During the winter bowheads are impossible to track but in spring they announce their presence with song. Scientists think that these are mating calls and that the bowheads may gather to breed. Bowheads are the masters of concealment able to hold their breath for up to an hour and a half The bowheads survive this cold through being a giant. The bigger and rounder the body the better it is at retaining heat. Wrapped in 50 tonnes of insulating blubber these whales are the fattest animals on the planet. Half their entire body weight is fat!
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BOWHEAD
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The bowhead whale is second only in size to the mighty blue whale. Its enormous bowshaped mouth, the largest mouth of any animal, contains a baleen measuring three metres. The 300 plates filter out the tiny crustaceans from the water which make up its diet. The bowhead whale inhabits cold Arctic waters and so needs the best insulation. It’s blubber is the thickest found on any animal at half a metre. Female bowheads are perhaps the most flirtatious ocean mammal, constantly teasing the males into a frenzy. Bowheads use their backs to break through the ice to create vital breathing holes permanently scarring their skin in the process. These patterns are as unique as fingerprints and help identify each individual whale. Discoveries of ancient ivory and stone harpoon heads in the flesh of individuals suggest bowhead whales may live for more than 100 years, possibly up to 200 years. This would make them the longest lived mammal known. Bowheads can live for over 200 years because they have a lower body temperature than any other whale and the lower your body temperature the slower you age. These enormous whales can afford to live life slowly roaming the rich Arctic waters simply opening their mouths and filtering all the food they need. Uniquely a bowhead’s backbone never fuses so all that time they never stop growing.
Length - 20 m Weight - 100 Tons (Max.) Type - Baleen Life span - 150~210 years Food - Copepods
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Bowheads are the oldest living mammals on Earth, some reaching over 200 years old.
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Comparing Bowheads life span to other mammals on Earth.
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ELEPHANT 70 years old.
HORSE 40 years old.
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25 years old.
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15 years old (Average).
MOUSE 4 years old.
BOWHEAD Over 200 years old.
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GREY WHALE
Eschrichtius robustus
Grey whales undertake the longest annual migration of any known mammal, along the coastlines between their summer feeding and winter breeding grounds. Belonging to the baleen whale group, they have plates for filtering marine worms and crustaceans from the ocean floor. Grey whales are split into two separate populations, the eastern North Pacific (American) and the critically endangered western North Pacific (Asian) population. They are the only species in their genus, which in turn, is the only genus in the family. Grey whales undertake the longest annual migration of any known mammal, travelling from warm breeding grounds at the equator to their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic. Researchers have suggested that these epic journeys could also be driven by the threat of predation from killer whales. Gray whales are often covered with parasites and other organisms that make their snouts and backs look like a crusty ocean rock.
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GIANT LIVES
GREY WHALE
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Grey whales undertake the longest annual migration of any mammal
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The whale uses its snout to forage by dislodging tiny creatures from the sea floor. It then filters these morsels with its baleen—a comb like strainer of plates in the upper jaw. A piece of gray whale baleen, also called whalebone, is about 18 inches (46 centimeters) long and has a consistency much like a fingernail. Whalebone was once used to make ladies’ corsets and umbrella ribs. The gray whale is one of the animal kingdom’s great migrators. Traveling in groups called pods, some of these giants swim 12,430 miles round trip from their summer home in Alaskan waters to the warmer waters off the Mexican coast. The whales winter and breed in the shallow southern waters and balmier climate. Other gray whales live in the seas near Korea.
GREY WHALE
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Length - 15 m Weight - 40 Tons (Max.) Type - Baleen Life span - 50~70 years Food - Amphipods
Like all whales, gray whales surface to breathe, so migrating groups are often spotted from North America’s west coast. These whales were once the target of extensive hunting, and by early in the 20th century they were in serious danger of extinction. Sadly the Grey whale was hunted to extinction in the 18th century. The whales were granted protection from commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1959 and since then the population has stablised in the Pacific.
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DEEP THINKERS Chapter Two
HUMPBACK WHALE Megaptera novaeangliae
Humpback whales migrate seasonally from the tropics to their northern feeding grounds, and during the summer months they must feed intensely in preparation for this migration. These magnificent whales are renowned for their acrobatic aerial breaching, and their beautiful yet complex songs, performed by males during courtship. Humpback whales are best known for their magical songs, which travel for great distances through the world’s oceans. These sequences of moans, howls, cries, and other noises are quite complex and often continue for hours on end. Scientists are studying these sounds to decipher their meaning. It is most likely that humpbacks sing to communicate with others and to attract potential mates. These whales are found near coastlines, feeding on tiny shrimp-like krill, plankton, and small fish. Humpbacks migrate annually from summer feeding grounds near the poles to warmer
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HUMPBACK
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winter breeding waters closer to the Equator. Mothers and their young swim close together, often touching one another with their flippers with what appear to be gestures of affection. Females nurse their calves for almost a year, though it takes far longer than that for a humpback whale to reach full adulthood. Calves do not stop growing until they are ten years old. Humpbacks are powerful swimmers, and they use their massive tail fin, called a fluke, to propel themselves through the water and sometimes completely out of it. These whales, like others, regularly leap from the water, landing with a tremendous splash. Scientists aren’t sure if this breaching behaviour serves some purpose, such as cleaning pests from the whale’s skin, or whether whales simply do it for fun.
Length - 16 m Weight - 40 Tons (Max.) Type - Baleen Life span - 45~50 years Food - Krill, plankton & small fish
HUMPBACK
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A Humpback’s brain contains a type neuron that was believed to be unique only to humans and great apes 38
HUMPBACK
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WORKING TOGETHER
Humpbacks are very intelligent and some groups use a complex method of trapping the fish which only works with clever cooporation from every whale.
HERDERS Circle the fish with flashing fins, keeping the shoal contained and preventing its escape.
CALLER The caller dives below the shoal and emits a deafening cry. As loud as a rocket launch, 180 decibels of sound pressure blasts through the water. In an attempt to escape from the noise, the panic-stricken fish are driven upwards
RING LEADER Taking up position above the herring, it begins blowing out a stream of air to create a fizzing net of bubbles. The shoal is prevented from dispersing by the herders, and driven up by the caller right into the bubble-net
Then all the whales gather underneath the fish trapped in the net. With mouths wide open, the whales burst through the surface, engulfing their prey. By hunting together like this, each whale can catch up to half a tonne of herring a day.
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS Eubalaena australis
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Bottlenose dolphins are well known as the intelligent and charismatic stars of many aquarium shows. Their curved mouths give the appearance of a friendly, permanent smile, and they can be trained to perform complex tricks. In the wild, these sleek swimmers can reach speeds of over 18 miles (30 kilometers) an hour. They surface often to breathe, doing so two or three times a minute. Bottlenose dolphins travel in social groups and communicate with each other by a complex system of squeaks and whistles. Schools have been known to come to the aid of an injured dolphin and help it to the surface. Bottlenose dolphins track their prey through the expert use of echolocation. They can make up to 1,000 clicking noises per second. These sounds travel underwater until they encounter objects, then bounce back to their dolphin senders, revealing the location, size, and shape of their target. When dolphins are feeding, that target is often a bottom-dwelling fish, though they also eat shrimp and squid. These clever animals are also sometimes spotted following fishing boats in hopes of dining on leftovers.
BOTTLENOSE
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Length - 4 m Weight - 500 Kg Type - Porpoises Life span - 45~50 years Food - Small fish
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BOTTLENOSE
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Bottlenose dolphins are found in tropical oceans and other warm waters around the globe. They were once widely hunted for meat and oil (used for lamps and cooking), but today only limited dolphin fishing occurs. However, dolphins are threatened by commercial fishing for other species, like tuna, and can become mortally entangled in nets and other fishing equipment. All dolphins, including the bottlenose, are porpoises. Although some people use these names interchangeably, porpoises are actually a larger group that also includes animals like the orca and the beluga whale. Bottlenose dolphins have been observed to breach up to 16 feet (4.9 meters) out of the water, landing with a splash on their back or side.
BOTTLENOSE
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Scientists think that we will be able to talk to Dolphins in 5 years
VOICES OF THE SEA Chapter Four
SPERM WHALE Physeter macrocephalus
Sperm whales are easily recognized by their massive heads and prominent rounded foreheads. The mighty sperm whale is a multiple record-breaker. It is the largest of the toothed whales with some males reaching 20 metres in length. Its enormous box-like head with left-sided blow hole contains the biggest brain of any living animal known to have lived on Earth. It is also the deepest diving mammal, reaching depths of 3,000 metres (nearly two miles) although the average dive is between 300 and 600 metres. These dives can last for a couple of hours due to the oxygen stored in their muscles before the whale has to come up for breath. Their heads also hold large quantities of a substance called spermaceti. Whalers once believed that the oily fluid was sperm, but scientists still do not understand the function of spermaceti. One common theory is that the fluid—which hardens to wax when cold—helps the whale alter its buoyancy so it can dive deep and rise again. Until recently, no-one knew how sperm whales hunt in the abyss, scientists now have a theory. The reason sperm whales dive so deep is that there’s lots of food down there including giant squid which is over 30 feet long. A mile down, there’s no light. The whale must find its prey through echolocation interpreting the echoes of the clicks it makes. But these are no ordinary clicks. These hunting clicks are the loudest sounds made by any living thing, louder than a thunderclap. Produced in its fiveton nose, the whale’s clicks travel backwards, then are reflected forwards through a series of oil-filled lenses which focus them into a narrow sound beam, like a sonic laser. These toothed whales eat thousands of pounds of fish and squid—about one ton (907 kg) per day.
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SPERM
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Sperm whales hunting clicks are the loudest sounds made by any living animal on Earth
Sperm whales are often spotted in groups (called pods) of some 15 to 20 animals. Pods include females and their young, while males may roam solo or move from group to group. Females and calves remain in tropical or subtropical waters all year long, and apparently practice communal child care. Males migrate to higher latitudes, alone or in groups, and head back towards the equator to breed. Driven by their tale fluke, approximately 16 feet (5 meters) from tip to tip, they can cruise the oceans at around 23 miles (37 kilometres) per hour.
Length - 20 m Weight - 60 Tons (Max.) Type - Toothed Life span - 50~70 years Food - Squid
SPERM
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Sperm whales sleep in short bursts usually in a vertical position
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These popular leviathans are vocal and emit a series of “clangs” that may be used for communication or for echolocation. Animals that use echolocation emit sounds that travel underwater until they encounter objects, then bounce back to their senders—revealing the location, size, and shape of their target. Sperm whales were mainstays of whaling’s 18th and 19th century heyday. A mythical albino sperm whale was immortalized in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, though Ahab’s nemesis was apparently based on a real animal whalers called Mocha Dick. The animals were targeted for oil and ambergris, a substance that forms around squid beaks in a whale’s stomach. Ambergris was (and remains) a very valuable substance once used in perfumes. Despite large population drops due to whaling, sperm whales are still fairly numerous.
SPERM
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Sea Level
124M Free diving record with fins
DEEP SEA HUNTING Sperm whales dive deep and use their hunting clicks to locate their prey.
330M
500 m
Scuba record
1000 m
1000M Deepest light can penetrate
The hunting clicks are produced at the front of the whales 5 tonne nose. They then travel backwards through the spermaceti and are reflected forwards through a series of oil filled lenses called junk chambers which focuses them into a narrow sound beam, like a sonic laser. 2000 m
3000M Maximum depth Sperm whales dive to hunt
Chainsaw 3000 m
100dB
Inside Sperm Whale Head
Clicks reflected
Spermaceti Blow hole
Clicks produced in the distal sack
Skull
Eye
Junk Chamber
Sperm whales make the loudest sound of any living animal. Their hunting clicks reach 230 dB (Decibels). In the air it would still reach a staggering 170 dB
Jet
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130dB 140dB Pain thresh hold for humans (125dB)
Sperm whale
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BOTO RIVER DOLPHIN Inia Geoffrensis
Botos live exclusively in the South America in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. They have a ridge along their back rather than a dorsal fin and its fat, heavy body is surprisingly flexible. Paddle-like flippers which move in a circular motion provide exceptional manoeuvrability, making up for a lack of speed. Even swimming backwards on some occasions! The Amazon & Orinoco river basins provide all the food in its highly diverse diet, including at least 40 different species of fish. The Botos use two completely separate sound systems. Communication clicks and busses and their echolocation clicks and busses. The Boto’s clicks and buzzes are focused into a sound beam by its bulging forehead melon. The beam works like a sonic head-torch allowing the dolphin to build up a clear picture of its surroundings in the murky water.
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Length - 2.5 m Weight - 185 Kg Type - Porpoises Life span - 15~20 years Food - Small fish & crabs
BOTO
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The Botos need all their manoeuvrability and all the sonar skills they possess to operate in the sort of underwater environment that the Amazon provides. It’s as tangled and spiny underwater as it is on the surface and the water is very cloudy and dark like a well brewed tea. While all dolphins can echo locate, Botos’ clicks have a higher frequency and better resolution than any other dolphin, allowing them to distinguish objects as small as a pin. Even in zero visibility, catching fish is child’s play.
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BOTO
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Boto’s echolocation is so accurate they can distinguish objects as tiny as a pin
NARWHAL
Monodon monoceros
The narwhal is the unicorn of the sea, a palecolored porpoise found in Arctic coastal waters and rivers. These legendary animals have two teeth. In males, the more prominent tooth grows into a swordlike, spiral tusk up to 8.8 feet (2.7 meters) long. The ivory tusk tooth grows right through the narwhal’s upper lip. Scientists are not certain of the tusk’s purpose, but some believe it is prominent in mating rituals, perhaps used to impress females or to battle rival suitors. Females sometimes grow a small tusk of their own, but it does not become as prominent as the male’s. Narwhals are related to bottlenose dolphins, belugas, harbor porpoises, and orcas. Like some other porpoises, they travel in groups and feed on fish, shrimp, squid, and other aquatic fare. They are often sighted swimming in groups of 15 to 20, but gatherings of hundreds—or even several thousand—narwhals have been reported. Sometimes these groups become trapped by shifting pack ice and fall victim to Inuit hunters, polar bears, or walruses. The charismatic narwhal is the legendary ‘unicorn of the sea’. It’s also thought that narwhal horns used in trade or washed up on beaches gave credence to the myth of unicorns on land.
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NARWHAL
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The horn is more properly called a tusk. Narwhals only have two teeth and in the males, the left one grows out of the jaw into a long spiralled tusk that can reach 2.5m in length and is prone to breaking. Suggested uses for such an impressive appendage include to spear food, for defence and as a weapon for competing males. However, its most likely use is to impress females, as an indication of the fittest mate. Narwhals are inhabitants of Arctic waters and are found at all depths. They tend to stay close to loose pack ice, where breathing holes are maintained through the sheets of ice.
Length - 4 m Weight - 500 Kg Type - Toothed Life span - 45~50 years Food - Small Fish
NARWHAL
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KILLER WHALE Orcinus orca
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12 Killer whales are actually the largest species of dolphin. Their dorsal fin can be used to recognise individuals, and in males can measure an incredible 1.8 metres in height. Killer whales are found in every ocean on the planet, and as well as being the most widely distributed, they also hold the title for fastest sea mammal, reaching speeds of up to 55kph. A distinguished marine predator, these strikingly marked killers have even been known to hunt down grey and blue whales. Killer whales are found in all oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
Length - 9 m Weight - 9 Tons (Max.) Type - Toothed Life span - 50~80 years Food - Fish, seals, walruses & other whales
KILLER
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Killer whales as a species have a diverse diet, although individual populations often specialise in particular types of prey. Some feed exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as sea lions, seals, walruses and even large whales. Killer whales are regarded as apex predators, lacking natural predators. Killer whales are highly social; some populations are composed of matrilineal family groups which are the most stable of any animal species. Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviours, which are often specific to a particular group and passed across generations, have been described as manifestations of culture.
KILLER
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Killer whales use herding calls to bunch fish together making them easier to catch
KILLER
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BEHIND THE CAMERA Chapter Four
Ocean Giants would not be possible with out the fine crew that produces the amazing footage. Filming these extraordinary but unpredictable deep-sea mammals is a fraught business. The two main cinematographers on Ocean Giants are Doug Allen and Didier Noirot. Both of these cameramen are at the top of their game and have over 60 years experience with filming animals in the wild.
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BEHIND THE CAMERA
Filming whales and dolphins around the globe tests the men and women behind the camera. From the murky waters of the Amazon to the ice cold water of the Antarctic the camera men are pushed to their limits. The crew have to be extremely patient, brave and are willing to sit in some of the worlds most harshest conditions to get the perfect shot of the animals in their natural habitat.
Doug Allen and Didier Noirot diving to film the giant Blue Whale
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DOUG ALLAN Doug Allan is a freelance wildlife and documentary cameraman who is famous for his patience and incredible skill for filming animals underwater. Born in 1951 in Scotland, he graduated with an honours degree in marine biology from Stirling University in 1973. On completion of his degree, he decided that science at the sharp end wasn’t quite where he sought to be. Underwater anywhere became the drive and for the next three years he worked on a wide range of diving jobs. He searched for (and found) freshwater pearls in the rivers of Scotland. Commercial diving in Germany involved underwater video work and rebuilding canals. Twice he assisted with research on marine biological expeditions with Cambridge University in the Red Sea. And in the summer 1975 he ran the Bouley Bay Underwater Centre in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Doug Allan has been swimming with marine mammals for over 35 years. He spent seven years in Antarctica as a research diver, scientist and photographer for the British Antarctic Survey, before changing direction to full time filming in 1985. He is now a freelance wildlife and documentary cameraman, who specializes in marine mammals underwater in remote locations, particularly the polar zones. In his 25 year filming career, he has been involved with over 60 films and series, and has worked for BBC, Discovery, National Geographic, and many others. He was one of the principal cameramen on The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Human Planet, as well as Ocean Giants.
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Doug Allen filming at the North and South pole
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Doug Allan getting up close and personal with a Humpback mother and her calf.
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Doug Allan getting up close and personal with a Humpback mother and her calf.
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His photographic awards include four Emmys and four BAFTAs. He has twice won the underwater category in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and was awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Cherry Kearton Medal for his wildlife images. He has three Honorary Doctorates in recognition of his camera work, as well as two Polar Medals. But the big break was in 1976 when he first went to the Antarctic to work as a research diver on the British Antarctic Survey station at Signy Island in the South Orkneys. The job entailed helping the scientists to carry out their underwater studies, from boats in the summer, beneath the ice in the winter. It was the start of an affair with ice that lasts to this day. Over the next ten years until 1985, Doug and B.A.S. had a great relationship – he spent four winters and nine summers “down south” in that time, and was awarded the Fuchs Medal, then the Polar Medal, for his work. He did three winters at Signy as diver, and one at Halley Station down at 75° S as Base Commander. Halley was no place for a biologist – but it offered a chance to winter with Emperor Penguins, and a first opportunity for Doug to turn over with a movie camera rather than just stills. The BBC took first option on buying that Emperor footage for their forthcoming series Birds for All Seasons, and Doug’s career took a new direction. Using his experience of ice diving, and intimate knowledge of Signy through its winters, he proposed two films to Survival Anglia then in 1987 spent ten months in the Antarctic making them. Since then, he has returned frequently to both the poles, with a string of high profile award winning films and series for the major TV networks worldwide. In contributing to The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Life, Human Planet and Frozen Planet, he has made over 60 filming trips, including orcas attacking gray whales off California, polar bears trying to capture belugas in a frozen hole in Arctic Canada, and killer whales washing seals off ice floes in Antarctica – all on screen firsts.
“These beautiful animals demand respect for their power and intelligence” DOUG
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DIDIER NOIROT Didier Noirot is an award winning underwater cameraman with a remarkable track record of getting exceptionally close to difficult underwater subjects, such as great white sharks, whales and crocodiles. Didier Noirot was born in France in 1957. Very early he developed a passion for photography and scuba diving. After training at the Diving Centre GlÊnans, he became instructor in 1982. He then entered the Mediterranean Club where he taught for three years the technique of shooting underwater. In 1986, Jacques Cousteau invited Didier Noirot to join the diving team of the Calypso on their first expedition to New Zealand. Didier worked as a stills photographer for the first two years and then became Cousteau’s Director of underwater cinematography on more than 20 documentaries.
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Didier Noirot filming a humpback in the pacific
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“Today I swam with a Blue Whale. Today is the best day of my life”
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Since Captain Cousteau passed away in 1997, Didier has filmed numerous French documentaries and worked with the BBC on The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet, as well as the Ocean Giants series. For his cinematography work on Planet Earth Didier received a coveted Emmy. On The Alcyone, the experimental ship of the Cousteau Society, he sailed in 1996 for South Africa. In 1998, he left the Cousteau Society, after a final expedition to the Caspian Sea with Sir Peter Blake. Noirot became a freelance cameraman filming and participating in numerous documentaries including the renowned series on The Lighthouse of Alexandria and “The Pursuit of Saint-Exupery” made by Thierry Ragobert. In 1999, he met Mark Brownlow, the BBC young filmmaker who hired him on several films including the series “Blue Planet” for which he received an Emmy Award in September 2002.
Didier with Jacques Cousteau on expedition to New Zealand
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