Episode
Natural World: Sperm Whales: Back From the Abyss
Overview
Wildlife film about sperm whales, revealing the secret lives led by these often misunderstood ocean giants. Scientists all over the world are now learning about the secret lives of sperm whales, the world's largest hunters that spawned the legendy of Moby Dick. Although Mellville painted them as fearsome beasts of the sea, they are actually shy creatures, and cameraman Rick Rosenthal needed patience and persistence to film them at close quarters. They turn out to be efficient hunters with a close family network involving sophisticated and vocal social lives.
Details
- Series
- Natural World
- Season
- Season 15
- Episode
- Episode 1
- Air date
- 1996-10-06
Episode context
Sperm Whales: Back From the Abyss is Episode 1 in Season 15 of Natural World. It aired on 1996-10-06.
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More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Penguins In and Out of Water
Documentary on penguins- not looking at their traditionally viewed habitat Antartica, but at those penguins who have adapted to life in the deserts of Peru, and the cities of New Zealand.
Episode 4: Mandrills: Painted Faces of the Forest
A look at the complex social behaviour of a mandrill troop in Gabon, West Africa and associated rainforest species - many of which are relatively unknown.
Episode 5: Beetlemania
Documentary investigating beetles - which account for a quarter of all animals on earth.
Episode 6: The World in a Wood
An investigation into Wytham Wood outside Oxford, which has been studied by biologists for more than fifty years to examine the dependence between plants and animals.
Episode 7: Himalaya
Documentary about the geological and natural history of the Himalayas, the highest and youngest mountain range in the world. The landscape is home to a remarkable diversity of wildlife, including red pandas, snow leopards and iridescent pheasants.
Episode 8: Wolves and Buffalo: an Ancient Alliance
Documentary on the Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta in Canada. Follows the buffalo herds in the last place where they roam freely and the timber wolves who prey on them.
Episode 9: Benguela and the Burning Shore
Documentary looking at the wildlife found in the Namib Desert in Africa- where baking sand dunes lie beside an ocean cooled by an icy current - The Benguela.
Episode 10: A Lemur's Tale
A touching and intimate portrayal of the ring-tailed lemur, award-winning wildlife filmmaker Adrian Warren spent five months in Madagascar's Berenty forest exploring the fascinating world of these distinctive animals.
Providing a captivating glimpse into a year in the life of a lemur, the production starts just after the birthing season, focusing on fragile new arrival, Sapphire, an unusual pure white lemur. Capturing the troop's daily struggle to survive, the film offers an interesting insight into their evolution, behaviour and incredible teamwork.
Episode 11: Grand Canyon: From Dinosaurs to Dam
Looks at the wildlife that inhabits the Grand Canyon today, and how the ecology of the area has been affected by the building of two huge dams. Originally home to dinosaurs, it is now occupied by a strange mixture of species from bighorn sheep to ravens, lizards and tarantulas.
Episode 12: Wings Over the Serengeti
Documentary on the vultures who live on the plains of the Serengeti in Africa.