Skip to Main Content

S1 E1 The Giant and the Phantom

Documentary

9+

50m

25 Sept 2015

Sperm whales in the Mediterranean? Is the most popular holiday spot for Germans really home to the biggest predator on our planet? It is common knowledge that sperm whales like to hunt in the shallow waters of the ocean, but wildlife film-maker Thomas Behrend gets plenty of sceptical looks when he sets off for Greece with his camera in order to film sperm whales. Here he meets up with expert Alexandros Frantzis, who has been researching the sperm world population of the Mediterranean for several years now. There is very little film footage of sperm whales here; although the ancient Greeks knew about sperm whales, these giants of the oceans have been forgotten in the Mediterranean for thousands of years. But approximately 200 of these whales do still live in the western Mediterranean: it's just that finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Which means that obtaining this footage will be a huge challenge. In fact, Thomas Behrend also hopes for success of a different sort here in the Mediterranean. The rocky Greek coastline represents a perfect hidden habitat for the rarest seal in the world, the Mediterranean monk seal. These creatures, hardly ever glimpsed by tourists, are threatened with extinction. Although it is impossible to know how many of the seals used to live in the Mediterranean, at one time they made their homes on beaches from Morocco to Turkey. Today there are only a few hundred of them left, concealed in caves and grottoes. They have hardly ever been filmed. Do the few creatures that still remain have any chance of survival? What do the experts know about the lifestyle of the monk seal? In spring the caves are still empty; it is not until autumn that the pregnant female seals enter the grottoes in order to give birth in the protection of the rocks. Together with monk seal expert Vassilis Kouroutos, Behrend installs a remote-controlled camera in an isolated cave.

Season 1, 3 Episodes

Season 1 (3 Episodes)

Ocean Stories - The Giant and the Phantom

The Giant and the Phantom,

Sperm whales in the Mediterranean? Is the most popular holiday spot for Germans really home to the biggest predator on our planet? It is common knowledge that sperm whales like to hunt in the shallow waters of the ocean, but wildlife film-maker Thomas Behrend gets plenty of sceptical looks when he sets off for Greece with his camera in order to film sperm whales. Here he meets up with expert Alexandros Frantzis, who has been researching the sperm world population of the Mediterranean for several years now. There is very little film footage of sperm whales here; although the ancient Greeks knew about sperm whales, these giants of the oceans have been forgotten in the Mediterranean for thousands of years. But approximately 200 of these whales do still live in the western Mediterranean: it's just that finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Which means that obtaining this footage will be a huge challenge. In fact, Thomas Behrend also hopes for success of a different sort here in the Mediterranean. The rocky Greek coastline represents a perfect hidden habitat for the rarest seal in the world, the Mediterranean monk seal. These creatures, hardly ever glimpsed by tourists, are threatened with extinction. Although it is impossible to know how many of the seals used to live in the Mediterranean, at one time they made their homes on beaches from Morocco to Turkey. Today there are only a few hundred of them left, concealed in caves and grottoes. They have hardly ever been filmed. Do the few creatures that still remain have any chance of survival? What do the experts know about the lifestyle of the monk seal? In spring the caves are still empty; it is not until autumn that the pregnant female seals enter the grottoes in order to give birth in the protection of the rocks. Together with monk seal expert Vassilis Kouroutos, Behrend installs a remote-controlled camera in an isolated cave.

Ocean Stories - Molas and Manatees

Molas and Manatees,

The ocean occupies more than two-thirds of our planet's surface, constituting an extreme habitat with dimensions beyond our comprehension and a variety of lifeforms that can scarcely be chronicled. It is in the seven seas that we find the last "white spaces" of our world: unexplored, mysterious expanses still virtually off-limits to human beings – although that doesn't stop us recklessly plundering and destroying these areas. Underwater film-maker Thomas Behrend, honoured with numerous awards for his work, has been travelling the world for many years on a mission to record the fantastic, teeming life of our oceans and establish the effects of human activity on the sensitive ecosystems. This time his mission is to capture on film molas and manatees, two giants of the oceans. This entails many months of filming, taking Thomas from the USA to Italy. On the Pacific coast of California, and just off the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, Thomas searches for a mysterious deep-sea dweller whose eccentric appearance has fascinated the film-maker since he was a boy. 3 metres in diameter, weighing up to 2 tons, the circular sunfish is one of the biggest and strangest bony fish to roam the oceans. Despite its enormous size, this creature, which dines off jellyfish, is very seldom seen, since its habitat is the open ocean. But there have been reports of sunfish sightings in shallow coastal waters, or near the surface of the sea. Thomas is determined to discover more about the curious wanderings of the colossal creatures. With the support of experts and the help of a remote-controlled camera submarine, he actually succeeds in tracking down the legendary fish and capturing footage that reveals unexpected insights into its behaviour.

Ocean Stories - Dolphins and Whales

Dolphins and Whales,

Ute Margreff lives on the rough Atlantic coast of Ireland, while Florian Graner has settled in the fjord region in the north-west of the USA. Both originally from Germany, they have never met, but they are united by one thing: a passion for the sea and its inhabitants. It was over 10 years ago that Ute Margreff first met the female dolphin Mara along the Galway coast, and over the course of time an extraordinary relationship has developed between them. Mara is a solitary dolphin, a dolphin which has left its original group and prefers to live on its own. Since meeting Ute she has gone out of her way to seek out the German woman, and the encounter also changed Ute‘s life. She moved to Ireland, and now she devotes her life to studying the unusual behaviour of this marine mammal. Almost every day she and Mara meet in the cold water of the Atlantic, and on many occasions Ute pushes herself to the limits of her own physical endurance in order to maintain this amazing relationship. What she discovers about solitary dolphins on these dives seems to make all her efforts worthwhile. In fact Mara isn't the only solitary dolphin on the coast of Ireland, and we accompany the German dolphin expert as she visits other lone dolphins which have become well-known far beyond the borders of Ireland. In the north-west USA, near the Canadian border, high mountains surround a huge bay known as the Salish Sea, an American fjord landscape teeming with life. The biologist and wildlife film-maker Florian Graner has discovered his own personal paradise here at Puget Sound, making a home for himself and his family on one of the many islands. From his front door it is only a few steps to the water's edge. Shoals of herring swim up to the seagrass meadows on the shallow coast to lay their eggs, waterfowl dive for mussels, and sea lions bask sleepily on the swaying seagrass.

Details

Ocean Stories

Documentary

9+

1 Season

50m

Teaming with marine wildlife, our oceans are full of fascinating stories, like these, about orcas, sea lions and the giant Mola.

Watch Free TV Shows

Watch free TV shows, from exciting new releases to timeless classics. Whether you’re into gripping crime shows, fan-favorite sitcoms, reality TV, or acclaimed dramas, watch free full seasons of TV shows On Demand anytime, anywhere.