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.
S1A1 50 min
