Giants of the Deep: The Hidden World of Sperm Whales - Full Documentary

The immensity of the ocean, superficially featureless and flat, but beneath the surface there's another world, infinitely big. It's a different planet, a parallel universe that's home to sperm whales. Weightless giants, so different from us but so similar, and like us, mammals. Surrounded by her family, a little sperm whale nudges her mother. Her jaws seek out her nipple and she starts to suckle, like a baby. To capture this moment of intimacy, a team of scientists and filmmakers dived hundreds of times to the same family of sperm whales, and they did this over 10 years. Grandmothers, mothers, sons and daughters, aunts and cousins, a family of 30. One by one the scientists got to know them, watching them grow, watching their personalities unfold. Analyzing their DNA revealed how they were related. The scientists gave them names. Gradually the scientists began to understand their complex bonds of friendship and rivalry. Thanks to their work, we can get closer than ever to the world of sperm whales. We can live in their rhythm and learn their stories, each one unique. And the great story of a family. A few miles off the coast of the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean lives a family of sperm whales. Its leader is the matriarch Irene. Today is a very special day. The family has a new member. Little Lana has just come into the world. Her mother, Irene of the twisted jaw, gave birth to her a few hours ago. The umbilical cord still trails from Lana's navel. It will soon fall away, but the close ties between Lana and her mother will last many a long year. Lana seems so small next to her mother, but she's already three and a half meters long and weighs 600 kilos, while Irene is more than 10 meters long, weighing 15 tons. That's the weight of three elephants. Lana's mother will suckle her for more than two years. Right now everyone is paying Lana special attention. The young whales circle her. They're fascinated by their new relative and future playmate. They call out to her with staccato sequences of clicks that express all their feelings. But Lana is still concentrating on suckling. She hasn't quite got the knack yet. A lot of milk is going to waste. It has a very high fat content, six times the calories of cow's milk. Lana is always hungry and never satisfied. She needs to be fed several times a day. Her needs are so great that her mother Irene can't satisfy her on her own. So another female will help out. This is Yukimi. Yukimi has no young, but sperm whale females lactate even when they're not pregnant. So Yukimi will suckle Lana. She'll become her wet nurse. Lana moves between her mother and her wet nurse, each feeding her in turn. The two adults are only distantly related, but a strong bond has developed between them. Yukimi will only give her milk to Lana and to no other baby. And this is true for all the young of the family. Each one has their mother and their nurse. Lana takes a regular break from feeding to breathe on the surface. She can't hold her breath yet the way the adults do. Adults can dive for more than an hour without taking a breath. A thousand meters deep, they hunt their only food, squid. They survive water pressures a hundred times greater than at the surface. A baby like Lana would be crushed. All the females, mothers and nurses dive to the pitch black depths, working together to catch the 450 kilos of squids each needs every day. The oldest adolescents go with them. Arthur, Lana's big brother, dives beside their mother, Irene. Females and adolescents disappear into the depths up to 15 times a day. Lana stays behind without her mother or her nurse. But the younger members of the family wait at the surface with her, and she shelters in their midst. Surrounding her, they stroke and caress her with astonishing gentleness. Compared to other cetaceans, sperm whales have a rather thin skin, especially sensitive to the caresses they give each other whenever they can. Alone, without their mothers, the young are defenseless. In the ocean, there is nowhere to hide, no den or burrow to scuttle into. And there are predators here. Pilot whales. They live in large, highly organized pods. They mostly eat squid too, but they're quite prepared to attack a baby sperm whale. Many of these young have already been mauled by pilot whales. They come from behind, biting at the tail fluke, sometimes tearing off whole chunks. They'll bear the scars all their lives. But most of the young survive, and this is why. They aren't quite alone here. One female is always with them. It's Germine, a young adult. Simply by being here, she keeps predators at bay. The whole family couldn't do without Germine. Without her, the mothers couldn't dive to hunt or rest when they return. She babysits for the whole family. She's in charge of a real creche, and Lana is the newest arrival. Thanks to Germine, Lana can play safely with the other growing whales. Like the others in the nursery, Lana has a skirt of fishes on her body. Remoras. They feed on her parasites. Remoras don't like diving to the depth, so they grip the backs of the little whales, nibbling away, waiting for the adults to return. There's a lively debate going on in the nursery. Clacks. There are muses and mysterious buzzes that vibrate so loudly they turn into caresses. Sperm whales stroke each other with sounds. And more than that, sound helps them see too. Deep down where no light penetrates, the females send out clicks. They listen to the echoes from the squid, locate them, and set off on the chase. Germine and the little ones can hear these clicks from the surface. When the clicks cease, they know the hunt is over. One of the first back is Arthur, and Lana makes the most of her brother's return. Then Irène Twisted Jaw, Lana's mother, is here again. Lana hurries to her like a child greeting her mother at the school gates. After an hour in the dark depths, all the females are back at the surface, where two worlds meet. Water where they live, and the air they breathe. Arthur is having trouble digesting his catch. He's bringing up dozens of squid he swallowed. He seems to have overdone it, and now he's suffering the consequences. Arthur has always been a little bit shyer, more lonesome than the others. Could that be because a pilot whale bit off a large part of his fluke when he was a baby? Scientists can identify each individual by their scars, and also the white spots on their bodies. They can follow them day after day, year after year. Some whales are especially easy to recognize, like Germine with her damaged fin and the notch on her tail fluke. Germine has been guarding the young on the surface for 10 years now. The oldest are Elliot and White Spot. Four more have come along since, including Arthur. Germine always looked after each one according to their personality. She treats some very tenderly and others more strictly. As the nursery grew, she separated the older and the younger ones if they started to squabble. Year after year, Germine's nursery has grown. The family's 17 adult females now have 11 young and newborns. All of them descended from a single great-grandmother. Lana has joined a large and every sperm whale family is unique, and all its members are individuals with their own character. Through 10 years of dives, the scientists have learned that each whale has their own story and their own personality, just like us humans. There's Elliot, forever inquisitive and playful. Or White Spot, born in the same year to the same father. These two are inseparable. Irene, twisted jaw, the matriarch, and her shy son, Arthur, with his damaged tail. It would be wrong to think that everything in a sperm whale's life is decided in advance according to fixed biological rules. Differences between individuals can profoundly affect the fate of the whole family. Personalities clash or come together as individuals form new bonds, and females harmonize as couples. There are many strong friendships. Caroline and Vanessa, Irene and Claire, or Delene and Lucy. One transmits a coda, a special message of eight clicks. The other replies. As they approach, their codas align as if they were singing a round song. Then they start to caress each other. They stroke their genitals or they rub dorsal fins. Sexuality is clearly very important in the relations between the females. We don't know if these caresses have a precise purpose, pure physical pleasure, submission or dominance, or is it about defusing conflicts? But there's no doubting the strength of the bonds between the females in the family. Adult males play no part in these intimate ballets and in this close communication. They're not here. Little Lana has never seen her father, Noé. His life is quite separate, far away in the freezing waters of the southern ocean. 3,000 miles south of Mauritius, off the Kerguelen Islands, close to the Antarctic, between the roaring 40s and the furious 50s. Once upon a time, this was the epicenter of the hunt for sperm whales. Lana's father and the other adult males of the family spend a good part of their lives here. These males are more than 20 meters long and weigh 50 tons. They regularly return to Mauritius to mate, but right now they're busy braving the storms and fury of the southern ocean. These cold waters are so rich and nutritious each whale can easily catch a ton of squid every day. But that isn't the only thing that keeps them here. Fishing boats patrol these crowded waters in search of Patagonian toothfish deep in the southern ocean. Over three or four decades, sperm whales have learned to steal the fish as the fishermen reel in their lines. The whales prowl around the boats, waiting for their moment. And the big males aren't alone. Orcas lurk in these waters, awaiting the same spoils. Fishermen, orcas, and sperm whales. Three great predators chasing one prey. In the calm, warm waters of Mauritius, things aren't quite as idyllic as they seem. The family around Irène Twisted Jaw have reached a moment of decision. With its 11 young, this pod is about as large as it can get. It's hard for Germine to watch over all the whales in her nursery, and some are growing very fast. Quite spot and Elliot, the two oldest males, are now rowdy, rebellious adolescents. These half-brothers were always inseparable. As males, they'll soon be old enough to leave the group and swim to the icy waters of the furious 50s. But they're still here, more and more restless, bearing all the marks of games that got out of hand and arguments they themselves provoked. And sometimes they take out their frustration on their younger, weaker cousins. Today, the victim is Arthur. They barge him, jostle him, knock him out of the way, more and more roughly. Germine wants to re-establish order, but she's dealing with adolescents almost as big as her, perfectly prepared to challenge her, teeth bared. It's harder and harder for Germine to keep the nursery together. The quarrels are getting worse. Elliot and White Spot on one side, Arthur, Germine and the younger whales on the other. Everyone excited, complaining, transmitting urgent clicks. The scuffles degenerate into a gentle brawl. The tension reaches its peak when White Spot barrels into the group, violently head-butting Arthur. And then he directly confronts Germine, head-to-head. It seems nothing will calm things down. In their anger and upset, the sperm whales defecate and disappear in a cloud of feces. The conflict has revealed deep divisions in the family. The clan is dividing into two subgroups. One group around Iraine twisted George, Germine, Yukimi and Arthur, and another around Elliot and White Spot, and their mothers and aunts, Delphine, Adélie and Caroline. Each subgroup gathers its nearest relatives, sons, daughters and female couples. The process of separation is underway. By splitting like this, the biggest families spread through the ocean and conquer new territories. That brings advantages to the species as a whole, but each family group is smaller and thus more vulnerable. The oldest of the females is in Iraine and Germine's group. Crinkled Back has two adult daughters and she's already a grandmother. Her long crooked teeth show her age, and she brings one piece of good news to the messy family breakup. This grandmother has given birth to a baby male, Baptiste. It's her first baby for a long time, and probably her last. She's nearly 40 years old. This little one is the most precious thing in the world for her, but she must still leave him in the care of Germine whenever she wants to hunt or sleep. That's because after they return from the rigors of the hunt, Crinkled Back and the other adult females must rest. And so they float vertically and sleep. They surface regularly to breathe before resuming their slumbers. They sleep like this for several hours a day. Baptiste takes advantage of the opportunity to explore. Just a few days old, still a clumsy newborn, he swims further and further afield, scared of nothing, not even of humans in their boats. Every day he seems more reckless, far less timid than most babies his age. Waking from her rest, Crinkled Back often has to go and look for him. She transmits a beacon click, a unique message to help Baptiste find her. But unlike the other young, Baptiste doesn't hurry back to his mother. She has to go and look for him. She finds him and brings him back to the group of females. Forever lagging behind, buffeted by the waves, Baptiste drifts further and further away each time. He goes even further than usual. It's March the 25th. Pilot whales are circling and a storm is brewing. Baptiste is on his own as the storm breaks. It rages all night long. The next morning, Crinkled Back is alone. She sends out her signal clicks. They can be heard far away in the ocean, but there is no answer. Baptiste has disappeared and is never seen again. He was just three weeks old. Crinkled Back, this elderly female, has lost her last son. One year on, Crinkled Back has survived her grief at Baptiste's death. And she's a grandmother again. Her younger daughter, Mina, has given birth to little Ali. Crinkled Back spends all her time looking after her grandson and Ali returns her affection. So close is their bond that Crinkled Back mirrors each of his touches and strokes and she suckles him. Even at this great age, she still has milk. Crinkled Back is Ali's grandmother and his wet nurse. This relationship seems to go far beyond the natural intimacy among sperm whales. Perhaps Crinkled Back is determined not to lose this youngster too. And the clan can't afford to lose another member. The other group has a newborn too. Now White Spot has a sister, Chesna. When her mother Delphine leaves to hunt, Chesna stays behind on her own like all the young. Just after her birth, she was attacked by pilot whales who tore off a portion of her tail. This group has no Jermyn to protect the young. And so her big brother White Spot and her half-brother Elliot keep watch. These two rowdy males, more used to scrapping and fighting, pitch in as babysitters. They take Jermyn's place, as gentle as can be. So Chesna is never alone. She joins in their bumping games, improvising with whatever the ocean has to offer. A simple piece of seaweed suggests a game of skill and Chesna is happy to join in. Safe in the care of her elders, Chesna can concentrate on passing her time happily. It's a crucially important period of her life, these days and weeks, for exploring and experimenting. But when Zoe, the boy's usual playmate, returns from the hunt, the mood changes. Zoe is here to cause trouble. She edges in between the two males. Is she jealous of all the attention Chesna is getting? Does she want her share of the caresses? Young humans can be jealous when a new brother or sister steals all the attention. The life of a young sperm whale can also be full of sulks, flare-ups and playground squabbles. This spat ends when Delphine, Chesna and White Spot's mother, returns from the depths. So life goes on in the two new families, each finding its own rhythm. And then, one day, a different call echoes from afar. A call all the sperm whales recognize. The greetings of the great males. The males are returning from their odyssey in the frozen seas. The sperm whale families pick up their signals from a great distance. What kind of a welcome are they preparing? With other cetaceans, especially humpback whales, arriving males engage in violent fights to mate with females. But sperm whales couldn't be more different. The young go out first to greet the males. Not a trace of fear. One and then the others. Soon all the young are escorting the great males in a procession. A veritable honor guard for heroes returning from distant climbs. Lana's father, Noe, arrives with his escort of young whales. We don't know how often males like Noe return to the family, but one-year-old Lana has never encountered him before. The males haven't just come back to mate, they've also come to meet new members of the family. Everyone is here, whichever group they now belong to. The whole family is together. They attend to the great males as if swearing allegiance, or listening to their epic stories of hunting in the southern ocean. What's going on in this conversation of caresses, clacks, and clicks? No one really knows. And now Lana greets her father for the first time. No one knows how they recognize each other. Whole family gathered to celebrate the male's return. Jamin is reunited with the young she looked after for so long in the nursery, especially Elliot and White Spot. And she meets little Chesna, born after she left. Old friends play together again under her watchful eye with endless tender caresses. The reassuring feeling of belonging to one great clan, even though the families will go their separate ways when the time comes. Chesna mingles in a joyful melee with her big brother Arthur's friends. As a female, Lana will stay with her mother for life, continuing the family story with the other descendants of a rain-twisted jaw. Then, after a few weeks, it's time for the adult males to go. They leave behind them the females and Lana and the other young whales. Elliot and White Spot should depart with the males too. But in spite of their age, they stay. Chesna still needs them. One day, when their job as babysitters is done, and a female of their group is old enough to take over, then they will leave. And like all great males, they'll go hunting in the cold waters of the southern ocean. They will never again see the whales they grew up with. That is the law of their species. When they return to the warm seas, they'll seek out a different family of females to mate with, far from their sisters and their mothers. And they will encounter other young whales for the first time. The ocean is home to hundreds, thousands of families like this. Each family has its own unique story in the great story of this giant species.