Voices of the Sea
Documentary series about the intelligence of dolphins and whales. This part looks at how the sea mammals make sounds to catch food, and sing for music's own sake.
Whales and dolphins are nature's supreme vocalists, with a repertoire to put an opera singer to shame. The mighty sperm whale produces deafening clicks in its blowhole which it uses to locate giant squid two miles down in the ocean abyss, while migrating narwhals use similar sounds to pinpoint vital breathing holes in Arctic ice floes.
The pink boto dolphin creates bat-like ultrasonic clicks to 'see with sound' and to catch fish in the murky waters of the Amazon River, and also uses whistles and chirps for social conversations.
Killer whales in the North Sea use wolf-like howls to round up the herring shoals which they feed on, and they and other dolphins also use percussive tail slaps and splashing leaps to signal to each other. One group of bottlenose dolphins in Brazil has even learned to communicate with fishermen in a unique partnership.
But the most famous and mysterious voice of all surely belongs to male humpback whales, whose haunting operatic performances may last several hours and seem to be about singing purely for the sheer pleasure of making music.
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Clips
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Dusky dolphin music
Duration: 01:45
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Humpback opera
Duration: 04:20
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River dolphin senses
Duration: 03:13
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Sound strategy
Duration: 03:06
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Producer | Phil Chapman |
Executive Producer | Sara Ford |
Series Producer | Mark Brownlow |
Series Producer | Phil Chapman |
Narrator | Stephen Fry |
Broadcasts
- Sun 28 Aug 2011 21:00
- Mon 29 Aug 2011 19:30成人快手 HD
- Sat 28 Jan 2012 13:30成人快手 HD
- Thu 21 Jun 2012 20:00
- Sun 2 Sep 2012 15:45
- Tue 30 Apr 2013 20:00
- Thu 2 May 2013 23:30
- Thu 19 Sep 2013 14:45成人快手 Two except Scotland
- Thu 19 Dec 2013 20:00
- Fri 20 Dec 2013 01:00
- Tue 3 Jun 2014 20:00
- Wed 4 Jun 2014 00:50
- Wed 27 Jul 2016 22:00
- Mon 24 Jul 2017 23:00
- Mon 16 Oct 2017 20:00
- Tue 17 Oct 2017 01:50
- Wed 29 Aug 2018 15:15
- Sat 30 Mar 2019 15:30
- Wed 10 Jun 2020 23:00
- Tue 8 Jun 2021 23:55
- Sat 30 Jul 2022 18:00成人快手 Two except Scotland & Wales
- Thu 6 Jun 2024 16:15成人快手 Two except Scotland