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When I began studying
humpback whales almost 50 years ago,

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there was very little funding
for such research.

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I'd like to thank the Pacific Life Foundation
for their unparalleled generosity

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in supporting the conservation
of humpback whales

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and other marine mammals.

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Enabling a better future
is what Pacific Life does,

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and their support of a healthy
ocean benefits all of us,

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whales as well as people.

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Our planet holds a kind of parallel universe.

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A place of wonder where giants roam free.

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For thousands of years, we could
only wonder about humpback whales.

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Now, by exploring their world,

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we're getting surprising
glimpses into their lives.

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A 40-ton adult appears
weightless in its ocean home.

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Though longer than a school bus,
these 50-foot giants are nimble.

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With a wingspan greater than most Learjets,

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humpbacks are magnificent acrobats.

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Often seen in shallow waters,

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these mammals occasionally dive
to a depth of 1,000 feet.

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Each bump on their heads
contains a single stiff hair,

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which may help them sense their environment.

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Today, we celebrate them...

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but it wasn't always so.

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Whales were hunted for hundreds of years
and rendered into oil to light our cities.

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When whalers developed exploding harpoons,

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these giants had no chance.

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We nearly wiped humpback whales
off the face of the planet.

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Then, during the Cold War,
a U.S. Navy observer,

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recording the hum of Soviet submarines,

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heard something mysterious.

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The otherworldly calls of humpback whales.

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Humpbacks string their songs together

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in a continuous river of sound.

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The music of the deep.

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In the 1970s, when these
recordings were studied

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by scientists Roger Payne and Scott McVay,

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they recognized that
the seemingly random noises

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were actually precise rhythmic
patterns of sound, or "songs."

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When record albums were released,

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the humpbacks' songs
changed millions of hearts.

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People from many nations joined together

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to support a ban on killing whales.

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The song of the humpback

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helped us to begin to understand, finally,

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that whales are magnificent, complex beings

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worthy of protection, worthy of life.

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This was our turning point.

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The South Pacific.

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The humpback population here
was hard-hit by whaling.

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In Tonga, there were only
about 50 mature females left.

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In 1978, when the king of Tonga
banned the killing of whales,

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the humpbacks here slowly began
to recover, one calf at a time.

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Today in Tonga,
there are about 2,000 humpbacks,

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a fraction of what once was,
but it's a start.

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The humpback resurgence has now
sparked a whale-watching boom here.

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The increased tourism has raised
the standard of living

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for the local people, like Ali Takau.

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My grandfather was a whaler.

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He hunted humpbacks to feed our family.

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Instead of killing humpbacks,
Ali works hard to save them.

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The future of our humpbacks
depends on these children.

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I tell the kids about the whaling days,

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so we never have that kind of killing again.

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My job is taking tourists and scientists

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out to see the humpbacks.

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Now these magnificent whales
have begun to recover.

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Each calf is critical
to Tonga's fragile resurgence.

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After a full year of pregnancy,

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mothers give birth to a single 14-foot baby.

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What's it like to be a newborn humpback,

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floating in a vast blue world,

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where your only landmark
is a mountain of mother?

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Humpbacks share these idyllic waters

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with a whole community of marine life.

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The remora fish come along for the ride.

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Even when the mother sleeps,

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the newborns don't stray far
from mother's milk.

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But after a few weeks, the calves get bolder,

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and they take off on their own.

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They're so curious.

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And they've got so much energy.

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These newborns learn
by copying their mothers.

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In their first year, they double in size.

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Once they get the hang of it,

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There's no stopping them.

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Each calf stays with its mother

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only about one year to learn about the world.

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How to migrate thousands of miles.

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What to eat and how to find it.

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Who to trust and who to fear.

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Whalers like my grandfather
once targeted mothers and calves,

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because they move so slowly.

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I always loved my grandfather,

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but he didn't understand
the need to stop killing whales.

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The killing stopped here in Tonga,
but not everywhere.

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Three nations... Japan, Norway and Iceland...

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Still allow commercial
and scientific whaling.

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Today, fewer people kill whales on purpose,

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but we now kill them without even knowing it.

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When a ship collides with a whale,

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the impact is often fatal.

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And the number of ships on
the world's oceans has doubled

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in the last 12 years.

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There is something we can do
about these fatal collisions.

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One solution is to slow down ships,

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or reroute them to avoid the
migratory pathways of whales.

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Here in Tonga, mothers go for months

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with almost nothing to eat.

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To find food, the humpback
whales in Tonga head south

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to the frigid, bountiful waters
of Antarctica.

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Many humpbacks in the North
Pacific Ocean migrate to Alaska.

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Dr. Fred Sharpe has been
studying the behaviors

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of humpback whales here
for the past 25 summers.

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Most of the time, humpback
whales in Alaska feed on krill.

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These small, shrimp-like
crustaceans thrive here,

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in waters enriched by upwelling
currents and glacial nutrients.

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The tiny krill might be harder to catch

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if humpback whales had teeth, but they don't.

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About three hours away,
about three hours away.

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Instead of teeth,
humpback whales have baleen.

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It's a kind of strainer that hangs
from the roof of their mouth.

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It lets the water through, but allows them

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to trap these tasty morsels,
like the fish and the krill.

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When we're trying to locate big feeding pods,

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it's almost like
you're coming home to family.

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Fred has studied
these particular whales for so long...

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Bubbles! Bubbles!

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That he can often tell
who's vocalizing just by listening.

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We know who is who,

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because each of these whales has
a really distinctive tail fluke.

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They're kind of like a fingerprint.

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No two are exactly alike.

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So... I run the prints.

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This is Melancholy.

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I've really come to know him
over the past 20 years,

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from studying his behaviors
and even sketching him.

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I often see Melancholy
with another male, who we call Vulture.

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Many whales feed individually,

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but Melancholy and his crew have
learned a really cool strategy.

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They can capture more fish
by working together as a team.

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When we hear the feeding calls
and see the whales group together,

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we know we're in for quite a show.

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What happens next is
one of the most incredible

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and complex animal behaviors ever observed.

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It's called "group bubble-net feeding."

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The first step is always
the synchronized dive.

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Some of the whales dive deep

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underneath the school of herring

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to drive them up towards the surface.

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With their long pectoral flippers,

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they can outmaneuver fast-moving prey.

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The bubble specialist
blows a stream of bubbles,

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forming a spiraling wall of air

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that acts like a net to keep
the fish from getting away.

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The designated vocalizer begins
to make almost deafening sounds...

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Scaring the fish up towards the surface.

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The humpback mouth expands so wide,

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they could swallow a small car.

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They can eat up to a ton of food
in a single day.

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That's like 8,000 hamburgers.

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Well, as it starts to get cold
up here in the fall,

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Melancholy, Vulture and all
the other whales begin to leave.

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They'll travel thousands of miles down
to their warm-water breeding areas

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like Costa Rica, Mexico and Hawaii.

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Some humpbacks migrate
5,000 miles one way every year...

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One of the longest known
migrations of any mammal.

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There are 15 distinct populations
of humpback whales,

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located in all the oceans of the world.

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They feed in polar and subpolar regions,

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and breed and give birth in the Tropics.

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Each winter, the Hawaiian Islands host

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the largest gathering of
humpbacks in the North Pacific.

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Thousands of whales.

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Humpbacks may live up to 80 years or more.

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They seem as curious about us
as we are about them.

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Other whales and dolphins vocalize,

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but humpbacks make
a greater variety of sounds

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than any other whale...

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including grunts...

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groans...

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thwops...

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snorts...

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and barks.

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When humpbacks leap, or breach,

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they make it look easy.

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No other whale leaps so high so often.

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We're not exactly sure why they do it,

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but we're glad they do.

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On a quiet morning in Hawaii,
you can hear hundreds of humpbacks

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in their hidden world below,
all singing at once.

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A reminder of how their songs began
changing our hearts so many years ago.

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Today, Dr. Jim Darling lowers
the hydrophone into the water,

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just as he did decades ago
when Roger Payne first invited him here

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to record humpback whales.

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For scientists like Jim,
finding singers isn't easy,

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but there are clues.

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When whales dive, they leave
a slick spot on the surface...

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what researchers call a footprint.

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Sometimes when Jim looks down
through the footprint, he spots a singer.

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All the singers in Hawaii start each
breeding season singing the same song.

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Incredibly, when one singer changes his song,

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they all adopt those same changes.

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By comparing the latest song
against previous versions,

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Jim can pinpoint exactly what has changed.

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Jim's colleague, Dr. Meagan Jones,

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helps him search
for those changes in the song.

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Two years ago, Jim recorded a song
with a really distinctive phrase.

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That's really different.

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We started calling it "chuckles"
because it made us laugh.

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But this year, the chuckles
are starting to disappear.

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After years of study,
scientists were surprised to discover

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the singers were all males.

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While the males are busy singing,
what are the females up to?

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Dr. Meagan Jones studies
the behavior of female humpbacks.

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It's not easy, because they spend
90% of their time underwater,

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out of sight.

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So she catches only glimpses.

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One of the most important questions
I'm trying to answer

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is how females choose their mates.

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No one has ever observed mating
between humpbacks.

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But we often see a male and
female pair resting together.

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Just before and just after,

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we see males fighting over the females.

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The battle-scarred male escort
is actually on guard,

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watching and listening for his rivals.

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When intruders show up,
he tries to fight them off.

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20 males pursuing just one female.

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We think the males are vying
for the prime spot, closest to the female.

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The escort will use all kinds
of tactics to defend his position.

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He streams bubbles.

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He lunges...

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charges...

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and even collides with other males.

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Is the female leading these males?

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Or is she being chased?

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We're not sure...

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but we think she wants to mate
as soon as possible

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so she can return to Alaska
and resume eating.

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For whales, bigger mothers
often make better mothers.

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She needs to be
in the best physical condition

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when she gives birth the following year.

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This chase lasted four grueling hours.

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We think the competition may allow the female

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the opportunity to select the fittest mate.

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One day, just as the other
male rivals swam away,

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the male and female pair stayed around

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and circled our boat for well over an hour.

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At first, we thought the female
was swimming upside down

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and using the boat to discourage the male.

250
00:30:11,269 --> 00:30:16,049
But as we watched the pair circle
and dance around each other and us,

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it became clear that at least in this case,
the female was following him

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as much as the male was following her.

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00:30:26,826 --> 00:30:29,520
Was this courtship?

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Was she trying to attract him?

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00:30:34,751 --> 00:30:38,529
This is what we think may be happening,
but until we see mating,

256
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we can just never be sure.

257
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,346
For me, these are the best kind of days,

258
00:30:46,888 --> 00:30:50,933
when new observations lead to new questions.

259
00:30:57,065 --> 00:30:59,050
When Meagan is out studying whales,

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00:30:59,150 --> 00:31:04,389
she sometimes runs into the real dangers
they face, like loose, floating debris.

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...major threat to the animals.

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00:31:06,407 --> 00:31:09,811
More than half of these
humpback whales bear scars

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from being tangled up in ropes
and fishing nets.

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00:31:15,166 --> 00:31:18,236
This humpback whale population is growing,

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00:31:18,336 --> 00:31:20,571
but we think worldwide

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00:31:20,671 --> 00:31:24,867
the humpback population
may be only 40% of what it was

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00:31:24,967 --> 00:31:27,345
before whaling began.

268
00:31:29,263 --> 00:31:32,500
Some of the most serious
problems facing whales

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00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:35,545
have no immediate solution.

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00:31:35,645 --> 00:31:38,256
But when individual whales get entangled,

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some of them can be saved by rescue teams,

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like the one here in Hawaii.

273
00:31:47,698 --> 00:31:49,350
Joe, let's see if we can
get underway in five.

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GPS coordinates set.

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00:31:54,997 --> 00:31:58,918
Most rescues start
with a phone call from a boater.

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Reporting entangled whales is one
important way to help humpbacks.

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Looking for your position.

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The team caught up to the entangled
whale in just under an hour.

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00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,260
This young, energetic humpback whale

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was trailing more than 200 feet
of line and buoys behind it.

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Each entanglement is different,
so team leader Ed Lyman

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00:32:34,245 --> 00:32:36,814
has to keep adjusting his strategy.

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00:32:36,914 --> 00:32:39,317
Keep an eye out. We don't want to lose it.

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00:32:39,417 --> 00:32:41,903
If this young whale
is not set free by Ed's team,

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00:32:42,003 --> 00:32:45,073
he could die from infection, starvation

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00:32:45,173 --> 00:32:47,175
or even drowning.

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00:32:48,926 --> 00:32:50,636
A key tool is their grapple.

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00:32:51,637 --> 00:32:53,998
That's how they hook onto the trailing gear

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00:32:54,098 --> 00:32:57,935
and then pull themselves close
enough to cut the whale free.

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00:32:59,770 --> 00:33:03,174
We attach a transmitter to help
track the whale, in case we lose it,

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00:33:03,274 --> 00:33:07,195
and buoys to keep it from diving deep.

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00:33:08,154 --> 00:33:10,098
Even with extensive training,

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00:33:10,198 --> 00:33:12,767
it's dangerous for Ed and Joe to get so close

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00:33:12,867 --> 00:33:15,620
to a huge animal under stress.

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00:33:16,829 --> 00:33:18,439
We work entirely from boats.

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00:33:18,539 --> 00:33:22,710
People have been killed jumping
in the water to cut whales free.

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00:33:23,711 --> 00:33:24,895
Let's be careful here!

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00:33:24,995 --> 00:33:29,367
If we hear signs of stress,
like a trumpeting blow, we back off.

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00:33:36,933 --> 00:33:38,709
Our pole cam gives us an underwater view

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00:33:38,809 --> 00:33:41,187
and helps us see what's going on.

301
00:33:41,604 --> 00:33:44,173
We need to get this gear off.

302
00:33:44,273 --> 00:33:46,692
These wounds are... are bad.

303
00:33:47,485 --> 00:33:50,388
These young ones, they're unpredictable.

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00:33:50,488 --> 00:33:54,517
Our whale makes a sudden U-turn
and snags his gear on a nearby boat,

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00:33:54,617 --> 00:33:56,185
so we race back to cut the boat free.

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00:33:56,285 --> 00:33:58,187
You got it? Okay, good. Next side.

307
00:33:58,287 --> 00:34:01,832
As soon as we cut that line,
he takes right off.

308
00:34:04,752 --> 00:34:09,006
Even dragging all those buoys,
the whale is just pulling us too fast.

309
00:34:11,676 --> 00:34:16,038
We actually got what the old-time
whalers call a Nantucket sleigh ride.

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00:34:16,138 --> 00:34:18,416
Let me help you.

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00:34:21,602 --> 00:34:24,522
- Still running hard.
- Yeah.

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00:34:27,358 --> 00:34:30,361
We attach a sea anchor to slow it down.

313
00:34:41,622 --> 00:34:43,107
Okay, knife is out.

314
00:34:43,207 --> 00:34:44,734
You're doing good.

315
00:34:44,834 --> 00:34:46,277
Okay, here, I'm right beside you.

316
00:34:46,377 --> 00:34:50,865
Finally, the whale slows down
enough to give Ed a clean angle.

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00:34:50,965 --> 00:34:52,575
So he moves in for the cut.

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00:34:52,675 --> 00:34:54,118
Perfect. Right there.

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00:34:54,218 --> 00:34:57,263
And... here comes.

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00:34:58,097 --> 00:34:59,081
Okay!

321
00:35:04,562 --> 00:35:07,048
- Okay.
- Oh, nice slice!

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00:35:20,578 --> 00:35:24,373
It all went their way today,
but it doesn't always work out.

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00:35:29,712 --> 00:35:32,923
Even Ed's heroic team can't save every whale.

324
00:35:33,924 --> 00:35:37,511
But you and I can help reduce
the number of entangled humpbacks.

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00:35:39,388 --> 00:35:42,291
Encourage the use of whale-safe gear,

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00:35:42,391 --> 00:35:46,020
and keep debris out of the ocean.

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00:35:51,567 --> 00:35:55,321
I'm in awe of humpback whales.

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00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,660
For centuries, men in boats
brought them pain and death.

329
00:36:01,786 --> 00:36:07,750
It brings us such joy to flip that around
and bring them life instead.

330
00:36:13,172 --> 00:36:18,077
It took hundreds of years for people
all across the world to wake up

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00:36:18,177 --> 00:36:20,930
and hear the song of the humpbacks.

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00:36:23,933 --> 00:36:29,021
In the early days,
humpbacks were known as our guardians.

333
00:36:29,772 --> 00:36:32,274
Now it's our turn.

334
00:36:47,289 --> 00:36:51,961
Future generations of scientists
have their work cut out for them.

335
00:36:55,047 --> 00:36:59,243
Each new insight scientists gain
into these remarkable whales

336
00:36:59,343 --> 00:37:03,639
helps us protect them against
the growing threats they face.

337
00:37:13,357 --> 00:37:17,053
Oceans cover 71% of our planet,

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00:37:17,153 --> 00:37:20,072
and humpbacks roam them all.

339
00:37:24,285 --> 00:37:27,563
Just one look in their eye will tell you

340
00:37:27,663 --> 00:37:31,292
we have much more to learn about their world.

341
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:37,131
And to think, we nearly missed that chance.