Ocean Giants

I have just finished watching the latest episode of Ocean Giants on the BBC's iPlayer. Today’s episode examined just how clever and in tune with the world dolphins, and their cousins the whales, really are, even claiming that there brains are a lot bigger than our human ones.

As I watched, transfixed in equal measure by the beauty of their movements and the incredible facts that were being lain down before me in Stephen Fry’s dulcet tones, I found it easy to understand why many people claim these animals as their favourites. Watching the bottle noses play for hours in front of the mirror or with a circular bubble machine made me appreciate just how incredibly intelligent and beautiful they are. As the three year old dolphin checked himself out in a mirror, the biologist claimed that this existential view of themselves may show us that they go through the same emotional development as us when young. Thus, they do indeed share the altar with elephants, gorillas and humans in their ability to feel empathy and, even more astonishing, the ability to feel empathy towards a different species. The ability to forgive another species, as the whale mothers had after humans had nearly wiped out them and their young, is a story we could all do with knowing. To see how happy both species were in the company of the other (and that both were voluntarily seeking the other out) gave me such hope and joy! It just proves that we are capable of co-existing on this planet and that if we did, it would be an even more wonderful place to be.

The beauty of the film was incredible. Whilst watching, I imagined phoning my friends and insisting we arrange trips away to Australia, Alaska and the Bahamas’ right away. Watching documentaries such as these always prompts my feet to get a little itchy and my mind to forget finances whilst it runs away with itself arranging madcap adventures on far flung lands. I have always loved the idea of adventure and now added onto a long list of ones I plan to take is to travel and experience the presence of these animals.

The point that excited me most was the fact that in about five years time, we could possess the ability to communicate with these astonishing creatures. The mystery of what whales exactly get up to after they dive could be solved and open up a whole new area of marine biology to us. It would be like having insider information.

Open Ocean