Whales are the world's most intelligent giants...
but they're still a mystery.
SIGOURNEY: Only now are we beginning to understand their secrets.
BRIAN: Right there! Right there!
SIGOURNEY: Three years of filming reveal an extraordinary truth.
Whales have culture.
SIGOURNEY: Each family speaks a unique language.
SIGOURNEY: They love deeply.
Play with joy.
And mourn their dead.
SIGOURNEY: Whales are just like us.
SIGOURNEY: And one of the smartest of them all
is proving that these social bonds...
are the secret to their success.
SIGOURNEY: They're known as killer whales, but their real name is orca.
SIGOURNEY: They're the ocean's top predator.
SIGOURNEY: But their tough reputation is because orcas put family first.
SIGOURNEY: Each pod faces unique challenges
and its members work as one to overcome them.
One family in New Zealand
has ruled its waters for thousands of years.
They're tougher than any shark...
as smart as any dolphin.
But it's how they work together
that makes them different from all other whales.
This family of five's favorite pastime is a never-ending game of hide and seek.
Three different rays hide somewhere among these rocks...
masters of disguise.
These orcas need to find them
if they want to eat.
SIGOURNEY: The first step is to spread out.
SIGOURNEY: In this household, Mom's in charge.
And she takes the lead.
She learned everything she knows from her mother.
Like how to maneuver her four-ton frame through the shallow channels,
without getting stuck.
SIGOURNEY: Her sonar is more advanced than any submarine's.
It listens to her environment and makes a map of the ocean floor.
She's most likely in her 30s.
And by now, she knows every inch of this area.
She uses echolocation,
a series of clicks that bounce off her surroundings...
..and can identify something as small as a coin.
SIGOURNEY: Found one, a stingray.
Rays can disappear in an instant.
-Mom can't let it slip away. -(WHALE WHISTLING)
SIGOURNEY: She uses a secret family technique.
SIGOURNEY: She flips the ray upside down, which puts it to sleep.
Only New Zealand's orcas know this trick.
SIGOURNEY: Mom is this pod's best hunter,
and she provides for her whole family.
She calls them to the table with a series of chirps and whistles.
SIGOURNEY: Three generations, from grandmother to the youngsters,
come together to share the meal.
SIGOURNEY: The rich organs inside hold the nutrients they need,
so they work together to prep the food.
Mom cares for her kids and works hard to keep up with demand.
Her family can eat a dozen or more rays a day.
It takes a lot of fuel to power their 15-pound brains.
SIGOURNEY: This traditional family feast fills their bellies
and strengthens their bond.
But today, a new distraction pulls them away from their meal.
National Geographic explorer
and renowned whale photographer, Brian Skerry,
hopes to join the orcas for dinner.
BRIAN: We have a unique population of orca here.
How they relate to each other, their dialects, all very specialized.
I think that we can learn a lot from them.
SIGOURNEY: Skerry's spent the last three years
documenting the secret life of whales.
But it's his first time with this New Zealand pod.
BRIAN: Strategies for success are all a little bit different
depending on where orca live.
And feeding is a big part of that.
SIGOURNEY: His goal is to be ignored,
and witness the orcas bonding over dinner.
But things take a surprising turn.
Brian is invited to share the feast.
SIGOURNEY: Perhaps mom sees him as an underfed orca,
who needs to put on some weight.
BRIAN: What I saw with these orca was off the scale.
This one female adult orca came in and, you know,
was sort of checking me out.
It was kind of looking at me, checking out the ray.
It was kind of like, you know, "Are you gonna have that, â€˜cause if not,
"I'm gonna go grab it."
And then just sort of picks it up and almost poses for me,
just kind of lifts her head up.
It was really remarkable.
SIGOURNEY: It's a rare glimpse into the mind of an orca.
BRIAN: When you see them underwater,
you realize they actually have very rich lives and complex behaviors.
How they feed or what they know about their local waters,
how they socialize, their parenting techniques.
These animals have culture.
SIGOURNEY: New Zealand's orcas are friendly and curious...
traits that help them adapt to the world around them.
But it doesn't always serve them well.
SIGOURNEY: Nearby, another resident pod plays among fishing ropes
anchored to the bottom...
SIGOURNEY: ...when suddenly, playtime stops.
The big male is trapped in one of the lines.
SIGOURNEY: Whales, dolphins, and porpoises
all breathe air like we do.
And nearly a thousand drown every day,
tangled in fishing lines.
He struggles for air.
His family looks on, helpless.
The National Geographic divers decide they must intervene.
The big male could easily kill the diver...
but he seems to understand.
SIGOURNEY: For orcas, the dangers and challenges
of providing for your family depend greatly on where you live.
BRIAN: Whales are some of the most intelligent,
sentient, cognitive animals, that... that live on this planet,
so it's not surprising at all that they would have rich cultures.
Having shared these experiences with orca in New Zealand,
I can't help but wonder how their customs might be different
on the other side of the world.
SIGOURNEY: Human cultures in New Zealand are unlike those in Norway.
And it just may be the same for orcas.
SIGOURNEY: Two hundred miles above the Arctic Circle,
a very different pod shapes its traditions around a fish.
SIGOURNEY: More herring pass through the fjords of Norway every spring
than there are people on Earth.
SIGOURNEY: This pod is here to round them up.
Just like New Zealand, a matriarch leads this family.
SIGOURNEY: She uses pulsed calls to talk to her pod,
in a language only spoken by these orcas.
SIGOURNEY: Her goal is to herd the herring into a ball.
SIGOURNEY: Once everyone is in position,
her contact calls turn into directions.
SIGOURNEY: She instructs her sister to go below...
and flash her white belly to frighten the herring.
SIGOURNEY: Another blows bubbles to force the fish to the surface.
Then, the matriarch slaps the ball of fish with her tail...
knocking them out.
SIGOURNEY: She's the keeper of this family's time-honored tradition.
But it's a changing world.
There are new challenges.
SIGOURNEY: And new competition.
A Norwegian fishing boat
can pull up hundreds of tons of herring a day.
Instead of competing with humans...
these orcas learn to take advantage of them.
It's as easy as plucking fish from the net.
Work smarter, not harder.
Thousands of years of tradition change in an instant.
SIGOURNEY: Brian Skerry is here to see these techniques for himself.
BRIAN: These are not innate traits that they're born with.
They're teaching behaviors that they need to survive in the ocean...
just the way human mothers teach their babies.
SIGOURNEY: The next generation is growing up with new traditions.
But it can come at a heavy cost.
BRIAN: I saw a family of orca,
with what I think was probably the mom,
carrying a dead calf.
She was just pushing it through the water.
SIGOURNEY: We may never know why this calf died...
but this female may stay with her dead infant for days...
even weeks.
BRIAN: To see that empathy, I don't think there's any other way
to describe that, other than mourning and grief.
It speaks to the complexity of these animals and their culture.
They are very sentient beings, they are highly evolved,
they possess cultures that we don't fully understand.
Life is precious.
That's what I've learned from the whales,
that love and tenderness and family,
and one another, that's all we've got.
SIGOURNEY: There is no solace
for a mother who loses a child.
Young orca are a pod's most precious resource.
It takes the whole family to raise kids,
especially in the harshest place on Earth.
The frigid waters of the Antarctic Peninsula,
in the Southern Ocean.
The orcas in this pod are among the smallest on the planet.
And they spend so much of the year here
that they change color.
Their skin's yellow hue is algae.
The cold water prevents new skin from growing.
They can't shed their old.
They're among the world's most social orcas,
with as many as 75 animals in one pod.
They can live as long as humans...
but have very few calves.
So, each newborn is cherished.
SIGOURNEY: In a pod this big, that means all hands on deck.
This teenage female has a most important job.
She is the babysitter.
Much like a human teenager,
while mom and dad are away,
she's in charge of the kids.
SIGOURNEY: She must keep her younger siblings and cousins
out of trouble.
When young ones head out exploring,
their big sister has to follow.
The young orcas stumble upon a large colony of seals.
SIGOURNEY: The only problem, this pod doesn't hunt fur seals.
So, the fur seals don't fear them.
SIGOURNEY: One teenager with a bunch of youngsters
can't stand up to the angry mob.
The fur seals attack.
SIGOURNEY: The babysitter has no choice but to gather the kids
and retreat back to the larger pod.
SIGOURNEY: There is safety in numbers.
The young female has passed a crucial test
and taken her first step toward becoming a matriarch.
By the time she's 14,
she'll find a male outside her immediate family,
and have a baby of her own...
adding strength in numbers to the pod,
and continuing their legacy at the bottom of the world.
While some pods rely on numbers,
others don't have that luxury.
Smaller families must work with what they have.
Unique knowledge passed down from one generation to the next.
Nearly a thousand miles north,
another brave mother faces a foe
many times stronger than Antarctic fur seals.
To feed her family, she will attempt to infiltrate
the Falkland's largest elephant seal colony.
SIGOURNEY: These giants are way too big for most orca.
SIGOURNEY: A female elephant seal weighs nearly a ton.
SIGOURNEY: A big male can weigh more than a pick-up truck.
SIGOURNEY: The mother orca's finely tuned strategy
is an ambush...
taught to her by her mother.
She waits for sundown, when elephant seals head out to fish.
She knows where they get in and out of the water.
This is all about providing for her pod.
If she's seen,
her family won't eat.
SIGOURNEY: Her top fin acts as a rudder,
but for this trick, she has to keep it hidden.
Once she's in position, she waits.
Grabbing the creature is only the first step.
SIGOURNEY: Elephant seals are heavily armed with teeth and nails...
so orca mom calls for back-up.
SIGOURNEY: Her four family-in-training rush to help with the fight.
This hands-on test is the key to their future.
No other orcas on Earth catch elephant seals quite like this.
It's how their family has survived for generations.
The eldest daughter is a teenager,
and she's like a clone of her mother.
If she learns the skills she needs,
someday she will inherit this patch of ocean.
It will be her job to keep their way of life alive...
and pass the family's customs down to her daughters.
For now, this small family of females rules the Falklands together.
But legacy is never guaranteed.
SIGOURNEY: For an orca pod to have a future,
they must pass down valuable family knowledge.
The more complex their traditions,
the harder it is to keep their culture alive.
To the north in Patagonia,
one of the world's most famous and powerful pods
performs the most impressive feat of all.
Catching a sea lion off the beach
takes the wisdom of an elder.
This 40-something grandmother is the best teacher in the pod.
She trains her family members to do the impossible
with a time-tested playbook.
Step one, know where to go.
She brings her family to a small break in the reef.
A sacred place
that only this pod knows about.
Tide and conditions must be right.
Step two, listen for the sound of movement on pebbles...
the sign that a pup is in the water.
Hide your fin.
Be patient.
Wait for your wave.
And most important of all,
don't get stuck on the beach.
She makes it look easy,
but she's spent her life mastering this technique.
Not everyone can.
SIGOURNEY: This big male was adopted by the pod as a young adult.
He's been watching them hunt for years,
and is working to become one of the few outsiders to learn this skill.
He knows enough to hide his five-foot dorsal fin.
But this is all about timing.
Close...
but close doesn't eat.
SIGOURNEY: He struggles because he wasn't raised in this pod.
Only those taught by an elder master this art.
As few as 12 orcas in the entire continent.
Most of these orcas were taught by grandmother.
And it's time the two youngest cousins learn the family trade.
SIGOURNEY: First, they must get comfortable in the surf.
They don't eat seaweed, they use it to practice.
But seaweed can't escape.
The kids must train with the real thing.
SIGOURNEY: The orca matriarch catches a sea lion
so her granddaughters can learn the family's strategy
for survival.
She keeps the prey alive...
and lets it go in open water.
SIGOURNEY: This practice helps the youngsters learn
to handle live prey.
It teaches them to work together...
and brings the pod closer.
SIGOURNEY: Young orcas with a grandmother showing them the way
are nearly five times more likely to survive.
SIGOURNEY: But no one lives forever.
The matriarch needs to find a successor,
or many of the family secrets could die with her.
Enough practice.
It's time for the eldest granddaughter to step up.
SIGOURNEY: The family's legacy is at stake.
SIGOURNEY: She has the technique.
But hanging on to a sea lion is trickier than it looks.
SIGOURNEY: Now, she's stuck.
SIGOURNEY: Her grandmother lets her struggle.
There's no better way to learn.
But she always has her family's back.
SIGOURNEY: She's also their coach.
And there's no room for quitters here.
The older the granddaughter gets,
the harder it will be for her to learn.
And soon, she may not have grandmother to help her.
She must try again.
She remembers her lessons.
Stay low.
Time it just right.
SIGOURNEY: She is the future of the clan.
Ready to build her own legacy.
This is what culture looks like for many whale species.
SIGOURNEY: They hone their incredible skills...
master their craft...
and pass their knowledge down for generations to follow.
They seem so much like us.
Yet, we've only begun to reveal the secrets of the whales.
JAMES: Our team went out all over the world,
but this particular encounter took place right here in New Zealand,
where I'm presently shooting Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 together,
and a lot of which take places underwater.
Of course, my underwater work on those films was in a tank.
Brian got to go out into the real world
and have these amazing encounters with these animals.
FEMALE VOICE: We'll give it another try, huh?
Yeah. Yeah.
JAMES: Every time he goes into the water with his camera,
he stands the chance of seeing something that humans have never observed before.
And this encounter with the orca making a peace offering
is a perfect example of that.
This is such a beautiful moment here when it drops off the... the eagle ray.
It says, "Here. This is... This is an offering," you know?
"Welcome. Welcome to our waters."
JAMES: Look at this big juicy eagle ray. Wouldn't you just love to have that?
Mm. Tasty morsel.
And then eventually takes it again. (CHUCKLES)
It's like, "Well, if you're not gonna eat that, you know,
"I think I'll have it back."
So, they're communicating in a way that they understand.
An offering of food is commerce.
It's a gift.
JAMES: Now obviously, they're the apex predator of the ocean.
Other whales fear them. Sharks certainly fear them.
But there's no known record of an attack by an orca on a human in the wild.
So, I can only attribute that to their recognition in us
of intelligent behavior
and their, uh, either respect or fascination for that.
They must see us is some way very differently
than anything else in the ocean.
To our knowledge, this is the first time this kind of behavior has been observed.
So, that's pretty remarkable.
(WHALES WHISTLING)