Las aguas salvajes de Alaska albergan a algunos de los animales marinos más mortíferos del planeta. Mandíbulas feroces emergen del mar y desatan su furia en los cursos de agua. Las costas de mar abierto crean un camino para cazadores gigantes como las orcas y los tiburones salmón. Y sus canales de aguas profundas esconden pequeños terrores oceánicos, que compensan su tamaño con sofisticadas armas equipadas para aturdir, conmocionar y envenenar.
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00:00This is Alaska, home to some of the deadliest predators on the planet.
00:11Although we rarely see or think of these hunters with detainment.
00:19Some of the fiercest animals in this area live under the sea.
00:28The sea of Alaska is an extreme environment.
00:34It is cold, dark and competitive.
00:43The only way to survive is to kill.
00:51The deadliest of Alaska, the kingdom of the killer whale.
01:05When night falls, a monster shakes the depths of the sea.
01:13The giant squids are usually solitary.
01:23Except when the same thing happens to all of them.
01:30Tonight, the army rises to hunt in shallow waters, in total darkness.
01:37Their eyes, the size of billiard balls, can see perfectly at night.
01:44A squid can reach the size of a person and weigh up to 45 kilos.
01:52They are very intelligent and communicate in the dark, making flashes with their skin.
02:02With their ten tentacles, suction cups and teeth that tear the flesh,
02:09they drag their victims towards an implacable mouth.
02:17And when there is not enough food, they eat each other.
02:30They are cannibals.
02:37A splash of defense ink is too little and too late.
02:45At dawn, the frenzy calms down and they return to the depths.
02:52The sea is calm again.
02:59The sea is calm again.
03:04The sea is calm again.
03:09The sea is calm again.
03:16The sea is calm again.
03:23The sun awakens a world of fighting creatures.
03:30The shallow waters of Alaska are home to a frenzied army race.
03:38Here lives a voracious marine predator, the starfish.
03:45There are around 2,000 species, most with five arms.
03:51But the sunfish star is endowed with the largest number of arms, up to 24.
04:09This predator senses and smells its way with 15,000 suction cups
04:16and moves at a speed of almost one meter per minute.
04:22In the slow world of the seabed, it is a speed of heart attack.
04:28At least for its prey.
04:36Like this starfish.
04:45It has its own transport method.
04:49A very powerful foot.
04:55Although a step in the wrong direction can be its death sentence.
05:02But even the voracious starfish has its own enemy.
05:25This gigantic beast is a centipede from the Puget Strait.
05:33With its tenacity, it catches one of the 19 arms of the starfish.
05:40But the starfish has an ace up its sleeve.
05:45Get rid of its own limbs.
05:50It is a predator of the sea.
05:55It is a predator of the sea.
06:00It is a predator of the sea.
06:06Get rid of its own limbs.
06:12The centipede has its dinner.
06:17And the starfish escapes alive and with spare limbs.
06:27In Alaska, the best hunter is the one who can hide at first sight.
06:36And no one does it better than this camouflage queen.
06:47It is a giant octopus from the Pacific.
06:53It has a calculating intelligence.
06:58And rightly so.
07:00It has nine brains that have almost 500 million neurons.
07:05Almost twice as many as a domestic dog.
07:13One brain is in the head.
07:16And each arm has its own brain to control the movement.
07:23It is driven by three hearts that pump blue blood rich in copper.
07:31Today, feeding is its priority.
07:35It is already older than a human.
07:38But it is getting ready for its big moment.
07:44With its gift for invisibility, it prepares the ground for a crustacean apocalypse.
08:03This crab is going to take the surprise of its life.
08:14That is not a rock.
08:23The octopus paralyzes its prey with poison injected with a hidden beak.
08:30There is no escape from that attack.
08:36The 280 tentacles per arm can taste and grab.
08:46Although they only live about four years, the Pacific giant octopuses can reach six meters long and weigh up to 90 kilos.
08:57A body like this needs many crabs.
09:05But it is not enough.
09:10It needs more.
09:15It needs more.
09:19It needs more.
09:23It needs more.
09:27It needs more.
09:31It needs more.
09:38Although it is full, it continues to hunt, reserving live crabs for later.
09:53Now that it has energy, it is ready for its last disappearance.
10:01It has more than 50,000 fertilized eggs.
10:06And it has to find a place from which it can defend them.
10:17This cave is perfect.
10:22Here, it gathers its thousands of eggs, the size of rice grains, and sticks them to the walls.
10:34For six months, it does not stop pumping water to the eggs to clean them of parasites.
10:44It cannot leave them, not even to eat.
10:49Its color fades and it loses half of its body weight.
10:57This fearsome queen is weak and at a disadvantage to protect its eggs.
11:06And irresistible to the sunflower star.
11:19And this time, it has brought a friend.
11:24It has come to compensate for its devoured limb.
11:29It must find the strength to defend its children.
11:48First, it pumps water over the eggs to help them free themselves from their shells.
12:06Then, it makes the final sacrifice.
12:19Its corpse will serve as bait and keep the bandits away from its little ones.
12:35They need all the possible help.
12:40Of the tens of thousands that hatch, only two will survive.
12:45They are nothing compared to the vast ocean in which they were born.
13:03The coast of Alaska is the longest in the United States, about 80,000 kilometers.
13:14When we think of Alaska, we imagine endless forests.
13:20But some of the most abundant forests are underwater.
13:31The algae forests are less known than the Californians, but they are just as rich.
13:45It is the home of the colorful sea hedgehog,
13:49whose 12-centimeter fangs help to keep most predators away.
13:56Except for this one.
13:59The wolf eel.
14:03Which is neither a wolf nor an eel.
14:15It is a two-meter fish with a voracious hunger.
14:24And it is as terrifying as it seems.
14:45Its ferocious teeth are worn out by years of ending the life of prey of great robustness.
15:00The strength of its bite is one of the greatest in nature
15:05and can pulverize animals of hard shell in seconds.
15:15It has a strong jaw and a terrifying appearance, but it has a romantic side.
15:22And this is the object of its affection.
15:26The lady in red.
15:34The wolf eel.
15:38The lady in red.
15:56And she likes her tough look.
16:00Soon they will start a life together.
16:04The wolf eels have a life partner and will live in the same rocky lair forever.
16:12But the honeymoon lasts short.
16:18The wolf eel cave is soon filled with children.
16:27With 10,000.
16:30It is full.
16:33And the parents spend most of the time protecting their family from possible predators.
16:42At last, the day comes for the wolf eels to go out to the ocean.
16:48Although few will survive.
16:52Those who do it will end up looking for a good rock and their own partner.
17:11Luckily, they will end up being like their parents.
17:15Devoted companions for the rest of their lives.
17:25For migratory animals, home is nothing more than a memory.
17:31The salmon of Alaska spends most of its life far from home.
17:37They swim thousands of kilometers in the ocean.
17:40But at the end of their lives, their goal is to return to their place of birth to hatch.
17:48The magnetic field of the earth guides them.
17:52They use it as if it were a map.
17:56They know the route according to the magnetic field in which they are.
18:01And when they get closer, they realize that it is a map.
18:06But first, they must avoid the biggest predators of Alaska.
18:14And the most fearsome is the one that receives the most appropriate name.
18:19The salmon shark.
18:22It has arrived in Alaska, but it has not yet found its home.
18:27It has to find a new home.
18:31The salmon shark.
18:34The time has come.
18:37They have also traveled thousands of kilometers.
18:42The salmon cling to the walls of the fjords, trying to dodge the sharks.
18:49But instead of being a safe step, the rocks increase the risk.
18:54Unlike their cousins, the great white sharks, the salmon sharks hunt on benches.
19:01Together they push the salmon against the walls of the fjords,
19:05and lead them to the surface, thus eliminating their escape routes.
19:17The shark fails the first attempt.
19:20But resistance is its specialty.
19:30Swimming in small circles around the salmon will make them tired.
19:36At least, that is the plan.
19:50Another failure.
19:53It decides to give up the gym and resort to persecution.
20:00The salmon shark has an extraordinary sight.
20:05It has very separate eyes, so its sight is binocular to locate its prey.
20:14A huge advantage to get close to the fast salmon.
20:20They can reach up to 80 kilometers per hour,
20:24and they are one of the largest and fastest fish on the planet.
20:39When the festival begins,
20:42the salmon shark is ready to go.
20:46The sharks are relentless,
20:49and dive into those waters full of salmon.
21:15Like the wolves, a bank of sharks attacks at the same time,
21:19devouring everything that crosses its path.
21:46And storing energy to reproduce,
21:50migrate, and for the days of food shortage.
22:03The salmon that manages to escape unharmed, continues through the area between tides.
22:09Where the ocean and the rivers merge into the streams of fresh water.
22:24But before the salmon can swim upstream,
22:28it must adapt to the mixture of fresh water.
22:39After traveling hundreds of kilometers,
22:43they are very close to achieving their goal.
22:49They only have one obstacle left to overcome.
22:55A corridor of large predators.
23:03The brown bears have calculated perfectly the moment of their arrival.
23:09They must get fat and prepare to hibernate.
23:31And these osethnos are learning valuable fishing lessons.
23:39The mother makes it seem easy.
23:47It is the first time that the osethnos have food in front of them that tries to escape.
24:09They are the fish that make these bears the biggest in the world.
24:18Salmon have a high level of calories,
24:22and in shallow waters they are very easy to fish.
24:30The salmon are the only fish that can survive.
24:39But these are only shooting practices.
24:51The main course is further away.
25:01Bears have an incredible sense of smell.
25:03In many occasions, it is better than that of dogs,
25:07and thousands of times better than ours.
25:12A hungry grizzly bear smells an unexpected opportunity.
25:18They have touched the earth with millions of calories.
25:26A humpback whale.
25:34Grizzlies are usually solitary,
25:38but the smell brings them together from miles away.
26:03They are not used to sharing.
26:33The last ones to arrive are not welcome.
27:03They stay with the worst part of the whale,
27:07at a safe distance from the rest.
27:33The tail does not feed too much,
27:37but it can only wait.
27:47Soon, the rest of the bear eats its share,
27:51and a little more.
28:03It is like when Christmas comes.
28:34As everyone is tired of eating,
28:38the hungry male is served for a few seconds without stress.
28:54The bears, who have not been misled by the unexpected stroke of luck,
28:59follow the salmon upstream, towards the desert area.
29:09The increasingly narrow rivers
29:12concentrate the salmon in the water where they were born.
29:29This is where the next generation is created,
29:33in a mass desolation.
29:38The parents have already fulfilled their role.
29:42Forever.
29:59Each female lays about 1,500 eggs,
30:03but few reach adulthood.
30:09While the bears fish for salmon,
30:13others look for offspring.
30:17A gigantic swarm prepares to invade the waters of Alaska.
30:21Thousands of jellyfish arrive in groups.
30:24A giant lion's mane jellyfish joins them.
30:30They have arrived at the right time,
30:34when the temperature and currents are perfect
30:38for the explosion of salmon eggs.
30:42They are an unstoppable fleet of hungry and jellyfish predators.
30:55The poisonous tentacles inject toxins into their prey,
30:59leaving them defenseless.
31:03The tentacles catch the eggs and take them to their mouths,
31:07in the middle of their bellies.
31:15The eggs that survive the attack grow
31:19until they become miniature versions of their parents.
31:24They hatch in the great blue,
31:28where they hunt some of the largest creatures in Alaska.
31:49Just in time,
31:53humpback whales and orcas arrive at this summer buffet.
32:08Orcas eat everything.
32:16Today, they crave a humpback whale.
32:23And they go for the offspring.
32:38Orcas are experts in ambushes.
32:41First, they surround the group of humpbacks.
32:57Then, they separate the mother from the offspring.
33:12And finally, they catch the calf and drown it.
33:15The predators are hungry.
33:19So they go for the offspring.
33:45Orcas are the easiest prey.
33:49The tongue and the tender lips of the humpback whale.
34:08The ingenious orcas dismantle the corpse,
34:15and keep it in the background for later.
34:34The extreme conditions of Alaska inspire the hunters to innovate.
34:41The competition is tough.
34:44But cooperation usually yields wonderful rewards.
34:49Humpback whales also do it.
34:55In fact, they are famous for collaborating with each other.
34:59They use sophisticated communication skills to hunt in groups.
35:07Each member of the hunting group has a specific function
35:10within the group hunting ritual,
35:14called the food bubble network.
35:19Today's lunch is harenkes.
35:29A whale is located under the fish.
35:33It is the explorer and the one that blows bubbles.
35:37When it finds the fish, it blows a curtain of air,
35:41which goes up in a spiral and surrounds the bench.
35:50The frightened fish group up.
35:55Then, the leader indicates to the others
35:59who are on the surface, in unison,
36:02with their mouths open, to catch their prey.
36:07Working as a team,
36:10each whale can consume thousands of fish in one sitting.
36:16A very clever strategy,
36:19to make the most of this little gift.
36:26The sea ice that once enveloped the coast is melting.
36:37The sea ice is melting.
36:50Humpback whales rest in their floating apartments.
37:01But their platforms are getting smaller and smaller,
37:04which makes them get in a bad mood.
37:14They leave their half-melted pieces of ice
37:18to look for food and dry land.
37:28Now, one of Alaska's largest marine mammals
37:31competes against time.
37:40If it has nothing solid to rest on,
37:44the morsa can drown in Alaska's icy waters.
37:53Like the males, the females and the young
37:57also deal with their melted shelters.
38:02In Alaska, even the largest young
38:06are born without experience and defenseless.
38:14This young, with less than a day to live,
38:18needs a swimming class urgently.
38:22It's a serious matter.
38:26The mother and her young begin to look for land,
38:30and the little one has to keep up the pace.
38:51After swimming for miles, they finally reach a rest stop.
39:22But there's a problem.
39:26It's a beach full of very irritable males.
39:36The mothers are too tired to touch the ground
39:40and sleep in the water with their children.
39:44After regaining their energy,
39:48the mothers and their young finally leave the sea.
39:56But the danger is still there.
40:00There are 20,000 morsas stretching on the slopes.
40:03They are too many,
40:07and they end up fighting each other.
40:34There are creatures that weigh up to two tons,
40:38climbing a sea full of flesh and fangs.
40:52These are dangerous moments for the morsa young.
40:56Some try to climb on their mothers' backs
41:00to escape the fighting.
41:14The furious mothers fight the threats for their babies.
41:26But the coast trembles,
41:30and the bodies shrink, reducing the space around them.
41:40This young is no match for the two-ton males
41:44that increase the pressure.
41:55Not even the water is safe.
42:26The mothers and their young
42:30have no choice but to fight back.
42:34The mothers and their young
42:38have no choice but to fight back.
42:56The summer in the Arctic is short,
43:00and the ice begins to form again,
43:04which frees them from the dangers of the beach.
43:11The mothers can escape with their vulnerable young.
43:26They return to the sea.
43:45The young will stay with their mothers for another two years,
43:49learning life lessons
43:52that will help them survive in this harsh land.