Fur seals. We all know these circus animals which can juggle, jump, danse or applaude to the great joy of the audience. With large, tender eyes and a soft fur, they have been trained to entertain and amuse. This was our common vision, up to now now… Far from amusement parks, in the big frozen ocean surrounding Antarctica, the fur seal presents a very different face from that of the playful creature. This groundbreaking one-hour special unveils the dark side of this mysterious predator. Half way between a tale and an investigation, this film follows the destiny of a young male fur seal who has taken refuge on a remote volcanic island of the Southern Seas. An animal that kills more than it apparently needs to survive. No palm trees, no trainer or turquoise pools are to be seen here. Instead, he lives in a hostile world where the rules of survival are mastered through a strict learning process. All through the seal’s coming of age, the self-taught animal moves through different stages that will in turn enable him to produce offspring: after a birth on land, the seal leaves for the high seas, endures storms, and above all, learns. He learns to hunt, to fight, to become an opportunistic predator but also to share the dusky dolphins’ experience or to escape the killer whale’s jaws. Context: This film has involved very dedicated film crews in extreme situations: it was shot over a 6 year period in the remote Prince Edward Islands, in the utterly difficult open ocean of the so-called Roaring Forties and offshore Patagonia. It delivers both a comprehensive biography of a popular animal and a very modern approach to natural history. This film associates an unusual soundtrack with Rap songs to more classical blue chip behavior, most of which has never been seen before.
Languages: English
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Leopard Seals- Lords of the Ice
Who are these ferocious predators of the Antarctic continent that kill each year thousands of penguins and leave some injured birds behind to the scavengers of the ice? To find out, come and follow Göran Ehlmé, an experienced underwater cinematographer and expert of the cold seas, in his quest to uncover the fascinating behavior of the secretive… Leopard Seals. Amidst the pristine but freezing waters surrounding the white continent, the audience will be given a unique insight into the mysterious daily lives of Leopard Seals and discover some never-before-filmed behaviors of these highly intelligent predators. ” Killer seals” will reveal how Leopard Seals hunt penguins underwater or on land, charging unwary trespassers on the ice, be they penguin or human! Thanks to Göran Ehlmé’s close and emotional relationship with Leopard Seals, the public will be astonished to discover that each animal has – like human beings – its own distinctive character and moods. Göran is one of the rare divers in the world who dares to defy the deadly jaws of this predator in order to gain its trust and solve the mystery of its natural but puzzling aggressive temper.
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Fram
The world’s most adventurous cruise ship fights through the ice-choked fjords of Greenland to visit a spectacular collection of wildlife and icebergs.
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Conflicts Around a Pond
This is the unusual story of a little-known insect : the water beetle. Having spent the winter beneath the ice, the water beetle which can walk, swim, and fly, stirs with the first signs of spring. Its habitat : a small pond. Its neighbors : dragonflies, frogs and newts. Its daily life : survival. Between two skirmishes, it gives birth to some twenty larvae of varying kinds…only the most voracious will make it to adulthood before the pond dries out.
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Conflicts in a River
At the foot of Uganda’s roaring Murchison falls live two eternal enemies: the monitor and the Nile crocodile. Despite the crocodile’s reign of terror within the river, the stealthy monitor is master of the banks where it steals and devours their vulnerable eggs. The first days of the young Nile crocodile are a series of nightmares : if it survives the monitor’s attacks, it must avoid the swooping attacks of perch and eagles. Once adult, it becomes the undisputed master of the river and seeks to devour its erstwhile enemies one by one.
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Conflicts in the Jungle
In the Amazon jungle of French Guyana, a young jaguar is preparing to become master of the forest. His reign over the territory, however, is contested by creatures fiercer than he. These six-legged beasts are none other than the fearsome warrior ants. Over several days we will follow the nomadic pursuits of this ant colony who will eventually cross paths with the young jaguar in his life-learning adventures. These ants uproot their home every single day, travelling by night in groups one-million strong. With an instinct for solidarity, they work as a cohesive group. Despite their unity, we will witness the subtle struggle for power between the Queen and a pretender. Little by little, we begin to understand these peculiar ants who, like the jaguar, do not go unnoticed by the other inhabitants of the forest.
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Conflicts Around a Tree
The plains of the Masaï Mara in Kenya, a dominant male, twenty submissive females, two warring brothers, a tree of forbidden fruit, a snake : this is the olive baboon version of Genesis. Effortlessly combining scientific rigor, objectivity and humor, this documentary spends eight months around a “dormitory-tree” in the intimacy of a troop of baboons caught up in hierarchical conflicts. They have to put up with anything : floods, rivalries, alliances, parasites, and even cheetah attacks. Only a unified troop could possibly overcome these ordeals…
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Tonsberg
The worlds largest roll-on/roll-off vessel races against the clock to load and transport luxury cars, SUVs and construction equipment across the Atlantic Ocean.
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USNS Comfort
This U.S. Navy hospital ship travels from Colombia through the Panama Canal on a mission of mercy to the tiny Caribbean island of Dominica.
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Northern Leader
Alaska’s biggest longline fishing ships battles high waves and hurricane-force winds to bring home a massive catch of cod.