Secrets of the Whales is a National Geographic documentary about whales which was filmed across different parts of the world. The narration in the documentary is compelling and insightful, yet has a motive and message to convey. It is a must see in my opinion. The documentary tells a compelling stories about different whale kinds: Orcas, Humpback, Belugas, Narwhals and Sperm whale. But in some ways the motive of this documentary is a lead up to the upcoming movie Avatar: The Way of Water (Dec 2022). “Whales have culture” is consistent message that has been repeated multiple times in all the four episodes in this series. This documentary has been narrated by Sigourney Weaver and produced by James Cameron, Brian Skerry and few others.
James Cameron has been shooting Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 in New Zealand. It would be interesting to see what parts of this documentary is coming in “Avatar 2 – The way of water” and Avatar 3.
Whales have culture Each family speaks a unique language They love deeply Play with joy and mourn their death Whales are just like us These social bonds are the secret to their success
Introduction about whales from Episode S1 E1 – Orca dynasty
“Whales have culture”, “They have rich culture” are few of the most stressed and highlighted phrase in the 1st episode “Orca Dynasty”.
“Tradition”, “Communication”, “Culture” are few of the most stressed and highlighted words in the 2nd episode “Humpback Songs”.
“Culture”, “Tradition”, “Learned behavior”, “Social animals”, “Cross cultural acceptance” are few of the most stressed and highlighted words in the 3rd episode “Beluga Kingdom”.
“Culture”, “Tradition” are few of the most stressed and highlighted words in the trd episode “Ocean Giants”.
List of Episodes
There are four episodes in the Secrets of the Whales series. Brian Skerry and team of folks has spent last 3 years documenting these documentaries. It has been filmed across 24 locations across the world.
Orca Dynasty
Humpback Songs
Beluga Kingdom
Ocean Giants
Orca Dynasty – First episode showcases different Orca pods and their unique techniques to hunt for food. It also captures how a mom mourns a dead calf and how grandmother teaches a young Orca their family tricks to take forward the family culture and tradition. Read more
Humpback Songs – Second episode showcases different humpbacks verbal and non-verbal communications, how some whales create new songs each year & how that song travels to whales that are 5000 miles apart, their eating pattern & hunting techniques and their global reunion at Antarctica for a surprise treat. Read more
Beluga Kingdom – Third episode showcases different Beluga pods’ dangerous journey for a reunion, their joyful nature and their birth & nursing grounds. It also shows how Narwhals are very similar to Belugas and how Belugas perform benevolent act and cross-cultural acceptance by accepting a lost Narwhal to live among their pod. Read more
Ocean Giants – Fourth and final episode showcases different clans of Sperm whales and how each clan speaks different language, how they hunt for squids at 3000 ft deep, dangers that Sperm whales faces because of human debris and fishing gears entanglements. It also shows how one clan is full of females and another clan is full of males and how a males visits the female clan to breed. Read more
Digression – Maternal first society
It also documents that Whales are maternal first society like how humans used to be until male dominance and oppression against women began. India by far is one of the worst when it comes to male dominance and oppression and is in a way imbibed in the Hindu religion, as documented in the Hindu law book – Manu Smriti, which portrays women as the most unworthy being to live and exist. Education is the only ray of light and hope for both women and men to uproot this social and political evil. Not that other religions are pure. Male domination is present in Christianity and Muslim religions too but everyone will agree Hinduism is by far the worst if they get to read the Manu Smriti book. Every religion needs to improve on this aspect.
