Spy in the Ocean

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Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Go deep beneath the waves – on a spy mission to the depths of the ocean. 

Go deep beneath the waves – on a spy mission to the depths of the ocean. Amazing hidden cameras give incredible perspectives on the ingenious creatures that call it home.

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Spy in the Ocean: Series 1: Deep Thinkers

Deep Thinkers

BBC One - Spy in the Ocean, Series 1, Deep Thinkers

New spy creatures reveal an ocean full of intelligence with startling ways of thinking.

Spy creatures reveal an ocean full of startling ways of thinking, including the largest brain, smart octopi, diving monkeys, creative masterminds and other intriguing intelligence.

A new generation of spy creatures search the ocean for intelligent life and find ways of thinking that have to be seen to be believed. The most complex spy creature ever built films the owner of the largest brains on the planet – sperm whales. Spy Whale is the same size as a new-born whale calf and is equipped with an array of cameras. It even has a hydrophone to capture their calls. In a magical close encounter, Spy Whale is greeted by an inquisitive female who, in astonishing scenes, attempts to communicate. In a touching sign of acceptance, she even introduces her calf to Spy Whale.

Getting to know the greatest mind in the invertebrate world requires a very different spy, one that’s a dead ringer for the coconut octopus it’s designed to meet. The octopus not only has a central brain; it also has a brain in each of its arms. Using its combined brainpower, it works out how best to steal a coconut shell carried by our spy. Its plan is to use the shell as a door to its hideaway to protect itself from predatory sharks. In another act of ingenuity, it improvises a shield and throws missiles at a rival octopus. It also shows a softer and more emotional side when it gives Spy Coconut Octopus a friendly and lingering embrace.

In Thailand, Spy Macaque joins ocean-diving macaques as they forage underwater for seafood. Our spy captures a filming-first as the macaques catch fish with their bare hands. To break open oysters, they also use stone tools including our very own spy rock.

In Japan, Spy Puffer becomes an artist’s assistant to a male Japanese puffer fish as he crafts exquisite sand sculptures in a quest to woo a mate. When he runs out of shells to use as decoration, Spy Puffer comes to the rescue, finding shells for the male to complete his masterpiece, enough to impress the most demanding art critic of all – his mate.

Intelligence gathers pace when Spy Sea Lion meets the world’s fastest fish and the sea lions that hunt them. Marlin use teamwork to drive mackerel shoals to the surface only for them to be stolen by quick-thinking sea lions. When Spy Sea Lion takes us on a rollercoaster ride inside the shoal, its camera eyes show how the shoal’s swarm intelligence is pitched against that of the clever sea lions. It also discovers some extraordinary new behaviour as the sea lion gift some of their catch to the marlin.

On a Caribbean beach, another spy meets the crab world’s most entertaining characters – hermit crabs. They may be comical in nature, but they also have highly developed organisational skills. When they’ve outgrown their shells, they line up in order of size to exchange them for a better fit. All is going well until Spy Hermit Crab loses its shell to a crab looking to upsize its accommodation. The crab becomes the unwitting camera operator as it captures a crab’s-eye view of the organised chaos.

On another Caribbean island, a colony of wild pigs embrace beach life by taking a daily dip in the sea. Spy Pig joins their daily ritual as they forage for food brought in by visiting boats. As their ingenuity draws the crowds, Spy Pig gets caught up in the resulting feeding frenzy. Back on the reefs, Spy Coconut Octopus donates its shell to a family of enterprising clownfish. In an astonishing show of teamwork, the fish work together to move the shell back to their anemone home, creating a safe place to lay their eggs among the poisonous tentacles.

In this action-packed first episode, our spies discover sea creatures with many mind-boggling ways of thinking, but none match those with the biggest brains of all – sperm whales. In more astonishing scenes, Spy Sperm Whale witnesses a rare and beautiful gathering as whale families from far and wide huddle together and exchange information – an extraordinary display of social intelligence, uncannily similar to our own.

Spy in the Ocean: Series 1

BBC One

Go deep beneath the waves – on a spy mission to the depths of the ocean.

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