BBC Earth / YouTube
Episode 2 of Blue Planet II aired yesterday on BBC One. Blue Planet II is actually the prequel to the original Blue Planet despite the name having a ‘II’ in there. The footage in this series is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
BBC Earth released this behind-the-scenes footage from episode 2 on their YouTube channel, and it’s awesome. We see a scientist at the bottom of the ocean’s floor investigating a half-eaten whale carcass. The carcass still has enough meat on it to attract all of the sharks in the area so there’s a bit of a feeding frenzy sharks competing for the meat. The sharks also take the submarine to be competition for the whale carcass and begin bumping the sub, or ‘attacking’ as they call it in the video’s description:
This video was filmed at over 700 meters deep. That’s 2,296 feet deep or around 765 yards below the sea’s surface. I haven’t had the chance to watch this episode of Blue Planet II yet but I’m pretty f’n curious to find out how you even discover the location of a whale’s carcass at that depth. Presumably, they used sonar to pinpoint the exact location but with the unfathomable vastness of the ocean, I don’t see how you even know where to begin looking for a whale’s carcass. Regardless, this was awesome footage.