How the global pandemic allowed us to film one of Our Oceans toughest stories
Clash of the Titans
a 20 year ENDEAVOR!
For every wildlife filming team, there is an elusive story known as their ‘wildlife holy grail’. This is the story they have dreamed of filming for their entire careers but is so ambitious no one has ever managed to film it, for many it’s the story that is considered impossible. But Our Oceans did not see ‘impossible’ as a barrier! And when we sent series DoP Roger Munns and his long-term Assistant Cameraman and dive expert Jason Isley on a mission to finally film theirs after twenty years trying, their ultimate success depended on the whole world changing!
Heard but not seen
There is a fabled event off Sipadan Island in Borneo known as the bumphead parrotfish rut. Every month, a bone crushing sound rings out at dawn as rival bumpheads, one of the biggest of all reef fish, battle to secure mating rights within their herd. These 160 lb titans collide like battering rams, but in the dark depths it has only previously been glimpsed in the distance, although the explosive noise can be heard right across the reefs. One of the reasons actually filming this event has been deemed impossible by so many is that even though Sipadan has been dived and documented for over 40 years, no one had managed to catch more than a fleeting moment of this behavior.
However, when the Covid pandemic drew so much of the world to a close, Roger and Jason who live in Malaysia, were given the opportunity to film in the one place they could still get to - Sipadan, which is right on their doorstep. With the reefs suddenly completely empty of anyone but the Our Oceans team, the extraordinary happened. Two massive male bumpheads slugged it out for an hour, right in front of our cameras! Giving us a ringside seat into our ocean’s greatest boxing match.
Explosive new science
When the team finally captured the behavior they discovered these collisions are even more spectacular than anyone had thought. Scientists have since studied our slow motion footage and discovered that the Bumpheads accelerate to 5G before they collide, hitting each other with such force as to evaporate water on impact creating bursts of light!
Photos by Jason Isley ©Netflix 'Our Oceans'
new science
Working closely with our Scientific Consultant Prof Steve Simpson, every time our team has caught a potentially new, wonderful, or even strange behavior on camera, Steve has been on the phone immediately to help us decode the behavior and find out if it’s been seen by scientists beforehand. This relationship continued through the edit project as we noticed more on the bigger screen, such as the quick flash of light when the Bumphead parrotfish headbutt each other. This spark of energy was completely new to science, and we’re now working closely with Steve and his students, giving them access to the footage so they can publish notes and papers.