Episode Information

As it flows north from Patagonia to the equator, the Humboldt Current is a liquid force which enables life in the sea and on land. A female blue whale is the avatar we follow as she exploits the current from its genesis in the chilly seas off Antarctica to her breeding ground in the tropics. Along the way, the current provides a banquet for large and minute marine creatures, while it impacts weather miles from the coast. Episode One begins with the birth of the Current in southernmost Chile, Episode Two follows the long stretch of coast to Peru, and Episode Three explores the current as it veers towards the open Pacific to impact the Galapagos Islands. It not only feeds the largest creatures ever to live on Earth - blue whales - it fuels the lynch-pins of the ocean’s food web, krill. Upwelling from the deep powers an explosion of krill that supplies behemoths beyond the blues: Sei whales, pilot whales and orcas vie for resources while humpbacks sing. It’s the only place to see Southern marine otters. Southern sea lions and fur seals interface with the smaller, acrobatic otters. There are so many seabirds that the rarest of the rare mingle with common species, and penguin colonies thrive at a latitude far from the icy temperatures of Antarctica. Offshore, it brings life-saving moisture to the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert. From the chill of its deepest depths to the wind on its highest cliffs, the current reveals a study in survival. This series follows the mysterious ocean highway from its birth in the ice to its arrival in the tropics, and probes the little-known enigmatic ocean forces that power its influence along the entire journey. From pumas prowling through the striking mountains of Patagonia, to kingfishers in the temperate rainforest … from vampire bats in coastal caves to bizarre avian courtships, every creature in this part of the world owes its existence to the mysterious and powerful Humboldt Current.