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{\an8}The wild Atlantic coast,
where land and sea collide.

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In this cauldron of noise,

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animals have found astonishing ways
to cut through the chaos.

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Especially when it comes
to finding a mate.

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Rockhopper penguins.

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Each spring,

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around 1,000 gather on this remote island
in the southern Atlantic to breed.

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And finding their long-term partners
in this bustling colony

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all comes down to sound.

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This busy male hasn't seen his mate
for over half a year.

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Hoping she'll arrive soon...

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he diligently prepares their nest.

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It might not look like much,
but to him, it's perfect.

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When he's done, he lets out
what's known as an ecstatic call...

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telling others this is his patch.

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Far below, more penguins are arriving...

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and his partner is among them.

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But to get to the colony,

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these flightless birds must somehow
scale cliffs that are 100 feet high.

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Timing is everything.

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Go too soon
and they're hurled against the rocks.

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Too late, and they risk being swept back
into the water.

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Even when timed perfectly,
they land on slippery slopes.

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Gripping tight, they claw away
from the crashing waves.

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Then, they hop.

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Finally at the top,
they set about trying to find their mates.

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On his nest,
the male calls eagerly for his companion.

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But somehow

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she must hear him over the boisterous
cries of almost a thousand noisy birds.

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To our ears,
all these calls sound the same,

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but she can detect tiny differences
in each penguin's song.

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We can hear what she's tuning into

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by slowing his call to a quarter
of its normal speed.

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She homes in on the tone of his voice

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and, importantly, his unique rhythm.

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A beat only he uses.

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This is what allows her
to pick him out of the crowd.

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Guided by his call,
at last they're reunited.

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For rockhoppers,

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the secret to their long
and successful relationship

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is all in the rhythm of their song.

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From the wild southern seas,

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the Atlantic coast stretches north
for over 60,000 miles.

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It's a world dominated by the crash...

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of white water.

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As waves hit the shore,
their familiar sounds rip through the air.

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But the ocean's roar
is actually created underwater.

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Rolling waves trap air,
forming a sea of bubbles.

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Each one vibrates,
ringing like a tiny bell.

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Billions of bubbles chiming together

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create the signature sound
of the Atlantic.

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Yet, even in the world's wildest ocean...

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there are pockets of calm,

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where hunters use stealth
to catch their quarry.

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Orca.

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In winter, more than a thousand gather
in the deep fjords of Norway.

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They're here to hunt,
and they do that entirely through sound.

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Close-range microphones

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record their contact whistles and calls
in extraordinary detail.

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Family groups, or pods,

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use these alien sounds to stay together
as they move through the deep fjords.

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But to find prey,
the pod uses a sonic superpower.

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They produce a series
of high-pitched clicks.

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Known as echolocation,

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orca listen as the clicks rebound
from objects around them...

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building up an acoustic map.

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Using this sixth sense,
they search for their favorite food:

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herring.

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The pod can locate a shoal
from 500 feet away.

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They switch to hunting mode.

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The orca fan out.

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But they face a challenge.

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Herring can detect the clicking orca
and will retreat when under attack.

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So, these intelligent hunters switch
to a quieter form of echolocation...

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clicking at half the volume.

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From above,

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the herring look like a dark,
shifting cloud...

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tantalizingly out of reach.

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To catch them,
the orca use an ingenious trick.

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They lash their tails at speeds
of 30 miles per hour...

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sending out a wave
of sound and turbulence.

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The herring closest are stunned.

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Using this acoustic attack...

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the pod can eat over half a ton of fish
every hour.

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And it's all down
to their mastery of sound.

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Away from the northern fjords,

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the soundscape of the Atlantic
is constantly changing...

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driven by the ebb and flow of the tide.

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And as the waves retreat,

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hidden acoustic worlds come to life.

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Rock pools.

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They may seem silent,

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but every animal
has its own minuscule signature sound.

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Limpets scrape as they feed.

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Whilst hermit crabs unfurl.

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And territorial corkwing wrasse
pop at any intruder that comes close.

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We can even hear the footsteps
of predatory spiny starfish

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as they creep by
on thousands of tube feet.

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This scallop senses the danger...

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and makes its escape.

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The cuttlefish
is the rock pool's silent assassin

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and strikes with pinpoint accuracy.

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But perhaps the most surprising sound

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is the satisfying burp
of a strawberry anemone...

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as it digests its prey.

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This secret world is soon drowned out
by the rising tide.

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And as the rumble of waves return,

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the animals of the Atlantic coast
turn up the volume.

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Elephant seals.

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Over 2,000 come to the beaches
of the Falklands each spring to breed.

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To us, they may sound unsavory...

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but new science shows

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that these brutes use sound
in a surprisingly sophisticated way.

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The beach is ruled by one colossal male,

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and he fiercely defends
more than 40 females.

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If his immense four-ton bulk isn't enough
to keep rival males away,

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then this should scare them off.

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Reaching 120 decibels,
it's as loud as a thunderclap.

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Usually enough
to keep the competition away.

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But not always.

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A young interloper.

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To land a space on the beach,

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he'll have to challenge
this huge resident male.

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And he starts not with a bellow,
but a ground-shaking approach.

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As he moves onto the beach,
his massive body creates vibrations

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and underground microphones capture this
for the very first time.

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It's known as seismic sound.

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His rival can detect these reverberations
through receptors in his skin

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from over 60 feet away.

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Alerted to the challenger,

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the resident responds
with a deafening roar...

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setting off the Atlantic coast's
ultimate shouting match.

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The larger the male,
the lower and louder the voice.

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And when neither backs down,
there's only one option.

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It's time to fight.

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These heavyweight battles
can last up to 30 minutes.

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And they're a test
of sheer strength and stamina.

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Today the young interloper
is outmuscled and outbellowed...

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in the Atlantic's ultimate shouting match.

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All along the Atlantic coast,

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animals fight to be heard
in this turbulent world.

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But there is one that has learned to use
the noise of the ocean itself

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in a truly astonishing way.

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The albatross.

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The Atlantic's greatest travelers.

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They can fly around the world
in less than 50 days...

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and cover over 70,000 miles a year.

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How albatross navigate across
the endless blue has long been a mystery.

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But it is now thought they use the sound
of the sea to help guide them.

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This female is searching
for a rocky outcrop

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where she returns each year to breed.

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Finding the right one is a challenge,

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but the acoustics of the coast
offer a clue.

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As waves crash against the shore,

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they create low-frequency sounds unique
to that stretch of coastline...

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meaning each island
sounds slightly different.

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Amazingly, scientists now believe

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that albatross are tuning in
to these subtle differences

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and using them like a road map
to find their way home.

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After nearly a year at sea,

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she touches down for the first time.

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And now she must find her mate.

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Unlike the rockhoppers,
who use calls to locate each other,

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she knows exactly where her partner is.

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They meet on the same nest every year.

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Finally reunited...

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they perform an intricate love song.

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Clacking beaks and softly calling.

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Albatross form lifelong pairs.

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This couple could stay together
for more than 40 years.

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The ocean's long-distance travelers,

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brought together by the sound
of the wild Atlantic coast.

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To capture the booming vocals
of elephant seals,

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sound recordist Ellie Williams traveled
over 7,000 miles to the Falklands.

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I don't think
I've ever been anywhere quite this remote.

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We're on this tiny island
called Sea Lion Island

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in the middle of the Atlantic.

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I can't get over how big that male is.

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He is like Jabba the Hutt.

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Joining Ellie
is cinematographer Sue Gibson.

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When Sue starts filming,

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Ellie's first challenge
is to record the elephant seal calls.

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But with the constant roar of white water,
that means moving in close.

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With her boom microphone
attracting too much attention,

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Ellie gets creative

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using a stick to push a small microphone
into the middle of the colony.

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But things don't quite go to plan.

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There it is.

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He snapped the stick.

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He's on it.

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It's literally under his body
and it's stopped working.

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No, it's stopped working.

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But she perseveres.

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And finally manages to record
the earsplitting calls of the males.

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It's a promising start.

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But scientists believe there is a secret
side to elephant seal communication,

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and recording that
is Ellie's next challenge.

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There's a theory that
they produce such low, deep frequencies

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that their sounds travel
through the surface of the Earth,

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which is quite extraordinary.

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This part of their call is
so low it is inaudible to the human ear.

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So Ellie tries using a microphone
originally designed to record earthquakes.

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So I've got something
a bit different with me.

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This is called a geophone,

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and it's got this probe,

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and I have to dig it not too deep
but just under the top of the sand.

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And hopefully, I'll be able to hear
vibrations coming from the elephant seals.

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But I'm also potentially gonna record a
sound that has never been recorded before.

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So it's something very new
both for me and science.

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With the geophone in position,

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Ellie can hopefully listen in to the world
of underground sound.

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That is the deepest sound
I think I've ever heard in my life.

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Like, it was really amazing just to--

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The sound waves passing aboveground
were kind of impressive enough,

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but hearing the ground move
at the same time, that was extraordinary.

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By using cutting-edge technology,

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Ellie has captured the seismic calls
of elephant seals for the very first time.

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I've managed to prove and get recordings

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of this whole seismic world

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that there were only theories about
before we came here.

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How elephant seals
use seismic communication

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is still relatively unknown,

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but Ellie's recordings
will help scientists better understand

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the earthshaking sounds
that have been hiding beneath our feet.