The Great Tide

Season 1Episode 460 minmars 4, 2009
The Great Tide

A mighty army of dolphins, sharks, whales, seals and gannets hunt down the billions of sardines along South Africa's east coast each winter. This is the sardine run: an underwater Armageddon, the greatest gathering of predators anywhere on the planet, and the most spectacular event in the world's oceans.

However, in recent years the sardine run has become less predictable, perhaps due to the warming effects of climate change. If the sardine run does not happen, the lives of the animals caught up in the drama hang in the balance.

Pioneering a unique boat stabilised camera mount for surface filming, the Nature's Great Events crew capture all the high octane action as the predators compete for sardines, filmed with aerial, underwater and above water cameras. Super slow motion cameras also capture the very moment gannets plunge into the water, hitting it at 60 miles an hour.

A violent winter storm is the trigger for the sardines to begin their desperate dash. They are followed by a super-pod of 5,000 dolphins and further up the coast more predators gather. A shoal of sardines 15 miles long is pushed into the shallows and aerial shots show thousands of sharks gathering to feed on them.

The climax to the sardine run is a spectacular feeding frenzy as the dolphins round the sardines up into balls on which all the predators feast. Gannets rain down in their thousands, sharks pile in scattering the fish and a Bryde's whale lunges in taking great mouthfuls of sardines.

The Great Tide has aired on mars 4, 2009 at 21:00
Previous EpisodeNext Episode

Trailer

We do not have any trailers for this episode

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
Amandaland
Running

Amandaland

Following three series of the Merman-produced, BAFTA award-winning series Motherland, a brand-new spin-off, Amandaland, is coming to the BBC, focused on Amanda.

Post her divorce, Amanda has had to downsize and up sticks to South Harlesden, or as the Estate Agent calls it SoHa (definitely not the area around Wormwood Scrubs prison).

With both Manus and Georgie now at secondary school, Amanda has to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda can deal with these nightmares alone.

Then there's Amanda's mother Felicity who is constantly around, and completely in denial that she is, in fact, lonely. Theirs is a slightly unhealthy co-dependent relationship based on backhanded compliments and veiled snipes about her new home.

After a brief spell of freedom, Anne is sucked back into being Amanda's minion to help her navigate the social scene with the other parents at the children's new school. Thank God for Anne.

GenreComedy
The Pitt
Running

The Pitt

The Pitt is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today's America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Each episode follows an hour of Dr. Robby's 15-hour shift as the chief attendant in Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital's emergency room.

Mrs. Brown's Boys
Running

Mrs. Brown's Boys

Comedy starring Brendan O'Carroll as loud-mouthed Irish matriarch Agnes Brown, whose favourite pastime is meddling in the lives of her six children.

GenreComedy
Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches
Running

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches centers on an intuitive young neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.

The Ark
Running

The Ark

The Ark takes place 100 years in the future when planetary colonization missions have begun as a necessity to help secure the survival of the human race. The first of these missions on a spacecraft known as Ark One encounters a catastrophic event causing massive destruction and loss of life. With more than a year left to go before reaching their target planet, a lack of life-sustaining supplies and loss of leadership, the remaining crew must become the best versions of themselves to stay on course and survive.