Under the Sea 3D Page #3

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As temperatures rise, many species

can move south toward cooler waters.

The dwarf minke whale spends its winter

in the Great Barrier Reef.

Then in the spring, it heads south

to the cold waters of the Southern Ocean.

Cape Catastrophe, South Australia.

In these cold waters

lurks an ancient leviathan...

one of the ocean's

most magnificent hunters...

the great white shark.

Great whites often reach

A shark that large

may weigh more than a ton...

and can easily make a single meal

out of a 200-pound sea lion.

Sea lions must remain constantly alert.

The world's largest stingrays

also hunt here...

searching for crustaceans and mollusks

hiding beneath the sand.

The rays often travel

with their own entourage...

a squadron of opportunistic fish...

ready to pounce on small animals

frightened from their hiding places.

Most of the time, the great white shark

will ignore a stingray.

But not always.

Great whites have often been found

with foot-long stingray barbs...

embedded in their jaws.

Australian sea lions are among

the rarest of marine mammals.

Once hunted relentlessly,

now only 10,000 or so remain.

They seem to be the most carefree

of creatures.

But as global temperature rise...

the animals living in South Australia

have nowhere further south to move.

Each year in these shallow gardens,

giant cuttlefish gather for spawning.

They are the largest cuttlefish

in the world.

Males sometimes reach

more than 3 feet in length.

Giant males confront each other,

competing for females...

hiding in the yellow sponge below.

These confrontations seldom result

in serious violence.

Instead, males puff themselves up

and look as menacing as possible...

then communicate

their willingness to fight...

with angry displays

of color and pattern.

As the big males compete...

smaller males, called sneakers,

disguise themselves as females.

Then, cloaked in feminine charm...

they slip past

the dueling giants unchallenged.

Females seem to find

the cross-dressing males quite attractive.

Sneakers are

surprisingly successful lovers.

Giant cuttlefish mate face to face...

in a tangled embrace

that may last many minutes.

The urge to find a mate is strong

but this cuttlefish is hungry.

The crab's sharp claws

cause the cuttlefish to hesitate.

No one likes to be pinched in the face.

But a crab dinner

certainly seems worth it.

A female has deposited her eggs

in a crevice beneath the reef.

This is her final act.

In the next few weeks...

all of the adult male

and female cuttlefish will die.

Giant cuttlefish live only 2 years.

But these have left their legacy.

In about 4 months,

these eggs will hatch...

and a new generation of giants

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