VIDEO

VIDEO

Catching a 200-Year-Old Whale

Catching a 200-Year-Old Whale

Photographer Paul Nicklen shares his experience photographing a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) and explains what makes this whale so special.

Grades

3 - 12+

Subjects

Arts and Music, Earth Science, Oceanography, Geography, Photography

Program
NG Live

This video was filmed on November 15, 2012, as part of the National Geographic Live! Lecture series at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., United States.


Introduction

Photographer Paul Nicklen uses his camera to reveal the nature of a world melting away under human-induced global warming. "I call myself an interpreter and a translator," Nicklen says. "I translate what the scientists are telling me. If we lose ice, we stand to lose an entire ecosystem. I hope we can realize through my photography how interconnected these species are to ice. It just takes one image to get someone's attention."

Whether he is ice-diving among leopard seals in Antarctica, covering hundreds of miles of terrain in minus 40°C (minus 40°F) temperatures, or mastering aerial shots from his ultralight plane, Paul Nicklen has specialized in photographing polar regions since 1995.


Outline

  • Photographing narwhals (Monodon monoceros) (start-0:27 min.)

  • The opportunity of a photographer's lifetime: a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) appears (0:28-1:16 min.)

  • A bowhead whale's lifetime (1:17-1:43 min.)

  • Current threats: the loss of sea ice (1:44-2:19 min.)

 


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Page Producers
Nina Page, National Geographic Society
Samantha Zuhlke, National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

October 19, 2023

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