Min rejse til at blive en polar specialist, fotografere, specialisering i polar regionerne, begyndte da jeg var fire år gammel, da min familie flyttede fra det sydlige Canada til det nordlige Baffin Island, oppe ved Grønland. Der levede vi med inuiterne i et lille inuit samfund med 200 inuit folk, hvor [vi] var en af tre ikke-inuit familier. Og i dette samfund, havde vi ikke tv; vi havde ikke computere, selvsagt, radio. Vi havde ikke engang en telefon. Det meste af min tid blev brugt udenfor, med inuiterne, og legede. Sneen og isen var min sandkasse, og inuiterne var mine lærere. Og det er der jeg i sandhed blev besat af dette polarlandskab. Og jeg vidste at jeg en dag ville gøre noget der havde at gøre med at dele nyheden om det og beskytte det.
My journey to become a polar specialist, photographing, specializing in the polar regions, began when I was four years old, when my family moved from southern Canada to Northern Baffin Island, up by Greenland. There we lived with the Inuit in the tiny Inuit community of 200 Inuit people, where [we] were one of three non-Inuit families. And in this community, we didn't have a television; we didn't have computers, obviously, radio. We didn't even have a telephone. All of my time was spent outside with the Inuit, playing. The snow and the ice were my sandbox, and the Inuit were my teachers. And that's where I became truly obsessed with this polar realm. And I knew someday that I was going to do something that had to do with trying to share news about it and protect it.
Jeg vil gerne dele med jer, kun i to minutter, nogle billeder, et tværsnit af mit arbejde, til den smukke musik af Brandi Carlile, "Have You Ever." Jeg ved ikke hvorfor National Geographic har gjort dette, de har aldrig gjort det før, men de tillader mig at vise jer et par billeder fra en reportage som jeg lige har færdiggjort som endnu ikke er offentliggjort. National Geographic gør ikke dette, Så jeg er meget begejstret for at kunne dele dette med jer.
I'd like to share with you, for just two minutes only, some images, a cross-section of my work, to the beautiful music by Brandi Carlile, "Have You Ever." I don't know why National Geographic has done this, they've never done this before, but they're allowing me to show you a few images from a coverage that I've just completed that is not published yet. National Geographic doesn't do this, so I'm very excited to be able to share this with you.
Og det disse billeder er -- man ser dem i starten af diasshowet -- der er kun omkring fire billeder -- men det er om en lille bjørn der lever i Great Bear Rainforest. Den er ren hvid, men det er ikke en isbjørn. Det er en Kermode bjørn. Der er kun 200 af disse bjørne tilbage. De er mere sjældne end panda bjørne.
And what these images are -- you'll see them at the start of the slide show -- there's only about four images -- but it's of a little bear that lives in the Great Bear Rainforest. It's pure white, but it's not a polar bear. It's a spirit bear, or a Kermode bear. There are only 200 of these bears left. They're more rare than the panda bear.
Jeg sad der på floden i to måneder, uden at se nogen. Jeg tænkte, min karriere er ovre. Jeg foreslog denne dumme historie for National Geographic. Hvad søren tænkte jeg på? Så jeg havde to måneder til at sidde der og finde på forskellige ting jeg kunne gøre i mit næste liv, efter jeg var fotograf, fordi de ville fyre mig. Fordi National Geographic er et magasin; de minder os om det hele tiden: de udgiver billeder, ikke undskyldninger.
I sat there on the river for two months without seeing one. I thought, my career's over. I proposed this stupid story to National Geographic. What in the heck was I thinking? So I had two months to sit there and figure out different ways of what I was going to do in my next life, after I was a photographer, because they were going to fire me. Because National Geographic is a magazine; they remind us all the time: they publish pictures, not excuses.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Og efter to måneder med at sidde der -- en dag, da jeg tænkte det hele var ovre, kom denne utrolige, hvide han ned, lige ved siden af mig, en meter væk fra mig, og han gik ned og fangede en fisk og gik ud i skoven og spiste den. Og så brugte jeg hele dagen på at udleve min barndoms drøm med at gå rundt med denne bjørn gennem skoven. Han gik gennem denne gamle skov og satte sig ved siden af dette 400 år gamle kulturelt modificerede træ og faldt i søvn. Og jeg fik faktisk lov til at sove en meter fra ham, lige inde i skoven, og fotograferede ham.
And after two months of sitting there -- one day, thinking that it was all over, this incredible big white male came down, right beside me, three feet away from me, and he went down and grabbed a fish and went off in the forest and ate it. And then I spent the entire day living my childhood dream of walking around with this bear through the forest. He went through this old-growth forest and sat up beside this 400-year-old culturally modified tree and went to sleep. And I actually got to sleep within three feet of him, just in the forest, and photograph him.
Så jeg er meget begejstret over at kunne vise jer disse billeder og et tværsnit af det arbejde jeg har lavet i polar områderne. Nyd venligst.
So I'm very excited to be able to show you those images and a cross-section of my work that I've done on the polar regions. Please enjoy.
(Musik)
(Music)
Brandi Charlie: ♫ Har du nogensinde vandret ensomt gennem skoven?♫ ♫ Og alt der føles bare som det skal ♫ ♫ Man er en del af livet der ♫ ♫ Man er en del af noget godt ♫ ♫ Hvis man nogensinde har vandret ensomt gennem skoven ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ Hvis man nogensinde har vandret ensomt gennem skoven ♫ ♫ Har du nogensinde stirret op i en stjerneklar himmel ♫ ♫ Liggende på din rug, spørger du hvorfor ♫ ♫ Hvad er formålet? ♫ ♫ Jeg undres, hvem er jeg? ♫ ♫ Hvis du nogensinde har kigget op i den stjerneklare himmel ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ Aah, ah, aah ♫ ♫ Ah, oh, oh, ah, ah, oh, oh ♫ ♫ Har du nogensinde kigget op i en stjerneklar himmel? ♫ ♫ Har du nogensinde været ude og gå i sneen? ♫ ♫ Prøvede at tage tilbage til hvor du var før ♫ ♫ Du ender altid med ♫ ♫ Ikke at vide hvor du skal hen ♫ ♫ Hvis du nogensinde har været ude og gå i sneen ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ Aah, ah, aah, ah, aah ♫ ♫ Ah, ah, oh, ah, ah, oh, ah ♫ ♫ Oh, ah, ah, ah ♫ ♫ Ah, ah, oh, ah, ah, oh, oh ♫ ♫ Hvis du nogensinde havde været ude og gå, ville du vide det ♫
Brandi Carlile: ♫ Have you ever wandered lonely through the woods? ♫ ♫ And everything there feels just as it should ♫ ♫ You're part of the life there ♫ ♫ You're part of something good ♫ ♫ If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ If you've ever wandered lonely through the woods ♫ ♫ Have you ever stared into a starry sky? ♫ ♫ Lying on your back, you're asking why ♫ ♫ What's the purpose? ♫ ♫ I wonder, who am I? ♫ ♫ If you've ever stared into a starry sky ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ Aah, ah, aah ♫ ♫ Ah, oh, oh, ah, ah, oh, oh ♫ ♫ Have you ever stared into a starry sky? ♫ ♫ Have you ever been out walking in the snow? ♫ ♫ Tried to get back where you were before ♫ ♫ You always end up ♫ ♫ Not knowing where to go ♫ ♫ If you've ever been out walking in the snow ♫ ♫ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♫ ♫ Aah, ah, aah, ah, aah ♫ ♫ Ah, ah, oh, ah, ah, oh, ah ♫ ♫ Oh, ah, ah, ah ♫ ♫ Ah, ah, oh, ah, ah, oh, oh ♫ ♫ If you'd ever been out walking you would know ♫
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Paul Nicklen: Mange tak. Showet er ikke forbi. Mit ur tikker. Okay, lad os stoppe. Mange tak. Jeg værdsætter det.
Paul Nicklen: Thank you very much. The show's not over. My clock is ticking. OK, let's stop. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
Vi bliver oversvømmet med nyheder hele tiden om at havisen forsvinder og at den er på det laveste niveau. Og faktisk, sagde forskerne oprindeligt at havisen ville forsvinde i løbet af de næste hundrede år, så sagde de 50 år. Nu siger de at havisen i Arktis, sommertidens område vil være væk i løbet af de næste fire til 10 år. Og hvad betyder det? Efter at have læst dette i aviserne i nogen tid, bliver det bare nyheder. Man skimmer bare hen over det. Og det jeg prøver at gøre med mit arbejde, er at sætte et ansigt på dette. Og jeg vil have mennesker til at forstå det, og forstå konceptet at, hvis vi mister isen, står vi til at miste et helt økosystem. Prognosen er at vi kunne miste isbjørnene; de ville uddø indenfor de næste 50 til 100 år.
We're inundated with news all the time that the sea ice is disappearing and it's at its lowest level. And in fact, scientists were originally saying sea ice is going to disappear in the next hundred years, then they said 50 years. Now they're saying the sea ice in the Arctic, the summertime extent is going to be gone in the next four to 10 years. And what does that mean? After a while of reading this in the news, it just becomes news. You glaze over with it. And what I'm trying to do with my work is put faces to this. And I want people to understand and get the concept that, if we lose ice, we stand to lose an entire ecosystem. Projections are that we could lose polar bears, they could become extinct in the next 50 to 100 years.
Og der er ikke nogen bedre, mere sexet, smukkere, karismatisk megafauna art som jeg kan hænge min kampagne op på. Isbjørne er utrolige jægere. Dette var en bjørn, jeg sad med i et stykke tid ved bredden. Der var ingen is i nærheden. Men denne glacier væltede i vandet og en sæl kom op på den. Og denne bjørn svømmede ud til den sæl -- 360 kg remmesæl -- snuppede den, svømmede tilbage og spiste den. Og han var så mæt, han var så glad og så fed af at spise denne sæl, at, da jeg kom tættere på ham -- omkring 6 meter -- til at tage dette billede, var hans eneste forsvar, at blive ved med at spise mere sæl. Og imens han spiste den, han var så mæt -- han havde sikkert cirka 90 kilo kød i maven -- og i takt med, at han spiste i den ene side af munden, gylpede han ud af den anden side af munden.
And there's no better, sexier, more beautiful, charismatic megafauna species for me to hang my campaign on. Polar bears are amazing hunters. This was a bear I sat with for a while on the shores. There was no ice around. But this glacier caved into the water and a seal got on it. And this bear swam out to that seal -- 800 lb. bearded seal -- grabbed it, swam back and ate it. And he was so full, he was so happy and so fat eating this seal, that, as I approached him -- about 20 feet away -- to get this picture, his only defense was to keep eating more seal. And as he ate, he was so full -- he probably had about 200 lbs of meat in his belly -- and as he ate inside one side of his mouth, he was regurgitating out the other side of his mouth.
Så længe disse bjørne har det mindste stykke is, vil de overleve, med det er isen der forsvinder. Vi finder flere og flere døde bjørne i Arktis. Da jeg arbejde med isbjørne, som biolog for 20 år siden, fandt vi aldrig døde bjørne. Og i løbet af de sidste fire eller fem år, vi finder døde bjørne der dukker op over det hele. Vi ser dem i Beaufort Sea, flydende rundt i det åbne hav, hvor isen er smeltet væk. Jeg fandt et par stykker i Norge sidste år. Vi ser dem på isen. Disse bjørne viser allerede tegn på stress over den forsvindende is.
So as long as these bears have any bit of ice they will survive, but it's the ice that's disappearing. We're finding more and more dead bears in the Arctic. When I worked on polar bears as a biologist 20 years ago, we never found dead bears. And in the last four or five years, we're finding dead bears popping up all over the place. We're seeing them in the Beaufort Sea, floating in the open ocean where the ice has melted out. I found a couple in Norway last year. We're seeing them on the ice. These bears are already showing signs of the stress of disappearing ice.
Her er en mor og hendes to årige unge, der rejste på et skib hundredevis af kilometer fra kysten midt ude i ingenting, og de rider på dette store stykke gletsjer is, hvilket er fedt for dem; de er sikre nu. De dør ikke af underafkøling. De kommer til at nå land. Men uheldigvis, trækker 95 procent af gletsjerne i Arktis sig nu tilbage til det punkt, hvor isen ender oppe på land, og tilfører ikke noget is tilbage til økosystemet.
Here's a mother and her two year-old cub were traveling on a ship a hundred miles offshore in the middle of nowhere, and they're riding on this big piece of glacier ice, which is great for them; they're safe at this point. They're not going to die of hypothermia. They're going to get to land. But unfortunately, 95 percent of the glaciers in the Arctic are also receding right now to the point that the ice is ending up on land and not injecting any ice back into the ecosystem.
Disse ringsæler, dette er "fedbergene" i Arktis. Disse små, fede tyksakker, 70 kilo spæk bundter, er isbjørnenes hjørnesten. Og de er ikke ligesom de spættede sæler, som man har her. Disse ringsæler lever også hele deres livscyklus tilknyttet og forbundet med havisen. Deres fødsel er i isen, og de æder den arktiske torsk, der lever under isen. Og her er et billede af syg is. Dette er et stykke multi-års is, der er 12 år gammelt. Og det forskere ikke kan forudsige er at, når isen smelter, dannes disse store lommer med sort vand, og de tager solens energi og fremskynder smelteprocessen.
These ringed seals, these are the "fatsicles" of the Arctic. These little, fat dumplings, 150-pound bundles of blubber are the mainstay of the polar bear. And they're not like the harbor seals that you have here. These ringed seals also live out their entire life cycle associated and connected to sea ice. They give birth inside the ice, and they feed on the Arctic cod that live under the ice. And here's a picture of sick ice. This is a piece of multi-year ice that's 12 years old. And what scientists didn't predict is that, as this ice melts, these big pockets of black water are forming and they're grabbing the sun's energy and accelerating the melting process.
Og her dykker vi i Beaufort Havet. Sigtbarheden er 182 m.; vi sidder fastspændt i vores sikkerhedsliner; isen flytter sig rundt over det hele. Jeg ville ønske jeg kunne bruge en halv time på at fortælle jer om hvordan vi næsten døde ved dette dyk. Men det vigtige i dette billedede, er at man har et stykke multi-års is, det store stykke is oppe i hjørnet. I dette ene stykke is, er der 300 forskellige mikroorganismer. Og om foråret, når solen kommer tilbage til isen, skabes den planteplankton, der vokser under den is, og så får man store lag med tang, og så får man plankton, der lever af al det liv. Så det isen virkelig gør er at den fungerer som en have. Det fungerer som jorden i en have. Det er en omvendt have. At miste den is er som at miste jorden i haven.
And here we are diving in the Beaufort Sea. The visibility's 600 ft.; we're on our safety lines; the ice is moving all over the place. I wish I could spend half an hour telling you about how we almost died on this dive. But what's important in this picture is that you have a piece of multi-year ice, that big chunk of ice up in the corner. In that one single piece of ice, you have 300 species of microorganisms. And in the spring, when the sun returns to the ice, it forms the phytoplankton, grows under that ice, and then you get bigger sheets of seaweed, and then you get the zooplankton feeding on all that life. So really what the ice does is it acts like a garden. It acts like the soil in a garden. It's an inverted garden. Losing that ice is like losing the soil in a garden.
Her er jeg på mit kontor. Jeg håber I nyder jeres. Dette er efter en time under isen. Jeg kan ikke føle mine læber; mit ansigt er forfrossent; jeg kan ikke føle mine hænder; jeg kan ikke føle mine fødder. Og jeg er kommet op, og det eneste jeg ønskede, var at komme op af vandet. Efter en time under disse forhold, er det så ekstremt at, når jeg kommer op, ved næsten hvert dyk, brækker jeg mig i min regulator, fordi min krop ikke kan klare belastningen af den kulde på mit hoved. Så jeg er bare glad for at dykket er overstået. Jeg får givet mit kamera til min assistent, og jeg kigger op på ham, og jeg siger, "Woo. Woo. Woo." Hvilket betyder, "Tag mit kamera." Og han tror jeg siger, "Tag et billede af mig." Så vi havde et lille udfald i kommunikationen. (Latter) Men det er det værd.
Here's me in my office. I hope you appreciate yours. This is after an hour under the ice. I can't feel my lips; my face is frozen; I can't feel my hands; I can't feel my feet. And I've come up, and all I wanted to do was get out of the water. After an hour in these conditions, it's so extreme that, when I go down, almost every dive I vomit into my regulator because my body can't deal with the stress of the cold on my head. And so I'm just so happy that the dive is over. I get to hand my camera to my assistant, and I'm looking up at him, and I'm going, "Woo. Woo. Woo." Which means, "Take my camera." And he thinks I'm saying, "Take my picture." So we had this little communication breakdown. (Laughter) But it's worth it.
Jeg vil vise jer nogle billeder af hvidhvaler, grønlandshvaler, og narhvaler, og isbjørne, og leopard sæler i dag, men dette billede her betyder mere for mig end nogen af de andre jeg nogensinde har taget. Jeg faldt ned i dette hul i isen, bare gennem det hul I lige så, og jeg kiggede op på undersiden af isen, og jeg var ør; jeg troede jeg havde et svimmelhedsanfald. Jeg blev meget nervøs -- ingen reb, ingen sikkerhedsline, hele verden flyttede sig rundt om mig -- og jeg tænkte, "Jeg er i vanskeligheder." Men det der skete var, at hele undersiden var fyldt med disse amphipoder og copepoder, der flytter sig rundt og æder på undersiden af isen, føder og lever hele deres livscyklus. Dette er fundamentet i hele fødekæden i Arktis, lige her. Og når man har en lav produktivitet i dette, i is, går produktiviteten i copepoder ned.
I'm going to show you pictures of beluga whales, bowhead whales, and narwhals, and polar bears, and leopard seals today, but this picture right here means more to me than any other I've ever made. I dropped down in this ice hole, just through that hole that you just saw, and I looked up under the underside of the ice, and I was dizzy; I thought I had vertigo. I got very nervous -- no rope, no safety line, the whole world is moving around me -- and I thought, "I'm in trouble." But what happened is that the entire underside was full of these billions of amphipods and copepods moving around and feeding on the underside of the ice, giving birth and living out their entire life cycle. This is the foundation of the whole food chain in the Arctic, right here. And when you have low productivity in this, in ice, the productivity in copepods go down.
Dette er en grøndlandshval. Videnskaben udtrykker, angiveligt, at det kunne være det ældste levende dyr på planeten lige nu. Denne hval lige her kunne være over 250 år gammel. Denne hval kunne være blevet født i starten af den industrielle revolution. Den kunne have overlevet 150 års hvalfangst. Og nu er den største trussel den forsvindende is oppe nordpå, på grund af de liv vi lever sydpå.
This is a bowhead whale. Supposedly, science is stating that it could be the oldest living animal on earth right now. This very whale right here could be over 250 years old. This whale could have been born around the start of the Industrial Revolution. It could have survived 150 years of whaling. And now its biggest threat is the disappearance of ice in the North because of the lives that we're leading in the South.
Narhvaler, disse majestætiske narhvaler med deres 2,4 meter lange elfenbens stødtænder, behøver ikke at være her; de kunne være ude i det åbne hav. Men de tvinger sig selv til at komme op i disse bittesmå huler i isen hvor de kan ånde, få vejret, fordi under den is er alle sværmene med torsk. Og torskene er der, fordi de lever af alle copepoderne og amphipoderne.
Narwhals, these majestic narwhals with their eight-foot long ivory tusks, don't have to be here; they could be out on the open water. But they're forcing themselves to come up in these tiny little ice holes where they can breathe, catch a breath, because right under that ice are all the swarms of cod. And the cod are there because they are feeding on all the copepods and amphipods.
Ok, mit yndlings stykke. Når jeg ligger på mit dødsleje, er der en historie, jeg vil huske mere end nogen anden. Selvom det øjeblik med kermode bjørnen var ret kraftfuldt, Jeg tror ikke jeg nogensinde vil have en anden oplevelse ligesom den, jeg havde med leopard sælerne. Leopard sæler, har siden Shackletons tid, haft et dårligt omdømme. Det har det skæve smil om munden. De har de sorte skumle øjnene og pletterne på deres krop. De ser helt klart præhistoriske ud og lidt skræmmende. Og tragisk nok i 2004, blev en forsker taget med ned og druknede, og hun blev fortæret af en leopard sæl. Og folk sagde, "Vi vidste de var ondskabsfulde. Det vidste vi de var." Så mennesker elsker at danne deres egen mening. Og da var det, jeg fik en ide til en historie: Jeg vil tage til Antarktis, komme i vandet med så mange leopard sæler, som det overhovedet kan lade sig gøre og give dem en fair omgang -- og finde ud af om de virkelig er ondskabsfulde dyr, eller om de er misforståede. Så dette er den historie. Oh, og de spiser også "happy feet" [en tegnefilms-pingvin].
Alright, my favorite part. When I'm on my deathbed, I'm going to remember one story more than any other. Even though that spirit bear moment was powerful, I don't think I'll ever have another experience like I did with these leopard seals. Leopard seals, since the time of Shackleton, have had a bad reputation. They've got that wryly smile on their mouth. They've got those black sinister eyes and those spots on their body. They look positively prehistoric and a bit scary. And tragically in [2003], a scientist was taken down and drowned, and she was being consumed by a leopard seal. And people were like, "We knew they were vicious. We knew they were." And so people love to form their opinions. And that's when I got a story idea: I want to go to Antarctica, get in the water with as many leopard seals as I possibly can and give them a fair shake -- find out if they really are these vicious animals, or if they're misunderstood. So this is that story. Oh, and they also happen to eat Happy Feet.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Som mennesker, kan vi godt lide at sige, at pingviner er virkelig søde, derfor, leopard sæler spiser dem, så leopard sæler er grimme og onde. Sådan fungerer det ikke. Pingvinen ved ikke den er sød, og leopard sælen ved ikke, at den på en måde er stor og uhyggelig. Dette er bare fødekæden, der udspiller sig. De er også store. De er ikke de små spættede sæler. De er 3,6 meter lange, og vejer 450 kilo. Og de er også påfaldende aggressive. Man pakker 12 touristen ned i en Zodiac [gummibåd], flydende rundt i dette ishav, og en leopard sæl kommer op og bider i pontonen. Båden begynder at synke, de skynder sig tilbage til skibet og kommer hjem og fortæller historierne om hvordan de blev angrebet. Det eneste leopard sælen gjorde -- den bider bare i en ballon. Den ser bare denne kæmpe ballon i havet -- den har ikke hænder -- den vil bide lidt, båden sprænger læk, og de er væk.
As a species, as humans, we like to say penguins are really cute, therefore, leopard seals eat them, so leopard seals are ugly and bad. It doesn't work that way. The penguin doesn't know it's cute, and the leopard seal doesn't know it's kind of big and monstrous. This is just the food chain unfolding. They're also big. They're not these little harbor seals. They are 12 ft. long, a thousand pounds. And they're also curiously aggressive. You get 12 tourists packed into a Zodiac, floating in these icy waters, and a leopard seal comes up and bites the pontoon. The boat starts to sink, they race back to the ship and get to go home and tell the stories of how they got attacked. All the leopard seal was doing -- it's just biting a balloon. It just sees this big balloon in the ocean -- it doesn't have hands -- it's going to take a little bite, the boat pops, and off they go.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Så efter at have brugt fem dage på at krydse Drake Passage -- er det ikke smukt. Efter at have brugt fem dage på at krydse Drake Passage, ankommer vi endelig til Antarktis. Jeg er sammen med min svenske assistent og guide. Hans navn er Göran Ehime fra Sverige -- Göran. Og han har meget erfaring med leopard sæler. Jeg har aldrig set en. Så vi kommer rundt til bugten i vores lille Zodiac båd, og der er denne monstrøse leopard sæl. Og selv med hans stemme, siger han, "Det er en forbandet stor sæl, hva." (Latter) Og denne sæl tager fat i hovedet på denne pingvin, og den kaster den frem og tilbage. Og det den prøver at gøre, er at vende vrangen ud på pingvinen, så den kan spise kødet af knoglerne, og så smutter den og får fat på endnu een.
So after five days of crossing the Drake Passage -- isn't that beautiful -- after five days of crossing the Drake Passage, we have finally arrived at Antarctica. I'm with my Swedish assistant and guide. His name is Goran Ehlme from Sweden -- Goran. And he has a lot of experience with leopard seals. I have never seen one. So we come around the cove in our little Zodiac boat, and there's this monstrous leopard seal. And even in his voice, he goes, "That's a bloody big seal, ya." (Laughter) And this seal is taking this penguin by the head, and it's flipping it back and forth. And what it's trying to do is turn that penguin inside-out, so it can eat the meat off the bones, and then it goes off and gets another one.
Så denne leopard sæl fik fat på en anden pingvin, kom ind under båden, Zodiac'en, og begyndte at bumpe i bådens skrog. Og vi prøver på ikke at falde i vandet. Og vi sætter os ned, og da siger Göran til mig, "Dette er en god sæl, ya. Det er på tide at du hopper i vandet." (Latter) Og jeg kiggede på Göran, og jeg sagde til ham, "Glem det." Men jeg tror, jeg måske brugte et andet ord, der starter med bogstavet F. Men han havde ret. Han skældte mig ud og sagde, "Dette er grunden til vi er her. Og du fremlagde denne dumme historie til National Geographic. Og nu skal du levere. Og du kan ikke udgive undskyldninger."
And so this leopard seal grabbed another penguin, came under the boat, the Zodiac, starting hitting the hull of the boat. And we're trying to not fall in the water. And we sit down, and that's when Goran said to me, "This is a good seal, ya. It's time for you to get in the water." (Laughter) And I looked at Goran, and I said to him, "Forget that." But I think I probably used a different word starting with the letter "F." But he was right. He scolded me out, and said, "This is why we're here. And you purposed this stupid story to National Geographic. And now you've got to deliver. And you can't publish excuses."
Så jeg havde en virkelig tør mund -- nok ikke så slem som nu -- men jeg havde en virkelig, virkelig tør mund. Og mine ben rystede. Jeg kunne ikke føle mine ben. Jeg tog mine svømmefødder på. Jeg kunne næsten ikke få munden op. Jeg puttede snorklen i munden, og jeg rullede ud over siden af Zodiac'en ned i vandet. Og dette var det første hun gjorde. Hun styrtede op til mig, slugte hele mit camera -- og hendes tænder er her oppe og dernede -- men Göran, inden jeg var hoppet i vandet, havde givet mig et fremragende råd. Han sagde, "Hvis du bliver bange, så lukker du øjnene, ya, og så forsvinder hun."
So I had such dry mouth -- probably not as bad as now -- but I had such, such dry mouth. And my legs were just trembling. I couldn't feel my legs. I put my flippers on. I could barely part my lips. I put my snorkel in my mouth, and I rolled over the side of the Zodiac into the water. And this was the first thing she did. She came racing up to me, engulfed my whole camera -- and her teeth are up here and down here -- but Goran, before I had gotten in the water, had given me amazing advice. He said, "If you get scared, you close your eyes, ya, and she'll go away."
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Så det er alt, hvad jeg havde at arbejde med på det tidspunkt. Men jeg begyndte bare at tage disse billeder. Så hun udførte denne trussels fremvisning i et par minutter, og så skete der den mest utrolige ting -- hun slappede fuldstændigt af. Hun forsvandt, tog en pingvin. Hun stoppede omkring 3 meter fra mig, og hun sad der med denne pingvin, pingvinen basker, og hun slipper den. Pingvinen svømmer hen mod mig, og forsvinder. Hun tager fat i endnu en. Hun gør dette igen og igen. Og det gik op for mig, at hun prøver på at fodre mig med en pingvin. Hvorfor skulle hun ellers slippe disse pingviner løs mod mig? Og efter hun gjorde dette fire eller fem gange, svømmede hun forbi mig med dette nedslåede ansigtsudtryk. Man skal ikke være alt for antropomorfisk, men jeg vil vædde med at hun kiggede på mig som om, "Dette ubrugelige rovdyr kommer til at sulte i mit hav."
So that's all I had to work with at that point. But I just started to shoot these pictures. So she did this threat display for a few minutes, and then the most amazing thing happened -- she totally relaxed. She went off, she got a penguin. She stopped about 10 feet away from me, and she sat there with this penguin, the penguin's flapping, and she let's it go. The penguin swims toward me, takes off. She grabs another one. She does this over and over. And it dawned on me that she's trying to feed me a penguin. Why else would she release these penguins at me? And after she did this four or five times, she swam by me with this dejected look on her face. You don't want to be too anthropomorphic, but I swear that she looked at me like, "This useless predator's going to starve in my ocean."
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Så da det gik op for hende, at jeg ikke kunne fange svømmende pingviner,, fik hun fat på nogle andre pingviner og bragte dem langsomt hen til mig, nikkede sådan her, og så slap hun dem. Dette virkede ikke. Jeg grinte så højt og så følelsesladet at min maske blev oversvømmet, fordi jeg græd under vandet, bare fordi det var så forbløffende. Så det fungerede ikke. Så derefter fik hun fat på endnu en pingvin og prøvede denne ballet-lignende sexede fremvisning hvor hun gled ned af isbjerget sådan her. (Latter) Og hun kom over til mig med dem og tilbød mig dem. Dette fortsatte i fire dage. Dette skete ikke kun et par gange. Og så erkendte hun, at jeg ikke kunne fange de levende, så hun kom med en død pingvin. (Latter) Nu har jeg fire eller fem pingviner flydende rundt om mit hoved, og jeg sidder bare der og kigger. Og hun ville tit stoppe og have dette nedslåede ansigtsudtryk som om, "Eksisterer du virkeligt?" Fordi hun kan ikke tro, at jeg ikke kan spise denne pingvin. Fordi i hendes verden, yngler man enten eller man spiser -- og jeg yngler ikke, så …
So realizing I couldn't catch swimming penguins, she'd get these other penguins and bring them slowly towards me, bobbing like this, and she'd let them go. This didn't work. I was laughing so hard and so emotional that my mask was flooding, because I was crying underwater, just because it was so amazing. And so that didn't work. So then she'd get another penguin and try this ballet-like sexy display sliding down this iceberg like this. (Laughter) And she would sort of bring them over to me and offer it to me. This went on for four days. This just didn't happen a couple of times. And then so she realized I couldn't catch live ones, so she brought me dead penguins. (Laughter) Now I've got four or five penguins floating around my head, and I'm just sitting there shooting away. And she would often stop and have this dejected look on her face like, "Are you for real?" Because she can't believe I can't eat this penguin. Because in her world, you're either breeding or you're eating -- and I'm not breeding, so ...
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Og så var det ikke nok; hun begyndte at kaste pingviner på mit hoved. Hun prøvede at tvangsfodre mig. Hun skubber rundt med mig. Hun prøver at tvangsfodre mit kamera, hvilket er enhver fotografs drøm. Og hun blev frustreret; hun pustede bobler i hovedet på mig. Hun ville, tror jeg, lade mig vide at jeg ville sulte. Men hun stoppede stadigvæk ikke. Hun stoppede ikke med at prøve at fodre mig med pingviner.
And then that wasn't enough; she started to flip penguins onto my head. She was trying to force-feed me. She's pushing me around. She's trying to force-feed my camera, which is every photographer's dream. And she would get frustrated; she'd blow bubbles in my face. She would, I think, let me know that I was going to starve. But yet she didn't stop. She would not stop trying to feed me penguins.
Og den sidste dag med denne hun, da jeg troede at jeg havde gået for langt, blev jeg nervøs, fordi hun kom op til mig, hun rullede om på ryggen, og lavede denne dybe, gutturelle trykluftsbor lyd, denne gokgokgokgok. Og jeg tænkte, hun bider om lidt. Hun vil lade mig vide, at hun er frustreret med mig. Det der var sket var, at der var en anden sæl, der var sneget sig op bag ved mig, og hun gjorde det som trussels fremvisning. Hun jagede den store sæl væk, tog hen og fik fat på dens pingvin, og bragte den hen til mig.
And on the last day with this female where I thought I had pushed her too far, I got nervous because she came up to me, she rolled over on her back, and she did this deep, guttural jackhammer sound, this gok-gok-gok-gok. And I thought, she's about to bite. She's about to let me know she's too frustrated with me. What had happened was another seal had snuck in behind me, and she did that to threat display. She chased that big seal away, went and got its penguin and brought it to me.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Den var ikke den eneste sæl, jeg gik i vandet med. Jeg gik i vandet med 30 andre leopard sæler, og jeg havde ikke een gang et skræmmende møde. De er de mest forbløffende dyr, jeg nogensinde har arbejdet med, og det samme med isbjørne. Og ligesom isbjørnene, er disse dyr afhængige af et is-miljø. Jeg bliver følelsesladet. Undskyld.
That wasn't the only seal I got in the water with. I got in the water with 30 other leopard seals, and I never once had a scary encounter. They are the most remarkable animals I've ever worked with, and the same with polar bears. And just like the polar bears, these animals depend on an icy environment. I get emotional. Sorry.
Det er en oplevelse, der lever dybt i mit hjerte, og jeg er stolt af at dele dette med jer. Og jeg er så passioneret med det. Er der nogen der vil med mig til Antarktis eller Arktis, tager jeg jer med; lad os tage afsted. Vi skal have historien ud nu. Mange tak skal I have.
It's a story that lives deep in my heart, and I'm proud to share this with you. And I'm so passionate about it. Anybody want to come with me to Antarctica or the Arctic, I'll take you; let's go. We've got to get the story out now. Thank you very much.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak. Mange tak.
Thank you. Thanks very much.
(Bifald)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Bifald)
(Applause)