‘Dolphins – Wonders of the Ocean’ is a new two part documentary about dolphins by Irish underwater cameraman Ken O’Sullivan.
This story was filmed over a 20 year period and explores our relationship with dolphins, some amazing natural history feeding scenes filmed for the first time, but also some existential threats to dolphins in Irish waters, where thousands are likely dying every year. What could be the cause?
Ken O’Sullivan explained: “In 2005 I was just becoming an underwater cameraman filming life in the shallows, when I encountered the solitary, lost dolphin of the Clare coast. It was an incredible experience to see an animal like this, just off the shore in your home place.
She became my subject for some time, then over the years my understanding of dolphins changed dramatically and our own human relationship with them.”
“Largely filmed along the coasts of Clare, Kerry and Cork, this was originally meant to be a single documentary, but there was so much material, so many threads to cover in the story, that we felt compelled to make a second episode.
People are surprised at the abundance and variety of species of dolphins in our waters, there are eight species and thousands of animals, but remember our temperate seas are some of the most fertile on the planet,” Ken said.
“I think, broadly speaking, we have an understanding of dolphins that has come from films and TV whereby they are often portrayed as friendly happy animals and we almost see them as being semi domesticated where we can play with them.
The reality is very different. Dolphins display some of the most amazing behaviour of any animals, they are incredibly well adapted to the place where they live using acoustics as their primary sense, but they live in the natural world which can be a brutal place and violence is a core part of their lives.”
Ken continued: “Having said that anyone who’s ever seen dolphins in the wild is almost certainly struck by the beauty of their form the grace of the movement. They approach our boat and ride on the bow for while but after a few minutes they’re gone to do their own thing.”
Dolphins now face serious threats, noise in the ocean is a huge problem, but there are even greater existential threats, with thousands of dolphins potentially being killed in Irish waters, so we felt compelled to cover in this story.
‘Dolphins’ – Wonders of the ocean
RTÉ One Sunday August 31st & September 7th
6:30pm
