The Coelacanth, a dive into our origins (2013)
• November 2nd, 2013 • 1h 31min
Documentary
Overview
Gombessa Expedition 1 To dive for the Coelacanth is to go back in time. In 1938, when it was known only as a fossil, a Coelacanth was discovered in South Africa in a fisherman's net. This species bears witness to an evolutionary bifurcation 380 million years ago, and bears the marks of a great event: the day the fish left the ocean for the open air. Does it hold the secret to the transition to walking on land? In 2010, a marine biologist and outstanding diver, Laurent Ballesta, took the first photographs of the Coelacanth in its ecosystem. In April 2013, divers and researchers set down their equipment at the Sodwana base camp in South Africa, in the club founded by Peter Timm (who died in 2014). Six weeks of extreme diving at depths of over 120 meters, in an attempt to film the Coelacanth with a double-headed camera, collect its DNA and tag a subject with a satellite-linked beacon...
Make sure to check your pop-up blocker!!
Trailer
Similar Movies
Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man for Sport Relief
Released on: 2016-03-28
Documentary
Eddie Izzard pushes her body and sense of humour to the limit for Sport Relief as she takes on an im...
Emocean
Released on: 2019-01-19
Documentary
Emocean started out as a surf film but quickly turned into something so much more than wild waves an...
David Attenborough's Natural History Museum Alive
Released on: 2014-01-01
Documentary
Regular opening times do not apply as we accompany Sir David Attenborough on an after-hours journey ...
Over Hawaii
Released on: 2011-01-01
Documentary
Go to the Big Island and hover above erupting craters at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, watch flowi...
Earth
Released on: 2007-10-10
Documentary
An epic story of adventure, starring some of the most magnificent and courageous creatures alive, aw...
Winged Migration
Released on: 2001-12-12
Documentary
This documentary follows various migratory bird species on their long journeys from their summer hom...
A Normal Daughter: The Life and Times of Kewpie of District Six
Released on: 2000-05-01
Documentary
Before South Africa’s apartheid government in the 1970’s destroyed District Six, being gay, or “moff...
Deep Blue
Released on: 2003-05-18
Documentary
Deep Blue is a major documentary feature film shot by the BBC Natural History Unit. An epic cinemati...
Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story
Released on: 2023-02-26
Documentary
The story of the first black South African rugby captain who against all odds led the South African ...
Gulf Stream and the Next Ice Age
Released on: 2007-01-01
Documentary
As co-created by environmentalists Stephan Poulle and Nicolas Koutsikas, the documentary Gulf Stream...
Shimmer
Released on: 2006-07-26
Documentary
Join superstars Megan Abubo, Chelsea Georgeson, and Sofia Mulanovich as they create sparks in Indone...
Forest of Crocodiles
Released on: 2009-12-02
Documentary
How do white South Africans deal with their fears of crime and violence? Like crocodiles, some survi...
Arctic Peril
Released on: 2017-12-19
Documentary
The world's most pristine and least understood ocean, the Arctic, is under threat from chemical poll...
Drain the Titanic
Released on: 2015-04-12
Documentary
Computer-generated imagery and other visualization techniques reveal how it would look if all the wa...
Freedom Isn't Free — The Freedom Charter Today
Released on: 2018-06-02
Documentary
Since its adoption in June 1955 by the Congress movement, the Freedom Charter has been the key polit...
Coral Reef Adventure
Released on: 2003-02-14
Documentary
Coral Reef Adventure follows the real-life expedition of ocean explorers and underwater filmmakers H...
The Living Sea
Released on: 1995-02-01
Documentary
The Living Sea celebrates the beauty and power of the ocean as it explores our relationship with thi...
Blue Water, White Death
Released on: 1971-03-01
Documentary
Peter Gimbel and a team of photographers set out on an expedition to find and film, for the very fir...
Message on a Bottle
Released on:
Documentary
Mini-documentary about a man on a mission: to get rid of all the plastic in the oceans. To raise awa...