Dr Leigh Hickmott takes Alok Jha up close and personal with Antarctica’s most fearsome resident: the killer whale, which Leigh calls ‘the apex and most adept predator on the planet’. 

Leigh is a research scientist, zoologist and wildlife presenter, who has co-authored and contributed to numerous scientific research papers. His killer whale research is featured in BBC documentaries ‘Expedition Killer Whale’ and ‘Frozen Planet II’ and he has acted as an ‘on location’ scientific adviser during the filming of natural history series including: NatGeo/Disney+’s Emmy award winning ‘Animals Up Close – Killer Waves’, ‘Our Oceans’ on Netflix, ‘Sentient’ on Disney+ and ‘Blue Planet III’ on the BBC.

Leigh’s Antarctic research journey began in 2017, and he has returned each austral summer season since. His research includes studies of three ‘ecotypes’ of killer whale found along the Peninsula’s coast, with his core focus on ‘pack ice’ killer whales.

Special thanks to Leigh for providing images and recordings of killer whales for this episode. 

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Season 5 of A Voyage to Antarctica is made possible by support from HX Hurtigruten Expeditions.

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