Discussion of orca intelligence and adaptability in a warming ocean. "Patrick Dykstra is the co-star of the semi-biographical feature film ‘Patrick and the Whale’ which chronicle’s Patrick’s decade long connection with a family of sperm whales. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Innsbruck Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Graz Film Festival and was nominated for both a Panda award (Wildscreen) and Jackson Wild Media Award as well as the Golden Eye award (Zurich Film Festival).
Patrick also hosted and filmed the series Chasing Ocean Giants (Discovery Channel) that has aired in over 150 countries. The eight-part series follows Patrick’s journey across the globe to assist some of the world’s leading scientists in discovering mysteries of the ocean. During the production the team filmed numerous world-firsts and provided a valuable platform for the scientists with whom they worked.
Patrick won a BAFTA for his cinematography work on the BBC’s Blue Planet 2 and has since filmed nature programs for Netflix, National Geographic, AppleTV+, Discovery, BBC and others.
Prior to his work in natural history, Patrick spent eight years as a corporate lawyer working at one of the world’s most prestigious international law firms representing some of the world’s largest companies and was based in New York, Los Angeles and Dubai before leaving the corporate life behind to pursue his passions.
Since leaving the corporate world Patrick has visited 102 countries and has filmed in some of the harshest environments including Yemen’s tribal areas, diving under Antarctic ice and at the top of Congo’s erupting volcanos.
He is a certified rebreather scuba diver, wingsuit skydiver, hang-glider and para-glider pilot and is passionate about wildlife conservation.
When not on the road Patrick is at home in Bristol, UK.
" This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx