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  • 7/5/2025

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00:00THE END
00:29The earth poles of our planet are covered with ice.
00:33They're the largest and most demanding wildernesses of all.
00:39Nowhere else on earth is seasonal change so extreme.
00:44It causes the ice to advance and retreat every year.
00:50And all life here is governed by that.
00:59When the first polar explorers headed south, giant cathedrals of ice marked their entry into uncharted territory.
01:21Passing the towering spires, they must have wondered what unearthly sights lay in store.
01:31As they battled on, the ice became increasingly dominant.
01:36But nothing could have prepared them for the ice world that finally loomed into view.
01:48Terra incognita, the unknown land.
01:56At the southernmost extreme of our planet, the continent of Antarctica is as large as the United States of America.
02:1690% of all the world's ice is found here.
02:26This frozen world is largely deserted until the start of spring.
02:38A daily penguins.
02:43In a hurry.
02:45The clock is ticking.
02:53Instead of waiting for the summer melt, the new arrivals hasten south over the frozen sea.
02:59They have come here to breathe, but polar summers are so short, they must be in position before the thaw starts.
03:19As the sea ice retreats, life can journey farther south.
03:29Antarctic waters are so rich that visitors come from far and wide to harvest them.
03:41Vast numbers of chinstrap penguins come ashore to breed.
03:54No bird will lay their eggs directly onto ice.
04:00So, bare rock is a vital commodity.
04:10The best patches are worth the climb.
04:13The clifftops are soon stained pink, with the droppings of tens of thousands of nesting penguins.
04:26Only in a land almost entirely covered in ice could bare rock be reckoned an oasis.
04:41Some will travel into the heart of the continent to find it.
04:47These are noon attacks, the exposed peaks of vast mountain ranges buried in ice over a mile deep.
05:00The eerie silence here is only broken in spring.
05:12The snow petrels have arrived and are courting.
05:17Antarctic petrels now join the most southerly bird colony on earth.
05:30The birds have flown inland for over 300 miles to reach this breeding site.
05:40Once their eggs have hatched, they will be forced repeatedly to make the 600-mile round trip
05:46to gather food in the ocean.
05:50First, though, valuable nesting places must be defended from property thieves.
06:03After laying their eggs, the petrels take time out to clean their plumage.
06:07The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:08The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:12But the skewers have not chanced upon the petrels.
06:13The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:14The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:15The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:17The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:18The south polar skewer.
06:19The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:28The south polar skewer is a formidable opportunist.
06:37But the skewers have not chanced upon the petrels.
06:40They've been waiting for them.
06:46These birds do not need to go to the ocean for their food.
06:51The skewers can survive further south than any other predator
07:12by exploiting the petrel's desperate need for bare rock.
07:21Even at the height of summer, less than 3% of Antarctica is free of ice,
07:32and nearly all of that exposed rock is found in one place,
07:36the Antarctic Peninsula.
07:45Its long arm extends further north than the rest of the continent,
07:49so spring arrives here first.
07:52The Thaw unlocks sheltered bays that provide refuge from the relentless battering of the Southern Ocean.
07:57The Thaw unlocks sheltered bays that provide refuge from the relentless battering of the Southern Ocean.
08:19In the depths, something stirs.
08:22Humpback whales.
08:23They have travelled over 5,000 miles to reach the sea.
08:25Humpback whales.
08:26Humpback whales.
08:27They have travelled over 5,000 miles to reach these waters.
08:33Humpback whales, they have travelled over 5,000 miles to reach these waters.
08:53The whales are harvesting krill, shrimp-like creatures that begin to swarm here as soon as the ice retreats.
09:20Diving into the heart of the swarm, teams of whales spiral round each other in close coordination.
09:32Now they turn, blasting air from their blowholes and ascend towards their prey.
09:40The krill becomes concentrated as the spiralling net of bubbles draws inwards.
09:50The team of whales work round the clock, for the boom is short-lived.
10:16Summer is already fading and the whales will soon be forced north as winter returns.
10:23The sun's influence diminishes and the ocean starts to freeze.
10:32The greatest seasonal change on our planet is underway.
10:36The ice grows at an extraordinary rate, advancing two and a half miles a day.
10:49In a matter of weeks, the continent effectively doubles in size.
10:55Life flees from Antarctica.
11:00But one creature is just arriving.
11:10Every winter, emperor penguins leave the comfort of their ocean home and begin a remarkable journey.
11:22They head towards their breeding grounds almost a hundred miles inland.
11:29Eventually, the emperor penguins reached the place where they were hatched, an area sheltered by icebergs,
11:36trapped in the frozen ocean.
11:51Here, they will raise the next generation.
11:52But first, each must find a mate.
11:58The males begin to serenade.
11:59The males begin to serenade.
12:05And if a female replies, they pair up, posing like statues.
12:34New couples quickly form a strong bond.
12:37They seem oblivious to the noisy crowd around them.
12:44To cement their relationship, the male steps out with his female.
12:49The brief courtship complete, there isn't a moment to lose.
13:02With so much pressure to perform, any male would struggle to stay on top.
13:16Several weeks later, and it seems that most couplings were successful.
13:21But producing the egg has taken its toll.
13:26The females no longer have the energy to incubate.
13:31The male takes over.
13:34It's still minus 20 degrees centigrade, so the transfer must be done quickly or else the egg will freeze.
13:41With no bare rock to nest on, the male tucks the egg into a special pouch where he can keep it warm.
13:48It requires an extraordinary piece of teamwork.
13:56Driven by hunger, the exhausted females now return to the ocean on their own.
14:02Repeating the epic journey they made with the males only a month before.
14:07Now the sun barely appears above the horizon.
14:17As the days shorten, its warmth is withdrawn from the continent.
14:22With the females gone, the colony undergoes a strange transformation.
14:38The males shuffle into groups, their eggs still tucked away above their feet.
14:45They lock together in tightly packed huddles as they struggle to keep warm.
14:57Speeding up the action reveals how these huddles constantly shift and change
15:02as each penguin works its way towards the warmer interior.
15:06Crammed into this scrum, the birds are remarkably good-natured.
15:12But they have to be.
15:14If the huddle breaks, even for a moment, precious heat escapes.
15:36It's imperative they reform as quickly as possible.
15:41For only by acting as one can the males withstand the elements and protect their eggs.
15:52But their greatest test lies ahead.
15:56As winter advances, frequent blizzards drive the temperature down.
16:01It's now 60 degrees below zero.
16:09The birds at the edge of the huddle bear the brunt of the 100-mile-an-hour winds
16:14and so provide shelter to those taking their turn in the middle.
16:18Abandoned by the sun, the males are left alone with their eggs
16:31to face the coldest, darkest winter on Earth.
16:35At the northern extreme of our planet, the sun rises for the first time in months,
16:49illuminating a very different ice world.
16:55Unlike Antarctica, the Arctic is a vast frozen sea surrounded by land.
17:02Here, winter is coming to an end.
17:07But this bleak wilderness remains locked in ice.
17:19Eider ducks break the silence.
17:22They have stayed here, braving the northern winter,
17:25instead of flying south to warmer climes.
17:28Flocks 40,000 strong sweep across the frozen wastes.
17:37They all have the same goal.
17:53A polynya, a permanent hole in the sea ice,
17:56kept open throughout the winter by strong ocean currents.
18:00This unusual duck pond provides an overnight sanctuary,
18:09and when day breaks, a rare chance to feed.
18:13Just ten metres beneath the ice, the sea floor is carpeted with dense mussel beds.
18:34These can only be reached during a brief lull in the currents.
18:37The ducks must quickly prise the mussels free before the tide starts to turn.
18:50The window of opportunity is short.
18:52As the current begins to build, it's up, up and away.
18:57These permanent holes in the ice provide seafood throughout the winter.
19:16The diners attract others.
19:18In the Arctic, any breach in the icy barrier can be a lifeline.
19:34Musk oxen create their own.
19:37These giants have the strength to smash through the frozen crust
19:42to graze on the vegetation below.
19:44These icebreakers create an opening for other overwinterers.
19:53Flocks of ptarmigan make unusual grazing companions in the musk oxen,
19:59whose entourage grows throughout the day.
20:02This odd assembly of vegetarians doesn't go unnoticed.
20:17An arctic fox.
20:19The musk oxen have recently given birth.
20:22For the fox, it's a chance to scavenge.
20:23The musk oxen have recently given birth.
20:26For the fox, it's a chance to scavenge.
20:28But half a tonne of mad hairy cow is not to be trifled with.
20:43The calves are born well before the spring melt, giving them a head start
20:58when summer finally arrives.
21:00It must get to grips with its new ice world.
21:08Benign one minute, life-threatening the next.
21:18Even in spring, winds chill to the bone.
21:21The calf must stay close to its mother to avoid getting lost in the sudden blizzard.
21:39Arctic wolves.
21:41In the whiteout, the threat is almost impossible to detect.
21:49But the musk oxen instinctively retreat to higher ground.
21:53It's almost impossible to escape.
22:09Forming a defensive ring around their calves,
22:12the adults present a barricade that few hunters could breach.
22:18But the wolves need not risk injury today.
22:24A calf has been left behind in the panic.
22:40With each passing day, the sun climbs higher in the sky
22:44and its rays strike the Arctic more directly.
22:47It's spring and new life stirs.
22:57The polar bear cubs emerge from the den in which they were born.
23:02Their mother stretches her legs after five months under the snow.
23:06They're just two months old and instinctively follow her lead.
23:16A steep slope makes the best sight for a den, but it's a tricky place to take your first steps.
23:37It may look like fun, but this is serious training for the task ahead.
23:50There's no food on the slopes and the family will need to head out across the frozen sea before the mother's milk runs dry.
24:07Two weeks later, they're ready.
24:20They're ready.
24:22Out on the sea ice, the female can hunt for seals.
24:26But it will take all her mothering skills to keep her cubs safe in this dangerous world of ice.
24:33The annual melt has begun.
24:50This is a challenging time for the bear family.
24:56One out of every two cubs do not survive their first year out on the ice.
25:13As the sun's influence increases, the sea ice seems to take on a life of its own.
25:18Glacial meltwaters pour from the land, mingling with the sea and speeding up the thaw.
25:38The seascape is in constant flux as broken ice is moved on by winds and currents.
25:45The ice is becoming too weak to support a male polar bear.
25:59He attempts to spread his weight, but the ice that has supported him all winter is rapidly disintegrating.
26:17Each year, as the climate warms, the Arctic holds less ice.
26:21This is a disaster for polar bears.
26:25Without its solid platform, they can't hunt the seals they need in order to survive.
26:30This may be a glimpse of the unstable future faced by this magnificent creature.
26:39This magnificent creature.
27:09This is a disaster for polar bears.
27:13As the ice disappears, seabirds return to the high Arctic.
27:18Little orcs arrive in their millions.
27:28In some ways, these birds are the penguins of the North.
27:36They seek bare rock on which to lay their eggs, and they look rather like penguins too.
27:41Unlike Antarctica, the Arctic can be reached by land-based predators,
27:53which is why little orcs have kept the ability to fly.
27:56They use scree slopes to protect their eggs,
28:05burrowing up to a metre beneath the rocks.
28:15At the height of summer, the sun never sets,
28:18but just skims the horizon before rising again.
28:26Migrants return to the Arctic from far and wide.
28:32They've come to make the most of the brief flush of food
28:35and to produce their young.
28:39Sandhill cranes have travelled all the way from New Mexico.
28:49Their chicks join the growing band of youngsters exploring the tundra.
28:56For a few months each year, the Arctic becomes the land of the midnight sun,
29:07and 24 hours of daylight allow animals to feed around the clock.
29:13The Arctic fox finally has enough food to raise her large family.
29:19If you choose to nest in the open, you must be prepared for the fight.
29:31If you choose to nest in the open, you must be prepared for the fight.
29:38Arctic skewers will see off any trespassers, even large vegetarians.
29:52Why?
29:53are large vegetarians.
29:55. . . . .
30:01. . . . . . .
30:11. ...
30:12,
30:13. . .
30:14. .
30:15The male polar bear's ice world has finally vanished beneath him.
30:45While the female is still kept on land by her dependent cubs, the male can take to the sea in search of food.
31:04Ducking and diving, he hopes to ambush seals resting on the remaining fragments of ice.
31:15In these new surroundings, he is a surprisingly adept swimmer.
31:41Once an extremely rare sight, polar bears have recently been seen over 60 miles from the shore.
31:59There is now no turning back for this bear.
32:01He's forced to head out into deeper water.
32:06His giant front paws help him to fight the ocean currents.
32:13There is now no turning back for this bear.
32:17He's forced to head out into deeper water.
32:20His giant front paws help him to fight the ocean currents.
32:27His giant front paws help him to fight the ocean currents.
32:34He seems at home in the sea, but he cannot swim indefinitely.
32:41He will drown if he doesn't find land somewhere in this vast ocean.
32:54He will drown if he doesn't find land somewhere in this vast ocean.
33:07She'll lose the land in his companion.
33:35Walruses are now gathering on low-lying islands.
33:40They gave birth on sea ice, but with this platform now gone,
33:44they need a new place to haul out and nurse their young.
33:50After several days at sea, the male bear finally makes landfall,
33:56drawn by pungent smells emanating from the island.
34:04By the end of summer, the bear has lost half his weight.
34:13With the ice long gone, he is forced onto land in search of food.
34:27There will be no easy meals on this island.
34:31Walruses are the largest seals in the world.
34:33They weigh over a ton and are armed with tusks a metre long.
34:41Exhausted from his swim, the bear must regain his strength.
34:53The next day, a sea fog shrouds the island.
34:57The Walruses sense that they're in danger.
34:59Using the fog as cover, the bear approaches the herd.
35:12The adults close ranks around their young, presenting a wall of blubber and hide.
35:17He tests the banner, but it stands firm.
35:31It appears that the world's largest land carnivore has met his match.
35:36There must be a chink in the armour somewhere.
35:51Not here.
35:52This female walrus is shielding her pup, if he can just prize her off.
36:06The bear's claws and teeth can't penetrate her thick hide.
36:17With the herd retreating to water, the bear must move quickly.
36:35Having failed with one, he heads straight for another.
36:38The chance of his first meal in months is slipping away.
36:59He seems increasingly desperate.
37:15It's now or never.
37:18He must avoid the stabbing tusks if he's the wind.
37:21The flailing walrus is immensely powerful and drags the bear away from the shallows, towards the safety of the herd.
37:35It slips from his grasp.
37:53Only at the height of summer, when bears are on the verge of starvation, will they risk attacking such dangerous prey.
38:14It was a gamble that this bear took and lost.
38:18The stab wounds he received from the walrus are so severe that he can barely walk.
38:33The walruses are calm again.
38:35Seemingly aware that the injured bear no longer poses a threat to them or their young.
38:48The bear will not survive.
38:57Unable to feed, this bear will not survive.
39:00If the global climate continues to warm and the Arctic ice melts sooner each year, it's certain that more bears will share this fate.
39:21But more bears will share this fate.
39:23At the southern end of our planet, fiery ribbons are illuminating the winter skies.
39:50The aurora australis.
39:53This light brings no warmth to the male penguins, who are still huddling, defying the coldest conditions on the planet.
40:05Their ordeal is drawing to a close.
40:22Thirty days after it last set, the sun rises once more on Antarctica.
40:36Their appalling trials have all been for this.
41:03Each father has just one meal left inside him.
41:06Each father has just one meal left inside him.
41:23He's been saving it all winter.
41:26This single feed will sustain the chicks for a few more days.
41:33But the males have not eaten for nearly four months.
41:36If they do not eat soon, they and their chicks will die.
41:41But there is hope on the horizon.
41:53The females are returning, and their bellies are full with fish.
42:08As they approach, waves of excitement ripple through the huddle.
42:29Each female calls to her mate.
42:32And he, recognising her song, trumpets back.
42:36Reunited at last.
42:41The mother sees her chick for the first time.
42:53She's keen to start parenting.
42:55But the father needs persuading to surrender the chick he's been caring for all winter.
43:02He must now put his chick at risk.
43:08In these temperatures, it could freeze in seconds.
43:15The male will have to let go.
43:17Eventually, the transfer to the mother is safely made.
43:28The chicks grow quickly on a diet of fish and squid.
43:47Soon, they're keen to explore, but always with mother in tow.
44:08This chick is less fortunate.
44:11Its mother has not returned to claim it.
44:16Another orphan is searching for a new family.
44:19But this female already has a chick of her own.
44:31Some orphans receive too much mothering from penguins whose own chicks have not survived.
44:37The Erdster parent is so strong that they will compete with one another to adopt any chick they find.
44:43Many of these squabbles end in tragedy as the poor chick is trampled to death.
44:55Only in the Radiance Scally's
45:00and the Wilderness of the Horus
45:01are always lost.
45:02The Wilderness of the Hercules
45:07Those chicks that do have parents quickly learn survival skills.
45:12Even in spring, they must huddle together for warmth just as their fathers did in the depths of winter.
45:18in the depths of winter.
45:24A group of chicks has got lost in the blizzard.
45:34Cold and disorientated, they search for the colony.
45:38It will not be long before the storm claims its first victims.
45:48By early summer, the chicks are surprisingly well-developed
45:55and now look ready to take on the world.
45:59Those who have been in the world,
46:02are the only one of its first victims.
46:07By early summer, the chicks are surprisingly well-developed
46:13and now look ready to take on the world.
46:17Those that survive their first year
46:20have the best possible start in life
46:23thanks to the extraordinary hardships endured by their parents.
46:27Parents who battled with the Antarctic winter and won.
46:42In the Arctic, the two polar bear cubs
46:46are now independent of their mother
46:48and they briefly reunite where their home ranges overlap.
46:59Their time together will be fleeting.
47:02Most of their lives are now spent alone,
47:05wandering the vast tracts of frozen ocean.
47:08They are now most of the difficulties in the Arctic Ocean.
47:09Most of their lives are lived in the Arctic Ocean.
47:12The Arctic Ocean is barely drained and drained and drained.
47:14.
47:37Following their mother has prepared them for life at the pole,
47:41an ever-changing land ruled by ice.
47:47Whether they are ready for the bigger changes
47:49that have begun to shape the ice worlds of our planet
47:52remains to be seen.
48:11.
48:26Filming at the poles calls for extraordinary dedication.
48:30To capture the private life of penguins,
48:33cameraman Wade and his partner Frederic
48:36would spend a year in Antarctica
48:39with only 20,000 emperors as neighbours.
48:42.
48:47Well, as you can probably see, we've got a bit of weather.
48:50Somewhere behind me is the birds.
48:52Every now and then, when the snow kind of clears,
48:54you can just catch a glimpse of them.
48:56.
49:06In fact, it was minus 50 degrees centigrade
49:09and the winds were close to hurricane force.
49:15Wade had waited six months for this chance
49:17to film the penguin huddle,
49:19but the extreme cold soon took its toll.
49:22Well, it's really frustrating.
49:24It takes so much effort to film in these sort of blizzard conditions.
49:28I mean, just to get here.
49:29And, um, I had a pretty good run there,
49:32but the camera's just jammed.
49:34Um, the film's jammed.
49:36There's nothing I can do about it out here.
49:38There's just no way.
49:40Wade was forced to retreat to the relative comfort of the hut,
49:43leaving the penguins out in the cold.
49:46I was just lying in bed thinking about those penguins
49:49and all the males will be huddled together
49:52and how they can possibly survive in this sort of weather
49:55is just absolutely extraordinary.
49:57And I really feel quite sorry for them at this moment.
50:04With the camera fixed,
50:06Wade set off again the next day,
50:08but the storm was even worse.
50:10The 100-mile-per-hour winds forced Wade onto his knees
50:21as he struggled to haul the weight of the camera.
50:24The two-mile walk to the colony now became an epic struggle.
50:29It's hard to imagine a more brutal challenge
50:35for a natural history cameraman.
50:45Wade's extraordinary endurance
50:47finally delivered remarkable images
50:49of penguins braving the worst winter on the planet.
50:52These are scenes that few humans have ever witnessed.
50:56In sharing the ordeal with the emperors,
51:03Wade and Fred developed a deep bond with their penguin neighbours.
51:11Two months on and the colony is bustling with new life.
51:15But there was trouble for one young chick.
51:21We saw a chick's head sticking out of the snow
51:24and we just realised he's been trapped in a hole
51:27as the snow just surrounded him.
51:29So, like, during the last blizzard,
51:32he must have been there for a few days.
51:34We were going to try to get him out.
51:36Don't be scared chicken, I'm going to cut the snow.
51:40Without help, this youngster would soon have starved.
51:43Natural history film crews do not normally interfere
51:49with the course of nature.
51:51But having shared the penguin's six-month struggle for survival,
51:54it was impossible for Fred to just sit back.
51:58The chick's mother looked on helplessly.
52:01Come here. Yes, grab my hand.
52:02Grab my hand.
52:03No, I don't want to break the chicken.
52:08That's a calm chicken.
52:09There you go.
52:10There you go.
52:19Luckily, the chick was none the worse for its experience.
52:27Now, as soon as the chick got out,
52:29it bounced with its parents again
52:31and it straight away got a feed.
52:33So, that's really good.
52:35Thanks to the remarkable efforts of its parents
52:40and with just a little help from its human neighbours,
52:42this chick has a bright future.
52:58For one of our Arctic filming crews,
53:01visits from the neighbours were to prove less welcome.
53:05I think you were heading off, wasn't you?
53:19Hungry polar bears are extremely dangerous
53:22and, given the chance, will kill and eat humans.
53:26Drawn by the smell of Doug's home cooking,
53:28this male bear seems particularly fearless.
53:32Jason fires blanks to scare it away.
53:41Was that him?
53:42That was him.
53:45Keep it locked outside, check the window.
53:49We think he's gone.
53:51But we're not sure.
53:56Day one.
53:57Day one.
53:59A bear outside the cabin.
54:01Chewing on a generator cable
54:02will hardly satisfy the appetite
54:04of the world's largest land carnivore.
54:07He was after something more substantial.
54:11This is just a bit of a problem
54:12when we get bears as close as this to the cabin.
54:17He's a big boy.
54:19As the day went on,
54:20it became clear that this was one very determined bear.
54:29Explosive charges known as bear scarers
54:32are the polite way to persuade him to leave.
54:35Come on, go.
54:36Give him another one.
54:40He wasn't too bothered about that.
54:42About the pistol.
54:45They had to resort to a bigger bang.
54:48A thunder flash fired from a pistol.
54:53But this bear is his own boss
54:55and will leave when ready.
54:58Quite exciting, really.
55:01The crew were not here to film hungry male bears.
55:06They were after females and cubs emerging from their winter dens.
55:10But to find them, they had to leave the safety of the hut
55:14and enter the bear's domain.
55:16Planet Earth had been given special permission
55:21to film on this remote Norwegian island,
55:24the first human visitors for 25 years.
55:30Motorized vehicles are prohibited in this fragile environment,
55:34so the crew had to do things the old-fashioned way.
55:40When the polar explorers used to hold their gear like this,
55:43they used to have names for the sledges.
55:47Things like Intrepid and Braveheart.
55:51I'm going to call mine
55:54you
55:56awkward, heavy object.
56:04Doug's sledge seemed determined to live up to its name.
56:09Oh, no!
56:10Isolated and on foot, the crew were vulnerable at all times,
56:25and with so many male bears out on the sea ice,
56:28Doug had to keep his wits about him.
56:35Where's the batteries?
56:36Females den on steep slopes,
56:42but predicting where they would emerge was proving a real challenge.
56:53After weeks of searching, the crew finally got lucky.
56:56This is fantastic. She's out on the slopes.
57:06Four weeks we've been waiting to get this one opportunity.
57:10But now that it's happening, it's just fantastic.
57:13Close behind the mother bear, her tiny eight-week-old cubs.
57:16With the sequence in the can, the crew were able to relax, but not for long.
57:32I don't know.
57:33I thought...
57:34I thought...
57:36I thought I heard something.
57:41This bear is much too close for comfort.
57:44A reminder that we are only visitors in the polar bears' world.
57:59Yeah, go outside and you get...
58:01Hang on. Hang on, Doug. He's going back that way.
58:04Get the gun ready. Get the gun ready, Doug.
58:07Go.
58:37For the past tonight.
58:38Bye-bye.
58:56You