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00:01An explosion of birds heralds the coming of spring to Alaska's Walrus Islands in Bristol Bay,
00:08southernmost haul-out grounds of the massive Pacific walrus.
00:12In this walrus sanctuary, permanent residents, elderly survivors of migrations past,
00:18set off chain reactions as they fence for choice rocks warmed by the sun.
00:30All over the Bering Sea, in the annual spring migration, many thousands of younger bulls and females launch into the strong current now running northward toward the seas of ice,
00:48which will help transport them to the rich clam beds of the Arctic.
01:00Captain Cousteau, cameraman, and crew planned a rendezvous with some of the migrating herds far to the north in the Bering Strait.
01:11In contact by walkie-talkie with Calypso, Cousteau divers observe at close range the launching of these mountainous creatures,
01:19some weighing up to 3,700 pounds, with tusks often nearly a yard long.
01:23At a disadvantage on land, the walrus can merely resort to intimidation at home only in the sea.
01:40In search of rich shellfish grounds, the walruses plunge along toward the uncertain fate that lies beyond the protection of the sanctuary.
01:50of the sanctuary.
01:51of the sanctuary.
02:20of the sanctuary.
02:21of the sanctuary.
02:22of the sanctuary.
02:23of the sanctuary.
02:24of the sanctuary.
02:25of the sanctuary.
02:40Fast-running currents of the Bering Sea give the walruses a free ride northward.
02:45In spite of the heavy toll they've paid to wailers and hunters for many years, they have endured.
02:54Their ordeal is evoked in an old nursery rhyme.
02:58Did you ever see a walrus smile all these many years?
03:02Why, yes, I've seen a walrus smile, but it was hidden by his tears.
03:06The durability of the walrus is largely due to the natural protection of the vast seas of ice.
03:24Philippe Cousteau and divers, approaching the Bering Strait on route to St. Lawrence Island, look down upon family pods of walruses, journeying slowly toward the Arctic on floating ice plains.
03:35Here on the ice, after a year's gestation, cows give birth to single calves, an event never observed by man.
03:51Safe from killer whales, polar bears, and humans, the walrus population, once reduced to less than 100,000 beings, is now slowly increasing.
04:04Destination, the Eskimo village of Gamble, on the storm-lashed rock that is St. Lawrence Island.
04:16The men arrived prior to the arrival of the walruses themselves.
04:39Knowledge of the walrus in the wild is fragmentary.
04:42Storms at sea, unpredictable ice movements, and the cloak of weather conceal their presence.
04:49Herds may pass to the Arctic, unnoticed.
04:52Here it rains or snows almost daily, the early spring temperature hovering around freezing or below.
04:57The snow cat and snowmobile have replaced the venerable dog sledge on the white horizon.
05:12For Frenchmen, in protective Eskimo garments, it is an alien frozen world, far from home port, in Cernay, Monaco.
05:24In the half-light of the sub-Arctic sun, shore ice and fresh snow are exhilarating to Preslin and Dorado.
05:32Out to test their extra-thick wetsuits, our duck-footed divers ascend the nearest mound, to the puzzlement of Eskimo observers.
05:40The south-light of the ocean is a poisonous new man, but they are now moreенных.
06:01That afternoon, the entire Calypso crew is invited to a reception by the village of Gamble.
06:20In their celebrations, the Eskimos identify closely with the animals and birds that share their harsh domain.
06:31The drum, their only instrument, is made of walrus stomach membrane. The Eskimos make total use of the animals they hunt.
06:46Dancers, pantomime flying birds and swimming seals. Traditions are kept alive.
07:01The Eskimos like horseplay, which is directed particularly to the children.
07:13The festivities are concluded with a courtship dance.
07:27Music
07:31Music
07:33Music
07:37Music
07:41On St. Lawrence Island, a sunny day is an event, in itself worthy of celebration.
08:03A magical white wilderness enraptures Philippe, Bonisi, and Dorado on their way to the sea.
08:11The walruses have not as yet arrived, but the first flow of sea ice pushes close to shore.
08:19Joined by Vernon Sloko, our Eskimo guide, Philippe is anxious to take advantage of the good weather for an exploratory dive, but questions the conditions.
08:29Can you go out when the ice is so close?
08:32Uh-huh.
08:33You can go out?
08:34Over there?
08:35Yeah.
08:36I mean the boat?
08:37Yeah.
08:38We can go out right there.
08:40No problem.
08:41No problem?
08:42No problem.
08:43Okay, with the big ice?
08:44Yeah.
08:45The skin board, we can go with ice like that.
08:51Maneuvering a skin boat through treacherous cross currents of jagged shore ice may be no problem to a hardy Eskimo guide in his own element, but to Calypso divers it can be a chilling experience.
09:12For Calypso divers there are no cranes or winches here.
09:33A wooden vessel would break up under the punishment, but the pliable umiak made with split walrus skins makes launching through the churning ice possible.
09:54Open water is reached at last, and the outboard motor replaces manpower with horse power.
10:03Animals of black-eyed beauty are sighted on the ice wells.
10:19They are bearded seals sunning themselves.
10:26The work at hand is to explore the bottom of the Bering platform.
10:43Here, walruses have been known to feed during previous migrations.
10:49In preparation for their first grueling dive beneath a moving sea of ice, the men wear double wetsuits.
10:56The coldness of Philips underwater camera will increase the chance of malfunction.
11:03Regulators will deliver ice-cold air to divers legs.
11:08The lens of the camera is cooled to ambient temperature to avoid fogging from condensation.
11:14This is the kind of dive no one wishes to repeat.
11:21It is still Bucket.
11:28There is no space right which прош since such.
11:34What matters research go forward this week as you can see at the Society.
11:39The largest bridge is developed in production of solar energy.
11:42Which is the result of the presidente Mr.ovente?
11:44By default, I will save the drone or shipett.
11:47Calypso divers have visited many strange
12:16undersea reaches, but none so eerie and forbidding as this slowly moving cavern of ice.
12:32We encounter an arctic jellyfish tentacles trailing.
12:45The almost immobile Medusa is at the mercy of the sea flow and is carried northward by the cold current.
13:04Preslin inspects a solid ceiling of ice where bubbles from our air tanks are trapped.
13:16One hundred feet below are divers prepared to rake the sea floor, as some scientists believe feeding walruses do, using their tusks to turn over shellfish.
13:26Empty shells are found, left by previous walrus migrations.
13:43The walruses are bottom feeders. They consume great quantities of snails, cockles and clams, their favorite delicacy.
13:54A swift current carries our divers over the foraging grounds.
13:59Walruses have been known to swallow small stones, perhaps to relieve hunger pangs on their long migrations.
14:06The scorpion fish, and fish in general, are not on their diet.
14:13Walruses do not feel the cold, but our freezing divers are forced to ascend.
14:18They are careful to avoid being crushed by converging ice packs.
14:33The divers swim toward surface light.
14:36They follow along the pressure ridge, which should eventually lead to open sea.
14:43the glacier ridge.
14:51Bonassie and Dorado are the first to surface.
14:58Followed by Philippe Cousteau.
15:00It has been a punishing dive in water below 28 degrees.
15:07They are impatient to be out of this wintry sea of unbelievable discomfort.
15:37Ivan needs help, so swollen by the coal he can barely move.
16:00Riz d'oriz.
16:01Elevante it like that.
16:05Where's the bottle?
16:07Okay.
16:08Okay.
16:09Okay.
16:10No, I'm not here with the guys.
16:15The cask is suctioned.
16:29Right, it's not hot.
16:32Zero at the bottom.
16:34Zero degrees?
16:37Zero.
16:42freezing waters have temporarily aged once youthful faces the divers now know
16:51why Eskimos never swim winds up to a hundred miles an hour are not an
17:03uncommon phenomenon in the village of Gamble even for insulated puppies and
17:10work dogs blizzards are a difficult fact of everyday life so long bitter storms for
17:24snowbound Eskimos there is ivory to be carved to traditional songs
17:39seated upon the floor the cover works at his trade while his wife saw the raincoat
17:45made of stretched walrus and trails
17:55the Calvary's wife was tattooed when she became a bride
18:01the traditional song becomes a singing commercial as the artisan appeals to
18:19cities and states where he hopes to sell his carvings carving show to Pika to Pika
18:26yeah San Francisco by carving for skates all these skates I think alter me some carving you see
18:39me now work long time raw ivory can no longer be exported but must be carved enhancing its value
18:50and providing employment when joblessness here approaches 90 percent in the winter in this barren
18:56land the walrus has always been almost exclusively the determinant of the Eskimos existence
19:01but with the coming of the whalers came decades of wholesale slaughter for oil and skins for foreign markets
19:12then came the headhunters robbing adult walruses of their tusks for ivory chess figures and luxury
19:21ornaments finally the harpoon gave way to the musket herds were thinned until for the protection of the walruses
19:28regulative laws were passed
19:35now in legal harvesting descendants of primitive food gatherers take to their skinboats
19:42if the Eskimos can locate the scattered herds a legal quota will be taken to restore the villages meat supply
19:53and provide the necessities for subsistence
19:57the walruses have arrived
20:00they are funneling through the 45 mile Bering Strait between the mountains of Siberia and St. Lawrence Island on their free ride north
20:14with the arrival of Captain Cousteau on snow swept gamble the skin boat of Vernon the Eskimo guide is skidded to the water's edge
20:21Cousteau and the Calypso team will take advantage of a short break in a relentless series of spring storms to search out and study the walruses now drifting north through the narrows of the Bering Strait
20:28we leave the pristine beauty of the shore for a rendezvous for a rendezvous for a rendezvous for a rendezvous for a rendezvous for high-studded seas
20:35this is my first experience with a world of blinding purity where sky and sea are indistinguishable
20:42runnin'
21:09as we approach the seal shyly retreats
21:16nearby still another seeks the protection of the sea
21:30upon lowering a hydrophone
21:37we hear an amazing world of sounds
21:40although we have seen but two seals
21:43hundreds are heard singing
21:45it is a symphony reverberating between the sea floor and the ceiling of ice
21:49it may be that like ultramodern frequency modulation sonar
22:04these continuous songs are used to measure distances
22:08but birds often sing to express the joy of life
22:15so why not seals
22:21all day Cousteau and his party push through the vast ice fields without sighting a single walrus
22:30twenty miles from Siberia they cross the international date line and suddenly a distant sleeping herd
22:37we silently approach upwind for smell is the walruses most developed sense
22:45yet it is not the smell of man that creates fear of man
22:58their concern would depend upon a past unhappy experience with man
23:04one of the walruses perhaps a sentinel raises his tusks probably as a threat to us
23:14while his companions go back to sleep
23:17vanguard of the migration from russian shores they have perhaps never seen humans before
23:23the group is composed of four adult males and a four-year-old younger male
23:38out of the water walruses like most sea mammals are lazy contented creatures
24:07their awareness is dulled by sleepiness but their hearing is acute
24:24and as we prepare to record their sounds we inadvertently destroy the tranquil scene
24:30in the ice floe the largest male stands fast bold and defiant
24:37on the ice floe the largest male stands fast bold and defiant
24:57the walrus society is closely knit they never desert a companion aggressive bulls have been known
25:10to rip skin boats from beneath the animals now approach us in a threatening test display
25:18the big male bellows his contempt as he fearlessly settles down
25:33it provides us with a rare opportunity to film him at close ranch and record his sounds
25:39to be a rare opportunity to film him at the same time
25:41in the same time
25:46Philip and I are cautious
25:52approaching a walrus on level ice may be dangerous
25:56for when provoked these two-ton creatures can strike with surprising speed
26:01our presence first draws an inquiring look and then the ruler of the ice floe appears overwhelmed
26:12by the burden of unexpected guests
26:16I venture closer
26:27mmm
26:28mmm
26:29mmm
26:31mmm
26:36mmm
26:38the other walruses move toward their companion
26:59mmm
27:00the recording of the animal has become a confrontation of wheels
27:05mmm
27:07mmm
27:09mmm
27:12mmm
27:13the younger bull moves in to urge the old one to leave
27:16mmm
27:23suddenly from the young walrus comes an incredible bell sound
27:27it is a call of alarm produced from two air sacs on either side of his neck
27:34mmm
27:40nobly defiant to the last the reluctant bull rejoins his herd
27:44voracious gulls in the strait indicate that hunters have also found walruses
27:57some eskimos return a piece of hide and blubber to the sea as an offering of gratitude for the rich meat they will store in earthen cellars
28:05in the distance another walrus herd
28:18in the distance another walrus herd
28:20man
28:22man has always and will always need to kill for eating
28:25but one cannot help having mixed emotions when suddenly confronted by the reality of a hunt
28:32especially when the hunter's stealth and skill of old have been augmented by outboard motors walkie-talkies and high-powered binoculars
28:34confronted by the reality of a hunt, especially when the hunter's stealth and
28:40skill of old have been augmented by outboard motors, walkie-talkies, and
28:44high-powered binoculars.
28:52During the brief six-week migration, because of severe storms, the Eskimos
28:57average only one day of hunting out of every three. Old males will be passed,
29:06juveniles spared. Prime targets are the females, who place themselves between the
29:11boat and their babies.
29:14Female skins, undamaged by fighting, are needed for the Eskimos' boats.
29:33An orphaned pup calls for its mother.
29:44His mother has expired on an ice floe.
30:03Only four days ago, she had cut her calf's umbilical cord, and together they had
30:10headed northward, on their great adventure.
30:19Infant walrus, we will stem your tears.
30:22The orphaned baby walrus, unafraid of man, swims toward Cousteau's approaching boat.
30:38The cub has left its dead mother to attach itself to any living thing.
30:45Alone, the hundred and twenty-five pound cub could not survive in the Arctic Sea.
30:57The baby walrus will receive the trained attention of Ed Asper, assistant curator of mammals, at Marineland of the Pacific.
31:12As a little one climbs around from person to person, we are moved by the infant's pressing need for touch and affection.
31:22He has found companions to whom he can transfer the trust he felt for his mother.
31:37The weather closes in, and so do our thoughts.
31:43The need for hunting walruses is discussed with John Apongaluk of the City Council of Gamble, Lee Cusata of the Eskimo IRA Council, and Alaska's Walter J. Hickle, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
32:00How many walrus does it take on an average for a community like Gamble, which is about 400?
32:08How many walrus a year?
32:10350 a year.
32:11350 a year.
32:12Just about, not quite one per person.
32:14No.
32:15No.
32:16Two years, we have no luck at all.
32:19And first year out of those five years, I think if I do remember right, there is only one walrus killed by one boat by luck.
32:28What?
32:29Just one.
32:30And then the second year, we are very, very huge.
32:35During those two years, a man with a big family whose income is only by carving, we didn't get anything.
32:51Yeah.
32:52So that's why it's important that the walrus is your livelihood.
32:58Yeah.
32:59Well, I think, you know, really traveling around the world and having been involved in government, I think the people that live in the Arctic, especially the Eskimo, know more about conservation and use of animals.
33:14Yeah.
33:15The total.
33:16They waste less than any place I've ever seen.
33:18That's right.
33:19Because the weather makes the problem difficult.
33:22Now, John, what do you use for the keel of your boats?
33:27We use ivory, too.
33:30The test.
33:31From the base.
33:32Male.
33:33Male.
33:34Yeah.
33:35Because they slice easy.
33:36They are suitable for any kind of surface on the ice.
33:41In other words, you need, we need the whole thing.
33:44The whole thing.
33:45To have it all.
33:46As to where it's going now.
33:47I agree with you totally.
33:48That's the wisest use of sea mammal for humanity tonight.
33:53What we have to do is manage it so the human is cared for and the walrus is cared for.
33:58Right.
33:59Yeah.
34:00No walrus was ever cared for with more devotion than the orphan pup.
34:06He's nicknamed Burke by our divers because of his throaty barks.
34:11Oh.
34:12Oh.
34:13Oh.
34:14Oh.
34:15Oh.
34:16Ed Asper explains how, in the wild, the baby walrus is kept clean by his mother.
34:22She washes him in the water or rolls him in the snow.
34:25But the water, the snow, after we wash him here, he rub him with snow and dries him,
34:29cleans him very well.
34:30Cleans him almost better than water.
34:32With his bouquet of bristles, which are sensitive tactile organs,
34:40the curious infant learns about the world around him, including the lens of our camera.
34:47Voilà.
34:48Voilà.
34:49Hey.
34:50All right.
34:51I don't want to keep it for you.
34:56As with the human baby, the bath is followed by the bottle.
35:00Until recently, it was difficult to keep rescued calves alive.
35:05But scientists have been able to approximate the walrus mother's milk.
35:08The formula consists of clams, cream, corn oil, salt, calcium, and vitamins.
35:14He's capable right now of consuming a half a gallon in one feeding.
35:20Yeah, that's pretty fast.
35:22It'd go a little faster if you squeeze on the bottle, but I don't like to rush it too much.
35:27Up here.
35:28He's getting hooked on my finger.
35:31Teller's enjoying it because he keeps closing his eyes momentarily.
35:38He goes into little dreams, I think.
35:41How nice and warm it is.
35:42Is that a sign?
35:43I think so.
35:44I think walrus do dream.
35:45When he sleeps, he twitches and, you know.
35:48And you'll probably hear him suck air in just a minute.
35:55Okay, he knows it's gone.
36:01Yeah.
36:02Take all the snow, I think, and washes the channel off.
36:07Yeah.
36:08All right, Berk, come on.
36:09Yeah.
36:10All right, Berk, come on.
36:11Yeah.
36:12He doesn't like that.
36:22Not wishing to be left alone.
36:24Berk follows.
36:26Still a little uncertain about his new surroundings, he reaches out for food and affection with his inquiring bristles.
36:43Through ages of evolution, his fore and hind limbs have been modified into flippers.
36:59Come on, Berk.
37:00Come on.
37:01Come on.
37:02Come on.
37:03Come on.
37:04Come on.
37:05Come on.
37:06Come on, Berk.
37:15Berk is a pinniped.
37:16As he waddles on, we see the swiveling of his wing-footed hind feet that enables him to walk.
37:22Tomorrow, his surrogate mothers will give him his first diving lesson.
37:37It is another bone-chilling day in the subpolar regions of the Bering Strait.
37:42Walrus pups are not born with a natural liking for the water, but learn to swim under the tutelage of their mothers.
37:49Since Berk has lost his mother, who would have taught him to breathe underwater,
37:53the calypso divers must once again serve as mother's substitutes, and once more brave the frigid sea.
38:11Berk's baby blubber makes him almost impervious to cold, but he has to be tenderly coaxed into the water.
38:19Confused, Berk expels air and gulps water.
38:28He has not yet learned to breathe properly and to close his watertight nostrils before submerging.
38:34Adult walruses can spend ten minutes underwater.
38:45Berk keeps constantly popping up to breathe.
38:48He swims around, bowling like a little kid, holding his head out of water.
38:53Our frightened baby seeks security by riding on Bonnice's back as he might his mother's.
39:03With his flippers, he seizes the diver's arm and is carried downward, only to escape upward once more.
39:12It is a woeful experience, but he is beginning to learn.
39:19And assisted by Preslin, descends at last all the way to the sea floor.
39:24Although he stays under for only a few seconds, now he has the confidence to try it on his own.
39:37Berk is praised for his good work, and then surprises us by actually searching the bottom for food during this, his first time.
39:55diving lesson.
40:10Much of his information is transmitted through his whiskers.
40:20Ascending with confidence, Berk is a big boy now.
40:33For Preslin, his teacher, whiskery kisses.
40:37The spring thaw sets in, ice slips away to the sea, and the once snowy shore becomes pebbled.
40:54Once, these Eskimo elders had also taken to the skin boats.
41:08Now, no longer able to hunt.
41:10At the end of the season, they sit and look, and recall the brave days of their youth with the walrus.
41:15The hunt has averaged one walrus per Eskimo household.
41:25This ice flow is still black with animals, as they prepare to abandon the diminishing drift ice on their way north from St. Lawrence Island.
41:32Captain Cousteau observes the large family pod of inquisitive juveniles, bulls, and cows.
41:49Now in passage to the remote clamshells of the Chukchi Sea.
42:02The walruses will no longer travel on ice, but they will take full advantage of the strong currents that will help carry them northward.
42:09The Eskimos of Gamble celebrate the conclusion of a successful hunting season.
42:21An inexperienced visiting Frenchman, Louis Preslin, joins in the traditional blanket toss.
42:30In our age of advanced technology, in this Eskimo village, tribal traditions are kept alive.
42:46But does the preservation of a native culture conflict with progress and with enlightened conservation thought?
42:53Walter Hickel.
42:54I think that the most important thing, as I see it, is we allow them to have their life the way they need it.
43:02They have to live with life in the sea.
43:04And I think that we have an obligation to see to it that that life is protected.
43:10And yet we can't protect it to the point to where they can't use it.
43:14In open waters, far beyond St. Lawrence Island, we follow a walrus family on its way northward.
43:22Soon, all contact with them will be lost as they disperse to seek out shellfish banks reaching to the polar ice cap.
43:32Today, Russian and American aerial surveys indicate that the population of the Pacific walrus has slowly increased to approximately 150,000.
43:42Walrus, behind your bristling whiskers, do you smile?
43:52On St. Lawrence Island, hit by unprecedented bad weather, Burke is left behind.
44:08But the orphaned walrus is not alone.
44:12Through 12 inches of newly dropped snow, Louis Preslin and the animal walk to the sea for a farewell swim.
44:19Soon, Burke will travel, not northward, but to Southern California's marine land of the Pacific, where he will be cared for by Ed Asper, in the company of other Arctic mammals.
44:29For the diver who taught him to swim underwater, the affectionate pup wears his heart on his flipper.
44:42The walrus pup rides on Preslin's back as he would his mother's during migration.
45:01With his great flippers, he grasps Preslin's arm tightly and nuzzles confidently, totally unaware that these are the last moments together, before parting.
45:18We had come to study the animal first described by Norsemen a thousand years ago as an ugly, fearsome monster with blazing red eyes.
45:35Red eyes they may have, but we have met and taken to our hearts a tender, responsive creature.
45:48We have found that, yes, if you return his natural affection, you may see a walrus smile.
46:18Far south of the Bering Strait, at Alaska's Round Island, resident old males who no longer migrate, live their life of leisure on retirement rocks.
46:39Pale blue from a long dive, an elderly bull seeks the warmth of his rosy, sun-baked brothers.
46:45In this sanctuary, near Calypso at anchor, protected walruses dive and feed unafraid.
47:02Our thoughts are with the walrus, past and present.
47:06With our management and our constant surveillance, the walrus society would appear secure.
47:12Yet, it has been the walrus' seasonal retreat to inaccessible seas of ice, for breeding and calving, that has largely preserved them from Germany.
47:23Until now, more than any other sea mammal, and perhaps more than man himself, the walrus has been in command of his own life, his own destiny.
47:34His own destiny.
48:04Whose boats are being in command of his own destiny, even in place affiliates minded by своим
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