Documentary, In the Land of the Polar Bears
"In the Land of the Polar Bears" refers to the Arctic region, where polar bears are found across five countries: Canada, Greenland, Norway (Svalbard), Russia, and the United States (Alaska). The term can also refer to specific locations like Svalbard, Norway, an archipelago often called the "polar bear capital of the world" due to its high density of the animals.
Geographic locations
The Arctic: The Arctic is the natural home for polar bears, a vast region that includes sea ice and tundra.
Svalbard: This Norwegian archipelago is highlighted as a prime location for spotting polar bears, with more bears than people.
Other Arctic nations: The term also applies to the coastal and tundra regions of the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, and Greenland, where polar bear populations live.
What you can find there
Wildlife: Besides polar bears, the Arctic is home to other wildlife like walruses, whales, Arctic foxes, and reindeer.
Unique landscapes: The region features glaciers, tundra, and sea ice, creating an otherworldly and unique environment.
Indigenous communities: The Arctic is also home to Indigenous peoples who have unique cultures and a long history of living alongside polar bears.
#theLandofthePolarBears #LandofthePolarBears #PolarBears
#Polar #Bears
"In the Land of the Polar Bears" refers to the Arctic region, where polar bears are found across five countries: Canada, Greenland, Norway (Svalbard), Russia, and the United States (Alaska). The term can also refer to specific locations like Svalbard, Norway, an archipelago often called the "polar bear capital of the world" due to its high density of the animals.
Geographic locations
The Arctic: The Arctic is the natural home for polar bears, a vast region that includes sea ice and tundra.
Svalbard: This Norwegian archipelago is highlighted as a prime location for spotting polar bears, with more bears than people.
Other Arctic nations: The term also applies to the coastal and tundra regions of the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, and Greenland, where polar bear populations live.
What you can find there
Wildlife: Besides polar bears, the Arctic is home to other wildlife like walruses, whales, Arctic foxes, and reindeer.
Unique landscapes: The region features glaciers, tundra, and sea ice, creating an otherworldly and unique environment.
Indigenous communities: The Arctic is also home to Indigenous peoples who have unique cultures and a long history of living alongside polar bears.
#theLandofthePolarBears #LandofthePolarBears #PolarBears
#Polar #Bears
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00The End
00:30Yuri Lydin, a Russian cinematographer and naturalist, lives in Norilsk, a city in
00:36Soviet Siberia. But it is rare to find him here. Usually, Lydin spends his time
00:43in the more remote and desolate corners of the Russian North, studying and
00:48photographing the animals of the Soviet Arctic. His companion is a polar bear cub
00:53that had been kept for the winter in the protection of a zoo. Now, Lydin
00:59prepares to return it to its home in the Siberian wilderness. Lydin has made over
01:07a dozen expeditions to the extreme North of the Soviet Union. Often, his wife and
01:13daughter join him. Isolated for months in rugged conditions, they face hardship and
01:21sometimes even danger.
01:31In 1980, the Lydin family undertook their most arduous and isolated expedition yet, to Wrangell
01:37Island, one of the most populated polar bear denning areas in the world. The award-winning
01:44films, made by this unusual Russian family, are popular on Soviet television and bring
01:50to the Russian people, and now for the first time to an American audience, a rare look at
01:55the wildlife in the vast expanse that is the Soviet Arctic.
02:12In the extreme north of our hemisphere is the polar region, a deep ice-covered ocean surrounded
02:19by the land of North America and Eurasia. The Arctic Circle delineates this area of the globe,
02:26where the sun never sets on the day of the summer solstice and never shines on the winter solstice.
02:33Almost half of the Arctic landmass lies within the boundaries of the Soviet Union.
02:40In this land of contrasts, the winter is long, dark and frigid, with temperatures often as
02:48low as 50 degrees below zero. Here there is less precipitation than in most of the great
02:53deserts of the world and often a racing wind. No more than a handful of animal species can
03:00survive the harshness of this Arctic environment. But during the brief summer, the sky swings from
03:09perpetual night to perpetual day. And as this time-lapse photography shows, the sun circles
03:18low on the horizon. The temperature climbs above freezing, and the snow and ice cover begins
03:27to melt. And with 24 hours of constant sunlight, the Arctic explodes into life at a dizzying pace.
03:38Over the brief months of summer, the land is transformed into a green carpet of tundra,
03:44undulating plains of mosses, lichens, and shrubs. And the Arctic blooms with the colors and fragrances
03:51of hundreds and hundreds of flowering plants. It is this brief abundance that lures the migratory wildlife
03:58that returns to the Arctic each summer. 300 miles beyond the Arctic Circle is an unusually rich repository
04:06of wildlife. Wrangel Island is north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea. The island, 85 miles off the
04:17coast of Siberia and 320 miles from Alaska, is one of the largest islands of eastern Siberia. In the spring,
04:25the impenetrable pack ice that surrounds Wrangel Island begins to break up and recedes north.
04:30And then the island becomes more accessible to animals and to man.
04:34Joril Yedin's 15th expedition took him to Wrangel Island in time to record the coming of summer.
04:41I had hoped that by traveling to Wrangel Island to observe the animals and birds,
04:54I would learn more about the interrelationships between man and nature.
05:00Joril Yedin set up camp at the base of the Dremhead Mountains near the northwest coast of the island.
05:13His wife and daughter were to join him after school was out.
05:22It was March, the time when the sun returns to the Arctic and the polar bears,
05:27coaxed by the warming air and the increasing light, begin to leave the dens that have sheltered them
05:32during the harsh winter months.
05:38For polar bear cubs, early spring is a time for tentative exploration of their new bright world.
05:57To strengthen their muscles and improve their coordination, they roam and play on the steep slopes of the mountain,
06:09while their mother is still recuperating from her long hibernation.
06:12On the day that Yuri arrived on the island, he filmed this orphaned cub that found his mother still and cold.
06:25Without her to supply him with milk or shelter, he is vulnerable and helpless.
06:38And so Yuri became a nursemaid for the cub.
06:57And for his brother.
06:58His supplies did not include a proper bottle.
07:13But he improvised as best he could.
07:15He did not cause the blood.
07:26He will not cause the blood.
07:30His blood is too hot.
07:33His blood is too hot.
07:34His blood is too hot.
07:37The blood is too hot.
07:40It is too hot.
07:42It is thought that pregnant polar bears come from hundreds of miles away,
07:55here to the Dremhead Mountains of Wrangell Island,
07:58to make their winter dens and birth their young.
08:01They travel over the ice flows and ice bridges on the Bering and Chukchi Seas
08:06to make their dens on land.
08:09For a bear that trusts her den to the vagaries of the shifting ice
08:13may find herself hundreds of miles from her home
08:16when she leaves her den after the winter hibernation.
08:21Male bears and non-breeding female bears usually do not den or hibernate.
08:28They are the only animals that make their permanent residence
08:30on the surface of the frozen polar seas.
08:33They follow the ice, making their homes on the craggy flows
08:36that are buffeted and broken by the wind and sea currents.
08:40They hunt from ice shields, which provide easy access to ringed seal and walrus.
08:48The polar bear is perfectly adapted to life in the frozen north.
08:52He is a strong swimmer who spends most of his life in the water,
08:56insulated from the cold by thick, greasy fur and a dense layer of body fat.
09:01Like many animals of the Arctic, the polar bear is larger than its southern relatives
09:07and the added bulk helps it retain heat.
09:12This bear has been here at the Drem Head Mountains since the previous autumn
09:16when she picked this site for her den.
09:18It is likely to be close to her own birthplace
09:22in an area where bears have been denning for generations.
09:24After she found a site close to the shore,
09:28she first dug a long tunnel and then a chamber.
09:32Sometimes a bear will extend the den to include two or more chambers.
09:42Three days after Yuri found the orphaned cubs,
09:46less than two weeks after they left the protection of their den,
09:49they return to explore it.
09:51Like the igloos of the Eskimos,
10:10the entrance to the den is built at an incline
10:13with the exit lower than the chamber
10:15to trap the warm air in the den cavity.
10:17Since snow is an excellent insulator,
10:21the dens stay as much as 40 degrees warmer
10:23than the outside air.
10:29Here in the late autumn,
10:31their mother entered hibernation,
10:34a six-month winter sleep
10:35of depressed respiration and slightly lowered body temperature.
10:38The cubs were born in January,
10:57halfway through this hibernation.
10:59At birth, they weighed less than one pound.
11:01They were completely dependent on their mother,
11:05snuggling into her deep pile fur to stay warm
11:08and suckling her fat, rich milk about six times a day.
11:13For most of the hibernation,
11:15the mother reclines on her back
11:16and cradles the cubs with her massive paws.
11:18By the time spring approaches,
11:31the cubs have grown to 20 pounds.
11:33For the typical litter of two,
11:35that means that without food for six months,
11:38a female bear has sustained herself
11:40and 40 pounds of new life
11:42off the layer of blubber under her skin.
11:45When these cubs are full-grown bears,
11:55they will have increased their weight 50-fold
11:57and they will be among the largest predators in the world.
12:02A male bear, twice as big as a female,
12:05stands 10 feet tall
12:07and weighs as much as 1,200 pounds.
12:10He can eat 100 pounds at a time
12:12and run faster than the fastest man.
12:15A male bear, twice as a female bear.
12:16A male bear, twice as a female bear,
12:17a female bear, twice as a female bear,
12:19and run faster than the most.
12:20A male bear, twice as a female bear.
12:20A male bear, twice as a female bear,
12:22although today the polar bear roams on Wrangell
12:25and throughout the Arctic in relative safety,
12:28it was not always so.
12:30Uri Leaden has spent years filming the polar bear.
12:33He compares the hunting traditions of the Eskimos
12:36with the ways of the commercial hunters who followed.
12:39The Eskimos preserved the customs of their ancestors and would, for five days after killing
12:52a bear, plead with its spirit to put on meat and return, a wild superstition that hardly
12:58contributed to productive hunting, but it contained a wisdom that modern man does not
13:03heed, that the abundance of life is not infinite.
13:07Eskimo settlements began on Wrangel Island in the 1920s.
13:13Like others in the Arctic, Wrangel Island Eskimos hunted the polar bears for their fur and blubber.
13:21They tracked seals, walrus, and arctic foxes for their hides and meat, and each year awaited
13:27the return of the snow geese for the plentiful eggs and the good food they provided.
13:32The Eskimos were primarily subsistence hunters, but by the early 1900s, the commercial hunters
13:39of Europe, North America, and Russia had begun a massive exploitation of arctic animal populations.
13:46The pelt of a fully grown polar bear could command a price of thousands of dollars, and by the
13:52middle of this century, the world polar bear population was being decimated.
13:56International concern for arctic wildlife prompted legislation to restrict the hunting of endangered
14:02northern animals. In 1956, the USSR prohibited all hunting of polar bears within its borders.
14:10Within two decades, other nations with polar bears also began to limit hunting.
14:17By the early 1970s, strong expressions of concern by the Soviet scientific and academic community
14:23motivated the government to expand its protection of wildlife habitats. Today, over 120 nature preserves
14:31have been established throughout the country, and Wrangel Island, managed by Gloverhota, which is
14:37considered an environmentally progressive state administration, is now home to one of the largest
14:42largest preserves in the Soviet Union. As the sign says, nature in the arctic is unique, protect it.
14:57In the nature preserve, the old settlements of the European and Eskimo hunters have been deserted.
15:05The traps are rusted and decaying.
15:08Only a few small Eskimo villages remain on the island, and hunting is limited to subsistence and local use.
15:15On Wrangel Island, as well as throughout the arctic, the polar bear is now protected.
15:20The population that had dwindled to a few dozen bears is now back up to 200, and Wrangel is once again
15:26one of the world's most populated denning areas.
15:29It is April 19th, and the temperature hovers around zero. Almost three weeks have passed since Yuri Liedin
15:40arrived on Wrangel. The orphaned cubs have become camp followers. Eventually, Liedin will send them off to
15:48the safety of a zoo, since they would not survive the coming winter without the protection and care of an
15:53adult female. The other cubs are beginning to leave the security of the maternity area with their mothers.
16:00Soon, they will make their way back to their real home, to the pack ice on the polar seas.
16:12Although the ground is still covered with snow, summer is approaching.
16:26Now it is time for Liedin to travel to the Tandrovaya Valley,
16:31to await the return of one of Wrangel's most numerous inhabitants, the Siberian snow geese.
16:41The spring days are growing longer, and soon the snow geese will return from their wintering
16:46grounds in North America. From 3,000 miles away they come, back to the land of their ancestors,
16:53back here to their only remaining refuge in all of Russia.
16:56These long migrations play a role in the Arctic ecosystem. The most sensitive stage of the tundra
17:04growth is early spring, before the migratory geese and other birds return. If the timing is right,
17:11the tundra will be ready to support a new generation of birds during a two-month period of intensive
17:16feeding and growth after they hatch. But the summer is late this year, and though it is almost June,
17:23the ground is still covered with a blanket of snow. The temperature, which usually hovers around 33
17:29degrees Fahrenheit, is still well below freezing. Once on Wrangel, the goose chooses a spot to begin
17:37building her nest. There's not much time, for the first eggs will usually be laid within about four
17:43days of arriving here. Another family arrives. These yearlings still wear the gray plumage from the
17:55previous summer. Although they are still too young to breed, they are now independent from their parents
18:01and will soon leave the nesting area to join other non-breeding birds that feed at the edges of the colonies.
18:07Wrangel Island, far from the many predators of the Arctic mainland, has over the centuries become a
18:17favored retreat of the snow goose. Here there are no wolves or brown bears, and the polar bear rarely
18:23roams the interior of the island. As more and more goose families arrive, competition for the snow-free
18:31ground increases. The crowded conditions force them into close contact with their most dangerous
18:38predator on Wrangel Island, the Arctic fox, that boldly patrols the nesting site. Flocks of geese break into
18:46small groups, and the pairs take up occupancy on the first available spot. Latecomers must make do with
18:55whatever space is still left. Most geese build their nest and lay their eggs with an amazing degree
19:01of synchronization, but someone has to be first.
19:07The fox keeps watch on the eggs, waiting for an unguarded moment. The gander, protector of the nest site,
19:27is busy driving away this would-be interloper, who cannot find a snow-free site for her own nest.
19:33The gander succeeds, but the victory is short-lived, for in the confusion a fox takes an egg from the nest,
19:50and buries it in the snow. He won't eat it now, but saves it as a cache for later consumption.
20:06As the days progress, and late arriving geese find no bare land for their egg-laying,
20:12some geese resort to what is called nest parasitism, laying their eggs in the nests of others.
20:23Here, the gander attempts to drive away the invading goose, as she tries to lay her egg in this nest.
20:29The goose and the gander peck and prod the newcomer to force her to retreat. In such an overpopulated
20:39nesting ground, conflicts such as these are common.
20:43Here the pears must make do with much less territory than they would in more favorable conditions,
21:02and their clutches, nests of eggs, are likely to be smaller than in less crowded years.
21:07Although the snow is now melted, some geese had finally given up and just laid their eggs in the
21:27open, snowy tundra, away from the protection and warmth a nest provides. This egg dumping in harsh
21:34seasons destroys hundreds of eggs. Attempts by the geese to roll these abandoned eggs into an existing
21:47nest prove worse than futile.
22:01In such a full nest, none will be successfully incubated and all the eggs will be destroyed.
22:10These are rusty geese. Their faces have been stained by the iron oxide in the soil of the American
22:16Northwest, where they grubbed for food in the tidal marshes during their winters there.
22:22Snow goose pairs bond while at their winter feeding grounds. The bonds are strong and last for a
22:27lifetime. A snow goose will only take a new partner if its mate dies. A gander adopts the nesting territory
22:35of his goose. When they return to their summer grounds, the male follows the female to her natal home.
22:41The goose returns to the same place where snow geese have been nesting for centuries, to a spot nearby last
22:47year's nest. By now, territories have been claimed and nests have been built. Each day an egg will be laid
22:55until there are four to six. The goose will add to the nest, building it up around the eggs with heaps of grasses
23:02from the tundra. She covers the clutch carefully with moss to insulate it from the cold. Each day,
23:09the goose will leave her eggs camouflaged under a blanket of vegetation.
23:13When the final egg is laid, she lines the nest with down she picks from her breast.
23:27And then she settles in for the long incubation as the heat from her body warms the eggs and begins
23:33the process of development. Now almost nothing will make her abandon the nest.
23:40It is the 15th of June. The sun now shines for 24 hours a day.
23:45These geese have been incubating the eggs for a week.
23:48The temperature is usually just above freezing.
23:59It should be too late in the year for a storm, yet a blizzard is beginning to rage.
24:18The geese sit close and tight on the nest to seal the eggs from the biting cold,
24:37so that the incubation will continue.
24:39Their down feathers, one of nature's best insulators, keep the geese from freezing.
24:51For three days and three nights, the geese are lashed by fierce gales and snow.
25:05They sit and wait, and the ganders wait at their side.
25:28The storm is finally over,
25:30and the snow that is melted swells the river that passes by the nesting ground.
25:43The birds preen and clean after the welcome return of the summer warmth.
25:58Seagulls and yeagers circle the nesting grounds. The gulls have survived the winter here by feeding
26:07off the carrion left over from the foraging of the bear and the arctic fox. And the yeagers have
26:13returned from their migration in the south. They hover at the edge of the geese colonies,
26:18waiting for a chance at the nutritious goose eggs.
26:33In spite of the efforts of the ganders, more than 10 percent of the eggs will be lost to predators before they have a chance to hatch.
26:45It is the 23rd day of incubation. Today the eggs will begin hatching with great synchronization.
27:02Within hours, the tundra will be covered with tens of thousands of goslings.
27:17Here in the Tundrovaya Valley, the largest goose colony on Wrangel Island,
27:22thousands of goose pears wait for the moment when the eggs will hatch. But even when it is so close to the
27:28final hours of incubation, the ganders must still be on guard, for the gulls and the foxes still
27:34surround them and their clutches of eggs. The fox keeps close watch, awaiting a moment when the gander's
27:48defenses are down. A sudden attack. The goose is tricked out of its nest and Yuri Lieden watches as the
28:01fox stealthily takes and hides the egg. The foxes steal more eggs than they can possibly eat.
28:10They hide the eggs and store them for later to help them survive in the lean months of the winter.
28:26The dens of the arctic fox are often nearby the nesting ground.
28:30These dens have been used for generations.
28:37The cubs are born in early June. When there's an adequate food supply,
28:42the arctic fox can give birth to more than 10 cubs, twice as many as the North American red and gray fox.
28:52For two weeks after they are born, the female will not leave the den,
28:57for the voracious cubs suckle frequently throughout the day. During this period,
29:02she relies on the male fox to bring her food.
29:09As Yuri Lieden has witnessed, arctic foxes are the number one enemy of nesting birds on the tree.
29:13Tundra Tundra.
29:26As Yuri Lieden has witnessed, arctic foxes are the number one enemy of nesting birds on the treeless tundra.
29:34arctic foxes are the number-one enemy of nesting birds on the treeless tundra.
29:44The foxes have inhabited the nesting grounds of the geese for thousands and thousands of years,
29:49and this has aided the natural selection of geese.
29:52If a goose is healthy, it is usually safe from the fox,
29:56but a weak or exhausted bird may fall prey to its traps.
30:04By mid-summer, the cubs will be weaned,
30:19and after a few more months within the family group, they are ready for their independence.
30:24These cubs will travel as loners.
30:27The foxes are uniquely equipped to withstand the extreme cold of the arctic winter.
30:34They are one of the few mammals that wander the arctic through all seasons.
30:38Their thick coat protects them in the 50 degree below zero temperatures.
30:43They are bigger than the red and gray fox,
30:46and their size and body density allow them to dissipate heat more slowly.
30:50And like most arctic mammals, their extremities are shorter than those of their southern relatives,
30:57to protect them from the harshness of the climate.
30:59Today, the goslings begin their struggle out of their shells.
31:24With an egg tooth, a protuberance on the top of its bill,
31:45it taps persistently at the egg to crack the shell.
31:52Twenty-four hours later, with a great heave, a tiny bird is free.
32:07In fair weather, the goslings leave the warm protection of their nest as soon as they are dry,
32:12usually within six hours of hatching.
32:23The goslings dry to a yellow ball with a halo of golden down.
32:28There is the serious business of growing up to attend to,
32:32and they feed for 90% of the day,
32:34grubbing on grasses, flowers, and sedges.
32:45This is a rapid growth period,
32:47the 40 to 50 days when the goslings develop and prepare for their first flight.
32:52The parents go through a molt at the same time as they temporarily lose their flight feathers.
33:08Together, the family begins a long earthbound journey.
33:12They will travel as far as 20 miles,
33:19the fledgling struggling to keep up with their stronger parents.
33:22They are leaving the nesting grounds at the foothills of the mountains
33:27in the north of the island,
33:29and are walking to the low-lying academy tundra
33:32to reach its rich pastures and its lakes and streams.
33:35More and more geese leave to join the exodus in a waddling procession.
33:52The Tundrovaya Valley is almost empty now.
34:12Only a few families remain.
34:14Their clutches have not yet hatched.
34:17The Aidan's daughter Veronica waits and watches.
34:26She is wondering if these goose families
34:29will be able to make their journey safely.
34:35The geese have, over the centuries,
34:37adjusted themselves to harsh natural conditions,
34:41but they haven't been able to adjust to man and the advent of hunting.
34:45People had believed that the abundance of birds and their eggs
34:49would last forever, but it was not so.
34:52And now the snow goose no longer exists on the Soviet continent,
34:56and this is the last place that they can make their nests.
35:00Although snow geese nest throughout Canada and the Northwest Territories,
35:20the geese that nest here are considered a subpopulation of that more plentiful group.
35:25For these Siberian geese, Wrangel is their last refuge in all of the Soviet Union.
35:32150,000 geese used to make their way every year to nest on the island.
35:37But by the early 1970s, their numbers were down to 45,000.
35:42In the Soviet Union and the United States, scientists were concerned by this serious decrease in population.
35:48In a cooperative effort that grew out of the 1972 landmark environmental protection agreement between the USA and the USSR,
35:58scientists began a program to try to figure out why the goose population on Wrangel was declining so much faster than other snow goose populations.
36:07In the summer of 1975, American scientists visited Wrangel Island to join Soviet scientists in a banding program.
36:16They captured snow geese nesting there and attached a new kind of tag.
36:21The orange bands around the birds' necks were designed with an international coding system
36:26that could be read throughout snow goose territories in North America and the Soviet Union.
36:31The large tags, which do not harm the birds, can be seen with a telescope from as far as a quarter of a mile away.
36:43After banding, the birds are released and they return to their flock.
36:49As the geese continue on their migratory path, the large bands enable scientists, bird watchers, and naturalists to track them.
36:58Almost 80% of the birds banded in this program have been resighted in their North American wintering grounds, a remarkable success rate.
37:07These reports of sightings have helped scientists to identify the migration patterns of the Wrangel Island geese.
37:14They found that one-third of the Wrangel snow geese traveled to British Columbia and Washington State and wintered there on the tidal marshlands.
37:24The rest of the geese traveled even farther south to feed off the grain stubble in California's Sacramento Valley.
37:31The scientists discovered that the Siberian geese arrived in U.S. hunting territory before the more plentiful snow geese that nest in the Canadian Arctic.
37:41Consequently, the Wrangel Island geese were being killed in disproportionate numbers by enthusiastic hunters at the opening of hunting season.
37:51In 1979, the U.S. agreed to delay hunting until the Siberian geese were joined by the later arriving Canadian Arctic populations.
38:01As a result, today, back on Wrangel Island, the snow goose population has more than doubled.
38:08The last goslings of the season have finally hatched, but the geese must still wait several hours before they can depart with their broods.
38:24Separated from the flock, these families are at greater risk from the foxes who still patrol the grounds.
38:31The geese will do anything they can to defend their young.
38:47This threatening posture and honking discourages the fox, who prefers to stay away from the bill and the broad and powerful wingspan of the gander.
38:56This time, the goose succeeded in protecting the goslings.
39:14And now they, too, will begin their long journey to the academy tundra to rejoin the bigger flock.
39:3520 miles away from the snow goose nesting grounds, there is a noisy bird colony.
39:48In the winter, only the raven makes its home on the island.
39:51But with the return of the warmth of summer, 43 species come to Wrangel,
39:56and 37 of these bird species make their nests here.
40:06These are black-legged kittiwakes.
40:09They spend the winter feeding on the fishes of the Bering Sea.
40:13In the summer, they migrate to the coasts of Siberia and the Pacific Northwest to nest in the safety of the ragged cliffs.
40:21And the pelagic cormorants take refuge here, too, building their nests in the hanging rocks by the sea.
40:30The cormorant sits on a narrow ledge, pressing its chest to the surface of the cliff.
40:36It can flex its long neck far back, keeping balance with its protruding tail.
40:45Each nest usually contains about three downy nestlings.
40:49The adults stay close by, flying out to sea only to scavenge for shrimp and tiny fish.
40:55The kittiwakes are members of the gull family.
41:05In the summer, there are tens of thousands of them on Wrangel Island.
41:09The adults skim the surface of the sea, feeding off the plentiful fish.
41:14The snow geese have arrived here at the Academy Tundra, close to the bird colony.
41:20Their long walk is over, and soon, they will be ready for flight.
41:25The molting stage of the adult birds is finished, and the fledglings are just about ready to take to the air.
41:33Even though the fledglings are now stronger and better able to protect themselves from the fox, the danger is always present.
41:50The number of young have been greatly reduced over the weeks of their journey here.
41:54This small flock, which left the nesting ground with about 40 fledglings, now has only nine with them.
42:01It is late July, and at 37 degrees Fahrenheit, the air is warm.
42:08But it will soon be time for the snow geese to start their long sweep south ahead of the Arctic winter.
42:14The snow geese usually fly in irregular jagged lines.
42:27Sometimes, however, they will fly in this V formation, riding on the waves of air created by the lead goose.
42:33This adult kittiwake returned to her nest to find a strange fledgling, which she prods and pushes away.
42:58This other unwelcome fledgling also came looking for food from an adult.
43:07Here, too, the Arctic foxes live on the edges of the colonies, where they can find a variety of birds for their diet.
43:28In a land where less than a handful of animals brave the winter cold, the Arctic fox is ubiquitous.
43:35No place is too remote or too harsh for the fox.
43:38It travels fearlessly from the steepest mountain crags to the ragged ice flows.
43:44Mobility is the key to the fox's survival, for the fox ranges wherever there is an adequate food supply.
43:51In the summer, when the birds, lemmings, and Arctic rodents provide abundant nourishment, the fox thrives.
43:57It will store some of its booty in the crevices of the cliffs or beneath the snow or earth as a cache, saved for the leaner months of winter.
44:07In recording life on Rangel, Yuri Liedin has often witnessed this intense competition for survival.
44:14The laws of nature may sometimes seem cruel.
44:22The weak are defenseless and have little chance, and only the strongest will survive.
44:28The redone is only spoiled by the Rockefeller.
44:29The white saving is too short, and only the strongest will survive.
44:37The redone is less loyal, and only the largest will survive.
44:40My lady, too, won't stand to me?
44:45The yellow co-host will stand to me?
44:47The redone is more sensible.
44:50The redone is more sensible than the redone is more sensible.
44:53The redone is more sensible than the codons of the forest.
44:55Now it is late summer.
45:16In warm years, by August, the temperature has been above freezing for two months.
45:22The ice that surrounds Wrangell for most of the year has thawed and broken.
45:26Receding far north beyond the island.
45:29When the ice recedes, the island becomes, for a brief time, accessible to the walrus herds that have been summering in the Chukchi Sea.
45:41The walruses spend the winter a thousand miles away in the Bering Sea.
45:46Since they are air-breathing mammals, they could not survive in the Chukchi when the ice cover is thick and unbroken.
45:53But every summer, they journey here to rest in the midnight sun and to feed off the abundant mollusks on the seafloor.
46:01This cow uses her front flipper and tusks to heave her bulk onto the slippery ice.
46:12The walrus is one of the world's largest marine mammals.
46:15A cow can weigh up to 1,500 pounds, yet she's less than half the size of the huge bulls.
46:24And although this four-month-old calf is only a fraction of the weight of the adult animals,
46:29without tusks, the job is much more difficult for him.
46:35The calf was born in the spring on the ice flows of the Bering Sea.
46:38The bond between a walrus calf and its mother is strong and unbreakable.
46:43The cow will protect her calf at all costs.
46:47At the first sign of danger, she will sweep her calf off the ice flows and dive with it to the safety of the sea.
46:58For the first months of its life, the calf suckles frequently and sleeps and travels on the back of the cow.
47:13Walruses are among the most gregarious animals in the world.
47:25They travel in large herds, sometimes led by an older, dominant bull.
47:30When they haul out to rest, they stay close together.
47:34In the winter, this social behavior helps them to retain heat.
47:39And when the temperature drops, they huddle in crowds.
47:44The thick hide and blubber coat that help them survive the severe cold of the winter
47:48sometimes keeps them too warm in the 36-degree Fahrenheit weather of August.
47:54Then, they stretch out and lounge on the ice and in the water to cool off.
48:04The walruses dive as deep as 200 feet to grub food from the seabed
48:09and stay submerged for 5 to 10 minutes.
48:12Their Latin name means tooth-walking seahorse because they use their tusks like sled runners as they glide along the bottom.
48:21With its muzzle and whiskers, the walrus roots and feels for food.
48:27Bulls will eat as much as 100 pounds a day, 800 soft-shell clams, or 10,000 of the smaller hard-shell clams.
48:35In spite of the strong ties among the walruses, there is still a prominent and sometimes hostile hierarchy.
48:44When a bull is annoyed, he may strike out with his three-foot tusks,
48:48puncturing the one-and-a-half-inch-thick skin of the animal that got in his way.
48:52Notice the calf's wound from an earlier fray.
48:54Because of their small size, the calves are often inadvertently hurt and occasionally killed by the bulls.
49:01And there are other dangers to the calves.
49:07Adult polar bears are fierce hunters with a strong sense of smell.
49:11When the walruses congregate on the west coast of Wrangel at Cape Blossom,
49:16the bears arrive to hunt them.
49:19The bears charge the walrus herds.
49:21In the ensuing panic, sometimes calves are separated from their mothers and become easy prey.
49:34With the bears come the foxes, who follow in their trail,
49:38hoping to feed off the walrus carrion that the bears leave behind.
49:43The bears usually attack only calves.
49:46Walrus bulls are strong competitors, sometimes twice the weight of the bear.
49:51And when a fight occurs in the water,
49:53walruses have been known to kill bears with their massive tusks and strong flippers.
50:07The foxes move in when the bear is finished eating.
50:11As long as there is food available, the foxes will stay here, eating their fill.
50:16But in the lean winter months, they must take to the pack ice to follow in the trails of the polar bear,
50:24feeding off the scraps of food the bears drop.
50:27But it is not these natural predators that threaten the walrus population.
50:43By the middle of this century, commercial exploitation of the walrus for its precious ivory tusks
50:49had reduced their numbers by almost 80%.
50:52But today, international hunting regulations have enabled the Pacific walrus
50:57to return to a population of 270,000, their highest in decades.
51:03This year, more than 35,000 walruses, over 10% of the entire Pacific population,
51:10have hauled out here at Cape Blossom.
51:13Although the animals on Wrangell Island spend their time in the nature preserve in relative safety,
51:18a preserve is not enough protection for migratory wildlife.
51:23As they travel from sea to sea and over the pack ice,
51:27these Arctic animals pay no heed to national borders and sovereignty.
51:32Luckily, human concern for the protection of wildlife also crosses geographic and political boundaries.
51:39International legislation protects the polar bear, walrus, and snow goose
51:43throughout their migratory path.
51:45And the 1972 U.S.-USSR Environmental Protection Agreement
51:51mandates close collaboration in tracking the progress of the protective laws.
52:02We have long been taught that everything in nature is interconnected,
52:07and we must never, never forget
52:09that we are only a part of the natural world.
52:15The summer is drawing to a close on Wrangell.
52:20The snow geese are beginning their three-month migration
52:23to their wintering grounds in the south.
52:29The days grow shorter,
52:31and soon the Arctic night will return.
52:33There is a new chill in the air
52:36that heralds the approach of winter.
52:41The walruses are ready for the grand exodus,
52:44back through the Bering Strait
52:45to the warmer waters of the Bering Sea.
52:47The polar bear and arctic fox,
53:05now fat from the summer's plenty,
53:07will soon return to roam the pack ice
53:10on the Arctic Ocean.
53:11And before the Arctic night descends on Wrangell Island,
53:29Yuri Liedin, too,
53:31must journey home.
53:33ORCHESTRA PLAYS
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53:59ORCHESTRA PLAYS
54:01ORGAN PLAYS
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