In the Land of the Polar Bears | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS
A rare look at the beautiful and desolate Wrangel Island-a Soviet possession 300 miles off the coast of Alaska-as seen through the eyes of Soviet Filmmaker and naturalist Yuri Ledin. Wrangel Island is not only the home to Siberian snow geese, polar foxes and Walruses, but serves as the world's largest denning area for Polar bears.
Transcript
00:00My Outro For My 20th Birthday
00:27Yuri Lyadin, a Russian cinematographer and naturalist, lives in Norilsk, a city in Soviet Siberia.
00:38But it is rare to find him here.
00:41Usually, Lyadin spends his time in the more remote and desolate corners of the Russian north,
00:47studying and photographing the animals of the Soviet Arctic.
00:51His companion is a polar bear cub that had been kept for the winter in the protection of a zoo.
00:58Now, Lyadin prepares to return it to its home in the Siberian wilderness.
01:06Lyadin has made over a dozen expeditions to the extreme north of the Soviet Union.
01:12Often, his wife and daughter join him.
01:18Isolated for months in rugged conditions, they face hardship and sometimes even danger.
01:31In 1980, the Lyadin family undertook their most arduous and isolated expedition yet,
01:37to Wrangel Island, one of the most populated polar bear denning areas in the world.
01:44The award-winning films made by this unusual Russian family are popular on Soviet television
01:50and bring to the Russian people, and now for the first time to an American audience,
01:55a rare look at the wildlife in the vast expanse that is the Soviet Arctic.
02:13To the extreme north of our hemisphere is the polar region,
02:17a deep ice-covered ocean surrounded by the land of North America and Eurasia.
02:23The Arctic Circle delineates this area of the globe where the sun never sets on the day of the summer solstice
02:29and 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,
02:46with temperatures often as low as 50 degrees below zero.
02:51Here there is less precipitation than in most of the great deserts of the world and often a racing wind.
02:58No more than a handful of animal species can survive the harshness of this Arctic environment.
03:06But during the brief summer, the sky swings from perpetual night to perpetual day.
03:14And as this time-lapse photography shows, the sun circles low on the horizon.
03:23The temperature climbs above freezing and the snow and ice cover begins to melt.
03:31And with 24 hours of constant sunlight, the Arctic explodes into life at a dizzying pace.
03:38For the brief months of summer, the land is transformed into a green carpet of tundra,
03:44undulating plains of mosses, lichens, and shrubs.
03:48And the Arctic blooms with the colors and fragrances of hundreds and hundreds of flowering plants.
03:54It is this brief abundance that lures the migratory wildlife that returns to the Arctic each summer.
04:02300 miles beyond the Arctic Circle is an unusually rich repository of wildlife.
04:11Wrangel Island is north of the Bering Strait in the Chukchi Sea.
04:15The island, 85 miles off the coast of Siberia and 320 miles from Alaska,
04:21is one of the largest islands of eastern Siberia.
04:24In the spring, the impenetrable pack ice that surrounds Wrangel Island begins to break up and recedes north.
04:31And then the island becomes more accessible to animals and to man.
04:35Yuri Leydin's 15th expedition took him to Wrangel Island in time to record the coming of summer.
04:42I had hoped that by traveling to Wrangel Island to observe the animals and birds,
04:55I would learn more about the interrelationships between man and nature.
05:02Leydin set up camp at the base of the Dremhed Mountains near the northwest coast of the island.
05:08His wife and daughter were to join him after school was out.
05:19It was March, the time when the sun returns to the Arctic
05:23and the polar bears, coaxed by the warming air and the increasing light,
05:27begin to leave the dens that have sheltered them during the harsh winter months.
05:36For polar bear cubs, early spring is a time for tentative exploration of their new bright world.
05:58To strengthen their muscles and improve their coordination,
06:02they roam and play on the steep slopes of the mountain,
06:06while their mother is still recuperating from her long hibernation.
06:16On the day that Yuri arrived on the island,
06:18he filmed this orphaned cub that found his mother still and cold.
06:23Without her to supply him with milk or shelter, he is vulnerable and helpless.
06:53And so Yuri became a nursemaid for the cub and for his brother.
07:10His supplies did not include a proper bottle, but he improvised as best he could.
07:23I'm hungry.
07:26I'm hungry.
07:31I'm hungry.
07:33I'm hungry.
07:35I'm hungry.
07:37I'm hungry.
07:39I'm hungry.
07:41I'm hungry.
07:43I'm hungry.
07:44I'm hungry.
07:51It is thought that pregnant polar bears come from hundreds of miles away,
07:55here to the Dremhed Mountains of Wrangel Island,
07:58to make their winter dens and birth their young.
08:02They travel over the ice flows and ice bridges on the Bering and Chukchi seas
08:06to make their dens on land.
08:10For 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.
08:27They 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,
09:03the 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.
09:19It is likely to be close to her own birthplace,
09:22in an area where bears have been denning for generations.
09:26After 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.
09:43Three days after Yuri found the orphaned cubs,
09:46less than two weeks after they left the protection of their den,
09:49they returned to explore it.
10:03Like the igloos of the Eskimos,
10:07the entrance to the den is built at an incline,
10:11with the exit lower than the chamber to trap the warm air in the den cavity.
10:16Since snow is an excellent insulator,
10:19the dens stay as much as 40 degrees warmer than the outside air.
10:27Here in the late autumn,
10:30Here in the late autumn,
10:32their mother entered hibernation,
10:34a six-month winter sleep of depressed respiration
10:37and slightly lowered body temperature.
10:55The cubs were born in January,
10:57halfway through this hibernation.
10:59At birth, they weighed less than one pound.
11:03They were completely dependent on their mother,
11:06snuggling into her deep pile fur to stay warm
11:09and suckling her fat-rich milk about six times a day.
11:13For most of the hibernation,
11:15the mother reclines on her back and cradles the cubs with her massive paws.
11:28By the time spring approaches,
11:30the 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 and 40 pounds of new life
11:42off the layer of blubber under her skin.
11:52When these cubs are full-grown bears,
11:55they will have increased their weight 50-fold,
11:58and they will be among the largest predators in the world.
12:03A male bear, twice as big as a female,
12:05stands 10 feet tall and weighs as much as 1,200 pounds.
12:10He can eat 100 pounds at a time and run faster than the fastest man.
12:16Although today the polar bear roams on Wrangell
12:19and throughout the Arctic in relative safety,
12:22it was not always so.
12:24Yuri Liadin has spent years filming the polar bear.
12:28He compares the hunting traditions of the Eskimos
12:31with the ways of the commercial hunters who followed.
12:46The Eskimos preserved the customs of their ancestors
12:50and would, for five days after killing a bear,
12:53plead with its spirit to put on meat and return,
12:56a wild superstition that hardly contributed to productive hunting,
13:00but it contained a wisdom that modern man does not heed,
13:04that the abundance of life is not infinite.
13:08Eskimo settlements began on Wrangell Island in the 1920s.
13:13Like others in the Arctic, Wrangell Island Eskimos
13:16hunted the polar bears for their fur and blubber.
13:21They tracked seals, walrus, and Arctic foxes for their hides and meat
13:26and each year awaited the return of the snow geese
13:29for the plentiful eggs and the good food they provided.
13:32The Eskimos were primarily subsistence hunters,
13:36but by the early 1900s,
13:38the commercial hunters of Europe, North America, and Russia
13:41had begun a massive exploitation of Arctic animal populations.
13:45The pelt of a fully grown polar bear
13:48could command a price of thousands of dollars
13:51and by the middle of this century the world polar bear population
13:54was being decimated.
13:56International concern for Arctic wildlife
13:59prompted legislation to restrict the hunting of endangered northern animals.
14:03In 1956, the USSR prohibited all hunting of polar bears within its borders.
14:09Within two decades, other nations with polar bears also began to limit hunting.
14:16By the early 1970s,
14:18strong expressions of concern by the Soviet scientific and academic community
14:23motivated the government to expand its protection of wildlife habitats.
14:27Today, over 120 nature preserves have been established throughout the country
14:33and Wrangell Island, managed by Glovochota,
14:37which is considered an environmentally progressive state administration,
14:41is now home to one of the largest preserves in the Soviet Union.
14:45As the sign says, nature in the Arctic is unique, protect it.
14:57In the nature preserve,
14:59the old settlements of the European and Eskimo hunters have been deserted.
15:04The traps are rusted and decaying.
15:07Only a few small Eskimo villages remain on the island
15:11and hunting is limited to subsistence and local use.
15:14On Wrangell Island, as well as throughout the Arctic,
15:18the polar bear is now protected.
15:20The population that had dwindled to a few dozen bears
15:23is now back up to 200
15:25and Wrangell is once again one of the world's most populated denning areas.
15:33It is April 19th and the temperature hovers around zero.
15:37Almost three weeks have passed since Yuri Lyedin arrived on Wrangell.
15:42The orphaned cubs have become camp followers.
15:45Eventually, Lyedin will send them off to the safety of a zoo,
15:49since they would not survive the coming winter
15:52without the protection and care of an adult female.
15:55The 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,
16:03to the pack ice on the polar seas.
16:17Although the ground is still covered with snow,
16:20summer is approaching.
16:23Now it is time for Lyedin to travel to the Tondruvaya Valley
16:28to await the return of one of Wrangell's most numerous inhabitants,
16:32the Siberian snow geese.
16:38The spring days are growing longer
16:40and soon the snow geese will return from their wintering grounds in North America.
16:44From 3,000 miles away they come,
16:47back to the land of their mother,
16:493,000 miles away they come,
16:51back to the land of their ancestors,
16:53back here to their only remaining refuge in all of Russia.
16:58These long migrations play a role in the Arctic ecosystem.
17:02The most sensitive stage of the tundra growth is early spring,
17:06before the migratory geese and other birds return.
17:09If the timing is right,
17:11the tundra will be ready to support a new generation of birds
17:15during a two-month period of intensive feeding and growth after they hatch.
17:19But the summer is late this year,
17:21and though it is almost June,
17:23the ground is still covered with a blanket of snow.
17:26The temperature, which usually hovers around 33 degrees Fahrenheit,
17:30is still well below freezing.
17:34Once on Wrangell,
17:36the goose chooses a spot to begin building her nest.
17:39There's not much time,
17:41and the first eggs will usually be laid within about four days of arriving here.
17:50Another family arrives.
17:52These yearlings still wear the gray plumage from the previous summer.
17:56Although they are still too young to breed,
17:59they are now independent from their parents
18:01and will soon leave the nesting area
18:03to join other non-breeding birds that feed at the edges of the colonies.
18:09Wrangell Island,
18:11far from the many predators of the Arctic mainland,
18:14has over the centuries become a favored retreat of the snow goose.
18:19Here there are no wolves or brown bears,
18:22and the polar bear rarely roams the interior of the island.
18:26As more and more goose families arrive,
18:29competition for the snow-free ground increases.
18:33The crowded conditions force them into close contact
18:36with their most dangerous predator on Wrangell Island,
18:39the Arctic fox, that boldly patrols the nesting site.
18:43Flocks of geese break into small groups,
18:46and the pairs take up occupancy on the first available spot.
18:52Latecomers must make do with whatever space is still left.
18:56Most geese build their nest and lay their eggs
18:59with an amazing degree of synchronization,
19:02but someone has to be first.
19:18The fox keeps watch on the eggs, waiting for an unguarded moment.
19:24The gander, protector of the nest site,
19:27is busy driving away this would-be interloper,
19:30who cannot find a snow-free site for her own nest.
19:43The gander succeeds, but the victory is short-lived,
19:46for in the confusion a fox takes an egg from the nest.
19:58And buries it in the snow.
20:00He won't eat it now, but saves it as a cash for later consumption.
20:06As the days progress,
20:08and late-arriving geese find no bare land for their egg-laying,
20:12some geese resort to what is called nest parasitism,
20:16laying their eggs in the nests of others.
20:20Here, the gander attempts to drive away the invading goose
20:24as she tries to lay her egg in this nest.
20:32The goose and the gander peck and prod the newcomer to force her to retreat.
20:36In such an overpopulated nesting ground,
20:39conflicts such as these are common.
20:50Here, the pairs must make do with much less territory
20:54than they would in more favorable conditions,
20:57and their clutches, nests of eggs,
21:00are likely to be smaller than in less crowded years.
21:20Although the snow is now melted,
21:23some geese had finally given up
21:25and just laid their eggs in the open, snowy tundra,
21:28away from the protection and warmth a nest provides.
21:32This egg-dumping in harsh seasons destroys hundreds of eggs.
21:43Attempts by the geese to roll these abandoned eggs into an existing nest
21:48prove worse than futile.
22:01In such a full nest, none will be successfully incubated,
22:05and all the eggs will be destroyed.
22:10These are rusty geese.
22:12Their faces have been stained by the iron oxide in the soil of the American Northwest,
22:17where they grub for food in the tidal marshes during their winters there.
22:22Snow goose pairs bond while at their winter feeding grounds.
22:26The bonds are strong and last for a lifetime.
22:29A snow goose will only take a new partner if its mate dies.
22:33A gander adopts the nesting territory of his goose.
22:36When they return to their summer grounds,
22:38the male follows the female to her natal home.
22:42The goose returns to the same place where snow geese have been nesting for centuries,
22:46to a spot nearby last year's nest.
22:49By now, territories have been claimed and nests have been built.
22:53Each day, an egg will be laid until there are four to six.
22:57The goose will add to the nest, building it up around the eggs
23:01with heaps of grasses from the tundra.
23:04She covers the clutch carefully with moss to insulate it from the cold.
23:08Each day, the goose will leave her eggs camouflaged under a blanket of vegetation.
23:17When 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
23:30as the heat from her body warms the eggs and begins the process of development.
23:35Now almost nothing will make her abandon the nest.
23:39It is the 15th of June.
23:42The sun now shines for 24 hours a day.
23:45These geese have been incubating the eggs for a week.
23:49The 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.
24:15The geese sit close and tight on the nest to seal the eggs from the biting cold
24:21so that the incubation will continue.
24:25Their down feathers, one of nature's best insulators, keep the geese from freezing.
24:31For three days and three nights, the geese will be in the nest
24:35until the temperature is just above freezing.
24:38The temperature will be just above freezing,
24:41and the geese will be able to move freely in the nest.
24:45The geese will be able to move freely in the nest
24:49to keep the geese from freezing.
24:52For three days and three nights, the geese are lashed by fierce gales and snow.
25:10They sit and wait, and the ganders wait at their side.
25:20The storm is finally over,
25:26and the snow that has melted swells the river that passes by the nesting ground.
25:36The birds preen and clean after the welcome return of the summer warmth.
25:43Sea gulls and jaegers circle the nesting grounds.
25:49The gulls have survived the winter here by feeding off the carrion
25:53left over from the foraging of the bear and the arctic fox.
25:57The water is crystal clear, and the birds are well fed.
26:01The birds are well fed, and they will not die.
26:05The birds are well fed, and they will not die.
26:09from the foraging of the bear and the arctic fox,
26:12and the jaegers have returned from their migration in the south.
26:16They hover at the edge of the geese colonies,
26:18waiting for a chance at the nutritious goose eggs.
26:34In spite of the efforts of the ganders,
26:36more than 10% of the eggs will be lost to predators
26:39before they have a chance to hatch.
26:55It is the 23rd day of incubation.
26:58Today the eggs will begin hatching with great synchronization.
27:07Within hours, the tundra will be covered
27:10with tens of thousands of goslings.
27:16Here in the Tundra Valley,
27:18the largest goose colony on Wrangel Island,
27:21thousands of goose pairs wait for the moment when the eggs will hatch.
27:25But even when it is so close to the final hours of incubation,
27:29the ganders must still be on guard,
27:31for the gulls and the foxes still surround them
27:34and their clutches of eggs.
27:44The fox keeps close watch,
27:46awaiting a moment when the ganders' defenses are down.
27:55A sudden attack.
27:57The goose is tricked out of its nest,
27:59and Yuri Liedin watches as the fox stealthily takes and hides the egg.
28:07The foxes steal more eggs than they can possibly eat.
28:10They hide the eggs and store them for later
28:13to help them survive in the lean months of the winter.
28:17The dens of the arctic fox are often nearby the nesting ground.
28:22These dens have been used for generations.
28:29The cubs are born in early June.
28:32When there is an adequate food supply,
28:35the arctic fox can give birth to more than ten cubs.
28:38The cubs are born in early June.
28:41When there is an adequate food supply,
28:44the cubs can give birth to more than ten cubs,
28:47twice as many as the North American red and gray fox.
28:53For two weeks after they are born,
28:55the female will not leave the den,
28:58for the voracious cubs suckle frequently throughout the day.
29:02During this period, she relies on the male fox to bring her food.
29:15As Yuri Liedin has witnessed,
29:18arctic foxes are the number one enemy
29:21of nesting birds on the treeless tundra.
29:27What can I do now?
29:30What can I do now?
29:33What can I do now?
29:36What can I do now?
29:39What can I do now?
29:43The foxes have inhabited the nesting grounds of the geese
29:46for 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.
30:13By midsummer, the cubs will be weaned,
30:16and after a few more months within the family group,
30:19they are ready for their independence.
30:22These cubs will travel as loners.
30:27The foxes are uniquely equipped
30:30to withstand the extreme cold of the Arctic winter.
30:33They are one of the few mammals
30:36that wander the Arctic through all seasons.
30:39Their thick coat protects them
30:42in the 50 degree below zero temperatures.
30:45They are bigger than the red and gray fox,
30:48and their size and body density
30:51allow them to dissipate heat more slowly.
30:54And like most Arctic mammals,
30:57their extremities are shorter
31:00than those of their southern relatives
31:03to protect them from the harshness of the climate.
31:10Today, the goslings begin their struggle
31:13out of their shelves.
31:40With an egg tooth, a protuberance on the top of its bill,
31:44it taps persistently at the egg to crack the shell.
31:5024 hours later, with a great heave,
31:53a tiny bird is free.
31:57In fair weather, the goslings leave
32:00the warm protection of their nest
32:03as soon as they are dry,
32:06usually within six hours of hatching.
32:16The goslings dry to a degree
32:19that they are able to fly.
32:23The goslings dry to a yellow ball
32:26with a halo of golden down.
32:29There is the serious business
32:32of growing up to attend to,
32:35and they feed for 90% of the day,
32:38grubbing on grasses, flowers, and sedges.
32:46This is a rapid growth period,
32:4940 to 50 days when the goslings develop
32:52and prepare for their first flight.
32:55The parents go through a molt at the same time
32:58as they temporarily lose their flight feathers.
33:09Together, the family begins
33:12a long earthbound journey.
33:16They will travel as far as 20 miles,
33:19the fledglings struggling to keep up
33:22with their stronger parents.
33:25They are leaving the nesting grounds
33:28at the foothills of the mountains
33:31in the north of the island
33:34and are walking to the low-lying academy tundra
33:37to reach its rich pastures and its lakes and streams.
33:46More and more geese leave
33:49to join the exodus in a waddling procession.
34:08The Tundravaya Valley is almost empty now.
34:11Only a few families remain.
34:15Their clutches have not yet hatched.
34:23The Aden's daughter Veronica waits and watches.
34:26She is wondering if these goose families
34:29will be able to make their journey safely.
34:36The geese have, over the centuries,
34:39adjusted themselves to harsh natural conditions,
34:42but they haven't been able to adjust to man
34:45and the advent of hunting.
34:48People had believed that the abundance of birds
34:51and their eggs would last forever,
34:54but it was not so,
34:57and now the snow goose no longer exists
35:00on the Soviet continent,
35:03and this is the last place
35:06that they can make their nests.
35:13Although snow geese nest throughout Canada
35:16and the Northwest Territories,
35:19the geese that nest here
35:22are considered a subpopulation
35:25of that more plentiful group.
35:28For these Siberian geese,
35:31Wrangell is their last refuge
35:34in all of the Soviet Union.
35:37150,000 geese used to make their way
35:40to the U.S. in the 1970s.
35:43Their numbers were down to 45,000.
35:46In the Soviet Union and the United States,
35:49scientists were concerned
35:52by this serious decrease in population.
35:55In a cooperative effort
35:58that grew out of the 1972
36:01Landmark Environmental Protection Agreement
36:04between the USA and the USSR,
36:08In the summer of 1975,
36:11American scientists visited Wrangell Island
36:14to join Soviet scientists in a banding program.
36:17They captured snow geese nesting there
36:20and attached a new kind of tag.
36:23The orange bands around the birds' necks
36:26were designed with an international coding system
36:29that could be read throughout snow goose territories
36:32in North America and the Soviet Union.
36:35How to not harm the birds
36:38can be seen with a telescope
36:41from as far as a quarter of a mile away.
36:44After banding, the birds are released
36:47and they return to their flock.
36:50As the geese continue on their migratory path,
36:53the large bands enable scientists,
36:56bird watchers, and naturalists to track them.
36:59Almost 80% of the birds banded in this program
37:02have been re-sighted
37:05in their North American wintering grounds,
37:08a remarkable success rate.
37:11These reports of sightings have helped scientists
37:14to identify the migration patterns
37:17of the Wrangell Island geese.
37:20They found that one-third of the Wrangell snow geese
37:23traveled to British Columbia and Washington State
37:26and wintered there on the tidal marshlands.
37:29They feed off the grain stubble
37:32in California's Sacramento Valley.
37:35The scientists discovered that the Siberian geese
37:38arrived in U.S. hunting territory
37:41before the more plentiful snow geese
37:44that nest in the Canadian Arctic.
37:47Consequently, the Wrangell Island geese
37:50were being killed in disproportionate numbers
37:53by enthusiastic hunters at the opening of hunting season.
37:56The geese continued their early hunting
37:59until the Siberian geese were joined
38:02by the later arriving Canadian Arctic populations.
38:05As a result, today, back on Wrangell Island,
38:08the snow goose population has more than doubled.
38:19The last goslings of the season have finally hatched,
38:22but the geese must still wait several hours
38:25to lay their eggs and produce.
38:28Separated from the flock,
38:31these families are at greater risk
38:34from the foxes who still patrol the grounds.
38:45The geese will do anything they can
38:48to defend their young.
38:51This threatening posture and honking
38:54will help them stay away from the bill
38:57and the broad and powerful wingspan of the gander.
39:10This time, the goose succeeded in protecting the goslings.
39:25And now they, too,
39:28will begin their long journey
39:31to the Academy tundra
39:34to rejoin the bigger flock.
39:42Twenty miles away from the snow goose nesting grounds,
39:45there 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,
39:5443 species come to Wrangell,
39:57and 37 of these bird species make their nests here.
40:06These are black-legged kittiwakes.
40:09They spend the winter
40:12feeding on the fishes of the Bering Sea.
40:15In the summer, they migrate to the coasts of Siberia
40:18and the Pacific Northwest
40:21to nest in the safety of the ragged cliffs.
40:25And the pelagic cormorants take refuge here, too,
40:28building their nests in the hanging rocks by the sea.
40:32The cormorant sits on a narrow ledge,
40:35pressing its chest to the surface of the cliff.
40:41It can flex its long neck far back,
40:44keeping balance with its protruding tail.
40:47The nest usually contains about three downy nestlings.
40:50The adults stay close by,
40:53flying out to sea only to scavenge for shrimp and tiny fish.
41:03The kittiwakes are members of the gull family.
41:06In the summer, there are tens of thousands of them on Wrangell Island.
41:10The adults skim the surface of the sea,
41:13feeding off the plentiful fish.
41:16The snow geese have arrived here at the academy tundra
41:19close to the bird colony.
41:22Their long walk is over, and soon they will be ready for flight.
41:27The molting stage of the adult birds is finished,
41:30and the fledglings are just about ready to take to the air.
41:40Even though the fledglings are now stronger
41:43and are able to protect themselves from the fox,
41:46the danger is always present.
41:51The number of young have been greatly reduced
41:54over the weeks of their journey here.
41:57This small flock, which left the nesting ground with about 40 fledglings,
42:00now has only nine with them.
42:05It is late July, and at 37 degrees Fahrenheit,
42:08the air is warm,
42:11and it is high time for the snow geese
42:14to start their long sweep south ahead of the Arctic winter.
42:24The snow geese usually fly in irregular, jagged lines.
42:29Sometimes, however, they will fly in this V formation,
42:32riding on the waves of air created by the lead goose.
42:42This adult kittiwake returned to her nest
42:45to find a strange fledgling,
42:48which she prods and pushes away.
42:55This other unwelcome fledgling
42:58also came looking for food from an adult.
43:05The kittiwake, however,
43:08never found food.
43:22Here, too, the Arctic foxes live on the edges of the colonies,
43:25where they can find a variety of birds for their diet.
43:30In a land where less than a handful of animals brave the winter cold,
43:33the Arctic fox is ubiquitous.
43:36No place is too remote or too harsh for the fox.
43:39It travels fearlessly from the steepest mountain crags
43:42to the ragged ice flows.
43:45Mobility is the key to the fox's survival,
43:48for the fox ranges wherever there is an adequate food supply.
43:52In the summer, when the birds, lemmings, and Arctic rodents
43:55provide abundant nourishment, the fox thrives.
43:59It will store some of its booty in the crevices of the cliffs
44:02or beneath the snow or earth as a cache
44:05saved for the leaner months of winter.
44:09In recording life on Wrangell,
44:12Yuri Liedin has often witnessed this intense competition for survival.
44:20The laws of nature may sometimes seem cruel.
44:24The weak are defenseless and have little chance,
44:27and only the strongest will survive.
44:36The Arctic fox
44:39The Arctic fox
44:42The Arctic fox
44:45The Arctic fox
44:48The Arctic fox
44:51The Arctic fox
44:54The Arctic fox
44:57The Arctic fox
45:00The Arctic fox
45:03The Arctic fox
45:07Now it is late summer.
45:16In warm years, by August,
45:19the temperature has been above freezing for two months.
45:22The ice that surrounds Wrangell for most of the year
45:25has thawed and broken, receding far north beyond the island.
45:29When the ice recedes, the island becomes, for a brief time,
45:32accessible to the walrus herds
45:35that have been summering in the Chukchi Sea.
45:41The walruses spend the winter
45:44a thousand miles away in the Bering Sea.
45:47Since they are air-breathing mammals,
45:50they could not survive in the Chukchi
45:53when the ice cover is thick and unbroken.
45:56But every summer, they journey here to rest in the midnight sun
45:59and enjoy the abundant mollusks on the seafloor.
46:07This cow uses her front flipper and tusks
46:10to heave her bulk onto the slippery ice.
46:13The walrus is one of the world's largest marine mammals.
46:16A cow can weigh up to 1,500 pounds,
46:19yet she's less than half the size of the huge bulls.
46:25And although this four-month-old calf
46:28is a fraction of the weight of the adult animals,
46:31without tusks, the job is much more difficult for him.
46:34The calf was born in the spring
46:37on the ice flows of the Bering Sea.
46:40The bond between a walrus calf and its mother
46:43is strong and unbreakable.
46:46The cow will protect her calf at all costs.
46:49At the first sign of danger,
46:52she will sweep her calf off the ice flows
46:56For the first months of its life,
46:59the calf suckles frequently
47:02and sleeps and travels on the back of the cow.
47:20Walruses are among the most gregarious animals in the world.
47:23They travel in large herds,
47:26sometimes led by an older, dominant bull.
47:29When they haul out to rest,
47:32they stay close together.
47:35In the winter, this social behavior
47:38helps them to retain heat,
47:41and when the temperature drops,
47:44they huddle in crowds.
47:47The thick hide and blubber coat
47:50on their arms keeps them too warm
47:53in the 36-degree Fahrenheit weather of August.
47:56Then they stretch out and lounge on the ice
47:59and in the water to cool off.
48:05The walruses dive as deep as 200 feet
48:08to grub food from the seabed
48:11and stay submerged for 5 to 10 minutes.
48:14Their Latin name means tooth-walking seahorse
48:17because they use their tusks like sled runners
48:20as they glide along the bottom.
48:23With its muzzle and whiskers,
48:26the walrus roots and feels for food.
48:29Bulls will eat as much as 100 pounds a day,
48:32800 soft-shell clams,
48:35or 10,000 of the smaller hard-shell clams.
48:38In spite of the strong ties among the walruses,
48:41there is still a prominent and sometimes hostile hierarchy.
48:44When a bull is annoyed,
48:47he may strike out with his 3-foot tusks,
48:50puncturing the 1 1⁄2-inch thick skin
48:53of the animal that got in his way.
48:56Notice the calf's wound from an earlier fray.
48:59Because of their small size,
49:02the calves are often inadvertently hurt
49:05and occasionally killed by the bulls.
49:08And there are other dangers to the calves.
49:11The smell.
49:14When the walruses congregate on the west coast of Wrangell at Cape Blossom,
49:17the bears arrive to hunt them.
49:20The bears charge the walrus herds.
49:23In the ensuing panic,
49:26sometimes calves are separated from their mothers
49:29and become easy prey.
49:35With the bears come the foxes,
49:38who make a trail hoping to feed off the walrus carrion
49:41that the bears leave behind.
49:44The bears usually attack only calves.
49:47Walrus bulls are strong competitors,
49:50sometimes twice the weight of the bear.
49:53And when a fight occurs in the water,
49:56walruses have been known to kill bears
49:59with their massive tusks and strong flippers.
50:08The foxes move in when the bear is finished eating.
50:11As long as there is food available,
50:14the foxes will stay here eating their fill.
50:17But in the lean winter months,
50:20they must take to the pack ice
50:23to follow in the trails of the polar bear,
50:26feeding off the scraps of food the bears drop.
50:38But it is not these natural predators
50:41that threaten the walrus population.
50:44By the middle of this century,
50:47commercial exploitation of the walrus
50:50for its precious ivory tusks
50:53had reduced their numbers by almost 80%.
50:56But today, international hunting regulations
50:59have enabled the Pacific walrus
51:02to return to a population of 270,000,
51:05while 35,000 walruses,
51:08over 10% of the entire Pacific population,
51:11have hauled out here at Cape Blossom.
51:14Although the animals on Wrangell Island
51:17spend their time in the nature preserve
51:20in relative safety,
51:23a preserve is not enough protection
51:26for migratory wildlife.
51:29As they travel from sea to sea and over the pack ice,
51:32luckily human concern for the protection of wildlife
51:35also crosses geographic and political boundaries.
51:38International legislation protects the polar bear,
51:41walrus, and snow goose
51:44throughout their migratory path.
51:47And the 1972 U.S.-USSR
51:50Environmental Protection Agreement
51:53mandates close collaboration
51:56in tracking the progress of the protective laws.
52:03We have long been taught
52:06that everything in nature is interconnected,
52:09and we must never, never forget
52:12that we are only a part of the natural world.
52:15The summer is drawing to a close on Wrangell.
52:18The snow geese are beginning
52:21their three-month migration
52:24to their wintering grounds in the south.
52:28The days grow shorter,
52:31and soon the Arctic night will return.
52:34There is a new chill in the air
52:37that heralds the approach of winter.
52:40The walruses are ready for the grand exodus
52:43back through the Bering Strait
52:46to the warmer waters of the Bering Sea.
52:58The polar bear and Arctic fox,
53:01now fat from the summer's plenty,
53:04will soon return to roam the pack ice
53:07on the Arctic Ocean.
53:22And before the Arctic night
53:25descends on Wrangell Island,
53:28Yuri Liedin, too, must journey home.
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