episode 2
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:30The sun is absent for up to half the year in the polar regions.
00:37When it returns at the beginning of spring, its warmth will transform this magical ice
00:43world.
01:04The greatest seasonal change on our planet is now underway.
01:16Antarctica is still locked in ice and surrounded by a frozen ocean.
01:22Nonetheless, there are signs of spring.
01:28The daily penguins are arriving, just the males.
01:37They've spent five months at sea, where it's warmer than it is on land, and now they're
01:42in a hurry, for spring will be short.
01:47They have travelled 6,000 miles across the ocean since leaving their colony last year,
01:58and now they're returning to breed.
02:01They cannot lay their eggs on ice, for they would freeze.
02:04So they have to come here, where there is bare rock.
02:09Over the coming months, the few parts of Antarctica that are ice-free will be the stage on which
02:18five million Adelies will build their nests.
02:28To construct one, they need pebbles, and without a good-looking nest, a male will
02:33be unable to attract a female.
02:36When they at last arrive, an impressive property demonstrates your worth as a mate.
02:46It takes stones of all shapes and sizes to build a decent nest, and finding ones that
02:51are just right is not easy.
02:59So some penguins turn to a life of crime.
03:15The
03:41penguin who has been robbed seems unaware that the thief is just over his shoulder,
03:46and looking for more.
03:58The thief's nest is coming along nicely, probably because he keeps a particularly sharp
04:03lookout for robbers.
04:06After all, it takes one to know one.
04:18It's still cold, but the early season sun does lift the temperature by a few degrees.
04:23That, however, can have unexpected, even dangerous, consequences.
04:35The sea is heating faster than the land, pulling cold air from the middle of the continent
04:41towards the coast.
04:47These katabatic winds are stronger than any hurricane.
04:52They are the coldest and the most ferocious on the planet.
05:05The storms catch many new arrivals by surprise, and are the reason that spring here is in
05:10fact the deadliest season.
05:38Here early birds take a great risk.
05:45Some years, entire colonies are lost, buried beneath the snow.
05:50The survivors of this storm must hope that the females prove to be worth the wait when
05:55they finally decide to turn up.
06:06Spring in the north of our planet.
06:10The sun, after an absence of six months, breaks the horizon for the first time.
06:24A female polar bear emerges from her den beneath the snow.
06:29The sun must be a welcome relief after so long in the darkness.
06:39Her den is on a high slope, well away from hungry male bears who would kill her cubs,
06:45but close enough to the sea ice where she can find food for her extraordinary new family.
06:58Three young cubs.
07:07If she can raise them all to independence, it'll be a rare achievement.
07:33One of the cubs is underweight and will be fortunate to survive these early weeks.
07:42If the family reaches the sea ice, where the female can catch seals, her milk will be enriched
08:01and the smaller cub will quickly gain size and strength.
08:07The sea ice, though, is a dangerous place.
08:23The male polar bear has been out on the frozen ocean all winter.
08:28Times have been lean and a bear cub would certainly make a welcome snack.
08:33However, the mainstay of his diet is seals, and now is the time when they have their pups.
08:43The surface of the frozen sea is marked with pressure ridges and cracks created by the
08:48fluctuating tides.
08:52Both are good places to look for seals.
09:03He has detected a seal den beneath the ice.
09:08Now he must pinpoint it using only his extraordinary sense of smell.
09:17By treading lightly, he can avoid scaring his prey.
09:25He will need to punch through a meter of snow to reach the den, and if his aim is not exactly
09:31on target, the seal will certainly escape.
09:51In fact, the ringed seal abandoned her den just a few hours ago, and her pup has climbed
10:17up onto the surface.
10:19It's more exposed up here, but it's easier to see an approaching bear.
10:37The pup is well camouflaged, difficult to see when its mother has left it to go fishing.
10:50But he can still smell it.
11:15Nine out of ten polar bear hunts end in failure.
11:31The sun's warming effect on the Arctic is increasing, and the sea ice is showing the
11:36first signs of weakening.
11:43Greenland, the northern rivers, are still locked in ice.
11:49The frozen waterfalls are like dams, holding back billions of tons of fresh water that
11:54has not moved for almost six months.
12:01The vast watershed lies motionless, but as spring advances, it begins to stir.
12:13The frozen waterfalls start to weaken.
12:17Above them, the pressure is mounting.
12:25Now, from high above, whole sections can be seen to be on the move.
12:38The waterfalls are straining to hold back the force that is building up above them.
12:52The dam bursts, and the river is unleashed.
13:22Millions of tons of ice grind their way downstream, driven by the unstoppable force of the meltwater.
13:40Boulders and trees are plucked from the bankside.
13:47Within just a few days, the rivers of the north are all running.
13:52The Arctic's fresh water is flowing again.
14:07These vast floods contain 10% of the world's fresh water, and as they enter the ocean,
14:13they accelerate the breakup.
14:15Soon, an area of sea ice the size of Australia will vanish from the Arctic Ocean.
14:28As the huge ice sheet breaks up, wildlife returns to the north.
14:44The polar bear mother has made it to the edge of the sea ice, but the smallest cub is nowhere to be seen.
14:54It's a sad outcome, but the disappearance improves the chances of the remaining two,
15:00who now have more milk to share.
15:06Having led her cubs to the edge of the ice, the mother's next challenge is to catch a seal.
15:17Not easy with these two in tow.
15:34Her prey beneath the ice can detect the slightest vibration, especially from bears,
15:41and this is not the stealthiest of hunting parties.
15:53Leaving her cubs behind, however, is not an option.
15:57A male bear would eat one in a moment.
16:06This is not going to be easy.
16:20It seems that the cubs already see themselves as fearsome hunters.
16:26But they're still young enough to accept their mother's discipline.
16:31It's the naughty corner for you.
16:46This is not going to be their lucky morning.
16:57They saw no sign of a seal, and the cubs are hungry again.
17:01The mother has been nursing for four months without once eating herself, and now her milk is drying up.
17:09She must catch a seal soon, or the whole family will starve.
17:19The challenge of finding food is getting harder.
17:22She needs the sea ice as a platform from which to hunt, and it's breaking up faster with each passing day.
17:32Even the ice around the coast is starting to break.
17:37The first cracks here are eagerly awaited by some.
17:52Narwhals.
17:57The unicorns of the north are on a mission.
18:01To reach the new fishing grounds in the bays that have been frozen up all winter, but are now opening up.
18:16To get to them, the narwhals must travel down leads, temporary cracks in the ice.
18:22But these new roads could close at any time, cutting off the air that they need to breathe.
18:31The road narrows until there's barely room for one-way traffic.
18:37Then, a surprise.
18:39Narwhals coming from the other direction.
18:47It's a standoff.
18:49Each team faces an armory of sharp tusks.
18:54Whoa.
19:11Finally, one side concedes, and everyone continues in the same direction.
19:24Within a week, the remaining bays break wide open, and the narwhals turn their attention to social matters.
19:41No one knows exactly what the narwhal's tusk is for.
19:45Some say it's used for fencing, yet these exchanges are too gentle to be real fights.
19:54Whoa.
20:07Perhaps these encounters are to remind each animal of where it stands in narwhal society.
20:15We may never know.
20:24Bizarre creatures appear, as if from nowhere.
20:30The tiny plankton they eat have been fueled by the increasing warmth of the sun,
20:35and fertilized by the nutrients brought down by the great rivers and released from the melting sea ice.
20:44Sea gooseberries strain the water, and the fish are forced to drink it.
20:49Sea gooseberries strain the water with their stinging filaments.
20:53Their beating cilia scatter the sun's rays into dazzling bursts of color.
21:06Beneath the breaking sea ice, a predatory sea slug flies through the water on translucent wings.
21:13It's on the trail of a peculiar swimming snail.
21:19Whoa.
21:32And now the most voracious of the plankton eaters swim up from the depths.
21:37Arctic cod.
21:39Whoa.
21:46The shells can be enormous, some containing 500 million fish,
21:51and predators travel hundreds of miles to feast on them.
21:57The cod harvest is the annual event for the birds and seals of the far north.
22:04Whoa.
22:08For just a short period, the combination of the strengthening sun,
22:13the newly flowing rivers, and the breaking sea ice make the Arctic Ocean teem with life.
22:26The land is also transformed by the sun's heat.
22:30The small patches of bare ground that appear are darker than the snow,
22:35so they absorb more of the sun's energy.
22:40This accelerates the melt.
22:50The Arctic tundra is unveiled.
23:00Whoa.
23:03By tracking the sun, Arctic poppies catch its rays around the clock,
23:08so their flowers are always warmer than their surroundings.
23:18For early season insects, this warmth is even more valuable than nectar,
23:23if they are to stay active in the cold.
23:30Whoa.
23:36The woolly bear caterpillar does not need the warmth from flowers to kick-start its spring.
23:41It's always the first insect to appear after the snow retreats,
23:46and the story of how it does so is truly astonishing.
23:53At the start of spring, the caterpillar eats as fast as it can, as indeed it must,
24:00for this far north the season will be brief.
24:04The days shorten only too soon,
24:06but the caterpillar has not yet got enough reserves to transform itself into a moth.
24:13It can't leave the Arctic, for it can't fly,
24:16so it settles down beneath a rock.
24:20The sun's warmth rapidly dwindles.
24:23Beneath the rock, the caterpillar is out of the wind,
24:26but the cold penetrates deep into the ground.
24:31Soon, its heart stops beating.
24:34It ceases to breathe, and its body starts to freeze.
24:39First its gut, then its blood.
24:42Spring.
24:46The world's first winter.
24:50It's the coldest winter of all.
24:54The coldest winter of all.
24:58It's the coldest spring of all.
25:03The coldest spring of all.
25:07It's the coldest winter of all.
25:12After four months of darkness, the Arctic begins to thaw.
25:21And the caterpillar rises from the dead.
25:34By the time the first shoots of willow appear in the early spring,
25:38the woolly bear is already eating.
25:42But no matter how fast the woolly bear eats,
25:45it will not have time to gather enough food this year either,
25:49and the cold closes in once again.
26:12Year after year, the caterpillar slows down in the autumn,
26:16and then freezes solid.
26:27But eventually, a very special spring arrives.
26:34This one will be its last.
26:42It's now 14 years old, the world's oldest caterpillar.
26:48Its remaining days now become frantic.
26:51It starts to weave a silk cocoon.
26:57Inside, its body is changing into one that can fly and search,
27:03abilities that will be crucial in the days ahead.
27:08It's waited over a decade for this spring, and now its time is near.
27:18All across the Arctic, moths are emerging.
27:22After completing their 14-year preparation,
27:25they now have just a few days to find a partner and mate.
27:30No life illustrates more vividly the shortness of the Arctic spring,
27:35or the struggle to survive in this most seasonal of places.
27:50As spring advances, the transformation of the tundra continues.
27:55And as spring advances, the transformation of the tundra continues.
28:25TUNDRA
28:50Migrants begin arriving from the south,
28:54and suddenly the tundra is alive with birds and chicks.
29:13The Arctic's transformation is complete.
29:18TUNDRA
29:23This influx of life is good news for some permanent residents.
29:34Food is rarely plentiful out on the tundra.
29:38The Arctic wolves must make the most of this boom while it lasts.
29:47TUNDRA
30:18TUNDRA
30:38The wolves must gather as much food as they can.
30:42Many miles from here, other members of the pack are relying on them.
30:48TUNDRA
30:59This barren landscape is a hard place to make a living,
31:03forcing wolf packs to be smaller here than further south.
31:07TUNDRA
31:14Six hungry mouths to feed.
31:17The cubs are just over a month old.
31:31The ducks are devoured instantly,
31:34but on the long journey home they also caught an arctic hare,
31:37a mainstay of the tundra diet,
31:39and one the cubs seem to be particularly keen on.
31:52Uneaten food is usually hidden for leaner times,
31:55but there will be no leftovers today.
31:58The cubs are growing fast and are always hungry.
32:04TUNDRA
32:18The good times are certainly back,
32:21but these white wolves remind us of the Arctic's less welcoming side.
32:27Their coats are pale to conceal them during the long, snowy winter.
32:35It's easy to forget that one month ago this land was a barren white desert.
32:49At the southern end of our planet,
32:52the Antarctic sea ice is still at its greatest extent.
32:58But there are a few islands on its outer edge
33:01that the sea ice never quite reaches.
33:06South Georgia is washed by the rich waters of the southern Atlantic,
33:11and the comparative warmth of the sea takes the edge off the vicious southern winter.
33:25It's even possible for a few hardy animals, like the wandering albatross,
33:30to live here throughout the whole year.
33:42The enormous albatross chicks take 13 months to fledge,
33:46so they have no choice but to sit here throughout the winter.
33:50It can't be easy, but the thick layer of fluffy down keeps out the worst of the cold.
33:56Their parents travel thousands of miles
33:59to collect the fish and squid they need to stay warm and to grow.
34:13The season is turning, and storms blow in with little warning.
34:26King penguins have also been here all winter.
34:34Their chicks survive by huddling in creches to conserve their heat.
34:39A solitary bird here, standing alone, would quickly die of exposure.
34:45It seems for a hardy few, violent storms are a price worth paying
34:50for year-round fishing in the rich waters of the southern ocean.
34:56The penguins have had the beach to themselves all winter,
35:00but that is a luxury that will not last.
35:11As the winter storms subside, life begins to return.
35:17For half of the year, South Georgia has the greatest concentration of seabirds in the world,
35:23and most of them arrive in the early spring.
35:36The penguins are the only species that survive in the wild.
35:41Macaroni penguins make the most impressive entrance, over five million pairs of them.
35:47They are the world's most numerous penguin, and half of them are now here.
35:54The arrival is complete.
36:00Courtship is next on South Georgia.
36:04Courtship is next on South Georgia's busy spring schedule.
36:15The wandering albatross has the most elaborate display.
36:25These two are renewing their bonds after being months apart.
36:30Wanderers pair up in their teens and can spend a further 50 years together,
36:35one of the longest partnerships in the animal world.
37:00Wanderers pair up in their teens and can spend a further 50 years together,
37:03one of the longest partnerships in the animal world.
37:11By the middle of spring, the snows have cleared from the coves and the low ground.
37:17The beaches are almost free of ice too, but that isn't the biggest change facing the king penguins.
37:24Their peaceful waterfront has turned into an obstacle course of blubber.
37:32The elephant seals have arrived.
37:38This beach now contains a greater mass of animals than any other in the world.
37:55The young seals were conceived here a year ago,
37:58and now that they've been born, their mothers are ready to mate again.
38:04The mating rights on this patch of the beach belong to a beach master.
38:09His harem contains 50 females.
38:13Females that are coveted by others.
38:19His authority is being challenged.
38:25This rival means business.
38:40This could be the beach master's first serious test of his spring campaign.
38:55The beach master himself weighs four tons, but this rival is his equal.
39:16When these titans clash, bones crunch.
39:25When these titans clash, bones crunch.
39:33When these titans clash, bones crunch.
39:40When these titans clash, bones crunch.
39:47When these titans clash, bones crunch.
39:54When these titans clash, bones crunch.
40:04He has won the first battle, but he may have to defend his harem every hour for the next month.
40:12If he can stay master of his beach for this period, many of the young born here next year will be his.
40:24It's the end of spring on the wandering albatross cliffs, their season for fledging.
40:30Last year's chicks have lost their fluffy down and step up to the challenge of getting into the air.
40:38An albatross is not very competent on the ground, so until it can fly, it isn't good for much.
40:45And this makes the maiden flight the crucial event in an albatross's life.
40:57The albatross is the most powerful bird in the world.
41:03Managing the largest wingspan in the world takes practice.
41:11Lots of it.
41:32Weeks can go by like this.
41:35Certainly, the winds must be right, but it does appear that for some, the problem is something of a mental one.
41:57At last.
42:03The southern ocean beckons.
42:08This bird's feet will not touch land again for five years.
42:18One thousand miles further south, on the edge of the Antarctic continent, the sea ice is only just starting to break.
42:27But the Adelie penguin's activities are certainly warming up.
42:32The males have now finished their nests, by fair means or foul, and the females are finally returning, just as the weather is improving.
42:43Now their courtship can begin.
43:02The Adelie penguin is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:07He is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:12He is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:17He is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:22He is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:27He is the only male of the Adelie family.
43:43The eggs are laid and the females leave the job of incubating them to the males, while they go fishing out on the fragmenting sea ice.
43:58Killer whales.
44:11It's teamwork that makes killer whales so dangerous.
44:16And this is a big team.
44:28The Adelie penguin is the only male of the Adelie family.
44:33He is the only male of the Adelie family.
44:38He is the only male of the Adelie family.
44:43He is the only male of the Adelie family.
44:48He is the only male of the Adelie family.
44:53Another Aava penguin.
45:04Another Farmer Penguin.
45:09Another Farmer Penguin.
45:14♪♪
45:24♪♪
45:34♪♪
45:44♪♪
45:54♪♪
46:04♪♪
46:14There is no real need for the penguins to be alarmed.
46:19These killer whales are a kind that only eats fish.
46:28Rising out is simply the best way for the whales to work out
46:31which tracks lead towards the coast and better fishing.
46:35♪♪
46:45♪♪
46:48A new generation of Adelies steps forth into the short Antarctic spring
46:53to be nurtured by industrious parents
46:56who've taken great risks to give their young a head start.
47:00♪♪
47:05They will need to grow fast if they are to fledge and leave
47:09before the freeze sets in again.
47:13It's a battle they will win or lose over the approaching summer.
47:18♪♪
47:28♪♪
47:41To film the entire breeding cycle of the Adelie penguin,
47:44Frozen Planet sent a team to one of the world's largest colonies
47:47at Cape Crozier, Antarctica.
47:50We heard so much about it, read so much about it,
47:53finally we're going to get there, it's good.
47:55Cameraman Mark Smith and director Geoff Wilson
47:58plan to spend the next four months living amongst the penguins
48:02in a location first visited by the early explorers a century ago.
48:07So arduous was Scott's winter expedition to Cape Crozier
48:11that it became known as the worst journey in the world.
48:15Wow.
48:20Modern means make Mark and Geoff's journey a more comfortable affair,
48:24but once there, they will be tested to the very limits of their endurance.
48:28♪♪
48:34The pair arrive in early spring with enough supplies
48:37to survive the next four months working alone in the Antarctic wilderness.
48:42We're here.
48:45Scott's legend of Cape Crozier tells of some extreme weather, to say the least.
48:50So Mark and Geoff take advantage of the clear conditions
48:53in the knowledge that the Adelie's arrival is imminent.
49:00But the next morning, things take a turn for the worse.
49:04We've just come up to this ridge to go and check
49:07exactly what it looks like down in the colony.
49:11But even here you can hear...
49:15..a huge kind of roaring noise up on the hill.
49:19Never really heard anything like that before.
49:25Up there, it must be blowing at the most almighty gale,
49:29and that is, you know, just a mile away or something,
49:32so that means that could get here very, very quickly.
49:35So, yeah, it makes you slightly scared.
49:38Weird, isn't it?
49:40The winds here are famously ferocious,
49:43and with so little experience of this location,
49:46Mark and Geoff retreat to the relative shelter of their hut.
49:51I was just today thinking, well, it can't be too bad,
49:54because we haven't seen rocks starting to blow around yet,
49:57and just at that moment, it was like a rock took off
50:00and rolled down there.
50:07It's getting stronger.
50:10By the second day of the storm, the winds reach 80 miles an hour,
50:14and it's apparent that even getting lunch from the outside larder
50:17is too risky.
50:30To their increasing alarm, the storm continues to build.
50:36All afternoon, it's been blowing about,
50:38it must have been 100 miles an hour,
50:40and in the last half hour, it's just got a lot stronger.
50:45Aside from being absolutely terrified,
50:47there's the added worry that our gear is stashed outside somewhere,
50:50that we didn't have room for it in the hut,
50:52and we just don't know whether it's going to be there in the morning or not,
50:56which is, you could spell the end of our trip.
50:59On the third day of the storm, the winds hit 130 miles an hour.
51:04The hut starts to shake from its very foundations,
51:07and Mark and Geoff's situation becomes critical.
51:10The wind's so strong,
51:12it's constantly blowing the pilot light out on the paraffin stove,
51:16so the temperature's dropping, the wind's rising.
51:21It's like the bloody rift's coming.
51:24The really scary thing is, is that had we gone out,
51:28down to the colony and tried to film today,
51:31there's a very high likelihood that we'd be dead by now.
51:35And I don't say that lightly.
51:37There's no way we would have seen this through down there.
51:41And that is quite sobering.
51:45HE RUMBLES
51:51After four terrifying days inside the hut, the winds finally drop,
51:56and Mark and Geoff are keen to see what, if any, equipment has survived.
52:01All the real important stuff, the camera stuff, is all still here,
52:05and it's still strapped to this rock.
52:09You have no idea how much joy that gives us.
52:13We can get on with our jobs now.
52:20The first things to welcome us into the colony are these skewers,
52:24which come in and batter us from above.
52:35At its height, the colony will swell to over half a million penguins,
52:40and in the 24-hour daylight of the Antarctic summer,
52:43Mark and Geoff spent all of their waking hours filming.
52:48Unpredictable weather continues to force the team
52:51to climb the two miles back to the relative shelter of their hut,
52:55and Mark devises a novel way of testing the wind speed.
52:59HE RUMBLES
53:07After six weeks, the first sign that the pair might be tiring
53:11of their penguin neighbours.
53:14Over there's a leopard seal.
53:16It's the first non-penguin-looking animal in two months.
53:20Look at that. It's a leopard seal.
53:23So I was down here filming the penguins coming in,
53:26followed this penguin that came out of the waves up the beach,
53:29very nice shot, stopped the shot,
53:31and there in the middle of the frame was this completely white penguin
53:36trying to get into the shot.
53:39We kind of suspect that he might be following us around now.
53:46Working around the clock for this length of time
53:48in the presence of half a million screaming penguins
53:51would test anyone's resolve.
53:54I hate carrying gear. Hear that? I hate carrying gear.
53:57I don't want to do it anymore.
54:01Midway through their trip,
54:02after more than 1,000 hours amongst the penguins,
54:05their grip on reality is beginning to loosen.
54:10Here we are on the penguin superhighway
54:13where the penguins go down to the sea.
54:17It seems that they follow the American system.
54:21American system, driving on the right,
54:25going down to the sea on the right,
54:27coming back from the sea on the left as you're facing the sea.
54:33I'm fairly sure that yesterday they were doing the British system.
54:40The legendary Cape Crozier weather soon snaps them back into reality.
54:45We're just filming the penguins with this huge wind storm
54:51coming over the ice cap.
54:53This is the kind of thing we were warned about
54:55by the guy who was here before, who's been here for several years,
54:58and saying, if you see skies like this, then you should run for home.
55:01But, of course, we're just going to stay and film it.
55:03We're the BBC.
55:06But in this part of the world,
55:08working for the BBC doesn't count for much.
55:11Within minutes, the winds reach hurricane strength
55:14and the crew are in serious trouble.
55:16So we've got to now venture out and go about a mile up this valley,
55:20which looks like it's got about 80 mph winds blowing down it.
55:25So it's going to be quite an adventure.
55:27A bit frightening, though, really.
55:30After three months, the pair are now fully aware
55:33of the strength the winds can reach.
55:37There is a very real danger that they could be separated
55:40and lost in these white-out conditions.
56:11Two terrifying hours later
56:13and their relief at finally reaching the hut is tangible.
56:20With a month still to go at Cape Crozier,
56:23Mark, Geoff and the penguins will face many more storms like this.
56:27But it seems that their greatest challenge
56:30will be to maintain their sanity.
56:34Here we are, travelling through the Antarctic.
56:36By sled, we're being pulled by a herd of huskies.
56:39Oh!
56:42Twelve of them panting out front.
56:45Breaths steaming from their mouths.
56:48And as we go along, we see the happy people waving at us.
56:57Oh, my God!
57:03HE LAUGHS
57:09MUSIC SWELLS