In the Arctic, animals that do stay north for the winter are forced to seek refuge in any patches of open water that haven't frozen over.
Sometimes whales become trapped in these isolated tiny holes in the ice. A group of belugas are 22km from open ocean and it will be two
months before the ice melts. They are painfully thin and horribly scarred. Their wounds are not inflicted by the ice but by polar bears
that have spotted an easy meal. Aware of the danger, the whales stay submerged as long as they can, but they can only hold their breathe
for 20 minutes. Eventually a bear makes a catch.
In spring, female polar bears emerge from winter dens with their cubs. The mother hasn't eaten for five months and is starving. Seal pups
are a favourite, and she can detect them hidden in the snow from 2km away. As the ice melts, thousands of belugas congregate in large
estuaries for a communal exfoliation! In warm shallow water they rub vigorously against the gravel to slough off dead skin and encourage
moulting.
On Zavodovski Island is the largest penguin colony in the world. About two million chinstrap penguins come to breed on the snow-free slopes
of this live volcano. But emperor penguins stick it out on the ice. At the water's edge they are nervous as leopard seals patrol this
border. These seals are Antarctica's equivalent of polar bears. As winter closes in again and the ice begins to freeze, male emperor
penguins trek south, away from the open sea, to spend the dark months of winter out on the ice.
3:10 Bowhead Whale trapped in a polynia |
4:25 Beluga Whales also trapped, hunted by |
4:25 Polar Bear |
7:45 Herring Gull?s scavenge |
8:35 Arctic Fox also scavenges on kill |
10:15 Harp Seals nursing on pack ice |
11:10 Hooded Seal males display |
12:10 Ringed Seal birth in cave |
12:30 Polar Bear mother and cub hunt for Ringed Seal pup hiding in lair |
16:20 Spectacled Guillemot? dive and swim in summer |
17:20 Beluga Whales feed on Arctic Cod in leads (cracks in melting ice) |
18:10 Narwhals |
18:55 Bowhead Whales feed on copepods |
20:00 Polar Bear swimming |
20:45 Walrus molting in spring, feeding on soft-shelled clams |
23:05 Beluga Whales also need to molt in shallow water |
26:25 Emperor Penguins in Antarctica |
27:45 Weddell Seal scrapes air hole with teeth |
29:45 Krill scrape algae off ice |
31:15 Chinstrap Penguins climbing on land to breed |
34:15 Chinstrap Penguins |
36:40 Minke Whales |
36:40 Humpback Whales |
39:50 Antarctic Fur Seals |
39:50 Krill |
40:00 Emperor Penguins |
40:00 Leopard Seal |