Arctic Wildlife Documentary Polar Bears, Wolves & Walruses | Full Documentary

Nature is not a place to visit. It's our home. Nature is all that we see. Animals, insects, disappearing into their surroundings. Using deceptions, disguises, lures. Nature is all that we hear. The call of an eagle. The hiss of ocean spray. The rumble of thunder. The doings of a cricket. The wonderful beauty of nature. The crucial, fragile affinity between animal life and their environment. All of this is World of the Wild. The northernmost part of the globe, the Arctic, is a windswept polar desert. Here, during the brief summers, temperatures never rise above 10 degrees Celsius. While the long winters can average minus 40, it is one of the least hospitable places on the planet. Life here has developed remarkable responses to this icy environment. In this episode, we meet polar bears, walruses, killer whales, moose and wolves. Characterized by its ancient glacial formations, the Arctic landscape is ever-changing. Dominated by the extensive ice sheets that grow and subside seasonally over the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. This is the domain of the Arctic's most famous resident, the polar bear. With males weighing upwards of 600 kilograms, the polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore on Earth. However, because the vast majority of their time is spent on the sea ice of their Arctic environment, and because they rely on this sea ice to hunt, polar bears are actually classed as marine mammals. In this frozen terrain, the search for food keeps polar bears in near constant motion. Their preferred prey, seals, inhabit the Arctic in their millions, but taking them is far from easy. In the months when there is sufficient ice cover, polar bears must search out the holes that seals use to breathe and lie in wait to launch their attack at the opportune moment. When the ice is too thin, or the seals too elusive, polar bears exist on their fat reserves or scavenge whatever food they can find. With the sea ice a notoriously precarious surface, polar bears have adapted to become excellent swimmers. Granted buoyancy from their insulating layer of body fat, they use their large forepaws to paddle through the freezing water with incredible efficiency and have been documented swimming non-stop for days at a time. Although generally solitary animals, when they do come together, polar bears are noted for their curious and playful social interactions. Young males especially can form friendship bonds and engage in play fights in order to prepare for mating competition later in life. Superbly insulated against the harsh Arctic winters, polar bears are active year-round. While they do not hibernate, pregnant females dig maternity dens in the snow in order to protect newborn cubs from the elements. Generally giving birth to two young, the cubs will stay close by their mother's side for the first two and a half years of their lives. From her, the cubs will learn the necessary skills to hunt, forage and survive in this most testing of environments. From an early age, the cubs must be able to travel. With the melting and freezing of the sea ice and the seasonal migrations of their prey, polar bears must remain mobile if they are to feed and live in the ever-shifting world of the Arctic. For these bears, it is a nomadic life, and the cubs keep pace with their mother as she guides them through the vast expanses of their frozen home. Enlarged paws with enhanced traction help her on the journey, distributing load over thin and slippery ice. And it is increasingly thin ice that polar bears find themselves on, with global warming having a more marked effect on the Arctic than just about anywhere else in the world. Shrinking ice sheets equate to a shrinking habitat for polar bears, and with the ice breaking up earlier each year, their prime winter hunting season is also being reduced, driving bears to shore with insufficient food reserves to endure the lean summer months. Adapting superbly over tens of thousands of years to survive in the Arctic's narrow temperature band, the question of how the polar bear will respond to today's rapidly changing climate is yet to be answered. At first glance, the desolate, forbidding landscape of the Arctic appears utterly unreceptive to life. Yet this cold, barren world harbours a specialised and surprisingly abundant biome, not the least of which is to be found in the surrounding waters. Walruses are the largest seal species in the Arctic, and the second largest in the world. Social creatures, it is rare to see a walrus alone, but recent observations are indicating that onshore gatherings are increasing in size. With rising temperatures leading to reduction in the Arctic's ice shelves, the rocky beaches of the coastline are now hosting herds in their tens of thousands. Of the world's five oceans, the Arctic is the shallowest and this is to the walruses' advantage. Feeding primarily on the shellfish found near the dark ocean floor, the easy-going walrus is able to nourish itself more effectively by taking longer dives to the lesser depths. Here, their characteristic whiskers come into play. These highly sensitive organs can detect mollusks and clams just a few millimetres in size, which the walrus then sucks the meat from with its powerful lips. After a successful feeding foray, walruses will haul themselves up out of the water, turning their rear flippers forward in order to walk on all fours. Once on terra firma, they will rest for several days, sometimes enjoying siestas of over a week before they venture again into the frigid waters. Because the Arctic Ocean is saltwater, the water temperature must drop to minus 1.8 degrees Celsius before freezing, and the walrus is perfectly comfortable in these sub-zero conditions. Up to 10 centimetres thick in places, the wrinkled skin of the walrus covers an even thicker layer of blubber beneath. Not only does their blubber insulate them, it can also be converted to energy in order to see walruses through the Arctic's lean times when feed is less plentiful. Curiously, the purpose of walruses' most recognisable appendage, their tusks, is somewhat unclear. These elongated canines can reach a metre in length and were once thought to be used in feeding, though more recent research has shown this is not the case. Instead, it appears the tusks are more of a multi-purpose instrument used in self-defence, for hauling their weighty bodies out of the water, and for maintaining breathing holes in the ice. Importantly, as males with the largest tusks have the most success in breeding, it seems the tusks are a status symbol in walrus society, one that's irresistible to females. Weighing over a tonne, due to their enormous size, adult walruses are rarely predated upon in the wild. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the demand for walrus products, including tusks and oil, saw the species severely overhunted by European sealers. With several resident populations driven to extinction, in the 20th century a ban on commercial walrus harvesting was put in place. Thankfully, the numbers have been able to recover, and these gentle giants can remain relaxed about their future in the Arctic. In the waters of the Arctic, one creature presides over all others. The killer whale, properly known as the orca. The imposing and unforgiving world of the Arctic is also a place of raw and profound beauty. With the haunting light display of the aurora borealis flowing across the skies overhead, some of the Arctic's most majestic assets can only be found below the surface. The largest members of the dolphin family, orcas, are actually more closely related to dolphins than they are to whales. And while they can be found in all the world's oceans, they remain a secretive species, and their migratory patterns are poorly understood by science. In the waters of the Arctic, orcas are considered frequent visitors rather than residents. Traversing the seas in complex, highly stable family groups, or pods, the social structures of orcas are comparable to highly intelligent terrestrial animals, including humans. As long-lived creatures, as many as four generations of a family can travel together, sharing the care of the young and working in synchrony to form ruthless and efficient hunting parties. In the Arctic, the abundant resident seal colonies make up the preferred diet of killer whales. With seals seeking refuge from these marauding predators on the shoreline, orcas have developed a remarkable hunting strategy. Surging into the shallows where the seals are at rest, orcas will temporarily beach themselves in order to snatch their quarry from beyond the water's edge. With beaching usually fatal for dolphins and whale species, this is a highly risky technique, requiring precise timing if the orca is to make a kill, and more importantly, careful judgment if it can successfully work its huge bulk back into the sea. These beach attacks are not instinctive to orcas, but can mean the difference between feeding or going hungry in the Arctic. Taking years to master, senior killer whales have been witness teaching younger pod members the technique by releasing injured seals into the vicinity of the less experienced orcas, allowing them to practice making a beach kill on already weakened prey. Predictions for their future in the Arctic are speculative. The process of bioaccumulation results in toxins from prey species building up in the predators that feed on them. Occupying the top of the food chain, orcas have the unfortunate distinction of carrying the highest toxin levels of any animal in the world. Global warming has resulted in the reduction of much of the Arctic sea ice, actually expanding the orcas' habitat in these waters. It has also opened the region's gas and oil reserves to drilling interests. With the health of the oceans directly reflected in the health of the magnificent orca, both must be carefully guarded for future generations. Also known as Arctic elk, the largest member of the deer family, the moose, is a true Arctic survivor. Coated in a layer of permafrost, the Arctic tundra is a treeless plain where only the most hardy shrubs and grasses can grow. Few large animals are capable of existing here. But dividing their time between the most luscious subarctic forests surrounds, moose are frequent inhabitants of these exposed plains. During the summer months, when the ice melts, moose venture into the waterways to feast on the sodium-rich aquatic plant life. The only deer species capable of feeding underwater, the moose is equipped with muscles that close the nostrils and prevent water from entering its airways, allowing these unlikely animals to submerge themselves completely as they graze the underwater vegetation. As herbivores, moose consume around 30 kilograms of vegetation every day. To feed efficiently in the challenging Arctic environment, they have developed sensitive prehensile lips, which they use to feel out the fresh shoots from the harder twigs, stripping an entire branch of leaves in a single mouthful. In response to the limited feeding opportunities in the Arctic, moose are solitary creatures and, unlike most deer species, only rarely gather in groups. The mating season is the exception to the rule. During the rapid Arctic autumn, around September and October, moose come together to breed. Males compete for access to females, displaying their spectacular antlers to advertise their virility and locking horns to fight for supremacy. Calves are born after eight months of gestation and grow quickly, able to outrun a human by the time they are just five days old. Although they will not reach sexual maturity for five years, they will leave their mothers when the next mating season comes around. The hollow hair of the moose pelt provides excellent protection against the elements of the cruel Arctic winters. Mature bulls will shed their horns for added energy conservation, often consuming the velvet fur that covers them for the nutrition it provides. Regrowing in spring, antlers take around four months to fully develop, making them one of the fastest growing animal organs. Throughout the winter, the moose's wide hooves are used as snowshoes, assisting these heavy animals across the soft snow. They can also be employed in digging, scraping snow cover away in order to feed on the mosses and lichens beneath. But despite their resourcefulness, not all will endure the nine-month-long Arctic winter. For all their size, moose are surprisingly nimble creatures and are more than capable of defending themselves against their predators in the Arctic. Despite a history of intense hunting that drove one subspecies to extinction, the moose remains a hardy and widespread species whose global population is increasing. Widely feared and persecuted by humans for its attacks on livestock, in the largely unpopulated Arctic, the mythic wolf remains a commanding presence. Once among the world's most widely distributed mammals, wolves occupied many habitats across the globe, from deserts to the Arctic tundra. In the face of deliberate eradication campaigns, today the Arctic stands as an enduring stronghold of the wolf. Here, a range of subspecies cohabitate, including the white-coated Arctic wolf. The largest members of the dog family, wolves are closely related to domestic canines. But genetics is one thing and behavior another, and the untamed wolf has an arsenal of adaptations to life in the Arctic wild. Preferring to target the vulnerable members of prey, animals such as deer and moose, wolves hunting as a pack or individually are capable of taking down species far larger than themselves. In the harsh Arctic environment, even the best hunters can go a long time between kills, and to make the most unreliable feeding opportunities, wolves will gorge on their victims, consuming nearly 20% of their body weight in a single feeding. Social animals, wolves generally form packs around a nuclear family model, with a mated pair at the head, accompanied by their offspring. With around 5 to 11 members, generally only the alpha pair of the pack are permitted to breed. With the breeding pair usually working the hardest during pack hunts, when a kill is made, they will eat first, feeding on the nutritionally rich organs so that they can continue producing healthy pups. Covering huge distances in search of food, wolves have been recorded walking nearly 200 kilometres in a single day. Equipped to contend with the challenging conditions of the Arctic, even when travelling over ice and snow, wolves are able to maintain the temperatures of their footpads just above the tissue freezing point. With longer legs than other canines and enlarged front paws, wolves can move efficiently even when faced with deep snow. Territorial animals, to ensure a most reliable supply of food, wolves in the Arctic tend to establish wide ranges, as large as several thousand square kilometres. Scent marking their turf every few hundred metres, the wolf's iconic howl is also used in maintaining territory. Fiercely defending their borders, territorial fights between rival packs are one of the major causes of wolf deaths in the wild. Extinct from much of their historical range due to targeted hunting around the world, the decline of wolf numbers has been turned around since the late 20th century through legal protections and reintroduction programmes. Throughout this, the largely uninterrupted wilderness of the Arctic has maintained a stable population and with careful conservation is expected to continue to do so. In the Arctic, looks can be deceiving and while outwardly hostile to life, this unique polar environment is alive with an intriguing array of specialised inhabitants. In this episode, we have met polar bears, walruses, orcas, moose and wolves. For all its ferocity, the Arctic is a surprisingly delicate place, particularly sensitive to the effects of a changing climate. And with one of the most potent greenhouse gases, methane, stored in the Arctic's permafrost, the loss of ice cover here would accelerate the effects of global warming, a tipping point from which the Earth would be unlikely to recover. Distant from most of humanity, the Arctic is nonetheless connected to us all and it is up to all of us to preserve it, not only for the sake of the Arctic, but for the sake of the world.