Sea Ice Dangers and a Polar Bear Family Encounter (4K Documentary)

This is just ridiculously cold. I'm in about 75 layers and I am still utterly freezing. This environment is so harsh. It's beautiful but it's brutal and it's dangerous. And I don't understand how anything can survive here. Across 15 million square kilometres of sea ice in the Arctic, temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius. The sun doesn't rise for almost four months of the year. It's extreme. I'm just 1,300 kilometres from the North Pole on the remote islands of Svalbard. I've got just one week to cover over 240 kilometres of properly scary Arctic terrain to try and understand how it's possible for animals to live here. Apparently there are only four land-dwelling mammals and a solitary bird that can endure the harsh winter conditions. So finding anything in this crazy place is going to be a massive challenge. I, of course, have my heart set on seeing the most iconic animal of the Arctic. A polar bear. And ideally with some cubs. Roads are of no use to us. So the best way to get around is on snowmobiles. It's so cold, apparently it's even forbidden to die here because buried bodies won't decompose in the permafrost. Mad, really insane. There's nothing here. It's April, the beginning of the brief Arctic spring. Where over a period of just nine weeks, the days change from 24 hours of darkness to 24 hours of daylight. But that doesn't mean it's any warmer. As we head into a small ravine, I spot something. Oh, look! My first animal in over two hours of travelling. What's that? That's a mountain ptarmigan. Yeah. So not so different than a grouse. Right, okay. My guide is Jason Roberts, one of the most respected in the Arctic. He has over 25 years experience working in the polar regions. It's mad to see life here. They're the only bird that overwinters on Svalbard. It doesn't leave and migrate. So they spend the whole winter here. And so I bet their happy spring started. Yeah. It's so brilliantly camouflaged, isn't it? Yeah. On top of its claws, the feathers come out. All the way over. All out, yeah. So you've got this beautiful insulation on top of the claws. Jason tells me that the ptarmigan's white feathers are unique as even the smallest branches of the feather, the barbules, contain air-filled cavities that insulate them from the cold. It's a beautiful little bird, isn't it? Look, I'm a bird spotter. Yeah, you're a twitcher. With kilometres of endless white, a solitary bird feels like a real treat. But the animal I really want to see, of course, is a polar bear. I'm only here in Svalbard for one week. So I'll need all of Jason's expertise if I'm to have any chance of making that dream come true. How would you find a polar bear in this? If a bear's up and walking, then it's much easier to see. If it's lying down, it really takes a trained eye to look for something that doesn't quite fit. Something that's not quite right. Have a look over there. Also, the colour is more cream yellow than a white. But that's why this light is absolutely perfect. Do you know what I've really noticed, Jason? It's the temperature. It's getting cold. Yeah, like it's really plummeted. But that's an unfortunate thing. When you want to search for polar bears, you want the evening, night-time light. When the temperature plummets, night-time. Oh, no, night-time. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about seeing a polar bear, as Jason says some people come here on expeditions and never find one. Shall we go and investigate? We'll go and investigate what I think is something out there. Yeah. We set off, but for the first time we'll be leaving the snow-covered land and crossing out onto the sea ice. Oh, my God, it was moving. We're on the ocean here, so I have to be very respectful. We're floating now. That was very stressful. The breeze, the wind is pushing the ice in. If it was offshore breeze, we wouldn't be standing here because we'd be floating out to sea very quickly. But we were just on that. We're on it now. Oh, God. Can we get off? So if you come over here, you can see the snowmobile track there stops and the other piece of ice has got it. Yes, I see, I see. And here there's a fox track. Yeah. There's a fox track there. You can work out the size of these that you can walk onto. Oh, my God. You'd better run and jump. Seriously. Okay. Oh, God. Make sure you make the jump. Okay. I nearly didn't make it. Get over here. We can rock the ice flow. We're tempting fate now. Here, we've got to go this way to get off. Just not on this little one because it'll go like that. No. Go on. Oh, my God. I'm floating away. No, I'll just pull the ice in. I'll just pull it. There you go. My God. Jason, I thought I was going to be floating away. I'm going to be stuck on a solitary iceberg. My God, I don't like this place at all. This is scary. You know, the other thing I'm really realising about this landscape that makes it totally unique is that it is ever-changing. Just melting and regrowing and melting and regrowing. It's extraordinary. Extraordinary and daunting. After five exhausting, bone-chilling hours out on the ice, we reach our first destination, a remote frozen fjord. There's a husky. Look at the husky. Welcome to your home in the ice. Are we staying here? I thought it was a wreck. A wreck, yeah. Hang on. It's the warmest thing on this fjord. Restyle. Done, restyle. Well done. From over there, it looks tiny. And actually, it's enormous. It's a Dutch boat, over 100 years of age, actually. They sail during the summer and during the winter, they get stuck in the ice. And then... Stop it. Yeah, every winter they freeze in. The boat's locked in the frozen sea ice for the whole winter. A perfect destination for hardcore polar explorers like myself. Oh, look at the huskies. I am a massive dog lover. And I know that my dogs would suffer in these conditions. But huskies have been pulling sleds in the freezing Arctic for thousands of years. These dogs are so amazing. They are built for these low temperatures. In fact, they can live outside in temperatures of minus 20. And you know, when they run, if it's too hot, when I say too hot, I mean something like minus five. They basically need a little rest afterwards because they just get too hot. Look at this coat. Look how dense it is. They have super thick fur, more insulating than goose down. Extra deep pads on their paws to protect them from the cold. And almond-shaped eyes so their eyeballs are less exposed in a blizzard. I've got no idea what's going on, but I think I'm staying the night here. Which will be really exciting. It might be getting on for midnight. But as we're so far north, this is as dark as it's going to get. I'm sitting in my bunk. It's the top bunk. This is me. This is the ceiling. So I can't actually... I'm going to sleep in this thermal top. And these are my thermal leggings and my thermal socks. And that's what I'm going to sleep in. Tomorrow's mission is I'd really like to see a seal. And I'd be happy with one. I don't want to be greedy. I'd love to see a seal. People spend weeks out here looking for polar bears and never see them. I've been here less than 24 hours and I've woken up to one on my doorstep. So there's a polar bear sauntering past us nice and slowly. Not a care in the world. But the dogs don't like it. Whenever you look at a bear, they just look lovely, don't they? It's so hard to imagine them being a danger. But they are killing machines. Polar bears are said to be one of the only animals to actively hunt humans. Just two weeks before I got here, a man was attacked and mauled by one while sleeping in his tent. I can't believe it's an actual bear out in the wild. Polar bears are the iconic predator of the Arctic. Equally comfortable in or out of the water, their bodies are so well adapted they don't even feel the cold until the temperature drops below minus 37 degrees Celsius. This morning, I thought, I really hope we might see a seal. Tracking a polar bear onto open sea ice is a risky business. But with Jason's experience, he can get us into a safe position where we might be able to see how these predators behave in the wild. Look! Absolutely insane that I am going towards a polar bear. It's sort of counterintuitive. Is that seals? Yeah. Oh, God. And the seals are looking at us. They're not looking out for the polar bear. He's a big, big male. He's probably about 400 kilograms. He's a little bit light for his size, but he is a big, big bear. Jason tells me that at this time of year, polar bears catch about one ringed seal every five days. Are you putting your money on the bear or the seals? Well, I think the seals have seen the bear. Oh, look, they've gone down the hole. Catching seals isn't just about satisfying hunger. The high Arctic is actually classified as a desert, as all the water here is either salty seawater or frozen solid. So polar bears need to eat seal blubber as it's a vital source of water. He's looking straight at us now. Yeah. So close. I mean, he could charge. Yeah, he'd do that distance in no time. I mean, he'd be right on us. They can charge at speeds of 40 kilometers an hour, the same as a galloping horse. But luckily, this bear's attention is on something else. He's got the scent of something. It could be us. The polar bear's nose is so sensitive, some people think they can smell a seal on the ice 32 kilometers away. Essential if they're to find enough to eat and drink out here. Is that a seal? You know what? It's your lucky day. Is it a huge seal? No, it's a walrus. It is a walrus? Walruses can weigh over a ton, the equivalent of 14 ringed seals. The walrus just put up its head. Oh, that's so funny. Have a look at the walrus putting up its head. It's noticed the bear. Oh, look at those huge tusks. Their tusks can be up to a meter long. This is a formidable opponent. So he's in stealth mode now, isn't he? Look at his paws. Look at his back leg. He's literally this enormous beast tiptoeing across the ice. Oh, he's gone in. He's gone in. We have to keep an eye on where he is and not lose him because he'll be aquatic stalking under the ice. There's holes everywhere, so we have to be extra careful here. Oh, there he is. Polar bears are strong swimmers and can travel over 150 kilometers in open water to get between ice flows. But to witness a bear hunting in the water like this is incredibly rare. Oh, he's gone down again. Oh my god, it's right in front. Can you see it? It's really just watching it. And the walrus. The walrus has not lifted a tusk. With their giant tusks, an adult walrus could fatally injure a polar bear. Oh, it's coming out. It's coming out right next to it. So I hope for his sake, this bear doesn't risk it. Oh, this is amazing. The bear's right next to it. Oh my god. The walrus is having a go. Going in the water and she's gone. The bear didn't dare jump at those. No, it didn't. It was right next to it. It's an old enough bear to know those tusks are dangerous. Well, what's it doing? It's drying itself. Now I'm watching a polar bear dry itself on the ice. I mean, it just gets better and better. Honestly, it's just never-ending brilliance. Snowflakes are absorbent, so good wriggle dries the fur after a chilly dip. You know, it's funny. Yesterday I was thinking I can't see how anything can survive. It's so bleak. And yet today I see these animals, experts at living life at the extreme. I, however, am wearing a balaclava, a snood, four layers, a snowsuit, a pair of gloves and hand warmers. It's hard to get a sense of just how cold it is here in the Arctic. So to demonstrate, I'm going to take my clothes off. Right now, I'm roasty, toasty warm. But this is what happens to me when I strip off. Using a thermal camera, you can see the white hot inner layers rapidly turning blue as their temperature drops. Then I have the black wool jacket. Then I have to take this off to get my sexy under layer off. Thank you very much. Then I take this off. I'm not going to take any more off because I think I've taken off enough. But what you're seeing now is the heat just disappearing from my body. And I tell you what, if I stayed out here for too long in this kind of temperature, I just wouldn't make it. Without my protective layers, I wouldn't last more than a few hours. And if I was in the freezing Arctic Ocean, I'd be dead in minutes. It's another couple of hours before we spot anything else in this icy wilderness. I think I can see three seals. They look so funny just sat on their own on the ice. If there's one animal that can really help me understand how it's possible to survive these freezing temperatures, it's got to be a seal. So we've got bearded seals. You see the whiskers hanging down? Bearded seals use their long sensitive whiskers like feelers to find shrimps and crabs on the sea floor, some 300 metres beneath the thin layer of ice I'm standing on. All right, a bit of over water. That's over water. That's very wet water. Adult bearded seals can be two and a half metres long and weigh over 400 kilos. That's the same as the polar bear we've just seen. The one on the back left hand side, you can see some scarring across the top of it? They're the claw marks of polar bears. The massive claws have been through the skin. He's had a lucky escape. The bearded seals are very thick skinned and underneath that they've got a couple of inches of blubber. Heat leaves your body 25 times faster in water. So a seal that spends much of its life in the ocean needs a thick layer of blubber, basically specialised fat to insulate it from the cold water. It's like the world's thickest wetsuit. Still slightly trying to come to terms with the fact that I'm fat. Just a few metres away from three beautiful, huge, lolloping bearded seals with their frosty beards. Wise old seals. To find out how good an extra layer of fat is at keeping me warm, Jason's assistant Einar and I have come up with a little test. I wanted to do a little experiment with my hands, cover one with lard, basically make myself a lovely blubber glove and have the other one naked, put both of them in the water, see what happens. So let's have a look at the lard. Some lard here that we've melted, which was actually really difficult in the Arctic, let me tell you. I'm going to lard up this hand. Okay, so you can see this hand is covered in blubber and this hand isn't. But now for the test, I'm going to act like a seal and submerse my hand in the freezing cold water. One, two, three, four, five. I have to say both of them feel absolutely freezing. Oh no, but now... Now I've got my hand out, this one's really suffering and this one actually feels a lot more protected now I'm out. Actually, I'm going to have to dry that off because it's really, really cold. Ah, God, it hurts. Oh my God, I've got to put it somewhere warm. Literally tucked my hand into Einar's armpit. This one feels okay. Well, it does. I mean, it's cold, but it's not as bad. I couldn't feel my other hand. Yeah, your other hand is really cold, I feel that. Sorry. The fact that I can keep my wet, larded-up hand out in the biting cold wind shows how effective even a thin layer of blubber can be against the freezing cold water here. We press on along the ever-changing ice edge and I can't get over how scary it is to drive on a tiny, thin layer of ice above hundreds of metres of freezing water. I don't have a thick layer of blubber. Thankfully, we soon move away from the open water towards the next frozen fjord. And as we head inland, Jason spots something on the hillside. How fantastic. It's not a bear? No, it's a reindeer. This Svalbard reindeer is completely different than the Christmas reindeer we're used to, Santa's reindeer. They're tiny. One of the best examples you can have for adaptation to the cold, very short-legged, stocky. So cute. Can I just ask you something? Why do short legs... Oh, I've stuck to your velcro. Why do short legs make you well-adapted to the cold? It's the lesser extremities. You know, where are you cold? You're cold on your fingers, your nose. Fingers, my nose, my toes. So they're compact, so less blood to further out in your extremities. But in addition to the short legs, they've got very, very short ears, their nose, their face is all more compact. Squat, yeah. There's nearly no neck on them, much more furry. Svalbard reindeer use their hooves like ice picks to dig beneath the snow to reach the grasses and moss they survive on. Actually, they normally die because of dental problems because they eat so much gravel with what they're feeding on that their teeth get worn down. Yeah, I mean, that's tragic, isn't it? It's a tragic way to die. Accidental rock eating. Other species of reindeer would starve to death on this diet, but Svalbard reindeer are highly adapted to life out here. We push deeper into this frozen desert, but another day goes by without finding our polar bear cubs. We do reach one of the most northerly towns in the world, though. Pyramiden used to serve as a Soviet coal mine, but the conditions were so extreme that when the mining stopped, the town was abandoned. But apparently, this is where we're going to be staying. It is 11 o'clock at night and the sun will not set tonight and it will not set until August. Can you believe that? May, June, July, August, four months. Four months of 24-hour daylight. It's interesting because lots of the Svalbardians, they all say they way prefer 24 hours of darkness, which I would have thought that it would be the other way around, but actually, it's mad. I've been quite tired this evening and again, the same thing's happened. I'm just wide awake again. Night, night. Or night, day, light. Um, morning. So it's, um, seven. I woke up at seven. Got to bed about half twelve and, um, I've had a hair malfunction. Look at this. I'm going to have to sort that out. I'm halfway through my time in the Arctic and with my hair hidden under a tasteful hat, I'm off to meet some scientists who are doing the most remarkable research. But before we leave, I discover this old mining town is not as deserted as I thought. It's an Arctic fox. I love the call. It doesn't sound anything like the foxes at home. It's beautiful white, so brilliantly camouflaged. I don't think I'd have ever seen... Oh, apparently they have the world's best insulating fur. As well as their luxurious fur, foxes also have a complex heat exchange system in their legs that allows them to conserve heat in their core while preventing them from getting frostbite in their paws. Together, this means that they can comfortably live at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. Oh, he's disappeared. I hope we see another one. The thing about wild animals is that most of the time you can't get very close to them. But the scientists I'm meeting today do things differently. And if we're lucky, I'll get the ultimate close-up encounter with a polar bear. In order to study the long-term population health of polar bears, scientists need to tranquilise them. It's the best way to get solid data on these dangerous animals. God, that's so amazing. I'm also hoping their work will give me a chance to have a truly close-up view of how they're adapted to the cold. God, it's so beautiful from up here. The scale of it makes you feel so insignificant, doesn't it? Polar bears live on the thin layer of sea ice that stretches all the way from Svalbard across the top of the world to the coasts of Russia, Canada and America. There's virtually no land beneath it and that's why polar bears are actually classified here as marine mammals. But the sea ice now averages only 1.3 metres thick across the whole Arctic, two thirds less than it was 40 years ago. The scientists' tagging work is proving a vital tool to reveal how polar bears are coping with global warming. To safely dart the polar bear, the helicopters need to herd him away from thin ice to somewhere they can land. They're going in for a pincer to get him onto that harder ice. I can see the line where we're trying to get to. He's nearly there. Thankfully, he's remarkably unfazed and is soon on more solid terrain. They've got to hold that chopper super still to try and get a good shot. They've got him. Sad to see such an enormous animal falling, but at least we know he's just going to sleep. You know sometimes in life when you get those moments where you stop and you pinch yourself because you think this is absolutely extraordinary what I'm doing. The other morning I was on the school run. Dr Joon Oos is a senior research scientist who's been studying polar bears for 12 years now. Is this a boy? Yes. And you know him? He's an old guy. This is a recapture, but he's only been captured once before. Hang on, I'm just trying to get my head around this. We are taking three different measures now, from nose to the tip of the tail. 240. Okay. Average or big? Average. And this is a very old male. Old. Yeah. He was estimated to be 26, because we always look at the teeth. So you see this? Oh, for the love of God. You should never put your hand inside. No. Just toward you. Yes. Yeah. I wouldn't. You can see there, most of them are broken. Yes. And that's typical for old males. Right. You see the scars here? Yeah. That's from fighting. So this is from the claws from older bears. And all the older males have scars like this. Can I touch him? Yeah, you can. Oh. Quite nice. So beautiful. Oh, you just never think you get an opportunity like that. And so how long do you think he'll be asleep for? At least an hour. It could be more, but it's always very difficult to say. So here is a number. 23971. The capture and recapture program's been running for over 30 years. And it's revealing that when ice coverage is poor, polar bears are thinner and fewer cubs survive. That's because they rely on the ice to hunt. He's got short claws, basically, to help him. And they're really sharp. So this is for gripping prey. And then the ice too, I guess. Like a crampon. Their cuddly white coat also gives them incredible insulation from the cold. It's over four times more densely packed with hair than a human head. This means that when viewed with a thermal camera, their warm bodies are so well insulated, the outer layer of fur looks as cold and blue as the outer layer of my giant coat. The only part of their body that looks yellow and hot is their face and nose, which they need exposed so they can find their prey. There are many people that think, OK, polar bears are really having a tough time because the high Arctic is so cold and harsh. Actually, this is what they like. Yeah. Most of the time, they are not feeling cold. So it's important to remember. I mean, obviously, these animals are just amazing at surviving in extreme weather. The problem is it's not staying extreme enough. Yeah, that's actually quite a good point. I keep talking to you. I'm thinking this is really interesting. And then I look down and there's a bear there. It's just mind blowing. Yeah. It really is just the most extraordinarily beautiful animal, beautifully adapted to its surroundings. He's a magnificent predator. And I bet it can. You'd think nothing could top a polar bear for its ability to survive the extremes of the Arctic. But there's an animal here that can endure the coldest temperatures found anywhere on Earth. And to stand any chance of finding one, I've got to go inside a glacier. So be careful from now on. OK. To help me navigate in this precarious, icy world is glaciologist Heidi Silvestre. How much more glacier have we got underneath us? There's about 120 metres of ice directly below us, yes. Oh, look. It's pretty magical, huh? Oh, the sparkle is absolutely fantastic, isn't it? It looks like millions and millions of beautiful shiny diamonds. Exactly. For us, the ice cave is really a mine of information. And the deeper you go, the older the ice is. And so we can read the ice. We can look at the air bubbles, at the ice crystals. And that will tell us information about the past dynamics of the glacier. Yeah, so where it's moved, the way that it's formed. Exactly how fast the glacier was in the past, how big the glacier was in the past, what the climate was like in Svalbard. And this is really, really interesting for us. This year, Heidi's team found a tunnel that leads all the way to the bottom of the glacier. Here they discovered moss frozen in the ice thousands of years ago. Would you be able to find anything alive because it's frozen? We're expecting and we're really hoping to be able to wake up some microorganisms that can survive absolutely extreme conditions. Tardigrades, or water bears, are known to withstand temperatures down to minus 272 degrees Celsius. And the team are hoping to find them in their ancient moss sample. They can be completely frozen for years and then woken up and hydrated again and they can just continue their lives. They are still very mysterious to science and to be able to find them here would be fantastic. It would be very exciting. How exciting, what an exciting time. Yes, absolutely, it really is. Being frozen alive and reanimated after so long would make them the ultimate Arctic survivor. Back with my guide Jason, we drive out onto the frozen fjord beneath the glacier and I'm acutely aware of the 20 stories of precarious ice that tower above me and the freezing cold ocean beneath my 200 kilo snowmobile. As we press on, I realise that the ice is beginning to break up. No, no, no, no. God, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. Puppy dogs and rainbows. Oh, it's moving. Oh my god, it's moving. It's like literally breaking up. This is really... Oh, I don't like it. I thought the main challenge to surviving up here would be the cold but travelling over these cracks reminds me that the vast majority of the Arctic is a thin layer of shifting ice covering an ocean. Oh, I don't like it. Oh god. I think, Davina, it's time we actually get off the ice. OK. If you listen to it... Oh my god, is that the ice? The whole thing is rocking. So as the swell comes in, it's making these cracks further and further in and as the tide goes out, it's taking the ice with it. I think this is the aspect of the Arctic that frightens me the most, the fact that it's just ever-changing. A hundred years ago, this would be full of ice. Never quite melt in summer. Now it all melts. When I first come to Svalbard, we could have driven hundreds of kilometres out the fjord here on the sea ice. So this, you know, would never break up till July and here we are in April and it's breaking up today. So you've seen enormous change. Absolutely enormous change. But anyway, we better get off the ice before we float off. It's clear that climate change is having a huge effect on the Arctic. This year saw one of the lowest levels of sea ice on record. Oh my god, oh my god. I don't like that. I don't want to go over that. Looking good down there. Like a horse. Get back on, you'll be fine. Jump on. Yep, going good. OK, go for it. You alright? Yeah, fine. Oh god. We're still in one piece, aren't we? I got the fear. A bit of adrenaline. At least you warmed me up. Need a bit of exercise every day. I warmed myself up, I tell you. So what are we going to do now? We'll keep searching along the coastline. Yeah. I've got a feeling the bears might be getting off this ice as well. Yes. So we could be lucky. OK. We'll see what we'll find. At a time like this, you know, when you've fallen off your ski-doo, it's always important to make sure your head looks nice. Right. OK, we are here then. We continue around the coast to the next frozen fjord, but don't find a polar bear. Tomorrow's my last day in the Arctic and it's beginning to look like I've used up all my luck. So after an absolutely exhausting day, we head to the only accommodation available in this area. Welcome to your home for the evening. From over there, when we were driving up to it, I was like, oh, look, there's a seal. I thought we were all going to see a seal. It's a hut. But it'll be cosy. These cabins are from the early days of exploration and hunting, but it's not just human visitors that come to stay. Bears break in through the windows all the time. Oh, for the love of God, why do you tell me that now? It's the inquisitive nature of polar bears that helps them find food where it's not always obvious. So if you're sleeping out here, you need to take precautions. OK, first thing, Davina, we're going to put a trip wire around the perimeter here. OK. We go down here. So what does this do? This is a military-grade trip wire. The height has to be set roughly this height here. We don't want the bear to be able to step over it because if it sees a wire, it'll try to step over it. We don't want it to be able to slide underneath. Yeah. It would initially be an explosion... Yeah. ...followed by a phosphorous fire. Right. All right, now let the wire out. You have to walk up to the pile up there, up to where we're going to put a sled. Don't pull it too hard because you don't want to set off the detonation. Then we've got one trip wire. I mean, trip wire sounds sensible, but apparently if I need to go out for a pee in the night, I have to take either Jason or Anar with me, and we need to be armed. This one here is basically Dirty Harry, 44 Magnum. That's very, very last precaution. Yes. This is secondary last precaution, non-lethal, explosive shot. And then we have pepper spray. We don't want to use any of this if we don't have TV... No, no, we don't. ...explosives and pepper sprays and that. So if we can, we try to move away. Of all these things here... Yes, yeah. ...this one here, you should learn how to shoot. I don't want to touch it. And then you can take that out when you go into the toilet. It's very simple. Oh, God. Step forward a little bit here, and when you hold it, just look straight down the barrel, pull the trigger. Sorry. So the first explosion... Have I shot the bear? It's non-lethal, so it'll only scare. Okay. So now when you go into the toilet in the evening... I know what it is. ...you can have that with you. Seriously, I've already got to take that when I go for a wee. We actually keep this one loaded the whole time. Okay, but not cocked? But not cocked. Guys, can't I just have a toilet? I tell you, this camping market's hard work. I thought it was supposed to be communing with nature. You've got tripwires, I've got guns, I've got axes, bombs and pepper spray and scary stuff. This is like a horror movie, something like... This is like the Blair Witch Project. Polar bear. Look how light it is. It's 20 plus one. So I'm wearing my hat here so I can go like that. So I can sleep. So you get this weird insomnia thing. And just so you can get your bearings, I'm in the kitchen. I don't care what happens to me in the night, I'm not gonna go to the loo. Because I am not going out there with a gun, you know, waking anybody up to come and hold my hand while I wee. It's not happening. It's my last day and it seems like the weather knows it as I'm greeted with driving winds. Even though the thermometer says it's minus 18 degrees Celsius, the same as my freezer at home, with winds over 30 kilometres an hour, it actually feels like minus 30. But just like the ice, the weather here can suddenly change. And as a day of searching draws to a close, visibility clears and I can hardly believe what I'm heading towards. There's two. Is that a baby? Oh my god, it's a cub. It's two cubs. Two little cubs, yeah. Oh my god, look at the babies. And look at the fox. Is this safe? Because aren't mummy bears very protective of their little cubs? It's fine, yeah. So she's just had dinner. But what would she have killed? A ring seal. The fox is stealing a bit of food in between now she's finished and the gulls will pick up the rest. How old do you think, a year? The cubs, no less, three months, four months. They're only about 500 grams when they're born. She'll be given birth roughly in December and she just suckles them on milk in the den until March, April when she breaks surface. By drinking milk with eight times more fat than cow's milk, polar bear cubs are given the best chance of putting on enough weight to survive in one of the coldest places on earth. The cubs grow at an incredible rate. So by the time they leave this area in May, June, they're already up to about 30 kilos each. Wow. And to them now, this is warm. I mean, I'm really suffering. I've got to just say, I am really suffering. It's really, really, really cold today. I've felt it quite a lot today. But for them, this is fabulous. Pretty amazing. Look, she's sniffing us. What are you doing? She's thinking. God, that's so beautiful. Seeing that, it's hard to beat, isn't it? Oh, it's hard to beat that. I really don't feel like this is real. I cannot comprehend that this is actually happening. My journey's come full circle, and the gorgeous huskies are going to take me home. It's been amazing to see how all the animals out here are so well adapted to the extreme conditions of the Arctic. And it's almost unheard of to see so many in such a short time. Gosh, I feel like a true polar explorer. Oh, wow.