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Arctic ingdom: Life At the Edge

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In the far northern reaches
of planet Earth

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lies an alien sea of ice
its waves frozen in time

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in darkness, in uncompromising cold

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It's winter on the Arctic Ocean

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But a great power is returning to
conquer this frozen sea

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The sun's rays touch the ice

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and like a living thing
it responds

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As the ice surrenders to
the rising sun

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it becomes a world in motion

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a shifting stage full of danger
and drama

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Where creatures are trapped
between moving sheets

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Stranded on the frozen waters

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Caught in the struggle to live in one
of the harshest places on earth

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And where the ice meets the open sea

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the sun awakens a world of strange
and glorious life

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This is the Arctic under the sun
a short

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brilliant season of survival a miracle

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and a resurrection at the edge
of the ice

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After three months of
winter's hard darkness

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the fisrt light of spring spreads a glow

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across the ice It's dawn in the Arctic
in the season of eternal sun

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A lone predator stalks the ice
in the early light

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A polar bear is on the prowl

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in different to the killing cold

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Even in temperatures of fifty below

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he doesn't hibernate

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The bear is the supreme master
of winter on the ice

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He can grow to seventeen hundred
pounds of hunting power

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but his life depends on
just one creature

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The ringed seal takes a quick breath

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and returns to his world below
the ice

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He, too, has endured all winter

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just beneath the feet of his
mortal enemy

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It's April. A female is also
on the ice

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bringing her cubs out hunting
for the first time

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They were born four long months ago

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and since then, their mother's
had nothing to eat

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Her sense of smell is so keen

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that she can detect her prey

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through several feet of snow
and half a mile away

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She seeks out ridges
where drifting snow

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covers the breathing hole of
a ringed seal

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Inside this protective snow cap
a seal has dug al lair

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She catches his scent

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The seal rests but only sleeps
a few seconds at a time

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its sharp hearing tuned to danger

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A tense contest of the senses begins

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Even the top predator on the ice
misses 19 times out of 20

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And yet, the mother bear
will need to kil

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at least two seals a week to keep
her cubs alive

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The seal is safe for the moment

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but each new trip to the surface

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to breathe could end in another ambush

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It's an oversized game of cat
and mouse

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The bear eats mostly the blubber

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licking bits of fat from the snow

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A stealthy white shadow has been
following the bear

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An Arctic fox

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For days he has been tracking
the great hunter

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crossing miles of ice in hopes
of leftovers from a kill

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When hunting is good, the bear
leaves a feast behind

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The fox finds a morsel and
buries it a precaution

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against an unpredictable future

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The sun now skims the horizon

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and will not set again
for four months

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Day by day

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it begins to take control of the ice
in the seasonal tug of war

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between darkness and light

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But for nearly half the year

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the far north is angled away
from the sun

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and sleeps in the dark shadow
of winter

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Left in the deep-freeze of space

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the Arctic seas lie covered with
six million square miles of ice

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As the year progresses

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the planet swings around the sun

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Light returns to the top
of the world

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With 24-hour sunshine
the polar ice begins to retreat

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By spring, the ice edge has receded
to a tangle of islands

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in the high Canadian Arctic

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and to the entrance of Lancaster Sound

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An ice-breaker cuts the first breech
of the year

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through six feet of solid ice

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It brings goods to and from villages

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and mining outposts 500 miles north
of the Arctic Circle

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For the ship, the ice is an obstacle

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For some, it is home

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The Init have carved life from
this place for 4,000 years

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The ice is their world

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and spring promises a rich season
of hunting ahead

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The ice itself has been guarding
a secret world

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But now the crystal fortress
begins to crack

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its walls pierced by light

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In the shallows forty feet below

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the sun reveasl a garden of
unexpected color

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Golden sea anemones...
bright orange starfish

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and small crustaceans awaken
from a winter trance

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Overhead, the skylight of ice glows
green with life

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A vast pasture of algae now blooms
on its surface

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spreading across the sea for
hundreds of miles

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Countless young fish

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and shrimplike creatures come
here to graze

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These in turn become food for
staggering numbers of Arctic cod

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Protected by the shield of ice

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some half million tons of cod flourish
in Lancaster Sound

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All this abundance is solar powered

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As light floods the water, it sets
off an explosion of life

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Great stores of food can now
be reached

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where the ice meets open water

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It's May, and animals begin
to gather

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for this annual feast of spring

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Thick-billed murres fly in

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from the North Atlantic to plunder
the cold waters for cod

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They flock to Lancaster Sound
in the hundreds of thousands

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Murres are uncertain aviators

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Their true medium is water

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Once beneath the waves

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they're the Arctic version
of a penguin

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With short

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flipper like wings they dive
nearly 300 feet

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for three minutes at a time

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On the way back up

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air trapped in their
feathers expands

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They rocket to the surface
in a jet trail of bubbles

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At the ice edge nearby

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a polar bear scents
the shifting wind

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As though navigating by satellite

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he continues to hunt
across the same range

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even as the ice turns into ocean

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Beneath his fur

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the white bear has jet black skin
to absorb heat

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from the sun when he's on the surface

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In the near freezing water

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four inches of blubber keep
him warm and afloat

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He's not above taking a bird or two

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But the murres take no notice
and prepare to leave

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for they have an urgent
appointment to keep

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Timing is everything here

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and the schedule is set
by the sun

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The murres head for land

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The short breeding season
has begun

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and for those who come late

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there'll be no second chance

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Their destination is a lonely
outpost in Lancaster Sound

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...the towering cliffs of Prince
Leopold Island

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Half a million seabirds crowd onto
these rocky ledges

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one thousand feet above the sea

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The murres alone number
almost 200,000

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Vicious fighting breaks out
as the murres battle

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for the safest nest sites

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They lay only a single egg
pear shaped to prevent

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it from rolling off
the narrow rock shelf

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The stronger, more aggressive birds
win sites midway down the cliff

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leaving the weaker birds at the top

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where they're most vulnerable

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An Arctic fox has been stranded here

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as the ice retreated from the island

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His white winter fur has been replaced
by a sleek, brown coat

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A castaway for the summer

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he hunts alone on an island of birds

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He heads for the cliffs the only
place to find food on the island

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Faced with a dangerous thief

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the birds abandon their eggs

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And though they can lay another

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a late season chick will not survive

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The fox steals all the eggs
he can reach

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but he'll need dozens each week
to stay alive

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Some he stashes in the cold ground

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There will be lean days ahead

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It's June. A hundred miles
from the island

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a fleet of white whales has arrived
at the ice edge

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belugas hunting for cod

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The sea is suddenly alive with sound

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This chirping
white chorus emerges

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from feeding grounds beneath
the frozen sea

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like a gathering of polar ghosts

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With no dorsal fin to impede
their icy travels

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these are true Arctic whales

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The belugas' rich symphony
of sounds hints

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at the complexity of their lives

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Their sonar may be the most
sophisticated of any whale

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Navigating under miles of ice

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they bounce clicks off shifting floes

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using a kind of "sound imaging"
to master their world

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Their melodies pulse from
their rounded foreheads

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the frequencies fine tuned

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like a focused beam of light
piercing the blue depths

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The bonds between them are strong

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A mother and calf will swim side
by side for three years

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Shadowy gray at birth

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they only gradually turn as perfectly
white as the surrounding ice

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The sun is riding high now

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Strong winds from the open sea
unleash their power against the ice

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Beaten by wind and wave
weakened by sun and current

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the ice fractures and begins
to split apart

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lmmense cracks open behind the
leading edge of the ice

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These "leads" extend for miles

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opening up new feeding areas
and hunting grounds

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The Inuit are experts at navigating
the tricky ice fields of spring

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It's a skill born of necessity
of the ancient

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need to hunt on this
ever changing surface

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Olyuk knows how to read the ice

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Still
men and machines are sometimes lost

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In the old days

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entire hunting parties could
disappear without a trace

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They are now sixty miles from home

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They are hoping the trip will end
in a successful hunt

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but it may take days

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Not far away, one of the most
aggressive animals

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in the Arctic hauls out to rest
adult walruses

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heavily armored with tusks
and skin that is one inch thick

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Their skulls are massive

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and backed by a body weighing
one ton

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they can bash through nine
inches of ice

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Out of the water

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their only enemies are polar bears
and human hunters

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The walrus feed on vast beds of
clams buried 200 feet below

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in the muddy sea floor

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Each one can eat thousands of
clams in a single meal

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And the mud harbors less obvious

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but just as deadly predators

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A carnivorous snail begins a slow

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methodical attack

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It smells the clam hiding in the mud

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and tries to penetrate the tightly
closed shell

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But the clam can defend itself

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with a strong kick from
its single foot

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Even stranger creatures patrol
the dark ooze

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They thrive in the near freezing
waters of the Arctic feeding

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on the remains of the dead

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...and on each other

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Overhead, the surface is warming up

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Frozen salt ater melts first

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and from deep inside the ice

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salty brine begins to drain away

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Plumes of supercool

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salty liquid spill downward out
of holes in the ice

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freezing the waters just beneath

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Hollow stalactites build up around
the draining brine

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some reaching three feet in length

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The waves continue to hammer
at the ice

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and the edge gives way under
the relentless assault

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Ind and strong currents push
ice floes together

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Massive blocks pile up and
over each other

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building miniature mountain ranges

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In the wake of the shifting ice
giants come to fee

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The bowhead whale is named
for its great curving jaw

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A favorite target of whalers

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it has never recovered from
two centuries of slaughter

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Numbering only in the hundreds

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bowheads in the eastern Arctic
make their last stand

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Reaching 60 feet in length

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it's the largest animal
in the Arctic seas

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Yet the bowhead comes to
feed on the smallest

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Energized by the touch of the sun

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the depths now pulse with millions
of minute animals

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They seem electrified

258
00:29:24,829 --> 00:29:29,129
their transparent bodies glimmer
with iridescent light

259
00:29:36,641 --> 00:29:38,199
More liquid than solid

260
00:29:38,309 --> 00:29:41,437
these delicate drifters are
miracles of survival

261
00:29:41,546 --> 00:29:44,242
wrapped in enchanting beauty

262
00:29:59,097 --> 00:30:02,555
But to live here, they must also kill

263
00:30:05,370 --> 00:30:09,704
A jelly trails its long tentacles
snaring a copepod

264
00:30:10,141 --> 00:30:12,803
then reeling it in to its death

265
00:30:14,946 --> 00:30:18,712
These tiny hunters float in a world
of their own

266
00:30:21,186 --> 00:30:26,123
unaware of the leviathan that could
devour their entire universe

267
00:30:29,494 --> 00:30:31,257
The bowhead sweeps through the water

268
00:30:31,362 --> 00:30:33,353
like a living trawl net

269
00:30:36,768 --> 00:30:38,702
Between the cavernous jaws

270
00:30:38,803 --> 00:30:42,068
dark sheets called baleen filter
the water

271
00:30:42,173 --> 00:30:45,438
collecting thousands of
small creatures

272
00:30:46,978 --> 00:30:50,414
lts enormous white tongue will
scrape the baleen clean

273
00:30:50,515 --> 00:30:54,849
harvesting the sea one giant
mouthful at a time

274
00:31:16,474 --> 00:31:19,341
The sun is winning control of the ice

275
00:31:19,444 --> 00:31:22,208
and the surface pools with melt water

276
00:31:22,313 --> 00:31:26,079
Temperatures now reach a balmy
40 degrees

277
00:31:27,151 --> 00:31:30,211
Dripping water measures the
fleeting season

278
00:31:30,321 --> 00:31:33,757
the sound of summer ticking away

279
00:31:46,070 --> 00:31:49,267
Fresh leads break into the
remaining ice

280
00:31:52,677 --> 00:31:56,943
The Arctic's most intriging creature
moves in from the sea

281
00:32:00,318 --> 00:32:02,912
The narwhal - with its ivory tusk

282
00:32:03,021 --> 00:32:06,184
a living tooth up to ten feet long

283
00:32:16,067 --> 00:32:19,161
The whales converge along
the narrow highway

284
00:32:20,538 --> 00:32:23,473
This is what Olyuk has been
looking for

285
00:32:26,144 --> 00:32:28,908
Hunting is at the heart of
Inuit culture

286
00:32:29,013 --> 00:32:33,507
a way of life and a skill still
passed down from father to son

287
00:32:34,118 --> 00:32:36,018
It's a proud link to the past

288
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,783
and the only way to live off the
land in the Arctic

289
00:32:48,566 --> 00:32:51,626
Today, the Inuit are still allowed
to hunt whales

290
00:32:51,736 --> 00:32:54,728
but their take is strictly controlled

291
00:32:55,239 --> 00:32:57,969
Yet Olyuk remembers the not
so distant days

292
00:32:58,076 --> 00:33:02,638
when hunting meant the difference
between life and death

293
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:08,903
They have landed a female only males
have a tusk

294
00:34:26,898 --> 00:34:30,994
Whale skin is especially nutritious
high in vitamin C

295
00:34:31,102 --> 00:34:32,000
Without such a diet

296
00:34:32,103 --> 00:34:34,230
the Inuit would have suffered
from the scurvy

297
00:34:34,338 --> 00:34:37,239
which plagued many Arctic expeditions

298
00:34:37,642 --> 00:34:41,544
Eaten raw, it's a delicacy
called "muktuk."

299
00:35:17,448 --> 00:35:19,643
In the still twilight of midnight

300
00:35:19,750 --> 00:35:22,480
te narwhals joust a slow

301
00:35:22,587 --> 00:35:25,988
stately ritual of mythic beasts

302
00:35:30,361 --> 00:35:35,424
The purpose of their strange single
tusk remains a mystery

303
00:35:35,533 --> 00:35:38,366
Like the peacock's tail and
the lion's mane

304
00:35:38,469 --> 00:35:41,734
it may serve as a banner of
male prowess

305
00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:44,871
It could be a weapon

306
00:35:45,343 --> 00:35:48,141
But it's the stuff of legend

307
00:35:49,313 --> 00:35:50,439
In the Middle Ages

308
00:35:50,548 --> 00:35:52,743
the tusks were sold as unicorn horns

309
00:35:52,850 --> 00:35:56,115
for ten times their weight in gold

310
00:36:05,897 --> 00:36:07,956
The sea ice is flooded now

311
00:36:08,065 --> 00:36:09,464
although beneath the water

312
00:36:09,567 --> 00:36:12,934
the ice is still several feet thick

313
00:36:28,352 --> 00:36:30,183
Out on the melting surface

314
00:36:30,288 --> 00:36:33,348
an abandoned ringed seal has
lost her bearings

315
00:36:34,025 --> 00:36:36,220
She has wandered away from
her breathing hole

316
00:36:36,327 --> 00:36:39,057
and cannot find her way back

317
00:36:43,301 --> 00:36:45,861
Now, she is trapped above the ice an
easy target

318
00:36:45,970 --> 00:36:48,768
for a hungry polar bear

319
00:36:48,873 --> 00:36:51,239
And if she cannot return to
the sea beneath her

320
00:36:51,342 --> 00:36:53,435
she will starve

321
00:37:11,562 --> 00:37:14,087
The young seal is now exhausted

322
00:37:14,198 --> 00:37:17,861
but luck finally leads her to a hole
in the ice

323
00:37:28,713 --> 00:37:32,615
She is safe, but now she's in
unknown territory

324
00:37:32,717 --> 00:37:36,414
a long way from her familiar network
of breathing holes

325
00:37:38,356 --> 00:37:40,984
She won't stray far for a while

326
00:37:46,264 --> 00:37:49,392
All around her the ice is changing

327
00:37:52,670 --> 00:37:53,796
The pasture of algae

328
00:37:53,904 --> 00:37:56,634
that once blanketed the surface has
sloughed off

329
00:37:56,741 --> 00:38:00,973
and joined together in flowing
ribbons of green

330
00:38:06,217 --> 00:38:08,777
Long tendrils reach out to
absorb light

331
00:38:08,886 --> 00:38:11,753
and nutrients from the
passing currents

332
00:38:21,932 --> 00:38:23,763
A new lead has opened in the ice

333
00:38:23,868 --> 00:38:27,861
and a pod of narwhals comes
streaming into the crack

334
00:38:30,474 --> 00:38:33,068
They usually travel in small numbers

335
00:38:33,177 --> 00:38:39,412
but when fishing is good
hundreds may come together

336
00:38:39,517 --> 00:38:41,075
As they enter the crack

337
00:38:41,185 --> 00:38:44,120
these specialized hunters
take a risk

338
00:38:44,221 --> 00:38:47,418
The opening unlocks a rich store
of Arctic cod

339
00:38:47,525 --> 00:38:49,891
but the ice is still shifting

340
00:38:53,731 --> 00:38:57,132
Without warning, the lead closes off

341
00:39:05,609 --> 00:39:07,975
The whales are trapped

342
00:39:16,587 --> 00:39:19,078
The entire pod must surface to breathe

343
00:39:19,190 --> 00:39:22,648
in this small pool of open water

344
00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:25,251
They bob up and down
in a crush of bodies

345
00:39:25,363 --> 00:39:29,265
careful not to wound each other
with their tusks

346
00:39:40,578 --> 00:39:42,546
If the hole closes over completely

347
00:39:42,646 --> 00:39:45,672
the narwhals will have to make a
run for open water

348
00:39:45,783 --> 00:39:47,273
if they don't find it

349
00:39:47,385 --> 00:39:49,717
they will suffocate and die

350
00:40:12,176 --> 00:40:15,509
Then suddenly, as unpredictably
a it closed

351
00:40:15,613 --> 00:40:21,882
the lead reopens
and the whales are free

352
00:40:57,421 --> 00:40:59,855
High off the cliffs of
Prince Leopold Island

353
00:40:59,957 --> 00:41:03,688
fulmars and kittiwakes ride
the wild winds

354
00:41:22,713 --> 00:41:25,841
Even gusts of 40 miles per hour
present no problem

355
00:41:25,950 --> 00:41:28,214
for these aerial acrobats

356
00:41:30,788 --> 00:41:33,552
Landing is the tricky part

357
00:42:04,188 --> 00:42:07,157
There is new life in the murre colony

358
00:42:09,093 --> 00:42:12,392
The adult birds are busy plying back
and forth to the sea

359
00:42:12,496 --> 00:42:15,124
returning with cod for their young

360
00:42:18,569 --> 00:42:19,866
The chick will need to triple

361
00:42:19,970 --> 00:42:21,870
its weight over the next three weeks

362
00:42:21,972 --> 00:42:25,908
and feeds round the clock
in the constant daylight

363
00:42:37,888 --> 00:42:39,355
At the top of the cliff

364
00:42:39,456 --> 00:42:42,550
glaucous gull chicks are hungry too

365
00:42:48,232 --> 00:42:51,599
But gulls don't limit their
diet to fish

366
00:42:53,671 --> 00:42:56,162
This one goes hunting closer to home

367
00:42:56,273 --> 00:42:58,935
looking for an unprotected chick

368
00:43:07,351 --> 00:43:09,842
It returns with a grisly catch

369
00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,273
For the fox, these are hungry times

370
00:44:06,377 --> 00:44:10,279
Egg laing is over and the chicks
have hatched out of his reach

371
00:44:11,915 --> 00:44:15,681
He has only his store of buried eggs
to see him through

372
00:44:33,470 --> 00:44:36,564
High summer finally reaches the Arctic

373
00:44:36,674 --> 00:44:41,509
The last remnants of ice swirl near
the shores of Lancaster Sound

374
00:44:41,612 --> 00:44:45,241
The frozen sea is broken at last

375
00:44:45,349 --> 00:44:48,785
drifting in tattered pieces
on the current

376
00:44:53,023 --> 00:44:57,790
Moving inshore are the gleaming
white shapes of belugas

377
00:45:01,899 --> 00:45:06,336
They return by the hundreds to the
same inlets they frequent each year

378
00:45:28,225 --> 00:45:31,422
Their smooth, white skin has turned
yellow and wrinkled

379
00:45:31,528 --> 00:45:33,393
It's time to molt

380
00:45:38,335 --> 00:45:40,269
On the rocky bottom of the shallows

381
00:45:40,370 --> 00:45:42,133
the whales scrape off their old

382
00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:45,572
weathered skin with a rejuvenating rub

383
00:46:01,391 --> 00:46:06,055
Terns wheel overhead and dive
for bits of molted skin

384
00:46:12,503 --> 00:46:17,099
As the tide turns, the whales retreat
into deeper water

385
00:46:23,847 --> 00:46:27,476
But one young beluga has pushed too
far inshore

386
00:46:35,759 --> 00:46:39,388
The benevolent sun now becomes
his greatest enemy

387
00:46:39,630 --> 00:46:43,157
He could easily sunburn
and out of the cold water

388
00:46:43,267 --> 00:46:45,599
he could overheat

389
00:47:01,652 --> 00:47:04,177
The others can do nothing

390
00:47:18,702 --> 00:47:21,728
The rocks have cut his sensitive skin

391
00:47:21,839 --> 00:47:25,366
All he can do is wait for
the incoming tide

392
00:48:18,629 --> 00:48:20,324
With one last surge

393
00:48:20,430 --> 00:48:23,263
the young beluga recovers his freedom

394
00:48:54,932 --> 00:48:59,369
It's only August, but atumn is closing
in on the murre colony

395
00:49:04,474 --> 00:49:09,275
The chicks are just three weeks
old still unable to fly

396
00:49:12,716 --> 00:49:15,844
Yet the time has come to leave
the island

397
00:49:18,789 --> 00:49:20,416
Escorted by its father

398
00:49:20,524 --> 00:49:21,889
a chick makes its way

399
00:49:21,992 --> 00:49:25,758
through a gauntlet of hostile adults
stilldefending their ledges

400
00:49:42,446 --> 00:49:44,846
Driven by irresistible instinct

401
00:49:44,948 --> 00:49:48,179
the chick prepares to make an
incredible leap

402
00:49:48,285 --> 00:49:50,845
from the thousand foot cliff

403
00:49:55,225 --> 00:49:59,628
With its father close behind
he plummets to the waters below

404
00:50:35,265 --> 00:50:38,359
For the next eight weks they'll
drift southward

405
00:50:38,468 --> 00:50:40,561
as the young murres grow the feathers

406
00:50:40,670 --> 00:50:43,138
they need to finally take to the air

407
00:50:49,946 --> 00:50:52,039
The fox is left alone

408
00:50:52,149 --> 00:50:54,344
His stash of eggs is gone

409
00:50:54,451 --> 00:50:57,852
and he may starve before he
can escape the island

410
00:51:05,662 --> 00:51:09,257
The moon now looks down on Lancaster
Sound the cold

411
00:51:09,366 --> 00:51:12,199
pale face of the coming winter

412
00:51:16,506 --> 00:51:19,475
All across the Arctic, animals
are on the move

413
00:51:19,576 --> 00:51:22,374
fleeing the coming freeze

414
00:51:24,081 --> 00:51:27,881
The cold is returning to claim
these seas

415
00:51:32,589 --> 00:51:34,454
The great bowheads depart

416
00:51:34,558 --> 00:51:38,460
as their food supply begins to dwindle
in the fading light

417
00:52:05,088 --> 00:52:12,187
Slowly, the surface begins to transform
crystals congeal into grease ice

418
00:52:13,163 --> 00:52:16,394
then thicken into pancake ice

419
00:52:19,736 --> 00:52:23,194
The season of the sun is over

420
00:52:45,762 --> 00:52:49,960
Soon, winter and the white bear will
stalk the ice once more

421
00:52:55,472 --> 00:53:00,307
Cold howls across the empty expanse
of frozen sea

422
00:53:04,147 --> 00:53:06,513
Darkness deepens

423
00:53:06,750 --> 00:53:09,446
The bear settles in to stay

424
00:53:10,020 --> 00:53:16,653
and the Arctic turns once more toward
the dark night of space