Original subtitles

[narrator] This is The Americas,

an extraordinary journey across Earth's great supercontinent.

[yowls]

The widest variety of life on the planet.

[epic orchestral music]

The untold story of our home.

[epic orchestral music continues]

Tonight on The Americas...

The Frozen North.

An adventure through the vast wilderness

of Alaska and Canada.

Here, winter's beauty

disguises her dangers.

[epic music continues]

[grunts]

But when snow and ice retreat,

the North reveals landscapes

teeming with life.

- [bird chitters] - [owl hoots]

[epic music]

All animals here must endure or escape

the extreme swing of the seasons

as the North changes before their eyes.

[uplifting music]

[rumbling]

At the top of the continent lies a frozen frontier,

larger than the rest of the United States.

The night reveals just how few of us

live up here.

From the East Coast to West,

three million square miles

of wilderness.

A late November dawn in Canada's Hudson Bay.

By now, this place should be frozen solid.

But this year, it's still too warm.

[mysterious music]

And for a polar bear,

that's a problem.

[pensive music]

He's a seal hunter.

But those seals

are way out on the sea ice.

And right now,

the ice still isn't thick enough to walk on.

[snorts]

[ice crackling]

He's forced to wait until it really freezes up.

[bird cawing]

[wind gusting]

[sniffing]

A few dead leaves won't fix an empty stomach.

In just ten years,

the bear population has fallen by over a third.

Waiting for winter

is becoming a dangerous game.

[sharp exhale]

[wind gusting]

While polar bears occupy the shore...

[wolf howling]

...the forest belongs

to wolves.

Winter is their prime hunting season...

[wolves barking]

...when the deep snow slows down their prey.

[suspenseful music]

A moose would feed this 17-strong pack.

[suspenseful music continues]

[wolves panting]

[bird cawing]

As a second moose is flushed out,

the pack splits.

It's a costly mistake.

[suspenseful music stops]

Nine out of ten hunts fail.

[somber music]

And with this blizzard rolling in...

[rumbling]

They've missed their chance.

[wolf barks]

[wind whistling]

But that doesn't mean they'll go hungry.

In this weather,

the exposed coastline will claim casualties.

[wolves panting]

The pack must find them first.

[thrilling music]

They're nervous.

[wolf whimpers]

This is not wolf territory.

[panting]

A dead polar bear is an unexpected feast.

They must feed quickly.

This is no-man's-land.

[snarling]

[suspenseful music]

It's now that Canada's top predators

come face-to-face.

[foreboding music]

As winter descends on the shoreline of Hudson Bay,

the rulers of the forest

confront a king of the ice.

[tense music]

The wolves have strength in numbers.

[thrilling music]

But at 800 pounds,

this bear has a massive weight advantage.

[wolves barking]

[thrilling music continues]

And this time, that's what counts.

As winters arrive later,

polar bears trapped on the shore

are growing more desperate.

[polar bear growls]

But the fortunes of all who live here

are about to change.

[epic music]

For six months,

winter buries much of the Fr North.

Now the wolves will get their kill.

[epic music continues]

And Hudson Bay

is finally frozen solid.

[calming music]

For polar bears,

the path to seal hunting grounds

is clear, at last.

The North's extreme seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth.

For months, the Arctic is plunged

into darkness.

[faint crackling]

But still, the sun makes its presence felt.

[serene music]

A magical display.

The aurora borealis.

These are the traces of a solar storm

as radiation from the sun

reacts with gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

Green for oxygen,

purple for nitrogen.

[ethereal music]

[distant cawing]

In Canada's Yukon forest,

temperatures in early February

drop to minus 30.

There's so little food in winter,

you're best to either leave...

[snow pattering]

...or hide away until spring.

Unless...

you're a snowshoe hare.

Wide awake and perfectly at home

here in the frozen forest.

[chitters]

They survive the winter on nothing more than twigs

and bark.

But they're smart,

only picking plants that provide the most protein.

[crunches]

He's about as tall as the snow is deep.

But he's got something that makes living here

seem like a walk in the park.

Enormous webbed feet.

[sprightly music]

They're built-in snowshoes,

so he's always ready for a sprint start.

[sprightly music continues]

And he needs to be.

He's not alone in these woods.

[ominous music]

A Canada lynx.

In winter, a lynx has one main source of prey.

And he's... it.

[ominous music continues]

His ears rotate independently,

always listening out for the ominous crunch

of footsteps in the snow.

[suspenseful music]

[distant cawing echoes]

- [bird squawks] - [chitters]

- Spotted. - [bird squawks]

[suspenseful music]

Lynx are agile hunters,

though not quite as light on their feet...

which buys the hare precious seconds.

[sinister music]

[dramatic music]

[tense music]

But no hiding place will be safe for long.

[huffing heavily]

Deep in the Yukon,

a snowshoe hare freezes

not from cold, but from fear.

Canada lynx don't give up on dinner easily.

So escape must be timed to perfection.

[dramatic music]

With the help of those snowshoes,

he can hit a top-speed of 30 miles per hour.

[music ends]

A clean getaway.

And that's unusual.

[chitters]

Canada lynx rarely miss.

This is one lucky bunny.

When the breeding season arrives,

there will be more hares to take the heat.

Until then,

he'll need to stay on his toes.

[bird caws]

[epic music]

By late winter in Alberta, 12,000 feet up,

the towering mountains of the Rockies

are coated in layer upon layer of snow.

[wind whistling]

In places, more than 20 feet deep.

A playground for millions of visitors every year.

[rumbles]

[crackles]

But be careful.

The spring sunshine weakens the vast shelves of mountain snow...

[snapping]

...priming one of nature's most destructive events.

[loud rumbling]

[dramatic music]

Avalanche.

[dramatic music continues]

A million tons of snow and ice

race downhill at speeds over 100 miles an hour.

[dramatic music continues]

More than 2,000 avalanches are reported in the Rockies every year.

Many more go unwitnessed.

[rumbling]

As the planet warms,

avalanches are becoming ever more...

unpredictable.

- [wind whistling] - [snow pattering]

In the shadow of the Rockies,

even in late April,

snow still falls across these vast grasslands.

But make no mistake.

Spring has arrived.

[grunting and chirping]

And so have a group of determined dancers.

[squawks]

But will all this be enough to melt the heart

of an ice queen?

[chirps]

Standing high over the plains of Alberta,

the Rockies channel warm winds down their eastern flanks,

winds known as "snow eaters."

[wind gusting]

As they descend, they heat up,

raising the temperature of the plains below

by as much as 20 degrees.

[engine cranks]

Out on the prairies, pretty much everyone

is an early riser.

[engine rumbling]

[radio static humming]

["Gimme Some Lovin'" by Steve Winwood plays over radio]

None more so than sharp-tailed grouse.

[grouse chirping]

They're here to catch the very first rays of sunshine,

but they can't resist any spotlight.

- ? Gimme some lovin' ? - ? Gimme, gimme some lovin' ?

? Gimme some lovin' Every day ?

The males gather every April for a mating dance-off.

[grouse chirping]

The females are the judges,

and the prize is...

well, bet you can guess.

[wind gusting]

As dawn breaks, it's show time.

[soft music]

[chirping lightly]

Stomping their feet 20 times per second

with a shake and a shimmy,

it's all about seduction.

[gentle acoustic music]

They look their best at this very moment.

And they know it.

She'll be looking for style.

[grouse chirping]

And stamina.

Very nice.

He's not bad either.

[chirping]

The choice is bewildering.

[chirping continues]

[grouse squawks]

But without a clear winner,

fights break out on the dance floor.

[dramatic music]

[chirping]

[upbeat country music]

With all this testosterone flying around,

she's losing interest.

[upbeat country music continues]

They seem to want the fight more than the prize.

The males need to up their game.

[wind howling]

By June,

under a sun that no longer sets,

even the most stubborn snow melts away

to reveal lush grasslands.

[gentle music]

[birds chirping]

New life transforms the Frozen North.

[birds chirping]

This is America's largest wildlife refuge,

30,000 square miles of Alaska.

The Arctic Refuge.

[majestic music]

In summer, one animal dominates these plains.

Caribou.

You might know them as reindeer.

They're nomads,

following the retreating snowmelt,

sometimes for a thousand miles.

The longest land migration in the world.

[birds chirping]

Every summer, for centuries,

caribou have been coming here to have their calves.

[caribou snorts]

This little male is only three weeks old.

But he can already run faster than an Olympic sprinter.

[calf bleats]

[soft music]

It's easy to lose track of whose mom is whose.

[cow snorts]

[calf bleats]

Wanting to explore...

- [bleats] - ...can get you into trouble around here.

Anyone who can't keep up with the herd

will be left behind.

[calf bleats]

[bleats]

But their unique calls and scent

usually mean they can find each other.

[sucking]

Come wintertime, he will be independent.

But until then,

Mom is his whole world,

whether she likes it or not.

[caribou grunt]

As the herd eat their way through more than a thousand tons

of tundra grasses every day,

they move further west across the coastal plains.

[dramatic music]

But hunger is driving them towards danger.

[foreboding music]

The snow that blanketed the Frozen North

now descends from the mountains

as billions of gallons of meltwater,

channeled into raging torrents,

cutting across the caribou's path.

- [tense music] - [herd grunting]

These rivers are deeper and faster than ever before.

And the feeding grounds lie on the other side.

[hard splash]

This crossing is more than a young calf is ready for.

[grunts]

But survival depends on it.

[dramatic music]

The current takes them by surprise,

sweeping him off his feet.

[dramatic music]

[grunting]

[tense music]

[grunting]

This mother now has a tough choice to make.

[birds chirping]

On the riverbanks of Alaska's Arctic Refuge,

this caribou mother scans the water

for any sign of her missing calf.

[somber music]

[grunting]

The herd is moving on.

Her instinct to follow them

is just too strong.

[somber music continues]

Downriver,

the calf is still alive.

[calf grunts]

[calf bleating]

He has a fighting spirit,

but he's exhausted.

Mom's nowhere to be seen.

[calf bleating]

As the herd slows down to feed,

all a lost calf can do is try to catch up.

[melancholy music]

[caribou bleating]

Female caribou rarely adopt lost or orphaned young.

[caribou bleats]

[melancholy music continues]

[calf bleating]

[bleating]

[caribou snorts]

Mom recognizes a familiar bleating.

[calf bleating]

Reunited.

[cow snorts]

[gentle music]

[cow snorts]

You have to grow up quickly in the Far North.

These ancient routes will soon be ingrained in his memory.

His destiny is to endlessly wander this vast...

American tundra.

As summer warms the North,

hundreds of these swollen rivers

carry soil and nutrients from the land

- to the sea. - [spouts]

And for some,

this becomes a time of plenty.

[soft music]

[walruses grunting]

In July, on Alaska's isolated Round Island,

a strange sound is carried on the wind.

Just listen.

[bell-like vocalizing]

This is the surprising song...

[vocalizing continues]

...of male walruses,

known as "chiming."

It's made by pockets of air in their throats.

Usually, they sing to impress females during the winter mating season.

But there's no ladies in sight.

[snorts]

[growls]

Which probably suits the ladies just fine.

[walrus bulls chiming]

[snorting]

On Alaska's warm summer evenings...

[snores]

Perhaps this is nothing more than their very own lullaby.

For walruses, the short summers are all about downtime.

But in the shallows of Alaska's mainland...

[mystical music]

...there is no time to rest.

[mystical music continues]

Pink salmon gather at the starting line of a race

that will test them to their limits.

Driven by an urge they cannot ignore,

salmon arrive at the entrance of the very same stream

in which they were born.

Now, two years later,

it's their turn to breed.

All 200 million of them.

This female is carrying at least 2,000 eggs.

Returning to the same spot in which she was born

will give her offspring the best chance of survival.

But ahead of her

lies a killer assault course.

[suspenseful music]

[birds calling]

She must succeed...

or die trying.

Prince William Sound, Alaska.

As the tide races out,

countless pink salmon

are waiting.

The scent of their spawning grounds grows stronger.

[dramatic music]

Now it's a race to cross the shallows

before the tide cuts them off.

One wrong turn and it's game over.

[birds squawking]

For gulls,

the banquet has begun.

[seagulls calling]

They can be picky at this stage...

only selecting the most tender flesh.

[despondent music]

This female has made a serious error

and is now dangerously exposed.

[seagulls calling]

[dramatic music]

Her determination seems to confuse her attacker.

[ominous music]

[dramatic music]

This is only the beginning.

Every salmon is now on borrowed time.

[menacing music]

From here on out, they barely eat or rest,

as they forge upstream.

[menacing music continues]

This journey takes a grim toll,

as their bodies begin to shut down and decay,

some faster than others.

Finally, they arrive at their spawning grounds,

but it's not over yet.

This female needs to construct a shallow nest,

known as a "redd."

She flicks away fine sediment

to prevent her eggs from being smothered.

She will fiercely defend her nest from other females.

By now, some males look like the swimming dead.

They're "zombie" salmon,

desperate to mate before they die.

[dramatic music]

Kind of gross.

[dramatic music continues]

After all she's been through,

she's not going to settle for anything less than perfect.

[soft somber music]

Males fertilize eggs in as many redds as possible,

but this will be her only chance.

She will only release her eggs when she's ready.

It's the moment that will seal her fate.

Spawning and dying on the same stretch of river as her mother

is a female salmon's destiny.

[dramatic music]

Though their journey ends here,

these salmon leave behind millions of eggs

that will become the next generation.

[dramatic music continues]

Life,

dictated by the seasons.

[soft music]

In just two months, winter returns.

Some begin the long trek south.

Others surrender to many months in the den.

[soft music continues]

But there are those who are perfectly at home

in this snowbound world.

A place...

full of magic.

One thing is certain here in the Frozen North...

nothing stays the same...

for long.

[epic orchestral music]

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