Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Baffin Island,

the largest island in the Canadian Arctic.

For half the year, it's locked in ice

and nearly unfit for life.

But when winter releases its grip...

..its frozen coastline shrinks.

Millions of visitors thrive...

..while ice-loving locals struggle to survive.

From the Arctic...

(GROWLS)

(CHUFFING)

..to the tropics...

(TRUMPETS)

..islands are wild laboratories...

..where unique rules apply...

(SQUAWKS)

..and nature puts life...

(SNAKE HISSES) (MONKEY CHATTERS)

..to the ultimate test.

(HYENA LAUGHS) (POLAR BEAR GROWLS)

Baffin is the fifth largest island on the planet...

..but just a few regions support life.

In the summer, vast tundra flatlands

and thousands of kilometres of seaside cliffs...

..and in winter,

millions of square kilometres of sea ice

connect Baffin to Greenland and the rest of the Arctic.

The island's landmass, frozenly fused with the mainland,

is nearly 3,000% bigger now

than it will be in the summer.

It's a vast temporary home...

..for both predator

and prey.

(SNORTS, GROWLS)

More than 90% of polar bears' diet

comes from seals.

(SNIFFING)

It's not always an easy meal...

..but there are plenty of seals here.

(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC)

(GROWLS)

(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

(MUSIC FADES OUT)

(WIND WHISTLES)

(MUNCHING)

So, even during winter,

when temperatures drop 50 below zero

and the sun never rises...

..bears are living well out on the sea ice.

But on Baffin, change is inevitable.

After three dark months, the sun is about to rise again.

It's a critical moment.

The countdown is now on

before this place is transformed.

For now, some seem content to just enjoy the moment.

(SQUEAKS)

This Arctic fox also spends most of her winter

out on the island's vast frozen fringes of sea ice.

A perfect place to catch the sunrise...

..and also to get breakfast.

(YAPPING)

She can dig out seal pups from dens inside the ice sheet...

..but out on the sea ice, there are many ways to get food.

(BIRD CAWS)

(YAPPING)

(CAWING)

(SNIFFING)

It's likely an old polar bear kill,

kept fresh with natural refrigeration.

And a great winter meal.

The coming months will radically change her island home.

Summer will be her time of plenty.

Spring on the sea ice is still a great time for polar bears.

(GRUNTS)

This young male is well fed.

And after a long, dark winter,

it's time to catch up with a friend.

Male polar bears can forge long-lasting friendships.

The leftover bit from an old seal kill

is perfect for a bout of tug-of-war.

(GROWLING)

Play-fighting helps these buddies build strength...

..and sharpen reflexes.

(GROWLING)

Real fights between bears can be deadly...

(GROWLING)

..so it's best to train up with a friend first.

Ultimately, bears are solitary animals...

..though they will almost certainly cross paths again.

But for now, our young bear goes off on his own...

..in search of his next meal...

..while there's still sea ice to stand on.

By late spring,

the island's sea ice is bathed in near-constant hot sunshine...

..and the coastline's transformation begins.

As the sea ice retreats,

Baffin is, in effect, becoming smaller.

(ICE CRACKING)

The edge of this icy coastline is a very rich habitat.

It only lasts for a few months,

but attracts a rush of visitors while it's still intact.

For Inuit people who've lived here for thousands of years,

the word for floe edge is "Sinaaq",

which means "Line of Life".

Baffin is starting to wake up from its winter slumber.

(CHIRPING)

(GRUNTS)

Right now, the balance of water and ice is perfect for walrus.

They hunt in these waters

but still have plenty of room to spread out.

Life is good.

(RUMBLES)

Millions of seabirds migrate to Baffin

and feast in the open water.

Belugas, one of the Arctic's only year-round resident whales,

are also migrating.

They're en route to their summer waters

where they will raise their calves.

(SQUEAKING)

But there's an impenetrable wall of sea ice in their way.

So, for the time being, they have nowhere to go...

..which is exactly what some islanders have been waiting for.

(SNIFFING)

The young bear is going to try his luck

at the floe edge this year.

He needs to eat while there's still ice to hunt from.

(GRUNTING) (ICE CRUNCHING)

But a swimming whale is a lot harder to catch

than seals out on the sea ice.

He's got to pick his moment wisely.

(GRUNTS)

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

(BELUGAS WHISTLING)

(MUSIC FADES OUT)

It seems the impatience of youth might have got in his way.

He doesn't have much time left on the sea ice...

..and climate change is wreaking havoc.

The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else,

so the months ahead will be very unpredictable for him.

Twenty-four hours of daylight fuels an explosion of life,

above and below the ice...

..and is converted into food

that powers an entire Arctic ecosystem.

As the ice thins,

plankton come alive,

along with other species of marine invertebrates.

Their world is one that's rarely seen.

But many invertebrates have been on the planet

for over 50 million years.

None are larger than a couple of centimetres...

..but their role is huge.

They're the hidden engine that drives the rich productivity

in Baffin's waters.

A bustling community of over 5,000 alien-like species.

Marine invertebrates are a vital source of food

for fish, birds, and whales.

(SQUAWKING)

Baffin's floe edge is a constantly changing habitat...

..which makes life hard for the unicorns of the Arctic Ocean.

Narwhals.

Even as ice melts away,

wind and ocean currents push large sections back...

..blocking the whales' way.

Like belugas, they need to get to warm shallow waters

to raise their young.

While there's plenty of food for narwhals under the ice,

many of the females in the pod are pregnant...

..and they're eager to keep moving.

But they have to play by the rules of the floe edge.

So they're stuck in a holding pattern.

An ideal time for a bit of socialising.

These males spend time getting acquainted,

before engaging in what looks like a slow-moving sword fight.

Tusks are actually overgrown canine teeth,

some as long as 3m.

But they're more than just teeth.

Each contains millions of tiny holes and nerve endings,

which allow them to detect sound or changes in water salinity.

These interactions were long assumed to be aggressive,

but this could just be a bit of tusk-to-tusk communication.

The time for this socialising is temporary.

As the island's frozen coastline continues to shrink,

the pod will be able to finally push to the warmth of their summer waters.

Under many weeks of relentless sun...

..Baffin's coastline is transformed.

An area of sea ice twice the size of the United Kingdom has gone.

It's great news for migrating whales.

But not so good for the young bear.

(GRUNTING)

His hunting grounds are melting.

(SNIFFING)

Seasonal melt is always an unwelcome sight for bears,

but climate change means the sea ice could melt

three times as fast as it would have in the past.

He needs a lucky break.

(GRUNTS)

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

Like a mirage on the icy horizon,

his sparring buddy...

..and fresh whale meat.

It's been a little while since they've seen each other.

He needs to tread lightly.

Even friends will fight over food.

(SNIFFING)

(GROWLING)

(ROARING)

(CHUFFING)

Luckily, it seems to be a relatively amicable reunion.

(ROARING)

Polar bears don't love to share food,

but a whale carcass is enough for both of them.

After this meal...

..they indulge in a swim under the midnight sun.

(ROARING)

This is their last chance for a bit of leisure time.

The clock has nearly run out for this year's sea ice.

As they part ways again,

life isn't going to be so easy.

(GRUNTS)

While Baffin's sea ice continues to melt...

..the island itself is starting to shed its winter coat.

Baffin's flatland tundra

stretches for roughly 200,000 square kilometres.

Millions of years of glacial activity have ground down rock

into vast barren plains and rolling hills.

For a few short months,

the island lets life flourish

for those hardy enough to make it here.

(HONKING)

Hundreds of thousands of snow geese fly the length of North America

to nest here and raise their young.

The island's tundra provides lots of elbow room...

..and it's rich with food.

After their long trip north,

geese replenish their strength from a wide variety of vegetation.

Like all other life on this harsh island,

plants are in a race against time each summer.

The perpetual sun works in their favour.

But still, they must contend with ice.

Just a metre below the surface, the soil stays frozen.

Plants here have evolved roots that spread shallow and wide

to avoid the permafrost.

Hundreds of species take root

under these severely limiting conditions.

But just a handful

dare to be beautiful.

Some Arctic wildflowers are in bloom for just a couple of days.

As if in a state of worship, flowers follow the sun...

..soaking up every last bit of its warmth.

Twenty-four hours of daylight

supercharge the flowers on the tundra.

But to reproduce, they need some help

from some of the island's smallest residents.

(BUZZES)

An Arctic bumblebee is cosy

in the relative warmth of an underground nest.

Today, the promise of warm sunshine and all those flowers

is too much to pass by.

Bees are cold-blooded

and use the radiant heat of the flowers to warm up.

But there's no time to waste.

These flowers need pollinating.

(BUZZES)

Arctic bumblebees are the most northerly bee in the world,

and one of the few pollinators

Baffin's wildflower meadows can count on.

The island permits only a short explosion of colour

on its tundra each summer.

But summer's not over yet,

and new life will soon be shooting up all over the bustling flatlands.

Under months of non-stop sunshine...

..Baffin's coastline is scorched.

Its waterways open, it's an island once more...

..and a fraction of the size it was with its vast borders of sea ice.

This provides opportunities and challenges

for the island's residents.

Walrus probably have mixed feelings about the thawing ocean.

They're now free to move through the water...

..sniffing out food in Baffin's shallows.

But walrus love ice.

(CHUFFS)

Hauling out on what remains during the hot summer months

helps keep them from overheating,

so they cram their thousand-kilo frames

onto every available square centimetre of frozen ocean...

...and try to be cordial.

(GROANS)

But walrus do have a tender side that's rarely seen.

This calf is just a few months old

and was born directly onto the ice.

She's been inseparable from Mum ever since.

She's had a lot of time to get used to life on the ice...

..but her experience in the water is limited.

She can swim as soon as she's born,

but Mum knows she needs to build strength and experience.

High time for some swimming lessons.

They start with an encouraging hug from Mum.

It looks like this is going to be a group lesson.

The calves are still getting the hang of life off-ice,

but these swims are vital to their survival

in Baffin's constantly changing environment.

There is one islander who misses the sea ice

more than anyone else.

It's been months since the floe edge provided for this bear.

Now he has to swim.

But it takes five times more energy to swim than walk.

Climate change is putting the species' swimming skills to the test.

The longer ice-free summers of recent years...

..means he's expending more energy each year.

This is only worth it if he can find more food.

He can kill and eat walrus if they're hauled out on land...

..but it's a risky proposition

to go after these two-tusked heavyweights

in the open water like this.

He's young and inexperienced.

He's tired, and he could get hurt.

He shifts course

and gives them a wide berth.

An iceberg is a literal life raft for this bear.

A momentary respite

from the harsh reality of summer living.

There's still many months left

before the island expands its coastlines with ice again.

He's going to need another lucky break.

Summer is the tundra's time to shine,

even if it's a perilously short season.

For now, though, life is still thriving.

In fact, it's sprouting right from the ground.

(PUPS SQUEAKING)

In the last few months,

the female Arctic fox has been very busy.

She's shed her white winter coat...

..but more importantly, she's got seven pups.

(HIGH-PITCHED YAPPING)

For Mum, it's not all fun and games.

Her pups are growing and need more than just milk.

And they're still too small to leave alone at the den...

..so her partner needs to bring home the dinner.

Luckily for them, the summer tundra is filled with food.

There are thousands of new geese greeting the world.

(NEARBY GEESE HONKING)

The time for papa fox to act is now.

But most nests are well guarded.

(HONKING)

Really well guarded.

(HONKING)

(PUPS WHINGE, SQUEAL)

He's got his own brood to think about.

He can't afford to come home empty-handed.

(HONKS)

Not all geese parents are equally fierce

in the protection of their nests.

The tundra has provided.

(PUPS SQUEALING)

A razor-thin summer on the Arctic flatlands

will feed these pups well.

Before long, they'll be full-grown

and learning the ropes of life on the island's sea ice.

For now, with bellies full,

they're content to just be pups.

Along thousands of kilometres of steep cliffs,

Baffin dares life to survive in its vertical world.

(SQUAWKING)

Made up of some of the oldest rock on the planet,

they are carved by millions of years of glaciers and erosion,

but still, they stand stubbornly vertical

against the elements and passage of time.

One rises above them all.

Over a kilometre, straight up and down...

..Baffin's Mount Thor is the highest vertical drop in the world.

Most cliffs inland are inhospitable to life.

But out next to the open ocean,

it's a different story.

(SQUAWKING)

When the island's sheer rock faces meet its rich waters...

..millions of seabirds are enticed to brave Baffin's cliffs each summer.

(BIRDS SQUAWK NOISILY)

Nesting together like this doesn't provide a lot of privacy.

But this is prime waterfront property...

..so it's worth having to put up with a noisy neighbour or two.

(SQUAWKING)

For thick-billed murres and black-legged kittiwakes,

the cliffs are mostly safe from predators.

Mostly.

(EERIE MUSIC)

The young bear is hungry.

At this point in the summer, he'll eat anything.

Climate change is driving polar bears

to go after cliff-nesting birds during ice-free months.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

(SCREECHING)

(SQUAWKING)

For an animal most comfortable on the sea ice,

he's way out of his element.

Even the island's apex predator

is no match for the island's steep cliffs.

Summer can't end soon enough.

(PANTING)

Baffin's waters have finally given passage

to its summer residents.

Narwhals are carefully navigating life

in the island's sheltered inlets.

With no sea ice, travel is easy,

and there's plenty of time to hang out with your pals.

The shallow water is the warmest

the narwhals will experience all year.

They stick close to shore, where fishing is best.

Any thousand-kilo whale might have a tricky time

in just a couple of metres of water.

But narwhals have an extra variable to consider.

Their tusks point downwards,

so they can do some serious damage in the shallows.

Their solution to this problem is wonderfully simple...

..swim upside down.

Like aquatic acrobats,

they move through the water with just as much speed and grace

as they do right-side up.

This summer, there's a unique member of the narwhal community

traveling with the pod.

A two-tusked male.

It is exceedingly rare

and has never before been filmed.

The extra-toothed male is not the only special member of the pod.

New calves only know the island's ice-free water of summer.

In the months to come, they'll stick close to Mum...

..and learn to navigate the extremes

of Baffin's constantly changing environment.

Not all areas of tundra on Baffin are bustling with life.

The young bear needs a big meal,

and he's not finding anything here.

But there is something promising on the air.

He can smell food over 40km away.

His nose guides him to the water's edge.

He's going to have to swim across the inlet,

which will only further deplete his precious fat reserves.

But it's worth the risk.

He needs to eat.

It is a sight for sore eyes.

A washed-up whale carcass means one thing.

This bear is going to eat.

(SNIFFING)

Baffin's waters have provided.

After months of hardship,

things are finally looking up.

He's eaten enough to keep him going a few more months.

And now, it won't be long before winter returns.

(EPIC MUSIC)

From the vast tundra...

..to the seaside cliffs...

..to the ever-shifting coastline...

..Baffin Island is a place of constant change...

..and ultimate extremes.

(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)

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