All language subtitles for The Polar Bear Family and Me 2of3 Summer 720p_Subtitles01.ENG

The polar bear -

the world's largest

and most dangerous carnivore.

That is great!

'I'm Gordon Buchanan'

and I've spent two decades filming
predators in extreme locations.

Now, I've come to the Arctic

to get closer to polar bears
than anyone before.

It is one of the most intimidating
animals on the planet.

They're also one of the most
loveable.

I have a unique opportunity
to follow a polar bear family

over a year.

So I've been filming the fortunes
of two cubs, Miki and Luca.

Their world is melting fast

and the odds are stacked
against these young cubs.

The next few weeks will
test my polar bear family, and me,

to the limits.

I've returned to
Svalbard in the Arctic,

halfway between Norway
and the North Pole.

I last saw Miki and Luca,
and their mother Lyra, in April.

Now it's June and I'm hoping
to reconnect with them.

In spring, I filmed these cubs as
they emerged from their winter den.

Oh, look!

Miki was bold and adventurous.

Luca was smaller
and had a harder time keeping up.

I want to know how they're doing
now and whether they have survived.

Finding them in this vast wilderness
is only possible

thanks to new technology.

In April, biologist Dr Jon Aars

fitted a revolutionary
satellite-tracking collar on Lyra.

It should send one email
every four hours.

Jon will be tracking
Lyra from his base in Norway.

And I'll be his eyes on the ground,
here with the bears.

Hey, cubs.

Hello.

Do you recognise me
or just recognise my smell?

The new collar makes it possible
to follow polar bear families

for the first time.

Previous collars only sent
sporadic signals,

so it's an important advance.

Jon wants to understand how climate
change is affecting polar bears.

This year, conditions in the Arctic
are warmer than ever before.

My bear family live in the
Thousand Islands -

an archipelago in the south
of Svalbard.

They've done a long
journey, that's true but...

'We've got a signal from
Lyra's satellite collar.'

..and we'll take a straight line to
our position but we also calculate

she's probably drifted south-east a
little bit since the last position.

'It sends her location every
four hours.

So the sooner we get there,
the better chance

we have of finding Lyra, and seeing
whether her cubs are still alive.

OK.

We are literally in uncharted
territory here.

These islands aren't
even on any of the maps or charts.

It's too shallow to get the big
boat in so we're moving to the

smaller boat and we're going to
work our way in

and see if we can see her.

Joining me is polar bear and Arctic
survival expert, Jason Roberts.

If anyone can help me spot Lyra,
it's Jason.

'I'm desperate to see
Miki and Luca.

'If Lyra has lost her cubs,
it would be a disaster for her'

and for our project.

We don't have an absolute location

every single minute of every
single day.

We download the information
and then we come to that area.

But in this time, 15 minutes,

she could be somewhere
completely different.

So it is really just a case
of coming to the approximate area

and keeping our eyes open,
keep searching.

Finally, Jason spots a bear.

Between the snow bank
and the Baltic rock,
right on the top of the snow bank.

OK, yeah, yeah,
yeah, got her, got her.

Well, I've got a polar bear.

That doesn't mean to say
that it's Lyra.

The thing is they're just
lying so still.

Yeah, Jason, it is her,
it definitely is her.

She just lifted her head -
I can see the collar.

The trouble is
I can't actually see Miki or Luca.

The cubs could be
tucked in underneath her,

but they are going to be much bigger
than the last time I saw them.

That to me
just looks like Lyra on her own.

Yes, there's a cub there!
Definitely, definitely.

I've got one cub.

Oh, please can there be two?

Hopefully the other cub is nearby.

I need to get ashore to be certain.

'All we can do is watch and hope.

'Twenty minutes goes by
and no other cub appears.'

Little Luca is gone.

That's really...

That is really sad.

We'll never know what's
happened to Luca.

She's lost one of her cubs
and that is terribly sad,

but I think it's just a testament
to how incredible these

animals are that she's been able to
keep this one cub alive.

For Lyra, since we last met,
she's had to work every single day

to get enough to feed herself,
enough to produce milk for her cub.

And my plan now that I've
found her, is to stick with her

and actually try and figure out how
she's been able to survive,

how do these animals
exist in this landscape?

Lyra and Miki's biggest
challenge is hunger.

Finding enough to eat here is
difficult, even in a good summer,

but this year is going to be
the toughest ever.

2012 has seen unprecedented
weather across the entire Arctic.

The warmest winter on record,
was followed by the earliest melt.

Thirty years ago most of

the Arctic Ocean remained frozen
through the summer,

but this year scientists observed
less ice than ever before.

Polar bears like Lyra
rely on sea ice to survive.

It's where they hunt,
mate and how they get around.

Lyra is an experienced mother.

In the past,
there's always been ice here,

and with it, her main food - seals.

Now, because of the lack of sea ice,

she and Miki are stranded on land
where she can't hunt.

The decisions she makes over
the next few weeks will determine

whether they survive.

It's midsummer in the Arctic.
For four months, the sun won't set.

Days melt seamlessly
into each other.

It's morning and Lyra has moved to
another of the Thousand Islands.

There's some ice here, but not
enough to support polar bears.

As we search for Lyra,
we encounter a new bear.

Look at this. We have a polar bear
swimming straight towards us.

And at first, I just
assumed that it was Lyra,

but it's not
and it's not the cub either.

That is interesting.

On this island where Lyra is,

we've got at least
one other polar bear.

I suppose that's just a symptom
of the conditions this year.

In a normal year, there would
have been fast ice,

a huge sheet of ice,
surrounding this island.

but now it's all broken up.

This is just pack ice, big lumps
that are floating in from the north.

I wonder if she's actually going
to come and check us out?

That's what it looks like.

It just shows
how inquisitive they are.

The fact that they actually
don't have any fear.

This bear is swimming towards this
enormous boat,

she can see us on deck.

And not at all fazed.

She must have caught our scent and
swum out here hoping to find a meal.

This behaviour makes me
think that all bears here

are really struggling
to find enough to eat.

Lyra's collar signal shows us
she's swum to a new island.

When we do find her,
there's great news.

We can see from the blood on her
face that she's been feeding.

And it looks like something's
caught Miki's attention.

If you're not tall enough
and you want to see

what's over the next hill,

you do what Miki's doing which is
standing up on his back legs.

He can smell something,
something up there.

She's found something
in that rotting kelp

and whatever it is, it's not going
to be particularly nice,

but it just shows you that polar
bears are opportunists -

they have to be.

Being marooned on an island
like this,

OK, they could swim off but
while they are here, it's worth just

checking out along the shoreline to
see if there is anything to eat.

I don't know what it is, it could
be a dead seal, dead fish...

..but they seem to be enjoying it.

'When they move off,

'I grab the chance to check out
what they've been eating.'

Whoa. Holy mackerel!

Now,

there we go. A dead walrus.

Gee whiz, it is huge!

Ideally, a polar bear wants
to catch live,

fresh prey, but they can't be picky.

Finding a meal like this is a really
important lesson for Miki,

and what she's taught him here is
that you don't have to catch live

prey, you don't have to do all that
hard work, you can find a gigantic

meal just lying there, it just takes
a little bit of looking for.

Just as we are looking
at Lyra's dinner,

she appears and reminds
us to mind our manners.

OK, there she is...

All that time that I was hunched
over the dead walrus,

Lyra was working her way back
and she's kind of,

still coming towards us.

A golden rule of following
polar bears is never

take your eye off them.

Lyra has never been aggressive
towards me,

but it's definitely not a good idea
to come between a bear

and its dinner.

To safely get as close as I can
to my polar bear family,

I've brought a special tool -
the ice cube.

A bear-proof filming hide
that I've used before.

Being this close made me

realise just how dangerous
polar bears can be.

Last year on Svalbard,
a bear killed one person

and injured four others
in a single attack.

I'd love to use the ice cube
to film Lyra eating close up.

We deploy the cube near her
walrus carcass in the hope that

she'll return to feed.

There you go.

Pretty good.

It's a long wait.

After five hours, all I catch
on camera is a curious seagull.

It's only once I leave, that Lyra
returns to finish her meal.

Polar bears are nothing
if not patient.

Back on the boat, I put in a call
to biologist, Jon Aars.

He's keen for news of Lyra's cubs.

It's Gordon here.

We're just down in the
Thousand Islands with Lyra

and she's looking good,
but she's only got one cub with her.

She has lost one of her cubs.

'It's vital information for Jon.

'Lyra is struggling
here in the south...'

Yep.

'..but Jon is keen for us
to find out if bears further
north are faring any better.'

Is there any bear that you'd like us
to check on that's in this area?

'Yes, the one which is the collar
031308 that should have two cubs.

'If you are in that area.'

No, that'd be good.

It'd be good to find out
if she's still got both cubs.

'The dead walrus will feed Lyra
and Miki for a few days.

'It's an opportunity to see
how this new bear,

'Ava, and her cubs are doing.'

I will do. Bye, bye, bye.

Lyra is Jon's most southerly
collared bear.

And the further south we are,
the less pack ice there is.

But further north there is Ava,

she's a female like Lyra that
started the season with two cubs.

And what I really want to see is

whether she has both of those
cubs with her.

I want to learn more about how
polar bears are adapting to

the record warm temperatures.

Are conditions better for
bears living further north?

As we steam towards Ava's signal,
we begin to encounter sea ice.

This is exactly what
a polar bear needs.

And sure enough,
as soon as we hit the ice,

we start to see signs of bears.

To the south in Lyra's islands,

there was nowhere for seals
to haul out.

But this place is seal heaven.

There are bears here,
but where is Ava?

I saw a mother with two cubs.

Almost certain that it was Ava,
I'm sure I saw a collar

and then to the right there,
these three bears, a mother with

two cubs, she's not collared,
just running along the ice.

In addition to that, we've got this
big male up here so I am pretty

sure that Ava has come up here
and she has bumped into this male.

That's amazing. We've got how many -
three, six, seven bears!

The sea ice here has attracted
bears for hundreds of miles

but we've yet to
positively identify Ava.

From the crow's nest, Captain
Bjorne spots a collared bear.

Yeah, I do see the female
with two cubs.

Yeah? Just on the other
side of the island.

It is Ava!

The good news is
she still has both of her cubs

and they are looking great.

And they are enjoying
being in this water.

It's like, almost at freezing,
maybe one degree above freezing.

Wow, here he goes,
here he goes, big leap.

Splash!

That is wonderful.

These cubs are jumping
into the water intentionally,

not out of necessity,
but just for fun.

I suppose when you contrast
the life of these two cubs with

the life of Miki,
these cubs are healthy,

well-fed, just having
the time of their lives.

They are not enduring life
in the Arctic. They are enjoying it.

I spent days with Lyra and I never
saw her with a fresh kill.

After just one hour with
Ava, I see her eating a seal -

one she's scrounged
from another bear.

Ava's moved towards a polar bear
that was feeding on something

behind the ice and the other polar
bear left straightaway.

It's still here, hasn't gone far.

When food is plentiful,
polar bears will often leave

the remains of a kill.

They seem to be relaxed
with each other,

if there's enough to go around.

The other one,
I think, is another female

but it's quite a fat female
so it could be pregnant.

It's very early in the year
to tell that, though.

Jason's called this bear Frieda

and while Ava finishes the seal,
Frieda comes to check us out.

This bear is not at all
bothered by us,

paying more attention to us than
it is to the food that it's left.

Polar bears are the most
inquisitive of all bears.

In this harsh environment curiosity
pays. Anything new
could be a meal...

even us.

She's going to jump across there...
testing the ice.

That was great! She's a nice looking
bear, nice and clean.

We're a week into our trip

and I've started a new chapter
with Ava's family.

I'd like to be able to film them

close up to compare their life
with Lyra and Miki's.

The ice here is thick enough
to break out the snowmobiles.

That should make it easier to catch
up with Ava and her cubs.

OK. Stop! Done.

It doesn't look like it
but my watch tells me

that it's four o'clock
in the morning.

In the summer,
bears can hunt 24 hours a day.

It is hot and what that creates
is this sort of massive heat haze.

It makes it really difficult to get
a sharp image of Ava

because of this heat shimmer.

What's happened today is quite
interesting,

because yesterday Ava stole
the leftovers from a large,

over-fat female on the ice and today,
less than 24 hours later, the roles

have changed and the fat female
has stolen some food from Ava.

So it's quite interesting that they
are obviously not too

scared of each other.

We've got this seal here

and that's why all these polar
bears are in this area.

Lots of seals! Way more seals here
than I've seen anywhere else.

These seals have to
keep their wits about them,

every time they come up for air
there is a risk that they

are going to get caught and a polar
bear will sit and wait for hours

and hours and hours, just patiently
waiting for the moment that a seal

pops his head up to take a breath
and they will be straight on them.

Frieda is on the hunt.

It's a rare chance to film
a polar bear's stalking technique.

Head is really low.

The seal is looking at us.

It's just trying to
kind of judge the distance.

She's one of the largest
predators on earth,

yet she hunts with
the agility of a house cat.

It's a bit of a cat
and mouse game here at the moment.

The surface for the bear to
run on is quite soft

so it can't get so much speed up.

Amazing to be
so close to this bear in hunt mode.

No way, mate! No luck.

Oh, well, the next thing on the menu
is the film crew.

If we need to go,
who's going to go where?

'Frieda means business.

'And this time, we are away
from the safety of the boat'.

If you get ready...

Where is Gordon going to be?

On the back of mine...
On the back of yours?

Just start it up, Oskar!

ENGINE STARTS

Starting the snowmobiles is enough
to put Frieda off.

Trying to follow these bears

so closely would be impossible
without Jason's experience.

That makes your heart beat
a little bit faster.

Yeah.
A little bit too close for comfort.

The next morning we wake to find sea
ice closing in on our boat.

So what is the longest you've been
stuck in the ice for?

The longest is three weeks.
Three weeks? Yeah.

I can't afford to be stuck
here for weeks.

It's time to get back to Lyra
and Miki in the Thousand Islands.

'A north wind is pushing
the pack ice south

'and I'm hoping that this could be
a lifeline for them.'

We lift anchor and steam south
towards Lyra's last known position.

Her collar tells us
she's moved to a new island.

Down in Lyra's Thousand Islands,
the temperature has started to drop,

but the pack ice
has not yet arrived.

Without ice, Lyra can't hunt seals.

She needs to draw on a lifetime's
experience to keep Miki alive.

This island is teeming with life.

But is there anything here
for Lyra and Miki?

As a summer snowstorm arrives,

I get a call that Jason has
found Lyra in a nearby bay.

She does look amazing up there.

The trouble is, each time she comes
ashore, she's just not going

to find enough food here.

There he is,
he's facing off a seagull.

Oh, there you go.
He showed that gull.

They are sniffing about in amongst
the rocks and there's nesting birds

here so they may well be able to get
a little snack, an egg or two,

but a tiny egg to a huge polar bear,
that's like us eating a peanut.

What she needs is a big fresh
substantial meal

and she's not going to find
that on an island,

she's going to find that
out on the sea ice.

Lyra is doing everything she can to
make the best of a tough situation.

She is a great mother.

If she was less experienced,

I don't think Miki would have
made it this far.

What keeps these two bears together
is their love for each other.

They are entirely bonded
and you can't stay bonded

if you are just
constantly following each other.

There has to be that reinforcement
and they'll do that every now

and again and just nuzzle up.

I see what she's doing.

She's dug a little pit there
and she's allowing Miki to suckle.

The big difference between Lyra
and Miki is that Miki always has

something to eat. So long as Lyra's
producing milk, he can fuel up.

For Lyra, she is the one that's
constantly thinking about how

she's going to feed herself.

I really wonder
whether Miki makes that

connection between his food source
and his mother's need to hunt?

If Lyra doesn't find a substantial
meal soon, her milk will dry up.

The next day the pack ice
blows in from the north.

Maybe Lyra will finally
catch a seal.

This is where she is. Right here.

'Her collar signal tells me
she's heading for the ice.

'She is a smart bear.'

There's always this compromise,

because ice is great for the bears,
but it makes our job

of finding our way through
the ice much more difficult.

'This iceberg should give me
a better chance to spot Lyra.

'But it's not as solid as it looks.'

One foot.

That's the trouble
with these icebergs

is that they are prone to tipping,
they're constantly moving,

moving with the current, but they're
constantly rolling as well.

Lots of birds out there.

'My icy dip pays off.'

There she is! There they both are.

Now that's more by luck
than judgment.

I'd have thought the chances
of finding her out here amongst

all this ice would be almost nil
but here she is.

What she's doing is she's
constantly sniffing.

She is looking for a seal that
has hauled out on one of these

flat pieces of ice -
a seal that she can hunt.

You can see how Miki
is able to cross these huge

distances of open water.

He's clinging on with his paws
onto Lyra's back.

And with her huge,
powerful front paws

she is able to power through
the water.

She just uses her back legs
for steering.

OK, we'll just
stay as still as we can.

We've got here and the boat's
moving around a fair bit.

Where are you? Come on.

OK. There she is,
just cruising along.

Miki, literally in tow.

He's clinging on to her big hairy
rear end with his sharp claws.

Adult polar bears are superb
swimmers,

but a small cub like Miki
needs help.

Being towed by Mum makes it safer.

As the ice gets thicker,

it looks like Lyra has switched
to hunting mode.

OK, there she is, up on the ice.

She's just crossed over
the ice and back in the water.

OK, just in front of me
we've got about five Greenland seals

and that may well be what Lyra
is heading for.

It's when they are trying to hunt
seals from the water that

polar bears become
an ambush predator.

They try and get as close as
they possibly can until the very

last minute and the seal spots them
and tries to escape into the

water and then that's when she
stands a chance of grabbing them.

But it is incredibly difficult.

I'd love to see Lyra catch a seal,

but I don't want to ruin her
chances, so we decide to pull back.

Back on the boat,
Captain Bjorne shows me

a video he filmed of a polar bear
stalking a seal.

I didn't know what was
going to happen.

Was it as male or a female?

A female. Yeah.

And did you know at this point
what was going on?

No, not at this moment.
I was just waiting for some action.

Oh, wow!

It was that close? Yes.

She didn't get it? No.

Oh. Can you play that back
just to that moment?

How close is that?

So how many times do you think
a polar bear has to hunt

a seal before it's successful?

I've seen them hunting many times,
but only once I've seen them

being that close.

I've never had to worry
where my next meal is coming from.

I hope Lyra and Miki are OK.

Next day, the wind has changed and
the sea ice has blown far offshore.

Seals are now out of reach for Lyra.

Oh. We've got a problem.
What is it?

The bear's smarter than us.

Lyra's signal shows her swimming
in open water, away from land.

It's worrying for Miki.

..and we can't get through
this passage...

Adult bears are well insulated
and can survive long swims.

Cubs can't.

I want to find them
as soon as I can.

Keep going right.

Our bear. Where is she?

There she is, straight ahead
in the water. Further to the right.

Oh, yeah, I see her now!
Right out in the open water.

Now, what's she doing?

There isn't any substantial
ice in sight.

What's her plan?
Is she heading for that next island?

Maybe that would make sense.

She's been working down
island to island,

just hoovering up what's here.

Not that much.

And it may well be that she's
heading to that other island

over there.

But you can see that Miki
is riding on her back,

just holding on with those
sharp claws.

And she's doing all the hard work.

All that paddling with those big
powerful front legs of hers.

As Lyra and Miki swim further out
to sea, we lose sight of them.

Looks like we've lost her
and it's these water crossings

that are the most dangerous
time for these cubs.

Oh, gosh.

I'm beginning to think that it
was on one of these water crossings

at this time of year with the lack
of ice that she lost Luca.

But if she keeps on swimming
like this, the risk of losing

Miki as well gets higher with
every single crossing she takes.

We check the nearest island
to see if she's come ashore.

There's no sign of Lyra

but there is a bear here -
and he's a giant.

He's on his feet.
Just look at the size of him.

He's enormous!

Which direction is he going towards?

He's was just...
He got up and walked to the right

and then disappeared
over the other side.

I don't think he's gone too far.

Can you see him at all, Jason?

Yeah. Should be fine!

Should be fine. Famous last words.

Jason!

He's there.
Jesus, look at the size of him.

OK, let's wander back...
He's quite large, isn't he?

Yeah, he's quite big. Gosh.
Oh, my goodness.

That is quite something, being this
close to an animal of that size.

Notice the size of the head
and there is no neck,

the head is part of the shoulders,
it's just massive.

He is huge.

This large male might be the reason
that Lyra and Miki are out at sea.

It could well be that as Lyra was
swimming towards this island

she smelt him from miles away
and that's why she kept on going.

But if she was to come ashore with
Miki, there is a very,

very high chance that he would have
attacked, killed and eaten him.

He looks absolutely beautiful,
but the chances are that

if I was to keep on walking just
another 50 yards,

it would be the last moments
I had on this earth.

He's got be at least twice
the size of Lyra.

The reason the males are
so big is that they have to compete

with one another for these females.

Beautiful.

Beautiful and very, very, very big.

Jason's flare gun can scare
off a bear that gets too close.

But the best defence
is deep respect.

This bear is seven times
heavier than me.

On its hind legs, it would
stand ten feet tall.

It's the most impressive
animal I've ever seen.

We continue our search for Lyra,
but there's a problem.

She's spent
so much time in the water,

her collar isn't working any more.

We haven't had a signal for 24 hours
and we can't find her anywhere.

There's no way to locate
Lyra in this vast landscape

until her collar
starts working again.

Reluctantly, we make the difficult
decision to head north to

check up on Ava at the glacier.

It's my last chance to see how she
and her cubs are getting on.

We arrive early in the morning.

As the summer melt continues,

this is one of the few places
that still has sea ice.

So it's attracting even more bears.

I want to see how Ava and her cubs

are coping with this
unusual situation.

Gordon!

Jason spots a bear with a collar.

There we go.

That is definitely Ava.

She's always been shy,
so it's hard to get close.

One thing is obvious - her cubs are
both fatter and healthier than Miki.

Something has spooked Ava.

Ah, she's going in
the wrong direction.

She might be giving us
the slip, unfortunately.

Around the corner comes another
mother with even bigger cubs.

Unbelievable, unbelievable,

just amazing to see.

Looking at our female over there

and we've got another three polar
bears right here, even closer.

Those are two healthy looking cubs.

Really nice looking cubs,
big chunky things.

Or maybe it's just that
I'm a lot closer to them

than I have been with the others,
just an incredible place this.

Suddenly, we find ourselves
surrounded by polar bears.

Another single bear just there...

Gosh!

So we've got Ava with her two cubs.

We've got the female with the
two cubs that wasn't tagged.

Plus we've got a young bear
just behind us here,

plus we've got the fat female
over on the ice.

That's eight bears around us.

And this one is walking
towards you, Gordon.

We really have to
keep our radar going now,

so we've got eight bears around us.

OK, four of them
are quite small cubs but...

But this one I can't believe that,
Jason - she's just utterly unfazed.

So she's definitely got the scent
of this young bear coming in here

and Ava is coming around the back.

She's a bit more sceptical...

Polar Bear Central, Jason.

The density of polar bears here
is unbelievable, but it just

shows you how easy it would be
to slip up somewhere like this.

You're concentrating on this
lovely scene of mother

and two cubs behind you,
and walking up over the ridge...

Another single bear just there.
..is another mother.

I'm getting the feeling that this
isn't a good situation.

We've got 13 bears in this one area,
which is incredible.

This is potentially very dangerous.

I'd be more concerned of the young
bear that doesn't have cubs

than the female with the cubs...

Right, this one's quite... OK.

Gordon!

It's OK, just start,
let the scooter run.

All good fun.

Another day in the office, Gordon.

Incredible!

It is amazing to see this many
polar bears in one place.

It may be a vision of the future
as temperatures in the Arctic rise

and bears are forced to congregate
on the last of the sea ice.

Despite sharing the ice
with so many other bears,

Ava and her cubs are doing
amazingly well.

For now, they seem to be thriving.

Back at the boat, we have an
encounter with one of the most

confident bears I've met.

Frieda has decided to pay us
a visit.

It's an opportunity to film
a bear from a safe vantage point.

See if I can get an eyeball
to eyeball view.

I hope she doesn't rip out my hand.

I've got this camera at the end
of a very long pole.

Not sure if its quite long enough.

We've got this 300 tonne boat and
not fazed in the slightest by it.

She is just interested.

She lives in this monochrome, fairly
featureless landscape and this

huge blue boat arrives on the scene
and of course she's curious.

She just wants to come
and check it out.

You beautiful, big bear. Hello!

Are you just curious,

or do you think you can
possibly get a snack here?

You can see she has been swimming,
her coat's been recently damp

and it's gone all crimped.

Very beautiful.

And you see...
Look, head right in the porthole!

Now, this isn't something...

You'd break a tooth on this
and you need those teeth.

Wow!

I think she's got bored now.
She is just wandering away.

She can't eat the boat.

Can't eat me,
she can't eat the camera

and there's nothing really here
to keep her attention.

Off she goes.

Lots of seals out there,
that's a better meal for you.

It's been really great to see
the bears here, but I can't help

thinking about how Lyra
and Miki are doing down south.

We've been unable to get Lyra's
position for days and I'm worried.

The satellite is supposed to send
us a signal every four hours

and there's been nothing.

A few things could have happened.

She could be on a big, mammoth swim

and it won't transmit underwater,
or she's resting up.

Or maybe she's lost the collar.

If she's lost the collar, we won't
find her

and I suppose worst-case scenario
is that

we've actually lost her entirely.

A call to Jon provides
some good news.

We are hoping to go down
and try and find Lyra again.

Can you see where she is,
where Lyra is at the moment?

'Yes, I have a position,
she is still in the general area

'and my guess is maybe that she
is on one of the islands.'

Well, that is great, she's
sort of still in that one area.

'Yeah. Yeah.'

Lovely. Thank you! Bye.

'OK, no problem. Bye.'

That's good news.

We hadn't had a signal from
Lyra's collar for three days

and beginning to fear the worst,

but Jon got a signal
from this morning and

she's almost exactly the same place,
down among the Thousand Islands.

As we head south towards Lyra
and Miki, we hit an Arctic storm.

I'm worried about them. Even adult
bears drown in storms like this.

If they're caught in open water,
Miki won't stand a chance.

We've got through the worst
of the storm, the only problem is,

we've tried to do a download
from Lyra's collar - nothing.

So I am beginning
to fear the worst.

If she spent three days
swimming in these conditions,

I just cannot believe that Miki
is still with her.

We arrive at the spot her last
signal came from.

Pea soup fog.

A lot of snow patches up there,
they've cleared a bit, though.

'With her collar failing,

'finding Lyra now will be nothing
short of a miracle.'

But then, a miracle happens.

There she is, there, there. Look!

On top of the rock.

I think it... Yes, it is.
I don't believe it.

I mean, you can talk about a needle
in a haystack or pea soup fog.

We did not even know that
the needle was in the haystack.

It's her.

There's a collar on her.
There's a collar, yeah.
It's her. Yeah. It's definitely her.

Yes!

It's fantastic
to bump into polar bears,

but to meet a polar bear again
that I've got to know,

it is completely different.

It does... It feels like
I'm meeting an old friend.

Great. Amazingly
sheltered in here, isn't it?

Yeah.

Lyra's OK,
but what about little Miki?

So she was just over the other
side of the rocks?

Yeah. So she's not too far away.

Right, let's see.

Oh, there's Miki.

It's amazing,
Miki is safe and sound.

He is looking nice.
He's just sniffing the air.

Against all the odds,
Lyra has kept Miki alive.

In the most challenging summer she's
ever known, Lyra has triumphed.

Over the last few months
I've spent more time

with a wild polar bear family
than anyone has ever done before.

I've grown to really care
about Lyra and Miki.

They've allowed me
to share their lives.

But they face an uncertain future.

Their world is
changing as never before.

I just hope their powerful
bond will help them

make it through
the rest of the year.

When I return to Svalbard
in the autumn, I find Lyra running

out of options as she struggles
to keep Miki alive.

You can see how narrow she is around
the rear end there, very, very slim.

The brutal Arctic pushes my
bear family, and me, to the edge.

Oh, my God, oh, my God!

And I discover whether Lyra
and Miki's story can help us

understand the future
for all polar bears.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd