All language subtitles for Arctic Secrets S01E04 Fall on the Tundra 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD+2 0 x264-QOQ

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In the eastern reaches of
the Canadian Arctic

lies a vast wilderness of
water, rock, and earth.

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The rolling tundra
can seem barren.

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But jewel-like
plants blossom.

Prehistoric animals roam.

Life thrives in
hidden places.

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The purest freshwater
flows in torrents.

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As summer ends, creatures
fatten for winter.

The days grow shorter,
the nights longer.

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Fall on the tundra
is fleeting.

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The land and sea
will soon be frozen.

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This is Nunavik ...

a testing ground for survival.

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Nunavik, meaning
"Great Land" in Inuktitut,

is bigger than California.

A pristine wilderness of
water, forest, and tundra.

On the shores of
Ungava Bay,

the long summer days
are coming to an end.

The tundra colors
are darkening.

But the ptarmigan is
beginning to whiten for winter.

Local Inuit harvest
the fruit of the meadows.

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And search shorelines for
the fruits of the sea.

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Some of the world's
highest tides

sweep through Ungava Bay.

Driving mighty icebergs to
the end of their journey,

aground in these
shallow waters.

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As the nights darken,

the Northern Lights
become vivid.

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The muskoxen's coats
grow thicker,

preparing for winter.

For now,
they graze with ease.

Soon they must
dig beneath snow.

The young calves are
four to five months old.

They were born early
enough in the year to

fatten up before facing
their first Arctic winter.

Within a week of birth,
they could nibble

tender shoots of grass,
but they won't be weaned

for another year or so.

A startled calf will hide in
its mother's long wool skirt,

and will shelter
there for warmth in winter.

It's still summer's end,

with swarming bugs
to pester them.

This calf has learned to
find relief

by scratching against a rock.

Muskoxen have grazed in
the Arctic for 200,000 years.

They witnessed the
emergence of the

boreal forest after the
last ice age.

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The boreal forest that
circles below the high Arctic

reaches its limit here,

at the southern edges
of Ungava Bay.

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In this low,
rolling country,

the transition from forest
to tundra is gradual.

Although maps show the
limit of the forest as a

rigid treeline,
there's no such thing.

Sporadic clumps of spruce,
aspen or larch grasp the

thin soil where they can,
until no more grow.

As the trees become
more sparse,

bedrock appears through
the thin crust of earth.

This is the immense
Canadian Shield,

North America's underlying
foundation of rock.

*

These are among the most
ancient rocks on earth.

Some are three
billion years old.

There used to be
mountains here.

They were eroded over
thousands of years

by massive glaciers.

The Laurentide Ice Sheet
retreated here

8,000 years ago.

But its effects still
form the landscape,

which even today
is rebounding from

the loss of its massive weight.

The mighty ice reduced
mountains to rubble and

scraped the land clean.

The ice sheet left behind
these raised ridges of

loose sand and gravel,
called eskers,

that trace the routes of
ancient streams of meltwater.

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The well-drained surface
and the sheltering sides

encourage the tough
plants that grow here.

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The Arctic tundra is
extremely cold...

a treeless landscape
with a growing season

barely a month long.

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It's fall on the
Koksoak river,

the largest in Nunavik.

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The river's massive
drainage basin

is larger than Greece.

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It is calm now.

But in early summer,
when snow and ice

melt along the shores,
the river surges

to its tumultuous,
maximum flow.

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Salmon that spawned here
a few weeks ago have left

for Ungava Bay, or beyond
to the Arctic ocean.

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A hoofprint in the moss...
and a tuft of fur

snagged on a dwarf birch
are signs a muskox

has passed through here.

The Inuit call this fur
qiviut - the soft,

dense underlayer of
a muskox coat.

This thermal underwear
enabled muskoxen

to survive the ice age.

Qiviut is the warmest
animal fur on earth.

It's stronger than sheep's
wool and softer than cashmere.

It's time for creatures
that came here in spring

to mate and give birth,
to migrate back south.

On a passage from
further north,

Canada Geese rest here.

They mass on lakes and
ponds before taking off again

for the southern
United States.

As sunlight decreases and
temperatures drop,

the plants darken.

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These bearberry leaves
take on the

ruddy shades of fall.

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They will survive the
Arctic winter because

they need few nutrients and
have silky hairs

to keep them warm.

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A carpet of lichens covers
the well-drained parts of

the tundra and helps
to feed the muskoxen.

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Lichen is unique.

It's one species,
formed by a

partnership between two:
fungus and alga.

Deeply intertwined, the
fungus provides the framework,

while the alga
provides nutrients

through photosynthesis.

*

They can survive for
hundreds of years and

spread by fragments
breaking off and blowing away.

One tiny piece contains
both components.

The blending of
the two species

is still not
entirely understood.

It remains an
Arctic secret.

*

Nestled among the
lichen is Labrador tea.

Northerners use it
to make a tonic,

rich in Vitamin C,
and to spice meat.

Its thick leathery leaves
and woolly hairs

conserve moisture.

Mushrooms are vital
to tundra plants.

Underground, the mushroom
intertwines with plant roots

and feeds them nutrients,
especially nitrogen.

The ptarmigan spends
fall's shortening days

eating plants and
berries in a hurry.

Like all wildlife that
winters in Nunavik,

it's fattening up for
the hardship ahead.

It also eats tiny pebbles
that help digest

tough, twiggy plants.

Its guttural,
rattling growl

is a characteristic
sound of the tundra.

The ptarmigan's coloring
merges with tundra plants

and disguises it
well from predators,

such as arctic foxes
and bald eagles.

To stay camouflaged in
the winter landscape,

ptarmigan plumage
transforms to snowy white.

Moulting begins now,
in the fall.

It sheds brown feathers
to grow white ones.

Its feathered legs and
toes help it walk on the snow,

like snowshoes,
and keep it warm.

This transformation must
be delicately timed

to the change of season.

A brown bird can be picked off
from a snowy landscape.

If it turns white when the
ground is brown,

it will be too visible.

Climate change is making
the ptarmigan's life

more precarious.

In recent years,
summer has lasted longer.

The seasons have also
fluctuated unpredictably.

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This tributary of the
Koksoak River has

its source high on a hillside.

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Here is true wilderness,
hard to reach on foot.

The water cascades down
through a series of

falls and rapids.

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Nunavik forms almost a
third of the province of Quebec,

which holds three percent of
the world's freshwater.

Much of it flows in
these northern rivers.

This region receives
little rain and only some snow.

The snow that does fall
accumulates on the ground

and doesn't melt for
most of the year.

When the weather warms and
the snow melts,

the water can't sink far
into the ground

before hitting
permafrost and bedrock,

so it runs directly
into the rivers.

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This waterfall cuts
through the rock

of the Canadian Shield.

The cliff top trees latch
on to meagre inches of topsoil.

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In spring,
salmon returning to their

spawning grounds must
forge their way

up these rapids and
over these rocks.

It's a journey that
takes several weeks.

The fish will travel
at least 60 miles and

climb almost 1000
feet in elevation.

There are no
roads in Nunavik.

The air and waterways
are lifelines.

(communication radio)

People here depend on bush
pilots like Johnny May.

He supplies scattered
camps and has flown many

missions for medical
emergencies.

(communication radio)

A workhorse bush plane,
like this Turbo Otter,

is built for short
take-offs and landings,

and for handling rough weather.

It can be as hardy and
enduring as Johnny.

*

With proper maintenance,
a bush plane can fly for

as long as him,
more than half a century.

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Today Johnny is delivering
supplies to a camp

in the wilderness
on the Koksoak River.

This camp welcomes ecotourists
from as far as New Zealand,

to observe Nunavik's
exotic wildlife

and extraordinary
landscape.

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Thomas Groening is a
guide with the camp.

He's on the lookout for
muskoxen to show the visitors.

Muskoxen can be
unpredictable and

dangerous if
they're surprised.

He carries a gun
for protection.

Muskoxen have roamed the
Arctic since prehistoric times.

But in the 1800's,

they became a
threatened species.

*

Hunters shot muskoxen
for sport and

for their meat and fur.

They were easy to pick off
because of their habit,

when threatened, of backing
together to form a circle,

horns out, shielding
the young in the middle.

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Populations started
recovering when hunting

was regulated during
the last century.

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Males and females both have
horns that are sharp enough

to cut through ice to
reach underlying forage.

With the weight of a
450 to 650 pound

adult muskox behind them,
the horns make a fearsome

weapon against predators,
such as wolves.

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The female has smaller horns,
with pale hair

on her forehead between them.

(growls)

The horns on the male are
joined across his forehead

with a thick, bony plate,
called a boss.

This protects his skull
when he locks horns

during mating conflicts,
competing for female attention.

The horns start growing
from infancy, are never shed,

and keep growing
throughout life.

Unusual changes in the
weather can devastate the herd.

In freakish midwinter thaws,
snow melts,

then quickly freezes
to thick ice.

It blocks muskoxen from
foraging for leaves and grasses.

They starve to death.

Their carcasses have been
found on sea ice,

where they wandered searching
and digging for food.

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Rivers are the
highways of the north.

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Junior May is the
bush pilot's son.

He and his wife,
Sapina Snowball,

are traveling on
the Koksoak river.

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It's trickier
than it looks.

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An hour from Ungava Bay,
the water is influenced

by tides from the
Arctic Ocean.

River tides here are some
of the highest in the world.

At low tide, Junior has
to be careful not to run

aground on the
sharp rocks.

(dog barking)

Must be a female in heat.

They are on an expedition
to pick berries.

Junior and Sapina are
heading for a small island

where the berries are
rumored to be good this year.

Hello boys!

Hello,
Oden.

A friend of theirs keeps his
sled dogs here for the summer.

(dogs barking)

Canadian Inuit dogs have
roots dating back 4,000 years,

when they were bred for
strength and endurance.

They partner with Inuit
people in hunting and

hauling supplies, and protect
them against polar bears.

In summer and fall,
people in the North

often keep their dogs on
small islands to roam free,

and return every few days
to bring them food.

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Junior brings his gun
because there are

unexpected visitors here.

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Three young muskoxen
have swum to the island.

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Their coats are glossy
and look freshly washed

suggesting they
swam here recently.

While Junior stands guard,
Sapina heads for the

berry patches at the
top of the island.

Berries are the only fruit
that grow in the Arctic

and among the few wild
plants edible for humans.

There are some roots and
leaves, but no vegetables.

Sapina will freeze or
dry some to last through winter.

Food imported from the
South is expensive,

so people in the
North take advantage of

what grows in the wild.

They call it
"country food."

Today Sapina is looking
for sweet, juicy cloudberries.

But others are native
here too: blueberries,

crowberries,
and cranberries.

*

The cloudberry is a member
of the rose family.

There are male
and female plants.

The females
bear the fruit.

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Cloudberries can survive
far below freezing.

But they do need damp soil,
thriving in the

springy tundra and patches
between the rocks of the Shield.

It can be difficult to
find berries in the

open spaces of the tundra.

Families pass down
knowledge of where they

grow through generations,

sometimes as carefully
guarded secrets.

*

They need to understand the
land and weather well, too.

The places where the
berries flourish

can vary from year to year.

After heavy rain,
the berries may grow

where they didn't the summer
before; and a patch that

previously flourished
may be barren.

Sapina's timing is good.

The berries are
perfectly ripe.

In a few days they
will be spoiled.

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The island's shoreline
reveals the gigantic

slab of rock underlying the
slender layer of soil

where the
cloudberries grow.

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On the shores of Ungava Bay
an amphibious habitat thrives,

fed by the dynamic movement
of tides over the sand,

which is rich in nutrients.

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At the north-western tip
of Ungava Bay,

the low tide reveals
multitudes of a creature that

stays put as the
sea comes and goes.

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Blue mussels flourish in
this intertidal zone,

a marine ecosystem that is
regularly exposed to air.

The mussels,
called uviluk by the Inuit,

survive the
freezing months of winter.

Ungava Bay is free of ice
for only four months of

summer and fall, the rest
of the year it's covered.

They're easiest to pick
at leisure during a full moon,

when the tide
stays out longest.

The mussel creeps along
the rocks on a rubbery foot

and anchors itself in place
with a group of filaments,

called byssal threads,

more commonly
known as the beard.

The mussel releases the
threads as a liquid that

hardens in contact
with water.

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Growth rings on the shell
reveal the mussel's age,

which can be up
to five years.

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They are a gregarious
species and will

link themselves together in
groups by their byssal threads.

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When the tide is in,
the mussel feeds,

sucking in water and
filtering it for nutrients,

then expelling the remains.

The probing foot seeks
a new spot to feed.

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Kelp also grows here.

Like the blue mussel,
it flourishes in

shallow coastal waters.

It survives on
photosynthesis,

so needs to be
reached by sunlight.

The mussels thrive living
among the kelp consuming

the detritus when
it decomposes.

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Locals have a few hours of
low tide to pick mussels,

before the water
sweeps back in.

Bertha Adams and her
husband Adamie Kullula

live nearby in the small
village of Quaqtaq and

often walk over to
collect mussels.

Bertha carries their
little boy, Adner,

in an amauti, a parka with a
pouch for carrying a baby,

traditional among
eastern Arctic women.

She can draw the hood over them
both in colder weather.

Harvesting mussels
requires ripping the

tenacious beard
from the rock.

>> When I take one, you know,
it's like

you get addicted to it.

>> These are among the
cleanest mussels in the world.

But it can still be
risky to eat them raw.

Adamie's been doing it for
years and has built an

immunity to the pathogens
that may lurk in the flesh.

Mussels are plentiful now,
after spring mating and

summer maturing.

They're a prolific species:
an average female

has seven million offspring.

But in an exposed site
like this,

most will die in a year,
easy prey for shorebirds.

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The weather can
change quickly here.

Adamie and Bertha must
keep an eye on the sky

as they forage.

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Today they are lucky.

The fog lifts and their
passage home is clear.

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These icebergs may have
been traveling for as

long as two years, for
thousands of nautical miles,

from their calving ground.

They most likely split off

one of Greenland's
massive glaciers.

They've drifted on ocean
currents, eighty per cent

of their bulk under water.

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The rhythmic action of waves
causes an iceberg to vibrate,

sometimes so much
it can become unstable and

overturn without warning.

Their journey has now ended,
here on the shallow banks

of Ungava Bay, where
they have run aground.

If the high tide doesn't
take them back out to sea,

they will waste away here,
as the ocean's saltwater

erodes and breaks the
freshwater ice.

*

Their shape is defined by
warm air above the sea,

the frigid water below
and by the bedrock

they scraped along.

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The end of the Arctic
summer brings its rewards.

As the nights grow darker,
the spectacle of the

aurora borealis,
the northern lights,

grows brighter.

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Blasts of spiraling
wind from the sun,

carrying charged particles,
are drawn to

the magnetic pole.

Collisions between the
earth's magnetic field and

the solar wind, colored
by gasses in our

upper atmosphere, bring us
the dancing light.

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The glimmering display has
fired human imagination.

For some, it's made by
torches carried by souls

caught between the
heavens and an abyss.

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Some say if you whistle
at the lights,

you will suffer calamity.

Others believe that
if you whistle,

they will dance for you.

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The sun rises lower in the
sky each morning,

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the days grow shorter and
muskoxen gather.

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They've been scattered across
the tundra in smaller herds.

Some of only
cows and calves,

some only bachelors.

Now they are readying
for winter,

driven by two primal urges:

to eat and to mate.

This patrolling bull
seems to lead the herd,

encouraging the others
towards fresh pastures.

They need to feed intensively
in the next few weeks,

before they must dig through
snow and ice for forage.

Muskoxen excel at
conserving their energy.

They have a low metabolic
rate that drops

by more than half in winter.

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A mother still nursing a
calf needs enough fat to

support them both
through six months

of freezing temperatures.

If a cow becomes pregnant
she'll need to nourish the

growing calf which will
be born when the snow

is still on the ground.

The mating season lasts
for a couple of months,

throughout July
and August.

During that time, a bull
at his peak, aged six to eight,

impregnates as
many cows as he can.

This bull is keen to
maintain his dominance.

*

Again and again,
he drives away rivals.

And keeps fertile
cows nearby.

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Females give birth every
two or three years and

aren't fertile in between.

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They tend not to broadcast
their fertility as other

female animals do, so the bull
has to keep trying his luck,

often with
little encouragement.

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The bull can reach
near exhaustion,

battling with rivals and
striving to mate.

At the end of fall and
the mating season,

the muskoxen will
gather in bigger herds,

to weather the winter together.

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* (singing)

* (singing)

Lena Ezekiel and Bertha
Adams are skilled in one of

the oldest forms of music,
throat singing.

The women of this land
know how to sing more than

one note at a time and
have harmonized for

generations to sing babies
to sleep, or play a game.

* (singing)

Two women,
standing in an embrace,

often improvising,

challenge one
another to be the first

to break down with
exhaustion or laughter.

* (singing)

(laughs)

In their voices,
you can hear echoes of the

ptarmigan's rattle,
the muskox's growl,

and the breath of the wind.

* (singing)

* (singing)

(laughing)

Son of a gun!

*

As they have since
prehistoric times,

the muskoxen browse
the tundra.

They've evolved to match this
rugged landscape and climate.

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The muskox may have outlived
the woolly mammoth here,

but populations in
other parts of the world

did not
survive so long.

60,000-year-old samples
of muskox DNA have been

discovered in regions
where they died out.

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It's been found that
muskoxen are vulnerable

to climate warming as has
been happening here

in the Arctic in recent years.

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For now, the muskox
hunkers down for the winter,

slipping its body
into the rhythms

of the changing season.

*

It may seem austere,
but for them,

the Arctic is
a land of plenty.

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