All language subtitles for Canada A Year in the Wild 2of4 Summer 1080p x265 AAC org

Canada -

the second largest country on Earth.

Famous for its epic wilderness.

From the Rocky Mountains...

..to the Great White North.

Breathtaking...

..rugged...

..and immense.

It's a rich and varied wonderland...

..which supports some of North
America's most iconic species.

Theirs is a world of extremes.

Their life...

..at the mercy of the elements.

Every season brings new challenges.

It'll take strength...

..and tenacity...

..courage...

..and resilience...

..skill...

..and good fortune...

..just to make it through...

..A Year in the Wild.

Summer finally arrives in the wilds
of Canada...

..bringing longer days and warmer
temperatures.

Babies born in the spring emerge
into a world transformed.

The sunlight fuels an incredible
surge of life.

And the race is on to make the most
of it.

The Rocky Mountains run through
South-West Canada

like a rugged spine...

..a land of long icy winters and
brief summers.

Beyond the trees, a world of stony
desolation prevails.

This is the realm of the pika.

This tiny relative of the rabbit
lives among the jumble of rocks...

..his refuge from the cold of winter
and the heat of summer.

The slopes below are bursting with
fresh growth...

..fuelled by the July sun.

Rich pickings for this busy male.

He must harvest as much as he can
before the snow returns.

Each mouthful is ferried back to his
rocky retreat...

..and added to his growing store.

Here, in the shelter of the
boulders...

..the sweet grass dries to make hay.

Food, which is key to his survival
through the brutal winter.

SQUEAKING NOISE

A territorial call
nearby puts him on the defensive.

There's an intruder on his patch.

Born just 30 days ago...

..this pale pika pup must grow up
fast.

Over the next two months,

she needs to claim a territory and
build a haystack of her own.

Or she won't survive winter.

SQUEAKING CONTINUES

Challenging an established
male is a bad start.

He runs in to defend his border...

..scent marking the edge of his
domain.

She does the same.

Boundaries established,
it's back to work.

Making hay while the sun shines.

The pale pup makes a good start.

But her haystack is small and
exposed...

..whilst the male's is vast.

And while she seems to lack a sense
of urgency...

..he keeps going.

Every mouthful of grass could be the

difference between life and death
once winter sets in.

A snack break helps to keep the
energy levels up.

But it also means that his haystack
is left unattended.

The pale pup quickly cashes in...

..and raids the larder of the
hard-working male.

The longer he's away,
the more she takes.

By the time he heads home with the
next load...

..she's long gone.

And he is none the wiser.

The pale pup has no-one to guide
her...

..but with guile and quick thinking,

she's learning to shape her own
destiny.

For other mountain residents,

summer is when vital knowledge is
handed down.

Every year, mountain goat kids

follow their mums on an epic
journey.

Their final destination lies at the
base of a 500-foot cliff.

Hidden amongst the rocks
is a secret spring...

..rich in precious minerals the
goats need to stay healthy.

The sure-footed nannies
lead the way.

They make this journey every year.

But it's a steep slope for a
first-timer.

Put a foot wrong up here,

and he'll plunge to his death.

It's summer in the Rocky Mountains
of Canada.

And mountain goats are nearing the
end of a perilous journey.

There's just one more steep descent
to make

before they reach the ancient
mineral lick below.

Kids follow the adults
as best they can.

The nannies have had years to hone
their climbing skills.

But the kids are still learning.

There's no room for error.

They've all made it down safely.

This mineral-rich water is an

important pick-me-up after a bleak
winter diet.

But with hungry bears and wolves
nearby...

..they can't stay long.

Dominant goats jostle for
position...

..whilst nervous kids wait for a
space to become free.

Once they've had their fill,
the goats head back to safety.

Mothers stay below their kids to
break a fall.

But a straggler
has to find his own way.

Panic sets in.

And in the rush to re-join
his mother...

..this kid makes a terrible mistake.

Even experienced goats sometimes
fall to their deaths.

But somehow, this little one has
survived.

Battered and bruised,
he immediately tries again.

This time he makes it back to mum.

He's escaped death by the narrowest
of margins...

..but his future is still uncertain.

In the Rocky Mountains, there are
deadly drops round every corner.

1,700 miles east of the goats lies a
vast wooded wilderness

known as Algonquin Provincial Park.

Every summer, 130 species of birds
gather here to breed...

..including five types
of woodpecker.

High in a birch, a yellow-bellied
sapsucker lives up to her name.

She hammers holes in the trunk...

..and laps up the sap with her
bristly tongue.

It's a vital source of energy...

..which other birds are keen
to exploit.

With the coast clear,

a ruby-throated hummingbird
takes his chance.

Sap is a good substitute
for flower nectar

and will help fuel his migration

back to Central America in a few
weeks' time.

It's not just other birds that
plunder the wells.

A young squirrel arrives for his
sugar fix.

And when he's finished,
the insects move in.

A mourning cloak butterfly sees off
intruders with a flap of her wings.

But these wells are also
a death trap.

Some insects get stuck
in the sugary goo.

And the sapsucker returns to reap
the harvest.

A few feet below, her red-throated
mate does the same.

Full of protein and energy...

..every beakful is the perfect meal
for their growing chicks.

Picking off insects makes feeding
time effortless.

After a month on this rich diet, the
chicks will be ready to fledge.

And when they do, they'll have a
living larder on the doorstep.

Whilst summer brings abundance to
forest dwellers in the south...

..it means starvation for polar
bears in the north.

This mother and her two cubs came
off the ice in June.

And they may not eat again
until November.

They slowly make their way north to
where the ice will form first,

giving them access to seals again.

Some think they enter a kind of
walking hibernation.

During this time
they reduce their metabolism,

cutting down energy demands whilst
food is in such short supply.

Every summer, this coast is home to
around 1,000 polar bears...

..each one slowly starving.

Their weight can drop by 20 pounds
per week.

So they pick at anything
they can find.

With temperatures nudging
20 degrees Celsius,

they run the risk of overheating.

To help keep cool,
some lie in wet kelp...

..then pump blood to an area around
their shoulder blades

where the heat can radiate away.

Others choose to cool off by lying
in shallow coastal waters.

Days are long...

..so a mother bear keeps her cub
entertained

by playing tug-of-war with an old
discarded fishing line.

But this only serves to attract the

attention of a
desperate hungry male.

Female polar bears are fiercely
protective.

And if he gets anywhere near
her cub...

..all hell will break loose.

It's summer on the shores of
Canada's Hudson Bay.

And a polar bear mum takes a chance
to cool off with her cub...

..whilst a hungry male bear
watches on.

Perhaps thinking they've found food,
he approaches, head down.

Growling and snorting, she attacks.

He knows better than to pursue
and quickly retreats.

As summer continues,
bear numbers increase...

..and tensions start to rise.

With so little food around,
these confrontations

waste valuable energy
and seem to achieve little.

Females with cubs must choose their
battles wisely.

Where male bears are concerned...

..it's often safer to just
walk away.

900 miles due east of the bears,
on the treeless tundra of

northern Quebec, animals will soon
face an enemy they can't ignore.

These barren lands are home to the
Leaf River caribou.

In summer, there's ample food for
bulls and growing calves alike.

But these halcyon days
don't last long.

Shallow pools of meltwater
dot the land.

For the caribou, this is where the
nightmare begins.

A multitude of mosquito larvae
writhe in the water.

Feeding...

..growing...

..until they're ready to emerge.

Canadian mosquito swarms are the
stuff of legend.

Every summer,
they're emerging earlier

and living longer.

This year is no exception.

The tundra is now abuzz with clouds
of these blood-sucking insects.

Caribou are the biggest warm-blooded
animals here.

So when mosquitoes find them...

..they are relentless.

The only way to escape these
blood-suckers...

..is to run.

Caribou herds gather and flee to the
high ground, where cooler

temperatures and stronger winds
bring them some respite.

But up here, the land is barren.

There is little quality food.

And soon, hunger forces them back
down again.

A caribou can lose three pints of
blood to mosquitoes in summer.

And with less time for eating,
they lose weight

when they should be getting fat for
the coming winter.

They keep moving, trying to evade
the swarms.

Their flight brings them to the
banks of the Leaf River.

For a young calf,
it's a nerve-racking time.

This is the largest river he has
ever encountered.

With over half a mile of
fast-flowing water to cross...

..it's a formidable swim
for the adults...

..and a potentially deadly one for
the weaker calves.

They bunch up to shield their
youngsters from the rapids.

And eventually, they're through.

But this mum and calf
are lagging behind.

And now they have no protection
from the current.

They're driven backwards.

The calf must stay in his
mother's slipstream...

..or he risks being swept away.

She gives one final push...

..and they've done it.

There's no time to rest.

Until cold weather arrives to kill
off the mosquitoes,

their journey must continue.

Back on the shores of
the Hudson Bay,

a polar bear family are close to
journey's end.

In the last month, they've travelled
over 200 miles.

From south of
Wapusk National Park...

..to the mouth of the
Churchill River.

They've nothing to eat but
grass and sedge...

..meagre pickings for the world's
largest land predator.

The seals they crave are hundreds of
miles away.

And they can't go hunting until the
bay freezes over.

Summer will be tough
for this family.

Whilst the hungry bears wait for the
sea ice to return...

..other ocean creatures take
advantage of its absence.

Every year,
around 3,000 beluga whales

gather in Hudson Bay to feed and
give birth.

They form tight-knit pods while
their babies learn to swim.

When tired youngsters need to
take a breath,

their mothers help them
to the surface.

When the babies are strong enough,
they'll follow their parents back to

their feeding grounds
in the Arctic Ocean.

A casualty of the beluga migration
washes up on shore...

..attracting the attention of a
hungry male bear.

So far, he's had the carcass
all to himself.

But polar bears can smell food from
many miles away...

..and they're starting to home in.

A young bear rushes the carcass...

..and is quickly and aggressively
put in his place.

There's enough to share,
but it's an uneasy truce.

Tempers could flare up again
at any moment.

The smell of flesh has also
attracted a mother bear.

She's running a risk bringing cubs
into such a volatile situation.

It's summer on Hudson Bay,
and two male polar bears

rip into the carcass of a beached
beluga whale.

A mother bear has been biding
her time.

But when one male retreats,
she advances.

She's taking a big risk.

Male bears have killed and eaten
yearling bears on this beach before.

And soon there's another one
to contend with.

This female is tough...

..and her cubs are cut from
the same cloth.

None of them want to share with
another bear.

Her cubs goad her on..

..and finally their mother's
had enough.

She sends the interloper packing.

It's a good meal, but scavenging is
nothing more than a stopgap.

If this family don't get another
lucky break,

this might be the last food
they have

until the bay freezes over
and they can go seal-hunting again.

Over 800 miles southwest
of the bears,

and close to the border
with America,

lies a wind-blown wilderness known
as Grasslands National Park.

This is the northern tip of the
Great Plains

that once stretched southward from
Canada all the way to Mexico.

Frequent fires and long periods
of drought

have kept the plains virtually
tree-free.

But grass thrives...

..sustaining Canada's biggest
land animal.

Up to 30 million bison once roamed
North America.

Today, there's fewer than 30,000.

Most were slaughtered for their
tongues and their hides

when American settlers moved onto
the plains.

Standing six feet at the shoulder
and weighing over a tonne...

..each bull needs up to 30 pounds
of grass daily.

But they don't have it all
to themselves.

They share it with prairie dogs,
one of Canada's smallest grazers.

Weighing about two pounds, an adult

prairie dog is a thousand times
smaller than a bison.

But what they lack in size,
they make up for in numbers.

There are over 25 families living
in burrows

on this five-acre patch
of grassland alone...

..including this female and her
three two-month-old pups.

Kissing keeps the family bonded.

Out here, danger can come from
any direction.

So in this town, they all watch
each other's backs.

Sentries scan the plains,

ready to warn their neighbours
whenever danger's spotted.

With long days, it's easy to let
down your guard.

So prairie dogs regularly remind
their neighbours to stay alert.

A call, known as the "jump-yip,"

spreads through the town like a
Mexican wave.

And soon, it reaches the pups.

A neighbourhood watch is one of the
benefits of living in a community.

But there's also a downside.

With so many animals in one place,
it can draw predators in.

American badgers have been spotted.

The siren sounds.

And everyone dashes back
to their burrows.

But badgers can dig prairie dogs up.

All the pups can do is sit tight...

..and hope they don't make it
this far.

The badgers split up to cover
more ground.

With poor eyesight, they head upwind
to sniff out a suitable target.

Neighbours are powerless to help.

The badger digs...

..and nets himself a meal.

Once the badgers have fed and moved
a safe distance away,

a prairie dog sounds the all-clear.

And life in town quickly returns
to normal.

A good stretch relieves stress.

And with sentries back on duty...

..the pups can get back
to cuddling Mum.

Danger is nothing new
to this family.

They'll face it every day
of their lives.

But the numbers still play
in their favour,

with over 20,000 prairie dogs

spread over 350 square miles.

Most pups will survive
their first year in the wild.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media