All language subtitles for Eden.Untamed.Planet.S01E06.AMZN.WEBRip.1080p.x264.DDP5.1-BIGDOC.he_auto1

In Southeast Alaska,

where the coastal mountains
meet the Pacific,

lies the Alexander Archipelago,

a remote island chain...

running for almost 300 miles

along the Alaskan Panhandle.

Defended by ramparts of rock
and ice to the east...

with 3,000 miles of ocean
to the west...

this frozen frontier

is one of the last
great wildernesses

of North America.

This is part of the
largest temperate rainforest

on Earth...

and a stronghold
for the country's

highest diversity
of megafauna...

BELLOWING

...feasting on the abundance

of fleeting summers...

to make it through
relentless winters.

ROARING

Both big...

and small...

live here in perfect balance.

Their worlds connected

in surprising

and intricate ways...

that allow each of them...

to thrive.

There are still places on Earth
that remain pristine.

Where wildlife flourishes.

These are the last regions
that could be called...

Eden.

For six months of the year,

North America's
icy mountain realm

is gripped by winter.

With the arrival of spring,

life stirs once more...

BEAR GROWLS

...as the world's

largest population

of grizzly bears

emerge from hibernation.

A mother with hungry cubs
must hurry

to make the most
of brief times of plenty

in this unspoiled, untamed land.

In spring,
the best feeding opportunities

can be found
where it's milder...

along the coast.

Telltale footprints
signal the arrival...

of newly-emerged
grizzly bear families.

After six months of hibernation,

this female and her cubs

are in need of a protein hit.

Twice a day, low tide exposes
a seafood smorgasbord.

A fresh fish looks tasty...

but defensive spines

mean it's probably best avoided.

Betrayed by their squirts,

the real prize
is the butter clam.

Surprisingly delicate paw-work

prevents the clam
digging deeper.

Now, add brute force...

GRUNTING

Et voila! A clam canapé.

But when you smell a clam...

and can't find it...

it can be frustrating.

But if you copy
mum's technique...

it should work.

Or you could just
use your teeth...

but there may be
some shell in that.

SEABIRDS SQUAWKING

But bears patrol the coast

in search of something
other than food.

ROARS

His cowboy swagger

denotes a dominant male...

all 700 pounds of him.

OTHER BEARS BARKING

And he's keen to
kick off the breeding season.

But a mother with yearling cubs

is in no mood to mate.

ROARS

A grizzly can hit a top speed

of around 35 miles an hour.

Males may kill cubs

to bring a female into season.

But all that muscle mass...

BEARS GROWLING

...makes it hard
to keep up the pace.

GROWLING

With this overeager
male safely out of reach...

the young family
can make the most...

SNIFFING

GROWLS SOFTLY

...of this Eden's other

spring feeding ground...

sedge grass meadows.

While the succulent shoots
provide few calories,

they'll tide a hungry bear over.

Even the cubs are happy
to eat their greens.

But they still prefer
mum's milk.

She'll nurse them
for nearly two years...

all the while
teaching them the dangers

and rewards

that come with
this bountiful Eden.

Triggered by spring sunshine...

the first boom
in productivity...

takes place offshore...

SEABIRDS SQUAWKING

...as a vast
injection of protein...

turns the waters
a milky white...

with herring spawn.

SEABIRDS SQUAWKING

Hundreds of millions of fish

gather in the shallows to breed.

Each hen fish releasing
20,000 eggs.

For resident
Steller's sea lions,

it's the first great feeding
opportunity of the year.

Flying 9,000 miles,

one of the longest
bird migrations,

tens of thousands of red knots

arrive from South America...

to take advantage of a feast...

that's also the cue
for marine megafauna.

It's one of the greatest
gatherings of whales

on the planet.

45-foot-long gray whales.

Mothers with newborn calves

have navigated 6,000 miles

from Baja, Mexico.

The longest seasonal journey
of any mammal.

But it's worth it.

In vast mouthfuls
of fatty roe and krill,

each consumes
more than a ton a day.

And so,
the smallest creatures here...

sustain the biggest...

enabling gray whale calves

to put on a third
of their adult body weight

before their autumn return
to the south.

In spring, life also stirs

in this pristine forest
that crowds the shoreline.

Covering 17 million acres,

roughly the size
of West Virginia,

it's part of the largest tract

of temperate rainforest
on Earth.

Bathed in 100 inches of rain
a year...

each 700-year-old spruce

may carry 500 pounds

of moisture-loving lichen,
mosses,

and ferns on its branches.

It's one of the last places
in North America...

where prey...

and predators

exist in equilibrium.

SCREECHES

Early migrants, like
rufous hummingbirds, arrive.

The climate here is perfect

for sap-rich trees to grow.

So it's worth
a 4,000-mile journey.

They refuel on the sugary resin

before pairing up to breed

in this most northerly

of all hummingbird habitats.

Yet life here is built

on superficial foundations.

In some places,

ice fields only retreated

in the last 200 years.

So, the soil is still shallow

and nutrient-poor.

But this Eden has an answer:

it's intricate connections
between species...

as revealed
under the magical display

of the aurora borealis.

Flying squirrels emerge
from their tree hollows

in search of a mate.

With spring in the air,

this young male
sniffs the breeze.

From a neighboring tree

drifts the heady aroma

of a receptive female.

He eagerly sets off
to track her down.

For a flying squirrel...

gliding is the perfect way

to get around
this 100-foot-high canopy.

CHIRPING

In a matter of seconds,

the scent source
has been located.

She's just come into season...

but she's playing hard to get.

He'll have to prove
he's a worthy partner.

If he can't keep up,
he's not worth the effort.

CHIRPING

But just when it looks

like a match made in heaven...

she decides that
he's failed to make the grade.

Yet the intoxicating scent
of female

is still in the air.

He must find this femme fatale.

The lower he gets,
the more enticing it becomes.

Desperately digging,

this confused lothario

thinks he's found
the mother of all mates.

But his consolation prize is

a white truffle.

The furtive fungus emits an odor

that mimics female pheromones.

The truffle tricks him
into solving

the biggest problem
for this mineral-starved forest.

When a squirrel carries
a prize truffle

to the treetops...

its spores

are dispersed far and wide.

As they germinate,

they help form
a vast underground web

of fungal filaments...

effectively extending
the range of tree roots...

enabling them

to extract enough nutrients

to allow these great forests

to flourish.

BIRDS SINGING

BIRD CAWING LOUDLY

By early summer,

long hours of daylight...

promote a flush of growth...

across the archipelago's
coastal meadows.

But for grizzly bear families...

high-calorie food is scarce...

and aggressive males
must be avoided.

So some head inland...

to secluded rivers

in the heart of the forest.

This young mother
has just the one cub.

His siblings may have been taken
by a male.

But she has led him to a place
where he will be safe...

and females gather
to feed in peace.

SEABIRDS SQUAWKING

Most are related,

and all have young to feed.

But for now, they must wait.

Downstream...

along Alaska's
7,000-mile seaboard...

half a billion Pacific salmon.

Among the largest concentrations
in the world.

After four years
of fattening up at sea,

some may swim
2,000 miles upstream...

before spawning
in the very upriver pool

in which they were born.

A rich reward
for the eager bears.

Unfortunately, for this
young mother and cub...

all the prime fishing spots
are taken...

by the older,
more experienced females.

So she leads her cub upstream,

away from the competition.

But there's a reason

they have this place
to themselves...

Rapids.

CUB HOWLS

CUB HOWLS

For the cub,
it's a brutal baptism.

WHIMPERING

GROWLING

But the inexperienced mother

coaxes him straight back in...

MOTHER ROARS

CUB HOWLS

Her desperation to feed

overrides her urge
to protect her cub.

But fortune favors the brave!

CUB GROWLS SOFTLY

Finally, the ravenous cub

gets a first taste of salmon.

Over the next five months
that the salmon will run,

grizzly bears will eat
up to 100 pounds a day.

That's over 50,000 calories.

And this cub will have
the rest of the summer

to master the art of fishing.

Got it!

It's not just the bears
that benefit

from this mass migration.

To avoid a catch
from being stolen,

the woods offer private dining.

FLIES BUZZING

With the fatty head
preferred to everything else...

leftovers litter
the forest floor.

From half a mile away...

fishy fumes are picked up...

by the sensitive antennae...

of an inch-long

indispensable insect...

the burying beetle.

This male has two things
in mind...

fresh meat...

and a mate.

Battles establish
breeding rights.

They're brief...

but brutal.

Then, living up to their name...

the new couple proceeds
to dig the salmon a grave.

In the safety
of their cozy crypt...

the fresh corpse
provides a feast

for a newly-hatched brood

of larvae.

And there will be plenty
of surplus fish

to fertilize
the surrounding soil.

In a soccer field-sized area,

there can be as much
as three tons

rotting underground.

Known as 'fish trees',

spruces grow three times faster

along these rivers.

It's possibly the largest
transfer of nutrients

between water and land

anywhere on Earth.

Because of the salmon,

the entire forest prospers.

SQUAWKING

It's autumn.

The long days
and short months of summer

brought with them great riches.

But now, animals that can depart

will soon be journeying south.

MOOSE BELLOWS

Yet for some,

this is the time to secure

your bloodline.

MOOSE BELLOWING

BELLOWING

BELLOWING

Crowned by antlers

spanning six feet or more...

and weighing around 40 pounds...

a 1,500-pound moose

proclaims dominion
over his realm.

BELLOWING

This antler-free female...

and the five or so others
in his harem...

will stick around as long

as he's the best bull on offer.

Younger males go head-to-head,

honing their combat skills.

Though without
the impressive headgear

and imposing physique,

they only have
a 10% chance of mating.

But one male is willing
to try his luck.

At five years old,
he's almost fully grown.

But he'll never be

a mighty moose.

To win over a female...

he needs a different game plan.

From a discrete distance,

he closely observes
what it takes

to be main moose.

The females are in season
for less than two days.

But the dominant male has
a mood-enhancing move...

that guarantees romance.

He scrapes a shallow pit...

and urinates into it.

It contains potent pheromones

that bring females into season.

They find the aroma
so intoxicating,

they can't resist a roll.

Ah! So that's how it's done.

GROANING

Anointing himself
in the musky pee...

this young pretender
seizes his chance.

With the help
of the alpha's aroma...

he gets the come-on
he's been dreaming of.

Under the nose
of the moose monarch...

she leads the cheeky youngster
off to mate...

proving that the smartest moose

isn't always the one
with the biggest antlers.

BIRD SQUAWKING

As autumn gives way to winter...

temperatures plummet

to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

While most rivers
are now locked in ice...

WIND HOWLING

...the Chilkat continues to flow

throughout November.

BIRDS SQUAWKING

Heated to 45 degrees

by thermal springs...

it supports one of Alaska's
last salmon runs...

offering one final
feeding bonanza...

for America's national bird...

the bald eagle.

Over 4,000 stop off here

in the largest gathering
on Earth...

to fuel up on salmon

ahead of their migration south.

For a young eagle,

this is the first true test
of survival.

SQUAWKING

Every catch
is ferociously contested

by adults much bigger than him.

SQUAWKING

But to make the journey ahead,

he needs to bulk up.

To avoid serious injury,

disputes are settled

by locking needle-sharp

two-inch-long talons.

SQUAWKING

He moves in
on the unguarded carcass...

only for it to be snatched away.

At dusk, eagles retreat

to the safety of the treetops.

They may have one of the most
acute daytime eyesights

in the animal kingdom...

but in the dark,
they're virtually blind.

On the ground,
they could easily be ambushed

by nocturnal predators,

like a coyote.

But night may also offer

an opportunity to feed.

Under the safety of darkness,

a mother grizzly
leads her two cubs

to the river's edge.

Brown bears have a membrane
in the back of their eyes

that reflects light
within the lens...

giving them
excellent night vision.

BOTH ROARING

While the cubs
amuse themselves...

ROARING

...mum gets on with
the serious business of fishing.

GROWLING

GROWLING

BEAR GROWLS

With the coast clear...

the daring youngster

makes his move...

profiting on the leftovers.

While almost three quarters
of fledglings die

in their first year...

SCREECHING

...this wily eagle
has found a way

to gain the strength he needs

to escape the Alaskan winter.

These late salmon runs are vital

to grizzly bears

right across Northern America.

As temperatures drop to
minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit...

icicles adorn their fur.

So they are known here
by the First Nations

as 'Ice Bears.'

Every salmon increases
the chance of surviving

the long winter hibernation.

But across Southeast Alaska,

the predictability
of the salmon run

has been thrown into doubt.

The damming of rivers,

logging, pollution,

and climate change...

could mean this entire habitat

is at risk.

On this fragile planet,

home to nearly
eight billion people,

the threat
to remaining wilderness

grows ever greater.

But if we take steps
to keep our world safe...

enriched by natural wonders...

its exquisite symmetry...

kept in balance

by intricate relationships...

these last frontiers

BELLOWING

...will remain...

SCREECHING

...forever Eden.

The Eden team

spent a year braving

the freezing conditions

of Southeast Alaska...

in one of the most remote
and pristine wildernesses

left in North America.

With new technologies,

they were able to reveal
the hidden lives

of its exceptional wildlife.

From the miniscule...

to its mighty megafauna.

But the team's biggest challenge

was to capture the intimate
story of bear families

on their quest to find food

along Alaska's coastline.

In spring,

camera operator Luke Barnett

set sail for Admiralty Island

in the Alexander Archipelago...

accompanied by bear expert

Bjorn Dihle...

and their timing is impeccable.

Just arrived
at our filming location,

and there's a mother
with two cubs on the beach.

Bjorn recognizes her,
says she's 26 years old.

It's so amazing
to see them day one.

In this remote wilderness,

the crew will have to be
entirely self-sufficient.

Setting up camp in bear country,

rule number one

is to cache any food
high up in a tree

away from sensitive noses

and erect an electric fence

to deter any surprise visitors.

So right now it's on
and it emits, uh...

a small jolt every second.

It's really not that bad.

Um, that was more me just being
a wimp than anything else.

But it scares the heck
out of bears.

The team heads
for the coastal meadows,

where mothers with cubs

gather to feed each spring.

BJORN:
Coming around the corner.

Bjorn's normally
the strong, silent type

and he's talking a
lot on this trip,

and that's just so...

we don't surprise any bears
who think

another bear's come around

the corner and they charge us.

It quickly becomes clear

that this is far
from a peaceful scene.

One thing I have noticed
about the bears

is they spend
a lot of their time

looking quite anxious

and they're always looking about
for other bears,

especially the females, and
the males are always looking to

antagonize other males.

Newly emerged from hibernation,

the 700-pound male grizzlies

are ravenous, eager to mate...

ROARS

...and highly territorial.

It's incredibly daunting.

Having filmed predators
all around the world,

I've only ever approached them
in a vehicle before,

so you've got that armor
around you,

this is the biggest
land predator here.

And it can move at speeds
of up to 35 miles an hour,

and the only thing I have
to stop them, essentially,

is some kind of bear spray,

and quite scary at times.

Respecting bears

and learning to read
their behavior

can avoid conflict.

Now we got a big male bear

about 30 meters away from us
that's been looking at

anything that moves
as a potential competitor

or a potential mate.

Bjorn tells Luke
to face the bear,

stand his ground.

And talks to it calmly.

BJORN:
You're okay, you're okay.

Um... if he keeps us here,
we're gonna have some issues.

After a tense standoff...

the male grizzly
finally moves away.

RELIEVED SIGH

Over the next few weeks,

the team's perseverance
is rewarded

with intimate encounters

from a young mother with cubs.

So, these bears
are getting pretty close now,

which is a great sign
for the filming,

but the mother's probably due
to come into season

any moment now
and that'll bring the males in,

so everything could change
and those cubs

could be in
for a little bit of a shock.

It doesn't take long
for Luke's concerns

to become a reality.

A huge and scarred male grizzly
approaches.

This big bear has got
a big cut on its head,

it's been fighting,
potentially a very angry bear.

Everything's fine when I look
through the viewfinder,

so I'll just carry on doing that
for a little bit.

While still on
the lookout for amorous males,

mum takes the cubs to the beach

for a day of clamming.

That was pretty intense,
when mother and cubs came down,

and they were so close,

and they started huffing
a little bit.

I can't tell how far away she is
from the viewfinder,

but I knew when I took
the lens as wide as it would go

and there was still
a very big bear in frame

that she was pretty close.

While
a protective mother with cubs

can pose a threat,

as time passes,

the team gain her trust.

We've been watching this
female for the last eight days

and I've known her for 12 years,

and we don't approach her,

we let her kind of do
what she wants to do.

But it may take Luke
a little longer

to be completely at ease.

LUKE:
We had to hold our position,

but it was a little bit
nerve-racking.

It was great
to have Bjorn with me

because he was talking
to the bears,

just telling them
what we were doing,

and half the time
I thought he was talking to me,

to calm down,
but he was talking to the bears.

Then they chilled out completely

and got the mother digging out
a clam in full frame,

and the cubs have learned
that behavior as well,

so that was amazing to see.

That intimate moment,

that's gonna stick with me.

The grizzly bear's
fearsome reputation

has contributed
to their persecution.

BJORN:
In Southeast Alaska,

about 2,000 brown bears

get shot by sports hunters

every year.

And it's like

less than one person will die

from a brown bear every year.

While Luke maintains
a healthy respect

for these formidable predators,

he has also experienced
a gentler side.

This place is pretty special,
it's a sanctuary for the bears.

And it's really lovely
to be able to come somewhere

where they're not hunted

and they just go about
their lives,

and we get to see them do that.

As long as Admiralty Island

remains protected

and the wilderness
of the Alexander Archipelago

can be preserved...

this will remain

the greatest stronghold
for brown bears

on Earth.