All language subtitles for Secrets in the Ice S02E02 Revenge of the Ice Mummy 1080p WEB h264-KOMPOST_track3_[eng]

[narrator] A mysterious mummy
dressed in a pinstripe suit

is found on the top of
Mexico's highest mountain.

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy,
but this seems like a cover up.

I want to know
how did this guy in a suit

end up at the top
of this mountain?

[narrator] A massive wall
built under a remote glacier,

As soon as you enter it, you
realize this place is immense.

Was this wall built to keep
enemies out

or to keep something in?

[narrator] A US Air Force bomber
on a top-secret nuclear mission,

vanishes
from the face of the earth.

[Dr. Anthony Cantor]
I asked myself,

were they also trying to hide the fact
that a plane armed with a nuclear bomb

crashed into the side
of a mountain?

Could discoveries
like this one reveal

it's more frequent
than we thought?

[narrator] These
are the strangest mysteries

trapped in the coldest places.

Lost relics,

forgotten treasures,

dark secrets,

locked in their icy tombs
for ages.

But now,

as ice melts around the world,

their stories
will finally be exposed.

[narrator] Near the top
of Mexico's highest mountain,

lies a volcano named
Pico De Orizaba.

At over 18,500 ft,

the snow-covered peak
can be seen for miles.

[Meagan McGrath] What makes
Pico De Orizaba special and interesting,

is it's a relatively short
drive from Mexico City.

You drive a few hours and you
can find yourself really at the highest

volcano in North America.

[narrator] It may be
physically close to civilization,

but it feels a world away.

[Cantor] The top
of this mountain,

it is a snowy, baron,
harsh environment.

Blizzards are constantly tearing
at it and the snow never melts.

[narrator] In 2015,

a group of climbers slowly make
their way up the treacherous terrain,

but just a 1000 feet
from the summit,

they stop in their tracks.

There's a strange figure
protruding from the ice and snow.

As the climbers edge closer,

the figure takes shape,

revealing a gruesome discovery.

It's a corpse.

And not just any corpse,

it's a mummy.

[Cantor]
Mummies are fascinating.

What's very intriguing here is,

this was not
an intentional mummification.

This body was preserved

by the snow and the ice
and the cold.

How did it get there?

What does it have to tell us?

[narrator] For decades, mountaineers
have flocked to this volcano,

to conquer its summit.

And many have died trying.

But it's immediately apparent

this man was no climber.

The mummy had no equipment,
no proper jacket,

no proper pants, no water,
no hat.

So how did he get here?

What was he even doing here?

[narrator] It's not only the
lack of gear that's strange,

it's his clothing.

The body is dressed in a pinstripe
business suit, and a white dress shirt.

Even stranger,

when they search his clothing,

they find no wallet,
no papers, no watch,

there's nothing on his person
to identify him.

This seems
really suspicious like a...

I'm not a conspiracy theory guy,

but this seems like a
cover up kind of situation.

I want to know
how did this guy in a suit,

end up
at the top of this mountain.

[narrator] Without
the proper gear,

it would be impossible to
make it this far up the mountain.

So if he didn't come
up the mountain

there's only one other way
he could have come,

from above.

[narrator] Pico De Orizaba
is at the southern end

of Mexico's chain of volcanoes.

Planes crossing the mountain
range fly right over the volcano.

Was the man on board
on one of these flights?

Could he have parachuted
from a passing plane

and landed on the side
of the volcano?

[McGrath] Why would anyone,

maybe other than James Bond,
want to do that?

But there wasn't any parachute
or harness near him anyway,

so he couldn't have
come here intentionally.

[Morgan] So not having
a parachute

doesn't mean that this guy
didn't exit the plane.

I mean, he might not have had
a choice, you know.

[Cantor] We know that cartels have
thrown people from airplanes before.

This is documented.

Does this mummy hold a clue, to how drug
cartels operate in the 20th and 21st century?

[narrator] In 2017,

the body of a man was found
on top of a hospital,

in the city of Eldorado.

It's believed, that he was one
of three men thrown from a plane

by a Sinaloa drug cartel.

Could the mummy found
on top of the mountain

have been a victim
of a drug war?

[Cantor] Did they do this to
send a message to intimidate?

Did they do this
to punish somebody

or remove them in a
particularly spectacular way?

[Morgan] Any rational person
has to conclude that,

this man didn't end up
where he was accidentally.

[narrator] Forensic analysis
reveals the mummy is a male

between the ages of 20 and 40.

He sustained serious injuries
before his death.

The broken tibia and fibula
in his leg,

as well as other minor injuries.

Including missing an eye
and flesh on his face.

Broken legs are pretty common
when you've got a fall from a high height.

But you know I think it's
pretty obvious observation

that if you fall out of a plane,

you might have a little
more than a broken leg.

[narrator] The report estimates that
the man died about 15 years earlier.

And that he likely bled to death
as a result of his broken bones.

But who he is and how he got
there continues to elude investigators.

The reason timeframe means
you can look at the flight records.

And these flight records may
provide clues as to who this man was,

where he came from and how
he ended up where he ended up.

[narrator] A review
of airplane crash reports

around that time frame
offers up a clue.

The flight records show
that a small military aircraft

crashed into Pico De Orizaba,
in 1998.

1998, that's one year before the estimated
time of death of this mystery person.

Could he have actually been
on that plane?

[narrator] The Mexican military
shrouded the 1998 crash in secrecy.

The area was sealed off and a
rescue and recovery mission was sent in.

But the military refused
to reveal any details at all

including who was on board
the plane.

[Morgan] If a military plane
goes down, that's a pretty big deal

like the government gets
involved for that kind of thing.

So it's really strange
that there are so few reports

for what actually
happened up there.

[Cantor] All we can go on
are the press reports

and they report that there
were two crew members

and between
two and six passengers.

Some press reports say
that this plane

was carrying members
of Mexico's Secret Service.

Some say it was military staff.

If it was
Mexico's Secret Service,

that could explain why
he was dressed the way he was.

We just don't know.

[narrator] The plane crashed
near the summit at 18,200 feet.

The mummy was discovered
more than 1000 feet below that height

with no signs of wreckage
around it.

Maybe the reason the military
didn't recover the body back then

is because he survived the
crash and tried to walk away.

[narrator] Investigators wonder
if a man wearing a business suit

survived a plane crash
on Mexico's highest mountain,

but then died climbing down.

If you've been in a plane
crash staying with the wreckage

increases your chances
that rescuers will find you.

But if you've been
disoriented from the crash,

suffered a concussion,
panicking,

succumbing to hypothermia,

you're not thinking straight.

Any of these factors could have
led this guy to make the decision

like I've got to try to get
down this mountain,

what other choice do I have?

[Cantor] Remember, it's
bitterly cold on this mountain.

These are freezing
conditions. It's inhospitable.

Could a survivor of the crash
really make it,

1000 ft down the mountain
wearing only business clothes?

[narrator] Hypothermia
could set in very fast

and the fractures in the
man's leg are so severe

that making 1000 foot trek down a
mountain would be next to impossible.

[Morgan] If he walked away
from the plane,

he must have broken his leg
after the crash.

[Cantor] It's quite a theory.
It's an extraordinary theory.

But even if true, it doesn't
answer the fundamental question,

who was this mystery man?

[McGrath] You'd expect that if this
man was a passenger on the flight

that someone would have come
and looked for him,

but no one ever has.

[narrator] In a macabre turn,

the mummy now rests
in a display case at a museum

in the nearby city
of Ciudad Serdan,

relegated to a sideshow
curiosity.

But the identity of the man
in the suit,

and how he ended up near
the top of Pico De Orizaba,

remains hidden to this day.

I mean, maybe this guy is
on a secret government flight

and that's why his family
was afraid to claim the body.

I mean, we just, we don't know.

Somebody knows
how this man got here.

He didn't get there by himself.

You don't get up to the top of
mountain in a suit on your own.

So somebody knows
how he got there

and either chose not to say
or was instructed not to say.

[narrator] In the frozen
west of Iceland

lies the Langjokull glacier.

In some places,

the ice is up to 1900 feet deep.

[Dr. Alison Leonard] The
Langjokull glacier is huge.

It's 30 miles long
and up to 12 miles wide,

so it's almost
the size of Dallas.

[narrator] Below the ice,

are the craters of at least
two ancient volcanoes.

But even farther beneath
Langjokull

is something even more
astonishing.

An ancient lava field entwined
with a complex series of tunnels.

[Mike MacFerrin] Molten
lava flows through these vents

under a hardened surface
and if it flows out

it can leave behind
a long lava tube.

[narrator] It's here
in these caves

beneath the melting glacier

that a dark and violent
mystery begins to reveal itself.

In the year 2000,

two archaeologists excavated
a site near the Surtshellir tunnels

northeast of Iceland's
capital Reykjavik.

Towards the end
of the 9th century

Norwegian Vikings set sail
for Iceland.

They found this land,

they decided to settle there
and because of that,

we have this immensely rich
record of archaeological artifacts

that tell us more about
their presence on this island.

[narrator] The archaeologists'
work is disrupted

when a group of tourists asked
them to take a look at a nearby cave.

You enter the cave
from this bowl like depression

and as soon as you enter it,
you realize this place is immense.

There is no natural light.

It's incredibly dark.

In other parts of the cave
the ceiling's collapsed.

It's cold in there.

Snowdrifts have blown in
and lingered for years.

[narrator] But it's not the cold
that takes their breath away.

It's what they find inside.

What first looks like a pile of
rubble caused by a ceiling collapse

turns out to be the remains
of a man-made wall.

Before it collapsed, it
was at least six feet tall,

spanning the entire
40 foot width of the cave.

It's made of huge blocks of rock,
each weighing an estimated four tons.

[Leonard] Building
this structure in a dark cave

would have been
an enormous undertaking.

But why here?

Was this wall built to keep
enemies out, or to keep something in?

[narrator] Part of the wall
is crumbled

and as the scientists
scramble to the other side

they noticed the cave naturally
branches into two different galleries.

In the left gallery, they
immediately find some ancient relics.

Three small pieces of lead,

and a lead cross.

[Leonard] The led pieces
were probably used

for Viking weight-based
economy that relied on silver.

There's also the presence
of an amulet

that seems to be in the shape
of a Thor's hammer.

[narrator] But even more
extraordinary,

they find a massive pile
of animal bones.

[Leonard] But
what's really creepy,

is that they've been methodically
hacked into tiny little pieces.

Were these animals
used for food,

or for something else?

[narrator] To learn more about
who might have left these bones here,

archaeologists turned
to the Norse sagas.

The Norse sagas are epic poems,

epic stories that were written
down in the Middle Ages.

And they chronicle the events of the
gloried past of the Viking ancestors,

telling stories of feuds

of battles,

and disputes between neighbors,

all of which took place
in Iceland.

[narrator] The stories
are violent and gory.

One saga recorded
in the Book of Settlements

tells the tale of a vicious
band of 18 outlaws,

who stole livestock from
local farmers in the area.

Could these caves have been used
as a base of operation for the raids?

[Leonard]
It's an intriguing theory.

Eighteen marauders would
certainly go through a lot of food.

Maybe the bones
are just the leftovers

after years of hiding out here.

[narrator] But archaeologists
have their doubts.

[McGrath] First of all, the
enclosure in the rear gallery

is only 23 feet long
and 11 feet wide.

It really couldn't have
supported a gang of 18 outlaws,

at least not comfortably.

[narrator] Archaeologists pour
over the bones looking for clues.

On closer examination,

they noticed strange
inconsistencies in the fragments.

[McGrath] Some of the bones
appear burnt while some don't.

And they appear to have been
meticulously separated.

From the looks of it,

these bones aren't simply
meal leftovers.

They seem to have received
special attention.

[narrator] There's also no
evidence of a water source.

[Leonard] Sure,
maybe it was used by a gang

or by several gangs
from time to time,

but there's just not enough
evidence to support

the idea of any long term
or permanent base camp.

[narrator] If the cave wasn't
used as a refuge for outlaws,

what was it used for?

The answer may be revealed
by unearthing

the ancient rituals
of the Viking dark arts.

Archaeologists discover a
mysterious 40 foot stone wall,

deep in the lava caves beneath
Iceland's Langjokull glacier.

But after analyzing relics
found in one of the caves,

they still don't know
who built it

and why.

[McGrath] They were so focused
on the details

that they lost sight
of the big picture.

So they took a step back
to re-examine the evidence.

What were they missing?

[narrator] 800 feet from the
entranceway in the left gallery,

they discover a stone enclosure
constructed in the shape of a boat.

The oval enclosure is 22
feet long and almost 11 ft wide.

The walls are made of
boulders stacked three feet high

as a six foot wide entrance
at the end.

What is it?

[Cantor] This is called
a ship setting.

Going back at least 1000 years,

Vikings built structures
in the shape of a ship

and they built this, at sites
of religious significance,

worship sites, burial sites.

This shows you how central
ships and ship building were

to Viking beliefs, to Viking
sense of themselves.

So what is a ship setting
doing in a sealed-off cave?

[narrator] Archaeologists start to dig
down, hoping to unearth the answer.

And this time around
they hit pay dirt.

[narrator] A sandy layer of soil on the
floor gives up a collection of glass beads.

It's one of the world's largest
collections ever found in Iceland.

[Leonard] These were
very special to the Vikings.

They were used for trading,

they were used as currency, and they
also used them to flaunt their wealth.

[McGrath] The glass beads
are critical find.

But why would the Vikings leave
these valuable items on the cave floor.

It doesn't make sense.

[narrator] The spiritual realm of
the Vikings may offer some clues.

To the Vikings their mythology
wasn't just one set of stories,

it was actually
a whole worldview.

So to them, the powerful gods
and the giants

were all actually real.

[narrator] Perhaps the most
terrifying of them all,

was Surt, the fire giant.

According to Norse mythology,

Surt will rise from the scorching
underworld on the day of the apocalypse.

His job will be to lead the destruction
of all life as the heavens are torn open.

The Vikings seemed to have
viewed Surt as the personification

of Iceland's explosive geology.

Volcanoes,
lava flowing and bubbling,

geysers, geothermal activity,
when the earth started doing

all of these things around the
Vikings in their new environment,

it made sense to attribute
them to this fire giant.

[Leonard] It's said in Norse
mythology that he had the power

with his immense sword coated in
flames to destroy the entire world.

[MacFerrin]
It makes sense then.

They would do whatever
they could do to cool his wrath.

Maybe that's what
was happening here.

Did they do all this
to appease the fire giant?

[narrator] The beads
and the pile of animal bones

point towards this cave being a
site for making offerings to the gods.

But the massive wall near the
cave's entrance is still unexplained.

[Leonard] We know that the last
bone was deposited around 960

and it seems that the cave
stopped being used after that.

So is this the time that
that great wall went up?

[narrator] The cross-shaped lead
weight may be the key to the answer.

Because this is a Viking site,
it seems reasonable

to assume that the amulet
was a Thor's hammer.

But in fact, it's much more
likely to be a Christian cross.

[narrator] By the mid-1900s, Christianity
was seeping into Viking culture,

eroding pagan beliefs.

Perhaps the pagans using this
cave decided to become Christians.

[Leonard] Quitting the cave and
leaving those pagan artifacts behind

could be a way of saying
goodbye to those beliefs.

The deposits could
almost be a form of apology.

A way of saying, "We're not going
to do these pagan rituals anymore."

It's possible that they built
this wall to keep people out

to prevent people from returning
to continue to perform pagan rituals.

[narrator] In the end,
the archeologists theorize

that the cave was a far more intriguing
place than just to hideout for outlaws.

And if the Vikings were trying to
appease the terrifying fire giant,

their efforts worked.

As it happens, giving up on the pagan
beliefs seems to have had an effect.

The last volcanic eruption to
take place in this area was in 930.

This is just a few decades before
the caves stopped being used.

[narrator] Desolate Mount Kologet,
in Northern British Columbia.

It's just 50 miles

from the Alaskan border in
the Kispiox mountain range.

This place is remote. I'd be
hard-pressed to find it on the map.

There are howling storms,
bitter cold.

This is the kind of place that
only the most intrepid adventurers

even think about
setting out for.

[narrator] An elite band of hikers
ascend the forbidding mountain

6000ft above sea level.

Near the summit, they
stumble on a curious sight.

Half buried in the deep snow,

they find the wreckage
of a large aircraft.

[Brooke Guzar] It's hard to tell
even what type of plane this is.

Is it a passenger plane?

Is it a cargo plane? Or maybe
it's something else entirely.

[narrator] On closer inspection,

the wreckage reveals
its identity.

It's the remains of a US
B-36 peacemaker bomber,

but there's something even
more strange in the snow.

A Geiger counter.

[Morgan] A Geiger counter
is a piece of technology

that's designed to detect
and measure radiation.

The only reason you need
a Geiger counter up here

in the middle of nowhere is if you're
worried about the threat of a nuclear bomb.

[narrator] If so,

where's the bomb?

On the remote mountains
of British Columbia,

the wreckage
of an American bomber

and a device used to measure nuclear
radiation are found buried in the snow.

What exactly happened here?

On February 13th, 1950

a US Air Force B-36
peacemaker bomber

takes off in frigid temperatures

from Eielson Air Force Base
in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Its mission is top secret.

It's the height of the Cold War.

In an effort to hold back
the Soviet Union,

the Americans were assembling
a fleet of sophisticated aircraft.

[Cantor]
The B-36 peacemaker

was the largest strategic aircraft
ever built by the United States military.

It had a wingspan of 230 ft, an
incredible range of 10,000 miles.

And that means that
it was the first bomber

capable of transporting and
delivering a nuclear weapon

anywhere in the world.

[narrator] When Flight 2075
takes off that night,

it's part of a strategic exercise to
test US nuclear strike capability.

The B-36 bombers flight brute
is set to carry it south from Alaska

flying just west of British
Columbia's coastline

down to the US Mainland.

From Montana, it would head
west for a simulated bomb dropped

over San Francisco.

[Guzar] One thing
that wasn't simulated

was that the plane was loaded
with a Mark 4, five ton nuclear bomb.

Having this nuclear bomb on
board was the only way to test

how the plane and the crew
would function in a real situation.

A fully functional Mark 4 contains
a uranium and plutonium core

and several thousand pounds
of conventional explosives.

This is nuclear material.
There is no room for mistakes.

[narrator]
But radio dispatches

revealed that just six hours
into the flight

distress messages from the crew

start pouring
into Eielson Air base.

Crew members report losing
altitude at a rate of 500 ft per minute,

just off the coast
of British Columbia.

[Cantor] It was around
minus 40 degrees that night.

And when it's that cold and
ice starts forming on the wings,

the plane may be unable
to maintain altitude

and when that happens,
you're in serious trouble.

[narrator] One by one, three of
the planes' six engines catch fire.

Then radio communications
with the base cut out completely.

[Guzar] Once the captain realizes
he's lost control over the bomber,

he sets the autopilot towards the pacific
ocean and orders the crew to bailout.

[narrator] 12 of the 17 crew
members survived,

rescued by the Canadian Navy.

The other five
were presumed lost at sea.

Strange thing is they never
found the wreckage of Flight 2075.

And if there was a bomb on
board, nobody ever found that either.

So, where is it?

[narrator] How does a nuclear bomb
simply vanish from the face of the earth?

[Morgan] In the military's
investigation,

the crew claimed that they dropped
the bomb and that it exploded

3000 ft above the water before
they bailed out of the plane.

There's something about
this story, it just doesn't add up.

If a nuclear bomb had exploded

it would be a massive
catastrophic event,

there would have been
a mushroom cloud.

Nobody claimed to see
anything like that.

[narrator]
It's all very strange.

After the hikers discovered
the wreckage,

no one could reach the
remote site for over a year.

Then, in 1954 a small
US Military demolition team

finally found a way.

They spent nine days gathering
equipment and destroying classified parts

of the bomber, so they wouldn't
fall into the hands of the enemy.

I asked myself were they
also trying to hide the fact

that a plane armed
with a nuclear bomb

crashed into the side
of a mountain

because that would be incredibly
dangerous and destabilizing.

Is that why a Geiger counter
was found at the site?

[narrator] Was the military
worried that the missing Mark 4

and its core might still be
on the mountain.

And the question is, is there still
any nuclear material at this site?

[narrator] It would be decades
before the final clue would reveal itself

in the melting snow.

Decades after the mysterious
crash of Flight 2075,

hikers find an object in the wreckage
of a B-36 peacemaker bomber

that may solve the mystery of a
nuclear bomb gone missing for decades.

This is the first time the American
military had lost a nuclear bomb.

Naturally, people were asking
questions.

But we still don't know with any
certainty whether the Mark 4 was armed.

On a nuclear mission,

the actual bomb was always
kept separate from the fissile core.

And that core was kept
in what's called a bird cage.

When it came
time to arm the bomb,

the core would be removed from the
bird cage and inserted into the bomb.

[narrator] The bird cage is
specially designed container

for carrying the 13-pound
plutonium core

before it's loaded
into the bomb.

Without the core, the Mark 4 will
still explode, but it won't be nuclear.

If the bird cage is empty,

it could mean
the bomb wasn't armed.

The bird cage is now
in the hands of the military

and they refused to disclose
any details about it.

If we had just gotten a look
inside that bird cage,

we would know if there
was nuclear material inside.

And so you and I,

we're just gonna have to wonder.

[narrator] In 2015,

a new potential lead is found
in the depths of Haida Gwaii.

A fishermen diving to
inspect his next fishing spot,

discovers a large metal
object on the ocean floor.

It's vaguely shaped like a bomb.

The Royal Canadian Navy quickly
dispatched one of its ships to this site.

Could this be
the missing Mark 4?

[narrator]
A specialized bomb crew

sends a remote operated
vehicle down to investigate.

[Morgan] The footage of this
bomb is pretty disappointing.

It's just a piece of junk.

Whatever happened
is still a mystery.

[narrator] This is
the first time in history

the American military
had ever lost a nuclear bomb,

but it wouldn't be the last.

To date, 32 nuclear weapons
have gone missing,

where they are nobody knows,

or at least they're not talking.

[Cantor] One takeaway
from this incident

and it's not
a very comforting one,

is that there may be more
near misses than we know about.

There may be more times that a
nuclear bomb was armed by mistake

or came very close to being
launched or went missing.

The ones we know about
are scary enough.

Could discoveries
like this one reveal

it's more frequent
than we thought?

[narrator] Antarctica is the
most isolated place on the planet,

where temperatures can reach
as low as -75 degrees Fahrenheit.

It's the only continent
never colonized by people.

But there is one creature
who not only survives,

but thrives here.

[MacFerrin] Antarctica
is teeming with life.

It's home to huge colonies of
Emperor, Adelie in Chinstrap penguins.

[narrator] In 2016,

a group of Chinese scientists
stumble upon a macabre scene.

An enormous penguin graveyard.

Hundreds of little penguin bodies
heaped on top of each other.

This is really upsetting.

What happened here?

[McGrath] It's a killing field
of penguins, that's strange.

But what's even more strange
is that they're all mummified.

What could have caused this?

[narrator] The scientists
estimate that there are hundreds

of penguin mummies packed
into the small space.

In some areas up to
15 penguins per square yard.

To have hundreds of these
little animals all stacked

on top of each other
in one place mummified,

it's what's called
a mass casualty event.

[narrator] What could have caused
the death of hundreds of penguins?

And why did they all turn
into mummies?

Scientists in Antarctica want to
know what caused a killing field,

full of hundreds
of mummified penguins.

[McGrath] This
is a natural environment.

Is it possible a predator got
into the colony and wiped it out?

[narrator] Penguins biggest
predators are killer whales

and leopard seals.

Leopard seals and killer whales,

they have their prey
in the water.

They're not just gonna
pile up a bunch of food

and leave it laying around
on the land.

On land, birds like skuas
prey mostly on eggs and chicks.

But they wouldn't leave
their food behind.

So what happened
to these penguins?

[narrator] When the scientists
examine the bodies more closely

they discover that most
of the mummies are chicks.

[MacFerrin] Penguin chicks
are vulnerable.

They rely entirely on their
parents for food to survive.

They're prone to starvation
if their parents can't provide.

[narrator] Could the penguins
have starved to death?

[McGrath] Penguins are famously
good parents and they share the workload.

They will literally walk
to the ends of the earth

to bring back food
for their young.

[narrator] Could it be that
something prevented the parents

from making it back to feed
their young?

In 2013,

150,000 Adelie penguin were
found dead from starvation

when an iceberg cut the
colony off from the ocean.

But the Chinese scientists
studying the penguin mummies

can find no signs
of malnutrition.

These penguins were well fed.
They didn't starve.

So what could have happened
to them?

[narrator]
Scientists are baffled.

Perhaps it was some sort of epidemic
where they killed off by disease.

[Morgan] A disease would
account for the intact bodies

and younger animals tend to be
more susceptible to that kind of thing.

[narrator] Researchers
have found that penguins

are highly susceptible to infectious
diseases, including salmonella,

E.coli and Avian pox viruses.

As tourism rises in Antarctica,

transmission of these
diseases has risen in turn.

And the scientists
examine the bodies,

the mummified remains show
no visible sign of disease.

They didn't get sick and die. They weren't
abandoned. They didn't starve to death.

Nothing ate them. So what could
have accounted for all these deaths?

[narrator] Radiocarbon dating
provides an intriguing clue.

It reveals one group of the
penguins died 200 years ago,

while the others died
550 years before that.

We're talking about
two separate events here.

What could have happened that would
have killed so many birds 500 years apart?

[narrator] Researchers look
for clues around the carcasses.

They study the sediment
around them,

The sediment showed signs of
increased precipitation and heavy flooding.

Baby penguins begin with
fluffy feathers to keep them warm.

They don't develop waterproof feathers
until they're about nine weeks old.

Normally this is fine.

These chicks are born in the
winter and it's an extremely dry cold.

[Morgan] But if baby penguins'
down feathers do get wet,

that liquid gets trapped
against their body

and they become susceptible
to hypothermia.

Baby penguins are not
designed to handle damp weather,

which means that a single
rain event

is enough to wipe out
a lot of nestlings.

[narrator] The researchers
take ice core samples

to look for clues of any
abnormal weather events

dating back to the times
of the die-offs.

They were able to confirm that these deaths
coincided with an extremely wet event.

It's an indication
that this part of Antarctica

was hit with a heavier wetter
type of snow than usual.

[narrator] Analysis of the sediment
around the mummified penguin chicks

shows flooding
due to increased snowmelt.

These penguin chicks
from both time periods

died either of hypothermia or
drowned when their nests flooded.

[Morgan] Once they died,
their bodies froze

and when the water receded,

the Antarctic winds were
enough to mummify their bodies.

[McGrath] It appears that two
climatic anomalies occurred.

There was too much moisture in
what is usually a dry and cold place.

When the weather returned
to normal,

this place turned into an
eerie penguin graveyard.

[MacFerrin] Throughout time,
there's a delicate balance

between animals
and their environments.

Even the tiniest shifts
in climate can prove lethal.