(THUNDER CRACKS)
TOM HARDY: Predators across the planet,
unmatched in strength... (ROARING)
...speed,
strategy,
stealth, and teamwork.
But staying on top is never easy. (LION GROWLS)
(LION CUB GROWLS) As the world around them changes,
they must adapt faster than ever before
to maintain their rule. (LION GROWLS)
(SNARLS)
(ANIMALS GROWLING AND GRUNTING)
In sub-Arctic Canada, the largest bears on earth...
(GRUNTS) ...dominate.
(ROARING)
From the smallest cub to the biggest males,
they face one common enemy. Hunger.
Every year, the polar bears of Hudson Bay
travel hundreds of kilometres across the frozen sea to hunt seals.
(CALLS SOFTLY) But time is against them.
As summer approaches, the sea ice melts away...
...forcing them back to land,
where they must master a new world until winter returns,
or face an uncertain future.
The end of autumn on the western shore of Canada's Hudson Bay.
Home to a bustling community of 1,000 polar bears.
Made up of mums and cubs,
boisterous teenagers, and solitary adults.
With its rugged shoreline,
and vast waters,
Hudson Bay is an extreme place to live.
(WIND HOWLING)
Temperatures here on land are beginning to drop.
And the entire bay starts to freeze.
Nanuk, a young hungry bear,
is being forced to live on land...
...where food is scarce.
But five months of famine has weakened him.
He is losing roughly a kilo of body mass a day.
While he's desperate to move out onto the ice,
it's not yet solid enough to hold his weight.
As the bay begins to freeze over,
the atmosphere is tense as more bears begin to gather.
Pukak, a rival bear, begins to size up Nanuk.
(BIRD TRILLING)
(WIND HOWLING)
They are both famished.
(GROWLING) Nanuk must stand his ground.
At almost 400 kilograms, both bears are heavyweights.
Nanuk steps into the ring and strikes a mighty blow.
(ROARING)
(BOTH ROARING)
It may look brutal...
(ROARS)
...but the aim is not to inflict injury.
Nanuk's goal is to pin his opponent to the ground.
Determined, he gains the upper hand,
throwing all his weight upon his rival.
(ROARING)
Pukak is overpowered.
(WHIMPERING)
Nanuk has won.
Play-fights like this cement Nanuk's place amongst the other males
and gain him essential fighting skills.
(GROWLS)
Having asserted his dominance,
he now needs to conserve energy
while he waits for the bay to freeze.
Hudson Bay is undergoing
one of the most dramatic seasonal changes on Earth.
With the sea freezing solid,
forming ice three times the size of the United Kingdom.
But it's not only bears that call this frozen desert home.
They share it with the seals that raise their young here.
The prey of choice for this predator.
Nanuk is not alone hunting on the sea ice.
Polar bears of every generation are on the move.
From seasoned veterans...
...to first-timers.
And after weeks on the ice, this young male bear
is still getting to grips with locating seals.
This could take some time.
His prey number in their thousands,
and they can only be reached through cracks and holes in the sea ice.
Lying in ambush
can be a long and fruitless wait.
(GRUNTS)
It's better to keep on moving,
using his acute sense of smell to track down his next meal.
(GRUNTING)
His compulsion to hunt drives him to search
for any signs of seals above and below the ice.
But swimming is hard work,
sapping his already depleted energy levels.
Finally, a seal within his sights.
But this bulky bear makes for a less than ideal sprinter.
Hunting relies on the element of surprise.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
But bad timing.
A flock of birds draws the seal's gaze to him.
(WATER SPLASHES)
While he spends most of his life in the pursuit of this prey,
most hunts are unsuccessful.
(ICE CRACKING)
His quest continues.
Until he finally picks up on the scent he's been craving.
Despite being almost invisible from the surface,
he has located a seal den under the ice.
(THUDDING)
He pounds at the den roof, desperate for what's below.
(ICE CRACKS)
Success.
At last, he can feast.
It's a promising start for the first bears out on the ice.
If they are to pile on enough weight to survive when the bay is ice-free,
they need to work fast and catch many more seals.
But in recent years,
a warming climate has altered their world,
reducing the length of time they can hunt on the ice.
Five hundred kilometres west,
back on land, it's now March.
Whilst most of the Hudson Bay bears have been hunting on the sea ice,
a small group of pregnant females have remained inland.
(WIND HOWLING)
This single mum has carefully dug out a den
for herself and her two cubs.
Her encounter with a male last year resulted in the birth of her twins.
(SCREECHING SOFTLY)
Tala is the smaller cub
and bears the brunt of big brother Sika's playful scuffle.
(WHIMPERS SOFTLY)
He takes a bite, letting Tala know who's boss.
(WIND HOWLING)
Both baby bears are totally reliant on their mother for milk and warmth.
Her cubs must feed on her fat-rich milk
every three to four hours if they are to survive.
She has not eaten since she entered the den eight months ago.
And there is no food for her here.
Soon, she will have to take the cubs and leave.
But judging when to go is a huge decision.
If she leads them on this journey too soon,
they may not be strong enough to survive.
If she leaves it too late, they will starve.
And with a storm building,
the bears will be going nowhere today.
(WIND HOWLING)
(BIRD CALLING)
TOM HARDY: As the skies clear,
the Northern Lights dance above the polar bear family as they sleep.
(WHISTLING)
(WHOOSHING)
Thankfully, the next day is perfectly calm.
Mum seizes the opportunity to start their journey.
While big brother Sika runs ahead,
Tala's small frame is holding him back.
(GRUNTS)
(WHIMPERS)
Mum offers him some gentle encouragement.
After a few days of non-stop walking,
Tala is exhausted.
Driven by hunger, they all push on.
But they still have a gruelling 80 kilometres
before the start of the shoreline.
From there, almost a million square kilometres of ice
lies ahead of them.
If they can make this arduous journey,
they will have the chance to feed on seals.
(CUB CALLS SOFTLY)
After five days, Tala is pushed to his limits.
He and his brother are constantly demanding food,
and it's slowing their progress.
All tired little Tala wants to do is feed and rest.
But after only a few minutes, he is moved on.
Sika bounds ahead whilst Tala tries to keep up.
Incredibly, after eight days,
they reach the coast,
As the whole landscape is covered by a blanket of snow,
it is difficult to see where the frozen land finishes
and the sea ice begins.
(WIND HOWLING)
Around the Hudson Bay,
other polar bear mums and new cubs are emerging,
some with even more mouths to feed.
All are bound for the sea ice.
(SNIFFING)
(WIND HOWLING)
This mother expertly navigates
the ever-shifting landscape of ice as it breaks up,
moves, and refreezes.
But negotiating it with two small cubs
is a different challenge.
Despite her best efforts, they are easily distracted.
And these shallow meltwaters are the perfect playground.
(GROWLING)
Even at this early age,
these cubs are developing their fighting skills.
While the cubs play,
their resourceful mum searches for a snack to tide them over.
Beneath the surface, she finds them mineral-rich sea kelp.
It's enough to distract them from their game.
(SQUAWKING)
After her dip, a roll in the snow
is an opportunity to teach the cubs how to dry off.
(CUB SQUEALS) But she can't afford for them to hang around.
As the weeks pass,
she experiences the thaw sooner than expected.
It's an early spring melt.
This is potentially devastating for her cubs.
The less time she has to catch seals,
the less likely her cubs will survive their first year.
If climate change continues at its current rate...
(ICE CRACKING)
...the situation will only get worse for this family.
Traversing this icy landscape has turned dangerous.
(GRUNTING)
They can no longer trust the ground beneath their feet.
(ICE CRACKING)
Wading through icy water is now a necessity.
It's a life-or-death challenge for the tiny cubs.
(CUB WHIMPERS)
But what they are about to face is on an entirely different level.
(SQUAWKING)
Within weeks,
the sea ice between the bears and the land breaks up,
creating millions of shrinking islands.
The family are now almost 300 kilometres from land,
in the centre of the bay, on the remaining ice.
They must time this perfectly.
If they depart too soon,
they will not have eaten enough seal blubber to last the year.
If they leave it too late,
the cubs will not survive the long swim back to shore.
It's just as well that Mum has found her stride...
...providing the cubs with food on the move.
From nutritious kelp to nourishing seals.
(ROARS)
As they pile on the kilos,
with each day that passes,
the swim back to shore grows longer.
But despite her best efforts,
Mum has run out of time.
As the seals return to an ice-free ocean,
the Hudson Bay bears have no choice
but to commence their own journey back to land.
One lone polar bear is ahead of the family.
He's had a successful season
and is the heaviest he will be this year.
The ice beneath his feet thins
and is already beginning to give way beneath his weight.
(SQUAWKING)
Arriving at the frozen edge,
he is confronted with nothing but open water.
But he has no idea of the exact distance
between him and the land.
Over the next month,
all the polar bears of Hudson Bay begin their journey.
Some over the remaining ice,
others endure an exhausting swim.
They will either reach the land
or die trying.
TOM HARDY: It's July,
and five months before the ice returns.
Many of the Hudson Bay polar bears have made it safely back to shore.
These are the lucky ones.
Some did not survive the swim.
For those that did, the landscape is transforming.
As the last of the ice melts,
temperatures are rising.
Everything awakes from its winter slumber.
Summer has arrived.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
Many creatures emerge from hibernation
or migrate thousands of kilometres to feed here.
(SQUAWKING)
Now is a time of plenty for some,
with food in abundance up and down the coast.
But while these animals have everything they need,
this family face a time of hardship.
With the seals far out of reach in the ocean,
the bears' fat reserves are their lifeline.
The mother continues to hunt for her family...
(BEAR ROARS)
...but most animals here on land are too quick for her to catch.
And so are just not worth the energy.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
(MOTHER BEAR HUFFING)
It is time for this apex predator
to transform from hunter to gatherer.
Lush grasses offer a welcome snack.
But a plant-based diet can only do so much.
Weight loss is inevitable.
(BEES BUZZING)
It's August now, and four months before the big freeze.
This young male, Arktos,
is one month into his new diet.
He is losing weight, and fast.
(DISTANT HIGH-PITCHED CALLING)
As he scours the landscape for food,
a unique call entices him up the shore.
He hones in on its source as it might provide a lifeline.
(HIGH-PITCHED CALLING)
Unbeknown to him, under the waves,
thousands of beluga whales have travelled here to give birth.
(WHALES CALLING)
This is a fleeting visit of just weeks.
Arktos has to figure out how to catch one.
Groups of whales pass him by, far away from the shore.
His only option is to plunge into their world.
But the tide is strong,
and his prey swims out of reach.
Time to rethink his tactics.
He needs a vantage point if he wants to surprise them from above.
But this prime spot from which to hunt is prized.
And an older, more experienced male, Ursa,
wants the rock for himself.
(ROARING)
Contesting this is no play-fight.
(ROARING)
Out of his depth, he is defeated.
And Arktos has no choice but to head back to shore.
But perhaps he can turn this setback to his advantage,
and Ursa can show him how it's done.
Silent and patient, Ursa waits.
Timing is everything.
Each passing whale presents just one chance.
Belugas drift close to his rock,
unaware of the danger he presents.
Ursa prepares to pounce.
He must be deadly accurate.
♪ DRAMATIC MUSIC
(BIRDS SQUAWK)
One swift move lands a stunning blow to the whale's skull.
Sinking his jaws into its body,
he uses his paddle-like feet to swim back to shore.
Now he must fight the current to land his prize.
Exhausted, he can finally feed.
(GROWLS) Young Arktos is quick to muscle in.
(HUFFS)
As he challenges the experienced hunter,
it's evident sharing doesn't come easy to these bears.
(ROARING)
But a little bravado wins Arktos a morsel to tide him over.
The beluga whales' visit is brief,
and only a few have mastered the predatory skills
required to hunt here.
And those that have...
...make the most of it.
An entire whale is too much for one bear.
Once satisfied, Ursa's spoils become a free-for-all.
The bounty builds as other experienced bears take to the water.
Hunters target the slower, more vulnerable, beluga calves.
For bears fortunate enough to be in the area,
there is plenty to go around...
...for now.
A hungry mother and her cubs have travelled here
in the hope of scavenging from abandoned carcasses.
As the crowd thins out, she seizes her moment.
And the family gets to taste meat again for the first time in weeks.
This meal has replaced precious calories
and bought them time.
But autumn is rapidly approaching,
and the beluga whales leave and head back out to the open ocean.
The bears have made the most of this short-lived treat.
Time to return to a lean diet.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
Those unable to dine on the whales
have had a very different experience.
(SNIFFING)
They are now relying on the very last of their fat reserves.
All they can do is continue to conserve their energy
until winter returns.
TOM HARDY: It's November and the freeze is nearing.
Hunger is becoming intolerable amongst the bears...
...as they begin to make their journey back along the coast.
Polar bear families, teenagers,
and lone adults, are coming together to begin the cycle once again.
Mum Aurora and her ten-month-old cubs, Kaska and Kodi,
have survived the toughest months.
But autumn is dragging on.
She needs to find a safe place to wait for the freeze.
Around the shoreline,
the Hudson Bay bears bide their time,
spending the last few weeks foraging on whatever they can find.
Others are more successful.
(RODENT SHRIEKS)
(WIND BLOWING)
(SNIFFS)
And an enticing scent on the wind
leads desperate Aurora away from the beach.
But venturing this far along the coast is hazardous.
She is now in human territory.
The remote frontier town of Churchill.
Population just under 900.
And this place lies right in the path of the bears.
(HUFFS)
She follows the scent to the town's landfill.
The rubbish here is far from ideal for bears,
but she seizes any opportunity she can.
Fiercely hungry,
she's significantly thinner than five months ago.
With so few options,
Aurora is not the only one to come in search of food.
Other bears begin to gather on the edge of town.
Forced to live off the land for months,
now they are ravenous and restless.
(GRUNTS)
And competition for food could spill over into violence.
A large male approaches Aurora.
She can't risk any bear getting too close.
Hunger could easily cause this stranger to attack her cubs.
She retreats quickly.
The family needs to find a quiet spot,
away from town.
Mum leads the cubs to a safe vantage point above the bay, and waits.
From here, she can look out
across the sea ice beginning to form.
With energy levels low,
she will stop nursing her cubs if the ice doesn't come soon.
But she can sense it in the air.
The big freeze is coming.
Temperatures are starting to drop.
More lone bears arrive on the shore.
Against great odds,
Nilak, a young male, has survived his first year
without the protection of his mother.
His hunger makes him desperate for the ice to form.
But it's still too warm for the chunks to fuse together,
and they drift with the current and the winds.
Despite the hunger, the most any bear here can do is wait.
(WIND HOWLING)
Days grow shorter, and winter grows closer.
The first heavy snow of the season starts to fall.
But the ice doesn't form fast enough
for Aurora and her cubs to go back to their hunting grounds.
Some bears hunker down,
while others are growing impatient.
The males make use of their time to sharpen their fighting skills.
(ROARING)
One of Aurora's cubs, Kaska,
looks on as the tundra turns into a battleground.
In time, the young cubs will need to learn how to duel.
For now, all they can do is observe.
And this fight is soon over.
It's the start of the big freeze.
Temperatures are plummeting to minus 30 degrees Celsius.
The landscape transforms.
Frozen crystals start to form in the sea
and a layer of ice appears on its surface.
(WIND HOWLING)
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
Waking up to a world blanketed in snow and ice
is what Aurora and her family have been waiting for.
At long last, the rolling sea ice is frozen solid.
Now ten months old,
Kaska and Kodi have acquired the necessary skills
to cope in times of feast and famine.
Aurora's next challenge is to take them back onto the sea ice
and teach them how to hunt.
(ANIMAL CALLING)
Nilak joins the first wave of bears
as they make their move onto the sea ice.
Finally, they can return to the sea platform to hunt.
The time also comes for the family to leave.
In the years ahead, the cubs' resourcefulness must grow with them.
But for this iconic apex predator,
a warming climate poses an uncertain future.
Their survival will depend on the incredible resilience
of these and the other cubs,
all striving to find a way in their new world.
To capture the story of polar bears in the wild...
(ROARING)
...the Predators team headed to the far reaches of Canada's Hudson Bay,
famous for its migrating bears.
Over the course of a year, they endured the weather...
(WIND HOWLING)
...and the landscape...
...just as the bears did.
(ICE CRACKING)
Capturing the lives of bears out on the frozen bay
would prove to be the ultimate test.
(ROARS)
The sea ice is a dangerous place,
which constantly shifts as it breaks up and refreezes.
Camera operators Berenice Mathieu and Charlie Stoddart
have been helped by a specialist team of experienced guides.
This is the first time the western Hudson Bay bears
have been filmed like this during the winter months.
And due to the treacherous conditions,
the team begins to understand why.
With barely a thousand bears in such a vast area,
the pressure is on.
Using skidoos...
...and specially adapted amphibious vehicles,
the team ventures onto the sea ice.
It's slow going.
Each day, they are able to cover 75km in their search for bears,
and this icy world is not to be taken lightly.
Whilst the bears navigate routes
through the broken-up sea ice with ease,
the team must stick to safer surfaces called land-fast ice.
It's slow going.
Do you copy? It's Mike.
Mapping out a safe route is challenging,
as cracks in the ice, called leads, hinder their progress.
And even with the most experienced guides,
they can still get caught out.
(THUD)
We are currently right in the lead.
We just went through the ice a little bit.
Whoa! Wait!
BERENICE: Well done. CHARLIE: Oh!
The team patrol the region of sea ice which is attached to the land
and is the most stable.
It's day seven, and despite their best efforts,
no sign of the bears.
Locating an animal that perfectly blends into its environment
is proving a challenge.
Mike Reimer, from the guiding team,
picks up signs of activity in the jumbled blocks of sea ice.
The team continues on the trail.
Just when things are looking up,
the fading light forces the team back to base.
It's the next day,
and it's the seals that give the crew the break they need.
A quick sweep with the drone
confirms there are bear tracks worth following.
It's a game of catch-up, but the team finally get to share the day
with the mum and two young cubs they've been tracking.
To really understand the incredible lengths
these bears go to survive here,
the team needed to return in a few months' time.
The arrival of spring here
brings one of the biggest seasonal changes on Earth.
When the team returns, Hudson Bay is transformed.
Leaping from minus 30 degrees Celsius in the winter
to over 25 in the summer has melted the sea ice
and exiled the bears back to land.
But this melt has made possible
the summer migration of beluga whales,
enticing for both bears and film crew.
And both need to find new ways of working in this changed landscape.
(BIRDS SQUAWKING)
For the team, it's an opportunity
to film the only polar bears in the world
that use the rocks to hunt beluga whales.
Despite the disappearance of the ice,
these precarious waters present a whole new set of problems.
This area has an extremely dynamic tidal range.
We've just arrived, we're setting up the new camera system,
and we're going out to see what the bears are doing.
For the crew, it's all about timing.
They have just four hours a day
to access the hunting rocks, hoping a bear makes a catch
and gets safely back to shore before the tide goes out.
It's as challenging as it is risky.
But on arrival, none of the rocks are occupied.
Not by bears, at least.
At the moment, the bears can come in from any direction,
and there are multiple spots that they hunt from.
And we are completely surrounded by beluga whales,
which is ideal for the bears at the moment.
The clock is ticking as they watch the tide begin to drop.
But all they can do is wait for a bear.
And wait...
...and wait.
But you can't fight the tide.
It's time to leave or risk getting stranded.
Undeterred, over the next three weeks,
the crew heads out again and again to film a hunt.
Sometimes the bears just don't perform.
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
And sometimes the weather is against them.
This huge crane that we've got here is a bit of a lightning conductor.
Better to be safe than sorry.
The crew decide to head back to shore.
(THUNDER CRACKS)
When it finally looks like everything has come together...
...this bear jumps away from the camera.
Determined, the crew push their daily filming window
as far as they can.
(WIND HOWLING)
With just three days to go,
the crew have learnt everything that can go wrong,
but they're not ready to give up.
As the team approaches the rocks,
they hear the familiar calls of the beluga whales
in the shallow waters.
(WHALES CALLING)
And see a bear walking along the shoreline.
BERENICE: You see a bear?
This is the chance the crew has been waiting for.
One bear is perched on a rock
showing tell-tale signs that he might jump.
The ears are back
and he's frantically scanning the water for any signs of whales.
Finally, everything comes together.
For the team to film and the bears to eat.
For the next three days, more bears join the hunt.
They are drawn to this much-needed meal,
and there's plenty to go around.
Both the bears and crew have shown just how adaptable they need to be
to withstand the conditions here.
The footage that the team were able to capture has given us
a unique insight into the lives of polar bears.
And a new understanding of their incredible resilience and skill
when faced with a rapidly changing world.
Next time in Botswana...
...a legendary lioness and her pride
face the fight of their lives
as they battle to keep ten young cubs alive.
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