BBC Asia (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

1
Every winter,
over half of Asia is transformed.
Snow and ice stretch
across the continent.
Here in the north,
forests, mountains
and even deserts freeze over.
And in the heart of Siberia lies
a sub-zero world unlike any other.
Lake Baikal.
It's the oldest
and deepest lake on Earth
..with depths of over a mile.
For three months of the year,
it's locked under a layer of ice
up to two metres thick.
Powerful winds blast its surface
..carving the ice into strange
shapes.
But this beauty is
created by a brutal reality.
This is one
of the hardest places on Earth
in which to sustain life.
Here, beneath the snow and ice,
lives an animal that is found
nowhere else.
Baikal seals give birth
to their pups in hidden dens.
This pup is alone.
Its mother is away hunting for food.
The world above is
no place for a newborn pup.
But as the days get longer
..and the sun rises higher
in the sky
..30 billion tonnes of ice
start to melt.
The pup is stranded alone.
Its calls travel across the lake.
Mothers recognise
the cries of their young.
She must help it to swim
away from its birthplace
..to the edge of the ice sheet
..and that could be over
a mile away.
Adult seals can stay under
the ice for half an hour.
But pups can only hold their breath
for a matter of minutes.
There is no air-hole in sight.
Now the mother does
something remarkable.
She stops swimming
..and appears
to start blowing bubbles
..which merge to create an
air pocket
..just big enough to allow the pup
to take a breath.
This extraordinary behaviour
isn't yet fully documented
..but it may be that it enables
the pups, with their tiny lungs,
to swim between air holes
..and so reach part of the lake
that is ice-free.
As far as is known, this astonishing
behaviour only occurs here,
in Baikal.
In winter,
most of North Asia's lakes
and rivers are almost entirely
frozen over.
But 2,000 miles away,
on the Japanese island of Hokkaido,
there is a river where ice
never forms.
As winter arrives,
the air begins to glitter.
Rising steam meets extreme cold
and creates
floating particles of ice.
These thermal springs
are an important meeting
place for one of Asia's most
handsome birds.
Red-crowned cranes.
Here in Japan, they're regarded
as symbols of love and longevity.
This nine-month-old chick
is on the verge of independence
..but still has much to learn.
One of the most important things
is how to dance.
Couples, it's believed,
pair for life.
Dancing brings them together
and keeps their relationship alive.
The steps are complex and varied.
Leaps
..high kicks
..and bows.
Maybe we don't fully appreciate
the finer points.
But for the cranes,
dancing is an essential prelude
to establishing a family.
Juveniles practise
the moves by themselves.
They watch the adults closely
..then repeat them
to potential partners.
Dear.
But they still have a few years
in which to get things right.
Becoming one of Asia's
most graceful dancers
does take time
and a lot of practice.
Warm springs like these
remain open throughout the winter.
But to the west,
in the heart of Asia,
there are no such havens.
Part of the Tibetan Plateau
is covered by a vast frozen desert.
It's one of the most hostile
environments imaginable.
Very few animals can live here,
4,000 metres up.
The air is thin and dry.
And the temperature frequently drops
to well below -30 degrees Celsius.
Some animals stay permanently
on the move
in a never-ending search for food.
A lone wolf.
He must find and take down prey
entirely by himself.
And that is not easy.
These are Tibetan antelope
known as chiru.
It's the rutting season.
Fighting is intense
and energy-sapping.
A tired chiru will be
easier to catch.
But these antelope have large,
powerful hearts and lungs.
And when sprinting, they can reach
speeds of 50mph.
That is almost 10mph
faster than a wolf.
But the wolf's greatest
talent is endurance.
And, given time, this one may be
able to exhaust a chiru.
After being chased
unrelentingly for several hours,
the chiru herd splits.
Now, it's one-on-one.
Himalayan wolves have probably
lived at this altitude
for half a million years and,
as a consequence,
they have evolved quite
extraordinary stamina.
No other predator can match
the wolf's endurance
in the extreme conditions
of the Tibetan Plateau.
To the north
lies an immense expanse of forest.
It encircles the globe, but the
majority of it grows in Asia.
And the richest part is where
Russia, China and North Korea meet.
There are wild boar here
that can grow
to the size of European brown bears
and weigh a quarter of a tonne.
As prey becomes bigger,
so do the predators that hunt it.
The Amur tiger.
This corner of the forest
is their last stronghold.
You could live a lifetime amongst
these trees
and never see one
..let alone two.
They are the undisputed rulers here.
But when night falls,
other giants awaken.
These are the largest owls
in the world.
The mother is keeping her
chick warm
..so the father must provide food.
He knows exactly where to find it.
But to catch it
..he needs a set of special skills.
This is a Blakiston's fish owl.
He has exceptional night vision.
Even in the gloom,
he can spot the flash of a fin
in the turbulent water.
Parent birds share duties.
One patrols the river
..while the other waits patiently
for a delivery of food.
It's a relationship built on
trust
..where one partner expects
the other to play its part.
Somebody has waited long enough.
If you want something done,
it's best to do it yourself.
For this chick,
dinner is now served.
And it seems that someone
is out in the cold
for the rest of the night.
The larger you are,
the better you are
at withstanding the cold.
The smaller,
the more dangerous it can be.
Sometimes almost three quarters
of all small birds
perish during the winter.
Long-tailed tits are amongst
the most vulnerable
..so they are always
looking for something edible.
Deer, when really hungry,
often nibble bark,
and that helps the birds.
Even the smallest of wounds
..can release a dribble of sap.
Here, when temperatures drop,
the emerging liquid can freeze
..and form
..icicles.
And if the tree is a maple tree
..then the icicles will be
full of sugar.
A real delicacy.
A sapsicle.
It's rich in energy
..and delicious.
These sweet treats could, in fact,
make the difference between
life and death.
But they don't last long.
In only a few short hours
..the banquet is over.
In the far north-east of Russia,
the Kamchatka Peninsula.
It lies on the edge of what is often
called the Pacific Ring of Fire
..a circle of volcanoes.
Kamchatka has one of the greatest
concentrations of them
to be found anywhere.
7,000 years ago,
a series of massive eruptions
created a very special place.
This colossal crater lake
is one of the largest
salmon spawning
grounds in the world.
But this mother bear is struggling
to find enough to feed herself
and her cubs.
They must hibernate soon
..but if they are to survive their
winter sleep,
these two cubs need to put on
a lot of weight.
She must find food for them
urgently.
But she must also keep her
cubs safe.
There are males patrolling
this area
..and they don't like to share.
An adult male could easily
kill her cubs.
This male wants these
waters for himself.
And it's easy to see why.
A single salmon can contain
4,000 calories.
He needs all that,
as fat and protein,
to sustain himself
through the winter.
And her cubs do, too.
But it is too dangerous to
stay here.
In winter, there is barely
anything to eat in these woods.
They will have to find a new
place to fish.
And with each passing day,
the weather is getting worse.
Her daughter seems to be coping
..but her son is becoming
increasingly exhausted.
He is struggling
..and losing strength.
Despite her very best efforts,
she simply can't find enough food
for all three of them.
For her son,
it may already be too late.
She refuses to give up.
She has done all she can.
Even finding the strength to feed
seems to be an effort for him.
With winters like this,
only half of the cubs will
survive their first year.
But this mother's determination
..has given both her cubs a chance.
To the west,
further inland in central Siberia
..temperatures can drop well below
-60 degrees Celsius.
It's colder than much of Antarctica.
The freezing Siberian winds
travel all the way to Japan,
where they combine with
moisture from the ocean
..and there they create drifts
deep enough to bury a house.
This tiny mammal was buried alive
five months ago.
It's now entombed in snow.
But, remarkably
..it's alive.
It is an Ussurian tube-nosed bat
..which hibernates in the snow,
safe from predators.
They manage to survive by slowing
down their hearts
to one beat a minute.
In the spring, the bats awake
from their long sleep.
But their body temperature has
dropped to near-freezing,
and they can't produce
sufficient energy
to fly until they've warmed up.
Intense shivering heats their
muscles to 30 degrees Celsius
..and their pulse rises from
one beat a minute
..to over 300.
Animals that live in places that
are snowbound for half the year
need very special survival
strategies.
And no part of northern Japan
is safe from
the deep freeze of winter.
Even the seas turn to ice.
Red foxes have learned that,
despite appearances
..there is food to be had here.
You just need to wait
for the right moment.
Opportunities like this
don't stay secret for long.
Birds.
They arrive in great numbers.
Black kites, white-tailed eagles
..and most powerful of all
..Steller's sea eagles.
With a wingspan of over two metres,
they are one of the largest
and most formidable
of the world's raptors.
A real threat to any fox.
If it is to eat,
this fox will have
to ignore their attacks.
Collecting a fish is one thing.
Keeping it is quite another.
This is impossible.
The birds are just too aggressive.
But occasionally,
their continuous fighting
works to a fox's advantage.
For many in the far north of Asia,
sea ice is essential to survival.
Off the coast of Arctic Russia,
an enormous area of the sea
freezes each winter.
It can cover an expanse
twice the size of Australia.
But lately, this has become one
of the most unpredictable
of habitats.
This polar bear is swimming
in search of sea ice
from which to hunt.
Polar bears can
swim for days at a time
and travel over 100 miles
without leaving the water.
Yet recently,
the ice has been hard to find
..and the bears have been forced
instead
..to take to dry land.
Coming ashore here
..could be risky.
But there's nowhere else to go.
And there is, in fact,
plenty to explore
on this strange island.
It is an abandoned Soviet
weather station
..and a dozen or
so other bears have strayed here.
The usually solitary animals are now
sharing this village,
here, at the end of the world.
And it seems that newcomers
are tolerated.
Slowly starving,
they must wait and
hope that conditions will improve.
Strong winds usually blow
the sea ice away from these islands.
But occasionally,
the opposite happens.
Arctic winds blow ice eastward
from Greenland
along the northern coast of Asia.
It gathers around the islands
..and creates
a polar bear playground.
Favourable winds like these
are an unreliable lifeline.
But for now,
the bears are in their element.
Despite the lethal extremes,
some animals have found truly
extraordinary ways
of surviving
and even triumphing
..here in Asia's frozen north.
When the Frozen crew
travelled to the Tibetan Plateau
..they were met by
some ominous weather conditions.
I don't know how the driver can keep
driving. I can't see anything.
Wow.
We're coming in and out of, like,
these dust storms,
and it's really, really bad.
Not looking forward to going out
there, not going to lie!
Jacky's mission
over the coming weeks
is to film the elusive
chiru antelope.
But he's got his work cut out.
Just getting to the filming location
every day means negotiating
this huge, frozen area.
The crew's first strategy is to set
up a hide on top of a lake.
Chiru have been known to come
here to eat minerals in the soil.
It's a pretty good spot.
Right on the ice.
Pretty good place.
I think today's about -25,
and the hide is actually frozen.
Just beneath my feet and the tripod
is just really thick ice,
and I don't think that helps.
I'm just going to try to keep
warm as much as I can,
and hopefully chirus
will come along sometime soon.
As each day goes by
..still no luck.
Argh. Whoa!
Argh!
Woo. Argh, God.
Just absolutely freezing,
like, sitting in the hide all day.
The conditions are taking
their toll.
And back at the hotel,
there's little relief
from the altitude.
I heard a big explosion
in the middle of the night.
We bought some
supplies to eat in the tent,
and because of the altitude,
it exploded.
Everything is super pressurised.
Jacky's sleep-tracker
shows a disrupted pattern.
Just Just You just can't
really sleep.
You're lacking oxygen and struggling
for breath every morning.
Oh, I've got a headache.
Maybe being in the great outdoors
will help clear Jacky's head.
We have been sitting in the hide
for the last few days,
and we haven't seen any chiru
willing to come close.
We might have to change
the strategy unfortunately.
If the chiru won't come to the team,
the team must go to the chiru.
But this is easier said than done.
Yeah, it's really difficult.
Every time we get as close
as maybe 500 metres to a herd,
they run away,
so we can't really film any action.
We really need to think of
a strategy to get close.
Otherwise we're probably not going
to bring home anything.
Frustratingly, the only
approachable chiru
is a dead one
..killed by a wolf.
Such a shame.
We're, like, a day late.
Such a shame.
So fresh as well.
Two weeks go by
with little more than glimpses.
Until one morning
..an opportunity
comes out of the blue.
Look at that guy! Just right
there on the window, over there.
It's still walking towards us.
What?!
Most wolves run from humans.
It's very rare to get close to
one in the wild.
Perfect.
I don't think we're going to get
any lunch by this rate,
because if this individual's not
afraid of people, then we'll
probably follow him the whole day.
Let's go. That's awesome.
Very exciting indeed.
After four weeks of failure with
the chiru,
the wolf is an appealing
alternative.
It's just really odd how we get
out of the car,
try to film him,
he'll walk away.
But then, about 100 metres,
he'll stop, wait for us.
Literally just looking at us
as we approach.
And he just stays there, and then
maybe another 100 metres,
he'll wait.
I don't know,
it feels like he's trying to tell us
something or lead us somewhere,
you know?
I'm hoping that that's the case.
Jacky launches the drone to
get closer.
To the team's surprise,
the wolf shows no reaction.
Ha-ha!
That is not what we set out to do,
but we did manage to get some
awesome shots.
But then, suddenly, the wolf picks
up the pace
and starts to hunt.
Right there, we can see the wolf.
It's just been crazy.
And he doesn't stop.
He's been chasing forever.
With the sun about to set
We changed twice on the battery.
..and the crew on their last
drone battery,
they hope it'll keep working long
enough to record the entire hunt.
- Low battery warning.
- Oh, my days!
I mean, honestly,
this is absolutely unbelievable.
I was thinking,
"There's no way he's going
"to be able to catch that, no way."
It was just chasing
the chiru all over the place,
and then suddenly just caught one.
Crazy! I can't believe it.
We almost gave up.
The drone had low battery.
I It literallyforced landing.
It's something that we dreamt of,
but just think, "That's impossible,
"there's no way we can film anything
like that. Not a hunt, not here."
But, in fact, just Ha!
Yeah, words can't even describe
how excited I was.
The team's patience and
persistence
..has allowed them to capture
something far greater
than they ever hoped.
Next time, we journey into the
tangled world of Asia's jungles
..home to the continent's most
iconic species
..all perfectly equipped for a life
amongst the trees.