Eden: Untamed Planet (2021) s01e06 Episode Script

1
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.