Antarctica Deadly Pole to Pole

My name's Steve Backshall.

And this is Deadly Pole To Pole.

Oh!

From the top of the world to the bottom.

Whoa!

Deadly places.

Deadly adventures.

And deadly animals.

And you're coming with me, every step of the way!

Argh!

Over the last year, our Pole to Pole journey

has completely spanned the globe and we're at our final destination.

It is the land of extremes -

the least inhabited, most remote, wildest, highest, driest,

coldest and windiest continent on the planet - Antarctica.

Yeah!

Antarctica lies over 10,000 miles from the Arctic,

where our expedition began.

We're now a long way from civilisation

and very few people are lucky enough to get to this isolated continent.

We've now been at sea for three weeks,

bouncing up and down on our boat home,

travelling through some of the roughest seas on earth.

At night we've been on iceberg watch.

During the day we've been trying not to be sick.

Oh, this is like hell on earth.

We even had to release our very own storm petrel stowaway

back to its ocean home.

Wonderful!

We've seen some extraordinary wildlife along the way,

from the albatross courtship dance on Bird Island...

..to the king penguin spectacle on South Georgia.

Wow.

But our Antarctic mission is on a whole different level.

I'm going to try and swim

with one of the top predators in these waters.

The animal we've come here to find

is one of the most brutal predators of this frozen world.

It's an animal that will literally shake a penguin out of its own skin.

The terrifying leopard seal.

These are the most formidable hunters of all the seals,

predating on warmblooded prey.

They lie-in-wait, stalking unsuspecting penguins and seals...

..before they propel themselves through the water and strike.

Their powerful jaws and long teeth latch on and there's no escape.

Every leopard seal has a different personality,

so if I'm going to get in the water with one,

we'll need a seal that's curious of us.

Our first challenge, though, will be finding one.

On the flat rocks underneath that big rocky headland

is a gentoo penguin colony.

There's an awful lot of them there, and leopard seals tend to

hang out around the outskirts of these colonies in the hope of food.

So we're going to do a bit of a scan around,

through the icebergs up ahead of us -

lots and lots of penguins in the water -

and hope that we catch sight of our powerful polar predator.

The team and I scan the seas, hoping for telltale sign of a leopard seal

poking its head above the water.

I think I heard breathing.

Ooh, ooh, ooh! What was that there? Did someone see that?

I saw a breath at the surface.

There, there it is. There!

Straight ahead of us.

Yes, yes - leopard seal. Leopard seal off the end of that iceberg.

Can you see it?

It's huge!

I've never seen a seal taking that position before.

It was almost like the nostrils were more like a crocodile,

just poking up out of the water sucking in air,

and it's just dropped down below us now.

We scan the water as she could come up anywhere.

Suddenly she pops up right next to our boat.

No way!

It's so much bigger than I expected.

Just gone under the boat, gone right underneath the boat.

It's our first leopard seal.

Wow!

Steve, it's right there.

Steve, Steve, Steve, he's right, right, right here.

This first sight of a leopard seal up close

has made us all a little bit nervous.

I'm not sure I want to get in the water with that!

That's a... That is a monster.

Luckily for now it seems this seal is on the move,

so I'll have a bit more time to get prepared

for the enormity of what I'm planning to do.

While we wait, I decide to go and get a closer look

at what brings them here -

their penguin prey.

The penguins' whole life is dominated by the possible presence

of a leopard seal. Out at sea they can be slow,

on land they can just stand there,

but when they're coming through this zone here, they move at great pace,

because there could well be a leopard seal waiting.

The crew and I head on land to get a closer look,

but always keeping our eyes peeled

in case a leopard seal appears in the shallows.

Since we've been down south we've already seen

several breeding colonies of penguins -

rockhoppers and, most spectacularly, King penguins.

Gentoos, though, are very different.

They don't roost and nest together in big, dense colonies.

Instead they're much more spread out,

but they still have that really heavy, fat layer

below the surface of the skin which keeps them warm.

But that's also their downfall

because that's the calories that the leopard seal's looking for.

At this time of year the penguins are here for two reasons -

to bring up their young and also to go through their annual moult.

Looking around us, a lot of the snow looks like it's been painted,

but that actually has great significance.

Just up there, there's an area that looks like it's been stained pink.

That's from the droppings of penguins

that have been feeding on krill, which is a shrimp-like crustacean.

Down here, we've got some high-powered squirts of white

and that's from penguins that have been feeding on fish and squid.

But this here, this is kind of the important bit.

This bright, bright green squirt

is from penguins that have been fasting, that haven't eaten

for at least three days, and all of these feathers are why.

They're moulting.

These penguins at the moment can't swim, they can't go into the water.

But when they've finally got their new coat

they're going to be desperate, really hungry and it doesn't matter

if a leopard seal is just sitting right out there,

they're going to have to go out to sea to feed.

And just down the beach I spot another group of penguins

that are about to head out on that deadly journey.

It's quite interesting watching the gentoos

as they come in and out of the water.

This little group here is about to try and make their commitment

to go in. They've all clustered together and they're waiting

for the first one to take the plunge.

And, actually, look at that one.

They're sticking their head under the water

as if they're looking around. Possibly they are,

possibly looking for the presence of a leopard seal.

All of them have gone in heads down first.

You don't see penguins with their bodies at the surface

and the head underwater very often.

And they should be worried,

as we spot a familiar head just above the water.

This seal is definitely hunting.

It's doing circuits, up and down the length of this beach, just waiting

for penguins like this gentoo here, coming out of the water.

He's had a very, very lucky escape.

Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

I don't believe it, we're just witnessing a leopard seal attack.

It's come right into the shallows after the gentoos.

I mean, you could not ask for more dramatic evidence

of why life for gentoo penguins is so, so tough.

We've seen an attendant leopard seal just sitting there in the shallows

waiting, waiting for one to run the gauntlet back to land.

This time it was unsuccessful,

but scientists have watched leopard seals that have been sitting

alongside colonies, they've taken as many as eight penguins a day.

I don't believe we just saw that.

The penguins here have plenty to fear,

as we spot what could be another leopard seal in the area.

There's a low, flat berg just offshore

and lying on it is a long, thin shape.

I think we should get into the boat and go and have a closer look.

It could well be a leopard seal.

It is a leopard seal, hauled out on the ice.

Very occasionally these animals will come up on to rocky shores

but they seem to much prefer low-lying icebergs like this.

Looks like it's sleeping.

The eyes are closed, it's almost snoring.

And while it's sleeping, it's the perfect opportunity

to take a closer look.

You can see where they get the leopard seal name from -

they're covered in spots all over the body,

and also their method of hunting is very leopard-like,

lying in ambush, waiting until the very last second

and then pouncing with incredible, dynamic force and speed.

There's something deeply sinister about leopard seals.

I'm not sure what it is.

It's almost a reptilian, snake-like appearance to the body.

It's not like any other kind of seal I've ever seen.

Leopard seals can sleep for hours,

so I'm not going to be able to get in the water with this one.

So we head back to the main boat,

and on the way I spot an old Deadly favourite.

Humpback whales!

Amazing!

Popping up right alongside our boat.

They're doing circuits around our boat.

In all probability there is a big swarm of krill or something else

below us that they're feeding on.

You can see the white of the underside of the flippers,

they are right below the surface just behind us.

All of a sudden you can feel very small

as these mighty whales swim alongside.

Oh, my goodness!

The sound they make as they come to the surface,

expelling air through their massive lungs.

You can feel the reverberation coming across the water,

it hits you right in your heart.

Humpback whales are, to me, incredibly special.

They are the most social, the most vocal,

the most playful of all of the great whales.

But they're also very special for this Pole to Pole expedition.

They've been with us for the entire trip.

We saw them feeding,

way up in the Arctic at the start of our expedition,

saw them breaching and playing in Alaska, breeding in Hawaii,

and now they are swimming underneath me,

here in Antarctica, after a year of journey.

Amazing!

We still haven't found the perfect leopard seal to swim with.

So we go in search of a very different Deadly force.

One that's made up entirely of ice.

Icebergs.

They're a beautiful but potentially lethal part of this

Antarctic landscape.

About 75% of the world's fresh water is bound up in Antarctic ice,

much of it in icebergs like this one here.

And though this is incredibly impressive, towering over us,

actually it is absolutely nothing.

In the year 2000, a berg carved off the Ross Ice Shelf

that was 185 miles long,

and actually about the same size as a small country.

These bergs can circle around and around the southern ocean

for as much as four years and become a deadly force of nature.

Antarctica is home to more icebergs than anywhere else on earth,

and every single one of them has the power, size and unpredictability

to destroy anything in their path.

An iceberg was even the cause of one of the greatest

boat disasters of all time, The Titanic,

which killed more than 1,500 people.

What makes them so dangerous is the fact that what we see at the surface

is quite literally just the tip of the iceberg.

Perhaps 90% of an iceberg could be underwater,

and that's where we want to explore next.

We're travelling down the Lemaire Channel to an iceberg graveyard.

In the winter, this area would be completely impassable,

as it would be solid ice,

but luckily in the summer there's a clear route through the mountains

and some of the most dramatic scenery in Antarctica.

All around us are glorious blue bergs,

in the most extraordinary shapes.

They get driven in by the prevailing wind and waves

and because it's comparatively shallow here,

they become grounded and they just lie here for years and years.

Somewhere in here is going to be the perfect berg for us to dive

but we have to be incredibly careful.

Huge chunks the size of office blocks can just carve off these,

they can roll, they can topple, and if you were underwater

when that happened, it would be truly catastrophic.

We'll need to find an iceberg that's completely grounded

to make it safe for us to get in the water.

You can tell an enormous amount about an iceberg's history

by looking at its shape.

This one here is very neatly divided down the centre.

The right half is very smooth and sculpted

and the left is much more jagged and pointy,

that's because this originally would have been sitting this way up.

All of that stuff would have been above the surface

and this would have been underwater.

These things are continually moving and being shaped by the elements.

An iceberg like this would not be safe to dive

so we choose another that's grounded nearby.

This is going to be our chilliest dive yet,

so Johnny, the cameraman, and I get kitted up in our dry suits,

ready to head beneath the ice.

This is exquisite!

I guess the thing that first plays with your mind

when you're diving in Antarctic waters...

is the cold.

The sea here doesn't freeze at zero.

Instead it can get down to be as low as minus 1.8

because of all the salt in the water.

But actually far more dangerous is the icebergs themselves.

These things are very, very unstable.

As you're swimming underwater, sometimes you hear

tiny little cracks as the things are breaking apart.

A big crack could signal that the whole thing is about to collapse

and if it did, you wouldn't want to be anywhere near it.

This berg has had a very, very long journey.

It was originally compressed as snow and then became

a part of a mighty glacier, before eventually carving off into the sea.

You can see how the movement of the water

has shaped and sculpted it,

creating all of these scallop-shaped markings.

It's incredibly beautiful.

But you can never forget the power

and unpredictability of an iceberg.

Ah.

Oh.

That is a particularly chilly experience

but what an extraordinary underwater world.

The light is just like nothing you'll see anywhere else.

No doubt icebergs are a Deadly force of nature.

They can reach the size of a small country.

They can flip and carve at any moment.

And are an unpredictable force of nature.

Without question... Deadly.

The team and I make our way back to the penguin colony,

in the hope we might be able to get in the water with a leopard seal.

Oh, I'm so excited.

But knowing the predatory prowess of this seal,

it could be our deadliest encounter yet.

So that I'm ready when one appears, I get kitted up.

And just as we're ready to move out in the rib,

we spot a familiar shape in the distance.

Looks like it might finally happen.

The adrenaline is absolutely singing round my body.

As we move closer, my heart is racing,

knowing I'm about to get in the water

with one of the most fearsome predators of Antarctica.

Right there, right there.

Right there, it's right behind you.

You need to move forward. Move forward, Steven.

OK, talk to me on the surface, tell me what you see.

Does anyone see anything?

It's right behind you with its head up.

We have got visual. He's coming towards you now.

Oh, I see him!

I see him. He's massive!

Look at the size of that!

It seems we've found our perfect, curious leopard seal.

And judging from its size, I think it's a female.

Coming up to the surface to breathe.

That is the most extraordinary sight -

a leopard seal just showing off her expertise.

Look at that, barrel-rolling around, pirouetting in front of us.

Something I have waited a lifetime to see.

And she seems relatively playful.

I can't think of an animal that looks more in control,

more utterly at home in its environment than this.

The leopard seal carving alongside an Antarctic iceberg.

It's one of the most chilling and exciting sights

of my whole life. Unbelievable!

We need to try and keep her in sight at all times

as her behaviour could change in an instant.

Where is she? Does anyone see her?

It's right under the boat, it's right under the boat.

Where's she gone? Has anyone got eyes on?

Come up a little bit, Johnny, come up.

Coming up behind them.

Right behind you, guys. Look lively, look lively. It's behind you.

Oh, there she is, she is.

Wow.

She's kind of getting bolder each time she approaches.

Each time it's just a little bit closer.

I am not taking my eyes off her for even a second.

Oh!

Big show of teeth there, look at that.

When an animal shows off its teeth like that and blows bubbles,

it's not yawning, it's showing off what it can do.

She's just letting us know that this is her world, not ours.

There's no doubt this animal could do me an awful lot of damage.

Wow!

I think it's time for us to head for the surface.

Oh, my goodness.

That's one of the most exhilarating

and frightening experiences of my entire life.

I mean, penguins here just do not stand a chance.

The animal's bigger than them, it's faster, it's more agile,

and the teeth are truly some of the most extraordinary

I have ever seen in the animal kingdom.

It was coming right up into my camera, just inches away,

and showing off those teeth.

There's simply nothing here that can contend with it.

I have to say, I don't often get frightened with animals

but that was...that was terrifying. It was absolutely terrifying.

I've never felt quite so much like I've been in another animal's world

and that it has totally been the boss of me.

It's one of the greatest experiences I'll ever have.

I'm not sure it can be beaten.

Leopard seals - Deadly.

CHEERING

Amazing. Absolutely amazing, well done.

These serpent-like animals are built for speed.

Stalking their warmblooded victims from beneath the ice.

And using powerful jaws to latch onto their prey.

This sinister seal

is undeniably Deadly.

'This has been a phenomenal expedition.'

Whoa!

'The team and I have travelled over 10,000 miles

'from the top of the world to the bottom.'

Whoa!

'We've seen the most intelligent, complex killers on the planet.'

Oh, so close!

'Had encounters with animals I've wanted to see my whole life.'

It's kind of like all my dreams coming true all at once.

'Investigated all kinds of lethal forces of nature.

'Seen predatory behaviour in new ways.

'And I've even faced our most primeval human fears.'

Coming back towards us, Johnny.

'And my loyal crew have been with me every step of the way.'

I want to go home.

'It's been the globe-spanning journey of a lifetime.

'But there's one last thing me and the team have to do.'

One, two, three.

THEY YELL AND SCREAM

'This has been Deadly Pole To Pole.'

CHEERING

Deadly!