On the Trail of the Caribou Incredible Animal Journeys

Mile upon mile of snow and ice.

A winter wonderland.

Completely deserted.

Well, almost.

This is the setting

of one of nature's most spectacular journeys.

It's truly the edge of nowhere.

Where we're going, there aren't any roads -

just miles and miles of this.

There are animals that can survive up here, of course, but one above all is the master.

Welcome to the land of the caribou.

For the caribou, movement is a way of life.

Every year, each individual caribou, young and old,

will travel over 2,000 miles, heading north in spring and back south in the autumn.

It's no easy option.

First, there's the predators...

..and appalling weather...

..and other challenges this extreme environment will throw at them as they struggle north.

So why go on such an odyssey?

And how do they survive such an extreme test of endurance?

Well, to find out...

this year, we're going with them.

I'm going to travel any way I can, and do whatever it takes to keep up.

This way I hope to discover something of what they go through

and find out why travelling is the caribou's passport to survival.

To understand what caribou are up against, I need to keep in touch with the herd.

And one of the best ways to do that is to follow a single animal.

Well, we're going to try.

But how are we going to follow a single animal in a herd of 120,000?

They all look identical.

Well, first we have to find the herd at the most southerly end of their migration in spring,

just before their long trek north.

Then we need to call on the experts.

For the last ten years, scientists in Canada

and the USA have been studying one particular caribou herd.

It's called the Porcupine herd.

We're joining Martin Kienzler, who is part of an international operation.

Martin and his team are attaching satellite collars to caribou so they can track their travels remotely.

This year, they're particularly interested in how pregnant females cope,

because the future of the entire herd depends on them completing this journey.

This is one of our girls.

We've named her Claudia.

Neck, 46.

Martin and his team quickly measure her vital statistics

to build her personal profile, including taking a bit of blood to confirm that she's pregnant.

On with the satellite collar.

Now we can track her every move remotely.

And there she goes -

with 700 kilometres of some of the world's harshest terrain ahead of her.

That's over 400 miles of heavy going - and probably carrying a calf, as well.

The thing is, we don't know if she is pregnant for sure.

But this blood sample will hopefully give us the good news.

So where are we, then?

Right now, we're with Claudia in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

But remember, she's not alone.

She's with over 120,000 others

and soon they'll all be on the move, trekking all the way up

to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska over 400 miles away.

But why? Why make such a dangerous and difficult journey?

For the answer, we have to turn the clock back to the autumn,

when an event took place that set this entire incredible journey in motion...

..the rut.

The caribou rut only lasts around ten days, but during that time,

around 80% to 90% of all the females will become pregnant.

With conception, an unstoppable chain of events is set in motion.

In 228 days, the pregnant females will give birth,

but they can't give birth here.

There's too many predators, and there's not enough quality food.

This is why the herd must travel north.

Back to the present and now it's April.

We're still here in the Yukon to join the caribou as they start their incredible journey.

Only problem is, they haven't budged. They're late.

Now, the satellite collar that Claudia is wearing is pretty spectacular.

But it wouldn't be any use to us if we couldn't get the information

that it's beaming into space while we're out in the field.

So we've got another piece of kit here, and that's this.

It's a satellite pager.

Now, I have got the co-ordinate for Claudia.

She still hasn't started her journey yet. She's still very much where we collared her.

We don't know why she hasn't started, but spring seems to be coming very late this year,

and the snow around this area is still very, very deep.

Whatever the reason for the caribou's delayed start, it's a worry.

This whole journey runs on a tight schedule.

The caribou have a series of deadlines to meet if they're to reach the calving area on time.

And if they miss these deadlines, it will put the calves and the mothers in great danger.

Every delay increases the risk.

Anyway, we can't start our journey until the caribou start theirs.

So we'll just have to wait, too.

It's a good time to meet the locals and get a feel for this place.

The Yukon is a real wilderness and I need to know how to look after myself.

I'm building what they call a quinzee - a snow shelter -

and I'm actually gonna sleep in it tonight.

The branches keep me off the snow.

And the skins will help keep me warm.

-Got some more bedding here, Steve.

-Oh, wow!

-Yep.

'They're about the best thermal insulators in the world.'

I think I can live with this.

'What are they? You guessed it - caribou skins.'

To be honest, it's going to be a flippin' nightmare!

My extreme survival teacher is Faye Chamberlain, who's an experienced hunter and trapper.

She's lived up here for 28 years, living out in the wilderness for weeks at a time.

Faye has to be totally self-sufficient.

I try to travel as light as possible.

-For example, if I don't have sunglasses and I'm out on the land, I'll grab some birch bark...

-Yeah.

-..and make myself one of these...

-STEVE LAUGHS

-..basically to keep... Yeah.

-Let me have a go at that. Yeah, they're great, actually.

-Have you ever had to wear these?

-No, never had to.

THEY LAUGH

-OK.

-But I would.

Oh, yeah. Snow blindness can end up getting you killed. But...

-Yeah.

-..as a fashion statement...

If I'm going to stay in a quinzee, you know, you're gonna have to have a long-burning candle.

-But if you don't have any of those, this is the real homemade jobby here.

-Sardine tin, is it?

Yeah, it's a sardine tin with a piece of lamp wick and some lard.

You're gonna use it for a little heating and lighting in there.

So that'll stay lit all night, will it?

-No, you'll have a bit of larch wood. That'll burn down, but that'll add to it.

-Yeah.

Got some salmon strips here, if you'd like one.

'Now, I've been vegetarian most of my life,

'but to survive out here, you've gotta be prepared to eat anything.'

And this has been dried, has it?

This has been dried.

Well, soaked in a little bit of a salt brine, and then smoked and then dried on the rack. Yup.

That's weird. I haven't had fish since I was a kid, really.

Well, the people have been doing it for thousands of years, and the land is like their larder.

Oh, hello, you.

Do you want some of that?

So what are the threats to the herd, then?

-Well, of course there's global warming...

-Yes.

-That's a big one.

And also potential development in the coastal plain

-on their migration, and the calving grounds, especially.

-Yeah.

And that could really have drastic consequences for the caribou.

'The temperature's plummeting.

'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea!'

Now, this new coat is fantastic.

-That's amazing.

-Yeah, this is kinda made out of caribou. Yeah.

I feel, you know, when I get a caribou, I like to think I'm prolonging their life and spirit

-by using as much as I can.

-Yeah.

So these are the hides, and I put wolverine around for the ruffs, cos it doesn't frost so much.

-And is it warmer than one of these down jackets?

-Oh, by far, by far. Yeah.

-So do you think I'm going to be comfortable tonight?

-Oh, yeah. You're going to be snug as a bug.

It's about 20 below tonight, so it'll be what we call a two-dog night up here.

-A two-dog night?

-Yeah.

For every ten degrees below zero, you add on a dog,

to snuggle up with you to keep you...

Oh, right. OK, OK.

That's going to be OK. Here we go.

OK. So I'm in my quinzee.

The only light I have is this candle.

It's not too bad, actually.

But the thermometer I've got in here is just creeping up, up, up.

It's now at minus four, and who knows how high it's going to get?

So I don't think warmth's going to be a problem.

Good night!

'Big mistake!

'That candle gave me light, of course, but it was also the central heating.'

Ugh!

It's just turned midnight

and things are getting a bit chilly in here.

I might have to...

put a few more layers on and see how I get on.

I think it's time to call it a day.

I'd like to stay out longer but, er...

you know when the cold kind of gets to your bones, and you just can't sleep?

Well, that's it.

The wind is...

blowing quite wild outside...

..and, er...

I just need

a warm bed.

I think I've done... I've done my bit.

Here am I, trying to convince... I'm just freezing cold.

I want a nice bed!

Sorry,

I just couldn't hold out any longer.

If I have to sleep out again on this journey, I'll know to keep that candle burning.

Well, despite so little sleep, I feel great this morning,

because Claudia's co-ordinates show she's on the move at last.

The pregnant females are at the lead, and the rest of the herd follows.

But now there are only five weeks till the calves are due.

This will be a race against time.

They're off, so I'm off, too!

Believe it or not, I did seriously think about actually trying to walk alongside Claudia and her mates.

But it's knackering!

It is...

totally sapping.

You just have to get into the rhythm and keep plodding on.

It's almost like continually falling forward, and,

as long as you keep picking the foot up and falling on to it, you're going to keep going.

Well, you've got to have a break occasionally.

'Or permanently, in my case.

'I'm just not built to travel this way.'

Unlike the caribou, who are in a league of their own.

In terms of energy usage, they can out-perform any other land animal that's ever been studied.

You get a lot of miles to the gallon with a Porcupine caribou.

How do they do it? Well, they distribute their weight

evenly across those big feet so they don't sink so far into the snow.

It's obvious there's absolutely no way I would be able to run with the caribou.

And by the way, caribou do need to run.

We're not the only ones trying to follow them.

These are special wolves.

Instead of having a territory in one place, these wolves have evolved to travel,

to migrate with the herd, constantly on the lookout for any opportunities to make a kill.

It's tough, but the wolves keep a health-check on the Porcupine herd,

weeding out the weak or old animals.

IT CAWS

Escaping wolves can be another hold-up, and they're already so late starting.

So where do Claudia and all the pregnant mums stand right now?

Well, she's making slow progress

but seems to be heading towards the northernmost town up here, Old Crow.

So I guess we'd better head there, too.

Easier said than done. The weather has turned awful.

This is serious for us all.

It's proper Yukon winter weather.

It's minus 40 out there now.

Of course, caribou are built to withstand these extremes.

They have compact bodies, insulating, hollow fur,

and they don't need to shiver till it's below minus 40 degrees.

They just sit it out.

Phew, we made it!

Old Crow.

All I want now is a hot mug of tea to warm me up.

Old Crow is a unique place.

For a start, the town has no roads to it at all.

You have to fly or sledge in.

It's the only community in the Yukon that can't be reached by car.

Old Crow owes its very existence to the caribou.

It's built on their migration route.

There's archaeological evidence of caribou bones cut and shaped by humans

going back tens of thousands of years, and the Gwitchin people who still live here

still live off the caribou, which provide them with food and clothes.

In recent years, the Porcupine herd have streamed right through the village by now.

But this year, they're late.

We need some expert advice.

Everyone's an expert on caribou in Old Crow, but it's the elders who have the real wisdom.

The man we need to see is out of town at his hunting cabin, waiting for the caribou to arrive.

And the best way to get there? You've guessed it!

How many dogs are you gonna give me?

-Seven.

-Seven.

Seven's a lot for me.

'Now, I've done this before, but it was a long time ago.

'And even then, I was, well, rubbish!'

There's an assumption that I know what I'm doing.

I don't know where that's come from, but the first corner's going to be an absolute doozy.

This is what most people think that dogs are going to be like.

These dogs are absolutely mad keen to go, but wait till we let them go.

Then listen to what they're like.

OK, dogs, OK.

DOGS IMMEDIATELY GO QUIET

Not quite what you'd expect, is it?

Good dogs!

'So who exactly are we going to meet, then?

'Stephen Frost is a Gwitchin elder, and his life is still wrapped up

'with the coming and the going of the caribou.

'He's the repository of maybe thousands of years of knowledge about the caribou migration.

'If anyone can help us, Stephen can.'

Whoa...

-Hello, Steve.

-Hello, Stephen!

-You're welcome here.

-Thank you very much.

-My name is Steve, too.

-Oh, excellent.

-Did you have a good trip?

-Eventful.

Didn't you do well today?

Teddy, Daisy...

Let's have a look at your feet,

and set everybody free in excitement.

'Stephen Frost is 73 years old.

'His life still revolves around the caribou, much as his ancestors' did for thousands of years.

'He hunts them, uses their skin for clothing, makes shoes and the warmest coats in the world.'

Man, are you ever an expert at swinging that axe!

'The mysteries of the caribou migration run in his blood.

'When scientists get stuck, they often turn to Stephen for advice.'

I think this is probably not the best way to come, but you seem to know what you're doing.

-I'll follow you.

-Well, somebody got to know what they're doing, I guess!

I think we know who that is!

Yeah. Follow the local. That's the way to do it.

'This river right outside Stephen's cabin is the Porcupine River.

'It gives its name to the Porcupine herd, because the entire herd must cross it on their way north.'

-Where are the caribou now? Why aren't they here?

-This year's a bit late.

There's an awful lot of snow.

But had it not been late, the caribou should have been

crossing the Porcupine above Old Crow, you know, maybe ten, 12 to 50 miles up already.

But it's late, and that's because of the snow. Only because of the snow.

If they're still late because of this deep snow, is that going to be a problem?

If the caribou don't get up there, then by nature they don't have calves where they're supposed to,

making it easier for the wolves and bears to get them.

So in a late year, we've known caribou to even calf

before they hit the river, and it's most likely then they will never make it up there.

OK. The calves are going to really struggle, I suppose, to keep up with Mum.

Yeah. They probably won't make it.

And how long have the Gwitchin been actually hunting here?

I dunno. I don't know if anyone could answer that right.

About 40,000 years?

-I don't think you were here then!

-No!

Me, neither. But it's been a long, long time.

The caribou should have been here by now.

They just keep on slipping further behind schedule.

Everything's stacked up against them -

the weather, the terrain, the wolves and, if that wasn't enough, as the weather warms up

there's something else.

The winter may have been an exercise in extreme survival,

but at least the caribou didn't have bears to contend with.

The bears were all hibernating throughout the winter, but now they emerge from their dens.

After five or six months underground, they're hungry.

Bears are surprisingly fast, but Claudia is young and healthy.

She should be able to outpace them.

And there's more. As the weather warms up, the ice melts,

turning the snow to slush and the frozen rivers into death traps.

And the Porcupine River is melting, too...

..with Claudia stuck on the wrong side.

Crossing the river like this would be suicide.

Yet another delay.

She hesitates for three days.

Is she looking for a safe place to cross?

Isn't it amazing what those satellite collars reveal?

Without them, scientists would know nothing of this sort of behaviour.

At last, Claudia's satellite co-ordinates show that she crosses safely along with the others.

Let's hope she can make up for lost time.

Meanwhile, we've got problems of our own.

'Something's come up.

'The whole point of Claudia's journey is for her to find somewhere safe to give birth to her calf.

'And everything we're doing is based on the assumption she's pregnant.

'But is she?

'Remember when we were collaring her with Martin Kienzler right at the beginning?

'We took blood samples to see if Claudia was pregnant.

'Well, we don't have the results yet, so we have no way of knowing if she's pregnant or not.

'The only way to find out is to try and find her and see for ourselves.'

-How are you doing?

-I'm doing good.

-Hey, Martin.

We flew over thick fog on the way here.

'We've managed to convince Martin Kienzler to come to our aid.

'He's kindly dropped everything to join us.

'And we've got the legendary Stephen Frost.

'So we've got the latest science, coupled with the traditional knowledge of the Gwitchin people.'

OK, so we're all together. We've got a chopper with a full tank of fuel.

Rock and roll!

'So how are we going to find her?

'It's the double whammy - the old and the new.

'Technology first.

'As well as a satellite link, Claudia is beaming a radio signal all the time.'

-So Claudia is nine miles this way.

-OK.

Well, hopefully she's going to be up on one of these ridges, or up on a ridge.

'We know she's down here somewhere.'

Yeah, there's some down there on that ridge.

Oh, there we go, we've got her.

Fairly close, too.

-I can land right here...

-Yup.

-..if you want. Shall I try it?

Yeah. OK.

All right. 30 seconds.

Bump, bump.

'Once we're down on the ground, it's a whole new ball game.

'Now we need the experience of someone who's spent their life amongst caribou -

'someone who can think like a caribou.'

You know, they seem to be coming straight this way, so they could follow that trail.

Or there's one down here.

I wonder if we could move this stuff to that little timber area, because if they see us out here, you know.

Yeah, right away.

'Ancient skills and modern technology - it's a good combination.'

They're just gonna come out right there...

-..on this...

-Oh, yes, yes. Right.

'This is the first time I've really seen the herd properly.

'It's easy enough to say there's over 120,000 animals in the herd,

'but you can't really visualise what that means.

'It's just mind-boggling.'

(Just listen to them!)

(That tapping sound is their tendons clicking.)

(She's so close!)

Our caribou, Claudia, is in here somewhere, amongst these hundreds of caribou.

We've been so lucky because they've just come and surrounded us.

We've got caribou all around us, just slowly plodding their way north.

Really peaceful.

All we can hear is the clicking of their tendons,

and they've got within a few hundred feet and haven't been bothered by us,

so that's really nice, just to be able to see them on their migration.

And when we leave them now, they'll just keep going, for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

It's hard to grasp how many there are.

They just keep coming, layer upon layer, streaming past.

Picking out Claudia's gonna be much more tricky than I thought,

but if we don't see her, we won't know if she's pregnant or not.

She just walked right on by.

We just missed her. She's in that line of trees there.

We can see all the caribou that are with her.

I think she was, like you say, in that main body...

a few, 500 yards, and slowly getting further. It's...

-That's pretty good, though.

-Oh, you know, we came that close.

Well, you know,

with the caribou moving the way they are, you know,

I think we might have another chance yet.

To be honest, I'm not sure there is any realistic chance of seeing her -

there are just so many of them, and they're all really spread out.

But, we've got to keep trying.

Everyone's gone to so much trouble, we can't give up now.

We've managed to get just ahead of them again, with a better vantage point this time.

There's lots of them down there now.

There she is. Got her.

-You've got her?

-Yeah.

-Excellent!

That's extraordinary, we've found her!

Just look at her tummy - she certainly looks pregnant to me.

But the real giveaway is she's still got her big antlers.

If she wasn't pregnant, they'd have fallen off by now, like some of the others.

On a sunny day like today, it's hard to imagine what Claudia has been through already.

Blizzards, the river crossing.

Not to mention fending off wolves and grizzlies.

But at the moment, all that's on her mind is getting to those calving grounds in time.

That's probably the last we're going to see of her

for however long it's going to take her to get to the calving grounds.

That's if she can get to the calving grounds.

If she hadn't been pregnant, the fact that's she's almost

three weeks behind schedule wouldn't have mattered.

But now we know for sure she is, she needs to get to the safety

of the Arctic Refuge to give birth in just two weeks.

You know, I don't think she's going to make it.

Where Claudia and the herd are going now we just can't follow.

It's out of helicopter range and there's no human habitation at all.

All we can do is watch her progress from her collar

and hope and pray that the little dot keeps moving day on day.

As they get much further north there will be some good news.

The caribou will leave the shadowing wolf packs behind.

As it's now spring, it's time for the wolves to give birth.

But to do that, they need to dig a den.

Further north, the ground is frozen solid all the year round

so the wolves have to den where the ground is still soft enough to dig out a safe haven for their cubs.

The wolves might have to stop, but the caribou have to push on.

They haven't got that far to go in terms of total distance, but these girls are heavily pregnant.

You can see it. Imagine if you were, say, eight-months pregnant,

and you had to walk, sometimes run, over wet, muddy ground and slushy snow for about 150 miles.

No wonder they're slowing down.

And the weather's continuing to warm up.

It's an uncomfortable time for animals used to surviving extreme cold.

They seek out patches of snow to help keep them cool.

We can't go where Claudia and the herd are going now.

No roads, no towns, nothing.

But we can get ahead and wait for her.

So we're overtaking Claudia and heading for the only town there is up there,

close to where Claudia should have her calf.

Welcome to Kaktovik airport, gateway to The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

A comfortable taxi ride to my five-star hotel.

Ah, we like the look of that!

'No expense spared!'

Right, it's 5th June.

This is a very important day in Claudia's calendar

because this is the week she's most likely going to give birth.

And in fact, over the last few days her plot positions have started to slow down in terms of movement.

So, we can only assume that she's either going to give birth

imminently, or she already has, and has now got a calf in tow.

The problem is, she's not at the traditional calving grounds.

She's in the wrong place.

With all the delays, Claudia's only just reached the north coast.

She's still in Canada, 100 miles from the core calving area.

But you can't stop nature.

Around half of all the female caribou give birth on the same day,

and pretty much all of them will deliver within the week.

It's all synchronised to minimise the chance

of a predator getting your calf because there are so many around.

As you might expect with caribou, the calves are up and running,

well tottering, within a couple of hours of being born.

Once she's steadied up, she'll hardly stop moving for the rest of her life.

Pretty soon they find their feet.

When they're just one day old, a caribou calf can easily outrun a human!

The youngsters may be pretty nimble on their feet, but there's a new threat on the horizon.

Golden eagles target young caribou and there's little chance of a calf outrunning this aerial attack.

One in ten calves get taken.

It takes the herd and Claudia another three weeks to get to the heart of the Arctic Refuge,

dodging eagles, being hassled by bears, crossing rivers.

Lots of little legs trying to keep up.

Many calves will fall by the wayside.

But what about Claudia's calf?

All we can do is wait in Kaktovik with bated breath.

Will Claudia make it?

And has her calf survived?

There's only one way to find out.

We're going for one final rendezvous with our heroine.

She's travelled well over 400 miles, all the way up from the Yukon.

It's taken her a gruelling 10 weeks, crossing some of the most hostile terrain on Earth.

Now Claudia's here, only 40 miles south of us.

Going for a rendezvous is easier said than done.

No helicopters are allowed in the refuge.

The only way in is via this one little plane - flown by this one pilot.

But Tom is one of the few people who'd be willing to take on a mission like ours,

because there's a bit of a problem. We'll come back to that later.

You have to get up here, up into the heavens to see one of the most awesome sights in all nature.

-Look at this, man. We're in 'em good now...

-Oh, my hat, yeah...

Hey Tom, right on. There's thousands of them here. Thousands and thousands and thousands.

Ah, they're peppered everywhere, aren't they? Lots of calves.

Loads of calves. That's good to see.

The entire porcupine herd on the move.

They cover the earth.

A living carpet of caribou.

OK, so by now they're a slightly moth-eaten carpet of caribou,

but finally you can see what this migration is all about.

This is what they're here for.

The caribou are stuffing their faces.

The vegetation that's been hidden away all winter explodes into action,

with 24-hour sunlight producing masses of high-protein food,

enough even for the entire porcupine herd.

The mothers use it to make the richest milk among land mammals,

and they all build up the fat and muscle they lost on the long trek north.

OK, back on board, I can reveal our little problem.

We've got nowhere to land!

No, seriously, there's no landing strips at all!

We just have to find somewhere to land as best we can -

a bit of grass beside a river, a mud flat, whatever.

It's totally down to the judgment and skill of Tom.

And even he seems to be having second thoughts.

I'm not going into a... I mean, it would be stupid

to go into a place for the first time without...

It's too rocky. There's only one place up here we're going to go and check out.

We might have a problem here.

We'll go try to find some place.

-That'll do it.

-Yeah.

Nice one, Tom!

What an incredible, incredible spot!

Just take a look down there.

That is stunning!

So, we're on our own. But Tom will be round and about.

If he sees anything useful, he'll radio us.

We had to land 10 miles away from the herd, so it'll take us about four hours to reach them.

Absolutely stunning views all around.

We're in the middle of nowhere.

This might be paradise, but there is one small fly in the ointment.

As soon as you stand still, you're getting absolutely swamped by mosquitoes as well,

which is something that the caribou are obviously feeling.

So we are effectively honorary caribou for the next few hours.

Mozzie bites down my face.

Hang on a minute, are those caribou down there?

Look at that!

They stretch as far as the eye can see!

But these mozzies are really getting bad.

They're irritating enough for me, but for the caribou, they can be a serious problem.

The caribou have a three-week window to feed like crazy before the mosquitoes hit.

Because when they hatch out in their millions, they drive the caribou to distraction.

Incredibly, a caribou can lose as much as two and a quarter pints of blood in a single day.

They seek relief by searching out cool and windy areas,

and stick together in mass aggregations to avoid being bitten.

By being constantly on the move, that means less time to eat and that also affects their health.

And there are still bears up here.

Mind you, they're not quite such a threat any more.

When the calves were born, the bears hit up to six youngsters a day.

But now the calves are strong.

They can easily outrun a bear.

Look at those waves of disturbance.

It looks like shoals of fish, doesn't it?

Darting away from sharks or seals.

Right then, we're much closer now.

Can we find Claudia and see whether her calf has made it?

Our caribou are just over that ridge.

Well, this is why we came here.

They're over there - caribou as far as you can see.

That is the porcupine herd.

They've travelled 400 miles across some of the harshest terrain to get here.

All we've got to do is find one - one red collar somewhere in all of them.

Well, it was worth it.

There are thousands upon thousands of them.

Look at the tiny calves - they're beautiful.

When we saw them, down in the Yukon in the snow,

then they were forming a big line, travelling.

Now they're here, they might be in a big herd but well spread out.

And they're just feeding their faces and there are lots and lots of calves.

But I can't see any red collars.

The only thing we can do is keep scanning for her.

But we've placed ourselves really well, cos I think they're gonna come right under our noses.

Some of them are really close, but no sign of Claudia.

The numbers are just too overwhelming.

We did find her once, so it was worth a try.

But I guess we'll just never know about that calf.

PROPELLERS WHIR

I forgot, our eye in the sky!

'There's still caribou here. There's still caribou.

'All the way down here there's caribou.'

Well, good. Don't scare 'em away!

'About as far as the eye can see, there's caribou all along here.'

Then this bolt from the blue from a caribou biologist on board.

'Er, we've just confirmed that Claudia does indeed have a calf.'

-Oh boy, that's good news.

-'So, just to let you know that Claudia has a calf.'

Fantastic.

Oh, that's fantastic. We just lost you now.

But thanks a lot. We'll see you later.

So, Claudia's calf made it, despite that arduous trek from Canada.

It was all worth it.

It's been amazing to share this incredible journey with these caribou,

as they've travelled all the way from their wintering grounds to here,

in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

What's been so special is being able to experience some of the hardships they've faced on the way.

I know I haven't actually got to see Claudia since I got here,

but it's enough for me to know that Claudia's out there behind me,

somewhere, safe, and even had a calf.

For me, my journey's ended here, but for the caribou, constant movement is a way of life.

They're going to turn their noses down south and pretty soon start the whole process all over again.

I'd love to go with them, but there's no keeping up with caribou.

For Claudia's calf, this is just the beginning of a lifetime on the move.

Her first big hurdle is over. She's survived the first month.

Now she faces the biggest journey of her life - the long haul south.

As with all the animals in Incredible Journeys,

Claudia and her calf are still writing their own story.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007

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