Episode 2 Great Bear Stakeout

This is one of the remotest places on the planet.

A huge Alaskan wilderness -

a land of snowy mountains and rivers and forests...

..and grizzly bears.

There are more grizzlies here than anywhere else on earth.

Into this isolated world of bears,

we sent a team of the best wildlife film-makers and expert guides

to live alongside the bears for the next five months.

They've brought their own specially-designed camera gear,

to film bears in a totally new way.

We're trying to get good, up-close shots of stuff that bears do when we're not around.

The only way to do that is to set up these remote camera systems.

By living in grizzly country,

they'll get closer to the bears' lives than anyone thought possible,

but they'll need to watch their backs.

We're going to have to be very careful around these two,

they are hyper, hyper aggressive.

-Van, we're not challenging you...

-We're not challenging you.

OK, you and I are down on our knees.

Over the next few months, their mission is to get closer

to the lives of grizzly bears than ever before.

During this one extraordinary season,

they'll discover that every grizzly has a story to tell.

People say bears are just like humans... Well, no,

humans are just like bears.

You'll never think of bears in the same way again.

For the last four months,

the crew having been living amongst the bears.

Pretty amazing, hey.

Not often you get to see a grizzly bear from the door of your tent,

that's for sure.

Their mission is to get to know the bears' individual characters.

They've been following the lives of a particular family -

first-time mother Parsnip...

and her cub Pushki.

Around here, cubs only have a 50/50 chance of surviving

their first year, so Parsnip's challenge is to protect her cub

and fatten them both up for the coming winter.

But there's one problem - the bay is ruled by a bear like no other...

Van.

In 12 years of hanging around brown bears on the Alaskan peninsula,

I've never seen a bear that even comes close to as big as he is.

Van and his mating partner Alice have dominated the other bears

with violence and intimidation.

Holy smokes, I think he's going to kill that bear.

Desperate to protect her cub,

Parsnip has escaped to an island a mile away.

But back in the bay, the biggest event in the bears' calendar is about to start.

Just off the coast, millions of salmon are gathering,

waiting to run up the rivers to breed.

For the bears, eating these fish will be

the difference between life and death this winter.

They only have a few weeks to pile on enough fat

before they go into hibernation.

It's make or break, boom or bust, right now, for these bears,

and I don't think there is a more important time of the year for them.

If Parsnip is going to get her cub through the winter,

she has to return to the bay.

The salmon run is about to start.

Guide Buck Wilde and cameraman Matt Aeberhard have been scouring

the coast to see if Parsnip and Pushki have returned.

After several days of searching, they head to the beach

and find them.

There she is. Man, what a relief.

It's great to see them.

It's incredible how big that cub has grown.

I'm just tickled that Pushki is still alive and they're together

and they really look in good shape.

Oh, beautiful morning. I've seen bears do this before.

They love to watch the sunrise and the sunset.

They're mesmerised by it.

They've made it halfway through the summer.

On the island there was plenty of food and no other bears,

but now they're back on the mainland, they'll have to face up to

threats from bears like Van.

Now she's got to be aware of these other bears, but she also knows

that her primary food source for the rest of the summer

and the fall is right here, and so she's got to find a way to

get enough food to make it through the winter and protect her cub.

The salmon run will only last a few weeks,

so the clock is ticking for Parsnip.

Her cub is growing fast.

He only weighed 500 grams when he was born eight months ago,

and he's likely to weigh as much as 50 kilograms by next year.

He's relying on his mother's milk,

but producing it is a huge drain on her reserves.

And she needs to be putting on weight herself.

What this mother needs to do to survive the winter once she goes into hibernation

is to nearly double her weight from three months ago,

and as far as the fishing goes,

I would say if she had six to ten fish a day

during this peak fishing period, she would be in good shape.

Like most females, she has come back to fish where she was raised.

But the salmon run in this bay is notoriously unpredictable.

And with only a few fish starting to run,

she'll have to be very good at catching them.

But Parsnip's not very skilled at fishing,

and after several hours, she's caught nothing at all.

Too much chasing around here in her technique.

She's burning too much energy - she's got to sharpen her game

or she's not going to win this battle for survival.

As more fish arrive in the coming days,

so will other hungry bears - and it's not just fish they're after.

Adult bears will attack and kill spring cubs like Pushki,

and it's commonly believed that it's just the males,

but that's not true, females will as well.

So, it's a threat, it's a real threat.

The greatest threat to her cub at this point is another bear.

And while Parsnip is distracted trying to catch fish,

she's left Pushki alone and vulnerable.

There are some bears around here

that Parsnip needs to be very wary of...

like Alice.

Good morning, girl.

She's got a little company here.

We've seen Alice can be a nasty character -

she could go right for Pushki.

And Parsnip's got her back turned to the whole situation.

She's still focused on fishing.

This could be trouble.

Pushki is totally unprotected - and Alice is heading straight for him.

Alice is making a beeline for the cub...

Parsnip still hasn't seen her.

Still hasn't seen her.

Finally, Parsnip spots the danger.

That was much too close.

Yep. They considered her a threat. I did, too.

If Alice had been quicker, she could have had that cub.

Well, they survive another little incident here this morning.

Not easy raising a cub out here.

Protecting Pushki from other bears is preventing Parsnip from finding food.

With not many salmon and so many threats to Pushki,

has Parsnip made a mistake coming back to the bay?

The crew have heard about a place where the salmon are already running.

Bear expert Chris Morgan takes his team 30 miles down the coast

to a hidden valley, but it's a hike to get there.

Hey, bear.

It's the perfect place for a mother bear and cubs.

You see a lot of female bears in here.

They seem to like it. It's a good place for females and cubs to be safe,

and for young bears to really get to grips with what the salmon season is all about.

And it's also the perfect place for the stakeout team to film bears fishing.

Look how clear it is here.

You can see the fish right through all this water here.

If you were to get the right cameras in here and deploy them up and down this river,

you could get some amazing stuff because it's so clear.

And they've brought along the ideal tool for the job.

We're going to put this underwater camera system in.

We have to choose our moment carefully because

the bears are going up and down all day looking for fish.

They don't want to disturb the bears,

so while the coast is clear, they have to work fast.

While they're rigging the cameras, a mother and cubs come heading upriver.

They're heading right past the crew.

It's never a good idea to get between a mother and cubs,

so to keep her calm, Chris avoids making eye contact.

So just hang tight and let her go by.

We may end up with her on one side and the cubs on the other side, but it's all good.

Hey, bear, it's OK. It's all right.

Oh, here come the cubs. This is pretty amazing, actually,

she's a very, very healthy-looking female

and we're just trying to give her some space and stay really calm,

and this is probably the best place along this entire coast

for her to teach these cubs how to fish.

And the cubs are right behind us, so don't move quickly there.

Look at these guys. Unbelievable. It's OK. It's OK.

Oh, my goodness.

You can tell they've got one really experienced mother that knows how to fish and keep them fat.

The crew have named this bear Scrunch.

She's an older mother who is expert at fishing.

She's successfully raised many cubs in this valley

and these two are in great shape.

Hey, John, the female and two cubs are just about to come around the corner and enter the river.

As Scrunch reaches the cameras,

everything is in place for the crew to film a fishing master-class.

There are hundreds of salmon here,

and Scrunch knows exactly how to catch them.

She uses the snorkelling method,

ideal for tracking down salmon in deep water.

And with a fish in her sights,

she'll chase it into the shallows where it's easier to catch.

But here, the water is so clear, she can just as easily sit patiently on the riverbank,

waiting for the fish to come to her.

What's amazing is watching these bears fish at this point

when they've got all that fat

and they've been eating fish every day for weeks now,

and she's still fishing like she hasn't seen her first one this year,

you know, she'll still excited and agitated -

where's that next fish coming from? Amazing.

With winter approaching, it's all about piling on as much fat

as they can before hibernation, so Scrunch picks out skin and brain,

which have the highest fat content.

They can gain a pound of fat in a day, just from eating the salmon.

It just shows how essential it is for them at this time of year.

So they've got to nail it - they can't mess up at this time of year,

otherwise their entire winter is jeopardised.

So the pressure is on.

With no threats from other bears,

Scrunch is able to catch fish after fish

and even her cubs are able to learn.

Compared to other cubs like Pushki, they're way ahead here,

and this one has just got a fish,

although it hasn't quite mastered how to hang on to it.

A little persistence pays off, and the reward is a salmon full of eggs,

the most nutritious food of all.

Scrunch and her cubs are in good shape for when the season ends in a few weeks' time.

But meanwhile, back in the bay,

Parsnip is still struggling to catch anything.

And there is one bear around here

who could make life even more difficult for her...

..and that's Van.

He's the biggest, baddest male in the area.

Since the beginning of the summer, he's terrorised the bay,

and even killed a bear.

Since Parsnip returned from the island,

Van has not been seen in the bay.

My guess as to where Van is at the moment

is up in the spawning grounds.

Upstream from here, there are actually several tributaries

that shoot off from this main river

and he and a lot of the other bears that are not here, I assume are up in those spawning grounds.

Hey, bear.

Hey, bear, coming through.

Bear guide Brad Josephs and cameraman Rolf Steinmann have

ventured upriver to look for Van, but he's is nowhere to be seen.

Ah! Fresh bear trail right here.

It looks like bears were in this area for sure,

but I would estimate, from the sign we've seen, probably about two weeks ago,

so Van's definitely not going to be up here.

Van has just fascinated me for years.

He's the biggest, massive,

strongest most dominant bear in the area by far. By far.

But while they're upriver, Van is spotted back in the bay.

We've got our man Van coming back in to the bottleneck...

..and Pushki the cub just noticed him, he's running for cover.

Parsnip's running for cover and Van's moving in to do some fishing.

More drama.

Brad, if you can here, we've got Van and Pushki and Parsnip

down here at the bottleneck.

Good morning, fella. That's where Pushki was sitting, right there.

You smell it right.

Parsnip is learning. This time, she spots the danger.

Van's simply trying to maximise the amount of food he can get,

the easiest way, before he goes into the den,

and if he could catch that cub,

that would be double the food cache for him.

He is the size of a house.

Anything he wants is his.

This is his place, and no bear is allowed to forget that.

He knows exactly who it is, and she knows exactly who he is.

There's no ambiguity here.

She's moving the cub further away for safety.

Parsnip is desperate for food, but fishing will have to wait.

She moves Pushki to higher ground.

Parsnip's sitting up, full attention on Van.

She's yawning, that's a displacement behaviour expressing her stress.

I wouldn't want to be betting on Parsnip if she was trying to

defend this cub if Van were to take her on.

He's too big, too strong, too mean.

As Van closes in, Parsnip is reluctant to leave the beach.

He's looking straight at her, she's looking straight at him.

She's ready to either run off...

If she's cool, she'll run up this bank.

If she's less than cool, she'll go into a full on charge of him

and anything could happen there.

Her strategy pays off this time.

Van moves off and she's free to keep fishing.

It's now halfway through the salmon season

and suckling her cub is draining Parsnip's reserves.

She needs to be catching half a dozen fish a day,

but with Van back on the scene, finding food just got harder.

60 miles over the mountains, it's a different story.

Here, there are plenty of fish,

but also a whole gang of male bears to worry about.

Chris and his team follow the river to some falls,

where salmon are running in huge numbers.

It's a bottleneck for salmon, and for the bears,

it's the best possible place to fish.

I think we've found another load of bears.

It's amazing, there's about 10 or 12 bears right in the waterfalls, here.

This is where every bear in this entire area wants to be

because it's where the first fish come in, and it's a really good run.

With so many bears in one place, it's potentially

dangerous for the crew, so to capture the action,

they surround the falls with remote cameras.

Can you grab that with the other hand, Nate, if I help balance this?

Don't forget to keep an eye out behind you.

The cameras start to reveal how the bears organise themselves,

staking their claim on the best fishing spots.

And the best spot of all is in the middle of the whirlpool

below the falls, where all the fish gather before jumping up river.

Here, the fish come to you, minimum effort, maximum reward.

This is a grizzly turf war and it can take years for a bear to

stake a claim on this prized fishing spot.

Holding on to it is worth fighting for.

It doesn't take much for things to get out of hand,

and there's one bear who always causes trouble.

Here's another one.

Big male, big male.

Lurch!

-Look at the size.

-He's a big boy, isn't he?

-Wow!

Lurch does not play by the rules.

He likes to remind the other bears that he's in charge around here.

He's so dominant, he can even take their fish.

It's a tough neighbourhood, but around here,

it's the only place to fish.

The remote cameras have picked up another bear

heading towards the falls.

It's a mother with three cubs.

This is Kali.

She's skin and bone.

The whole family look like they could do with a good meal.

Despite the fact there are millions of salmon here,

she's literally starving.

Lurch and the gang of bears that rule the falls,

would tear Kali and her cubs apart.

Kali is faced with letting her cubs starve or risking them

being eaten by other bears.

It's the worst dilemma for any mother.

Up the tree.

The three cubs have just run up the tree there.

When faced with danger, the cubs' instinct is to run up a tree

where larger bears can't follow.

And they'll stay up there till their mother calls them back down again.

She's done really well to have three cubs this far into the season.

But the chances are, she's going to lose at least one of them.

That's the thing about this place, you know,

you've got all the benefits for a bear here.

It's one of the best places for habitat, you've got the fish

you've got the forest for cover, but there's so many bears around

you've got to watch your back all the time.

She's got to be constantly vigilant for males that could kill

her cubs easily.

Her desperation forces her to return to the falls.

But tensions are still high...

..and when Lurch starts another fight,

the cubs make a run for it, and Kali decides to leave.

It's simply too dangerous.

For Kali and her cubs, it's another day hungry.

Back in the bay, Parsnip and Pushki are not in their usual place.

After their run-in with Van, they could be anywhere.

Brad and Rolf finally track them down.

They've found another place to fish, but here, there's a new challenge.

Parsnip and Pushki are being watched.

There's a pack of wolves, just a few hundred metres from where they are.

Brad calling Buck, Buck, do you copy?

Yeah, Brad, go ahead.

Just want to give you an update.

We came up here and the wolves are up here by the bluff and I do see

wolves moving along the logs and it looks like they're

finishing up their night of hunting.

Yeah, I would expect. That's interesting.

Standing by.

This whole back of the meadow here behind the river, is kind of what

we think of as like a wolf zone, and there's almost always wolves back

here watching everything that goes on from this high perch.

Watching.

Right, now I can see three wolves staring right at us.

Bears aren't something that they generally go after very often,

because the mother bear is extremely dangerous, but the wolves

could pose a serious threat to the cub at this point.

Parsnip is desperate to catch fish, but with wolves around,

she can't drop her guard.

But she seems to be taking some comfort

from being close to the team.

As soon as she saw us,

she immediately seemed to relax and find a place and has bedded down now.

It seems to me that these wolves are hunting during the night

and it's probably a stressful time for Pushki and Parsnip.

She got through another night.

It's now dawn, she can rest and she comes over to us, maybe for security.

She knows the wolves give us more of a safety distance.

She's worried about the wolves

and she'd like the fact we were here.

Her instinct is still to fish.

SHE GROWLS GENTLY

But in her desperation, she's making strange decisions.

It just really surprises me.

300 yards away there's an entire pack of wolves

watching this mother and cub.

I would have thought she'd be somewhere else,

but she has to do that because

this is right now where most of the fish are,

and that's the game that mothers and cubs have to play every day.

Balancing risk and food availability.

Some mothers are good at it, some mothers aren't.

Just when it looks like things are finally settling down,

there's a new arrival.

Rolf, put your tripod up! There's a bull moose right there.

Could this moose be a meal for Parsnip?

That's something else.

Looks like a big bull in rut.

Now it's walking right underneath the wolves -

holey moley!

Or will it tempt the wolves?

All the wolves are watching him.

They just seem to be watching right now,

but one of the white adults has come down off the bluff

and disappeared, so I don't know where it is now.

Wow, look at that.

Something spooked that moose,

so I think maybe the wolves might mess with him a little bit, I don't know.

But now Parsnip has spotted the moose and is checking it out.

And the moose is checking out Parsnip.

Nobody seems to know what to make of each other.

You can see Parsnip and Pushki

looking at that moose and, like - wow!

And these bears do eat moose on occasion,

but it would definitely not be worth the risk.

Moose are very dangerous when they're healthy.

They can kick and they can do serious damage.

That's not something that's going to be on the potential menu

for Pushki and Parsnip at all.

So it's another day hungry for Parsnip.

The following day she's is back in the bay

where the salmon are beginning to run.

Away from the wolves, and Van, she's finally catching fish.

She just caught a fish. Bam, way to go, girl!

It's a big moment for Parsnip, and it means

a lot for the team who've spent several months following them.

We worry about them every day we're out here.

We've become very attached to this mother and cub,

and the cub's gotten three times as big

and we've gotten three times as attached pretty much.

Makes me happy.

Unlike Scrunch,

these two can't afford to be fussy eaters - they eat the entire salmon.

But she'll need a lot more than this if they are going to survive.

Back at the falls, the salmon run is in full swing.

BEARS CALL OUT TO EACH OTHER

The big males are still fighting for position.

ANGRY GROWLING

Kali has returned to the river.

She's watching the males stuff themselves,

while she and her family are starving.

The falls is where she needs to be,

but there are too many males there.

Kali tries her best to catch something, but it's hopeless.

The fish are too spread out down here.

She's using up the last of her energy reserves,

while at the falls the big males are catching more than they can eat,

with very little effort.

They're so full they can barely move!

As Kali watches,

the biggest males are starting to haul out for an afternoon nap.

And when Lurch finally takes a break, this is Kali's big chance!

FLY BUZZES

Apart from a couple of young bears, the falls are almost empty.

But Lurch is dozing on the riverbank,

so she'll have to be quick.

She's timed it perfectly and climbs up above the falls.

Kali knows exactly where to she wants to be.

She's done it. She's outsmarted the big males!

At last Kali can feed her cubs.

Brains over brawn!

It's late September. The salmon season is coming to an end.

So far here in the bay, the salmon have been few and far between.

She's on it, she's on it.

Parsnip is catching some.

Her last hope is that the final high tide of the season

could bring a big run of fish.

And unless it does,

Parsnip and Pushki may not survive the coming winter.

We're waiting for spring tides here in the next coming days.

Hopefully things will heat up significantly with the fishing.

This is their last chance to pile on enough fat to go into hibernation,

but before the salmon arrive the weather takes a turn for the worse.

We've got a big front coming in from the Bering Sea here,

and it's liable to kick our butt before too long this morning.

Not looking good, we're going to be put to the test today.

THUNDER RUMBLES

Like I always say, this is why bears live here and people don't.

Nobody is mad enough to go out in this.

Yahoo!

Except for Buck and Matt... And one big bear.

We've got lucky and found Van here fishing on the river.

He's the only bear out here smart enough to know

that the salmon are running under the cover of this hard storm we're in here.

Being the top bear in this place,

he knows nobody is going to sneak up on him.

So he's not concerned about being robbed of his hearing

and his scent, which most of the other bears

are just absolutely paranoid about.

He's the toughest bear in this bay, that's for sure.

Only the most dominant bears will fish in these conditions.

And the most desperate.

Despite the risk,

Parsnip is making the most of every opportunity to fish.

With the season almost over, every moment counts.

The next morning, the storm has died down,

and the highest tide of the season has arrived.

Will this bring the salmon

that Parsnip and Pushki have been waiting for?

Oh, yeah! That's a lot of water out there.

There's 20 feet of water all around us.

This is the high point of this full moon tide that we're in here.

And it'll bring salmon.

The last of the salmon out there in that big bay are going to come

up in this water and do their spawn.

And Parsnip, she knows

just from the smell of the vegetation and the colour of the vegetation,

she knows this is the time of the last salmon meal.

And straight away there's a sign.

-There's a seal, Matt, right there.

-OK.

He's looking right at us.

If you've got seals, you've got salmon.

And there's a salmon right there making a wake.

And if you've got salmon, you've also got bears.

The salmon run has brought in every bear in the area

for this last big fishing frenzy.

SEAGULL SQUAWKS

Parsnip has a final chance to feed up.

But she'd better keep her wits about her because Van is around.

And Alice is back, too.

The seals are drifting back downstream now

as the tide's turned and within an hour or so,

they'll be back out in the bay.

But one seal has left it too late

and is caught out by the falling tide.

Look at that guy in shallow water. There's nowhere for it to go.

Oh, that seal is toast!

Bears all around.

It can't get away.

Female is coming in is going to get it. It's nowhere to go.

I think it's Alice. She's going in for the kill.

SEAL BARKS

20 years out here, I've never seen this.

This is amazing. Wow!

That's impressive.

Young seal. No options - got caught in the wrong place.

But Van is watching.

Van's right here, huffing. He sees it.

He smells the blood and he's going after it.

But Alice doesn't want to share the seal with Van.

There's no love lost between these two.

And there she goes.

Oh, look at this. Van's coming around.

Alice makes a dash for it and Matt's in danger of missing the action.

OK, Buck.

Oh, she's dropped it, we've missed it, Buck.

He's moving in. He's going to claim it.

This is not a safe situation for us to move in on.

Stay right here.

Van has not only stolen the seal, he's busy burying it.

Alice has been pushed off. She's not going to take on Van.

He is the main bear here in this bay.

Van and Alice may have been a couple earlier in the season,

but this close to the winter, with food involved,

it's every bear for himself.

And that's the last the team see of Alice.

Van is already fat enough to hibernate,

so full of fish he can't fit anything more in,

but as long as no other bears get the seal, he's happy.

But maybe burying the seal on the rising tide

wasn't the brightest idea?

Like a lot of big bullies, Van is more brawn than brain.

He might be the boss around here,

but he can't take on the Pacific Ocean.

The next morning the tide has gone out and washed Van's seal away.

He can smell where it was but there's no sign of it here.

If Van thinks his prized seal has been stolen,

he could become very dangerous.

He would be very protective of this seal.

If he were to decide that something we were doing here

were contesting his seal,

he would give us one hair-raising charge

and you don't want to see that. We don't want to see that.

So, I'm taking this situation pretty seriously, actually.

VAN SNORTS GENTLY

And the reason I don't want to back off, right now, Matt,

is when he's challenging us, which he is right now,

-backing up is not the best move.

-Yeah.

We're submissive, but we're not scared.

Maybe he thinks the crew have taken his seal?

I actually consider this to be one of the riskier situations that

we've been in on this project. Right now.

He's coming here now, guys, maybe we should just...

He's coming at us.

The crew are unarmed,

but they do carry bear pepper spray in case a bear attacks.

-This is the real deal.

-Yeah, um, well...

-what are we going to do?

-Be aware, this is potentially dangerous.

-Van, we're not challenging you.

-We're not challenging you, Van.

-Good boy, Van.

-Good boy, Van.

-Yeah, Van's a good boy.

OK, you and I are down on our knees.

Good boy, Van. Yeah...

Good move, Matt.

I'm going to come over to your left for the sake of the windage on this.

It's OK, Van. Be a good boy.

Be good boy, yeah.

Be a good boy, Van.

That's OK, buddy. Yeah, we don't want your seal.

No, he's a good boy.

You're a nice bear, Van. I know what you're doing.

You're just saying you want us to know that you're the boss

and we understand that.

Yep, we understand it's yours.

Good boy.

(Well played.)

-I told you it was the real deal.

-Yeah, I know, I know.

That was the riskiest thing we've done on this project.

OK.

Getting down was a good thing. That was submission.

Did you have the safety off? >

Oh, yes, I had the safety off and I was ready to go, trust me.

That was a serious situation.

He was cool about it, we did the right thing, we were cool,

but this is how people get in trouble, right here,

the wrong body language was sent to that bear,

such as standing up like you're often told to do,

and start screaming at him.

That would have been the wrong thing to do.

it's a great lesson in how the bears

are reading your body language all the time.

-I'm glad you were here.

-So am I!

It's been a good day for Parsnip and Pushki.

She's been catching fish since sunrise,

but has she done enough to get through the winter?

The salmon run is almost over.

Even after sunset, they're still out on the beach.

Just one last meal might be enough to guarantee their survival.

With all the other bears out in the bay,

Parsnip spots something very tempting washed up on the sand.

SHE BARKS

It's Van's seal!

It's just amazing, another Parsnip and Pushki, dramatic day,

she's found the seal carcass.

Van stole it from the female that killed the seal.

Now he's out fishing and then she finds the carcass

and has claimed it

and she'll probably be the one to eat it tonight.

She is taking in a meal.

Fantastic.

What a life they live!

And she's trying to keep it and Pushki away from this bear

that's approaching now.

The other bear's approaching.

-We've got an approach here.

-Who is it?

I'm not sure. It's a big male.

THEY GROWL

Is she going to run or fight?

GROWLING INTENSIFIES

Ooh, it's getting real.

Back off!

She could lose it.

BEAR PAWS THUD

She's... oh my goodness, girl, back off.

The seal isn't worth dying for

because without his mother, Pushki wouldn't survive.

Back off!

THEY GROWL

BEAR PANTS

Wow!

HE LAUGHS INCREDULOUSLY

Just when you think you've seen it all!

The story is not over. She took some tough hits there.

He was boxing her around seriously.

But she seems to be OK.

She's going to go back into the bushes and lick her wounds.

She may have lost the seal, but she put up a good fight,

protected Pushki, and made the right decision.

BIRDS SQUAWK

The last of the salmon are running into the bay.

Parsnip's gamble has paid off.

This is a good place to be.

She's earned the right to be here

and can now make the most of the last run of fish.

Even Pushki is starting to show a few technical skills.

He'll be fishing for himself next summer.

They're well-fed and worn out from fishing.

Nothing is going to disturb their well-earned rest.

Not even Van.

This time he moves off.

This is a special place where bears have shared their lives with us

over an entire season.

The crew have got closer to their lives

than they ever imagined possible.

But autumn is turning into winter. It's time to leave.

They've got to know some incredible bears.

In this world ruled by big dominant males,

the mother bears have shown themselves to be the real heroes.

They face incredible challenges to get their cubs through,

and ensure the survival of the next generation of bears.

The last salmon have spawned, and the days are getting shorter.

It's time for Van and Alice

and all the other bears to head up to the mountains and hibernate.

But what about Parsnip and Pushki?

I think Pushki and Parsnip are going to be just fine.

They've made it through many, many adventures,

and Parsnip has learned some hard lessons as a mother.

There's been a lot of drama and a lot of risk,

and the margins for error are small.

It's a real world out here. It's tough stuff.

But, she knew what she was doing.

She's a survivor.

Parsnip has come through all the challenges

this place has thrown at her...

..protecting Pushki from wolves and other bears,

standing up to Van,

and sticking with her fishing spot,

when it looked like no fish would turn up.

In the end it's all paid off,

and she's got one strong, healthy cub to prove it.

I think Pushki is as well set for a cub after his first summer

as any cub could be.

He's had a great teacher. His mother is fantastic.

He's learned a lot of tricks about survival out here

and who knows,

one day maybe he may be big and strong enough to take Van on.

He's going to be one tough, smart little bear.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd