Episode 1 Wild Alaska Live


Episode 1

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We are coming to the from the Alaskanp wilderness. 4,500 miles

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away from the UK. Brown bears, black bears, Eagles, orcas, they are all

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coming together for a spectacular summertime feast that's fuelled by

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300 million salmon. One of the greatest gatherings of wildlife on

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our planet is happening right here, right now. We're ready. They're hung

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ri, this is Wild Alaska Live. -- they're hungry.

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Hello to you all in the UK and welcome to Wild Alaska Live. Now

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these are live pictures of brown bears looking for a late breakfast

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here, as it is 10.00am in Alaska. He's already had his breakfast and

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just relaxing. These magnificent creatures, they are one of the many

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reasons why we are here and we'll be Keegan eye on them throughout the

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whole programme from our face here at a national forest. Now this is a

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rich landscape full of stunning trees. Some 1,000 years old and this

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is a place where wildlife, of course, can emerge at any moment. As

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you can see, I have found quite a nice place to hang out here at the

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foot of this enormous glacier. And, yeah, it's real. It looks like green

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screens, doesn't it? I can tell you we are here at a very, very special

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time. Summer is short here in Alaska and the native wildlife has to make

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the most of this very narrow window. Hopefully we'll witness some

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incredible sights over the next week. Where in the world are we?

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Alaska is at the top auto of the United States. We are in the

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south-east corner of the state near to Juno, which is the capital in

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order to bring you the best of what is here. We have live-cam radios

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across the wilderness. Our intrepid crews have been venturing out into

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the middle of nowhere. Camping out. We have a helicopter. We have a live

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crew up there as we speak, so we can say a very good morning from our

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perspective from Debbie and Dan. Let's see if we can get a wave.

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Well, first let's look at the shots that Dan in the back is getting.

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Debbie is flying all over the landscape an Daniel is in the back

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filming the bears fishing. Cheers, Dan, thank you so much. They are

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basically herding the salmon into the shallow so they can pounce, grab

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and pick off the best bits and enjoy that feast. Steve, surely, are you

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getting this? Can you see what we are seeing? Hi, I am totally getting

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it, Matt. A bunch of brown bears, nonchalantly wandering around in the

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shallows. An extraordinary sight. I can't believe how lucky we are to be

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watching this live, now, it is phenomenal. To have an eye in the

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sky is important here in Alaska. It is the only way you get any sense of

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the true scale of the place. When you are up in the air, flying, you

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can go for hours and see nothing below you, apart from rivers, lakes,

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mountains that have never been climbed and all relies on one

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particular animal, salmon. These ponds are absolutely filled with

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them. I'm going to be following their journey, learning some more

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about them but also getting a sevenths predators that rely on

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them. And we're 700 miles away from you, Steve, you are in that

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direction but we are in Katmai National Park, a remote, wild and

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stunning place and home to one of the highestentities of brown bears

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on the planet. The salon run has begun. The brown bears are

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everywhere. We have three behind me on the coastal flat. You saw the

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magnificent images from Daniel, our helicopter pilot flying overhead.

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The coast is covered with brown bears, we will bring you this

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incredible feast live. You can follow the action live around the

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clocks you can find us on Facebook and Twitter. Send in your questions

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and join the conversation with the hashtag Alaskalive. We have Pete

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snider who will be covering biology for us and Carla, native culture and

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John, who is our head ranger. We are not just looking at brown bears, we

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can look at footage of live salmon swimming up the rivers at the

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moment, just against the tide. Really this is the whole keystone

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species. The reason why we are seeing an abundance of wildlife at

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this time of year because the salmon are on the move, coming from the

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north, south, west into the esturaries here. So I'll give you an

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idea of where we are going. They are born at the top and then grow occupy

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in the Pacific. This is enormous this Y 2,700 miles, the Gulf of

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alasica. And after growing up the salmon have swim thousands of miles

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to try to get back it the place where they were born. There is an

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enormous culmination here and a huge number here. We are talking about

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12,000 different rivers that they are trying to get to the top of. As

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you can see, from where I'm standing, Alaska is enormous. It's

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the largest state. It is vast. You could fit seven UKs into Alaska but

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bizarrely it has a population the same size as Leeds. I'll leave you

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with that for a moment. Everybody knows their neighbours here, even

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the wild ones, who better to tell you more about it, than the people

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that live here. The magic of Alaska to me is the natural beauty. I think

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I've got one of the best offices in the world, to be honest. Salmon in

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summer go hand-in-hand. It's the highlight of everyone's summer. Here

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in Alaska there's always a surprise around the corner. We've got bears,

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eagles, whales. It's wonderful to share this with people from all over

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the world. When you are out here on the water, it is like nowhere else

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I've ever been. A chance to live freely. I think everybody who lives

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out here, and working together, it takes teamwork. I think that's what

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I love the most. I don't think there is a day that

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goes by that I don't feel like the luckiest person on the planet. It

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can't get better than this. So in a nutshell this is a pretty

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special place to live, you guys. Well Pete, talking of living and

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around the corner we have a beaver lodge. This little fellow who is

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inside has had a busy night. The water levels, Pete have risen here,

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so this beaver is just relaxing after a busy night of carpentry. We

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had quite a bit of rain. They probably worked all night trying to

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make sure everything was nice and stale and they're sleeping it off

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now. John we have to make noise as we walk around because in this spot

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where we are in, we know there are black bears, we have watched footage

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of brown bears this morning but black bears in particular and we saw

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this shot. You can talk us through who this wonderful cub is. This

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cheeky chap made an appearance a few days ago. That was a cub that was

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born this year. You can see its femalemom in front of it in the

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mid-yes, which is really just over next to us here. I'm not sure which

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one that is but they've been fishing just up the creek, because the

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salmon have arrived up there. The reason they have arrived up there is

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because of the water levels. We are talking about this enormous glacier

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behind us but a glacial melt happened in the last few weeks. We

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had a glaicer outburst flood which happens when we get enough rain and

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it pulls up and the Mendenhall rises. It floats the glaicer and

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rushes in the lake and lake levels come up high enough so the salmon

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can come over the dam and into the pond behind us. These are the salmon

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making the most of this and we see the mothers coming out to grab the

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salmon to feed their young. It is a really important time of year for

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the bears, they are putting on the fat they need to store for the

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winter. They have to get a year's worth of food in six months. It is

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an important time. And these wonderful cubs, born in

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the winter, they are coming out and experiencing this at the rate

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rainforest. It is a rainforest and so much for their senses to explore.

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This is their first time out in April, when we first saw them down

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here eating cotton and other vegetation. I think he is going to

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come and have a little... There you go, he is adorable. It is difficult

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to compare brown bear and black bear cubs but these, Carla, are very

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cute. They are. We haven't got live footage of black bears yet but we

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know we have footage of the brown bears, we have seen them since the

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start of the programme. Magnificent. Wonderful auras and Liz has been

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living amongst them for the last five days. Days. The brown bear, one

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of the largest land predators on the planet. At ten feet tall on its hi

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in, d legs, 700 kilos of explosive muscle. Formidable hunters, they can

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sniff out food from more than six miles away. Reaching top speeds of

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30 miles per hour as they chase down their prey. They're found all over

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the northern hemisphere but by far the biggest are here in Alaska.

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Hibernating for significance months of the bitter winter they lose

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one-quarter of their body weight and emerge starving. Right now, as

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millions of salmon invade the rivers, the bears cash in. -- six

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months of the winter. Winter. They eat the salmon and it returns them

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to their breath-taking best. And that's why we have come to Katmai.

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To this very coastline. Take a look at this. Brown bears are everywhere.

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They have been fishing this mornings they are taking a rest in between

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bouts. What a sight. Look at him. Having a stretch. They are

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mesmerising, we are on the south-east coast of Katmai, one of

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the most protected and pristine places on Earth. It is rugged bear

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country that stretches for over 6,000 square miles. Now I am flanked

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to my left by a strait a treacherous part of water and over there at

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least 14 active volcanos, you can only get here in a plane that lands

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on the beach. Anyone following us online knows we almost didn't yet

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here. It is as isolated as it gets but it is why we have come here to

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witness this and brung you this magnificent wildlife. We're sharing

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this coastline with, as you have already seen, one of the largest

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land predators on the planet, the brown bear. When you decide to share

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your home with the brown bear for a couple of days, you have to take

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precautions. Look at our camp, we have about 20 tents a satellite dish

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and it is surrounded by 300m of electric fencing. Now sport hunting

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of brown bears here hasn't been allowed since 1917 which means if

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you behave correctly the brown bears here will consider you part of the

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furniture, you are another animal in their home which means sometimes

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they can get a bit close. A couple of days ago as we were hanging out

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in camp, getting our gear ready, a bear was walking down the beach,

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close to the fence and then another one strolled along, took a look in.

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Unfazed by us. But we were completely mesmerised by them. Now

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that's just two bears but Katmai is home to 2,200 of them. So, with so

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many bears around, obviously we couldn't go it alone. But don't

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worry, we are in the very capable hands of one of the best guides in

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the business. Thank you so much for taking such good care of us already.

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You have been studying bears here for almost 20 years. You know them

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well. How do you behave when you enter a bear's world. What do I need

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to learn? Respect. Respect the bears, respect their environment and

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read body language. If it is about body language, how difficult is it

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to understand bear body language? That's how they communicate with

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each other, so that's how we communicate with them. Years of

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research and watching them. So basically you have to act like a

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bear around them? We do. We have footage of a bear that came

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incredibly close to one of our team members. How close can they get and

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what do you do, if they get really, really superbly close like that? It

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is all body language. We let them get to a certain distance, depending

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on the bear and with our body language we deter the bear. So, they

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can come to us, but we don't come to them. Correct that's how you behave

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in bear country. So do bears have individual personalities to add an

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extra layer of confusion, with understand what he or she is going

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to do next? Yes the cubs and juveniles and males will act

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differently. Every day they will be different. It is a big dynamic every

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day is different. I'm looking forward to learning

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more. This landscape is perfect to view all the natural, unhindered

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behaviours of bears so we have got this place covered with cameras. As

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you saw earlier, Daniel is in the helicopter as well, capturing all of

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this beautiful action on the coast of Katmai. I'm going to be heading

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up the coast over theirs because those three brown bears are still

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there, hanging out waiting for some salmon but Brown bears are not the

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only animals that rely on the salmon run. In fact, this entire ecosystem

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would not exist without it. This is one hugely important and fascinating

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fish. Salmon. These extraordinary fish are

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the lifeblood of Alaska. From 1000 miles out at sea, there are

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unstoppable need to breed is calling them home. Right now, 300 million

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are sprinting back to the exact spot they were born. 12,000 Alaskan

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rivers to choose from, yet every single salmon knows exactly which

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one it came from. By Midsummer, the waterways will be choked with

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salmon. One group of fish underpinning the whole Alaskan

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ecosystem. Everything from bears, Eagles, and even humans owe their

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very existence here did this phenomenal fish. -- to this

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phenomenal fish. When you are actually sat here in amongst this

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torrent, you really get a sense of what it is these fish have to take

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on, spectacles like this are playing out all over Alaska in the rivers

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with fish just like this going upstream to where they were bored or

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as part of a local management plan, were released. I have the added

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benefit here of a pole camera, a camera on a stick in the best

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possible traditions of live TV, it is 95% high technology and 5% sticky

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tape but you can see the fish thrashing against the camera lens.

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They are here in phenomenal numbers. It almost feels like you could walk

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across these ponds on the back of the salmon. You can probably make

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out in amongst the bubbles and the thrashing tales and fins, one coming

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right up alongside me, leaping up through the waterfall, the calico

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markings, the dark purple bars that mark these out as charmed salmon,

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also known as dog salmon because they have very prominent teeth,

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which you can probably see flashing on the camera. They are

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predominantly on the mails and they are used for fighting, we have seen

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quite a lot of dog salmon fighting with each other, obviously overlook

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the males. They are undergoing an incredible transformation, out at

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sea, they would be silver in colour but as they start coming up to land,

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they have a metamorphose is which is probably as stunning as that of any

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butterfly. Even more dramatic perhaps are the salmon we see right

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up close to base camp, in the beaver ponds beyond where Matt is right

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now, we have these sockeye salmon and look at the colours they take

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on. They are incredible, one of those is a male in the centre with a

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hump back and a curved snout, and the jaw, that they also use for

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battling. The reason for the colour is that they are absorbing the

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scales. You can see the skin and flesh beneath. This is all about

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this animal transforming into a seaborne predator, into a freshwater

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fish that is a biting, swimming, breeding machine. They are battling

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up into the rivers where they were born and the way they find them is

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incredible. They navigate using the sun and stars but also by smelling

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the river that they were born in. One single drop of water from their

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home river is enough for them to find their way. And obviously, when

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you have this amount of fish, this incredible amount of protein,

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thundering against my legs right now, swimming right through them,

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practically landing in my lap, it is obviously a way of attracting an

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enormous amount of predators and that is why I'm going to head

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downstream, to try to find them. Doing incredibly well, there, Steve,

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trying to hold off against the power of the water, a testament to show

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what the salmon swimming against and lovely to see the brown bears as

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well, the mother suckling her cubs but we are now on our way down on a

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kind of bear hunt on our own, John. A bit earlier, we know that black

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bears have been in this area because we have got cameras all over the

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shop. We have a camera underneath a bridge and this happened about six

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hours ago. O come you. The mother bear. Looks like she's looking for a

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sockeye salmon in the creek. Excellent. And those are the Cubs!

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The Cubs come along and they reposition their cameras for us.

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Needless to say, we did not get much would it after that. Thanks, Cubs!

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Let's work our way deep into this temperate rainforest. John, you are

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basically giving us an explanation of how black bears live here and how

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much vegetation they eat in relation to salmon because they are

:20:48.:20:51.

omnivores. They are and we are on a bare trail, this is not a people

:20:52.:20:56.

trail and the reason it is here is because this meadow right behind us

:20:57.:21:00.

as all this great vegetation, Cal parsnip and horsetails. I saw them

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eating lots of horsetails earlier, in fact, most of their diet is

:21:06.:21:09.

vegetarian until the salmon arrived. We saw that mother fishing but how

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active are they in the day and how does the 24 hours pan out? They are

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out all day long. In fact, we have seen because the salmon are in the

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upper creek, that is where they are focusing right now. That bear was

:21:23.:21:26.

out last night doing the same thing. She's got three cubs and only six

:21:27.:21:30.

months to put on the weight she needs for a whole year worth of

:21:31.:21:35.

nursing them so the pressure is on. You have brought us to this

:21:36.:21:38.

particular area just to give us an idea of what happens during the day

:21:39.:21:42.

when they want to rest. This is what we call a day bed. It is great to

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see this. A day bed, I love that concept! It is great to see this

:21:49.:21:51.

because when the bears are feeding in the meadow or even fishing in the

:21:52.:21:54.

creek for another week or so, they use a trail like this to go out and

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rest. You can see it, looked down here, markings. Ryder if I were the

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bear, I would be walking in just like this up the trail, as I'm going

:22:04.:22:08.

in, I'm twisting in my pores, leaving my scent on the trail from

:22:09.:22:14.

my pads and getting up and maybe having... If the question is does a

:22:15.:22:23.

bear... In the woods, the answer is, it does. Seeds, vegetative bits,

:22:24.:22:29.

horsetail, cow passbook, all of that food and there's multiple other ones

:22:30.:22:32.

around this depression in the woods, the day bed. That is the day bed you

:22:33.:22:37.

are talking about? Reg Walker yeah, she has a big old belly down, the

:22:38.:22:40.

cubs beside her, or maybe just taking a rest. It looks pretty

:22:41.:22:45.

comfortable over there. Do you want to try it out? Yes, she disappears

:22:46.:22:52.

to go over the creek over there. We have seen some remarkable footage,

:22:53.:22:57.

John, of all of the brown bears off by the coast where Liz is. Let's

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talk a bit about the differences between black bears and brown bears.

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Brown bears are bigger, that is a key part, they are not always just

:23:06.:23:09.

Brown, I have seen black ones, too, so be careful but the black bear on

:23:10.:23:15.

the right, 153, from this Greek and the size of her ears, her style is

:23:16.:23:19.

different to the brown bear, she has more of a Labrador retriever than a

:23:20.:23:23.

colleague skull that you see on the brown bear. We can see what you are

:23:24.:23:29.

talking about. From the forehead to the tip of the nose, there's a

:23:30.:23:32.

distinct break in the brown bear skull where is the black bear's is

:23:33.:23:36.

more continuous. Look at the years and the clause, on the black bear,

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they are shorter and curved because they are tree climbers. Would they

:23:41.:23:44.

spend much time in water, black bears because brown bears swim a

:23:45.:23:49.

lot? We have some swing black bears but for the most part, they prefer

:23:50.:23:52.

to be in the water just when the salmon are there. Some swimming

:23:53.:23:56.

black bears. You have great stories about how mothers have used you to

:23:57.:24:02.

protect their cubs. It is a bit of a nursery in the sense we have

:24:03.:24:05.

elevated platforms around the meadow and people come onto them and the

:24:06.:24:08.

bears get used to them after a while and then the big bears, like the

:24:09.:24:13.

scary bears, males especially, tend to shy away unless it is breeding

:24:14.:24:18.

system -- breeding season. Otherwise, they another female to

:24:19.:24:21.

have protection for her cubs when she hangs around people. Quite

:24:22.:24:27.

amazing, let's have a look at the live salmon again because it is

:24:28.:24:29.

swimming up from the Pacific Ocean and a few weeks ago, marine

:24:30.:24:34.

biologist Dan Olson went in search of killer whales and the first sign

:24:35.:24:37.

that these very fish were on their way.

:24:38.:24:47.

Orca, the Wolves of the sea, have a fearsome reputation, sleek pack

:24:48.:24:52.

hunters, up to eight metres long, with a top speed of 30 mph. They are

:24:53.:25:02.

perfectly designed for hunting. But there are formal to these pods than

:25:03.:25:06.

meets the eye. Each one is a unique family unit. And right now, the

:25:07.:25:16.

salmon have arrived to the coastline, bringing dozens of Orca

:25:17.:25:20.

families here to enjoy the feast. And giving researchers a chance to

:25:21.:25:23.

document their numbers and behaviours close-up. Here we go, two

:25:24.:25:32.

o'clock, looks like a dorsal fin. Scientist Dan Olsen is studying

:25:33.:25:33.

communication within these incredible family unit. It is late

:25:34.:25:37.

May and the first day of the research year. Dan's priority is to

:25:38.:25:44.

establish who is here. Let's come to port a bit. Here we go. Oh, that

:25:45.:25:50.

might have been what we are looking for. Come on, one more breath. Each

:25:51.:25:56.

orca has a unique fin shape and pattern and for each sighting, Dan

:25:57.:26:01.

needs photographic records. They just -- can't they just surface five

:26:02.:26:06.

times in the same spot? I can see them underwater, coming up now. Yes.

:26:07.:26:11.

Recording this family's behaviour and the indications are only useful

:26:12.:26:14.

to down if he can work out who they are but this sport has him stumped.

:26:15.:26:19.

I'm getting the sense these individuals are not going to be easy

:26:20.:26:24.

to identify. It is possible these are brand-new to all of us which is

:26:25.:26:28.

super exciting and it is an awesome way to start off the research year.

:26:29.:26:32.

With a possible new family added to the archives, Dan drops a hydrophone

:26:33.:26:38.

below the surface and soon recognises voices of a different

:26:39.:26:44.

pod. That is the call. One that he already knows well. That was

:26:45.:26:49.

awesome. That is the 88 pod. I've been listening to these calls for

:26:50.:26:53.

probably 15 years and it is kind of like your favourite rock group. You

:26:54.:27:00.

just kind of know the voices of it. Dan's researches revealing how much

:27:01.:27:04.

of orca communication is unique to each family. The calls get passed

:27:05.:27:08.

down from mother to offspring and stay within the family so they have

:27:09.:27:11.

a repertoire of ten or 15 calls which belong only to that family.

:27:12.:27:16.

Hearing one right now. They do a lot that goes... It would be great to

:27:17.:27:23.

get photographs of this pod this year. We had one that was missing

:27:24.:27:27.

during two encounters last year and we are fearful it is passed on. It

:27:28.:27:31.

is a little bit like detective work which is an Golubic... Oh, right

:27:32.:27:38.

here! That is a 13-year-old offspring of the grandmother in this

:27:39.:27:45.

group. I can see from a notch down low, I know who this is. That is a

:27:46.:27:53.

cap that we thought was missing. We are excited to see this calf still

:27:54.:27:59.

alive. That is awesome. And more good news for this group. Oh, wow.

:28:00.:28:04.

Over the winter, there's been another addition to the pod, a new

:28:05.:28:08.

calf enjoying its first-ever Alaskan summer feast. And Dan will be

:28:09.:28:14.

studying it for years to come. It is always exciting to see a new calf,

:28:15.:28:19.

it gives us the idea that this pod is healthy and vibrant and gives us

:28:20.:28:25.

good Hope for the future. Thanks to Dan for allowing us to join a

:28:26.:28:30.

research. We have got very special access and permission to film the

:28:31.:28:35.

orca the US a big thank you to the organisation that look after the

:28:36.:28:42.

fees, NOAA. That was down in this area and later in the week, Steve

:28:43.:28:47.

has his own mission to try to get orca for us alive and that is

:28:48.:28:51.

because they have been spotted in this area down here. We will see

:28:52.:28:54.

what happens later in the week, fingers crossed for a living. Let's

:28:55.:28:57.

give you an idea of what we have seen where. Liz is in Katmai here,

:28:58.:29:03.

so we will put brown bears there, we have seen the lovely stuff with the

:29:04.:29:07.

mother suckling her cubs. It is remarkable how they manage to feed

:29:08.:29:11.

them through the winter hibernation without even feeding. A remarkable

:29:12.:29:16.

species from that perspective. Also, bald eagles, hundreds of them flying

:29:17.:29:20.

above our heads so we will put them here. And as we were seeing, the

:29:21.:29:25.

wonderful daybed of the black bears, and we will pop them on there. Let's

:29:26.:29:30.

check in with what else is going on, actually, let's go to the helicopter

:29:31.:29:34.

and Debbie and Dan who are scanning the seas as well so any marine life

:29:35.:29:39.

that turns up, we will bring it to you, looking for blowholes or any

:29:40.:29:43.

signs of whales, we might even be able to put humpbacks on the map

:29:44.:29:47.

later in the week. But if we just pan around because Liz is down there

:29:48.:29:52.

somewhere on the coast at the Katmai national park.

:29:53.:29:56.

Different. Whack back to the coast of Katmai

:29:57.:30:05.

National Park. Take a look at this, we are moving closer to the bears

:30:06.:30:11.

every time. We are going to try to get a little bit closer later on.

:30:12.:30:16.

Keeping a settled distance of course.

:30:17.:30:18.

The tide has gone quite far out. It is about to turn shortly. They are

:30:19.:30:23.

biding their time, really. They were fishing earlier on this morning. Now

:30:24.:30:27.

they look like, if a salmon showed up, they wouldn't notice but that's

:30:28.:30:31.

not the case. They are conserving energy but any movement in the water

:30:32.:30:36.

and they'll be on it. They'll hear the noise and that's it and they'll

:30:37.:30:41.

bound through the tidal flat. Hopefully we'll capture that for you

:30:42.:30:44.

live later. Mark, our live-cam Rahman is close to the bears now, --

:30:45.:30:58.

our live camera man is close to the bears now. How important is it for

:30:59.:31:04.

them after six months in hibernation? It is really important

:31:05.:31:08.

for them. What state are the males in? Thief last weight. They have the

:31:09.:31:14.

meadows to graze on but they want meat, they want the fish. The fat.

:31:15.:31:19.

Howedes separate are they for the salmon Well, they'll condition

:31:20.:31:23.

superthe entire lot. No leftovers. How much does this huge tidal range

:31:24.:31:27.

dictate their behaviour on any one day? They can't fish on high tides,

:31:28.:31:33.

they have to come out on the low tides. There are huge tidal floods,

:31:34.:31:38.

from minus-5 to plus-26. A wonderful sight it see. They'll try to get as

:31:39.:31:44.

close to the bears as possible over the next day and of course over the

:31:45.:31:50.

next week or so. Something else I wanted to show you. This has

:31:51.:31:53.

fascinated our team. A six-year-old male we come across a couple of days

:31:54.:31:58.

ago. We called him Scrawny. At first glance, he looked skinny. We saw him

:31:59.:32:03.

on the tidal flats, walking around, not fishing for salmon. A big male

:32:04.:32:08.

there, whose posture is telling the six-year-old - no, this is my patch,

:32:09.:32:14.

you have to move on but this is key, the way the six-year-old walks away,

:32:15.:32:18.

is showing the male - I'm respectedful but not scared of you.

:32:19.:32:21.

That's important because other bears his age might run away. This shows

:32:22.:32:26.

it might serve him well to be that confident and help him move up the

:32:27.:32:32.

hierarchy as he gets older. We lost him for a bit but that afternoon we

:32:33.:32:37.

found him at the river. Again, there is a male bear here, a bigger one

:32:38.:32:41.

and the way the six-year-old walks away from this guy is more

:32:42.:32:44.

interesting. Look at the posture, it tells the guys here they've had a

:32:45.:32:48.

serious encounter before but the way he walks up the bank and behind the

:32:49.:32:52.

dominant male is signalling to him -- I'm as much of a pushover as

:32:53.:32:58.

other guys my age. We lost him for a couple of days and then we found him

:32:59.:33:05.

on the meadows, there he is looking at first glance, Scrawny and eating

:33:06.:33:07.

glance but everyone is convinced here this is the type of male that

:33:08.:33:14.

will end up being dominant T goes to show, you need look carefully at the

:33:15.:33:19.

subtle body language of bears to understand what happened is going

:33:20.:33:22.

on. -- it goes to show. He was feeding on nutritious grass but

:33:23.:33:26.

ultimately this guy and all the bears have one thing on their minds

:33:27.:33:32.

- the salmon. They need to feed up on it as quickly as possible,

:33:33.:33:35.

especially considering what they have been through this winter. Brown

:33:36.:33:40.

bears in North America spend six months of the year deep underground

:33:41.:33:44.

sheltering from the bitter cold. Cold. And they don't emerge until

:33:45.:33:51.

late spring. They've been living off the fat reserves they built up over

:33:52.:33:56.

the previous summer and autumn and mothers have given birth to new cubs

:33:57.:34:01.

inside their winter dens. They'll have lost at least one-quarter of

:34:02.:34:06.

their body weight. A mother who's feeding young cubs, even more. Their

:34:07.:34:13.

priority is food. In Katmai National Park, there is a lot of new

:34:14.:34:18.

vegetation around. An adult brown bear will eat over 40 kilos of young

:34:19.:34:27.

grass shoots a day. For this female, the challenge to eat enough is

:34:28.:34:32.

tripled. Her two-and-a-half-year-old cubs are still demanding milk and

:34:33.:34:38.

will do so for another six months or more. It's a huge investment for her

:34:39.:34:44.

and she must keep them safe. So while they play, she's on the

:34:45.:34:53.

lookout for danger. This adult male losing his winter coat, could kill

:34:54.:35:00.

and eat a cub. To avoid any conflict, the mother instinctively

:35:01.:35:06.

moves her family on. But he's not interested in them. He's with a

:35:07.:35:12.

female he has claimed already and they're courting. Males can trail

:35:13.:35:17.

females for up to two weeks. Guarding against rivals who might

:35:18.:35:20.

approach, until she is finally ready to mate. It's one of the few times

:35:21.:35:26.

brown bears choose to be sociable. Safely back on the beach away from

:35:27.:35:31.

danger, the mother and her cubs can relax but with more and more bears

:35:32.:35:37.

gathering for the feast, she's going to have her work cut out keeping

:35:38.:35:40.

these little ones safe until the salmon finally arrive. Arrive.

:35:41.:35:48.

We've been on the lookout for Anna and her cubs since we arrived and

:35:49.:35:53.

look at the shots from Daniel in our helicopter. We are not sure yet

:35:54.:35:58.

whether that is Anna and her three cubs, we'll keep a close eye on

:35:59.:36:02.

that. Can we spot a collar on that bear? Difficult to see from that

:36:03.:36:08.

height. Well done Daniel what magnificent images of the bears on

:36:09.:36:12.

the coastline. Anna is part of a project called the Changing Tides

:36:13.:36:18.

project. That that is why she has a collar. I'm trying it see if this

:36:19.:36:25.

one does? I don't think she does. It is another bear doing fantastically

:36:26.:36:29.

well with her three cubs. It goes to show how much food is here and how

:36:30.:36:36.

special this place is. Anna is helping conservationists to amass

:36:37.:36:39.

data about bear behaviour and movement in order to help to

:36:40.:36:42.

understand them better and protect them better. Simirya, you are

:36:43.:36:48.

familiar with Anna, how wellers haved is she in motherhood s this

:36:49.:36:56.

her first litter? -- how well versed is she is motherhood? Her second

:36:57.:37:01.

litter. How difficult is it for a mum bear to rear cubs past the age

:37:02.:37:07.

of one? In most areas it is a little difficult but Katmai is a great

:37:08.:37:13.

environment to raise cubs in, a healthy environment. Lot of food, so

:37:14.:37:17.

they have a fighting chance. They are two-and-a-half, not out of the

:37:18.:37:21.

woods yet. What threats do they face? Large male bears, predating on

:37:22.:37:25.

them. Illness, falling off a cliff, Wolves can get them. Where do adult

:37:26.:37:29.

bears predate on clubs? They are hungry, if they are desperate and

:37:30.:37:34.

hungry, a spring cub is fair game. We know the salmon are arriving but

:37:35.:37:40.

before the salmon run reaches its peak here, they have a taste for

:37:41.:37:45.

clams? They do a lot of clamming. They can get anywhere from two tow

:37:46.:37:50.

three a minute. A good intake race. How does a bear with huge paws get a

:37:51.:37:57.

little clam burrowing into the sand? They move quick. They walk along the

:37:58.:38:02.

sand. The clam feels the vibration of the bears walking and it tries to

:38:03.:38:09.

get awane the bears see that squirt of water and start digging. It maybe

:38:10.:38:13.

only takes two or three attempts and they get T Not a great escape

:38:14.:38:18.

mechanism for the clams. Here I am. How important is that food source

:38:19.:38:23.

before the salmon arrive in earnest? Well the bears are hungry, they need

:38:24.:38:27.

something to eat so. They are trying to add a bit more into their diet.

:38:28.:38:34.

Do all bears make use of clams here on the tidal flats? Most do but we

:38:35.:38:40.

find that the adult male bears no longer clam. It is a work ratio.

:38:41.:38:55.

That would help the mums and cubs, if the big bears aren't here while

:38:56.:39:04.

they are clamming? Yes, and they can see what is coming towards them,

:39:05.:39:10.

quickly, if a male is coming towards them on a tidal flat. Daniel, doing

:39:11.:39:16.

a great job for us on our fist episode. He is finding bears

:39:17.:39:18.

clamming. quickly, if a male is coming towards

:39:19.:39:19.

them episode. He is finding bears

:39:20.:39:20.

clamming. The bears are performing. - let me show you how I clam, they

:39:21.:39:26.

are saying, head down, waiting to see the squirt of water and two or

:39:27.:39:30.

three paws and they get them. Look at that mother teaching her cubs to

:39:31.:39:37.

do that. How important is that? How quickly can they learn? Within the

:39:38.:39:40.

first year. The mother when they have a spring cub, they'll learn

:39:41.:39:42.

everything they need to survive have a spring cub, they'll learn

:39:43.:39:43.

everything they need to survive within the first year. Amazing.

:39:44.:39:46.

We'll stick with these cubs, move closer. Come back to us soon, but

:39:47.:39:49.

for now, back to you, Matt. If off stressful week ahead, you

:39:50.:39:54.

want to pick up on the aura of those bears, follow that vibe if you can,

:39:55.:39:59.

it is quite something. From the beaches of Alaska to the lakes.

:40:00.:40:04.

Let's talk about when this place starts to melt. We have incredible

:40:05.:40:06.

footage just from springtime. So only a few months ago when this was

:40:07.:40:12.

frozen solid. When does it start to melt? By April usually, it melts up,

:40:13.:40:20.

people don't go out on the ice until after that. You spend time out

:40:21.:40:23.

there, before that? Great recreational spot, cross-country

:40:24.:40:25.

season, fantastic. Then the animals appear about a month or so ago Yes,

:40:26.:40:29.

once the break-up, the fist thing that happens is the gulls. The

:40:30.:40:32.

birdlife come in and then when the salmon comes in everything turns on.

:40:33.:40:36.

We talked about your resident beaver earlier on. He is such a great

:40:37.:40:43.

little character. And he has to be so hardy, because through the winter

:40:44.:40:46.

they don't necessarily hibernate and we can see a shot of his little

:40:47.:40:51.

lodge covered in snow They have to work real hard in the fall to get

:40:52.:40:59.

every pressing taken care of. They have to have the food for the winter

:41:00.:41:07.

and the dam has to be set, it inslates their lodge, they don't

:41:08.:41:10.

hibernate. They are a busy. We have icebergs floating around behind us

:41:11.:41:15.

and look at the make-up of this ice. It is almost like crystals, very

:41:16.:41:19.

different to the kind of ice we get. Let's wander around, Pete, we have

:41:20.:41:22.

evidence of the beaver around here. You can see this dam. And the

:41:23.:41:27.

geography. They create all of these pools and ponds and when the water

:41:28.:41:32.

level rises, they have to be incredibly busy. Yes, incredibly

:41:33.:41:35.

busy. They create the dam and it gives them a protected area. When

:41:36.:41:38.

they are in their water they are protected and it helps flood some of

:41:39.:41:43.

the areas and encourages plant growth which is their food base. You

:41:44.:41:47.

see the willow, that's what they eat. We'll talk more about them as

:41:48.:41:52.

the week goes on but let's look at them relaxing at the moment. Nice

:41:53.:41:59.

and relaxed. Can we go inside? Taking a well-earned rest as we

:42:00.:42:02.

said. This little creature has a lot of respect for you, being knee-deep

:42:03.:42:05.

in this icy water. Kind of looking snug there. Here in

:42:06.:42:23.

the estuary you get a sense of how much this feast is kicking off. It

:42:24.:42:31.

is more than anything from the sound. You know the sound of the

:42:32.:42:35.

fish thrashing away around you. The sound of the gulls who are here

:42:36.:42:41.

feasting on the dead and dying fish, the ones that have already spawned.

:42:42.:42:44.

Some are beautiful. The black-headed gulls that are too small it pick

:42:45.:42:48.

apart the adult fish. Right now they are snatching the eggs pretty much

:42:49.:42:52.

as soon as they are being released by the females. Honestly, who would

:42:53.:42:57.

be a salmon? Absolutely everything wants to feed on you or your young.

:42:58.:43:03.

But I sound I like the most is the sound of the most majestic bird

:43:04.:43:08.

here, the bald eagle. It is call that is quite serious. Not like a

:43:09.:43:14.

bird of this size t sounds more like the braying of a donkey. They are

:43:15.:43:18.

here in incredible numbers. Towards the shoreline, you can see several.

:43:19.:43:21.

These ones are youngsters, they have not acquired the full adult

:43:22.:43:24.

colouration with the Whitehead and black body. But as impressive.

:43:25.:43:29.

Difficult to tell the females and males apart. Girls are bigger than

:43:30.:43:35.

the boys. Hang on a second I'm just hearing something remarkable - we

:43:36.:43:41.

have a live wolf. This is incredible. This could well be the

:43:42.:43:44.

first time this have a live wolf. This is

:43:45.:43:46.

incredible. This could well be the first time this has ever been seen,

:43:47.:43:51.

live on our cameras. It is a wolf strolling down, up there at Katmai

:43:52.:43:57.

seen from the air. A lot of people expect Wolves will be always in

:43:58.:44:00.

packs but like the predators around me they are brought in by the fish

:44:01.:44:04.

and males like this have probably been driven out from their pack T

:44:05.:44:07.

could've been an alpha male driven away by a younger male and it is

:44:08.:44:13.

here now, looking out for salmon. The fact it has such a surface of

:44:14.:44:20.

prey allow it is to live on its own without the need of a pack, to hunt

:44:21.:44:26.

for larger prey. This one is sitting here in the sand looking around it,

:44:27.:44:29.

Saab salutely content. Probably with a very full belly having fed really

:44:30.:44:32.

well on salmon. What a wonderful sight. We were hoping we would get a

:44:33.:44:38.

chance to show you this over the course of Will of Wild Alaska Live

:44:39.:44:43.

but to see it there in the sunshine looking happy, what a wonderful

:44:44.:44:47.

sight. It is not just the animals like Wolves and bear

:44:48.:44:48.

sight. It is not just the animals like Wolves and bear and bald Eagles

:44:49.:44:51.

that are reliant on the fish. The management of the fish is so

:44:52.:44:57.

important to make sure they are here in numbers like that and we had the

:44:58.:45:01.

privilege of meeting the wonderful local people who from 10,000 years

:45:02.:45:04.

have been stewards of these lands and we met up with a group living on

:45:05.:45:09.

the brink of the largest salmon migration in the world, the Salmon

:45:10.:45:11.

Centres. We live on the greatest sockeye

:45:12.:45:20.

salmon run in the world, where we see up to three 4 million salmon out

:45:21.:45:27.

of our front doors every summer. -- three or 4 million. Just beautiful.

:45:28.:45:36.

You nowhere in the salmon are coming because you can smell it in the air.

:45:37.:45:46.

-- you know when. I know it sounds goofy but the others used it as, the

:45:47.:45:50.

wind changes, it smells rainy and the wind picks up and you know the

:45:51.:45:54.

salmon are coming. You can, like, the smell of fish is in the air.

:45:55.:46:00.

Salmon and some go hand in hand. It is the highlight of everyone's

:46:01.:46:04.

summer, I believe. How many have we got today? I guess 45. 47. 44. 43.

:46:05.:46:15.

It brings out new excitement in all of us. You know you are putting away

:46:16.:46:19.

food that is going to sustain your family for the whole winter and that

:46:20.:46:25.

is a good feeling. Seven, eight, nine, ten. In our language, the word

:46:26.:46:30.

for food is the same as for fish. It is just a general term for fish but

:46:31.:46:37.

it is also the word for food. 39, 14. Oh, no. 41, 42 and I am the

:46:38.:46:53.

winner! Big wins today. I think everyone living out here, it all

:46:54.:46:57.

takes teamwork. We are all independent but we depend on each

:46:58.:47:01.

other for survival out here. I think that is what I love the most,

:47:02.:47:04.

really, that we are like one big family. We are teaching the younger

:47:05.:47:11.

generations to carry on the way we have forever. We use traditional

:47:12.:47:19.

knives and we practise our traditional ways of storing and

:47:20.:47:22.

hanging salmon which is very important to keep our culture alive,

:47:23.:47:24.

especially in our younger generations. We do rely heavily on

:47:25.:47:33.

what nature provides us and from childhood, you are taught to treat

:47:34.:47:37.

the land with respect and in return, it will take care of you. All fish

:47:38.:47:42.

and animals are well respected. There is no waste. You have too,

:47:43.:47:47.

otherwise the Earth won't take care of you and your family would not

:47:48.:47:48.

survive. It means everything to us. Carlo, together, we are just

:47:49.:48:01.

enjoying the pictures of the live wolf and this is quite emotional for

:48:02.:48:06.

you because as far as your tribe is concerned, they are a very special

:48:07.:48:11.

animal. Yes and particularly to my family, my clan crest is the wolf.

:48:12.:48:16.

It is very rare, especially where I live in Juneau, I don't often get

:48:17.:48:21.

treated to seeing a live wolf so it is a special treat. When you say

:48:22.:48:26.

they are the icon of your tribe, what does that mean? They are the

:48:27.:48:31.

clan crest which is where I derive my identity from, where I can say I

:48:32.:48:40.

belong to the Wolf plan. I belong to the Wolf plan. For you to be seeing

:48:41.:48:44.

the footage that Debbie and Daniel have. It is very exciting. And the

:48:45.:48:48.

brown bear which is a creature rooted in your community? The brown

:48:49.:48:53.

bear is definitely rooted in my culture primarily because we revere

:48:54.:48:57.

them as our grandparents. They are the ones who taught us how to live

:48:58.:49:00.

on the land over 10,000 years ago. By watching them and observing them,

:49:01.:49:04.

we learned what kind of food to eat and what medicines to use. How do

:49:05.:49:09.

you pass those messages onto your children? Like I did to you now,

:49:10.:49:14.

talking about it on a consistent and regular basis with the children, any

:49:15.:49:17.

time we are out in nature or even just sitting around, we will talk

:49:18.:49:20.

and share stories about what I learned from parents my

:49:21.:49:25.

grandparents. I passed that down to my children and grandchildren. You

:49:26.:49:28.

obviously have a special relationship with your surroundings

:49:29.:49:32.

in Alaska but do you worry for your children when you are sending them

:49:33.:49:35.

out to play? How do you cope with it as a mother? Very early on, we teach

:49:36.:49:41.

them do have a healthy respect for the landscape and knowing their

:49:42.:49:45.

surroundings so they are not lost in their own little world but paying

:49:46.:49:48.

attention to what is around them so that if an animal comes across their

:49:49.:49:52.

path, they back off and give the animal the respect it deserves. I

:49:53.:49:57.

can imagine having pets is a slight issue. Definitely! I have seen with

:49:58.:50:02.

my own eyes and American bald eagle swooped down and picked up a house

:50:03.:50:08.

cat. Really? Rhodes for its meal, yes. So no one has cats all small

:50:09.:50:14.

dogs out here! No, another case of a small dog being taken off by an

:50:15.:50:18.

eagle. We will let you enjoy the pictures like the rest of us and

:50:19.:50:22.

talk about a unique gathering that happens out to the west and a couple

:50:23.:50:25.

of weeks ago, Steve went camping to find out a bit more.

:50:26.:50:32.

Weighing up to 2000 kg and with two giant front teeth forming metre long

:50:33.:50:36.

tusks, there's nothing on earth quite like the walrus. Bristol Bay,

:50:37.:50:46.

over 900 miles to the west of this national forest, is home to

:50:47.:50:48.

thousands of these blubbering beasts. At this kind of year, round

:50:49.:50:54.

Ireland is the place to see what could be Alaska's most unusual

:50:55.:50:59.

spectacle. 35 miles out to sea, exactly the kind of place you would

:51:00.:51:03.

expect to see some kind of weird monster. The sea ice in this bay

:51:04.:51:07.

melted a few months ago, giving thousands of walrus axis to the

:51:08.:51:14.

bounty of food under the waves. -- walrus access to the bounty. I've

:51:15.:51:18.

come to see how vital they are to the ecology of Alaska. That is

:51:19.:51:24.

insane. These animals are essentially bottom feeders. What

:51:25.:51:27.

they are doing is heading down to the silty, marquee bottom and then

:51:28.:51:31.

feeling around using their whiskers, that cover their lips, to try to

:51:32.:51:37.

find prey like these clams. Once they have found them, they use their

:51:38.:51:42.

big, blubbery lips to create suction power and literally suck the clams

:51:43.:51:46.

out of their own shells. Each one of these two tonne tasked animals can

:51:47.:51:52.

eat up to 4000 clams in a feeding trip and there are searching has a

:51:53.:51:57.

surprising benefit. Disturbing the sea bed releases tiny invertebrates

:51:58.:52:00.

into the water, food for other animals. It contributes to the whole

:52:01.:52:07.

food chain here which even salmon benefit from. When you see how many

:52:08.:52:11.

walrus there are common here, you can imagine there has to be an

:52:12.:52:14.

enormous amount of food in these seas. I have come ashore to get a

:52:15.:52:19.

closer look at these curious animals, where they are hauled out

:52:20.:52:25.

in their hundreds. That is really something special.

:52:26.:52:30.

First of all, the smell of it hits you immediately, not surprisingly,

:52:31.:52:36.

really, when you have that many big animals together, letting rip with

:52:37.:52:44.

some really eye watering smells! As if it wasn't weird enough seeing

:52:45.:52:50.

this mass of blubber and tasks, there's an extra added element to it

:52:51.:52:55.

all. This is a big bachelor party. Every single one of these is male.

:52:56.:52:59.

The females have pups at this time of year and are far north on the

:53:00.:53:04.

edge of the Arctic sea ice, giving mates space to raise their young,

:53:05.:53:08.

the males come south where the warmer air helps them moult,

:53:09.:53:11.

renewing their hair and skin after winter. Look at this one rubbing

:53:12.:53:16.

down the bottom, there. Look at that. It looks like a bear against a

:53:17.:53:22.

tree, scratching itself. This time up here on these beaches is really

:53:23.:53:26.

important as they get rid of excess skin, rubbing it off and leaving it

:53:27.:53:30.

behind on the beaches and that in turn will become food. And as. So

:53:31.:53:36.

not only are the walrus integral to the food chain in the water but they

:53:37.:53:42.

also play an important role online. When you look at this amount of

:53:43.:53:47.

animals, at the count, there were 14,000 walrus on this island and

:53:48.:53:51.

they are absolutely vital to the ecology of Alaska.

:53:52.:53:58.

What magnificent, almost improbable animals, testament to the beauty,

:53:59.:54:03.

the success story of conservation in Alaska. We don't have walrus on this

:54:04.:54:07.

coastline but as you have seen, there are wolves up the coast on the

:54:08.:54:12.

bay and just behind me, there is a male bear, another one further back,

:54:13.:54:16.

waiting for the salmon, the tide is about to turn so they are biding

:54:17.:54:21.

their time. This guy was rolling over, there was steam coming out of

:54:22.:54:24.

his mouth a moment ago, he is hot but he is not going to move because

:54:25.:54:28.

he knows the salmon will enter the shallows shortly. Such a beautiful

:54:29.:54:32.

sight. I can't quite believe what I'm looking at, it is almost surreal

:54:33.:54:36.

to see these magnificent creatures so close up. We are still on the

:54:37.:54:40.

lookout for Anna and her cubs but earlier we saw another mother with

:54:41.:54:44.

three cubs which is testament to the success of this place, the wealth

:54:45.:54:49.

and abundance of food here but the day I arrived, we set out from camp

:54:50.:54:55.

about a mile down the road into a meadow looking for Anna and guess

:54:56.:54:56.

who we found? I can't believe on my first day, I'm

:54:57.:55:07.

seeing a mother and three cubs but not only that, it is Anna. She is

:55:08.:55:12.

magnificent. She is looking at us now. She is letting us take it all

:55:13.:55:19.

in, incredible. We are just another form of wildlife to her. You can't

:55:20.:55:26.

help but care for the individuals, can you? You become attached when

:55:27.:55:28.

you see them year after year, growing up and having their own cubs

:55:29.:55:32.

which then grow up and continue on. It is such a treat to see them in

:55:33.:55:35.

the spring and know they made it through hibernation and everything

:55:36.:55:39.

was fine. I've only been here a couple of hours and that's it, I

:55:40.:55:48.

care too much already. Such a thrill to see the bears and

:55:49.:55:53.

the cubs doing so well. Take a look at the helicopter shot from Daniel,

:55:54.:55:58.

the mother bear teaching her cubs to fish for salmon but this is where it

:55:59.:56:03.

gets treacherous as the tides turn, the cubs are in a precarious

:56:04.:56:07.

position. Bears often lose one of their cubs when the tide changes so

:56:08.:56:12.

we are hoping this mother is old and experienced enough to make sure she

:56:13.:56:15.

keeps track of those three very special Bears. We are thinking it

:56:16.:56:20.

might be an but it is hard to tell whether she has a collar around her

:56:21.:56:25.

big, very next. We're not 100% sure but we will keep an eye on that. --

:56:26.:56:31.

Herbig, fairy neck. We have got word that more male bears, the big,

:56:32.:56:34.

dominant ones are coming down from the mountains which is when

:56:35.:56:37.

everything changes. They will be vying for top position and we will

:56:38.:56:40.

try to get you that and understand what happens when they battle it out

:56:41.:56:44.

for the top position at the river. Not only that, you have seen them

:56:45.:56:49.

before, it is a world first, we got you live wolves but just outside

:56:50.:56:52.

camp yesterday and the day before, we had a couple of sightings of

:56:53.:56:57.

wolves, very close to camp. There was one on the shoreline and one in

:56:58.:57:01.

the meadows and we are going to try very hard to get you more wolves

:57:02.:57:06.

live on Wednesday. We will be looking out for Anna, we will keep

:57:07.:57:09.

and I on this very happy, full bear, and we will see one Wednesday.

:57:10.:57:14.

I can't believe the shots of those three cubs in the surf, it was

:57:15.:57:18.

wonderful. But stick around because after the show we will do a live

:57:19.:57:21.

Facebook question and answer session and here is what else you can look

:57:22.:57:27.

forward to next time. There is the glacier that Steve, believe it or

:57:28.:57:32.

not, will be abseiling into, live on the programme. We will take you even

:57:33.:57:36.

closer to the biggest predators and show you what will be turning up.

:57:37.:57:43.

You could never get tired of watching these pictures. We have

:57:44.:57:48.

seen some incredible live footage this evening. We will be back on

:57:49.:57:52.

Wednesday but before that, you can watch Wildie UK, a brand new series

:57:53.:57:58.

starting tomorrow at 915 M, Lucy Cooke and Colin Stafford doesn't

:57:59.:58:02.

looking at the wild Wilderness in the UK with exclusive

:58:03.:58:04.

behind-the-scenes from Alaska. We will see what Wednesday but from all

:58:05.:58:08.

of us and all of the crews across Alaska, goodbye.

:58:09.:58:36.

We've got a wild week of adventure planned, UK-style...

:58:37.:58:46.

Join us to celebrate our own home-grown wilderness.

:58:47.:58:51.

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