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These images are coming to you live from Alaska, look at that brown bear | :00:11. | :00:18. | |
surrounded by the seagulls, 11 o'clock in the morning in Alaska and | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
all of the animals are making the most of this summer feast. We will | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
have a live action as a largest predators come together in fierce | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
competition. I would explore the inside of this magnificent glacier. | :00:37. | :00:38. | |
This is Wild Alaska Live! Hello and welcome to all of you in | :00:39. | :01:13. | |
the UK, welcome to Wild Alaska Live as he watched this beautiful brown | :01:14. | :01:17. | |
bear fishing in the shallows up the coast from where we watch these | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
pictures at the time this National Park, the mother is feeding these | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
cubs, magical images. All of this is going on on the other side of the | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
world as you are sitting watching this. We can enjoy the Temple of | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
what is going on and it is just remarkable scenes to witness, the | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
young cub learning from its mother, such a critical time in the year | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
because the summer is short here, we have teams all across the wilderness | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
in Alaska doing their best to bring you this footage and as we are all | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
enjoying. Last time we introduced you to all of the animals, soberly, | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
as the feast continues to build we will take you even closer to those | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
huge predators as they make the most of this summer feast. We can see | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
what else is going on because we have cameras on the creek. It is not | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
far away from here. Lots of Eagle footage we can bring you, we have a | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
live Crew, the classic icon of America, the bald eagle, a proud | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
bird, that is just over five years old, because of that white skull, | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
look at those fish struggling in the background. More bears, this is all | :02:40. | :02:48. | |
live, look at the size of them. And as the summer goes, they grow with | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
all of the goodness the salmon rings, all of that fat and protein. | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
We also have live pictures from the sky, courtesy of Debbie and Daniel | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
and Danielle straightaway has this live wolf! We had a television first | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
on Sunday, the first ever live pictures of the world and you can | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
see this one prowling along the shoreline. Debbie, thank you for | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
finding this wonderful wildlife footage! You have just gone up! | :03:22. | :03:29. | |
Daniel, you had a high benchmark last time but you have surpassed | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
this in just than two minutes! We will come back to you very shortly. | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
I am just mesmerised, you can see this, transfixed on the salmon, he | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
will leave that. Herding the salmon into the shallows and then pounce. | :03:47. | :03:52. | |
That is a good glimpse of the geography on the coast and look at | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
that! The three animals in that shot, the Wolf, the bear and her | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
cubs and the seagulls waiting for those easy pickings. It is not just | :04:03. | :04:11. | |
Debbie and Daniel in the helicopter, Steve is already out there, we are | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
looking at some pre-recorded footage of you in the helicopter because you | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
have read on quite the mission? That is an understatement! I have | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
explored pretty much every inch of this glacier, from above and from | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
below but those shots, Adebayor and the wired world in the middle of the | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
I cannot underestimate how special that is and how much this shows what | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
an incredible sanctuary for life Alaska really worlds have been | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
persecuted over the world, to see them in broad daylight in the open, | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
it shows this is one of the last places where they are truly safe and | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
have a very good future. One of the most positive things about Alaska. | :05:00. | :05:05. | |
This incredible spectacle, this glacier, this is somewhere we want | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
to talk about in detail, I got right into the inside of this glacier, I | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
will show you some order that later. We also have cameras in the water so | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
we can watch lots of salmon making their way back to this spot and | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
these salmon are making the most of this rising water level. And this is | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
a critical time because millions of salmon, millions of them are taking | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
an incredible journey on this side of the world, from where you are | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
watching in the UK and they are born here in these rivers, they spend one | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
year right here and win this location gets imprinted on their | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
brain and then they head to the Pacific Ocean, look at this map, | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
once they are in the sea they grow up, they feed, travelling as far as | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
Japan before heading back home and this happens between the ages of two | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
and five years old and this is bizarre, they have to get back, they | :06:08. | :06:14. | |
become a feast once they enter these rivers and that is wife all of the | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
cameras are picking this up, this huge feeding frenzy and to get some | :06:19. | :06:24. | |
idea of the numbers, five different species of salmon and in this area | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
alone, this is Bristol Bay and in this area, just one species, the | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
numbers are already as far as the season are concerned over 50 | :06:37. | :06:43. | |
million, sockeye salmon, there are five species and if we look at this | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
map, this brown water mark, this is the Katmai National Park and these | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
pictures we have seen in the programme, the Wolf and the brown | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
bears, those signals, that is coming from this part and this is where Liz | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
Bonnin has been making her home for the past week and the question is, | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
we have seen from your area, the trouble you are in, what is the | :07:11. | :07:18. | |
plan? To continue immersing ourselves in this most glorious | :07:19. | :07:22. | |
place, we cannot quite believe what we can see every day, every day the | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
feast intensifies and as you can see, the mother is teaching her cubs | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
to get a real taste, they are not quite ready to fish very well but | :07:35. | :07:39. | |
they mimic their mother, they do not know what they are doing but once | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
she gives them a taste of the salmon, like those cubs, they are | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
joining the dots and I understand how important it is to learn how to | :07:48. | :07:54. | |
hunt and what the reward is. There is a wolf skirting around, waiting | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
to see if he can pick off some of the bits left over but he is not | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
going to get anything, as are the seagulls, those players will eat | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
everything, this is thrilling and electrifying. And every day we spent | :08:12. | :08:15. | |
here, it gets even more intense and even more exciting so we shall bring | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
you as much of this action live during the show and on Sunday. On | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
Sunday, last Sunday, we were treated to magnificent scenes of the bears | :08:28. | :08:35. | |
surfing in the shallows and less than right now but wonderful to see | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
them getting that first taste of the salmon but right now, millions of | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
salmon make their way up referring and that means that more bears are | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
arriving. It was sunny right then, it is very different right now, the | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
weather has turned but in this cooler weather with the rain, the | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
bears are much more active and that is potentially IB shall see what | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
action today, it is cooler and they enjoyed this month, they get to do | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
more fishing on a day like today. Because millions of salmon are | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
coursing up the rivers, the feast intensifies and those bears are | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
sizing each other up so we will find out today what happens when they | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
meet and compete for the best possible fish and we will bring all | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
of that to you live! Does live television get any better? I have | :09:29. | :09:33. | |
done a lot of this and I cannot believe that we are seeing, we know | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
this has got to talking and asking lots of questions, and you can send | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
more questions to the Facebook page, or you can use #AlaskaLive on | :09:45. | :09:51. | |
Twitter. We can answer all of your questions and analyse what is going | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
on with the very best that this forest has to offer, we are | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
interrupting Pete Schneider and John Neary, the head ranger, John, we | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
have a mission. We are going to try to bring black bears to the UK live. | :10:10. | :10:15. | |
What are the chances? We are right you are amongst them. Good chance? | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
We have a chance, this is a forest and they are creatures of the Forest | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
so they disappear as soon as they take just a few steps. We have seen | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
them already, let us keep everything crossed they turn up on air. And it | :10:32. | :10:39. | |
is not just the UK that has been amazed, even this team has been | :10:40. | :10:42. | |
surprised by what is turning up and what the cameras have captured. We | :10:43. | :10:51. | |
are going to witness some credible sites. This could be the first time | :10:52. | :10:59. | |
this has been seen live on camera. I cannot quite believe what I am | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
looking at, almost surreal to see these magnificent creatures so close | :11:04. | :11:12. | |
up. No way! Incredible! That is a shark! | :11:13. | :11:32. | |
We have to give a massive shout out to the technical teams managing to | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
bring all of this to you, really quite remarkable but Liz, you have a | :11:39. | :11:44. | |
question to a presenter, what precautions must you take to ensure | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
presenters do not get eaten by the bears? That is from Sarah. Thank you | :11:48. | :11:56. | |
for that! It is all about understanding behaviour from bears, | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
as was explained on Sunday and we have never felt in danger, we have | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
been pretty close and once you are in the safe hands of a guide and you | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
listen to everything and you act like a bear and understand never to | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
threaten them and move away or behave in a certain way, that is all | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
you seem to need in a place like this, we do not have any guns, we | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
don't have to use any flares and I have felt very safe hands, as long | :12:25. | :12:30. | |
as you understand and respect the wild animals, this place is a | :12:31. | :12:36. | |
magical experience. We are in Katmai National Park, 700 miles away from | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
their base in Tongass National Park, one of the most protected areas in | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
Alaska and we have images of the wild bears, here is one of them | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
closer to the mouth of the river and this is interesting because at this | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
time of the few weeks when the salmon run happens, the bears moved | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
to key positions along the river and that is what we will look at today. | :13:03. | :13:06. | |
As the salmon moved upriver people follow them and find out what | :13:07. | :13:13. | |
happens when brown bears, Normandy solitary, anti-social animals, what | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
happens when they come together and get their fill without this place | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
becoming a battlefield. And the social interaction of bears is far | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
more complex and fascinating and you can imagine. We are in the hands of | :13:27. | :13:34. | |
an expert, Samarra, and we are walking down wildlife highway, this | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
has been carved out by thousands of bear footprints and moose and links | :13:40. | :13:43. | |
and foxes and we are following in their footsteps. The brilliant? | :13:44. | :13:51. | |
Incredible, we're in a meadow, a very important place for the bears, | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
what do they feed on? Sage grouse in the meadow and the mothers and cubs | :13:57. | :14:05. | |
come here. They benefit the most from the young shoots? With | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
lactating mothers, that helps, the mother teaches the cubs what to eat. | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
The bears here are also known as the gardeners of Katmai? When they eat | :14:17. | :14:22. | |
the grass, it goes through their system and when it comes out, it is | :14:23. | :14:29. | |
good. They are planting miniature gardens as they move through the | :14:30. | :14:38. | |
landscape! This place does transform once the men have their minds set on | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
the salmon, they move on the meadow, what happens? It is a playground, | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
the mothers feed on the grass and the little clubs play and it is | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
pretty cute. We did spot a mother and her cubs earlier on, they have | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
headed to the shoreline, there is a lot of fish and also the position of | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
this meadow is pretty handy for mothers and cubs? By the river? The | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
river is by the long grass? There is nothing to obstruct their | :15:09. | :15:18. | |
view. Their mums can see if they're still fishing at the creek and once | :15:19. | :15:21. | |
they're gone she can start fishing and can hear the fish coming up the | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
creek, as well. Before this happens this place is an arena for courtship | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
behaviours during the mating season. Tell me what this place looks like | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
at that time of year. You have the big dominant males pursuing specific | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
females and then other dominant males trying to vie for those | :15:38. | :15:45. | |
particular females. OK. Bears are not monogamous, so it gets heck | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
hectic sometimes? The competition happens when the two big males spar | :15:50. | :15:54. | |
with each other to get that female. As you can tell from the role of | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
places like this, the meadows and the rivers, a different times of | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
year, everything changes. There is a gear shift all along the year. It | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
is. It's a fascinating place and I am still learning so much about | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
bears. I completely underestimated how complex and intricate their | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
social lives are. We are going to move towards the river next for you | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
and we are going to find out when these bears come together, what | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
exactly happens as they compete for the freshest, best quality fish. We | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
will see you soon. In this forest I should remind you | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
it's a temperate rainforest, it's the black bears that tend to be seen | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
rather than the bigger brown bear cousins that are seen on the | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
mountains. We are making our way through here. | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
Watch yourself there, Bob. We have been seeing a lot of black bear | :16:51. | :16:54. | |
action. We have seen this huge female fishing just around the | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
corner from where we are. They're not camera shy. Look at that | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
for a shot, John. It's 153. She's got a great sockeye. We want to go | :17:06. | :17:09. | |
one stage further, our mission is to try to bring you a black bear live, | :17:10. | :17:12. | |
whether it's going to happen we don't know. We have cameras | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
everywhere. We have this place rigged. Where that bear was fishing | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
there we have a remote camera underneath the bridge so we can | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
capture footage. That's not a bear, that's Ian, our cameraman! Can you | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
hear us, Ian? You are going to pan across the forest and fingers | :17:29. | :17:31. | |
crossed, we will capture something and if a bear turns up, I mean, | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
obviously we will bring you those pictures straightaway. Although some | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
are - summer here, it's lush and green as we look around, in Alaska | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
there are many months of subzero temperatures, this place is covered | :17:47. | :17:49. | |
in snow and ice. You have to be tough to call this place home. | :17:50. | :17:58. | |
Winter bites hard in North America. For six months every year ice and | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
snow take hold and temperatures can plunge below minus 50. | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
Under ground sheltered from the deep freeze, black bear cubs are born. | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
While they can guzzle mum's rich milk, she can't eat again until she | :18:15. | :18:17. | |
decides to leave the safety of their den. | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
As the days lengthen, her desperate need to feed eventually draws her | :18:23. | :18:28. | |
out. It's a risky decision. Emerge too early, and the cubs risk | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
freezing. Emerge too late, and her milk will | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
dry up, causing them to starve. Only 60% of black bear cubs make it | :18:38. | :18:47. | |
through their first winter. By early June, in Tongas Nash Forest, more | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
and more hungry black bears begin to appear. This mother has lost almost | :18:53. | :18:55. | |
half her body weight whilst in the den. As her cubs grow, they become | :18:56. | :19:02. | |
increasingly demanding, competing for her milk. | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
Until the salmon arrives, she needs to eat ten kilos of vegetation a | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
day. Fortunately, black bears aren't fussy eaters and will munch through | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
anything to shrubs and shoots down on the ground. But feeding isn't the | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
only concern for females. They raise their cubs alone and must avoid | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
hungry neighbours. Adult males would kill and eat a cub this size. This | :19:33. | :19:38. | |
mother and her cubs have almost made it through the toughest time of the | :19:39. | :19:44. | |
year. But they're not out of danger yet. | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
Competition for the fishing will be fierce as these normally solitary | :19:51. | :19:58. | |
bears come together to feast. Well, John, our viewers in the UK | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
are watching some helicopter shots of a brown bear nursing her young. | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
You spent 30 years working with brown bears s this unusual to see | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
this? Yeah, especially because they won't do that unless they feel | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
comfortable and safe. That tells us Debbie and Dan are high in the | :20:19. | :20:21. | |
helicopter? It tells me there is a good zoom on that lens. You are | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
concentrating on the temperate rainforest here and the black bears. | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
Let's focus on some of the families that we may see turning up, either | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
tonight or in our last programme on Sunday. The first family is this | :20:33. | :20:39. | |
ginger-backed female, what's the story with her, we have footage of | :20:40. | :20:43. | |
her wandering along the beaver dam. There is the cubs. Two cubs, she had | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
three earlier, she had a mark on her back and that's grown in with that | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
brownish ginger spot you mentioned. 153, another chance for 153, as | :20:55. | :20:58. | |
well. Yeah, she is up in this stream. She spent all morning | :20:59. | :21:00. | |
yesterday up there. The cubs are behind her too. She had four | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
earlier, down to three but she is doing really well with the salmon in | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
the stream. She's so calm and cool and | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
collected, you would never really think she's wandering up towards the | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
fish. But there is one down there in the water. She will just pounce any | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
second. Three, two, one... | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
Readjust and any second now. Oh, well! There it is. | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
There is the pounce! Very good fishing. Finally, lone | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
female. You know she had four cubs because of the footage you took, | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
John. This is something we took in the meadow a month ago when she had | :21:41. | :21:43. | |
her fourth cub. That cub is dead now. It got sick. But this is what | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
happens in bear country, she lose them sometimes. A few others, as | :21:49. | :21:52. | |
well. We will keep everything crossed we may see some signs of | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
black bear life here. On that note, when you were on the glacier, Steve, | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
yesterday, did you see signs of life at all up there? | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
Well, we didn't actually see life apart from birds. But the glacier | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
itself is a living, moving thing. Down here at the snout of it is | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
somewhere you feel very small as a human being. It towers above you, | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
sky skriepers of ice. It is almost the most active part. A calving | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
event was filmed days ago and you can see the enormous tonnes of ice | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
tumbling off into the water. These are forming ice-bergs which are an | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
important part of the water cycle and this process is dramatically | :22:38. | :22:40. | |
speeding up with climate change which here in Alaska is an absolute | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
reality. I have had an opportunity to get up here on to the ice but, | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
sadly, we have been waiting here today for the helicopters to have | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
the last word as to whether we do it live and it's had to be called, | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
unfortunately. There is danger of thunder and lightning. Yesterday I | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
had a rather remarkable experience, a couple of hundred metres above me | :23:01. | :23:02. | |
now. So, we are up here on the ice, which | :23:03. | :23:13. | |
is the most powerful force of nature right at the heart of this summer | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
feast here in Alaska, for a bit of geography, base camp is just down | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
there behind me. But it might as well be a world away. You can also | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
see that in the summer this glacier is melting. It's forming on the | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
surface little ponds and lakes which eventually make their way into | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
rivers which cut across the top of the glacier searching for a | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
weakness. Water is a very, very persuasive force. Eventually, they | :23:42. | :23:50. | |
find a crevace or hole and bury down into it in waterfalls forming one of | :23:51. | :23:57. | |
these. This is a molan that heads down to | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
the bedrock, it's a massive part of what is breaking this glacier apart | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
and pretty soon I am going to be dangling like a spider on a web | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
right down into the very guts of this glacier. | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
We will bring that to you shortly. Pete and I are about to go on a | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
little boat trip to observe the work of an animal that really does change | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
the way the landscape looks here. While we get out there, here is a | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
lovely introduction to the rodent lumber jacks of this forest. Right, | :24:26. | :24:34. | |
Pete, I am coming on board. Beavers, the largest rodents in | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
North America. These toothy builders have an attitude to match. | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
At just four feet long, they're capable of building dams almost a | :24:44. | :24:53. | |
kilometre in length. This Herculean effort is to create a safe lodge. | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
Complete with underwater entrance and food store. Territorial, they're | :25:00. | :25:04. | |
think nothing of chasing off a moose that strays too close to home. Their | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
giant back feet are webbed and a broad tail is perfect for life in | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
the water. Whilst on land, it keeps their | :25:15. | :25:23. | |
balance, felling 30 foot trees. Right now, with their water ways | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
free of ice, they're stockpiling food and making essential repairs, | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
but as water flows will their dams hold in order to keep their lodges | :25:33. | :25:39. | |
safe? Well, this beautiful, tranquil and | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
calm scene has all been created by the beavers. Until we start to talk | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
about what it is they're doing you don't realise how incredible this | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
animal is. So, Pete, if you could give us a depiction of the geography | :25:51. | :25:58. | |
and it's a full estate they've created. This place was a bare slate | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
and the river came straight out here, dumped into the lake, until | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
the vegetation popped in there was nothing for the beavers. Now there | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
is vegetation, the beavers, as you can see, have created this entire | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
pond right with that dam they built behind me. They've a dam here. This | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
calm pond, we have the beaver lodge that's behind us. They've almost got | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
little summer houses that are positioned around the estate. This | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
is all about their food and adjusting the water levels | :26:30. | :26:31. | |
accordingly. That's correct. The dam, a couple of things, obviously | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
it creates this ponded area that brings water in, foods areas and | :26:37. | :26:40. | |
that creates more growth, which is the food base for these animals. It | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
creates growth and habitat for willow, and Alder which is what they | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
need. They need that material to use to build the dams and their lodge. | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
Let's talk about the characters that are actually in the lodge at the | :26:55. | :26:57. | |
moment. Who are they, who is in there and how old are they? Right, | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
right now we have a pair of beavers in the lodge. They seem to be fairly | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
young. We don't know a lot about this pair. | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
But based on the size to me it looks like they're maybe, three, | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
four-year-old, maybe five-year-old beavers. As far as this place is | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
concerned, because it is quite a thing they have actually built over | :27:18. | :27:20. | |
time, will they pass it on from generation to generation? How does | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
it work? It does get passioned on. What happens, they'll use it -- it | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
does get passed on. What happens, they'll use it as long as they can. | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
Often times they can challenge parents for the habitat. We are | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
making our way over to the dam which is key to this whole area. When you | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
look at the way they've actually created it... We are run aground, | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
Pete! It's quite interesting this, because | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
actually if we look down here we can almost see the salmon coming in, as | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
well. There is very deep sections. I am touching the bottom here, Pete. | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
But, yeah, the dam itself, is that a problem for the salmon? It isn't. | :28:04. | :28:06. | |
That's a great question, a lot of people think the dam will block the | :28:07. | :28:09. | |
salmon from being able to get in, but what it does, it allows this | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
habitat, makes for a perfect rearing habitat for the young. The salmon | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
still have to work to get in here, especially when the water is low, | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
but they can do that. It works out perfectly, if the dam wasn't there | :28:22. | :28:24. | |
all the salmon could get in all the time. That's not best for the | :28:25. | :28:27. | |
species, right, what is best for them is the hardest have to make it | :28:28. | :28:30. | |
in and they're the most successful. I want to pick up on some of the | :28:31. | :28:37. | |
footage we saw in that film. A rodent like this, felling a 30 foot | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
tree, that's quite an achievement. Yeah, what happens is that is cotton | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
wood right there. That makes for a great food source, they strip the | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
bark off and get to the sweet layer underneath. That's what they're | :28:51. | :28:53. | |
after for food. Then once they do that they still use this as | :28:54. | :28:55. | |
material, whether they use it to patch holes in their dam or whether | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
they use it to build their lodge up a little bit, none of it goes to | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
waste. If we were here 100 years ago there is no way we would be paddling | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
out here, we would be covered in a massive glacier and I don't know if | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
you can see this time lapse footage here that we are seeing, Steve, but | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
we are going to watch now the glacier as it is melting, retreating | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
back. The rate at which it is disappearing | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
before our eyes, it really is something, Steve. Yeah, this place | :29:31. | :29:37. | |
has an etheral quality about it, it is gorgeous but it's somewhere you | :29:38. | :29:41. | |
have to be cautious. Because this is the place where the glacier is | :29:42. | :29:44. | |
essentially dying. If you look closely you can see there is a chunk | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
over there, there is a fresh huge chunk of ice that's come out here | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
and forced an ice-berg and we have seen carving events. Some are very, | :29:55. | :29:59. | |
very active and receding at a great speed. Certainly this particular | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
glacier is almost unrecognisable from the first time I came out here | :30:05. | :30:10. | |
and Alaskan people absolutely can see their glaciers disappearing | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
before their eyes. But not so long ago I was right up there on top | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
standing above a big blue hole and about to head inside. | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
I am standing on the brink of this abyss and down there, it is where | :30:24. | :30:32. | |
this gets kick-started. OK, here we go. These are a latticework of | :30:33. | :30:41. | |
tunnels, like Swiss cheese, through the glacier, very few have been | :30:42. | :30:47. | |
explored and the second you go below the surface, this is an alien | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
environment, this chill wind blows in from the waterfall but it is | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
quite beautiful, mesmerising, look at that! To begin with, crampons | :30:58. | :31:05. | |
sink into the ice very easily because it is full of air but right | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
down here, it is so compressed, it feels like steel! I am trying to | :31:12. | :31:21. | |
think of something to compare this to, but I do not think there is any | :31:22. | :31:27. | |
other blue like this in nature and it sounds obvious but it is very | :31:28. | :31:33. | |
cold down here! Like many degrees colder than above because we have | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
this error being carried by the waterfall, itself not much above | :31:41. | :31:46. | |
freezing... But the water is cutting its way through the glacier in | :31:47. | :31:52. | |
several directions and it looks like it heads that way and I can hear the | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
water going that way, thundering into the distance and that is | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
probably the way that it head on. Absolutely glorious, if cereal in | :32:03. | :32:12. | |
colour. And it is so compressed, this ice, I guess it is like a cave | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
system. -- very if cereal. There is a channel and this cuts to the | :32:20. | :32:27. | |
bedrock. Until it can go no further. And that is where the action really | :32:28. | :32:36. | |
happens. And also, there is a tunnel that way, in fact, that looks like a | :32:37. | :32:43. | |
better way for me to go. Next... It is time to do some exploring. This | :32:44. | :32:52. | |
is awesome! Well done, what a magnificent place and speaking of | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
magnificent! I don't know what to say! For the last minute, this | :32:58. | :33:03. | |
incredible bear has been fishing, so close to me I lost my breath, he was | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
snorkelling, his face was submerged in the water looking for a fish in | :33:10. | :33:14. | |
the deeper pools, and then he started running around, chasing the | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
salmon coursing up the river and of course there are some on here that | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
are sitting stationary in the current of the river, getting | :33:24. | :33:29. | |
acclimatised to the fresh so this bear spot of those, they were | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
dashing away and he was moving after them, moving up river, looking for | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
these precious sources of protein and fat and it has been the most | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
breathtaking experience for all of us at the mouth of this river. | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
Completely worth the difficulties in getting here, the weather and | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
everything, this is what we came for, bears coming together like this | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
and showing their -- showing off their best fishing skills at the | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
beginning of the salmon run, hotting up every day. He has not finished. | :34:04. | :34:09. | |
He will be fishing up river, there are shallow sand bars further up | :34:10. | :34:14. | |
where those fish are getting caught, it might even be easier for him to | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
catch them and we have a camera team right above, you perhaps can see | :34:20. | :34:23. | |
them in the distance and we will keep this place covered. You might | :34:24. | :34:30. | |
have become fond of a six-year-old male that you saw on Sunday, we | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
have, we called him scrawny but he is doing very well, he is fishing | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
and on Monday he walked right past the river bank so look at this. This | :34:42. | :34:49. | |
is the snorkelling behaviour, when the river is deep and the tide is | :34:50. | :34:58. | |
high, the bears that are about the age of despair, years old, they are | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
not big enough to pay and down the fish in the Deepwater so they | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
submerge their faces, snorkelling, they look for a slower, dying or | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
dead fish in the branches and they feed on them, any source of protein | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
is worried that so this is what he was doing on Monday on the river | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
bank, he did not succeed. Don't worry, we caught up with them later | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
on when this river was at low tide, which means there are more fish in | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
this shallow sand bars and it is easier for the bears to catch, they | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
can use those powerful pause and here he is again, there is a wolf on | :35:39. | :35:45. | |
the bank and checkout his behaviour, he can hear that bear, he knows they | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
are very good at fishing, he is thinking about picking up the | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
scraps. Look at how close he is too that six-year-old bear! He will | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
watch him intently as he goes into those shallow sand bars, running | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
around, dashing and grabbing, trying to get a fish and this time, | :36:06. | :36:11. | |
luckily, he was successful and he caught the salmon. The wolf followed | :36:12. | :36:19. | |
him after he caught it. There he is, he misses it, it falls from his | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
mouth, but he catches it again. Quite a small fish but right now, | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
that will do very well, thank you. He is subordinate, he will take the | :36:31. | :36:34. | |
fish away because bigger, more dominant males might take that away | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
from him. He is still on the hunt for salmon, and all of these bears | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
use different techniques, we could see that six-year-old using his | :36:46. | :36:54. | |
tools, what do the others employ? At this time of year as brown bears | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
gather at rivers, competition for the spots is fierce. -- the best | :36:59. | :37:12. | |
spots. As the river is filled with fish, these expert predators adopt | :37:13. | :37:14. | |
different fishing techniques. In shallow water, they use speed to | :37:15. | :37:31. | |
run and jump and ambush the fish, pinning them with their giant claws. | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
They stand on their hind legs, scanning the water to get a view | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
from above. And as a river deepen, some sunlight to die for the river, | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
even picking up dead or injured fish from the bottom. -- as the rivers | :37:48. | :37:58. | |
deepen. Extremely sensitive pores allow them to feel for the salmon | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
and they hold their breath whilst snorkelling to look under deeper | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
water for the fish. Many methods have been passed from mother to | :38:08. | :38:20. | |
come. Some will master if few of them whilst others stick to one of | :38:21. | :38:27. | |
them that works. And some will not fish at all, simply sitting back and | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
waiting for leftovers. Whatever the conditions, these bears are some of | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
the most highly skilled and versatile hunters on the planet. | :38:36. | :38:42. | |
Just incredible to see those brown bears kicking the salmon from the | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
riverbed, we can pick up on some of those tools of the trade. In context | :38:47. | :38:54. | |
with the size of my hand, this is that brown bear claw, look at the | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
weaponry, this is a fishing hook but also if they get into competition, | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
using this as a weapon and there are five of those on their paws, look at | :39:06. | :39:13. | |
this, the black bear claws, smaller in size, used for fishing but a key | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
ingredient when claiming these huge trees in this temperate rainforest | :39:18. | :39:24. | |
and we are still hoping to bring the black bear live during the | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
programme. Let me just get this other little weapon also. As you can | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
see, this one, against my jacket, what do you think this belongs to? I | :39:35. | :39:47. | |
will give you a clue... ... The bald eagle, an American icon, the | :39:48. | :39:54. | |
national bird of the United States. Found only in North America, there | :39:55. | :40:00. | |
are 30,000 in Alaska alone. Weighing in at six kilos, they glide on | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
massive metre long wings, super-sharp eyesight five times as | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
powerful as a human's and they are on the lookout 24/7. Soaring up to | :40:14. | :40:23. | |
10,000 feet, they dive at 75 mph. Performing aerial acrobatics to | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
steal food. They build the biggest nests in the world, some as heavy as | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
one time in weight. It will eat anything. Rodents, carrion and even | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
other birds. And fish is by far their remains stable. And right now, | :40:44. | :40:52. | |
with the rivers brimming with salmon, it is easy pickings for | :40:53. | :41:00. | |
these spectacular birds. It is obvious it is not just mammals | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
feasting, the birds are also and we have a life eagle nest for you to | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
look at. Just above the creek readies live eagle 's are feeding | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
also but we hope we have a shot at the nest with an eight-week-old | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
young eagle, there it is. This is turning out to be a very wet summer | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
in this part of Alaska, Sidney Campbell is from the American Bald | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
Eagle Foundation, this wet summer, how does this affect eagles? These | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
are sea eagles so they are built to be in the wet. Still pretty downy, | :41:38. | :41:45. | |
no covering feathers, he has dampened cold but that is par for | :41:46. | :41:48. | |
the chorus in a temperate rainforest. You live here, is it | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
unusual to see a wealth? Very unusual, I have never actually seen | :41:55. | :42:02. | |
one of them! Not live! Is much interaction between wildlife like | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
eagles and Wolves? If they have been feasting, will eagles take the rest? | :42:08. | :42:12. | |
Definitely, and is so much food available from the bears, they just | :42:13. | :42:20. | |
eat their heads and the eggs sacs, that is a feast for the bald eagle. | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
What does the future hold for that young eagle? When will it go off to | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
try to live its own life? He has around six weeks left before he | :42:32. | :42:34. | |
flies on his own and he will spend the first five years of his life | :42:35. | :42:37. | |
before he reaches sexual maturity meandering, being nomadic. We have | :42:38. | :42:46. | |
to comment, seeing that wolf live but feeding! Really incredible, | :42:47. | :42:55. | |
exciting stuff. There is a hive of activity as far as bald eagles are | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
concerned, 30,000 of them, why is it so good here for them? We have | :43:02. | :43:08. | |
salmon, the key to everything, the ecosystem relies heavily on them and | :43:09. | :43:12. | |
that is what they love to eat. And the younger ones are learning from | :43:13. | :43:15. | |
the parents, the younger ones with those brown head, it was | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
interesting, you talked about them swimming? They are not built to be a | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
multiple themselves from the water so if they do end up in the water | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
they must make their way back to the shore by swimming so they tried to | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
get as close to the surface as they can, snatching that fish and then | :43:39. | :43:44. | |
right back out. Seeing that footage, standing on the back of the salmon. | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
When you think of the obstacles they have to overcome to breed, it is a | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
miracle there are so many. Only one in every 1000 makes it back to the | :43:56. | :44:02. | |
rivers where they are born and there are predators everywhere, from the | :44:03. | :44:03. | |
air, land and water. Alaska has more than its fair share | :44:04. | :44:20. | |
of vast wilderness. And Prince William Sound is one of the most | :44:21. | :44:28. | |
dramatic. Home to perhaps the least known but most surprising predator | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
in Alaska. The salmon shark. At three metres long, these last fish | :44:35. | :44:37. | |
are only one of a handful of fish that venture into the cold waters of | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
Alaska. Being cold-blooded, these predators should not be able to | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
thrive in the water here and they are often close to 0 degrees. | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
Despite the fact that they always come here to see the salmon run, | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
there is a part of me did not believe it was real. That you could | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
get sharks in a place like this. But this is no ordinary shark. It has | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
the rare ability to raise its body heat above that of the surrounding | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
water. Meaning every summer, thousands come here to join the | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
feast. And it is not long before a local expert spots a familiar shape. | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
We have a shark in front of us here. Got it, no way! That's a fin, it's a | :45:21. | :45:30. | |
shark! That's incredible. Just not what you expect streaking | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
through the surface of an Alaskan lagoon with snow-capped mountains | :45:37. | :45:39. | |
all around it. You see that classic dark dorsel | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
fin. The sharks have gathered from all over the Pacific. As they wait | :45:46. | :45:49. | |
for the fish, they've evolved to swim slowly in circles using muscles | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
which not only keep them moving, but also produce heat. It's this | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
self-generated heat that sets them apart from many other sharks keeping | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
them limber in these cold waters and allowing them to power after salmon | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
in bursts of up to 50mph. Boone has thrown in a couple of herring, we | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
are hoping she will change course to grab hold of one of them. Coming | :46:13. | :46:17. | |
back towards us... And diving. Wow. That's my first | :46:18. | :46:24. | |
close-up glimpse of a salmon shark. Staying warm isn't their own | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
adaptation to cope in these extreme conditions. With summer melt water | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
running into the lagoons the waters are muddy with sediment making | :46:35. | :46:40. | |
visibility almost non-existent but their giant supersensitive eyes suck | :46:41. | :46:49. | |
in light, enhancing their vision. With most shark encounters, they use | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
a sense of smell to draw them in, but these are so driven by their | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
incredible eyesight, it's all about creating a flash of silvery scales | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
and they see it, and they just come hammering in towards the bait. | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
She is quick! To really understand the challenge salmon sharks face | :47:08. | :47:10. | |
here, I am getting in. But I do need to be careful, as | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
these sharks are distant relatives of the Great White. Steve, when you | :47:16. | :47:22. | |
jump in, remember, slow movements, these sharks are quite skittish. Go | :47:23. | :47:31. | |
that direction. And go about 20 feet. This is so spooky. | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
Can't see the sharks at all. I know one was almost on me, and still | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
couldn't see it. Can't even see my own feet and knowing that out there | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
in the gloom... Is that one coming towards us now? Yeah, right behind | :47:47. | :47:52. | |
us. Right behind us. Finally, out of the gloom, I catch sight of glosly | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
shadows. It might not look like much but this is a privileged glimpse | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
into the murky world of these extraordinary predators -- ghost. I | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
guess that shows quite how specialised the senses are of this | :48:08. | :48:10. | |
shark. It can still hunt something as fast as a salmon in water where | :48:11. | :48:18. | |
you can't see anything at all. Well, Boone, we have been in contact | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
with him, they've already seen 35 salmon sharks so numbers are already | :48:24. | :48:31. | |
up as far as this year is concerned. Karla Casalucan joins us now, you | :48:32. | :48:34. | |
made a big impact on Sunday, that's why you are here! You are a good | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
omen for us, you were saying the wolf is... Here we go again, we have | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
more live wolves, feeding this time. My relatives coming to show you a | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
good time! Yeah, I mean, your tribe, it seems to have caused real | :48:49. | :48:52. | |
interest back home. Could you give us a bit of history of the tribe. | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
Well, they've been the original owner occupiers of Alaska for well | :49:00. | :49:03. | |
over 10,000 years and our culture is still here thriving in this modern | :49:04. | :49:06. | |
day age. We heard about the importance of Wolves and also the | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
importance of eagles, they're a very important bird for you. Yeah, eagles | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
are very important for us, as well. Aside from being our national symbol | :49:14. | :49:20. | |
in this country, before our people here in the south-east community, | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
they represent to the people one of the major - the society is divided | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
into equal halves of the eagle and raven. People back at home are | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
interested in how your tribe managed to survive before modern technology | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
but you were saying interesting things earlier on. Modern technology | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
learned a thing or two from traditional ecological knowledge. A | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
lot of modern medicines come from native traditional medicines. | :49:50. | :49:55. | |
Water-proofing. And yes, water-proofing, we use the animal | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
fats or intestines. What do you make of porcupines? Fun little creatures, | :50:03. | :50:05. | |
but boy, they are a nuisance sometimes. They like to get into | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
people's gardens and chew things up that they probably shouldn't be | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
eating up. You see this socket here, that's the work of a porcupine. They | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
do interesting things, like rolling up carpet, would you believe? It's a | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
fact, they roll up carpets and chew lots of sockets, as well. Don't know | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
if they want us here, it's fun to have them. They are fun to watch | :50:26. | :50:32. | |
actually. The mischief they can cause, eating people's bicycle tyres | :50:33. | :50:34. | |
and chewing on brake lines for cars, yeah. It's time to join Steve again | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
on his mission to get into the heart of the glacier. Let's catch up with | :50:40. | :50:40. | |
him. I love the way that the waters | :50:41. | :51:00. | |
sculpted the wall of this cave, there are marks running down the | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
length of it. The thing that reminds you of quite what is so special | :51:06. | :51:12. | |
about this place is the ice itself. Although, you know, it's very, very | :51:13. | :51:16. | |
blue. When you look at one particular chunk of ice, it is | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
see-through, it's like glass. The reason for that is that this fell as | :51:21. | :51:26. | |
snow on the fields above us 250, maybe 300 years ago. Over that time, | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
it's been squeezed down into this solid chunk of ice. Sometimes if you | :51:34. | :51:36. | |
take particularly ancient ice and put a lump into a drink it starts to | :51:37. | :51:43. | |
fizz with the gas, the air that's been held inside it for hundreds of | :51:44. | :51:47. | |
years. Right, let's push on and see what we have beyond. I will have to | :51:48. | :51:58. | |
squeeze past you, sorry! So this tunnel goes on for quite a | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
way. Some of these will go for hundreds and hundreds of metres, all | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
the way down through the glacier. And there will be lots and lots of | :52:09. | :52:20. | |
ponds like this one. This is what is really important for the feast here | :52:21. | :52:25. | |
in Alaska. This glacial silt, it's incredibly fine. It's kind of almost | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
like toothpaste underneath your fingers. This has come from the | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
bedrock and it's full of silt which is full of phosphates and iron and | :52:37. | :52:39. | |
other minerals and eventually this will be swept out to sea along with | :52:40. | :52:46. | |
all the pure water in the glacier, 50,000 billion gallons of it. That | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
will drive down into the deep sea and drive up any trients that makes | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
the planks of blue and eventually feeds everything else here in this | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
Alaskan feast obviously this whole thing is changing as climate change | :53:04. | :53:06. | |
breaks away these glaciers and it's frightening to think of what could | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
happen in the future if these glaciers disappeared, certainly | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
they're receding at a frightening rate. For now, it is really... Look | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
at that up there! It's like a skylight above us! Bringing down | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
light into this cave. Honestly, it is a real honour to be | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
in here and see what has to be one of the most special places on the | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
whole planet. I reckon there is still more clambering to go, up in | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
that direction. Oh! It's still so cool! | :53:44. | :53:53. | |
So, absolutely everything here in Alaska is interconnected in a | :53:54. | :53:58. | |
complex web, even from these mighty skyscraper ice to the marine beasts | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
at sea, and that's going to be my next mission. | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
Oh, that's great. Look at that. Have a little scratch under the chin | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
there, from that brown bear up the coast from where we are watching | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
this, John. Beautiful. You can't get enough of this stuff. You have | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
dedicated these life to your creatures. I took your quiz and I | :54:22. | :54:26. | |
wound up a brown bear! Why have you decided to dedicate your life to | :54:27. | :54:29. | |
them, John? They're amazing creatures. We can learn so much from | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
them. Just getting along in the forest and understanding how to get | :54:35. | :54:37. | |
along on a stream and share resources, that's amazing in itself. | :54:38. | :54:41. | |
Yeah. We will go back. She's been finding out exactly what you are | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
talking about here, we can cross to Liz live right now in Katmai | :54:47. | :54:57. | |
National Park. Watching Daniel's shots there. | :54:58. | :55:00. | |
That's the bear that was fishing right by us. Anything can change | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
here. We were expecting more bears to congregate at the river but the | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
tide is so far out today, it means the bears are following where the | :55:10. | :55:13. | |
salmon are and where the best chances of catching them is really. | :55:14. | :55:16. | |
The hierarchy is important here, isn't it, how do they establish the | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
hierarchy? Well, it's body language, that's how they learn from each | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
other, who is dominant. And what is the pecking order, the big males and | :55:28. | :55:31. | |
then who follows next and who is at the bottom? The big males and then | :55:32. | :55:35. | |
the males that are eight to ten years old and then the juveniles, | :55:36. | :55:38. | |
but the mums with older cubs will have priority over the juveniles and | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
then mums with the spring cubs will be last on the list. How important | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
is your position in the hierarchy if you are a bear? It's extremely | :55:46. | :55:49. | |
important, I mean, the dominant males are going to be at the mouth | :55:50. | :55:52. | |
of the creek where the fish are fresher and the bears that have to | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
fish further up the creek are getting the dead and spawned out | :55:57. | :56:00. | |
fish that does not have a higher fat content. I am thinking about Aana | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
and her cubs and how important it is to feed them, it's a trade-off for | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
mums and cubs, you want the best possible fish but you can't get too | :56:10. | :56:12. | |
close to the males or you risk them killing your cubs. Exactly. She has | :56:13. | :56:15. | |
to take that chance. Sometimes she will come out here, but for the | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
majority of the time she will be further up the creek. It goes to | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
show how important this whole social hierarchy is as a salmon run plays | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
out. We will look at that more on Sunday's show, particularly what | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
happens when the males... That's a seagull. Who is top bear here and we | :56:34. | :56:38. | |
will find out what happens when bears and wolves come together. We | :56:39. | :56:41. | |
will see you then. I am going to ask you a cruel | :56:42. | :56:48. | |
question here that's come in, is there one - is there a most | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
important animal? It is the salmon. It's the heartbeat of the native | :56:55. | :56:57. | |
people in the state. We have seen, of all the animals we have seen, | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
goodness me, these pictures of live wolves, we never, ever thought we | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
would get these. Brown bears in abundance, all sorts of wonderful | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
creatures that do live here. Don't forget there is a live question and | :57:11. | :57:14. | |
answer on the BBC One Facebook page right after the show. You are all | :57:15. | :57:18. | |
welcome to join in. It's entirely up to yourselves, don't forget Wild UK | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
is on tomorrow morning here on BBC One. Sunday is our final show. It is | :57:23. | :57:31. | |
the big one! We are hoping to bring you all of | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
the Alaskan animals descending on this feast, from land, from sky, and | :57:36. | :57:39. | |
from sea. Please don't forget to join us at | :57:40. | :57:55. | |
8pm on Sunday night. From all of our teams across the Alaskan wilderness, | :57:56. | :57:58. | |
wherever they are, whatever they're bringing, it's goodbye from all of | :57:59. | :58:00. | |
us. Good night. | :58:01. | :58:09. |