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The pounding surf of the Great Southern Ocean beating on the rocks of South Georgia. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
Few creatures, you might think, could survive it. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:16 | |
But macaroni penguins are desperate to get ashore. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:20 | |
Their flippers are of little help out of water. | 0:01:35 | 0:01:39 | |
All they have to give them a grip on these slippery rocks | 0:01:39 | 0:01:43 | |
are the small claws on their feet. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:47 | |
Now, at the end of summer, life is becoming increasingly difficult for these macaroni penguins, | 0:02:03 | 0:02:10 | |
struggling to feed chicks that are almost fully grown and have massive appetites. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:16 | |
With autumn coming, the weather will worsen. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:21 | |
Massive depressions rush around the fringes of the Antarctic continent, | 0:02:21 | 0:02:26 | |
creating gales that gust to 100 miles an hour and lash the sea into a frenzy. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
Soon temperatures will drop to below freezing and all the wildlife of Antarctica | 0:02:30 | 0:02:36 | |
will run a desperate race to complete breeding before the ice closes everything down. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:43 | |
In the deep south, the sea stays frozen all summer. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:52 | |
The penguins here face an even greater challenge, for this is where the door closes first. | 0:02:52 | 0:02:59 | |
Here at Cape Royds, I'm 1,400 miles closer to the Pole | 0:02:59 | 0:03:04 | |
and this Adelie colony is the most southerly nesting group of any penguins anywhere. | 0:03:04 | 0:03:11 | |
The summer here is very short indeed and these penguins must breed very swiftly if they're to be successful. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:18 | |
They're well ahead of the macaronis up in the north | 0:03:18 | 0:03:21 | |
and the chicks are already losing their down. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:26 | |
Beneath the woolly coat lies the waterproof layer of feathers that will protect them in the icy seas. | 0:03:26 | 0:03:34 | |
The season is so short that things have to move fast. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:45 | |
Over a mere two weeks, the jam-packed colony virtually empties | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
as the newly-feathered young follow their parents down to the sea for their first encounter with water. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:56 | |
And their first swim will not be easy. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
The bay is filled with surging, sharp-edged brash ice. | 0:04:12 | 0:04:17 | |
Even getting down to the water poses problems. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:22 | |
Soon, the edge of the sea is thronged | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
by apprehensive youngsters nervously waiting for someone to take the plunge. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:37 | |
The brash is so thick and extensive that on its seaward side, | 0:04:37 | 0:04:43 | |
adults returning with food for their chicks can't get through. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:47 | |
They turn back. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
The hungry chicks have no choice - | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
they have to get to sea to feed. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
It's easier for them to cross the brash than for their parents. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:24 | |
Being much lighter and more buoyant, | 0:05:24 | 0:05:27 | |
they can skitter across the surface of the broken ice. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:33 | |
But moving so slowly and so clumsily | 0:05:41 | 0:05:45 | |
puts them in real danger. | 0:05:45 | 0:05:48 | |
WARNING CRY | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
A leopard seal! | 0:05:58 | 0:06:00 | |
The majority of the chicks make it to open water, where they're a little safer. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:17 | |
The leopard seal stays with its victim. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:22 | |
This game of cat and mouse goes on for 20 minutes. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:21 | |
Like so many other large predators on land and on sea, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:26 | |
the leopard seal seems to feel no urgency to complete its kill. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:31 | |
At last, the penguin is dead. | 0:07:33 | 0:07:36 | |
Now the process of stripping off its flesh begins. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:42 | |
The carcass drifts down to the sea floor | 0:08:12 | 0:08:16 | |
but it won't be wasted. | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
A nemertean worm, a metre long. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
It has detected the taste of penguin flesh drifting through the cold water. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:45 | |
Another scavenger arrives - | 0:08:53 | 0:08:56 | |
a giant isopod, 10 centimetres long, | 0:08:56 | 0:08:59 | |
the equivalent of crabs in warmer waters. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
The isopod strips off the meat with its hooked legs and strong jaws. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:16 | |
The worm turns its stomach inside out and envelops the food. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:21 | |
Within hours, the carcass is covered by a writhing tangle of worms. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:29 | |
Within days, there is nothing left but bare bones. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:37 | |
The first snows of winter have fallen. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:45 | |
The last chicks to hatch are doomed. Their parents have to abandon them before they're fully grown. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:52 | |
The adults must go to sea to build up their strength | 0:09:52 | 0:09:57 | |
before returning to the colony for one last ordeal before winter sets in - the moult. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:04 | |
All penguins need a new coat of feathers for the winter. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:11 | |
That means shedding the old one. Colonies across the continent fill with shed feathers. | 0:10:11 | 0:10:18 | |
On Deception Island, chinstrap penguins stand silent and motionless. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:25 | |
Only a month ago, these steep slopes of volcanic ash | 0:10:30 | 0:10:35 | |
were noisy with the squawks of 80,000 pairs of them coming and going and caring for their chicks. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:42 | |
Now, they've little energy to spare. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
They can't go to sea with their coats in this condition, so they can't feed. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:53 | |
For three weeks they stand fasting, losing half their body weight | 0:10:56 | 0:11:01 | |
but at the end they'll have warm, watertight coats and be ready for the icy blasts of winter. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:08 | |
By the end of March, most of them have left | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
and the remainder are on the move, | 0:11:18 | 0:11:21 | |
making their way across the emptying slopes, back to the sea. | 0:11:21 | 0:11:27 | |
Escape to the north, to open seas, is the driving force - | 0:11:49 | 0:11:53 | |
to move where the food should be. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:57 | |
But the obstacles are formidable. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
At minus 1.9 degrees centigrade, the sea begins to freeze. | 0:12:24 | 0:12:30 | |
A slight swell on the surface produces pancake ice. | 0:12:30 | 0:12:34 | |
In the frigid air, the ice above water grows into crystals. | 0:12:40 | 0:12:45 | |
The early explorers called these fantastic shapes "ice flowers". | 0:12:46 | 0:12:52 | |
As it gets colder and colder, the ice thickens. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:03 | |
On the coast, it freezes fast to the margins of the land. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:08 | |
Farther out, the pack-ice consolidates into sea-ice. | 0:13:11 | 0:13:15 | |
The belt of ice surrounding the continent widens, | 0:13:15 | 0:13:20 | |
advancing northwards two miles a day and driving life before it. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
But the ice front has not yet reached all the islands | 0:13:27 | 0:13:32 | |
and there are still some that can provide a refuge for wildlife well into autumn. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:39 | |
Here on South Georgia we are on the northern edge of Antarctica. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:50 | |
The sea here doesn't usually freeze over. Only once or twice in a century does it do so. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:56 | |
This floating ice has all fallen from the glacier behind me. | 0:13:56 | 0:14:01 | |
But although at 54 degrees south we are as far away from the South Pole as Britain is from the North, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:09 | |
the immense ice-cap of Antarctica still dominates the climate. | 0:14:09 | 0:14:14 | |
Glaciers cover over half the island. | 0:14:14 | 0:14:17 | |
They blanket many of the peaks, | 0:14:17 | 0:14:20 | |
the tallest of which are 2,700 metres high, | 0:14:20 | 0:14:24 | |
and in some places they run right down into the sea. | 0:14:24 | 0:14:28 | |
During winter, the temperature falls to minus 10 degrees at the coast, | 0:14:28 | 0:14:34 | |
so the need for animals to complete their breeding in the short summer season is still very intense. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:41 | |
Two million fur seals breed here | 0:14:43 | 0:14:46 | |
and at the end of summer, the beaches are thronged with young pups and their mothers. | 0:14:46 | 0:14:53 | |
The pups suckle for 4 months, until late March. | 0:14:53 | 0:14:58 | |
That's longer than fur seals that live in warmer waters farther north. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:03 | |
It's a measure of how strong young animals have to be to survive down here. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:10 | |
A pup, if it is to get all the milk it's due, | 0:15:16 | 0:15:20 | |
has to recognise its mother's call when she returns from feeding at sea | 0:15:20 | 0:15:26 | |
and is ready to provide a feed. | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
CALLING TO PUP | 0:15:32 | 0:15:35 | |
Three months earlier, this shore was a battlefield | 0:15:40 | 0:15:45 | |
as bulls fought for the right to dominate a stretch of beach - and all the females on it. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:52 | |
Now the mating has finished and the bulls have gone to sea. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
The pups are left to test their strength with MOCK fights. | 0:15:56 | 0:16:01 | |
Many of the youngsters playing here will not survive their first year. | 0:16:50 | 0:16:55 | |
The weaker ones will not get enough food. | 0:16:55 | 0:16:59 | |
There will be accidents and orphans. By the end of the breeding season, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:05 | |
corpses lie scattered over the beach - food for skuas and giant petrels. | 0:17:05 | 0:17:10 | |
The petrels with their great, hooked beaks, | 0:17:40 | 0:17:45 | |
are usually the first to rip open a carcass. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:50 | |
They are the Antarctic's equivalent of Africa's vultures. Their huge wings are 2 metres across. | 0:17:50 | 0:17:57 | |
But unlike vultures, they don't just scavenge. | 0:17:57 | 0:18:01 | |
They tackle young penguins and small sea-birds while they're still alive. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:06 | |
The whalers in the old days used to call them "gluttons". | 0:18:33 | 0:18:39 | |
It's easy to see why. Their dirtiness gave them another name - "stinkers". | 0:18:39 | 0:18:46 | |
Surprisingly, there are ducks at this feast too. | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
These are South Georgia pintails. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
Alone among ducks, they've acquired a regular taste for meat. | 0:18:53 | 0:18:59 | |
An elephant-seal wallow. This is an all-female gathering. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:39 | |
They clearly like one another's company, for they congregate in great assemblies. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:46 | |
That doesn't mean they don't, on occasion, get irritated with one another. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:52 | |
GRUNTING NOISES | 0:19:54 | 0:19:58 | |
Like the penguins, they went to sea after rearing their young, | 0:19:58 | 0:20:04 | |
fed intensively to put on the weight they lost during breeding and now they've come back in order to moult. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:11 | |
Large chunks of skin and hair peel off their bodies | 0:20:16 | 0:20:21 | |
and it seems to make them tetchy. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:23 | |
It takes a month for them to grow new coats. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
Then, as the temperature falls still lower and winter closes in, | 0:20:28 | 0:20:33 | |
they will return to the place where they are most at home - the sea. | 0:20:33 | 0:20:39 | |
Grey-headed albatross also nest on South Georgia | 0:20:42 | 0:20:47 | |
but they stay a little longer. | 0:20:47 | 0:20:50 | |
The waters are still ice-free, | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
so they can catch food for their young well into autumn. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:59 | |
An adult bird, caring for its chick, | 0:21:18 | 0:21:21 | |
may travel 600 miles or more to find food, which it brings back in its crop. | 0:21:21 | 0:21:27 | |
That was a squid | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
and very nice too. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:42 | |
Above the grey heads, another kind of albatross - | 0:21:43 | 0:21:48 | |
the largest sea-bird in the world, with a 3-metre wingspan, the wandering albatross. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:55 | |
It nests a little further inland on South Georgia's meadows and ridges of tussock-grass. | 0:21:55 | 0:22:02 | |
In marked contrast to the other birds, | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
that have almost finished their breeding and are preparing to leave, | 0:22:11 | 0:22:15 | |
this wandering albatross has come to start a courtship that may take two or three years. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:22 | |
SHRILL CRIES | 0:22:26 | 0:22:32 | |
These young birds have spent the first three years of their adult life at sea. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:39 | |
Now they've returned to the colony where they were reared and are looking for a partner. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:47 | |
And the way they do this is by taking part in dancing parties. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:52 | |
Young, unmated birds court like this for several years | 0:23:13 | 0:23:18 | |
before they decide who their partners shall be | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
and together start work on a nest mound. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:27 | |
But as the winter sets in and its icy door closes, | 0:23:40 | 0:23:44 | |
the young albatross too have to return to sea. | 0:23:44 | 0:23:49 | |
The sea won't freeze here around South Georgia | 0:24:19 | 0:24:23 | |
but as the sun moves north and the days darken, | 0:24:23 | 0:24:28 | |
the temperature of the ocean falls lower still and life in the water becomes increasingly scarce. | 0:24:28 | 0:24:35 | |
The shoals of krill disperse and for sea-birds, food becomes more and more difficult to find. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:42 | |
By April, winter storms are beginning to sweep across the Antarctic. | 0:24:51 | 0:24:58 | |
The winds rise to above 100 miles an hour. | 0:25:21 | 0:25:27 | |
The temperature falls to 70 degrees below zero. | 0:25:27 | 0:25:32 | |
And then, the sea freezes. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:37 | |
The door has shut. | 0:25:37 | 0:25:40 | |
Throughout the winter, the ice continues to advance northwards. | 0:25:42 | 0:25:47 | |
The area it covers increases at the rate of 40,000 square miles every day. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:54 | |
Before the winter is over, it will have almost doubled the size of the continent. | 0:25:54 | 0:26:01 | |
Now, at the end of autumn, practically all the wildlife has escaped to the north. | 0:26:31 | 0:26:38 | |
The whales have gone to find warmer waters in which to breed. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:42 | |
The seals, albatrosses and most of the penguins have also gone out to sea, though no-one is sure where. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:50 | |
But there is one truly remarkable creature that turns all these rules upside down - the emperor penguin. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:58 | |
Largest of all the penguins, | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
the emperor stands over a metre high | 0:27:01 | 0:27:05 | |
and weighs, on average, 33 kilos. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
Most creatures are forced by the worsening weather to retreat north to warmer latitudes | 0:27:08 | 0:27:15 | |
but the emperors are gathering at the ice edge to start travelling into the deep south, | 0:27:15 | 0:27:22 | |
where they will mate and rear their young. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:26 | |
Now the emperors start their long march, maybe tens of miles, | 0:28:06 | 0:28:11 | |
to reach their traditional nesting site on the sea-ice. | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
Subtitles by Donna Jordan BBC Scotland 1993 | 0:28:38 | 0:28:42 |