Original air date: 26 October 2011
Below is a graphical timeline of the episode
A more detailed timeline of the programme is below, includes much more information
Selected material
The male polar bear’s right to mate
For a male polar bear finding a mate in the vast wildernesses of the Arctic is not enough to secure a mating. To announce her readiness to mate the female produces pheromones. He may not be the only one to have picked them up. Fending off rivals can be tough. The first one (top left) was easy and only needed to see him off. Subsequent rivals were not so easy (top right). After several such encounters he was spent (bottom) but could rest knowing she was going to be giving birth to HIS offspring next spring.
This programme contains many sequences that are simply unforgettable
The flowing glacier @15’20 would have been the first but obviously a video is not allowed here and a few snapshots do it no justice.
The icy covered trees are irresistibly beautiful
Wave washing
In the Antarctic the sequence of killer whales ‘playing’ with their prey is among the best. They seem to start with the wrong species of seal (that is likely to bite back and therefore cause too much nuisance) so after having broken down the ice floe enough to identify the species they turn away and find another floe that contains the right species (a Weddell seal). They start creating waves that knock it off the floe and into the sea where they can attack it. The sequence takes only 12 seconds in the film, but this is only the start. The seal managed to escape to another floe but finally ended up as prey.
Notice that a part of the sequence is filmed underwater among the killer whales, even in front of them (top right).
The sequence of the sea underneath the ice is a continuous marvel. A few snapshots have to do.
Images inside the caves are just as amazing as the snapshots above show
The variety in the crystals is claimed to be, partly, due to slight breeze from Mt Erebus.