Original air date: 21 April 2024
A timeline of what happens in the episode
Selected sequences
Polar bear hunting a reindeer
A very unusual prey for a polar bear. Top left it is running after a single reindeer. Next image, top right, it has made the jump onto its rear end. The bottom image shows it killing its prey (8’30-8’55).
Bat mating during hibernation
A single male bat wakes up during hibernation (top left), and clambers to where the females are located. The male hadn’t yet managed to mate with any of them. At the bottom he mates with one of the females while making sure she doesn’t wake up. His body is glowing much more than hers (arrow pointing at the mere faint glow of her body). The sperm transferred with mating is stored until the wake up after hibernation.
Harp seal mother searching for her pup
While the mother is diving to get food for her pup the ice keeps drifting. It can be hard to find her own pup among all the other pup that are calling at the same time. The sequence includes lots of failed attempts, “… not this one”. Just imagine all the effort for the camera team to film those!
On the left the mother smells for her pup, and listens intently to its calls, right (27’56). No other pup will get her milk.