Original air date: 16 December 1993
A detailed look at what happens in the episode
Selected sequences
Weddell seal & the hole in the ice
Weddell seal is the only mammal living this far south. Keeps a hole in the ice open. The hole breaks the white monotony of the whiteness of the area. Allowing females access to the hole turns it into a harem (2’35-2’50).
Lichens inside a rock
In the Dry Valley Attenborough broke a rock to show that practically the only life around there was inside the rock (left). These are lichens, in his hands as he’s wearing gloves. A higher magnitude of the lichen reveals the image on the right. A bit like a sequence from Living planet’s Frozen world, except there he found an alga.