The Arctic.
For anything to survive here, it has to be strong
and able to deal with ice and snow at any time.
The largest
and least known part of this inhospitable region
belongs to Russia.
Russia's Arctic
stretches over 6,000 kilometers
from the Norwegian border to Alaska.
Endless expenses of icy wilderness and storm-tossed islands
with mysterious names like Novaya Zemlya,
Taymyr or the legendary Wrangel Island.
In March
the ice sheet on the White Sea
in the west of the Russian Arctic
begins to break up.
Thousands of Harp Seals gather here
to give birth.
Mother seals always keep a hole in the ice open
and can thus surface right next to their offspring.
Seal pups weight only 10 kilograms at birth,
less than a tenth of their mother.
Their immediate preoccupation is feeding
and growing quickly.
A seals only suckle their young for 12 days,
thereafter the little ones remain on the ice on their own,
until their dark coats are fully developed
and they can take to the sea.
But for now they are still cuddly and white
and impatient for their next meal.
About 7 times a day mother and baby meet
at feeding time.
Seal milk is very nutritious
with the fat content of 42 percent.
The pups put on around 2 kilos a day.
Once the mother stopped suckling,
the young seals have reached a weight of about 35 kilos
and are well-prepared for the future.
A male seal tries to attract some attention.
The mating season for Harp Seals is approaching,
but for now the female gives him the cold shoulder.
Maybe blowing bubbles will help.
The admirer is persistent.
But she really isn't in the mood.
After the short suckling period
the pups will not see their mothers again.
Well-fed, they are safe for now on the ice flows of the White Sea.
Polar bears are almost never seen in this region.
The bears, the largest land predators on Earth,
are far out in the Arctic Ocean where they find prey more easily.
Only rarely do they come across other bears,
as by the end of winter the sea ice has reached its greatest extend.
Soon the ice will melt,
and the kings of the Arctic will have to take to dry land.
Mid-May.
4,000 kilometers east of the White Sea in Northern Yakutia.
One of the rarest birds in the world builds its nest here during the winter:
a Siberian White Crane.
The remaining two or three thousand of these mysterious birds
breed exclusively in Russia.
The birds react extremely nervously to any disturbance
and for this reason have hardly ever been captured on film.
A 1, 000 kilometers further east lies Wrangel Island,
close to the Alaskan peninsula.
Every May
snow geese arrive on the island near the Bering Strait
from their North-American winter quarters.
In the only breeding colony in the whole of Russia
almost 50000 pairs of geese settle in a high valley.
Their arrival is eagerly anticipated.
The Arctic Fox in winter pelt is always hungry,
but the geese are well able to defend themselves.
In May the sun is already strong,
but the geese's breeding areas are still covered in snow.
That calls for patience.
Day by day the snow-free areas,
important food sources for geese and snipe increase.
The long migration has used up the energy reserves of the smaller birds,
which now urgently need to feed.
In the Russian Arctic winter is never far away.
Polar air masses can cause the weather to change in no time.
The next morning the temperature has fallen to -10 degrees Centigrade.
The Arctic Fox is well protected from cold and wind by its winter fur.
It keeps a constant lookout for victims of the harsh weather.
The snow geese still have enough in reserve
to go a few days without food.
They saved their energy and wait, just like the Long-tailed Skuas.
Not everybody is suffering from the sudden onset of winter.
Musk oxen are well-prepared for the extreme cold.
In contrast to the migratory birds they've spent the whole winter here
in temperatures below -40 degrees.
Originally related to goats, these massive animals were extinct in the Arctic,
then successfully re-introduced in the mid-1970s
and are now thriving.
The cold spell has already lasted a week,
unusually long.
For the birds the situation is slowly getting serious.
The frozen ground offers hardly any food.
Huddled together, Grey Plovers,
Ruddy Turnstones and Dunlins
seek shelter from the icy wind.
For some it's already too late.
In the end it is the sun's energy that saves them.
Melt water finds its way through the snowy planes.
Finally the frost eases its icy grip on the ground.
A commotion goes through the colony, as a wolf appears in the valley.
It does not however seem intetested it the birds,
they, on the other hand, are all the more intetested in the predator.
A veritable pursuit ensues
albeit from a safe distance.
Finally the uninvited guest withdraws.
In the breeding colony however, nobody sounds the all-clear.
Foxes raid the nesting grounds on a daily basis.
The geese are prepared.
While the female broods,
the gander is always close by, ready to defend the nest.
The fox knows better than to attack him.
Because of the sudden cold spell many geese have given up their nests.
Easy pickings for the fox,
which finds more than it can eat
and can thus store some for later.
Foxes create hundreds of such caches.
In the cold earth of the tundra the eggs stay fresh for months.
Soon it has looted all the abandoned nests,
life becomes harder again.
The fox tests the gander's defensive capabilities.
At the first sign of weakness the predatorwill keep up the pressure.
Got it!
It only manages to carry off one egg,
but will remember the nest as a good source.
This time it goes straight into the offensive.
The goose doesn't stand a chance
and looses one egg after the other.
Only one remains, for now.
At the end of June summer arrives in the Russian Arctic.
For a short while, the tundra reveals hidden treasures:
Rooted Poppies, White Dryads and Silene.
The breeding season is now in full swing.
Grey Plovers, Snow Buntings and Common Eider ducks
enjoy the sunny days.
Even now temperatures barely rise above zero.
Sleet is common, and the animals are used to it.
Then the sleet turns into heavy snow,
burying the summer in just s few hours.
The Eider duck must not move,
or its clutch of eggs will be lost.
Tenaciously it braves the weather.
The Musk-oxen too are suffering.
They can handle the cold,
but the wet snow saturates their heavy fur.
This small group led by an old bull gets nervous,
as a second bull strides purposefully up from the valley.
With its head down and to one side the older bull assumes its fighting stands.
The rivals show off their mighty flanks.
The newcomer approaches the females.
One cow smells especially interesting,
but it's too soon.
The mating season doesn't begin until August and September.
The old bull has had enough
and challenges the rival.
There is only a short skirmish.
Another few months will pass before the rivalry gets serious.
The snow does not lie for very long.
The July sun is too strong,
it slowly reveals Wrangel Island's distant past.
Ivory, washed free from the permafrost.
Wrangel Island remained home to woolly mammoths
long after they were extinct elsewhere.
This tusk is barely 4,000 years old.
A remnant of the very last of their kind.
Some contemporaries of the mammoth have survived till today.
Reindeer.
Russia's Arctic is the habitat of the largest Reindeer population on Earth.
About a million live on the Taymyr Peninsula alone.
The grazing Reindeer pass through the Snow Goose colony without incident.
All the same, the geese are especially alert at the moment.
Their offspring have begun to hatch.
While the first chicks could have left the nest with their parents after the few hours,
they have to wait until all the eggs are hatched, and that can easily take a whole day.
A dangerous phase for the youngest.
If the fox gets too close,
the safest place is under mother's wing.
This time, however, the fox is not after the geese.
It has spotted something bigger in the undergrowth of dwarf willows.
A lemming,
a prize catch.
The coast seems to be clear,
but there is another predator about.
A wolverine.
The large marten is too big to be chased away by a gander.
Fortunately it settles for an egg and leaves the chicks alone.
It's the gosling's last chance to relax,
before the whole family
moves to the flat tundra,
where huge lakes offer food and shelter.
A long and dangerous journey for the geese.
Some families migrate over 70 kilometers,
whatever the weather.
July is the warmest month in the Arctic,
and the green tundra has food in abundance,
not only for the goslings.
In the mountains the arctic foxes have only few offspring this year.
Just two cubs wait for the parents to return.
Moreover, they are much too small for their age,
as there are almost no lemmings this summer.
Their mother returns only rarely and even then with hardly any food.
The prospects aren't good for the young foxes.
Lower down on the planes things look brighter.
Here the cubs have developed much faster,
because they have an additional source of food: goslings.
Shortly afterwards they are joined by their siblings.
Sharing is not a popular concept.
How so often in life -
if two cannot agree, a third profits.
Snowy Owls can not switch to a diet of geese,
they are dependent on lemmings.
The chicks beg, but their mother has not brought any food.
In years with few lemmings many Snowy Owls do not breed at all.
This mother has only two chicks instead of the usual ten,
and one of them is very weak.
The difference in size of the siblings is enormous.
The mother goes off hunting.
For hours she watches for signs of movement on the hill opposite.
The lemming has long been in her sights.
She tries her luck.
It's high time her offspring had something to eat.
This time the mother owl succeeds in catching
one of the elusive rodents.
The prey is immediately claimed by the stronger chick.
By now the smaller sibling is barely showing signs of life.
The mother, however, tries to feed it the lemming.
But to no avail.
The little one is too weak and the bigger one too hungry.
There is nothing the mother can do.
The bigger chick is safe for the moment,
but the mother owl will have enough trouble providing enough food for one.
Arctic coasts are surprisingly rich feeding grounds.
A Gray Whale.
Close to the coast it filters the sea floor for crabs and mussels.
Belugas.
The name is russian in origin and means "the white ones".
In the summer they migrate over thousands of kilometers
along the shallow russian Arctic coast,
searching for crabs and shoals of fish.
The little group includes a young whale,
just a few hours old.
It keeps close to its mother.
It's much easier to swim in herwake.
Sea birds also know what rich pickings are to be found here
and form large breeding colonies all along the coast.
One species is especially well-suited to the harsh climate:
Brunnich's Guillemots.
Here, close to the rocks, the chicks are sheltered from the wind
and unpleasant surprises.
Fortunately, the shower is just a short hop away.
Nordic sea birds have to be resilient, even in summer.
The wind drives fields of pack ice towards the coast.
What was a waterfall a moment ago, is frozen solid the next.
The nests of the Red-legged Kittiwakes are transformed into crystal palaces.
The Guillemot chicks have left their rock.
With the daring leap they normally go straight into the water.
This yeas pack ice blocks the way.
They must, however, get to the open sea,
so that their parents can feed them.
Moving nimbly from floe to floe,
the arctic fox senses an opportunity.
For now the chick is safe, because the fox doesn't like water.
It's still a long way to the open sea, however.
The fox lands in a dead end,
and when it ends up taking an involuntary bath, it's had enough.
By mid-August Wrangle Island is surrounded by drifting ice fields
with weighty cargo on board:
Polar Bears.
The large bears sense that the ice is fragile
and use the proximity to the island to leave the floe.
Due to global warming the periods without sea ice along the russian northern coast
are becoming longer and longer.
A few hundred bears are stranded on Wrangel Island,
where they will have to wait until November, when the sea freezes over again.
Until then there won't be much to eat.
Predators have sharp senses,
above all when they are hungry.
This young bear has seen a movement in the shallow lagoon.
It takes a closer look.
Then it tries to catch a fish,
unheard-of behavior for a polar bear.
Polar bears are really seal hunters.
This youngster doesn't seem very well equipped to deal with fish.
Yet, if it tastes good,
the bearwill quickly learn how to catch it.
It's now September.
For the Musk-oxen the time for rivalries to be settled.
Often two bulls of similar strength will stay together for some time
and regularly perform violent sparring matches.
Serious fighting, however, is something else.
Deep lowing challenges the rival.
Weighing around 400 kilos each,
the bulls crash into each other at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.
But in spite of the enormous forces involved, injuries are rare.
The bulls' thick horny plates sit on a flexible layer of keratin
and solid bone underneath,
which cushion the impact.
The strain is nonetheless enormous,
so the weaker of the two rivals usually gives up fairly quickly.
Autumn in the tundra.
The snow geese gather.
A 5,000 kilometer flight lies before them,
some even fly as far as California and Mexico.
The coming winter is already in the air.
The hungry bears patrol the gravel banks,
keeping out of each other's way.
Mothers with young are especially cautious about their surroundings.
The cub is just 9 months old,
even other bears just wanting to be playful are too dangerous for it.
Thus it stays close to its motherwho keeps potential playmates at a distance.
Even older cubs are cautious.
This adult male weighing a good 700 kilos is certainly not suitable.
Occasionally males even kill cubs.
Apart from waiting forwinter to come,
there is not a lot the bears can do.
An old walrus skin is a welcomed distraction for this young male.
It makes a good toy
and at least tastes of something.
The bearwould much prefer to have the skin complete with contents.
In late September
tens of thousands of walruses leave the Arctic seas.
They move southwards through the Bering Strait away from the storms and ice.
On theirjourney they cover large distances,
but also need regular periods of rest on dry land.
As long as there are polar bears lurking on the banks, the walruses will stay in the water.
It's the only safe place for them.
It is hard for a polar bear to overpower a walrus even on dry land,
if they stay in the water, the bears will have to make do with hungry glances.
Someway away from the group a lone walrus has ventured into the shallows.
It's weak and rests his head on its long tusks.
It does not remain undiscovered for long.
In the twilight a large male bear picks up the scent.
The next morning not much of the walrus remains.
A young bear discovers the carcass.
Cautiously it moves closer,
the real owner could be somewhere nearby.
He is in fact only 200 meters away,
a giant of a bear,
and so full of food he can hardly move.
The youngster seizes the opportunity.
Using its own weight, it tenderizes the meat.
The old bear hasn't the energy to argue.
Even so, the younger one remains cautious.
It has to take its chance, however,
there won't be any other food any time soon.
Warily, the walruses watch the beach.
Only when the last bear has vanished, do they leave the water.
Walruses are very sociable animals, lone animals are seen only rarely.
Even when there is plenty of space,
they lie down close togetherwith body contact.
The huge animals can weigh up to 1.5 tons,
and their tusks grow to lengths of over half a meter.
Dangerous weapons, feared even by polar bears.
Scuffles are commonplace.
Finally the colony of giants settles down.
But not for long.
Winter is on the way
and the walruses will soon set out for the Bering Strait.
By October the temperatures no longer make it over freezing point.
The winter has finally returned.
The polar bears' time on dry land is almost over.
When the first fields of pack ice reach the coast,
the bears set out for their frozen world,
where no one can follow.
The Arctic is still a place where nature makes the rules
and not humans.
Soon the sun will disappear for months behind the horizon
and Russia's Arctic will sink into darkness,
illuminated only by the eerie glimmer of northern lights.