A natural history of Antarctica presented by Sir David Attenborough.
- With winter temperatures of minus 70 centigrade and 100mph winds, only 800
people live in this inhospitable continent, one and a half times the size of
Europe. But there is abundant wildlife - millions of penguins, thousands of
whales and half the world's seals somehow survive the hardest conditions on
the planet.
- In the spring, the thaw begins and animals like the humpback whale and the
crabeater seal follow the retreating ice.
- It's summer in Antarctica, and with 24-hour daylight the race to breed is
on as two million fur seals crowd the beaches of South Georgia. When the
pups are born, ferocious bulls attack any intruders who challenge their
females. Meanwhile, Chinstrap penguins cross glacial streams and climb near
vertical cliffs to feed their chicks as formidable leopard seals lurk.
- Autumn has stirred up harsh seas which batter the islands of Antarctica,
leaving penguins to struggle ashore to feed their young. Amid the wildness
of the landscape, leopard seals pounce at unsuspecting fledglings, fur seal
pups take their first swim, and young wandering albatrosses rehearse their
amazing courtship dance.
- During the Antarctic winter, conditions are so extreme that most animal
life deserts the region. The few exceptions include emperor penguins, which
huddle together as storms rage, and Weddell seals, which maintain holes in
the ice for access to an underwater world in which fish survive by having
natural antifreeze in their blood.
- Only a hundred years have passed since humans first experienced the savage conditions
that can sweep Antarctica even in its brief summer. At Cape Evans, in Captain Scott's old
hut, amid the perfectly preserved provisions and personal effects left behind in 1911,
David Attenborough recounts the epic and moving story of the great struggle to be the
first human being to stand at the South Pole.
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