Planet Earth: Ice Worlds

After an episode about deserts, it’s only natural that Planet Earth moves towards the worlds of ice and snow. Our entry into the Antarctic continent is marked by giant cathedrals of ice. We learn that 90% of the Earth’s ice is found on the South Pole and that even at the height of summer just about 3% is not covered in ice or snow, and that is mostly exposed rock at the northern-most peninsula. We witness the splendor of the Midnight Sun and of Aurora Australis. In addition we’re shown a great many magnificent animals: humpback whales harvesting krill in their “net” of bubbles; herds of walruses; “half a ton of mad hairy cow not to be trifled with” also known as muskoxen; polar wolves, foxes, and rabbits; emperor penguins marching almost a hundred miles inland; crane birds from New Mexico raising their chicks in the tundra; petrels preyed on by skuas; and ducks feeding on mussels through permanent holes in the arctic ice. We see more of the polar bear with her two cute cubs the likes of which you’ve never seen. And we also get a glimpse of what lies ahead as more and more of the ice caps melts due to global warming: a male polar bear unable to find firm footing has to resort to swimming. In this new environment, he is remarkably adept! But however well he swims, he cannot go on indefinitely – out in the open ocean, without food, he will drown if he doesn’t find land in time. Fewer polar bears will survive as a result of the changing climate.