America the Beautiful (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Under the Volcano - full transcript
(THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
NARRATOR: Welcome
to North America.
The most diverse
continent on Earth.
The only place where you can find
every landscape from polar ice cap...
to baking desert, and
everything in between.
Whatever the neighborhood, there's
a hero who can make it a home.
Smart, tough,
brave, you name it.
They all have what
it takes to thrive
in the wildest, most
beautiful continent on Earth.
SINGER: Patchwork quilt of life
Wildness never dies
Beauty always thrives
Under these spacious skies
(MUSIC FADES)
(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The wild
Northwest of America.
Majestic mountain ranges march
north for over 2,000 miles,
from Wyoming to Alaska,
and onwards into the great
wilderness of the Arctic.
This is a world of epic winters
and brief, spectacular summers,
where timing is everything.
(MUSIC FADES)
NARRATOR: There's a new
ruler in the Arctic.
The pack's relying on her to
find the food they'll need
to get through the
tough months ahead.
Their home is Ellesmere Island,
as far north as you can go.
- (WOLVES HOWLING)
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: Food is scarce.
The wolves search a territory larger
than any other wolf pack on Earth.
Forty times the size
of Washington, D.C.
They're in luck.
- (SNIFFING)
- She's picked up a scent.
(HOWLING)
NARRATOR: But this prey will
test the pack to their limit.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Musk ox. Relics of the Ice Age.
Five foot high and 800
pounds of pure attitude.
(MUSK OX GRUNTING)
(GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: An adult ox could
definitely kill a wolf.
(GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: But this herd has calves,
and with the right game plan,
the pack could take one down.
(WOLF HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The howl says,
"It's time to hunt."
(TENSE MUSIC SWELLS)
NARRATOR: The alpha female goes
out front to spook the herd.
She wants to get them running, to
tire them out and separate the young.
(GRUMBLES)
NARRATOR: She chooses the two fastest
wolves to help her push the herd
into a 40-mile-per-hour sprint.
She's got a calf,
but her teammates aren't
watching her back.
(WOLF WHIMPERING)
NARRATOR: The wolves' mistake
gives the musk ox time to regroup.
(MUSK OX SNORTING)
NARRATOR: A wall of horns
surround the calves.
Shoulder to shoulder,
they're unbreakable.
(MUSIC SETTLES)
This hunt is over.
It's a stalemate.
A strong leader knows
when to back down.
(MUSK OX GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: With this
opportunity lost,
it's going to be a long and
hungry winter for this wolf pack.
In Alaska, the first snow covers
the peaks of the Aleutian Range.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Where these mountains
meet the sea,
another northerner needs to pack on
the pounds before the winter comes.
(BEAR GROANS)
NARRATOR: A brown bear.
Survival superpower?
An iron stomach.
The smell of this rotting whale
carcass is attracting bears
from as far as 20 miles away.
Males are usually
bad-tempered loners.
(BLUESY GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)
But each bear needs up
to 60,000 calories a day
to get fat enough to make it
through the winter hibernation.
So, they've called a truce.
It's pretty rare to see this
many together on a carcass.
Thirty tons of rotting flesh
doesn't just wash up every day.
(BIRD CALLING)
NARRATOR: When bulking up, brown
bears can eat for 20 hours straight.
(BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: Oh, whoa. I
think he's overdone it.
Time for an ice bath.
Oh, man.
These guys have timed
things just right,
fattening up before the
Alaskan winter strikes.
(MUSIC FADES)
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
In the Teton
Mountains of Wyoming,
another American icon is
planning even further ahead.
(BIRDS CALLING)
NARRATOR: This female moose
has spent the year alone.
With fall here, she
wants to become a mom.
And now, she's the
center of attention.
(JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYING)
This huge male has
been on her for days.
(MOOSE BELLOWS)
NARRATOR: Sure, he's
got five-foot antlers.
But they can hit six-foot.
Let's just say she's
keeping her options open.
Now, this guy has
got her attention.
Tall, dark, and handsome.
He's got moves.
Impressive!
These two will fight over the
right to mate with the female.
But only when she decides
the time is right.
If she mates right now, her calf
will be born in the middle of winter
and may not survive.
If she holds out just a little bit longer,
it could be born in the warmth of spring.
(MUSIC FADES)
Timing is everything.
After a month, things get
a little... hmm, weird.
- (MOOSE CALLING)
- (WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Sniffing...
thrashing...
(GULPS)
NARRATOR: And quite
a bit of this.
(URINE TRICKLING)
NARRATOR: Male urine
is full of pheromones,
sort of a moose aphrodisiac.
She has to resist it,
though. It's still too early.
- (MOOSE SNORTS)
- NARRATOR: Just be patient, big guy.
Two months in, and
winter shows its hand.
(MUSIC FADES)
With colder temperatures...
come shorter days.
That's the cue she's
been waiting for.
Now, she's ready.
And the bulls know it.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(ANTLERS CLATTERING)
(MOOSE SNORTING)
NARRATOR: Their neck muscles have
doubled in size over the summer
in preparation for
this exact moment.
(ANTLERS CLATTERING)
NARRATOR: They leverage
1,600 pounds of power...
to breaking point.
- (ANTLER CRACKS)
- (MOOSE GROANS)
(BIRD CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: The antler
will grow again.
Now, his pride? That'll
take some healing.
(MOOSE SNORTS)
NARRATOR: Our female's
got her timing right.
Her calf will be born
eight months from now,
at the best possible time.
But first, there's
winter to deal with.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The mountains of the Northwest
are the tallest in North America.
Many over 14,000 feet.
And they see some of the most
extreme winter weather on Earth.
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Humid air blows in
from the Pacific.
It crashes against
the frozen peaks.
Resulting in epic snowfall. Up
to 100 feet in a single year.
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
NARRATOR: The further north you
go, the harder the winter hits.
Alaska is the northernmost
state in the U.S.,
though even here, there's one
place which doesn't freeze.
The Chilkat River, heated from
below by geothermal vents.
Chilkat means
"salmon storehouse"
in the language of the
local Tlingit people.
And one hungry American
hero knows just why.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: This young bald eagle's
been struggling to find food.
Most eagles don't make it
through their first winter.
But here, because the
river doesn't freeze,
he can access dead fish
from the salmon run...
(EAGLE CALLING)
NARRATOR: to boost his
chances of survival.
Only problem is,
he's got company.
(FOREBODING MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, that's intimidating.
Almost 4,000 bald eagles come
to feed here every winter.
The largest gathering
in the world.
And it's every eagle for itself.
(EAGLE CALLING)
NARRATOR: With a
wingspan of eight feet,
the females are the largest
and the most aggressive.
(EAGLE SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: That head
tilt tells him,
"You don't want any problems.
Back off. The fish is mine."
(EAGLE SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: He's hungry, but he's
also afraid of getting hurt.
(MUSIC SETTLES)
From the sidelines, he
can see that around here,
you have to fight to survive.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(CHIRPING)
(EAGLES CHATTERING, SQUAWKING)
(CHIRPING)
(EAGLE CHIRPING)
(SCREECHING)
(FRANTIC CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: He could hold back,
stay safe, and face starvation.
But he decides to risk it all.
(SCREECHING)
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)
(EAGLES CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: Through
sheer determination,
he’s fought off the elders
and staked his claim.
These vital calories will help
him through the hard months ahead.
Nowhere does winter like here.
Denali, the highest
mountain in North America,
and at minus 100 degrees,
the coldest on Earth.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: With the last light
disappearing over the horizon,
the clock starts on the hardest,
darkest months of the year.
Though sometimes,
there's magic in the air.
The absolute dark makes Alaska
one of the best places on Earth
to witness the aurora borealis.
(GRANDIOSE MUSIC PLAYS)
NARRATOR: In Ellesmere, polar
winds rip through the barren hills.
(WINDS WHISTLING)
(MUSK OX GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: You can’t
complain about the cold
when your ancestors
survived the Ice Age.
(MUSK OX GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Under their long guard hairs,
the musk oxen have grown a fine underwool,
the warmest fiber in the world.
In the dead of winter, they slow
their metabolism by 30 percent.
(OXEN GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: They're the
ultimate arctic survivors.
Staying slow to stay alive.
- (WINDS WHIPPING, WHISTLING)
- (ETHEREAL SINGING)
NARRATOR: Winter takes northern
heroes to their limits.
But eventually, the
good times return.
Spring.
(VOCALS, MUSIC SWELL)
NARRATOR: The warmth sweeps
northwards into Alaska.
A wake-up call for brown bears.
(MUSIC FADES)
A mom and her two new cubs.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: She nursed them through
the winter inside her den...
but it cost 30 percent
of her body weight.
She needs to eat fast.
(CUBS GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: The cubs are just
enjoying their newfound freedom.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
A snow day. It's the ultimate
cure for cabin fever.
Gotcha!
(CUBS GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: The only way to get these
little guys' attention is milk.
(CUBS WHINING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Out of the den,
their intake quadruples.
They’ll need over a
half gallon a day.
To keep the family fed,
she follows her nose.
Two thousand times more
sensitive than ours.
Jackpot! A termite nest, full
of protein-packed insects.
(CUB WHINES)
NARRATOR: It’s their
first taste of solid food.
(CUB GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Though
this meal bites back.
This snack buys Mom some time, but
there’s not much else up here to eat.
She knows that if she can just get
them down the mountain, a feast awaits.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: She’s not the only new mom
who needs to step up for her family.
(WOLF HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The Ellesmere wolf
pack made it through the winter.
(PUP YELPING)
NARRATOR: They got
four new pups to feed.
A musk ox calf won’t
feed them all this time.
Taking on an adult is high risk.
But the alpha knows
there’s no other choice.
In 24-hour daylight,
there’s nowhere to hide.
So, the pack stalks downwind
to hide their scent.
(MUSK OX GRUNTS)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Like before,
the fastest split the herd
and single out a weak adult.
This time, the rest
of the pack closes in.
- (MUSK OX GRUMBLES)
- (WOLVES WHINING)
- (MUSK OX GROWLS)
- (WOLVES CHATTERING)
NARRATOR: It’s an ancient battle
between two heroes of the frozen north.
- (WOLVES YELPING)
- (MUSK OX GROANING)
(WOLVES BARKING)
NARRATOR: And the pups, they're learning
the art of the hunt through their elders.
- (WOLVES GROWLING)
- (PUPS YELPING, HOWLING)
- (WOLVES GROWLING, BARKING)
- (MUSK OX GRUNTING)
(CHEWING)
(MUSK OX GROANING)
NARRATOR: Thanks to
the alpha's leadership,
the pack will thrive on
the arctic edge of America.
On the Cascade Range in Washington
State, the snow has almost disappeared.
Even Mount Baker,
holder of the world record for
highest snowfall in a single winter,
is shedding its coat.
The 50-foot winter snowpack
feeds huge glaciers.
And as the spring sun shines down,
the snow and ice begin to melt.
- (ICE CRACKING, WATER DRIPPING)
- (GLACIERS RUMBLING)
NARRATOR: Drops become trickles,
trickles become streams,
until a flood of water
lubricates the glacier.
A river of ice slides
down the mountain...
(ICE, ROCK RUMBLING)
NARRATOR: forming
condo-sized crevasses,
and relentlessly
grinding stone to rubble.
Glaciers carve some of America’s
most iconic landscapes.
From the Alaskan
Range to the Cascades,
where 26 glaciers flow down the
volcanic slopes of Mount Rainier.
As the weather warms,
more and more ice melts,
pouring down the mountainside.
Transforming alpine valleys.
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
- (INSECTS BUZZING)
NARRATOR: After eight months of
snow, the meadows erupt with color.
As thousands of
wildflowers bloom...
the slopes of Mount Rainier
are known as “Paradise.”
The perfect home if flowers
are your favorite food.
A marmot and his mate.
Just awake after nearly
eight months of hibernation.
Like the bears, they’ve lost a third
of their body weight underground,
and need to eat.
Right now though,
they’re running on empty
and just the thought of a
flower is... exhausting.
(EXHALES)
NARRATOR: Cool mountain mornings
make it extra tough to get going.
The grown-ups catch
some rays to warm up.
(BEE BUZZING)
And the kids beat them
down to breakfast.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
These growing boys have to do all
their eating for the whole year
in the four months while
they’re above ground.
They can eat half their body
weight in flowers every day.
Those flowers are packed
with sweet nectar,
so it’s not long
before the sugar rush.
(MARMOTS SQUEAKING)
NARRATOR: Roughhousing provides
a long-overdue workout.
(CONFRONTATIONAL MUSIC PLAYING)
It's the fastest way to build
muscle tone and strength.
(BOTH SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: Oh, come
on! No biting!
Some nice moves! Not bad.
(BOTH SCREECHING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
NARRATOR: A clear winner.
Now, back to the buffet.
The marmots will make every
moment and every mouthful count,
while paradise blooms.
On the neighboring mountain, a
cousin of the marmots is even busier.
An all-American architect.
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
- (ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: A beaver.
He's doing what beavers do best.
He’s building a dam
to create a pond.
A family of four can build
almost five feet of dam a day.
Their pond is a barrier, keeping
predators away from their lodge,
their family home.
And pond-building here
has other significance,
as this is no ordinary mountain.
This is Mount Saint Helens.
In 1980, this volcano erupted
with the power of
25,000 atomic bombs.
(EXPLOSIONS)
NARRATOR: Thirteen hundred
feet blew off the summit...
leaving a crater the size of
a thousand football fields.
The explosion ripped
through the forest...
leveling an area as
large as Chicago.
Thousands of trees were
blown from the hillside
and plunged into Spirit Lake.
Nothing survived.
It looked like a wasteland.
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
But amongst the devastation,
the beavers saw potential.
With running water and plenty of
shattered wood for building materials,
they moved in and got to work...
the population soon growing as their
network of dams and ponds spread.
In just 40 years, these eco-engineers
transformed Mount Saint Helens
into a wetland paradise.
Their dams hold back water
that would otherwise flow away.
They provide water for plants and a
home for hundreds of animal species.
(DUCKLINGS CHIRPING)
(BIRD SQUAWKING)
NARRATOR: The beavers have
brought nature back, big time.
(BIRD CALLING)
NARRATOR: And the benefits
of their hard work
are felt far beyond
this neighborhood.
By slowing the flow of
water down the mountain,
their ponds keep rivers
running year-round...
feeding lush forests
with nutrient-rich water
all the way to the Pacific...
where one of the greatest shows
on Earth is about to begin.
Every fall, the Pacific Northwest
is the setting for the salmon run.
After years at sea,
millions of salmon gather,
driven by the instinct to
swim upriver and breed.
In Northern California,
they must squeeze through the
narrow mouth of the Klamath River.
Predators swim in from
hundreds of miles away,
timing their arrival
for this event.
Sea lions, they’re just waiting for
the fish to make the first move.
As the tide rises, the salmon
surge towards the river's mouth.
Squeezed together, they
have no room to maneuver.
The sea lions use the waves
to turbo-boost their chase.
(GULLS CAWING)
NARRATOR: They single
out individual salmon...
and drive them onto the beach.
Around here, you gotta eat fast.
There could be a larger
sea lion on the next wave.
A thousand-pound thief
looking to muscle in and
steal your hard-earned lunch.
(SEA LION SNORTS)
(SEA LIONS BELLOW)
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)
(SEA LIONS ROAR)
NARRATOR: For a month, every
high tide is a feeding frenzy...
as sea lions and seabirds
gorge themselves.
(SEA GULLS CALLING)
(SEA LION ROARS)
(SEA LION ROARS)
NARRATOR: Every sea lion eats
up to 35 pounds of fish a day.
But there are so many salmon
that 98 percent make it through.
By late summer, the fish are returning
to rivers all along the northwest coast.
Alaska’s Bristol Bay hosts the
largest salmon run in the world.
Up to 65 million sockeye
salmon are swimming upstream.
Their journey might be
several hundred miles.
And these amazing navigators
use their sense of smell
to guide them back to
the exact patch of river
where they hatched
four years ago.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: But they don’t quite
have the place to themselves.
Mama bear and her two cubs have
made it down from the mountains.
(CUBS GRUNTING)
(CUBS GROWLING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: She’s done well
to keep both cubs alive.
Up to 40 percent don’t make
it through their first year.
- She’s exhausted though.
- (BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: It’s time they learned
to stand on their own four paws.
(CUB GROANS)
NARRATOR: Time for Fishing 101.
Just watch me, kids.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
Oh! So close.
Nope.
Termites were way
easier than this.
(CUBS GRUMBLING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Mom's not worried.
She knows it will soon be much
easier to catch a meal here
because the salmon are changing.
They’ve stopped eating,
and all the males have
become mating machines.
That hunched back? It's kind
of like a sockeye six-pack.
Check it out, ladies.
And those teeth?
Mmm, irresistible.
While the males show off, the
females are being more practical,
looking for the best patch
of riverbed to lay eggs.
They fight over the shallow spots where
the water’s cool and rich in oxygen.
Then each prepares a nest,
clearing away silt that
could suffocate her eggs.
She lays over 4,000...
and the male adds
clouds of sperm.
Across Alaska, millions of salmon
nests hold billions of eggs.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
Exhausted and starved,
the salmon die soon
after spawning.
But even in death,
they bring life.
The decaying bodies
merge with the riverbank.
The biggest transfer of nutrients
from ocean to land on Earth.
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Plant food for the great
forest of the north,
where trees grow three times
faster along salmon-stocked rivers.
Dead fish are an easy
meal for patient cubs.
These two will fatten
up quickly now,
just in time to climb the
mountain back to their den.
Winter will come again,
hard. But they’ll be ready.
The snow, though fierce, will
be the lifeblood of next summer,
allowing life to thrive across
the northlands of America.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
NARRATOR: Welcome
to North America.
The most diverse
continent on Earth.
The only place where you can find
every landscape from polar ice cap...
to baking desert, and
everything in between.
Whatever the neighborhood, there's
a hero who can make it a home.
Smart, tough,
brave, you name it.
They all have what
it takes to thrive
in the wildest, most
beautiful continent on Earth.
SINGER: Patchwork quilt of life
Wildness never dies
Beauty always thrives
Under these spacious skies
(MUSIC FADES)
(LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The wild
Northwest of America.
Majestic mountain ranges march
north for over 2,000 miles,
from Wyoming to Alaska,
and onwards into the great
wilderness of the Arctic.
This is a world of epic winters
and brief, spectacular summers,
where timing is everything.
(MUSIC FADES)
NARRATOR: There's a new
ruler in the Arctic.
The pack's relying on her to
find the food they'll need
to get through the
tough months ahead.
Their home is Ellesmere Island,
as far north as you can go.
- (WOLVES HOWLING)
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: Food is scarce.
The wolves search a territory larger
than any other wolf pack on Earth.
Forty times the size
of Washington, D.C.
They're in luck.
- (SNIFFING)
- She's picked up a scent.
(HOWLING)
NARRATOR: But this prey will
test the pack to their limit.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Musk ox. Relics of the Ice Age.
Five foot high and 800
pounds of pure attitude.
(MUSK OX GRUNTING)
(GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: An adult ox could
definitely kill a wolf.
(GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: But this herd has calves,
and with the right game plan,
the pack could take one down.
(WOLF HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The howl says,
"It's time to hunt."
(TENSE MUSIC SWELLS)
NARRATOR: The alpha female goes
out front to spook the herd.
She wants to get them running, to
tire them out and separate the young.
(GRUMBLES)
NARRATOR: She chooses the two fastest
wolves to help her push the herd
into a 40-mile-per-hour sprint.
She's got a calf,
but her teammates aren't
watching her back.
(WOLF WHIMPERING)
NARRATOR: The wolves' mistake
gives the musk ox time to regroup.
(MUSK OX SNORTING)
NARRATOR: A wall of horns
surround the calves.
Shoulder to shoulder,
they're unbreakable.
(MUSIC SETTLES)
This hunt is over.
It's a stalemate.
A strong leader knows
when to back down.
(MUSK OX GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: With this
opportunity lost,
it's going to be a long and
hungry winter for this wolf pack.
In Alaska, the first snow covers
the peaks of the Aleutian Range.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
Where these mountains
meet the sea,
another northerner needs to pack on
the pounds before the winter comes.
(BEAR GROANS)
NARRATOR: A brown bear.
Survival superpower?
An iron stomach.
The smell of this rotting whale
carcass is attracting bears
from as far as 20 miles away.
Males are usually
bad-tempered loners.
(BLUESY GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING)
But each bear needs up
to 60,000 calories a day
to get fat enough to make it
through the winter hibernation.
So, they've called a truce.
It's pretty rare to see this
many together on a carcass.
Thirty tons of rotting flesh
doesn't just wash up every day.
(BIRD CALLING)
NARRATOR: When bulking up, brown
bears can eat for 20 hours straight.
(BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: Oh, whoa. I
think he's overdone it.
Time for an ice bath.
Oh, man.
These guys have timed
things just right,
fattening up before the
Alaskan winter strikes.
(MUSIC FADES)
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
In the Teton
Mountains of Wyoming,
another American icon is
planning even further ahead.
(BIRDS CALLING)
NARRATOR: This female moose
has spent the year alone.
With fall here, she
wants to become a mom.
And now, she's the
center of attention.
(JAUNTY MUSIC PLAYING)
This huge male has
been on her for days.
(MOOSE BELLOWS)
NARRATOR: Sure, he's
got five-foot antlers.
But they can hit six-foot.
Let's just say she's
keeping her options open.
Now, this guy has
got her attention.
Tall, dark, and handsome.
He's got moves.
Impressive!
These two will fight over the
right to mate with the female.
But only when she decides
the time is right.
If she mates right now, her calf
will be born in the middle of winter
and may not survive.
If she holds out just a little bit longer,
it could be born in the warmth of spring.
(MUSIC FADES)
Timing is everything.
After a month, things get
a little... hmm, weird.
- (MOOSE CALLING)
- (WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Sniffing...
thrashing...
(GULPS)
NARRATOR: And quite
a bit of this.
(URINE TRICKLING)
NARRATOR: Male urine
is full of pheromones,
sort of a moose aphrodisiac.
She has to resist it,
though. It's still too early.
- (MOOSE SNORTS)
- NARRATOR: Just be patient, big guy.
Two months in, and
winter shows its hand.
(MUSIC FADES)
With colder temperatures...
come shorter days.
That's the cue she's
been waiting for.
Now, she's ready.
And the bulls know it.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING)
(ANTLERS CLATTERING)
(MOOSE SNORTING)
NARRATOR: Their neck muscles have
doubled in size over the summer
in preparation for
this exact moment.
(ANTLERS CLATTERING)
NARRATOR: They leverage
1,600 pounds of power...
to breaking point.
- (ANTLER CRACKS)
- (MOOSE GROANS)
(BIRD CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: The antler
will grow again.
Now, his pride? That'll
take some healing.
(MOOSE SNORTS)
NARRATOR: Our female's
got her timing right.
Her calf will be born
eight months from now,
at the best possible time.
But first, there's
winter to deal with.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The mountains of the Northwest
are the tallest in North America.
Many over 14,000 feet.
And they see some of the most
extreme winter weather on Earth.
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Humid air blows in
from the Pacific.
It crashes against
the frozen peaks.
Resulting in epic snowfall. Up
to 100 feet in a single year.
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES)
NARRATOR: The further north you
go, the harder the winter hits.
Alaska is the northernmost
state in the U.S.,
though even here, there's one
place which doesn't freeze.
The Chilkat River, heated from
below by geothermal vents.
Chilkat means
"salmon storehouse"
in the language of the
local Tlingit people.
And one hungry American
hero knows just why.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: This young bald eagle's
been struggling to find food.
Most eagles don't make it
through their first winter.
But here, because the
river doesn't freeze,
he can access dead fish
from the salmon run...
(EAGLE CALLING)
NARRATOR: to boost his
chances of survival.
Only problem is,
he's got company.
(FOREBODING MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, that's intimidating.
Almost 4,000 bald eagles come
to feed here every winter.
The largest gathering
in the world.
And it's every eagle for itself.
(EAGLE CALLING)
NARRATOR: With a
wingspan of eight feet,
the females are the largest
and the most aggressive.
(EAGLE SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: That head
tilt tells him,
"You don't want any problems.
Back off. The fish is mine."
(EAGLE SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: He's hungry, but he's
also afraid of getting hurt.
(MUSIC SETTLES)
From the sidelines, he
can see that around here,
you have to fight to survive.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(CHIRPING)
(EAGLES CHATTERING, SQUAWKING)
(CHIRPING)
(EAGLE CHIRPING)
(SCREECHING)
(FRANTIC CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: He could hold back,
stay safe, and face starvation.
But he decides to risk it all.
(SCREECHING)
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)
(EAGLES CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: Through
sheer determination,
he’s fought off the elders
and staked his claim.
These vital calories will help
him through the hard months ahead.
Nowhere does winter like here.
Denali, the highest
mountain in North America,
and at minus 100 degrees,
the coldest on Earth.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: With the last light
disappearing over the horizon,
the clock starts on the hardest,
darkest months of the year.
Though sometimes,
there's magic in the air.
The absolute dark makes Alaska
one of the best places on Earth
to witness the aurora borealis.
(GRANDIOSE MUSIC PLAYS)
NARRATOR: In Ellesmere, polar
winds rip through the barren hills.
(WINDS WHISTLING)
(MUSK OX GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: You can’t
complain about the cold
when your ancestors
survived the Ice Age.
(MUSK OX GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Under their long guard hairs,
the musk oxen have grown a fine underwool,
the warmest fiber in the world.
In the dead of winter, they slow
their metabolism by 30 percent.
(OXEN GRUMBLING)
NARRATOR: They're the
ultimate arctic survivors.
Staying slow to stay alive.
- (WINDS WHIPPING, WHISTLING)
- (ETHEREAL SINGING)
NARRATOR: Winter takes northern
heroes to their limits.
But eventually, the
good times return.
Spring.
(VOCALS, MUSIC SWELL)
NARRATOR: The warmth sweeps
northwards into Alaska.
A wake-up call for brown bears.
(MUSIC FADES)
A mom and her two new cubs.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: She nursed them through
the winter inside her den...
but it cost 30 percent
of her body weight.
She needs to eat fast.
(CUBS GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: The cubs are just
enjoying their newfound freedom.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
A snow day. It's the ultimate
cure for cabin fever.
Gotcha!
(CUBS GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: The only way to get these
little guys' attention is milk.
(CUBS WHINING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Out of the den,
their intake quadruples.
They’ll need over a
half gallon a day.
To keep the family fed,
she follows her nose.
Two thousand times more
sensitive than ours.
Jackpot! A termite nest, full
of protein-packed insects.
(CUB WHINES)
NARRATOR: It’s their
first taste of solid food.
(CUB GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Though
this meal bites back.
This snack buys Mom some time, but
there’s not much else up here to eat.
She knows that if she can just get
them down the mountain, a feast awaits.
(WINDS HOWLING)
NARRATOR: She’s not the only new mom
who needs to step up for her family.
(WOLF HOWLING)
NARRATOR: The Ellesmere wolf
pack made it through the winter.
(PUP YELPING)
NARRATOR: They got
four new pups to feed.
A musk ox calf won’t
feed them all this time.
Taking on an adult is high risk.
But the alpha knows
there’s no other choice.
In 24-hour daylight,
there’s nowhere to hide.
So, the pack stalks downwind
to hide their scent.
(MUSK OX GRUNTS)
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Like before,
the fastest split the herd
and single out a weak adult.
This time, the rest
of the pack closes in.
- (MUSK OX GRUMBLES)
- (WOLVES WHINING)
- (MUSK OX GROWLS)
- (WOLVES CHATTERING)
NARRATOR: It’s an ancient battle
between two heroes of the frozen north.
- (WOLVES YELPING)
- (MUSK OX GROANING)
(WOLVES BARKING)
NARRATOR: And the pups, they're learning
the art of the hunt through their elders.
- (WOLVES GROWLING)
- (PUPS YELPING, HOWLING)
- (WOLVES GROWLING, BARKING)
- (MUSK OX GRUNTING)
(CHEWING)
(MUSK OX GROANING)
NARRATOR: Thanks to
the alpha's leadership,
the pack will thrive on
the arctic edge of America.
On the Cascade Range in Washington
State, the snow has almost disappeared.
Even Mount Baker,
holder of the world record for
highest snowfall in a single winter,
is shedding its coat.
The 50-foot winter snowpack
feeds huge glaciers.
And as the spring sun shines down,
the snow and ice begin to melt.
- (ICE CRACKING, WATER DRIPPING)
- (GLACIERS RUMBLING)
NARRATOR: Drops become trickles,
trickles become streams,
until a flood of water
lubricates the glacier.
A river of ice slides
down the mountain...
(ICE, ROCK RUMBLING)
NARRATOR: forming
condo-sized crevasses,
and relentlessly
grinding stone to rubble.
Glaciers carve some of America’s
most iconic landscapes.
From the Alaskan
Range to the Cascades,
where 26 glaciers flow down the
volcanic slopes of Mount Rainier.
As the weather warms,
more and more ice melts,
pouring down the mountainside.
Transforming alpine valleys.
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
- (INSECTS BUZZING)
NARRATOR: After eight months of
snow, the meadows erupt with color.
As thousands of
wildflowers bloom...
the slopes of Mount Rainier
are known as “Paradise.”
The perfect home if flowers
are your favorite food.
A marmot and his mate.
Just awake after nearly
eight months of hibernation.
Like the bears, they’ve lost a third
of their body weight underground,
and need to eat.
Right now though,
they’re running on empty
and just the thought of a
flower is... exhausting.
(EXHALES)
NARRATOR: Cool mountain mornings
make it extra tough to get going.
The grown-ups catch
some rays to warm up.
(BEE BUZZING)
And the kids beat them
down to breakfast.
(GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING)
These growing boys have to do all
their eating for the whole year
in the four months while
they’re above ground.
They can eat half their body
weight in flowers every day.
Those flowers are packed
with sweet nectar,
so it’s not long
before the sugar rush.
(MARMOTS SQUEAKING)
NARRATOR: Roughhousing provides
a long-overdue workout.
(CONFRONTATIONAL MUSIC PLAYING)
It's the fastest way to build
muscle tone and strength.
(BOTH SCREECHING)
NARRATOR: Oh, come
on! No biting!
Some nice moves! Not bad.
(BOTH SCREECHING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
NARRATOR: A clear winner.
Now, back to the buffet.
The marmots will make every
moment and every mouthful count,
while paradise blooms.
On the neighboring mountain, a
cousin of the marmots is even busier.
An all-American architect.
- (BIRDS CHIRPING)
- (ENERGETIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: A beaver.
He's doing what beavers do best.
He’s building a dam
to create a pond.
A family of four can build
almost five feet of dam a day.
Their pond is a barrier, keeping
predators away from their lodge,
their family home.
And pond-building here
has other significance,
as this is no ordinary mountain.
This is Mount Saint Helens.
In 1980, this volcano erupted
with the power of
25,000 atomic bombs.
(EXPLOSIONS)
NARRATOR: Thirteen hundred
feet blew off the summit...
leaving a crater the size of
a thousand football fields.
The explosion ripped
through the forest...
leveling an area as
large as Chicago.
Thousands of trees were
blown from the hillside
and plunged into Spirit Lake.
Nothing survived.
It looked like a wasteland.
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
But amongst the devastation,
the beavers saw potential.
With running water and plenty of
shattered wood for building materials,
they moved in and got to work...
the population soon growing as their
network of dams and ponds spread.
In just 40 years, these eco-engineers
transformed Mount Saint Helens
into a wetland paradise.
Their dams hold back water
that would otherwise flow away.
They provide water for plants and a
home for hundreds of animal species.
(DUCKLINGS CHIRPING)
(BIRD SQUAWKING)
NARRATOR: The beavers have
brought nature back, big time.
(BIRD CALLING)
NARRATOR: And the benefits
of their hard work
are felt far beyond
this neighborhood.
By slowing the flow of
water down the mountain,
their ponds keep rivers
running year-round...
feeding lush forests
with nutrient-rich water
all the way to the Pacific...
where one of the greatest shows
on Earth is about to begin.
Every fall, the Pacific Northwest
is the setting for the salmon run.
After years at sea,
millions of salmon gather,
driven by the instinct to
swim upriver and breed.
In Northern California,
they must squeeze through the
narrow mouth of the Klamath River.
Predators swim in from
hundreds of miles away,
timing their arrival
for this event.
Sea lions, they’re just waiting for
the fish to make the first move.
As the tide rises, the salmon
surge towards the river's mouth.
Squeezed together, they
have no room to maneuver.
The sea lions use the waves
to turbo-boost their chase.
(GULLS CAWING)
NARRATOR: They single
out individual salmon...
and drive them onto the beach.
Around here, you gotta eat fast.
There could be a larger
sea lion on the next wave.
A thousand-pound thief
looking to muscle in and
steal your hard-earned lunch.
(SEA LION SNORTS)
(SEA LIONS BELLOW)
(TENSE MUSIC BUILDS)
(SEA LIONS ROAR)
NARRATOR: For a month, every
high tide is a feeding frenzy...
as sea lions and seabirds
gorge themselves.
(SEA GULLS CALLING)
(SEA LION ROARS)
(SEA LION ROARS)
NARRATOR: Every sea lion eats
up to 35 pounds of fish a day.
But there are so many salmon
that 98 percent make it through.
By late summer, the fish are returning
to rivers all along the northwest coast.
Alaska’s Bristol Bay hosts the
largest salmon run in the world.
Up to 65 million sockeye
salmon are swimming upstream.
Their journey might be
several hundred miles.
And these amazing navigators
use their sense of smell
to guide them back to
the exact patch of river
where they hatched
four years ago.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: But they don’t quite
have the place to themselves.
Mama bear and her two cubs have
made it down from the mountains.
(CUBS GRUNTING)
(CUBS GROWLING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: She’s done well
to keep both cubs alive.
Up to 40 percent don’t make
it through their first year.
- She’s exhausted though.
- (BEAR GRUNTS)
NARRATOR: It’s time they learned
to stand on their own four paws.
(CUB GROANS)
NARRATOR: Time for Fishing 101.
Just watch me, kids.
(WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
Oh! So close.
Nope.
Termites were way
easier than this.
(CUBS GRUMBLING, GRUNTING)
NARRATOR: Mom's not worried.
She knows it will soon be much
easier to catch a meal here
because the salmon are changing.
They’ve stopped eating,
and all the males have
become mating machines.
That hunched back? It's kind
of like a sockeye six-pack.
Check it out, ladies.
And those teeth?
Mmm, irresistible.
While the males show off, the
females are being more practical,
looking for the best patch
of riverbed to lay eggs.
They fight over the shallow spots where
the water’s cool and rich in oxygen.
Then each prepares a nest,
clearing away silt that
could suffocate her eggs.
She lays over 4,000...
and the male adds
clouds of sperm.
Across Alaska, millions of salmon
nests hold billions of eggs.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
Exhausted and starved,
the salmon die soon
after spawning.
But even in death,
they bring life.
The decaying bodies
merge with the riverbank.
The biggest transfer of nutrients
from ocean to land on Earth.
(MAJESTIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Plant food for the great
forest of the north,
where trees grow three times
faster along salmon-stocked rivers.
Dead fish are an easy
meal for patient cubs.
These two will fatten
up quickly now,
just in time to climb the
mountain back to their den.
Winter will come again,
hard. But they’ll be ready.
The snow, though fierce, will
be the lifeblood of next summer,
allowing life to thrive across
the northlands of America.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)