Island of the Sea Wolves (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Summer - full transcript

Cedar is heading
towards Dagger's den.

Wolves have been known

to raid a rival's den
and even kill their pups.

She's being incredibly cautious.

But is it sneakiness or fear?

Dagger asserts her dominance.

Then, something
truly extraordinary happens.

Dagger heads off...

and leaves Cedar alone with the pups.

It's like she was waiting
for Cedar to show up...

...to babysit.



While she goes out
to look for food and water...

...Cedar starts to nurse the pups.

And not just two.

There are four of them.

It seems both mothers have given birth
to two pups in the same den.

Cedar wasn't coming to kill.
She was coming home.

When Dagger's out,
she knows the pups are safe with Cedar.

It's incredibly rare
for two sea wolf mothers

to share a den and raise pups together.

By teaming up, they give all their pups

the best chance
to live through what is, surprisingly,

the most dangerous and volatile season
of the year on Vancouver Island.

A mother black bear, Spruce,

and her two newborn cubs,



Hemlock and Surf,

are just emerging
from a long winter hibernation.

They're awestruck.

The entire world is new to them.

Mom? She just wants to eat.

Her cubs learn by watching her.

This grass stuff tastes terrible.

It's just the appetizer, though.

The island has
huge tidal ranges up to 13 feet.

So what was underwater...

is now on the menu.

You've got mussels.

Barnacles.

Barnacles.

And how is this better than grass?

It's okay.
Mom knows where the good stuff is.

Whatever that is, Surf wants in on it.

Spruce lets him have some.

Reluctantly.

This seafood draws hungry predators
of all kinds down to the coast.

One of the greatest threats cubs face...

...is from their own species.

Brutus is back.

Sometimes, large male bears
will kill young cubs for food.

Spruce can't take that chance.

She's going to have to be
extra careful along the coast

to keep both her cubs alive
through the summer.

A much safer place to raise young
would be a comfy nest high in a tree.

You'd think.

But for bald eagle chicks,
the fight to survive can be just as tough.

The bigger chick, Luna,

can easily dominate
her smaller brother, River.

When Spiro arrives home with breakfast...

Luna's instinct is to hog it all.

And she does.

It's ruthless...

but it's nature.

A single well-fed chick

has a better chance to survive
than two smaller chicks.

When Misty arrives with second breakfast...

Luna's already stuffed.

So, River finally gets to eat something.

As the sun heats up the ocean,
fishing will get harder.

And then there might not
be enough for both chicks.

The rising temperatures
are actually good news for sea otters.

It's much easier
for Rocky and Skye to stay warm now.

But a growing Rocky
is still totally reliant on his mom.

So, while Skye
fits in some well-deserved me time,

Rocky needs to practice
the basics of otter survival.

First, diving.

Harder than it would seem

when your thick coat
is still acting more as a life jacket.

He'll get the hang of it.

Eventually.

Rocky's got to learn fast.

By the fall, he needs to be able
to dive, hunt, and feed all by himself.

The mountaintops
are on an entirely different schedule

than the rest of the island.

Up here,
spring and summer just roll into one.

And a fancy new resident
is relocating to the community,

ushered by her human servants.

Esmerelda, a Vancouver Island marmot,
one of the rarest mammals in the world.

Born and raised in captivity,
she's always been cared for.

Today is the first day
of the rest of her life...

...as a wild marmot.

It's a big step up
from a protected enclosure...

to this.

Esmerelda's sister, Bonnie,
has joined her on this great adventure.

They'll need to help each other
navigate this daunting new environment.

The rest of the group
includes two young brothers

and a handsome, adventurous male
named Buck Bean.

No experience in the wild.

And no one to teach them.

They've been brought to this mountain

to revive
the endangered marmot population.

But actually surviving here
is all on them.

By June, things on the island
really start to heat up.

Just as the island's young
are becoming more agile and curious,

they begin
pushing the boundaries of their world.

The sea wolf pups are a real handful now.

Keeping up with them is exhausting.

It's been days
since Cedar's eaten anything.

Dagger finally returns from a hunt.

But without food.

Both mothers are hungry.

Jasper needs a big win for his family.

With fewer storms,
summer can be a lean time for wolves.

But not this year.

A gray whale carcass,
that's been floating out at sea for weeks,

has finally washed up.

Jackpot.

It's rotting and it stinks,

but hungry wolves
will eat almost anything.

And it is nutritious.

Whale blubber
has more calories than butter.

This could set them up
for the rest of the summer.

And they haven't forgotten
their pack mates at the den.

An older female takes on delivery duty

with the whale meat in her stomach.

It's the best way
to carry food over distances.

Cedar knows this isn't for her.

Meal deliveries are just
for the pups and the alpha.

She'll have to make
the long trip alone to get her own food.

This is unusually
intense heat for early June.

Frail, young River is suffering.

Luna's bigger and stronger,
so she can hog all the shade.

Spiro's only catching
one fish a day now in this hot weather.

Luna will eat all of this herself...

and will keep her brother
from getting any of it.

River's only hope
is that fishing suddenly improves.

Which is unlikely
as the temperature continues to rise.

The heat is causing
the whale carcass to rot incredibly fast.

It makes it easy for Cedar
to smell her way to dinner.

But the entire neighborhood
can sniff it out now.

And some scavengers...

...are more dangerous than others.

The whale is now a no-wolf zone.

Cedar has no chance alone
against a powerful male black bear.

Though she is
desperate enough to try anything.

She's clearly outgunned.

But then, Jasper arrives.

Two sea wolves turn the tables.

The big guy doesn't like his odds.

Jasper hasn't forgotten
about his young mate.

Cedar finally gets her chance to feast.

Rocky is busy
developing his own survival skills.

He's now mastered the art of diving.

And he's joining his mom on hunting trips.

These rich waters
offer a wide selection of food choices.

And Rocky is becoming
a bit of a seafood connoisseur.

Skye dishes up some sea cucumber.

It's like sharing spaghetti.

Then perhaps a bite-sized crab.

No offense, Spiro.

Maybe a juicy prawn.

Most prized of all... are clams.

But how to open them?

It's not as easy as it looks.

Sea otters are one of the few animals
in the world that use tools.

With a rock as an anvil,

Skye smashes open the tough shells
to get to the meat inside.

Rocky sees his mom's
got another one ready to eat.

But, no.

No, if she keeps opening them for him,
he's never going to learn.

She takes him clam shopping.

Rocky picks out one of his own.

Skye makes short work of hers.

Whoo-hoo!

Opening clams just like Mom.

Except that it's not working.

He's missing something.

Oh, yeah. The rock.

Maybe Mom will share her clam.

Still a no.

Back to the clam bed.

Rocky's putting his own twist on it,
using another clam instead of a rock.

Success.

This is the last lesson
Skye can teach him.

She'll be mating again soon,

and he'll be left
to face new struggles on his own.

Come fall, he's going to have
to put on his big-boy pants.

If he makes it that far,

because this summer
is shaping up to be brutal.

A heat dome has formed over the island.

An intense high pressure system
traps warm air, like a pot lid...

shutting down the flow
of cool ocean winds.

Pushing temperatures higher and higher.

And it's costing lives.

The hot weather has driven
the fish deep into cooler water.

Neither Spiro nor Misty
have caught anything for days.

For the chicks confined to the nest,
there's been no escape.

In his weakened state,
River couldn't survive the extreme heat.

Luna's in serious trouble too.

She desperately needs moisture.

And there's only
one source available to her.

River.

Eagle chicks don't normally
resort to such drastic measures...

...but these are not normal times.

The heat continues to build...

to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit
day after day.

Life on the mountaintop
is only slightly more bearable.

It's ten degrees cooler than sea level.

But still way too hot.

And it's buggy as well.

So, this is what it's like
to be a wild marmot?

Despite the heat, Esmerelda and the gang
can't afford to sit around.

They've still got a lot to learn.

Like what kind of threats there are here.

Is that bird dangerous?

Don't know.

Maybe.

Bonnie and Esmerelda
aren't eager to find out.

But the boys
have been taking more chances.

Wandering off during the day.

Adventurous Buck Bean

has been roaming a lot further
from the den than the others.

And it hasn't gone unnoticed.

A new, dangerous visitor

has come up into their higher,
cooler neighborhood in search of prey.

A cougar.

As the sun sets
on one of the hottest days on record,

Esmerelda and the others
retire to the security of their nest box.

But there's only four of them.

Buck Bean never returned.

A change is in the air.

For the first time in a week,

a sea breeze
begins to blow across the island...

and temperatures begin to come down.

A full eight days after it started,

the heat dome finally breaks.

Amazingly, Luna is still alive.

But she's weak.

The cooling waters are bringing
the fish back to the surface again.

It's Spiro's moment to shine.

Luna's first real meal in over a week.

Misty is doing her bit too.

With all this rich fish back in her diet,
Luna will make a swift recovery.

All across the island,
parents can heave a huge sigh of relief.

During the heat wave, Spruce and her cubs

spent almost all their time
in the cool shade of the forest.

It's time to get back
to that bounty of food on the coast.

Seafood at last.

But the stealthy Brutus

is using the rocky shoreline
to sneak up on them.

By the time they see him,
he's dangerously close.

The cubs panic...

...and run up the nearest tree.

Wise mom, Spruce,

knows she needs to be
in the same tree as her cubs.

If there's going to be a battle,
she wants the high ground.

Brutus will have to come through her.

He has them cornered.

But he knows it's risky
taking on a mama bear from this position.

Too risky.

Spruce has proven herself a great mother.

But Brutus isn't going away.

They're going to have
to spend more time in the forest.

It's the worst kind of trade-off.

Food for safety.

It'll be so much harder now

getting her cubs fat enough
to survive winter hibernation.

And it's already mid-July.

The intense heat has badly impacted
the wolves' summer fortunes.

It deteriorated the whale carcass
faster than normal.

Cedar is the only one still returning.

The pups could use
one last round of takeout.

The steady diet of whale meat
has been great for the pups.

They've more than doubled in size.

Too large and active to remain at the den,

they're moved around by the adults

to different spots that are closer
to where the pack is hunting.

They wait at these
rendezvous sites with nannies.

Usually, the one or two-year-olds.

Cedar arrives stinking of rotten whale.

The pups know this means food.

They lick her mouth

until she regurgitates the whale meat
she's carrying in her stomach.

It's so decayed now,

this will likely be
the pups last feed of it.

The whale feast is over.

Jasper's leading a hunting party

to check out
the far end of their territory,

thirty miles south.

The pack needs to find
another major food source, and soon.

The next day,
the rendezvous site has been abandoned.

The entire sea wolf pack
has now headed south.

They've taken all the pups with them.

Except one.

Jasper's son, Blaze.

He was injured,

simply playing on the rocks
with his brothers and sisters.

It would have been impossible
for him to keep up.

Alone, his chances
of survival on this island are slim.

All he can do is hope
that they haven't forgotten about him.