Original subtitles

(light music)

- [Narrator] Antarctica.

A vast icy desert.

In terms of rainfall, it's the driest place on Earth.

(dramatic music)

And yet, the Antarctic holds more than two thirds

of the planet's freshwater.

With plunging temperatures and powerful winds,

our southernmost landmass is an unrelenting habitat.

But life persists and thrives.

Once part of a connected southern supercontinent,

Antarctica is now isolated by a current so powerful

it creates undersea highways back

to each and every continent

where extraordinary lifeforms answer

the call of the seasons.

On icy islands and on a land frozen by time.

This is the Wildest Antarctic.

(light music)

Our southernmost continent is so inhospitable

and remote it only felt humankind's first touch

less than two centuries ago.

It's barely fathomable that this permanently frozen landmass

was once covered in lush rainforest.

The animals that roamed it knew no boundary

between the southern continents of today.

At one time they were all connected.

It was long assumed the continents

had been fixed in position since the beginning of time.

But in the last century, findings have convinced scientists

that one enormous single landmass once existed.

As it fractured roughly 250 million years ago,

the southern supercontinent of Gondwana

had modern Antarctica at its core.

100 million years later, great tensions

in the Earth's crust rendered it further apart.

The landmasses we recognize as today's continents

broke away and rode atop tectonic plates

across the southern hemisphere.

Africa and South America, Madagascar,

India, Australia, and New Zealand.

Antarctica inched further and further from the Equator

until its present position where the South Pole

anchors its center.

Clues to these ancient connections between

the southern continents remained today.

Fossils on Antarctic beaches match

those in African forests.

Layers of rock link mountain ranges

from Australia to the Andes.

Some animals share prehistoric common ancestors.

Others migrated across connected pathways long ago

and evolved in their only special ways

to their changing environments.

(water splashing)

Some species have become global travelers.

And, like humans, develop a unique culture

in every southern pocket they inhabit.

As mariners ventured across the world's oceans,

its southernmost areas were the last to be explored.

South Georgia Island rises from the south Atlantic Ocean.

It's about 200 kilometers long.

When Captain Cooke explored the area in 1775,

he mistakenly believed he was on Antarctica itself

rather than thousands of kilometers away.

Algae and moss spores sampled from the island

suggest it once was part of the Antarctic continent.

The island's peaks are covered in permanent ice,

but it slopes away to plains and beaches

of dark bare rock and sparse green vegetation.

It was a base for whaling stations in the early 1900s,

but it is now a haven for sea mammals and birds.

(light music)

One of the perennial species here is king penguins.

Kings are the second largest penguin after the emperor

at nearly a meter tall

and share their vivid yellow markings.

They have densely-packed waterproof feathers

over a layer of warm down.

Webbed feet designed for ocean paddling

are tipped with long claws to move about on uneven land.

This quartet is slowly making its way back to the colony.

(dramatic music) (birds chirping)

Which is a breathtaking sight in itself.

The king penguin colonies on South Georgia

are simply immense.

There are several hundred thousand

breeding pairs here year round.

Saint Andrews Bay on the island south

may well be the world's largest colony.

It's at peak congestion from September through to April

for a staggered breeding schedule.

That means the kings will arrive

from their winter fishing season in waves.

(light music)

At the bay's shoreline, the transition from streamline

swimmer to awkward land walker is rarely more evident.

(birds chirping)

Because they do spend winters at sea,

adult king penguins have larger flippers

than their Antarctic emperor cousins.

And less fat.

The emperors hatch their eggs on the frozen continent

at winter's peak around July,

but kings wait for the island's summer warmth

and ascend to the pebble beaches in December.

Like emperors, they don't build nests.

The kings balance a single large egg on their feet

and cover it with a roll of fat to keep it warm.

(birds squawking)

Kings won't mate for life, but are serially monogamous.

The parent couple partner up for the time

it takes to rear a single chick.

However, this is quite an investment of time

as penguins go.

It takes some 16 months to raise a king chick

from egg to being fully fledged.

(birds squawking)

A rapid growth spurts soon after hatching

sees them quickly reach half the size of an adult

within six weeks.

Their thick, brown downy coats make the young chicks

seem even larger.

They're known as oakums.

Named by 19th century sailors after

the brown fiber used to repair boat leaks.

Incredibly, parents and young can recognize each other

even in colonies this large.

They develop a unique language.

Calls and vocalizations to help seek each other out.

(light dramatic music)

Nearby another bird overlooks the bay's king colony.

Brown skuas are found across

the southern hemisphere's continental tips.

South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America.

These large sea birds breed in the summer months.

Nesting in grassy tussocks or moss-strewn beaches

overlooking penguin colonies.

Skuas will hatch two chicks each season.

Like the young penguins, the skua hatchlings

need to be fed.

(light dramatic music)

The brown skuas have timed their egg laying

to match the kings'.

These hunters are ferociously predatory.

Skuas will attack unguarded eggs,

steal food from penguin chicks brought in by their parents,

and even pair up to take down penguin chicks

that stray too far from their parents.

(birds squawking)

However, when the oakums are about a month old,

the parents have to leave them for periods on their own.

They, too, must eat.

(birds squawking)

They head back to the sea for fishing expeditions.

Meltwater streams pouring down from glaciers

and mountains above offer an easy shortcut to the beach.

Rapid riding into the bay is an acquired skill.

The fast flowing water hits rocks

and drills deeply into riverbed holes.

Oakums practice from time to time,

but stick to the shallow edges.

Their down coverings are easily waterlogged.

(light music)

Further upstream where the summer

sun warms river bend ponds,

the chicks can bask in the rising heat.

Overlooking seals and fur seals wallowing in the mud.

The oakum creches of this island are far more mixed

with chicks of varying ages than other penguin rookeries.

That's due to the staggered starts of the breeding season.

And because these chicks need to stay on land

for a full year before their adult plumage grows in.

They'll take on a patchwork appearance

while the shaggy brown down is slowly replaced

by the sleek, dense feathers of an adult king.

(light music)

The motley coat means these chicks have survived

their first winter on the island.

In the years ahead, they'll spend most of their time

offshore fishing until it's their turn to parent.

Winters will then mean they join the supervising roster

of Saint Andrews Bay.

Guiding the new generation through their oakum year.

(whooshing)

Australia was the final continent

to break away from Antarctica.

The southern island of Tazmania clung on

until 30 million years ago.

When the ocean pushed a path through,

it allowed the circumpolar current

to finally encircle Antarctica

which prevented it from swapping climate

with other land masses and secured its frozen status.

In Australia's south, it left a large curved bay

more than a thousand kilometers across

called the Great Australian Bight.

Today, the Australian Bight now joins

a massive semiarid plain which abruptly ends

at the coastline in a line of cliffs

60 to 100 meters high.

Extending into the bite is Eyre Peninsula.

A triangular landmass with a large gulf to the east

and a mountain range overlooking it from the north.

Each summer and autumn upwellings occur

around Eyre Peninsula.

This is where the cold Antarctic water

meets the warm Australian water,

bringing with it vast plums of animal-based zoo plankton.

(light music)

It's the ideal feeding ground for cephalopods.

A group of saltwater creatures that include squid,

octopus, and cuttlefish.

The Maori octopus is found in the cold waters of New Zealand

across to Australia's southern bight.

With an arm span of three meters,

it's the south's largest.

Around Eyre Peninsula, the Maori octopus

is a benthic species.

Benthic refers to the sea floor.

Unlike their reef counterparts which clamor

over coral heads, these cold water octopuses

store kept and seaweed beds for lobsters,

crabs, and scallops.

They will also eat other octopuses,

but will almost certainly stay clear of one of the smallest.

The blue ringed octopus is just a few centimeters long,

but is one of the most lethal animals in the water.

Most prefer tropical reefs,

but this southern species is only found

along this coastline.

It has a highly toxic bite which the small octopus injects

after issuing a warning by pulsing vivid blue rings.

(water bubbling)

(light music)

The striped pajama squid is

also a benthic peninsula resident.

It's named for its bands, but is misnamed as a squid.

This tiny cephalopod is actually a cuttlefish.

It also relies on a toxic defense system.

A poisonous slime it exudes through its skin.

Potentially fatal species aside,

cephalopods are the base diet for sea lions,

(light music)

and Australia's south is home to its very own subset.

Sea lions are a part of the pinniped family.

Latin for fin footed.

Pinnipeds are a marine mammal group

that includes seals, walruses, and sea lions.

Sea lions are eared seals.

They have small, visible exterior ears,

unlike seals which have ear holes.

And while the largest seals have strong hind flippers

that make them speedier swimmers,

they aren't as adept on land.

Sea lions have hind flippers that rotate forward

and strong front flippers.

It means they can walk about on all fours

and reach higher ground above the shoreline.

Seals are thought to have evolved from

an ancient weasel-like ancestor.

Whereas sea lions descended from a bear-like ancestor,

one shared with canines such as dogs.

Sea lions are also much noisier.

(walrus barking)

You can often hear the barking from a colony

before seeing it.

The entire population is less than 12,000 individuals.

They live in colonies, and each one is thought

to be genetically unique.

The females practice philopatry,

which means they will only return to the very same place

they were born to breed and birth.

And they teach their female pups to do the same.

85% of Australian sea lions

do so along the southern coastline.

Each colony has its own schedule for breeding and birthing.

The females may only have

a single pup every couple of years.

They spend a long time raising them based

around their family colony area.

Teaching the young ones to hunt and swim.

(water splashing)

In Australia's south,

the sea lions are also benthic feeders.

In other parts of the world,

they'll hunt in the middle of the water column.

But here they forage for animals taking cover in the sand.

They've adapted to fill a niche.

There are a number of other mid-water hunters

like fur seals around Eyre Peninsula.

As benthic feeders, there is less competition.

Sea lions can be ferocious hunters.

They're undaunted by the size of a large Maori octopus.

Sea lion waste has a level of a bacteria

that metabolizes iron and phosphorous.

These are vital nutrients for phytoplankton;

the small plant organisms that form

the base of the food chain.

(water trickling) (light music)

So, while a sea lion is toward the top of the chain,

it's contributing to the bottoms tiers.

Ensuring an availability of prey.

Each Australian sea lion colony

typically has less than 25 pups each season.

Nearly a third of these pups won't survive past weaning.

(water bubbling) (light dramatic music)

Around the Eyre Peninsula, one of the biggest threats

from the water is these.

Great white sharks.

Attracted seasonally by the cold currents and upwellings,

great whites have an exceptional sense of smell.

They can detect a sea lion colony

from three kilometers away.

Though many of these great whites will travel

further north from time to time,

the Great Australian Bight appears to be a home range.

They'll keep returning to the same southern hotspots here,

where these sea lion colonies are most active.

(light dramatic music)

As the massive supercontinent of Gondwana

began to break up, the landmass of New Zealand

drifted north from Antarctica.

Its island status became complete some 20 million years ago.

Australia and New Zealand are separated

by just over 2,000 kilometers of ocean.

Vestiges of Gondwanaland can be found today

in New Zealand rock fossils dated at more

than 500 million years old.

Now two islands, the nation sits on the southern outskirts

of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

A large horseshoe-shaped area of geological hotspots

that encircles the Pacific Ocean.

(water splashing)

New Zealand straddles two tectonic plates

constantly grinding up against each other.

(wind rustling) (birds chirping)

The result is a number of active volcanoes,

earthquakes, and seismic activity.

Thermal areas of hot springs and geysers of mud.

(bubbling)

There are more than 360 glaciers in the Southern Alps.

Areas where snow remains year round

and compacts into large masses of ice.

(birds chirping)

Vast tracks of mixed evergreen forest

line mountain ranges that segue into alpine regions

of minus 10 degrees.

Some of the species here hint of the former connection

to our southernmost continent.

Sharing similarities with Antarctic plant fossils.

However, its prolonged isolation means almost

9/10 of New Zealand mountian forest species

are found nowhere else on earth.

(light music)

Another clue to its ancient land connections

remains in its fauna.

This reptile, not seen elsewhere on the planet,

for 60 million years.

The tuatara is the sole survivor of an order of reptiles

that thrived alongside dinosaurs.

Unlike most other coldblooded reptiles,

the tuatara regulates its own body heat

to allow it to survive temperatures just above freezing.

Parrots have also learned to adapt to the cold here.

The kea is the world's only mountain parrot.

It lives in the southern alpines.

At around a kilogram in weight,

its New Zealand's largest endemic bird

with a gift of flight.

(branches rustling)

This parrot, the kakapo, is twice as large but cannot fly.

Like the kiwi, weka, and many other New Zealand birds,

his pectoral muscles lost the ability long ago.

It's a pattern that is played out on a number

of large islands isolated by seas around the world.

Where there are very few land-based mammal predators,

many bird species lose the need to fly.

(light music)

Some have learned to compromise.

Floating on water uses less energy than flight.

Inland, on the south island's Oreti River,

thousands of black billed gulls descend

on the banks at winter's end.

These gulls are here to nest,

and they do so right on the pathways of the dry riverbeds.

Now only found on this island,

the birds are thought to have arrived from Australia

some 250,000 years ago.

Today, they're distinguished from their relatives

by their dark beaks and are thought to be less noisy.

(birds squawking)

Though, in nesting season,

it appears to be a less valid claim.

These colonies can swell into the tens of thousands.

The black billed gulls fish from the nearby estuary

and catch insects from surrounding fields

to bring back to their young.

The chicks have a small window of time

to grow and strengthen.

The nests must be abandoned by February

before the heavy rainfall sets in, swells the riverbanks,

and floods the nesting areas with torrents of water.

(water splashing) (light music)

Across New Zealand's south island,

other new arrivals have just been born

on the rock walls of Otago Peninsula.

New Zealand fur seals.

Like sea lions, this is an eared seal.

The eared seals share many similarities.

Both prefer rocky shoreline to raise their young,

and have highly developed front flippers

to maneuver well across rocks.

However, fur seals have longer hind flippers

to help them balance while grooming.

They need to maintain their luxurious coats.

The fur is much thicker.

It keeps them warm rather than the thick inner layer

of blubber in other seals.

(seals barking)

Fur seal pups also have noticeable differences;

ears that stick straight out, and much larger eyes.

Female fur seals spend much of their life pregnant.

Within a week of giving birth,

they mate and conceive once again.

Creating a new life, whilst nursing another, is demanding.

The females must keep heading to sea to feed.

As a mother leaves, she communicates with her pup.

(squawking)

They are practicing for her return.

These vocalizations are a unique identity code.

In a large colony like Otago Peninsula,

it won't be easy for this mother

to spot her pup when she returns.

(water splashing)

Her first fishing expeditions after birthing

will be less than an hour.

Then stretch out to days as the pup gets older.

(light music)

For the pups, the time left alone ashore

while their mother hunts is important.

They explore the seaweed-lined walls of Otago's peninsula,

slowly building up their muscles and learning

to use their rotating front flippers for rock climbing.

These are the smallest of all seals,

which will eventually afford them a degree of dexterity

to climb to their breeding colonies.

Even at this early age of just a couple of weeks,

the pups pair up and begin sparring.

The playful jousting, nipping at necks,

is practice for the years ahead.

The adult males will exert their dominance over the herd

with forceful neck bites.

Playtime is over the instant they hear their mother's call.

(barking)

The pups responds with the vocalization

they have rehearsed.

(barking)

(light music)

The female also sniffs the pup as soon as it nears.

Fur seals have highly developed smell receptors,

and she uses them to confirm the pup is, indeed, her own.

They also have impressive memories.

As the young seal grows, its vocalizations change

in pitch and length with new additions to the sounds.

Studies indicate that while the mothers

learn each new variation, they also retain memory

of the older calls as well.

These fur seal pups will spend several weeks

on this New Zealand rock wall

until it's time to graduate sea wood to ocean lessons.

(birds chirping)

Much of the landscape of New Zealand,

and the rest of the Gondwana supercontinent,

was still covered by lush rainforest

as it came under great strain during the Jurassic period.

(light music)

An initial rift around 180 million years ago

saw Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica

drift eastward way from Africa and South America.

Eventually, these last two landmasses completely divided

and became separated by the Atlantic Ocean.

South America's western coastline still bears

the scars of this rift in the form

of the immense mountain range of the Andes.

These mountains still hold the remains

of the ancient continental links.

The discovery of common layers of rocks

found here and in certain mountain systems

on southern continents, including Antarctica,

first spurred theories of Gondwanaland's

existence a century ago.

The Andes extends right into South America's

southernmost tip.

There, it breaks into an island chain region

called Tierra del Fuego, which ends at Cape Horn.

The seas around Cape Horn have long held

a notorious reputation with mariners.

The Pacific Ocean collides with the much saltier Atlantic.

Equatorial currents traveling south

meet the cold Antarctic circumpolar current,

squeezing through Drake Passage.

Above the Antarctic circling current, the roaring 40s.

Furious fast trade winds at 40 degrees latitude

that force surface water to whip up enormous waves.

It's a harsh environment to sustain life forms.

But in Tierra del Fuego, evolution's pathway

hasn't just come from the cold polar region.

Species designed for much hotter climates

have found their way to America's southernmost tip.

(waves crashing)

On Cape Horn beaches, leatherback sea turtles

come ashore to nest.

(light music)

Leatherbacks are the largest living turtle on the planet.

They can grow nearly two meters in length

and reach extraordinary weights of 900 kilograms.

Sea turtles are usually found in more tropical climates.

As a reptile, they depend on warm surroundings

to regulate their internal body heat.

But leatherbacks have a unique blood system

and vascular structure that keeps their blood warm.

It means they can survive icy waters

where they don't have to compete for food

and space with other turtle species.

(birds chirping)

(light music)

Overlooking Tierra del Fuego's beaches

are the perpetually wet mountains

of one of the world's greatest ranges; the Andes.

Here, a wild form of llama, the guanaco,

has descended from the arid Atacama Desert of Northern Chile

to live in the elevated Alps of the ranges south.

Guanacos are closely related to camels.

They share long eyelashes to protect

their eyes from sandstorms.

Here, the lashes keep out the driving snow.

Both animals also have padded toes

to help them negotiate rocky mountain trails.

Guanacos are covered in a thick wooly coat,

and in the front and rear flanks,

are patches that essentially act as thermal windows.

These are thin areas of wool that can regulate

their body temperature.

Depending on which way the animal sits

in relation to the wind direction,

these patches can help warm up, or cool down, their blood.

(wind whistling)

(light music)

Vultures are also more typically associated with deserts.

But here, on the America's southern tip,

one has adapted to take advantage

of the notorious roaring 40s winds.

The Andean condor is very heavy for a flying bird.

It can weigh up to 15 kilograms; larger than a coyote.

To lift such a heavy mass,

condors have developed an enormous wingspan

nearly three meters across.

However, they still need a little further help

to sustain long distance flight.

At Tierra del Fuego, the condors have founded

thermal air currents.

Soaring into the powerful air currents

allows the large bird to cruise with minimal energy.

In this way, it can coast without the need

to constantly use pectoral muscles for wing flapping.

These thermal currents are strongest

in areas where high altitude mountain ranges

come into contact with oceanic breezes.

And along the South American tip,

nearly 9,000 kilometers of the Andes Mountain ranges,

meets one of the world's strongest trade winds.

It's a merger of geography shaped

by continental shift eons ago.

(whooshing)

Antarctica's freeze over began with

its separation from Africa more than 300 million years ago.

With its final riff from Australia,

it became an icy forest.

And for the last 15 million years,

a frozen desert under a thick sheet of ice.

Each winter, Antarctica's ice kingdom swells in size

as the very sea around it also freezes.

The summer retreating of ice leaves broken, unstable sheets

and many South Poler animals now live out

a large part of their lifecycles

in this terrain of two worlds; terrestrial and marine.

(light music)

Weddell seals are the most southern

breeding mammal on Earth.

A true seal, meaning they are earless

and don't have developed forelimbs to walk on land.

Weddells prefer to wriggle onto drifting pack ice.

They rarely migrate, spending winter under the ice

chewing breathing holes through the floating platforms

with canine-like teeth.

As the sheet ice melts in the warming months,

it breaks up into ice flows kilometers across.

These flows breakdown again into ice cakes.

The name given to small sheets just meters wide.

Weddells scramble aboard the drifting platforms,

taking refuge out of the water

from one of their few predators.

(light dramatic music) (water splashing)

Orcas.

They, too, rarely migrate unless it's to follow

polar pathways to richer feeding grounds.

Orcas live in tightly-knit family groups.

Each pod develops a unique culture of communication,

diet, and hunting techniques handed down

through the generations.

A female leader determines where their pod goes

to hunt each season.

Some will voyage to distant beaches.

Others remain around the Antarctic continent.

Here, the orcas have honed

a very particular hunting technique.

If they spot an ice cake adrift,

the orcas will begin to spy hop.

They orient their massive bodies vertically.

Despite weighing several thousand kilograms,

with powerful kicks of their tail fluke,

the orcas can propel their heads well above the waterline.

This way, they can see if there's

a potential prey target on board.

(light dramatic music) (water splashing)

But the orcas are doing more than just looking above.

With each spy hop, the orcas aren't only sizing

up the target, but the ice cake the seal is upon.

Each head bob allows a mental calculation.

How big is the ice sheet?

What shape is it?

Where is the seal balanced in relation to it?

As more pod members close in,

the ice cake platform becomes

less stable for a resting seal.

An orca takes one last look at the seal

on the remaining piece of ice for a final estimate

before the pod launches its first wave of attack.

(water splashing)

(dramatic music)

In the deep Antarctic, the orcas have learned

to hunt using waves.

In a small group side-by-side,

they charge at the ice sheet with speed

before diving sharply.

(water bubbling)

The group's combined movement creates a wave

and pushes it with full force at the ice.

(water splashing) (dramatic music)

The seal's flippers are equipped with sharp claws.

It tries desperately to hang on

and knows it has precious seconds to claw

its way back to the center after a wave has passed.

(water splashing)

But each charge is a new calculation for the orca pack.

And each new wave surges larger and with deadly accuracy.

It's just a matter of time for the ice sheet,

or the seal, is worn down.

(water bubbling)

(dramatic music)

The lone weddell seal finally loses its grip.

Now in the orcas' domain,

the seal is in for the fight of its life.

It frantically tries to see where the attack

from below will come from.

The orcas move in, still waiting to get

a final measure before striking.

In an instant, both animals turn and sprint.

Just as the seal reaches the lip of the ice

to once again scramble above, the orca grabs it from below.

But its tooth gripped on a flipper isn't firm.

The seal momentarily escapes.

It takes refuge in a submerged ice hole

bleeding from the attack.

Hemmed in by ice on one side and orcas on the other,

the weddell frantically looks for an escape route.

As the pod turns away to build speed for a final attack,

the seal seizes its brief chance.

(water splashing)

The weddell scrambles aboard a small ice cake.

Battered and exhausted, it has somehow survived

an attack from all sides from an entire orca pod.

Orcas are a global species

but have learned to adapt their hunting technique

to the region they live in.

Chasing fur seals up beaches of Argentina.

Surrounding baby humpbacks migrating off Australia.

And targeting great white sharks drawn

to South Africa's southern cape for the winter sardine run.

They now touch upon each of the continents

Antarctica itself once did.

Seemingly, at Earth's very end,

this frozen land was once a thriving epicenter

of flora and fauna.

Fossils remain and spores persist within the ice itself.

On land and in the surrounding water,

life forms have adapted to the cold anew and thrived.

And they continue to find ways back

to the southern continents that

were all once connected as one.

(light dramatic music)

(whooshing)