Original subtitles

Canada has some

of the most remarkable wilderness

found anywhere in the world...

And some of the planet's most iconic wildlife.

It has the longest coastline of any country in the world.

It has more surface freshwater

than any other nation on earth...

And the largest intact forest left on the planet.

And yet much of this great wilderness

and the wildlife found here today

is a result of shaping by humans

over thousands of years.

Canada is a land filled

with astounding wilderness and wildlife.

And this series will explore

this incredible natural diversity

and the forces that produced it.

15,000 years ago, Canada was buried

under a kilometres-thick, continent-wide glacier.

This is when the story

of Canada's modern wildlife and landscapes

actually begins.

As sea levels lowered,

a land bridge with Asia was created,

along which new life entered north America.

And for the first time,

humans arrived in this new world.

Right from the start,

they began to change the land and wildlife around them...

And nothing would ever be the same again.

But 15,000 years later,

Canada is considered one of the wildest countries

in the world.

And one of its greatest natural spectacles

takes place each year on its Atlantic coast.

This is the province of newfoundland,

and it's as far east as you can go

on the north American continent.

For thousands of years,

this place has drawn travellers to its shores.

Humpback whales arrive here each spring

from as far away as the Caribbean.

They're drawn by the abundance of this place.

It's a richness that comes from the sea.

Over the years,

this richness drew many different types of visitors.

In 1497, John Cabot arrived

and became the first European since the vikings

to lay claim to this new-found land.

Cabot was looking for a new trade route to China,

but instead stumbled upon

the unimaginably rich natural resources of Canada.

Here on the east coast,

that wealth begins under the sea.

Capelin.

Huge shoals of these small fish, numbering in the billions,

mass along the coast of newfoundland

each spring.

These nutrient-rich fish

support the incredible abundance of life here.

The Atlantic cod were once here in numbers so great

that boats occasionally had a hard time

getting through their shoals.

Such rich fishing grounds

lured the first Europeans to these shores.

Today, the great schools of cod are mostly gone.

But that doesn't mean the capelin here are safe.

These productive seas attract

the largest gathering of humpback whales in the world.

These massive predators

have travelled thousands of kilometres

to be here at this time of year to feast on capelin.

They haven't fed for months, and they're hungry.

They can eat up to a ton of capelin

in a single day.

In one massive gulp,

these whales can take in 50,000 litres of water...

And capelin.

The capelin aren't just hanging around the coast

to feed the whales.

They are here for a reason...

to breed.

These capelin are beach spawners,

so to reproduce, they have to get to shore.

And there is only one way to get there...

They have to surf.

Most of the time,

it's truly hard to appreciate the abundance of the sea,

as it's often out of sight, hidden beneath the surface.

But when the capelin spawn in newfoundland,

the incredible productivity of this place

literally washes up onto shore...

And this puts them in easy reach

of a whole new set of predators.

Somehow in this crazy tumult

of water, sand, and tumbling bodies,

each capelin has to find a partner.

Then, in the dozen seconds that it takes

for the wave to slide back over the sand

into the sea,

they have the perfect conditions for mating.

The female lays her eggs

while competing males flank her,

jostling for position to fertilize them.

The capelin have made it

past the cod, the whales, and the gulls

to produce the next generation.

This incredible spectacle here on Canada's east coast

is a testament to another time,

one that drew the first Europeans

to these shores.

And to th ese early visitors, like Cabot,

this was a new frontier, waiting to be exploited.

It didn't take them long to realize

that there were already people here.

John Cabot was one of the first

to encounter a people called the Beothuk,

the native inhabitants of newfoundland and labrador.

To celebrate their tribal identity,

they completely covered

their bodies, clothing, and weapons

with red ochre.

This led to the name "red Indians" being applied

to many of the native peoples of the continent.

This was a meeting of two very different worlds.

But the Beothuk didn't want to have anything to do

with these new arrivals.

Cabot and the other early explorers

quickly came to realize

that this new world was already home to many people.

But what they could never have imagined

was that the seemingly pristine, wild landscapes they found here

had been shaped by the first nations inhabitants

over thousands of years.

At the time of Cabot's arrival,

the iroquoian and algonquian people of the eastern forests

had created a rich, lush homeland.

In 1679, one European visitor

described these eastern oak forests

as full of "vast meadows, vineyards,

"trees bearing good fruit,

"groves and forests...

"so well disposed

one would think nature alone could not have made it."

And that turned out to be very true indeed.

It was a fertile patchwork of oak forests and grasslands,

a savannah-like habitat where wildlife thrived.

When Cabot arrived,

this continent supported huge populations of wild deer,

millions more than it does today.

Over thousands of years,

the people here had engineered their very own garden of eden

through the careful use of fire.

But we are only just beginning to realize the massive extent

to which they had shaped the country around them.

The first human inhabitants of north America

weren't shaping the landscape with fire

on just a small and local scale.

They were burning tens of millions of hectares

each year.

Fire would burn away the young trees,

creating large grassy openings in the forest...

And clearing the way for the larger trees,

protected by their thick bark,

to grow even bigger and produce more nuts and fruit.

With controlled burns,

these people created

one of the most productive landscapes

on the continent.

But it didn't last.

Although today,

modern forest managers are rediscovering

the positive effects of fire,

centuries ago,

the practice of burning these forests ended...

And the rich, open savannah habitat

of the oak forests

was lost.

Now, after 300 years,

fire is once again shaping

the remaining black oak forests of eastern Canada.

But only a few tiny patches remain...

Protected in places like high park in Toronto,

that was built over the top of this once extensive habitat.

Without the practice of burning,

the remaining hardwood forests of Canada

look very different

from those that stood in Cabot's time.

While not as rich and varied, they are much more colorful

because of the abundance of maple trees

in the forest today.

Maple are very sensitive to fire,

so they were kept back by the burning of the forest.

But when the burning stopped,

maple trees started to take over.

One of Canada's most famous natural displays

is a relatively recent creation

arising from our new relationship

with forests.

In winter, the maple's broad leaves

are too flat and thin to protect from freezing.

So each fall, the tree cuts its losses

by pulling its resources back into its trunk,

letting the leaves die.

And that leads

to one of the natural world's most stunning displays of death.

North of the maples,

the boreal forest stretches unbroken

across the country

nearly 10,000 kilometres long from east to west.

It's considered the largest intact forest left

in the world.

For six months every year, snow transforms the forest.

Winter is a difficult season for many wild animals,

but some are better equipped for it

than others.

Wolverines are one of the most elusive animals

in the world.

With large furry feet,

it almost floats across the deep snow.

They are rarely seen,

and few have ever been captured on camera.

Winter in the northern forest can be challenging to life here.

But the forest provides a refuge

for many different animals during the winter,

even for one of the planet's

most famous cold-adapted creatures.

And shes here for a very good reason.

Over the winter, she gave birth

in this den beneath the trees.

After five months inside,

it must feel good to be out.

Nowhere else in the world

can you see polar bears playing among trees.

These new cubs

still have a lot to learn from their mother

and will spend the next two years with her

before striking out on their own.

As spring approaches,

these bears leave the shelter of the trees

to follow the retreating ice north.

But there are many forest creatures

that never leave,

and some that only come out at night.

Squirrels are the quintessential forest creature,

and these ones are special

because not only are they nocturnal...

They can fly!

While they don't fly in the true sense of the word,

flying squirrels can glide for 50 metres between trees.

Their tails act like rudders, steering them around obstacles.

Flying squirrels feed on the seeds in cones

that grow on the trees in which they live,

and they inhabit all types of forests

right across Canada.

Flying squirrels stay active all year

and don't hibernate.

But there are other creatures

living in these northern Canadian forests

that have to.

Right on the southern edge of the great forest

in central manitoba,

each spring, there is a magical reawakening

from beneath the forest floor.

Red-sided garter snakes are just waking up

from their eight-month-long winter sleep.

They journeyed here last fall from up to 80 kilometres away

to hibernate

in these deep limestone sinkholes.

The males emerge first in their thousands.

It not just the spring sun that has brought them out.

There's something else these males are waiting for.

All these male red-sided garter snakes

have been waiting for the females

to emerge from their hibernation.

Then, slowly, in ones and twos, the females begin to appear.

Females emit a pheromone

that drives the males, who are much smaller,

into a frenzy.

Dozens of males cling to her, trying to mate.

Afterwards, the female dislodges her partner

by doing a body roll.

He tries to hang on

to keep his competitors from mating with her as well.

In many ways, it's surprising

to see cold-blooded creatures like snakes

creating such a spectacular display

in the northern climes of Canada.

But they're drawn together here,

as it's the only shelter deep enough

for them to survive the cold Canadian winter.

This concentration

makes it the largest gathering of snakes

in the world.

Further south and west from here,

at the centre of the country,

the forest gives way to a very different landscape...

The prairies.

At one time, this vast grassland

stretched all the way south to Mexico.

Its broad, flat expanse was created

by the sediments deposited

when the continental glaciers melted.

These vast open plains are perfect habitat

for one particular animal

that seems purpose-built for them.

Pronghorn antelope

are the fastest hoofed mammals on the planet.

But today, they're ecological ghosts...

Relics of a time

when this open grassland

was home to cheetahs and other predators

fast enough to catch them.

The cheetahs are long gone,

along with a lot of the wildlife

that used to live on this continent

millennia ago.

Today, the pronghorn sprint on alone,

running a race that ended 10,000 years ago.

Pronghorns have always lived in the centre of the country

because further west,

the landscape is radically different.

To the west,

the prairies run into a crumpled landscape

that gives rise to the rocky mountains,

an unbroken chain almost 5,000 kilometres long

of some of the tallest peaks on the continent.

Canada's western edge

is one impressive mountain range after another.

In northern British Columbia,

the Stikine river

cuts a great, dark chasm through the mountains

on its way to the pacific.

More people have walked on the moon

than have paddled through this canyon.

These vertical walls are the home of mountain goats.

Sure-footed relatives of antelope,

they seem at ease

making their way across these sheer cliff faces

where one slip could mean a long fall to death.

The vertical walls of the Stikine canyon

provide some truly spectacular mountain goat habitat.

The waters flowing from these mountains

carry great loads of minerals and silt

westwards to the pacific.

Here in British Columbia,

where the mountains meet the sea,

there's a combination of elements

that create the most productive landscape

in the country.

Land and sea...

Life here thrives

from the alignment of these two elements.

It's the forests

where the link between the sea and the land

tells the most.

Canada's west coast

is home to a third

of the world's remaining temperate rainforest.

It is one of the richest habitats

on the plan et.

Among these trees,

there is a greater abundance of life

than anywhere else in Canada.

It's a rich and magical place

filled with strange and wonderful creatures...

Like the spirit bear,

a rare color phase of the north American black bear.

He's not an albino.

He's a black bear,

but born with a combination of rare genes

that makes his fur white.

But where does a bear in these woods go

to find something to eat?

Each summer,

the network of rivers on Canada's west coast

brings food to the spirit bear's doorstep.

But just like any bear, he has to catch it.

Fishing is a skill,

and some bears are naturally better at it

than others.

Th is particular bear

doesn't seem to be very good at it.

They seem so close.

Maybe a new technique will do the trick.

But a surprise attack from above doesn't work either.

Finally, he gets one.

He's going to need a lot of these

over the next few months

to prepare for winter.

For centuries, this rich temperate rainforest

has supported many generations of spirit bears.

But further north in Canada's vast tundra region,

the wildlife has to survive

in a landscape that's far less productive.

Geographically, the centre of the country

is actually in the middle of the arctic tundra.

It seems

people have had very little impact

on this place.

And for a long time,

it was thought to be the one landscape

that had not changed since the ice age.

Caribou that live here

have to migrate over vast distances

to find enough food to eat.

The plants of the tundra are very poor in nutrients.

It's hard for the animals to extract much

from the mosses and lichens that grow on the tundra today.

Caribou are one of the few grazers

that can survive on this meagre food.

But the tundra wasn't always like this.

Recent scientific research shows

that 15,000 years ago,

the tundra environment was, in fact, a grassland.

And it was grazed by very different creatures

than we see in the prairies today...

Mammoths.

It was a surprisingly productive habitat

this far north.

That is, until a new arrival.

As the ice age ended,

people arrived on this grassland,

known as the mammoth steppe,

that supported vast herds of grazers.

But these people were skilled hunters,

new to the animals that lived here,

which had no defense against them.

Within a few centuries,

most of these animals were extinct.

Scientists now believe that with the mammoths gone,

the grasses died out,

causing the ground to turn wet and boggy.

The fertile grassland disappeared...

And the land became the tundra that we see today,

making it the biggest human-changed landscape

in the country.

15,000 years ago,

the tundra was Canada's first frontier.

Today, Canada's has a new frontier...

The arctic.

And as with earlier frontiers,

humans continue to alter the world around them.

Right now, the arctic landscape

is undergoing one of the biggest human-caused changes

in the history of the planet.

Change in the global climate is melting the arctic,

opening up a new frontier...

Creating conditions

that have probably not been seen here

in a million years.

But it's a fundamentally different frontier

than the past.

The changes here

are being caused by humans all over the world,

and created unintentionally in a very short span of time.

No one knows how, or even if,

the life of this region will adapt

to these new conditions.

And the changes we bring to the arctic

will be felt

far beyond the boundaries of this place.

They will influence the entire planet.

The story of Canada's eternal frontier

continues.