about 1,000 kilm north of Tokyo lies Japan's second biggest island Hokkaido about twice the size of Switzerland its Northeast tip is the shiroko peninsula according to the Inu hokkaido's indigenous people one meaning of shiroko is the end of the world [Music] in Autumn the salmon migrate from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in its rivers most are humpback [Applause] salmon they don't arrive unnoticed the brown bears are looking forward to their best time of [Applause] [Applause] year many salmon swim 100 kilm only to end in a bear's [Applause] Jaws this will build a healthy layer of
fat skin and innards are popular but eggs are the real [Music] delicacy as Autumn advances the forest starts to Glow since 1964 the peninsula has been a protected National Park in 2005 it won UNESCO World natural heritage [Music] status further in land a female brown bear is hunting in fact she's late getting started most of the salmon are long gone brown bears are Japan's biggest land animals the female is not alone she keeps her two cups close they're part of the world's densest brown bear population she tirelessly pursues the fish she's doing her best but
there's not much time Autumn is coming to its end it's the crucial time for building up Reserves luckily brown bears aren't picky eaters they'll digest almost anything nuts berries roots or leaves to have the best chance of surviving a tough haido winter where the temperatures drop as low as -5 C [Music] but in February the coldest time of the year the gift which will sustain life here reaches these Shores from the north first it's just a few fragments then more and more [Music] until masses of pack ice move towards the [Music] peninsula the ice has
come a long way from the north more than 1,000 km from the sea of aotk [Music] soon the ice meets the shore and the fragments are pressed together [Music] [Applause] the fox has to be careful when exploring this could be dangerous he has to find his way onto Solid Ground again [Music] there are still a few mild bright [Music] days and then winter hits hard [Music] it's a tough time [Music] now a Seeker stag exhausted from Autumn combats with rival males can hardly stay on its feet [Music] a younger male still has the strength it
needs to reach the top leaves [Music] it'll gain enough energy to defy the freezing cold and keep at full [Music] stretch not so the old bull [Music] [Music] by the morning he's [Music] dead the the end for one life for others the Crow's powerful beak makes short work of the [Music] Hide and that does the fox a big service [Music] [Music] the Stags remains will feed the fox for weeks it'll save his life you have to take your chances here on Toco if you want to see next spring the coast is starting to look typically
Arctic along with strange sounds to match the Inu say the ice is weeping the real explanation is more prosaic the sound of ice flows rubbing against each other visitors from Siberia on the way to shiroko Stellar's sea eagles these magnificent raptors have 2 meter wingspans they spend their summers in Russia's Far East but they prefer the comparatively mild winters of Japan the global population of Stellar's sea eagles is just 8,000 a third of them winter on H kaido here they find the food that's now missing in the North [Laughter] as the sun sets shiroko reveals
another Wonder this is the perfect place to observe the night sky light pollution is almost unknown here aido is far less populated than the rest of Japan [Music] it takes the Pale Light of the Moon to dampen the spectacle [Music] and to Rouse another shiroko Resident one of Japan's rarest birds a blakiston's fish owl a few hundred survive in Russia China and Northern Japan Hokkaido has no more than 160 this fish owl is on the lookout for prey his sharp eyes will catch a tiny movement in the water [Applause] a prize for this male which
he may have to defend but the owl's focus is elsewhere [Music] on a potential partner and a fish could be a cting gift any successful pairing improves the species [Music] chances their wooing is Disturbed now saving the prey is the [Music] priority it's not the fox's night early next morning fishermen depart Before Dawn the freezing Waters of shiroko are Japan's riches shipboard life Subzero is harsh but it's worth it Pacific Pollock is a deep sea fish except when it comes up to spawn [Music] in some years 2,000 sea eagles gather on the ice field [Music]
they can be patient they know what's on the way when Fishers pull in their Nets something always gets lost small fry and unwanted bik C hatch is thrown overboard a wintry gift on the ice for the Eagles Stellar sea eagles are the largest of their kind and among the most powerful birds of prey on Earth with the sharpest eyes and claws but Power Fuels competition not much time to enjoy this catch these fights are not about territory but [Music] food their smaller relative a white-tailed Eagle looks on [Music] it's not scared to steal some food
just waiting for its [Music] chance this could be it [Music] but competition from cheeky cousins must not be tolerated [Music] the smaller white tail is chased away further out on the pack ice a ribbon seal rests in the spring she will give birth here for now the male will have to be patient she shows no interest in him the ice flows will stay 2 months a safe refuge for the seal [Music] beneath the ice a Wonderland [Music] awaits in places it's 20 M [Music] thick here live aliens [Music] a sea spider a lion's Man jellyfish
some have a diameter of 2 [Music] m others light up like [Music] LEDs comb jellyfish use beating strips of cyia to move forward [Music] this Arctic comb jellyfish catches its prey with tentacles longer than its body each one shoots out when needed to hunt [Music] a sea [Music] butterfly a snail with [Music] wings perhaps the most wonderful is this one [Music] a Cleon Cleon are also related to [Music] snails this one looks like an angel but it has a dark side [Music] its eyesight is poor it compensates with scent receptors that track its [Music] prey
a determined Predator stalks a sea butterfly [Music] it's inside sucked out the victim is eaten [Music] alive no way one can escape these [Music] [Music] tentacles beneath or above the ice it's eat or be eaten the end of [Music] March the temperatures creep above freezing [Music] a great transformation is starting microscopic algae turned the ice Brown as spring Sunshine brings the fighter Plankton to life but this couldn't happen without iron locked in the ice and now set free thus nourished the microscopic algae flourish in Myriad forms they attract the next Link in the chain of
Life Krill these little shrimps live off Plankton and now they reproduce explosively in turn the iron and other nutrients brought by the ice from hundreds of miles away are the gift of life to the Sea of [Music] shiroko this is the secret of Japan's Wild [Music] North after monochrome months shiroko bursts into [Music] color brown bears wake from hibernation the IU know them as gods of the mountains Lords of the other creatures the she bear carefully checks the surroundings no immediate danger time to play [Music] perfect training for muscle and motor [Music] [Music] skills the
bond between mother and cubs is the one lasting attachment among bears [Music] youngsters usually stay with their mothers till their third year time to learn all they need to know to survive in the forests of Hokkaido [Music] [Applause] orcas come to this Coast from the south the largest members of The Dolphin Family are at the top of the food [Music] chain they're not looking for swarms of tiny [Music] Krill thereafter Pacific hering [Music] shiroko has other visitors from the southern oceans short tailed sheer [Music] Waters they've come from their breeding grounds in Australia they flown
10,000 km to get [Music] here more than a 100,000 of them [Music] they too are here for food sheer Waters aren't only astounding longdistance [Music] Flyers when they stop they're just as at home under the sea [Music] [Applause] [Music] powerful wings and webbed feet propel them [Music] down eating mainly Krill but also other Crustaceans and small fish [Music] deep as 50 m [Music] [Applause] after all the effort the birds have to rest not so easy when everyone has the same idea finally they all settle down and peace descends [Music] but then a whale a fin
whale to be precise [Applause] this Marine Mammal can measure more than 20 [Music] M the shear waters are not on the whales menu they eat Crome fin whales are the second biggest creatures on Earth males weigh up to 60 tons that's more than three buses [Music] whales come to Shiro's Coast in spring and summer when Krill are abundant sometimes they gather in large groups with dozens of animals this is a very rare site each whale needs about 2 tons of krill a day synchronize swimming and eating come [Music] naturally Shear Waters don't appreciate appreciate the
[Music] company from above their evasive action is like a firework display [Music] [Music] and all of this depends on the winter [Music] ice summer nears its peak for Seekers a time of ease plenty for all a chance to play [Music] a she bear with her Cubs is following the [Music] deer UNC concerned for now The Seekers keep a careful eye on the visitors [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] healthy Seekers are safe from the Bears and they know that perfectly well [Music] summer is in evidence offshore [Music] too in just a few weeks brown algae grow to
veritable undersea forests [Music] they're perfect hiding places for sea creatures and their nurseries too [Music] [Music] an intimidating stare and scary teeth but it's only a bearing wolfish spring cleaning [Music] [Music] or maybe he isn't so [Music] harmless ask a horsehair crab the Sandy seabed is home to a truly remarkable creature the Japanese scallop many IAT [Music] greedily and a starfish reaches out to [Music] attack but the these are jumping scallops by expelling a jet of water they leap forwards scientists reckon this colony of 300,000 is the world's biggest some of them inevitably fall victim
to the starfish and Crest head Flander The Flounder wait till the starfish have prized open the shells then the banquet can begin [Music] [Music] the commotion attracts a North Pacific giant octopus the world's biggest octopus has tentacles up to 5 m long but enough scallops survive to spawn the Next Generation the abundance of the Seas nourishes the land too a vixen has her territory not far from the fishing Village she's happy to live close to humans perfectly relaxed she scans the beach for anything edible hers is an Al Factory Universe a sense of smell 400
times more sensitive than a human's the food is not for her her pups are hungry fresh C baby food they never have [Applause] enough an old boat Hut is home the Vixen never rests and she's back with another serving you shouldn't really play with food but an octopus tentacle is made for a tug of [Music] war the Fox Family survives thanks to the Sea of [Music] shiroko and sometimes the same sea nurtured by Ice brings an especially generous gift the brown bears have caught a seductive [Music] scent drawing them irresistibly [Music] the remains of a
stranded whale we've come full circle nutrients sealed in the ice fed the algae and krill that were consumed by the whale that is now in the Bear's stomachs and will eventually fertilize Shiro's forests it's this interdependence of land and sea that makes the peninsula so special its forer so [Music] Bountiful but climate change now threatens to wreck the delicate balance over 40 years the pack ice from the sea of aotk has lessened by 25% [Music] we can only hope that hokkaido's Wildlife will cope with this [Music] change so Japan's Wild North and its unique inhabitants
will be saved for future Generations [Music]
