Frozen Planet II

Episode
Episode 4 - Frozen South
Broadcast Info
2022 (58 mins)
Description
Frozen Planet II journeys to all of Earth’s remarkable cold worlds to experience the wonder of these breath-taking wildernesses at a time when they are changing before our eyes. Antarctica is the most hostile of all Earth’s frozen worlds. Yet even here, amongst some of the most challenging conditions on the planet, life finds a way... not just to survive, but thrive. Our journey begins at the far edge of the continent, on its far-flung sub-Antarctic islands - here we meet king penguins that to feed at sea they must first face the danger of ferocious leopard seals lurking in the shallows. On another island, we witness for the first time male Antipodean wandering albatross partnering up with each other as the females in their population are disappearing due to fishing activity. Heading towards the continent of Antarctica, we traverse the roughest seas on Earth - the Southern Ocean - where we meet the rarely-filmed Antarctic blue whale, the largest animal to have ever lived. At the edge of Antarctica, the sea is so cold the ocean freezes over - creating a vital ice platform for a mother Weddell seal to raise her precious pup. Still she needs to protect him from aggressive males. In spring the coast of Antarctica is free of snow, drawing in thousands of breeding chinstrap penguins. Stones are at a premium to build their elevated nests and protect a chick from meltwater. But stealing is commonplace and to make matters worse, with climate change, we find chicks today shivering with hypothermia - a warming Antarctica means increased meltwater. Other residents are facing an uncertain future too, including wave-washing killer whales. We discover that their favourite prey, Weddell seals, are now harder to reach, so instead they are resorting to targeting much more feisty prey, including leopard seals, an apex predator in its own right - in a dramatic encounter never been filmed before.
Travelling into the interior of the continent - into the frozen heart of Antarctica - we find great surprises: it’s one of the most volcanic regions on Earth. We reveal unexpected sand dunes, hidden in a rare ice-free valley - the driest place on Earth. Then, on the exposed mountain-tops, sticking out from the otherwise ice-covered interior, we find tiny snow petrels, which raise their chicks further South than any other bird, and defend their territory by projectile vomit! The greatest revelation lies deep in the interior, beneath the surface of an ice-covered lake, where we discovery ancient alien-like structures - giant stromatolites - built by primitive lifeforms. If life can make it here, in the extremes of Antarctica, it raises the possibility that life can exist elsewhere, in the frozen lakes of distant planets.
Genre
Research; Natural History; Climate

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Frozen Planet II". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/243194 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)