- [Bertie] Only minutes old,
this harp seal pup is quick to
fall in love with its icy home sweet home.
The ice melts.
In just 10 days time, mom will leave
her behind and never look back.
The countdown begins.
(baby seal cooing)
10, put on at least four pounds per day.
Nine, learn to swim before the ice melts.
Eight, don't panic there is no time for this.
Seven,
six,
five, four,
three,
two, one.
(wind blowing)
(daunting music)
At first glance the arctic feel brutally devoid
of life.
Though a select group of animals have
figured out a way to thrive.
(seal pup howls)
But the real force here works quietly underfoot.
Every winter sea ice starts small and delicate.
Then it grows over billions of square miles.
How is it possible that this freeze up, holds the
key to our entire planet?
Like a lung, sea ice breathes life into the arctic
every year.
In a cycle that impacts the climate across the globe.
This is the story from the edge of the Canadian arctic
where it all starts.
My name is Bertie Gregory and I am a
National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker.
Everything is at stake, we are all waiting
for the big freeze.
(clock ticking)
(calm music)
Every year, harp seals leave the rich waters of
the northern Hudson Bay
and join thousands of
other migrating south out of polar bear range
to their breeding oasis.
A massive ice flow in the
Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
(flute music)
(snow crunching)
It is hard to believe right now,
that we are walking over the ocean.
Everywhere you look as far as you can see is ice.
That is the reason why I have got this incredibly
sexy and very fashionable outfit on and a stick, is 'cause
we want to make sure we don't fall through a crack in
the ice, into underneath us which is hundreds of feet
of freezing cold water.
But right now we are looking for what is
arguably the cutest animal on the planet.
(seal pup cries) And I can hear it.
(flute music)
This beautiful little animal, hello, is a harp seal pup.
It was born here on the ice about four or five days ago
judging by its size.
It is totally helpless without mom
right now.
(water bubbling) (flute music)
(seal chirping)
In a colony of thousands,
mom needs to make sure she is not feeding the wrong pup.
Here she comes.
The kiss,
this what harp seals are
famous for,
that kiss is how the mom and pup recognize
each other.
(seals cooing)
This is what that little pup has been
waiting for.
It is dinner time
and it has really
got to make the most of these feeding sessions because
its has only got 10 days with its mom.
After those 10 days, the female is going to stop suckling
the pup, and she is going to head north with the males.
That little pup is going to be abandoned with nothing
to eat.
So it has really got to build up its fat reserves now.
Since filming that pup,
I have found something that is
a little bit gross.
So you see down here, there is this blood trail.
It leads to this.
Now this looks like death
but
it is not, this is life, this is the placenta.
But it is not actually frozen yet.
That means that somewhere around here,
is a new born pup
that has literally just been born.
I mean that would take
less than an hour to freeze, so somewhere here, is
that little pup.
Look, there it is.
Yeah, that one is just a few minutes old.
Look how yellow it is
and you can still see
it has got its umbilical cord attached.
You know compared to that other pup we had which was
only a few days old, four or five days older, this
shows just how fast they grow
and this little pup
has definitely got some catching up to do.
(tribal music)
You know it is really cool to see such a young pup
but it is actually not a good thing.
This one is four or five days behind the rest and
these adults are already in a race against time
to raise their pups before the ice breaks up so
this one has an extra big challenge ahead.
(violin music)
(seal pup whimpers)
(violin music) [Bertie] Our changing climate is
making early ice breakups more and more common.
In five of the
past ten years
bad ice meant the colony failed to
raise pups.
In 2017
the ice broke up so early
that the entire colony
of pups drowned overnight.
(fast violin music)
So you can see what was once a giant solid sheet is
now breaking up and the ice is really on the move, you
can see it.
Here now, it is the time for these pups to learn to swim
because soon these chunks are going to get smaller and
smaller and uh, and yeah they will be forced to swim.
So it is swimming time they got to go.
And that is exactly what is on this mothers
mind right now.
This real chunky monkey is so fat it is unbelievable
the amount of change just in a few days from
that tiny little new born, now to a big fat sausage.
So we are going to hang out and see if mom encourages it
for its first swimming lesson.
(cello music)
(seal pup cooing)
(seal pup whimpers)
Are we good to go?
- [Cameraman] Yeah
(flute music)
(seal pup cries)
- [Bertie] Look how she is using her giant belly
as a big swim float
to help her pup breathe.
You can see she is so protective of it in the water.
And anytime any of the other adults come anywhere
near her she chases them off so aggressively.
It is really doing it, its swimming.
Look at it go.
(flute music)
How incredible must it be to realize
you are actually built for the very medium
that was so daunting just minutes ago.
Now that the mother knows her pup has the skills to
survive the ice breakup, it is time for the
hardest lesson of all.
Saying goodbye.
(seal pup howls)
The male harp seals are now gathering nearby.
Ready to mate with the females.
Okay, getting in.
It is time for the adults to join and head to the north.
(seals chirping)
(violin music)
We have met truly extraordinary animals on
this adventure.
surrounded by the pack.
Their lives governed by ticking clocks getting them
to run further, fly faster or swim deeper.
But the thing that ties them and us together is the
planets loudest ticking clock.
The arctic sea ice.
The big freeze used to give us millions of square miles of
sun reflecting surface, stabilizing the earth's climate.
Over just the last thirty years, we have lost more
than a third of that sea ice.
Now rather than reflecting the suns heat,
open water absorbs it.
And we are witnessing its deadly effects.
(violin music)
But there is hope
and it lies with harnessing clean energy, using our
land more efficiently and reforesting.
Saving polar bears go beyond just a nice thing to do,
we are also saving ourselves.
It really is in our hands whether we want this place to
exist in the future.
Now is really a turning point.
Do we let it go or
do we really band together to make sure that it
survives into the next century?
(orchestral music)
(piano music)