Kingdom of the Ice Bear Part 1: The Frozen Ocean
Mightiest and most feared of all hunters, the polar bear stalks seals among the Arctic icebergs.
But after the great white bears have gathered to wrestle in the autumn snows, others reveal a gentle side to their nature - mothers lovingly tend their cubs as they emerge in the spring sunshine. Apart from the antics of ice bears and the crystalline beauty of the world's largest wilderness, the Arctic offers many other surprises.
Beneath the ice, one-horned narwhals - unicorns of the sea - share rich feeding with belugas and harp seals, to an underwater chorus of eerie cries and the strange song of the walrus.
And during the brief summer millions of visiting sea-birds hurry to breed before the disappearing sun leaves the ice bears to wander their kingdom for another long winter of darkness, silence and numbing cold.
Narrator Hywel Bennett Photography HUGH MILES
Film editor MARTIN ELSBURY Music composed by TERRY OLDFIELD
A Natural World special Produced by MIKE SALISBURY and HUGH MILES Series editor PETER JONES BBC Bristol
(Part 2 next Sunday)
0 FEATURE: page 98