Kingdom of the Ice Bear
Part 2: The Land of Beyond The Arctic is a land of extremes - the harshest of winters and briefest of summers - yet caribou walk 600 miles to give birth in the snow, and barnacle geese fly 2,000 miles to nest there at the risk of starvation.
Prehistoric-looking musk oxen fight so hard for females that the effort sometimes kills them!
Although always too cold for trees to grow, for just eight weeks the frozen land warms to the midnight sun. Lush vegetation and carpets of glorious flowers transform the vast spaces into breeding grounds for a surprising variety of mammals and birds, and millions of insects. Wildlife lives on the very edge of existence in this land of rare and stunning beauty. 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 3 next Sunday)