Gates of the Arctic - America's Most Remote National Park | Free Documentary Nature

the gates of the arctic national park is the definition of remote situated entirely above the arctic circle it contains no roads or trails staggering wilderness full of truly wild things to get here you gotta want it bad but the rewards are immense amid snow blasted mountains and massive sand dunes you'll find the twin terrors of the far north battling it out ancient migrations undertaken for tens of thousands of years [Music] creatures of an ice age past and the unbearable cuteness of being if you really want to get away from it all there's nothing like the gates of the arctic national park [Music] straddling the brooks range the arctic end of the rocky mountains america's northernmost park has no highways no trails no campgrounds and almost no visitors making it one of the last truly wild places on earth by contrast alaska's other national parks are well a walk in the park [Music] take this beloved spectacle for instance the wild superstars of the north engaged in the cleverest laziest funniest fishing ever each july at the far less remote katmai national park brown bears gather to take full advantage of the salmon run more than 25 of the normally cantankerous giants share a single spot along the falls to get at the leaping sockeye desperate to get upstream to spawn an experienced bear can snap up 30 a day with a minimal investment of energy but bears and fish are not the only ones making this pilgrimage this is more of a showcase than a pristine wilderness it is a clever compromise one that seems to make both bears and people very happy if not the fish but for the uncompromising you've got to head 600 miles farther north to get really wild as the bush pilots say where the road ends the real alaska begins [Music] that makes the gates of the arctic national park a chunk of real alaska larger than the state of maryland here it is the chum salmon who were spawning after wandering thousands of miles in the pacific ocean for over three years they have returned to alaska and somehow navigated 300 miles upstream to the waters of their births also called dog salmon they're not the prettiest of fish but they find each other quite fetching the females beat depressions in the gravel to lay their eggs they have to be quick about it because the run is no secret grizzly bears are now in what's called hyperphagia desperately over feeding to fatten up for the coming winter the bears usually steer clear of each other maintaining around 20 square miles of elbow room but now they're in each other's faces here the salmon don't leap into a bear's mouth so they have to work at it the most skilled bears can catch fish after fish but this guy's just learning and he's got competition a female and she's an old hand at salmon fishing [Music] her technique is impeccable a combination of aerial survey she's almost six feet tall standing up then a good snorkel under the water she's pregnant and needs those calories badly [Music] now the pursuit the pounce and the prize that's a 12 pounder and she catches more before the day is over but time is short above the arctic circle summer is fleeting instantly the valleys are aflame with the colors of fall red flags reminding all living things that there is urgent business to attend to because the snows could be days away throughout the fall there is the usual noisy rush to reproduce and eat enough to get through the winter by november snow covers the summits of the brooks range and the gates of the arctic becomes as deadly as it is breathtaking [Music] there are three ways to deal with the cold migrate hibernate or tough it out many like the wolf have no choice but to persevere in the bleak arctic expanse and the mountain dwelling doll sheep might take the worst of it they must keep to wind blasted ridges where snow hasn't completely hidden the last blades of grass and they need all the energy they can muster now because it's time for the males to mix it up it's almost december by the time they get to their rut a spectacle of courting and competition on 45 degree slopes a young ram checks a female she obliges them with a sample of her hormone level she seems to be ready but he's not the only one who has figured that out bachelor males live apart from the females and youngsters most of the year but at the start of winter they convene for the mating rituals the more magnificent your horns the more likely you are to mate this guy is pretty impressive and determined and she's even more obliging [Music] but everyone has cut wind of her readiness [Music] the bachelor rams all know each other they've been knocking heads for years but now the females are in the picture all bets are off it starts with shoving and the occasional low blow then the spectacular head banging begins in earnest the victor shows off his domination though serious injuries are rare he's drawn blood [Music] like juliet at her balcony the u waits for her romeo and pumped up from combat he responds with a declaration of love if he's lucky his kids will be frolicking in the heights in a few months in the long twilight of late autumn outside the park along alaska's northern coast polar bears kill time because they can't kill prey until the ice freezes these endangered giants are trapped by warming oceans each year it seems their ice road to the fat seals they crave forms later and later but the back up at the shore can cause trouble mothers with small cubs need to be especially wary male bears sometimes kill and eat cubs [Music] and this hungry young male is too close for comfort and here comes another voracious giant when males are fasting tempers flare conflict is coming the male polar bears trapped at the coast are facing off mother wisely escorts her cubs away usually males just play fight while waiting for the ice that will take them to the seals and end their season of fasting but the ice is coming later and later each year [Music] mom has also gone for months without food living off the fat she accumulated during the spring bounty of seal pups on the ice but still she's patient with her youngsters her milk is incredibly rich nearly a third fat about eight times as much as human milk she'll let them nurse for up to two years [Music] for now all they can do is wait for the ice but while the warming seas circulating up from the south refuse to freeze the polar air grows colder and colder in fact the gates of the arctic is one of the coldest places in the us some survivors of the ice age are perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions by 1900 the extraordinary muskox had been exterminated in alaska three decades later 34 of them were reintroduced from greenland today there are around 4 000 of them in alaska and some have reached the gates of the arctic national park their coats have the longest fur of any american mammal and an undercoat eight times warmer than sheep's wool their barrel-shaped bodies and stumpy legs minimize heat loss in the bone-cracking [Music] cold as the months of winter pass only the hardiest of creatures will be able to survive out in the open seemingly resigned to their fate but under the tundra some creatures are pulling off a small biological miracle the hibernating ground squirrel's body temperature has actually dropped below freezing every two to three weeks he'll start to shiver warming himself back up to normal temperatures a mysterious key to his survival [Music] the winter sun barely breaks the horizon and during the almost perpetual night of the arctic winter temperatures can plummet to lower than 50 degrees below zero the fantastical northern lights billow and twist all winter above the brooks range [Music] some native peoples believe the northern lights are the dancing spirits of the dead science has an equally otherworldly explanation these sheets of light happen when charged particles from the sun caught by the earth's magnetic field stream down at the poles where they react with the atmosphere either way they are enchanting [Music] finally it's early spring [Music] after about seven months the arctic squirrel shivers himself awake ending his long hibernation ordeal [Music] he's lost about half his body weight and wakes up hungry for food and female companionship there's no time to lose the females will be most fertile for three days after their emergence and receptive for less than 12 hours a quick kiss and sniff she's not in the mood no problem he has a whole colony to check out with dozens of entry points no one home here hello there this lady seems to be interested but other males are never far away and this guy's big the first male rubs himself in his own pungent scent from a special gland it's meant to advertise his virility [Music] but the big guy is not impressed now he's just mad male ground squirrels are extremely violent at this time of year with a mating period of only two weeks the stakes are incredibly high this this is a deadly serious business as they tangle they bite with their nasty rodent teeth grave injuries are not unusual and sometimes fatal the smaller one has been badly wounded he'll live but probably lost his chance to mate this year the victor now has to win the ladies affections she's coy at first but relents in the end [Music] in just a month the little squirrels will be born [Music] by may spring still struggles to throw off winter days grow longer temperatures rise and solid rivers thaw and begin to move again alaskans call this the breakup and celebrate it as the true end of winter while the rivers and ponds are melting the ground remains frozen and under the leaf litter someone is pulling off a miracle that puts the ground squirrels to shame this wood frog is frozen solid even his eyes are iced over there's no pulse no breath [Music] slowly the warmth of spring begins to thaw from the inside out his heart starts beating [Music] his brain lights up [Music] and he begins to move [Music] it turns out that the frog's liver pumped a syrupy natural antifreeze into his cells in the fall it kept his organs from freezing only the water between cells froze [Music] after eight months frozen he's completely undamaged and leaping straight for the nearest pond now alaska's least welcome yearly arrival slowly bursts from its watery home the mosquito and it immediately wants blood not even cold-blooded frogs are immune the number of mosquitoes here far outstrips that in any jungle on earth [Music] by the billions they swarm every warm-blooded animal the musk ox's dense fur saves it from the worst of the onslaught but tender eyes noses and lips are still vulnerable finally they can stand it no longer it's time to head for the ridges and the breezes that bring a brief respite from the buzzing torment even in june snow never completely disappears in the brooks range [Music] using the rugged heights as protection from predators dolls sheep and their lambs greet the spring at just three weeks old they're agile mountaineers and already they're getting into shoving matches to establish dominance they'll stick with their moms till october later they'll head off in their bachelor groups till they're old enough to mate few predators can threaten them here in the heights but bears emerging from their deep winter sleep are starving and desperate [Music] late june has brought our grisly mother out of hibernation new cubs in tow and she hasn't eaten since last fall but it's virtually useless trying to chase down doll sheep on these slopes the cubs were actually born during her deep sleep in the dead of winter she'll eat anything now when hunting is scarce she digs for grasses roots fungi and even insects and grubs to supplement her diet and keep her milk flowing but soon she'll have to hunt here winter can seemingly blow back in on the winds of summer [Music] at this age the cubs stick to mom like glue there are dangers to them here particularly from grown male grizzlies but right now mom's concern is food the salmon run is still two months off till then she'll just have to make do with the grasses grubs and rodents under the snow [Music] finally the summer arrives properly in the national park [Music] bringing with it endless sunlight balmy temperatures in the 70s and a riot of color [Music] the arctic ground squirrels are happily converting flowers to fat for their coming eight-month hibernation and to milk for the little ones for the most part the babies stick to the burrow while mom keeps watching mothers all over the colony stand vigil each has up to 10 babies to keep track of these are very social animals and like all mammals the youngsters are playful curious and given defense of sibling rivalry [Music] mom's devotion doesn't last though and ground squirrels grow up fast at two months old the youngsters begin to venture out on their own in the days of eternal sunlight everyone seems to be on the move but nothing rivals the great migration of the caribou in late june hundreds of thousands of them cross alaska's north slope the coastal plains braided with melt water making its way to the sea the swift-moving ice-cold currents is no problem for the caribou mothers but a serious challenge for the young ones [Music] but for the caribou it is sink or swim move or die after the long crossing little ones face steep embankments twice their height [Music] [Music] finally the calf finds a way but another straggler tired and weak is in grave danger suck downstream by the currents one calf struggles ashore only to find himself trapped by the embankment it's urgent he not get left behind and mother is torn he can't quite puzzle it out even with mom's encouragement if he exhausts himself he won't be able to keep up with the herd and he will not survive but he too finally figures it out just in time the herd barely stopped long enough to let the moms do a head count and with a good shake they're on the move again in the course of a year these antlered nomads graze over territory the size of north carolina constant hunger means the relentless pursuit of better grazing [Music] even crossing the unforgiving mountains of the brooks range they swarm its flanks and simply keep moving [Music] for the caribou survival lies on the other side [Music] for some peculiar other mammals the point is simply to get to the top many a mountaineer covets the park's seven thousand foot peaks just the hike into the foothills last days an expedition takes three weeks on average the rock towers found in the erajudge peaks provide extreme technical challenges for climbers shot tower is not for the faint of heart or the amateur the first mountaineers only reached the summits of the national park in the 1960s even with modern equipment the climb is perilous but success is all the sweeter for it yeah and you just can't beat the view from the top a view few people will ever get to experience [Music] for over 30 days of summer the sun never sets on the gates of the arctic and the park's six national scenic rivers in august the no attack river welcomes its prodigal sons and daughters back from thousand-mile trips the chum salmon have come home again to spawn and the bears aren't far behind our grizzly family is back and they have a third cub with them grizzlies have been known to adopt orphans the cubs are big and sleek someone is already out there fishing time to set some ground rules mom will need some elbow room to hunt and teach her kids the delicate art of salmon fishing the other bear knows determination when he sees it mother bear demonstrates her fishing technique born of long experience [Music] high angle survey and the snorkel [Music] some students are keener than others and now the chase and voila locks but no bagels a breakfast for four but here comes appetite number five a big male [Music] it's not wise to get too close to a mother bear during the salmon run the newly arrived mail gives the family a wide berth for the moment [Music] while she resumes her hunt he pretends not to be all that interested again she strikes gold and he's still being casual [Music] she's had enough [Music] she rushes him but then they seem to reach a moaning accord of some sort maybe he's her grown cub from previous years she leads her family away and leaves behind a big fish a gift a distraction who knows further down the bank she takes another peek underwater plenty of fish here the biggest of the cubs decides it can't be that hard must remember not to breathe water [Music] the little bear is determined his siblings not so much [Music] nailed it and it's a whopper but he's too greedy to take it all the way to the bank a miscalculation and we all know about the one that got away [Music] he won't be making that mistake again soon [Music] hanging with mom fishing and napping this is bear heaven [Music] in this part of the world you expect snow and ice seas and streams mountains and rock but sand dunes actually these massive sand dunes lie above the arctic circle in kobuk valley just west of the park [Music] ancient waves of glaciers ground the rocks of the brooks range into fine sand rivers carried it here and dumped it now wind turns it into a living thing [Music] these 100 foot high dunes march across this landscape just the way their desert cousins do and in summer temperatures can reach over 100 degrees fahrenheit a slice of the sahara above the arctic circle [Music] now the red and gold of autumn cover the tundra topped with the blue of sweet berries after the fabulous dinner of the salmon run the grizzlies dessert is ripening all around mom takes her cubs on a scouting trip to the best berry bars [Music] it's the culmination of her hyperphagia the need to eat obsessively to pack on layer after layer of fat to get her and the cubs through the winter the ground squirrels too are stuffing themselves in preparation for hibernation best to keep a close eye out this male grizzly would welcome a high-protein snack right about now and he'll tear up the tundra with his three-inch claws to find one this place reeks of squirrel [Music] he's around here somewhere [Music] no never ever ever run from a grizzly he's fast as a deer and agile as a cat a lot of effort for a mere mouthful but the bear will eat anything and everything now in late september the parks giants are everywhere a moose in his prime weighs a thousand pounds and stands seven feet at the shoulder his rack alone measures six feet and weighs more than 75 pounds he's looking for love the females are becoming receptive [Music] and the males follow them like besotted puppies when she lets him put his head on her she's ready [Music] the forest foreplay has caught the attention of two sexually curious young bulls [Music] the voyeurs with their underwhelming antlers don't stand a chance at mating [Music] but they like to watch [Music] busted the old guy drives them off now to resume his romance in peace an old bull is materialized out of the woods this means war in the fall fights between bull moose can be fatal the first bull shows off his strength and rack the challenger seems unfazed despite his lopsided antlers [Music] [Music] the time for display is over [Music] the sounds of antlers clashing can be heard a mile away battles can last for hours [Music] but this newcomer quickly realizes that he's out of his depth and quits the field [Music] the female waits winners get to do 90 of the mating afterwards the bull enjoys a well-earned rest [Music] the rut is exhausting his rack grows heavy and there's a long bleak winter ahead [Music] already cold air is cascading down the slopes of the brooks range and the landscape begins to solidify [Music] the freeze-up is late this year the time when rivers harden into ice roads the sun starts to hug the horizon the long twilight is not far off [Music] ice crystals in the air give birth to sun dogs stunning halos visible to either side [Music] the last thing to freeze will be the arctic sea north of the park but it too is light again the polar bears can only wait the backup at the coast brings a chance for these normally solitary beasts to socialize and to rest they're professionals when it comes to conserving energy [Music] only the young males have energy to spare and they engage in some good natured sparring [Music] come spring they may badly hurt each other over a female but this is all in good fun some young males are lazier than others this guy is still nursing even though he's bigger than his mother is he's over two and a half years old now the age when polar bear mothers start cutting the apron strings but he's not taking the hint [Music] even when it's more than just a hint soon she will have no patience for her big baby [Music] it's for his own good finally the sea is freezing over [Music] alaska's most northern gate to the arctic has opened [Music] it is time he inherited his kingdom the kingdom of the ice [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature, Wildlife, Wildlife Documentary, Animals, Animal Documentary, Gates of the Arctic, Gates of the Arctic National Park, Bears, Bear Documentary, Polar Bear, Grizzly Bear, Alaska, Alaska Wildlife, Alaska Documentary, National Park, National Park Documentary, United States National Parks

Id: H_zzJZysj9o

Length: 48min 7sec (2887 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 31 2021