Wild Canada - The Heartland

the heartland of central and southern Canada holds a wealth of landscapes vast forests rolling grasslands lakes beyond counting and a remarkable cast of animal characters [Music] to the European explorers who arrived here in the 17th century the boreal forests and prairies appeared to be pristine wilderness shaped by nature alone but the story of Canada's heartland full of surprises it's Lake March on the grasslands of southern Saskatchewan and one of the prairies most amazing displays is kicking off male sharp-tailed grouse as strutting their stuff sorting out their pecking order before the females arrive [Music] this is a dancing competition the top ranked dancer will claim a central position and be best placed to catch the females eye when they arrive [Music] [Music] Grouse use the same dancing grounds year after year a fact well known by another resident of this open landscape people have lived alongside the wildlife of the Prairie for thousands of years Blackfoot First Nation people still perform a traditional dance inspired by the springtime antics of the prayer of chaining a bird they often hunt it for food [Music] long before Europeans arrived in Canada its people developed cultures based on an intimate knowledge of the land and its wildlife they also develop practices that change the landscape in which they live in 1691 English explorer Henry Kelsey was one of the first Europeans to travel through southern Canada and get a glimpse of this amazing prairie landscape his Assiniboine companions may have told Kelsey about the rich hunting grounds of the great grass Plains but nothing could have prepared him for the spectacle he was about to witness [Music] bison herds numbering up to four million animals bison are huge powerful creatures with an aggressive nature [Music] at the time of Kelsey's arrival the grassland stretched from central Mexico through the United States into southern Canada from Lake Winnipeg in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the West these grasslands supported many different species but there was one that appeared purpose-built for this open country the pronghorn antelope [Music] pronghorns are the fastest hoofed animals on earth during Kelsie's time they were at least 20 million pronghorn on the plains [Music] the Prairie First Nations were great hunters and they'd been changing this landscape for thousands of years with a very powerful tool fire fire kills young trees while leaving grass roots unscathed so these intentional fires kept the Prairie open by preventing trees from spreading across it and these people preferred grass to trees because the animals they hunted were grazes the fires cleared away the dead and dried out grass the ash fertilized the soil so by the following year a rich new crop of grass would grow to attract the grazing animals the bison herds themselves also help support the grass their dung return nutrients to the soil and their whose disturbed the ground allowing a diversity of plants to grow the interaction of grass bison and people sustained a rich stable environment long before Europeans arrived on the Prairie and there was one other major element influencing a prairie landscape wolves wolves played a crucial role in maintaining the balance between bison and prairie keeping the herds on the move preventing the grassland from becoming over grazed [Music] Planes people lived alongside wolves and understood how they hunted [Music] they knew that bison with new calves instead of running would often stand their ground as long as the adult bison hold on our Wolves went risk injury by approaching within range of those homes and hooves [Music] but not everything in wolves clothing is what it seems [Music] dressed in wolf skins and mimicking their movements the human hunters could approach within a few meters of their quarry their trip then was to Stampede the herd in one specific direction in full flight it's hard for the her to suddenly slow down [Music] by chasing bison over steep cliffs known as Buffalo jumps hunters could secure enough meat to feed the entire community smaller inhabitants like these black-tailed prairie dogs make their home underneath the prairie grassland prairie dogs live in vast colonies for towns with kilometers of burrows the entrance is surrounded by volcanoes shaped mounds of Earth these actors look out points in which the adults warn each other of approaching danger Lysias pups are now big enough to venture out though they never stray far from the safety of their burrows [Music] [Music] toward midsummer a new batch of babies is ready for its first public appearance [Music] these burrowing owl chicks were hatched on the ground in a treeless landscapes a vacant prairie dog burrow is the perfect nesting option the owls are not so much borrowing as borrowing whenever mom or dad appears the chicks converge on them like a pack of wolves [Music] the chicks are growing fast and their appetites seem insatiable [Music] in the pancake flat landscape the prairie dogs earth man gives the Owls of panoramic view in a treeless world any height helps to spot trouble the coyote knows he's been spotted and continues on his way the check takes advantage of the afternoon breeze to try out its wings a couple of months from now these chicks will be fully fledged and the family will migrate south [Applause] [Music] while most of us think of prairie is grassland there's another element to this landscape that is every bit as important to wildlife Canada's heartland is studded with countless lakes scoured out thousands of years ago by Ice Age glaciers some estimates put the figure at over 10 million that's far more lakes than people here a crucial resource for water birds returning from nesting grounds in the Arctic on their long migrations safe quill lakes in Saskatchewan draws in tens of thousands of snow geese looking for a place to rest and feed [Laughter] the reserve attracts rarer seasonal migrants too often in huge numbers sandhill cranes renew old acquaintances and greet each other with a peculiar leaping dance [Music] [Applause] once they have rested and fed the migrants master move on [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] within a few weeks these lakes will begin to freezer and the enormous flocks of ducks and geese will be far to the south winter comes early to Canada's heartland [Music] by late October the first Frost's have arrived [Music] winter signals are change in the fortunes for much of the wildlife of the Hopman bison had the advantage during the summer months but wolves have the edge now [Music] here in northern Alberta the deep snow causes the Bison to travel in single file to save energy those behind benefit from the snow plowing efforts of the frontrunners but for the last in line there may be a deadly price [Music] [Music] once separated from the rest of the herd this youngsters outlook is bleak while a Bisons front end is well-protected its rump is not so any further attempt to run away would simply play into the wolves jaws and with a herd gone the young bison has no alternative but to try and stand its ground [Music] the bloodied wolf can afford to take time out to quench her thirst with a mouthful of snow the arts are clearly in her favor finally the game of survival comes down to a choice of ends the Bison needs to keep the wolf facing its armored head while the wolf wants to get at its quarrys defenseless Rio primordial scenes like this would one Sabine common in Canada's heartland [Music] but today most of the wild bison herds along go and this is one of the last places in the world where wolves and bison still determine each other's faint [Music] north of the prairies is a belt of conifer trees the boreal forest it is considered to be the largest intact forest left in the world falling snow brings magic to the woodlands [Music] [Music] the first snow brings Beauty to the forest but it also brings tough times for many of the forest creatures in central Alberta a moose and her carves venture out into the snow searching for food when times are tough these willow twigs could make the difference between life and death for these moose by midwinter the temperature has dipped below minus 40 degrees on a frozen lake a deer has succumbed to the cold the tattered carcass looks as if it was savaged by a large predator during the night now in the morning light the hungry whisky jerks give way to the larger more powerful Ravens the squabbling Ravens sort out their pecking order over this winter feast opening of frozen carcass would be impossible for the Ravens so who did it a Wolverine [Music] with its muscular body frost shedding fur coat and big snowshoe paws a Wolverine can cover large tracts of frozen wilderness in search of food The Wolverine looks like a small bear but is actually a member of the weasel tribe [Music] rarely-seen whistled Wolverines ever recorded in North America we still know very little about wild Wolverines they have rarely been studied in the wild a hunter in its own right it is also an expert scavenger it's immensely powerful jaws can butcher even the most hard frozen carcass with its bellies stuffed full the Wolverine will be able to survive several days until its next meal carcasses like this are a rare bonanza for scavengers in these forests when the weather takes a turn for the worse the hungry Ravens make a last-ditch attempt to fill their bellies [Music] but in a matter of hours the dead deer is entirely buried later a young male Wolverine arrives on the scene not knowing there's a carcass hidden beneath the snow his senses are extraordinary [Music] [Music] somehow he's able to sniff out the faint odor of frozen flesh even through a meter of fresh snow in the race to survive the Wolverine wins by a nose meanwhile out on a frozen pond in northern Quebec steam rises from the chimney of a different snow-covered dwelling beneath its blanket of insulating snow is a Beavers Lodge the steam plume comes from the cozy interior of the lodge currently occupied by muskrats muskrats resemble beavers but a smaller with slender tails [Music] the muskrats are squatters here enjoying the warmth while the owners are busy foraging outside [Music] beavers eat mostly leaves twigs and bark if times are tough though they can draw on the fat reserves stored in their tails [Music] the Beavers keep a submerged larder of Willow and Aspen in their pond so they don't have to venture out about the ice to forage in the cold winter months until this unique new footage was filmed inside a wild beavers Lodge muskrats had always been thought of as freeloaders but this muskrat can clearly be seen plastering mardon to the lodge wall making a direct contribution to its weather proofing this is the first time muskrats have been recorded helping beavers to maintain a lodge maybe it's time to give the busy muskrat some recognition protected from predators inside a snow-covered stronghold the Beavers and musk rats remain insulated from the world outside until spring melts the ice on their pond you Canada has the largest wetland area in the world and throughout the boreal forest as winter ends it springs to life a pair of western grieves this spectacular water walking dance is their courtship display [Music] [Music] spring is a busy season for many creatures of these wetlands and the beavers are no exception their Lodge is now an island surrounded by a shallow pond that the Beavers created by damming up a small creek they must regularly patrol their dam making sure it stays water tight if they find a leak they quickly set to work to fix it [Music] beavers are one of the largest rodents in the world and use their strengths to great advantage all this fetching and carrying uses up a lot of energy a beavers diet is relatively low in calories so they need to spend a lot of time with feeding the dam mending is completed by jamming mud and weed in the chinks between the logs beaver dams may span hundreds of meters that's a lot of maintenance work for the adult pair the Beavers pond provides a habitat for waterfowl a pair of remnant dance pumped up with spring hormones male red-winged blackbirds stake out their territory inside a Canada goose has made her nest on top of the Beavers Lodge now that her eggs have hatched she needs to move her young to where they can find food but something along the water's edge has caught her eye reacting to the gooses alarm call the Beavers tell slap wars every other resident of the pond at the ponds edge a red-necked grebe pops off her nest [Music] though their cover has been blown the wolf seemed reluctant to give up entirely on their duck hunting ambitions [Applause] when large prey a scarce wolves will often put small animals but in this deep water it's a losing game and the wolf soon gives up the chase once the Wolves have gone life returns to me the greed settles back down to incubate her clutch of eggs while her mate brings an offering of water weeds [Applause] now the goose can take her Gosling's to find food thanks in part to the Beavers Canada's Heartland is a great place for water birds and a host of other pond life and it's not just wildlife that benefits Beaver dammed waterways regulate the flow of rainwater reducing flood pulses and allowing silt to settle out and clear water to flow [Music] the effect of beavers on the landscape is so beneficial that the Blackfoot people had a say beavers built the world in which we leave prior to the arrival of Europeans there are as many as 400 million beavers on the continent today there are just 12 million beavers vanished from many former strongholds [Music] profoundly changing the character of the landscape without beaver ponds the forest becomes drier less diverse in the vast evergreen forests of Western Ontario summer lightning is more likely to spark a huge blaze today fire is recognized as an essential part of the forest cycle and wildfires are allowed to burn unchecked unless they threaten life or property while the aftermath looks like devastation these trees have had thousands of years to adapt in the wake of the flames the cones of the jack pine and fir releasing their seeds over time new trees grow up and the forest gradually recovers but some changes to the Heartland are not so readily reversed over three centuries of European settlement the prairie landscape has radically changed nikla ploughed farms and fenced in cattle ranches now occupy most of the original wild grassland all that remains of the vast bison herds that once roamed the Prairie is a few small managed herds in wildlife preserves and gang ranches on a game ranch in Manitoba a female bison has just given birth this car is entering a world where she will be protected from predators given extra feed in winter and generally cosseted by her human owners the formidable animal that once helped shake the prairie landscape has become a profitable commodity formed over thousands of years in an open prairie landscape faced with the ever-present threats of marauding rules the calves instinct is to struggle to its feet within minutes of birth [Music] [Music] domestication may have changed its circumstances for this little bison remains wild at heart [Music] in southwestern Alberta near the Rocky Mountains the prairie landscape is now dominated by farms and fences but it doesn't mean all the wildlife has disappeared in recent years some soprano malls have started to reappear amongst the cattle fields and pastures in what was once their traditional Prairie habitat a grizzly bear and she isn't alone she has three half grown Cubs with her these days Grizzlies are a rare sight on the Prairie but it was not always so when Europeans came here 300 years ago they were common across the prairies of southern Canada but the people that settled here thought them dangerous and shot them on sight by the middle of the last century Grizzlies had been driven to extinction right across the prairies however some bears survived on the mountains to the west occasionally wandering down to the plains although much of their diet is plant-based at certain times of the year some grizzly bears do kill and eat young livestock so it's a testament to our changing attitudes that many of the people that live in this region today are willing to explore a new relationship with these amazing animals for thousands of years people have lived alongside wildlife in Canada's Harlan and so long as we afford nature the space it needs it will continue to flourish and to surprise us [Music]

Channel: NG Wild

Views: 83,706

Rating: 4.7518249 out of 5

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Id: X1DxadYWhRA

Length: 44min 4sec (2644 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018