♪
In the eastern reaches of
the Canadian Arctic
lies a vast wilderness of
water, rock, and earth.
♪
The rolling tundra
can seem barren.
♪
But jewel-like
plants blossom.
Prehistoric animals roam.
Life thrives in
hidden places.
♪
The purest freshwater
flows in torrents.
♪
As summer ends, creatures
fatten for winter.
The days grow shorter,
the nights longer.
♪
Fall on the tundra
is fleeting.
♪
The land and sea
will soon be frozen.
♪
This is Nunavik ...
a testing ground for survival.
♪
♪
Nunavik, meaning
"Great Land" in Inuktitut,
is bigger than California.
A pristine wilderness of
water, forest, and tundra.
On the shores of
Ungava Bay,
the long summer days
are coming to an end.
The tundra colors
are darkening.
But the ptarmigan is
beginning to whiten for winter.
Local Inuit harvest
the fruit of the meadows.
♪
And search shorelines for
the fruits of the sea.
♪
Some of the world's
highest tides
sweep through Ungava Bay.
Driving mighty icebergs to
the end of their journey,
aground in these
shallow waters.
♪
As the nights darken,
the Northern Lights
become vivid.
♪
The muskoxen's coats
grow thicker,
preparing for winter.
For now,
they graze with ease.
Soon they must
dig beneath snow.
The young calves are
four to five months old.
They were born early
enough in the year to
fatten up before facing
their first Arctic winter.
Within a week of birth,
they could nibble
tender shoots of grass,
but they won't be weaned
for another year or so.
A startled calf will hide in
its mother's long wool skirt,
and will shelter
there for warmth in winter.
It's still summer's end,
with swarming bugs
to pester them.
This calf has learned to
find relief
by scratching against a rock.
Muskoxen have grazed in
the Arctic for 200,000 years.
They witnessed the
emergence of the
boreal forest after the
last ice age.
♪
The boreal forest that
circles below the high Arctic
reaches its limit here,
at the southern edges
of Ungava Bay.
♪
In this low,
rolling country,
the transition from forest
to tundra is gradual.
Although maps show the
limit of the forest as a
rigid treeline,
there's no such thing.
Sporadic clumps of spruce,
aspen or larch grasp the
thin soil where they can,
until no more grow.
As the trees become
more sparse,
bedrock appears through
the thin crust of earth.
This is the immense
Canadian Shield,
North America's underlying
foundation of rock.
♪
These are among the most
ancient rocks on earth.
Some are three
billion years old.
There used to be
mountains here.
They were eroded over
thousands of years
by massive glaciers.
The Laurentide Ice Sheet
retreated here
8,000 years ago.
But its effects still
form the landscape,
which even today
is rebounding from
the loss of its massive weight.
The mighty ice reduced
mountains to rubble and
scraped the land clean.
The ice sheet left behind
these raised ridges of
loose sand and gravel,
called eskers,
that trace the routes of
ancient streams of meltwater.
♪
The well-drained surface
and the sheltering sides
encourage the tough
plants that grow here.
♪
The Arctic tundra is
extremely cold...
a treeless landscape
with a growing season
barely a month long.
♪
It's fall on the
Koksoak river,
the largest in Nunavik.
♪
The river's massive
drainage basin
is larger than Greece.
♪
It is calm now.
But in early summer,
when snow and ice
melt along the shores,
the river surges
to its tumultuous,
maximum flow.
♪
Salmon that spawned here
a few weeks ago have left
for Ungava Bay, or beyond
to the Arctic ocean.
♪
A hoofprint in the moss...
and a tuft of fur
snagged on a dwarf birch
are signs a muskox
has passed through here.
The Inuit call this fur
qiviut - the soft,
dense underlayer of
a muskox coat.
This thermal underwear
enabled muskoxen
to survive the ice age.
Qiviut is the warmest
animal fur on earth.
It's stronger than sheep's
wool and softer than cashmere.
It's time for creatures
that came here in spring
to mate and give birth,
to migrate back south.
On a passage from
further north,
Canada Geese rest here.
They mass on lakes and
ponds before taking off again
for the southern
United States.
As sunlight decreases and
temperatures drop,
the plants darken.
♪
These bearberry leaves
take on the
ruddy shades of fall.
♪
They will survive the
Arctic winter because
they need few nutrients and
have silky hairs
to keep them warm.
♪
A carpet of lichens covers
the well-drained parts of
the tundra and helps
to feed the muskoxen.
♪
Lichen is unique.
It's one species,
formed by a
partnership between two:
fungus and alga.
Deeply intertwined, the
fungus provides the framework,
while the alga
provides nutrients
through photosynthesis.
♪
They can survive for
hundreds of years and
spread by fragments
breaking off and blowing away.
One tiny piece contains
both components.
The blending of
the two species
is still not
entirely understood.
It remains an
Arctic secret.
♪
Nestled among the
lichen is Labrador tea.
Northerners use it
to make a tonic,
rich in Vitamin C,
and to spice meat.
Its thick leathery leaves
and woolly hairs
conserve moisture.
Mushrooms are vital
to tundra plants.
Underground, the mushroom
intertwines with plant roots
and feeds them nutrients,
especially nitrogen.
The ptarmigan spends
fall's shortening days
eating plants and
berries in a hurry.
Like all wildlife that
winters in Nunavik,
it's fattening up for
the hardship ahead.
It also eats tiny pebbles
that help digest
tough, twiggy plants.
Its guttural,
rattling growl
is a characteristic
sound of the tundra.
The ptarmigan's coloring
merges with tundra plants
and disguises it
well from predators,
such as arctic foxes
and bald eagles.
To stay camouflaged in
the winter landscape,
ptarmigan plumage
transforms to snowy white.
Moulting begins now,
in the fall.
It sheds brown feathers
to grow white ones.
Its feathered legs and
toes help it walk on the snow,
like snowshoes,
and keep it warm.
This transformation must
be delicately timed
to the change of season.
A brown bird can be picked off
from a snowy landscape.
If it turns white when the
ground is brown,
it will be too visible.
Climate change is making
the ptarmigan's life
more precarious.
In recent years,
summer has lasted longer.
The seasons have also
fluctuated unpredictably.
♪
This tributary of the
Koksoak River has
its source high on a hillside.
♪
Here is true wilderness,
hard to reach on foot.
The water cascades down
through a series of
falls and rapids.
♪
Nunavik forms almost a
third of the province of Quebec,
which holds three percent of
the world's freshwater.
Much of it flows in
these northern rivers.
This region receives
little rain and only some snow.
The snow that does fall
accumulates on the ground
and doesn't melt for
most of the year.
When the weather warms and
the snow melts,
the water can't sink far
into the ground
before hitting
permafrost and bedrock,
so it runs directly
into the rivers.
♪
This waterfall cuts
through the rock
of the Canadian Shield.
The cliff top trees latch
on to meagre inches of topsoil.
♪
In spring,
salmon returning to their
spawning grounds must
forge their way
up these rapids and
over these rocks.
It's a journey that
takes several weeks.
The fish will travel
at least 60 miles and
climb almost 1000
feet in elevation.
There are no
roads in Nunavik.
The air and waterways
are lifelines.
(communication radio)
People here depend on bush
pilots like Johnny May.
He supplies scattered
camps and has flown many
missions for medical
emergencies.
(communication radio)
A workhorse bush plane,
like this Turbo Otter,
is built for short
take-offs and landings,
and for handling rough weather.
It can be as hardy and
enduring as Johnny.
♪
With proper maintenance,
a bush plane can fly for
as long as him,
more than half a century.
♪
Today Johnny is delivering
supplies to a camp
in the wilderness
on the Koksoak River.
This camp welcomes ecotourists
from as far as New Zealand,
to observe Nunavik's
exotic wildlife
and extraordinary
landscape.
♪
Thomas Groening is a
guide with the camp.
He's on the lookout for
muskoxen to show the visitors.
Muskoxen can be
unpredictable and
dangerous if
they're surprised.
He carries a gun
for protection.
Muskoxen have roamed the
Arctic since prehistoric times.
But in the 1800's,
they became a
threatened species.
♪
Hunters shot muskoxen
for sport and
for their meat and fur.
They were easy to pick off
because of their habit,
when threatened, of backing
together to form a circle,
horns out, shielding
the young in the middle.
♪
Populations started
recovering when hunting
was regulated during
the last century.
♪
Males and females both have
horns that are sharp enough
to cut through ice to
reach underlying forage.
With the weight of a
450 to 650 pound
adult muskox behind them,
the horns make a fearsome
weapon against predators,
such as wolves.
♪
The female has smaller horns,
with pale hair
on her forehead between them.
(growls)
The horns on the male are
joined across his forehead
with a thick, bony plate,
called a boss.
This protects his skull
when he locks horns
during mating conflicts,
competing for female attention.
The horns start growing
from infancy, are never shed,
and keep growing
throughout life.
Unusual changes in the
weather can devastate the herd.
In freakish midwinter thaws,
snow melts,
then quickly freezes
to thick ice.
It blocks muskoxen from
foraging for leaves and grasses.
They starve to death.
Their carcasses have been
found on sea ice,
where they wandered searching
and digging for food.
♪
Rivers are the
highways of the north.
♪
Junior May is the
bush pilot's son.
He and his wife,
Sapina Snowball,
are traveling on
the Koksoak river.
♪
It's trickier
than it looks.
♪
An hour from Ungava Bay,
the water is influenced
by tides from the
Arctic Ocean.
River tides here are some
of the highest in the world.
At low tide, Junior has
to be careful not to run
aground on the
sharp rocks.
(dog barking)
Must be a female in heat.
They are on an expedition
to pick berries.
Junior and Sapina are
heading for a small island
where the berries are
rumored to be good this year.
Hello boys!
Hello,
Oden.
A friend of theirs keeps his
sled dogs here for the summer.
(dogs barking)
Canadian Inuit dogs have
roots dating back 4,000 years,
when they were bred for
strength and endurance.
They partner with Inuit
people in hunting and
hauling supplies, and protect
them against polar bears.
In summer and fall,
people in the North
often keep their dogs on
small islands to roam free,
and return every few days
to bring them food.
♪
Junior brings his gun
because there are
unexpected visitors here.
♪
Three young muskoxen
have swum to the island.
♪
Their coats are glossy
and look freshly washed
suggesting they
swam here recently.
While Junior stands guard,
Sapina heads for the
berry patches at the
top of the island.
Berries are the only fruit
that grow in the Arctic
and among the few wild
plants edible for humans.
There are some roots and
leaves, but no vegetables.
Sapina will freeze or
dry some to last through winter.
Food imported from the
South is expensive,
so people in the
North take advantage of
what grows in the wild.
They call it
"country food."
Today Sapina is looking
for sweet, juicy cloudberries.
But others are native
here too: blueberries,
crowberries,
and cranberries.
♪
The cloudberry is a member
of the rose family.
There are male
and female plants.
The females
bear the fruit.
♪
Cloudberries can survive
far below freezing.
But they do need damp soil,
thriving in the
springy tundra and patches
between the rocks of the Shield.
It can be difficult to
find berries in the
open spaces of the tundra.
Families pass down
knowledge of where they
grow through generations,
sometimes as carefully
guarded secrets.
♪
They need to understand the
land and weather well, too.
The places where the
berries flourish
can vary from year to year.
After heavy rain,
the berries may grow
where they didn't the summer
before; and a patch that
previously flourished
may be barren.
Sapina's timing is good.
The berries are
perfectly ripe.
In a few days they
will be spoiled.
♪
The island's shoreline
reveals the gigantic
slab of rock underlying the
slender layer of soil
where the
cloudberries grow.
♪
On the shores of Ungava Bay
an amphibious habitat thrives,
fed by the dynamic movement
of tides over the sand,
which is rich in nutrients.
♪
At the north-western tip
of Ungava Bay,
the low tide reveals
multitudes of a creature that
stays put as the
sea comes and goes.
♪
Blue mussels flourish in
this intertidal zone,
a marine ecosystem that is
regularly exposed to air.
The mussels,
called uviluk by the Inuit,
survive the
freezing months of winter.
Ungava Bay is free of ice
for only four months of
summer and fall, the rest
of the year it's covered.
They're easiest to pick
at leisure during a full moon,
when the tide
stays out longest.
The mussel creeps along
the rocks on a rubbery foot
and anchors itself in place
with a group of filaments,
called byssal threads,
more commonly
known as the beard.
The mussel releases the
threads as a liquid that
hardens in contact
with water.
♪
Growth rings on the shell
reveal the mussel's age,
which can be up
to five years.
♪
They are a gregarious
species and will
link themselves together in
groups by their byssal threads.
♪
When the tide is in,
the mussel feeds,
sucking in water and
filtering it for nutrients,
then expelling the remains.
The probing foot seeks
a new spot to feed.
♪
Kelp also grows here.
Like the blue mussel,
it flourishes in
shallow coastal waters.
It survives on
photosynthesis,
so needs to be
reached by sunlight.
The mussels thrive living
among the kelp consuming
the detritus when
it decomposes.
♪
Locals have a few hours of
low tide to pick mussels,
before the water
sweeps back in.
Bertha Adams and her
husband Adamie Kullula
live nearby in the small
village of Quaqtaq and
often walk over to
collect mussels.
Bertha carries their
little boy, Adner,
in an amauti, a parka with a
pouch for carrying a baby,
traditional among
eastern Arctic women.
She can draw the hood over them
both in colder weather.
Harvesting mussels
requires ripping the
tenacious beard
from the rock.
&gt;&gt; When I take one, you know,
it's like
you get addicted to it.
&gt;&gt; These are among the
cleanest mussels in the world.
But it can still be
risky to eat them raw.
Adamie's been doing it for
years and has built an
immunity to the pathogens
that may lurk in the flesh.
Mussels are plentiful now,
after spring mating and
summer maturing.
They're a prolific species:
an average female
has seven million offspring.
But in an exposed site
like this,
most will die in a year,
easy prey for shorebirds.
♪
The weather can
change quickly here.
Adamie and Bertha must
keep an eye on the sky
as they forage.
♪
Today they are lucky.
The fog lifts and their
passage home is clear.
♪
These icebergs may have
been traveling for as
long as two years, for
thousands of nautical miles,
from their calving ground.
They most likely split off
one of Greenland's
massive glaciers.
They've drifted on ocean
currents, eighty per cent
of their bulk under water.
♪
The rhythmic action of waves
causes an iceberg to vibrate,
sometimes so much
it can become unstable and
overturn without warning.
Their journey has now ended,
here on the shallow banks
of Ungava Bay, where
they have run aground.
If the high tide doesn't
take them back out to sea,
they will waste away here,
as the ocean's saltwater
erodes and breaks the
freshwater ice.
♪
Their shape is defined by
warm air above the sea,
the frigid water below
and by the bedrock
they scraped along.
♪
The end of the Arctic
summer brings its rewards.
As the nights grow darker,
the spectacle of the
aurora borealis,
the northern lights,
grows brighter.
♪
Blasts of spiraling
wind from the sun,
carrying charged particles,
are drawn to
the magnetic pole.
Collisions between the
earth's magnetic field and
the solar wind, colored
by gasses in our
upper atmosphere, bring us
the dancing light.
♪
The glimmering display has
fired human imagination.
For some, it's made by
torches carried by souls
caught between the
heavens and an abyss.
♪
Some say if you whistle
at the lights,
you will suffer calamity.
Others believe that
if you whistle,
they will dance for you.
♪
The sun rises lower in the
sky each morning,
♪
the days grow shorter and
muskoxen gather.
♪
They've been scattered across
the tundra in smaller herds.
Some of only
cows and calves,
some only bachelors.
Now they are readying
for winter,
driven by two primal urges:
to eat and to mate.
This patrolling bull
seems to lead the herd,
encouraging the others
towards fresh pastures.
They need to feed intensively
in the next few weeks,
before they must dig through
snow and ice for forage.
Muskoxen excel at
conserving their energy.
They have a low metabolic
rate that drops
by more than half in winter.
♪
A mother still nursing a
calf needs enough fat to
support them both
through six months
of freezing temperatures.
If a cow becomes pregnant
she'll need to nourish the
growing calf which will
be born when the snow
is still on the ground.
The mating season lasts
for a couple of months,
throughout July
and August.
During that time, a bull
at his peak, aged six to eight,
impregnates as
many cows as he can.
This bull is keen to
maintain his dominance.
♪
Again and again,
he drives away rivals.
And keeps fertile
cows nearby.
♪
Females give birth every
two or three years and
aren't fertile in between.
♪
They tend not to broadcast
their fertility as other
female animals do, so the bull
has to keep trying his luck,
often with
little encouragement.
♪
The bull can reach
near exhaustion,
battling with rivals and
striving to mate.
At the end of fall and
the mating season,
the muskoxen will
gather in bigger herds,
to weather the winter together.
♪
♪ (singing) ♪
Lena Ezekiel and Bertha
Adams are skilled in one of
the oldest forms of music,
throat singing.
The women of this land
know how to sing more than
one note at a time and
have harmonized for
generations to sing babies
to sleep, or play a game.
♪ (singing) ♪
Two women,
standing in an embrace,
often improvising,
challenge one
another to be the first
to break down with
exhaustion or laughter.
♪ (singing) ♪
(laughs)
In their voices,
you can hear echoes of the
ptarmigan's rattle,
the muskox's growl,
and the breath of the wind.
♪ (singing) ♪
(laughing)
Son of a gun!
♪
As they have since
prehistoric times,
the muskoxen browse
the tundra.
They've evolved to match this
rugged landscape and climate.
♪
The muskox may have outlived
the woolly mammoth here,
but populations in
other parts of the world
did not
survive so long.
60,000-year-old samples
of muskox DNA have been
discovered in regions
where they died out.
♪
It's been found that
muskoxen are vulnerable
to climate warming as has
been happening here
in the Arctic in recent years.
♪
For now, the muskox
hunkers down for the winter,
slipping its body
into the rhythms
of the changing season.
♪
It may seem austere,
but for them,
the Arctic is
a land of plenty.
♪
