Polar Bears Face New Challenges as Arctic Sea Ice Disappears

All seems calm and idilic. But just offshore, predators are gathering. The white shark. So, this is very exciting. These shores are actually where the fictional film Jewels was set. And if all goes to plan today, I'll be coming face to face with the Atlantic's most impressive predator. Like me, the white sharks have overwintered further south and have spent the summer traveling up the eastern seabboard of the United States. Now they're entering some of the richest yet most volatile seas of the entire continent. Few places on the planet can boast as much marine life as here on this stretch of the Atlantic, but few are seeing ocean temperatures rise as fast.

I want to end my year in North America finding out how the marine life here is adapting to the challenges and opportunities created by this unprecedented change. Who is thriving? And who is feeling the heat? Oh my god, there's a bear. Yeah. He's standing up. He's uh Oh my gosh, there's a He's walking towards us. So, this is it. This is your stomping ground. Yeah. This is it. This is my office. Welcome. Thank you. Bit chillier than I expected. Yeah, it's October. It's Octo. We not good for us, but it's great for the white sharks.

White sharks converging on this coastline have captivated biologist Greg Scoal for over 25 years. So, what got you into studying white sharks here? Well, it really started as a kid. You know, most kids are fascinated by sharks in general, dinosaurs. I just never outgrew the shark part, right? saw the movie Jaws, which inspired me, and the rest is kind of a little bit of elbow grease and a lot of luck. And here I am with white sharks right in my backyard. What draws the white sharks here every year are their favorite prey, seals.

Since a ban on their hunting was introduced in the 1970s, seal numbers have returned to their natural levels along the Cape. And as a result, white shark visitors are on the rise, too. You know, in essence, we've reopened a restaurant and the customers are the white sharks and they're coming in to feed on them. How many sharks do you know of here coming here feeding on the seals? We've cataloged over 700 and the population estimate, you know, over a 4-year period is about 800 that come here. Any given month there could be anywhere between 50 and 200.

Wow. Okay. right off this coastline. So, it really is a hot spot then. It is a hot spot and some of the highest densities of white sharks ever counted in the world. Wow. Okay. Lots to look forward to today then, Greg. Let's go. So, hopefully we see one. Yeah, that'll be good. To help find the sharks, Greg uses a spotter plane. And it doesn't take the pilot long to spot the distinctive outline of a large adult. Hey, John. I got one down here north end of Monoy. I'm circling now. That's fantastic, Wayne. We'll rig up the tags and head your way right now.

Roger. So, the plane is currently circling us right now and they've got eyes on a shark. So, I've just set up the drone. Greg's getting ready. My first time ever seeing white sharks. So, uh this is amazing. It's 10:30 and a boat and a half. You probably sail. Oh, wow. Yeah. You see it at all? Yes. I'm right on top of it. No kidding. Yes. So, right in the breakers. Oh, wow. Okay. Really near the surface now.

Yeah, I see them. Got him. Jack, it's got that absolute classic torpedo shape. That is a big shark. Yes. Countershaded with a light underside and a dark top, the white shark is perfectly camouflaged to blend in with its surroundings from above or below. Each skin pattern is unique, which Greg can use to identify every individual. Yeah. 2:00 off your bow, one boat away. My job is to get Greg close enough to the shark so he can video it with his pole cam. Right by you. Yeah, I see him. I got Look at it. Right in this zone. Ah, that's a beautiful shark. Oh man. Oh, that's all of them. 12 13 12T white shark. Nice.

Cutting under the boat. Going right under the boat. Lizzy, if you look down right there. Yes. Look at that shape. Nice. This is so exciting. Greg identifies the shark as Castle, a large male who has visited the Cape every autumn for the past 5 years. But to find out where he goes when he leaves the shoreline, Greg needs to fit him with a state-of-the-art acoustic tag. Talk me through this tag, then. So, this is an acoustic transmitter. It emits a very high frequency sound every 60 seconds. The sound is detected by an array of acoustic receivers we've set up all throughout Massachusetts. So, we get

a sense of when the sharks arrive, where they spend their time, and when they leave. My goal is to get this in this shark, right? So that it will ping for the next eight or nine or 10 years, and we'll learn about the movements of that animal, not only in Massachusetts, but wherever it goes, you know, which is really cool. The data will also reveal how castles coping with some of the fastest warming sea temperatures on the planet. Okay, just coming under the pull pit, Greg. Just on your left there. Look at that. Perfect timing, Greg. Slow it down, Josh. Slow it down.

Wow. Okay, really near the surface now. Yeah, I see him. You got him, Josh. Fantastic. Right by the surface, Greg, look at that fish. Come on. A This is perfect. Yes. Yeah. You got it. We got him. You got him. Yeah, we got him. It's that quick. Nicely done. And that's how you do it. That's how you tag a shark. I am so shocked. That was phenomenal, Greg. Congrats. Give me a high five. Nice work. That was awesome. Clean work. Over the next 2 hours, we follow Castle along the coast as he zeros in on one of the largest seal colonies on the Cape.

So, this is very exciting. She's patrolling so shallow right along this coast here. In this water, though, all it has to do is go down a couple of feet and we lose it. Yeah, I've lost him, Greg, to be honest. The shark kind of descended into the M there. The seals are on high alert. They know all too well how deadly white sharks can be. That is that an injury? Is that a shark bite on its back? Greg, you have to see that. Look, look at that. That is definitely Oh yeah, a full shark bite.

Yeah, exactly. That's the real Now that one's healing, but man, that's a big bite. You can see how that is definitely a shark bite. Hey, I would not want to be a seal along this coastline, I have to say. No, neither do I. How are these white sharks hunting seals here? Oh, it's it's incredible. I mean, the seals obviously are safe when they're on the sand. At some point, they have to go out and feed, right? And when they do that, the sharks are just patrolling back and forth. But as you can see, it's murky, so they stay close to the bottom. So, how are they sensing their prey? Smell plays a major role, right? So, the smell will get them in the zone. Um, and then it's a matter of just looking for

that contrast. The white sharks are color blind, so they're really looking for changes in light that show the image of a seal. And I think that really is what triggers it. Um, and then the seal swims by and it's a lateral strike with speed and stealth obviously because if the seal actually sees the shark, the seal wins. Yeah. So, it's kind of this really cool sophisticated game of cat and mouse with each one trying to better the other Greg's work is transforming our understanding of white shark behavior, how they target seal colonies, and the tactics they use to ambush them. But in the last few years, the data streaming back from his tagged sharks has revealed a curious new trend. With water temperatures

rising, the sharks movements are changing. One thing that is very apparent to us, more white sharks are going to Canada. You know, that is absolutely happening. We're able to demonstrate that. Yes, they're heading north now. Is that because of climate change? Is that be prey driven? You know, more seals up there remains to be seen, but definitely happening. Few places on the planet are seeing surface sea temperatures rising as fast as the Northwest Atlantic. And Greg's hunch is the white sharks are taking advantage of this phenomenon, using warmer seas to extend their range deep towards the Arctic.

What's remarkable about these animals is their plasticity, their adaptability. You know, they can tolerate an incredibly broad temperature range. you know, they're they're endothermic, which means they can elevate their body temperature and cool off when they need to. And that's really unique in sharks. So, I think that white sharks will change their distribution in response to climate change, but can handle it, right? What I'm really more concerned about is, you know, what are their prey going to do? These seals have fur coats and very thick, fatty blubber, you know, so the question is, will Cape Cod dry up with seals? you know, will we alter the habitat so much that these seals cannot

tolerate our summer temperatures? And so, we're just scratching the surface, but something's happening. What an incredible day. To see these predators up close is really a dream. And to do so in such shallow water, I got a real sense of their power, their size, and their presence. And that's something, you know, I have really always dreamed of seeing. But what's really struck me is their adaptability. You know, these are animals that have been around for millions of years, unchanged. They're expanding their range. They're behaving in new ways. And I find that really extraordinary. And hopefully it's this ability to adapt and

and their resilience which will help them thrive in the future. But few creatures are as adaptable and resilient as the white shark. At the nearby Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, scientists are using a range of special boys and sensors to keep tabs on ocean temperatures and the impact on marine life. So what are we looking at here? So these are images of the sea surface temperature. Uh this is one of the fastest warming regions in the world oceans. And as you can imagine, that has a huge impact on the distribution uh and abundance of marine life. Since I've been here, you know, I've seen how the white sharks are changing their distribution and movement and behavior. What does it look like for the other marine species? This region was

partially settled because of fishing uh way back in the 1600s there and obviously were called Cape Cod. Uh but the cod have been uh retreating to the north there. And I'll never forget giving a talk in town and the owner of one of the fish markets came up to me and said this uh this past Friday was the first Friday where I didn't have any cod or hadock to sell to my patrons. and I've been in business for 54 years. And so these are the kind of changes that really go deep into our coastal culture. For decades, the ocean has served as our best defense against climate change, absorbing 90% of the atmosphere's excess heat. But acting as a planetary sponge has taken a toll. The world's oceans are warmer today than at

any time since recordeping began. And here in the Gulf of Maine, surface temperatures are rising by nearly a degree every 10 years. It's not just the cod and the hadock feeling the heat. From lobsters to northern right whales, at least 24 species of marine life are having to move further north. It really is sobering to see what the changes have been like over the last several decades. And then until we reduce the carbon emissions, that's not going to change. I follow the retreating marine life towards higher latitudes over the border and into Canada along the dramatic shores of the Bay of Fundy where clues hidden in the rocks could

hold the key to understanding what might happen to the future of the Atlantic's marine life. With its unique funnel shape, the Bay of Fundy is home to the biggest tidal range on the planet. The difference between high and low tide can be as much as 16 m. The powerful tides churn up the water, creating a nutrientrich soup that attracts high densities of fish, sharks, and whales. These tides also eat away at the rocks, revealing fossil evidence of life millions of years ago. You ready? Oh, yeah. Let's do it.

Let's go. At Cape Rage, I meet up with paleontologist Olivia King. whose job it is to look back in time. All right, let's do it. Let's go find some fossils. If she can understand how plants and animals coped with climate change in the past, she could uncover clues to what might happen in the future. How old is this rock here? So these rocks are 320 million years old. They're from the Carboniferous period. Was amazing. And all those kind of millions and millions of years ago, what was that environment like here? It was warm. It was tropical. You had these big, beautiful forests. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Think of like modernday Brazil as far as I know.

Sounds lovely on a day like today. Yeah. 320 million years ago, the creatures living here faced similar problems to today. With warming seas wreaking havoc right along this coast, and evidence of what happened was captured in these rocks. So, what exactly am I looking for here? Well, we're looking for plants, but we're also looking for traces, footprints pushed into the sediment, into the mud, and preserved in the rocks. Okay. So, literally tracks in a way. Yeah. Right. I've got my eyes peeled. Yeah. So, you're looking for smooth rocks. Oh. Oh, like these ones. So, what are these?

Yeah. So, you start seeing these claw marks. You kind of see them going up almost like a trail as it's walking across the flood planes. These ancient Awesome. Yeah, you can. You can see the toe marks almost. Yeah. And what animal created this? So, these are amphibians. So, they would have had five digits just like we have. And they would have been these salamander-like creatures. They probably wouldn't have been pretty small. Think of like, you know, 6 to 10 inches in length. Okay. So, like a large salamander. Like a large salamander today. That is just mind-blowing to me. We're actually looking at the trace fossil of a of an amphibian from that time

320 million years ago. These amphibians thrived in the tropical wetlands that dominated this coast. But as the climate warmed, this species was unable to adapt in time and became extinct. All right, should we go find some more fossils? I lean on. Yes. But this wasn't the fate of every creature from that period. Meet the horseshoe crab. A living fossil, this super survivor has been roaming the Atlantic for over 450 million years. deep sea creatures. They only visit the coast to look for mates, leaving distinctive tracks in the sand.

Tracks that incredibly you see in these same ancient rocks. These are really fascinating. Let's have a look at that one. You want to see on this side? Yeah. So, these are Wow. called cafneium the graphic. These are horseshoe trails. Horseshoe crabs. Yeah. From horseshoe crabs. No way. that I mean that's so clear. That's extraordinary. It's It's beautiful. Are these the I mean, the horseshoe crabs of today, right? Yes. You have the same type of horseshoe crabs that change only slightly through time. But I just can't believe it.

Yeah. It's so cool. It's thought the horseshoe crab's ability to survive a wide range of temperatures and eat almost anything allowed it to survive where others could not. I think what's become clear is obviously all these winners and losers along this coastline. You know, species that have gone extinct like the early amphibians and the living fossils that we get today. I mean, it's extraordinary to see the breadth there. But I'd imagine that all changes in today's world with human induced climate change and the speed of that.

Yes. So these things changed over millions of years whereas rate of change might be slightly different today and lots of unknowns as we go into the future. Hey, I agree. This is awesome. Now, yes, I look at that. Spending the day with Olivia, I've learned that given time, some plants and animals can adapt to a changing environment. But what's scary is that the rate the environment is changing today is so fast. Scientists have calculated that it's a staggering 170 times faster than the natural background rate, largely due to greenhouse gases from human activities. But incredibly, some creatures are finding ingenious ways to keep up with this unprecedented change.

At the mouth of the Bay of Fundy is the tiny island of Machaya Seal. It's home to two lighthouse keepers, over 10,000 nesting seabirds, and the clown of the sea, the Atlantic puffin. Cold water specialists, these funnyl looking birds spend several months a year out in the wilds of the North Atlantic Ocean, only returning to this island each spring to raise their young. And every spring, biologist Heather Major joins them to track how they're coping with warming seas. So talk me through it. What can we expect from today? So what we're going to do is we have some box traps set up and they are essentially a box with a false lid on

them. And so when a puffin walks on top of it, the lid flips over, deposits a puffin in the box. Okay? And then we can go and grab it out. It all sounds simple, but puffins have quite the reputation. They can be quite aggressive, so they can bite. They can bite hard. Okay. So, beware. The nerves are kicking in. It'll be all right. Okay. I'm following you. We're in a sea of puffins and razor bills and gamoths. It's like orcs everywhere you look. It's absolutely fabulous. actually hear them flying as well. It's

so awesome. And hopefully the plan will be to get a puffin nest to actually start ringing. How we looking, Heather? That one is empty. That's empty. As expected, the bird should be in this one over here. Okay. Moment of truth. Yeah, we do have a puffin. We do in there. Okay. What do you need from me? So, just stay there. So the puffin is sort of scared towards me. Stay here. Okay. Oh yeah. And when I get it no head first. Yeah. Close it up as fast as I can. That's a feisty one. Oh, this is a heavy one. Oh yeah. 510 is the mass. 510 m. For 30 years, Heather and her colleagues have been measuring every tiny detail of

the island's puffins. 2950. Tags with unique ID numbers allowed the team to discover that they mate for life, returning year after year to the same burrow to raise their young. But it was when Heather started measuring their bills that she began to notice a peculiar trend. So, the wings are here. So, you want to put your hand like that on the wings. There's the bity end. It's the pointy end. Um, and so the first thing we're going to do, that's a strong bird. Yeah, you weren't joking. Okay. And so, probably got me.

Classic. Of course, I've got the feist. Hello, mate. If you don't mind. So, the first thing you're going to do is you're going to measure from that lip down to the tip. Okay. Yeah. So, 48.7. Heather has noticed the puffins bills are getting larger with each generation, and she thinks she knows why. So, they use their bills for lots of different things. And one thing that's really interesting is we think they're actually using them to get rid of some heat. Um, and so you would think, especially in a warming climate like this, that if you're using a structure to get rid of heat, that it should actually be larger in a in when it's warming. Um, and so we tested this a couple of years ago. And we

actually found that, you know, over our time series, the bills are getting larger. Wow. So actually growing bigger bills. It appears that way. Yeah. I find that baffling. You know, you think about evolution that happens over many, many years, but in just a few generations, their bills have got bigger. Yeah. And I think that it's really important this change in size that we've noted because it suggests that maybe they do have some capacity to cope with those changes and that could be very hopeful, right? It could mean that they're actually going to be

able to stay here as the ocean continues to warm. Josh, who would have thought that the puffin would be such an important species for you in understanding our wider the climate here? Yeah. I mean, they really are sort of the canary in the corn line down here. It's incredible to actually be holding a puffin. They are quite strong. Way more strong than I ever imagined. It's just fabulous. And uh yeah, just makes me really appreciate them that little bit more. All right, let's do it. Love it. I'm in love. Although I didn't enjoy that nipping in the finger.

The plan is to release into the bow. Okay. So, are you going to need the hand to get down or you can I should be okay. Great. Want to make sure. Are you ready? I'm ready. All righty. Here we go. Yes. Okay. So, we can pull that flag now. Awesome. We're good. Good job. I'm passing. Do I pass? You passed the test? Yes. You're hired next summer. Done. Oh, that was awesome. My god, my heart's going. A lot of energy that puffin.

Yeah. With hope for the future of Puffins, I head towards the front line of the climate emergency and the remote coastal town of Churchill in Canada's far north, where temperatures are rising four times faster than the global average and having an even greater impact on the wildlife there. But with no road link to the rest of Canada, the only way I can get there is to head inland. First, I drive west to Winnipeg, then catch an overnight train north through the great forests of Canada's interior. After exploring so much of the North American coast, it's actually really exciting to get to see the interior.

We've been traveling for about 7 hours and there is just kilometer after kilometer of this thick boreal forest. We really get a sense of the scale of the north. For two days, I ride further and further north, watching the landscape change around me. It's really interesting. The forest is thinning out. The trees are becoming more stunted and uh the Arctic tundra here is taking over. And I can see right across these boggy plains. And of course, I'm keeping an eye out for the hardy wildlife that ecounts a living here. Right across the tundra, caribou are also on the move following the spring saw that has exposed thousands of kilometers of fresh grays.

Caribou are known for having the longest migration of any land mammal. They move from Canada's deep interior to the north coast where cool Arctic winds provide restbite from plagues of mosquitoes during carving season. Some herds number in their hundreds of thousands. For several weeks, they travel night and day to reach the sea. Their broad paddle-like hooves help them ford the seasonal rivers, whilst hollow hairs in their dense fur keep them afloat. But predators key into this massive migration. Like many of the marine animals I've seen on this continent, the caribou rely on safety in numbers.

The wolves are patient and persistent. Hundreds of calves are lost along the way, but the vast majority make it to the coast, where they'll spend the summer fattening up on the rich grasses of the high Arctic. I've reached the end of the line and the remote outpost of Churchill, a small town on the southern shores of Hudson Bay. It's surrounded by wilderness just south of the Arctic Circle. It's locked in ice for much of the year. But as the summers lengthen and get warmer here, it's playing host to an increasing number of wild visitors. As the frozen sea starts to melt, polar bears, who spend the winter hunting seals hauled out on the ice, are

forced to make their way to shore. Summer is a tough time for the bears. With the seals now at sea, they're deprived of their favorite prey, and pickings along the coast are slim. As they get more desperate for food, they grow increasingly bold and adventurous. and the town's folk of Churchill have become increasingly accustomed to their presence. When the king of the Arctic walks into town, it's not something that's taken lightly. Ian Vaness, a conservation officer from the Polar Bear Patrol, has taken me on one of his routine rounds to keep the streets safe from these uninvited visitors. In the years that you've been here, what close calls have you had?

So, last week we had a bear just up here. Okay. In town. Wow. Yeah. And he broke into a trailer where some people were sleeping. So, right there, that creates a situation that's very uh dangerous to the public. So, the bear is inside the trailer right now. Yeah. So, they fired a bear banger and that was enough to tell that bear to get away. Okay. And so that bear was immobilized with a wildlife sedation drug and uh hauled away to our polar bear holding facility. Um but it was so close, right? Wow. I mean, what I can't imagine what that's like. What actually happens in that scenario? A dart gun, you need to get close. So with that, you have to walk up to the bear and approach it. And it's not, you know, a thousand pound animal.

It's sometimes a bit scary. Big stuff. It is. It really is. Yeah. We're keeping people alive and we're keeping polar bears alive. With up to 10 calls a week in the summer months, the bear jail can get pretty busy. There's a number of bears doing time. Most are caught trying to break into the town's bear proof bins, but some are in for attacking dogs or worse, breaking into people's homes. They're held here for up to 30 days before being relocated west of town where the winter sea ice first begins to form. The jail has a very high success rate with only the occasional repeat offender returning to town. In other parts of the world, bears are

often shot, but here in Churchill, they're given a second chance. [snorts] To see how Hudson Bay's other wildlife is coping with some of the most extreme rates of climate change on the planet, I head east out of town and along its vast shores. The size of Hudson Bay is quite difficult to wrap your head around. It's over 1.2 million square kilometers of salt water and it kind of makes it bit like an ocean within its own right and one that's locked in with sea ice for most of the year. But when that spring sun comes and the ice starts to retreat, it allows the phytoinon to thrive and as a result a huge amount of life comes here.

Polar specialists like Narwhal have thrived in this bay for millennia. But these waters are changing fast due to a powerful force called the albido effect. As melting sea ice exposes darker ocean water, less sunlight is reflected and more is absorbed, causing the water to heat up. It's a feedback loop. Warming causes melting, which causes even more warming. Now, snow and ice retreat almost a month earlier than they did 30 years ago, causing problems not just for the polar bears, but for all sorts of animals. Okay, so we just come across here in the tundra some tarmaggan. Just catching them in the willow. I'm watching two right now. Just amazing. And these tarmaggan are expert camouflages. So they change dramatically from winter to summer. In the winter

time they'll have that bright stunning white plumage and in the summer they have this kind of rich brown specklety color and that makes them perfectly blend into this tundra environment. But with the snow melt coming earlier, the birds are struggling to keep pace. Their white plumage remains well after the snow has gone, leaving them dangerously visible to predators. But while some creatures are struggling to adapt, others are profiting from the warming seas and vanishing sea ice. Since the turn of the century, humpback whales have been seen here in growing numbers, coming in to hunt huge shors of Capelin. And for the first time in living memory, Orca are being spotted, too. But there's one very special animal that

I'm desperate to find out how it's getting on. Like the polar bear and narwhal, it's only found in the Arctic, and I've been longing to see one. Where are we heading? Uh we're headed into the Churchill River. This is a great spot for belugas. They love it up there for the fresh water. Okay. And it's also warmer uh which helps their babies grow up faster. Uh and it's protection from predators like orca. Biologist and guide Shane Gross has been observing the beluga here for the past few years. Every summer, some 3,000 of these extraordinary whales gather in the mouth of the Churchill River to give birth to their young. Their bulbous forehead helps them to

echoloccate and communicate, which they do a lot, earning them the nickname sea canaries. For centuries, the only predator they had this far north were polar bears. But recently, their world has undergone huge change. A new threat has moved in. One of the most intelligent and ruthless hunters in our ocean, the orca. Right now, the orcas tend to come in September when they know that the belugas are going to be leaving the rivers and heading out onto the ice. That's when they're vulnerable. And it's mayhem. The orcas come in and the belugas go into super shallow water. They will even beach themselves if they have to. Tide will go down and they're obviously not uh at risk from the orcas at that time. Tide will come back in and they

can hopefully swim back out. That does make them more vulnerable to polar bears though. So, it's a risky maneuver, but it's something that they can do. As we travel up the river, the beluga is still nowhere to be seen. And soon we find out why this could be. Could we slow down a bit, Shane? So, yeah, of course. Just want to see. I'm scanning, but I can't see anything. They can be pretty tricky to see if they're laying down. Okay. Oh, there it is. There's a bear. Oh my god, there's a bear. Yeah. He's standing up. He's uh Oh my gosh, there's a bear.

He's walking towards us. Oh my gosh, there's a polar bear. Better look here. I can't see if that's a male or a female yet. I would guess a male. But that size. Yeah, the size. I don't see any cubs. Oh, look at that. Oh my goodness me. I cannot believe it. This polar bear just popped out of the willow here and tucked away in the rocks. Nice shade. Awesome. Ah, awesome. This is pretty remarkable.

There is nothing like seeing this king of the Arctic. They are such an impressive animal. I mean, the males can be around 600 kg. Oh, he's just like them. In the summer months, polar bears will only hunt for a few hours every day, spending the rest of their time conserving their energy. Wow. Okay, so he's actually rolling around in the willow right now. Uh, and the one thing I will say is this polar bear looks hot. It's got a bit closer towards the water here, but it's actually chosen a bit of willow to lie down on. Using that ground to stay as cool as he can. He's got two layers of

fur and a lot of blubber. [snorts] This is I mean this is amazing. It's pretty intimate look at the king of the Arctic. Okay. Well, I think we should probably let this polar bear just sleep and keep cool. We've got some belucas to find. I think I see some movement actually up on the horizon there. So, yeah, I think I see a pot up there. Yeah, we're going into Beluga World right now. Awesome. All right. Ice fields. Oh, there's some. Yeah. Woo. Okay. There's a pond ahead as well. They are literally everywhere.

This is awesome. Beluga to the left. Belugas to the right. Belugas ahead. You hear about there being 60,000 belugas in the Hudson Bay in the summer months, but I never imagined I'd be surrounded by, you know, 20, 30 beluga at any one time. This is really magical. Here we go. Oh man. Here they come. Oh my gosh. Listen to that. They're actually looking up at us. This is insane. This is insane. Hello. You can actually see their faces. They are so social and curious. These are intelligent whales. Hello.

They must be some of the most curious of all the whales. And you know, most of the year they're out in these extreme environments, inaccessible places in really, you know, cold, icy conditions. But for a short intense period of the year, they are in these shallow waters here in the summer to breed, to socialize, to give birth. I mean, this is a remarkable time in their lives, and to get such an intimate view of it is simply magical. Only time will tell what the impact of warming seas and new threats will have on the beluga. I can only hope this stunning gathering continues long into the future. Right now, I'm a little bit overwhelmed. I like to think I've had some pretty

special experiences and encounters over the years. This day will go down in history as one of the best. I mean, look at that. And that's it. Off they go to join the thousands of other beluga in this bay. Just magical. If I've learned one thing from my journey across the Northeast is that there are clear winners and losers when it comes to the climate crisis. For animals like the white shark and killer whales, retreating sea ice and warming sea temperatures are actually creating new hunting grounds and opportunities. But for Arctic specialists like the polar bear and beluga, times are much tougher. Their frozen world is becoming unstable. But I live in hope. From the beaches of

Costa Rica to these Arctic shores, I've seen how resilient, smart, and adaptable marine life really is if we give it a chance.