Yes, it is still the Ice Age in parts of the US -- and here's a chance to meet the denizens of that brutal corner of Alaska, in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Here we have close to 200,000 caribou engaged in the largest mammal land migration anywhere on Earth, earning the region the nickname Serengeti of America. Not moving from place to place, but native to the area are head-butting musk oxen, polar bears and grizzlies, foxes both arctic and red, daintily stepping Dall sheep, eagles, and wolves. Birds from all over the world find their way here.
We observe the effects of global warming in these traditionally Gwich'n lands, as polar bears cope with shrinking Beaufort Sea ice and mosquitoes thriving in more temperate climes torment the caribou.
And while narrator Campbell Scott intones earnestly throughout the episode, he doesn't cast blame on either man or nature for the fact that winters in the environs are eight degrees warmer than 50 years ago. We're shown a little of the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay -- largest in North America -- but, to the program's credit, are not made to feel guilty for using fuel.
Hey, people are animals, too!
Here we have close to 200,000 caribou engaged in the largest mammal land migration anywhere on Earth, earning the region the nickname Serengeti of America. Not moving from place to place, but native to the area are head-butting musk oxen, polar bears and grizzlies, foxes both arctic and red, daintily stepping Dall sheep, eagles, and wolves. Birds from all over the world find their way here.
We observe the effects of global warming in these traditionally Gwich'n lands, as polar bears cope with shrinking Beaufort Sea ice and mosquitoes thriving in more temperate climes torment the caribou.
And while narrator Campbell Scott intones earnestly throughout the episode, he doesn't cast blame on either man or nature for the fact that winters in the environs are eight degrees warmer than 50 years ago. We're shown a little of the oil fields at Prudhoe Bay -- largest in North America -- but, to the program's credit, are not made to feel guilty for using fuel.
Hey, people are animals, too!
