Ice

At the planet’s frozen extremes, shifts in animal movement and behavior reveal vital information about our future world. Examine polar bears in the Arctic, penguins in Antarctica and other animals surviving in icy worlds.

billy barr looks through the logs he's been keeping for almost 50 years. He explains how the glacier lilies emergence is becoming more and more out of sync with the broad-tailed hummingbirds arrival after their long migration up from Mexico. When billy started keeping his records in the 70s they arrived on the same day, today the lily is flowering three weeks before the hummingbird arrives.

As the climate warms, the boreal forest is advancing further north. With the tree line comes the red fox a competitor of the high Arctic specialist, the Arctic fox. The trees advances aren't just a problem for the Arctic foxes but for the planet as a whole, the darker tree cover absorbs more heat and decrease the albedo effect which further warms the planet, causing the cycle to start again.

Reindeer are playing a crucial role in preserving the tundra. As the Sápmi winters are getting warmer and wetter, the lichen and grass reindeer rely on are frozen over. Sámi reindeer herders like Nils are guiding these animals to forests to eat shrubs and branches.