WILD CANADA

Each year, the Atlantic Coast off Newfoundland sees one of Canada's greatest natural spectacles: humpback whales arrive here in spring, to feed on huge swarms of capelin. But the lushness of nature reaches way beyond the shores: the Iroquoian and Algonquian people created a rich and fertile homeland of oak forests and grasslands where wildlife thrived. At the edge of Canada's vast boreal forest, we meet polar bear cubs and in Canada's west coast province of British Columbia, we explore the world's largest intact temperate rainforest.

This episode features the region between the Western Canadian Pacific coastline and the Rocky Mountains - and it reveals the secrets of this lush land. The salmon run is one of our planet’s greatest migrations. This sudden abundance of food attracts thousands of black bears. The mountain ranges further inland are the home of the Golden eagle. This bird can pick up double its bodyweight: in a dramatic sequence, a golden eagle grabs a dall sheep lamb and carries its prey away - for the benefit of its own chicks.

The heartland of Canada presents different landscapes and distinctive habitats: vast forests, countless lakes, and rolling grasslands. The prairie First Nations were great hunters, and they had been changing this landscape for thousands of years: from time to time, these people set fire to the prairie to clear the landscape and keep it open. The wide grass plains offered the perfect habitat for what is probably the most iconic animal of North America - the bison. The Canadian heartland is also studded with countless lakes which became a crucial resource for water birds on their long migration south. Snow geese are drawn there in large numbers, as well as sandhill cranes and huge flocks of ducks.

Ice defines the Canadian Arctic, and it suits one creature more than any other - the polar bear. We follow a family as they travel to the ice edge - the hunting ground of these top predators of the Arctic. Once the temperatures begin to rise again, life starts to flourish. The Arctic summer is short but intense - during these months, more than half of the sea ice melts away. This largest annual transformation on our planet has fundamental effects on nature and wildlife. Yet, meanwhile scientists see a dramatic change: rising temperatures cause a larger sea ice melt. In summer, the Arctic sea ice cover has already reached a record low - wide areas of the Polar Sea are now ice-free for the first time.