Part 1: “Alaska” on June 18th at 8:15 p.m. on ORF 2 and on ORF ON
Vienna (OTS) – With the BBC three-part series “The Untamed Planet,” “Universum” takes you to the most remote corners and last paradises of America: The premiere is on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at 8:15 p.m. on ORF 2 and on ORF ON Emma Fraser’s documentary “Alaska (ORF editing: Doris Hochmayr), followed by “Galapagos” (June 25th) and “Patagonia” (July 2nd).
The largest state in the USA is also the largest exclave in the world – Alaska, located at the northwestern end of the American continent, is characterized by harsh, dark winters and a short, extremely lively summer season. Its nickname “Last frontier” is no coincidence. Large areas here are still actual wilderness, hardly entered by humans. Grizzlies roam the river banks to fish for salmon from the crystal clear water, while burying beetles busily bury tons of fish left behind by the bears in the ground. Flying squirrels sail through the branches in the house-high forests, moose look for cooling in small ponds on warm July days. Off the coasts, Steller sea lions hunt in dense schools of fish, gray whales hunt seven tons of krill from the cold waters and bald eagles fight for the best prey. Alaska is one of the last wild paradises on earth – which is increasingly under threat from climate change and pollution.
When the sun tentatively melts the thick layer of snow from the forests and meadows of Alaska, the northernmost state in the USA has put a dark winter behind it for months. An unmistakable sign of the beginning of spring are deep tracks in the soft snow – the grizzlies have crawled out of their sleeping caves and are wandering towards the coast to look for food. Females usually have two young animals in tow. Your path leads towards the coast, where you can still get protein-rich food: mussels. It’s a long road for the little bears to learn the proper technique to burst the shell without crushing the shell. If you want the treat, you have to put the “paw” on it yourself, because the mother, starved by the winter, rarely shares her shells.
Just a few centuries ago, large areas were covered by a year-round ice cover. Today they are partly overgrown with plants. But in many places the soil has few nutrients. The tall trees survive here thanks to a symbiosis with special fungi, which in turn have a special trick up their sleeves to be distributed throughout the forest: they give off the same smell as a flying squirrel ready to conceive. Everywhere, their male counterparts dig in the thick moss to find their supposed partner. What emerges is a different kind of delicacy – a small mushroom that is often eaten. But the bears’ poor eating habits also do their part to keep the forest that offers them protection healthy: the trees seem to thrive particularly well along the river banks. This is because of their special fertilizer – salmon. Grizzlies prefer to eat only the nutritious heads of the Pacific salmon, which migrate up the waterways to their spawning grounds here. The rest remains undigested on the forest floor. This is the hour of the gravedigger. This beetle requires carrion to grow its brood. The pairs of beetles split up the salmon carcasses and bury them several decimeters into the soft ground. The eggs are laid in the underground cave. As soon as the larvae hatch, there is an excess of food available that the young beetle larvae can hardly eat. The rest of the carrion breaks down in the soil and releases nutrients that the trees can absorb.
In autumn the first migratory birds head south again. Deep roaring calls pierce the otherwise quiet forests and meadows. The moose are on the lookout for a bride. Young elks have little chance of mating, the long-established bulls defend their harems with extreme vigor. But if you’re clever, you’ll get your chance. Bull moose dig small pits in which they urinate. The fragrances it contains make even the staunchest female weak. Young bull moose quickly recognized this connection: they bathe themselves in the “fragrant” leavings of the moose – and thus suddenly increase their “possibilities”. When the first snow buries everything nutritious, the time of hunger begins for Alaska’s hardy wildlife. Those who can hibernate. The rest go on an arduous daily hike to somehow get their fill. Moose gnaw on dry bark, bald eagles fight bitterly for the few remaining fish on the rivers and coasts.
The cycles of nature in the harsh land of the Arctic Circle are still intact. But humans, with their energy-rich lifestyles, are inexorably moving closer: the number of migrating salmon is decreasing year by year, forests are being cleared, the all-encompassing pollution of the planet and climate change are constantly shaking the previously solid foundations of a functioning ecosystem. The untamed paradise of Alaska is heading towards an uncertain future.
The program and other editions of the nature film series “Universum” are available on ORF ON.