Human Planet

Only one creature has carved a life for itself in every habitat on Earth.

That creature is us.

All over the world, we still use our ingenuity to survive in the wild places,

far from the city lights, face to face with raw nature.

This is the Human Planet.

At the top of our planet lies one of the most remote places on Earth.

The Arctic.

In winter, the region is frozen and dark for months on end.

There are no trees and there are no plants to eat.

We humans weren't built to withstand a landscape as hostile as this.

And yet four million people live here.

Their survival relies upon an intimate knowledge of this,

the most hostile habitat on Earth.

The beginning of a new arctic year.

After months of winter darkness, the sun finally returns to this frozen land.

For the Inuit of Saattut, Greenland,

the sun's return marks the beginning of their hunting calendar.

Now that the residents have enough daylight, a world of opportunity opens up.

They can embark on expeditions far from town...

...travelling across the thousands of kilometres of sea ice

that lead to their hunting grounds.

Today, Amos Jensen and his son Karl-Frederik have to feed their dogs.

Their dogs are essential.

At this time of year, the dogsled is their only means of transportation.

Because their hunting trip could take some time,

father and son will need a few comforts of home,

or even home itself.

To find the most nutritious dog food,

Amos and Karl-Frederik need to travel many kilometres across the sea ice.

What they're after is a real-life arctic sea monster, a Greenland shark.

To support their weight, the ice only needs to be five centimetres thick,

about two inches.

This ice is nearly a metre thick, and it could support a jumbo jet.

- (THEY PANT) - (DOGS BARK)

Amos knows that Greenland sharks are partial to whale meat.

And he also knows they live in the deepest waters.

Now, both men and dogs have to wait for something to take the bait.

As temperatures plummet to -35 degrees Celsius,

the dogs'thick fur keeps them warm.

But without their hut, Amos and Karl-Frederik would freeze to death.

It's time to check if the dogs will eat today.

From the vibrations he feels on the fishing line,

he knows they've hooked something.

But he won't know if it's a shark until they pull it up.

It's down so deep

they have to stretch their fishing line along the ice in hundred-metre lengths.

They pull their catch up a staggering 800 metres,

nearly twice the height of the Empire State Building.

They've caught the Greenland shark they were hoping for.

The Greenland shark is the only native arctic shark.

It's one of the largest predators in these seas.

Researchers have found caribou and even polar bears in its stomach.

The shark has accidentally wrapped the fishing line round its tail.

It's not the normal way to land a shark, but a catch is a catch.

Amos and Karl can't lift the shark by themselves

so they enlist the help of the dogs.

This shark is four metres long, weighs over half a ton

and is the largest they've ever caught.

But it will only feed their 20 dogs for two weeks.

For Greenlanders, it is essential to have well-fed dogs

if they're to continue hunting and fishing.

Here in the Arctic, the bond between man and dog is so important.

It's unlikely we would have colonised this habitat without our best friends.

As the year moves on, so does the quest for survival.

Even though it's March, the Arctic Ocean is still dominated by sea ice.

An area four times the size of the United States is frozen over.

The ice connects Europe to Russia, and Russia to North America.

And here in the Canadian Arctic,

people have a unique insight into what lies beneath the ice.

In Kangiqsujjuaq, northeast Canada, Lukasi Nappaaluk is watching the tides.

Tomorrow, the spring equinox will create the most extreme tides of the year,

and a spectacular opportunity for a meal.

The neap tide literally opens a door

for a garden of seafood just below the ice.

You just need to know where to find it.

Lukasi and his friends prefer snowmobiles to dogsleds.

And they don't bother to bring along a shelter either.

Everything they need to protect themselves from the elements

is right beneath their feet.

Even if it's -45 degrees Celsius outside,

body warmth can heat an igloo to a balmy +1 6,

a full 60 degrees warmer.

Cosy inside their igloo, Lukasi and his friends must now wait.

Before they can hunt, something extraordinary has to happen.

Underneath the sea ice, the tide is going out...

...and out.

The floating ice drops a staggering 1 2 metres, nearly 40 feet,

exposing the seabed, and, hopefully, the bounty they're after.

Lukasi and his friends try to get under the ice as quickly as possible.

They have just half an hour before the tide comes back in.

The world beneath their feet is unstable.

The giant blocks of ice are no longer supported by water

and could collapse at any moment.

This is the only place on Earth where the tides are extreme enough

to allow people to dare venture under the sea ice.

And in a chamber that moments ago was underwater,

they find what they're looking for.

Mussels.

All they could hope for.

Now they have just minutes to gather all they can carry.

The returning tide is an unstoppable force.

As the sea steadily flows back,

it lifts the huge blocks of ice over their heads.

Even as they escape, the ice shifts around them.

The ocean reclaims its secret garden.

Lukasi can only harvest mussels for the few days of extreme tides.

Mussels are a delicious way to break up a diet

that during winter has been mainly seal meat and fish.

But summer is on the way, and everything is about to change.

By June, the sun finally pushes temperatures above zero.

The sea ice begins to melt.

And as it breaks apart, it triggers an annual summer migration.

Animals that have spent the winter far offshore

follow the melting ice into the bays and fjords.

For arctic hunters, this creates a unique opportunity.

Mamarut Kristiansen, and his brothers Mikele and Gedion,

are Thule Inuit from northern Greenland.

They're rushing to keep the most important appointment in their hunting calendar.

They must be punctual.

In just a few weeks, the sea ice they're travelling on will melt away.

Their goal is the most precious food in the Arctic.

Narwhal.

These legendary whales are looking for a way into the bay.

This is a mythic creature...

...but it is also a source of the rarest vitamin in the Arctic.

Vitamin C.

In a landscape with so few edible fruits or plants,

the Inuit don't have alternatives.

Spotting narwhal is hard enough.

Even scientists who study them rarely see them.

But if Mikele is going to catch one,

the narwhal will have to swim a great deal closer than this.

It could be weeks before the three brothers see narwhal again.

But they have to stay alert, and there's plenty to prepare.

In this region, the law states that hunters can only use traditional methods.

This means travelling in kayaks, a craft the Inuit invented thousands of years ago,

and using the avatak, a buoy made from the skin of a ring seal.

Even though it's midnight, the sun still shines.

In June, the sun simply circles the sky, never dipping below the horizon.

It's vital that one of them stands guard at all times.

But Gedion isn't just looking for narwhal.

He's watching the ice.

Already it's thinning and breaking apart.

If they're not careful,

the brothers could find themselves adrift on a melting piece of ice.

Mamarut and Gedion know not to panic.

Narwhal are extremely skittish, so the hunters enter the water with care.

The three brothers work as a team.

They're afterjust one whale.

It's an ambush.

The narwhal pass within 50 feet of Mikele...

...but still all three hunters wait.

If he strikes too soon, the whole pod will dive.

His eye is on the stragglers bringing up the rear.

Especially in the final approach, Mikele must be silent...

...and directly behind his prey.

Their success will benefit the whole community.

The single narwhal will feed their families for weeks, if not months.

The most prized part of the narwhal is the skin.

They call it muktuk.

It's their primary source of vitamin C.

Ounce for ounce, narwhal skin contains almost as much vitamin C as oranges.

Without narwhal,

it's doubtful the Inuit would ever have survived in this part of the Arctic.

It's now July, and the sun finally wins its battle.

The sea ice melts into open ocean.

To find food, man turns his attention to the land.

Siorapaluk, Greenland, is the northernmost native settlement on Earth.

Every year, Maassannguaq Oshima is treated to a spectacle.

Millions of little auks on migration.

They come here to breed on the cliffs.

And for predators,

there's a mouth-watering supply of protein whizzing overhead.

If you can reach it.

Thousands of years ago,

Maassannguaq's ancestors worked out how to make nets out of sinew and driftwood.

And they created the same hiding spots he uses today.

On a good day, Maassannguaq can gather up to 500 birds.

But he won't eat them now.

He'll take his cue from a fellow hunter.

Arctic foxes often stuff a few birds underground,

so that when times are lean, they'll have food to fall back on.

The birds can be used to make kiviak,

a dish that you save for a rainy day.

The recipe is thousands of years old, and it goes like this.

Take one seal skin.

Stuff as many little auks inside it as you can.

At least 500.

Sew it up.

Make sure you press all the air out.

Seal fat repels flies, so be generous when coating the seams.