01x05 - Kingdom of the Polar Bear

[bunniefuu]

[James Cameron] The Ocean.

the last frontier on earth.

So much is unexplored

and unexplained.

To change that

a kickass team of insanely

talented specialists is

setting out to push the

frontiers of what we know

about our oceans.

[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh.

[James Cameron] Zoleka Filander,

deep sea scientist.

[Zoleka Filander] Being a

deep-sea researcher means

having front row tickets to

the best movie that everybody

wants to watch.

[James Cameron]

Melissa Márquez

[Melissa Márquez]

Straight ahead, 12:00.

[James Cameron]

Shark biologist.

[Melissa Márquez] We just saw

what no one has seen before.

[James Cameron]

Eric Stackpole

[Eric Stackpole] Scan now!

[James Cameron] Ocean

tech innovator.

[Eric Stackpole] I love

building tools that allow us

to see things in ways

we've never seen before.

[gasps]

[James Cameron] And Aldo Kane

[Aldo Kane] This is insane.

[James Cameron] Former

Royal Marine; special ops.

[Aldo Kane] It doesn't get

any more cutting-edge

exploration than this.

[James Cameron]

Their secret weapon

the OceanXplorer .

The most technologically

advanced research vessel

ever built.

There's never been a more

urgent need to understand

our ocean and the animals

that call it home

Because their

lives and ours depend on it.

This time

we're on the trail of the

Arctic's ultimate predator

[Team] Go, go!

[James Cameron] The polar bear.

[grunting]

[theme music plays].

[birds cawing]

The OceanXplorer is

deep inside the Arctic Circle

in Svalbard.

400 miles North of Norway

It's wild, remote, and frozen.

And Svalbard is home to

around 300 polar bears.

[sniffing, grunting]

[Eric Stackpole] Polar bears are

actually considered marine

mammals on account of how

much time they spend on ice.

[skin slapping]

[Zoleka Filander] Yeah,

extraordinary really.

[sniffing]

[James Cameron] Polar Bears have

evolved to thrive on the ice,

searching for pretty

much one thing

[sniffing]

Seals.

In one of the coldest

places on the planet,

calorie rich seal blubber

is the difference between life

and death for a polar bear.

[intense music]

[splashing]

But bears can only hunt

seals when the sea is frozen.

When the ice melts,

seal season ends.

The team is here

in late summer

The sea ice is almost gone,

tough times for the polar bear.

But recently it's

become a lot harder.

Their ice kingdom

is in danger

so the team needs to find

out if they can survive.

[Zoleka Filander] The Arctic

region is warming

four times faster than

any part in the world

and this is a huge problem

for the polar bears

because the summers are longer

and this means that

there's not enough sea ice.

[Melissa Márquez] But

that's just open water.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah.

[Eric Stackpole]

He's just wandering.

[James Cameron] When there's no

ice here, bears are forced to

search for food on land.

[Eric Stackpole] It's hard to

go here without thinking about

change, and how these pieces

of ice are dwindling away,

and specifically is going to

affect the behavior of the

Polar bears.

[James Cameron] With this

environment changing so rapidly,

the team's first

mission is to find out if

Svalbard's bears

still have enough to eat.

That means coming face to

face with one of nature's

most dangerous predators.

[roaring]

Aldo leads the aerial team,

with two experts who survey

the bears' health each year.

[Aldo Kane] Jon and Rolf are

both working for the Norwegian

polar institute up here in

Svalbard, so they've got this

study that's been going

for over 20 years now.

What they're struggling

to work out is, is how the

climate's changing is having

an effect on polar bears.

[Jon Aars] Almost every year,

you know they would have

continuous sea ice down to the

islands here, and as that part

of the year gets shorter and

shorter it gets harder and

harder to, to be a polar bear.

[helicopter whirring]

[James Cameron] Jon needs to

sedate and examine as many

bears as possible.

[Jon Aars] Let's go

over the fjord a bit.

[Aldo Kane] With the

climate changing, with sea ice

retreating further north, does

that mean there will be less

seals for the

bears here to eat?

[Jon Aars] The main thing

it's less seals that are

possible to catch.

[Aldo Kane] Right, right.

[James Cameron] They follow the

coastline looking for bears

that are on the

prowl for food.

[Jon Aars] Do you

see the fresh tracks?

[Aldo Kane] Yeah, yeah.

Bear!

There's a bear down there!

He's a big bear.

[James Cameron] Rolf is a vet

his job is to dart

the bear safely.

[dart shot]

The dart won't hurt the bear.

It should put it to

sleep in minutes

but it's not an exact science.

He looks out cold

but they can't be sure.

If he isn't fully sedated,

he could easily k*ll

Rolf and the team.

[tapping]

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg]

Yeah he's fine.

If you want to bring the

[Aldo Kane] Oxygen?

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Oxygen,

yeah you bring that and you

bring that there yeah.

You want to put it on?

[Aldo Kane] Yep wow.

[James Cameron] The blindfold

protects its eyes and helps to

keep it sedated while

Rolf takes its vitals.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] He's

got deep, good breaths.

[Aldo Kane] Beautiful.

Just the muscle

- Yeah.

- In these shoulders.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Try with your

hands and compare with those.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah, you can see

just how specialized these are

for the way they hunt.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] They're

very specialized at waiting at

a breathing hole for a seal

and it's got to catch it and

drag it away.

[James Cameron] Rolf thinks

he's around 8 years old.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Quite a

lot of the adult males you see

their broken

teeth, fighting a lot.

But this guy he's

got really nice teeth.

[Jon Aars] He's in

the prime of his life.

[Aldo Kane] He's in the

prime of his life really.

[Jon Aars] Yeah.

Try to see, yeah.

[James Cameron] By this point in

late summer, there's been very

little sea ice around Svalbard

for almost four months.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg]

He's a little bit thin.

[Jon Aars] He's a bit below

average I would say, yeah.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah.

[James Cameron] A blood sample

will show whether this bear is

eating seals, or

something else.

[Aldo Kane] Each one of

these tubes will be tested for

something different?

[Jon Aars] Yeah, so you can

get some indication about what

they have eaten, if he's

eaten mostly seals or more

terrestrial food.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Starvation

is, is the biggest um cause of

death for Polar Bears.

[Jon Aars] But what we suspect

might happen is that where

we've seen the effects of sea

ice loss, when things suddenly

get worse, it will be the

youngest and oldest bears

that will be affected first.

[peaceful music]

[growling]

[Aldo Kane] There he is

[growling]

so that's him back on his

feet now, he was under for

just less than an hour, the

guys have got all their

measurements done now,

given him the antidote to the

anesthetic, so

he's now back awake.

Um, he's standing there

just for a few more minutes

probably just while

he gets his bearings,

and then he'll head off.

[growling]

[grunting]

[peaceful music]

[helicopter whirring]

[James Cameron] There's another

bear that Jon is really

worried about.

A much older bear

that he knows well.

She's called Lyra.

Jon first met her

nine years ago,

as she emerged from

her den with new cubs.

[squeaking]

[crashing]

He's been

following her ever since.

But the GPS collar that he

fitted to keep track of Lyra

stopped moving.

It's a worrying sign.

Her collar data shows that

after a long summer with no

sea ice, she spent two months

walking almost 600 miles

up and down the coastline.

Jon believes she was

searching for food.

Then she stopped

moving altogether.

That was almost a year ago.

[Jon Aars] Should be somewhere

here, should be to the right

here, should be

just underneath.

[helicopter whirring]

So it's 20 meters now,

about here.

[Aldo Kane] Oh right.

There you go.

[James Cameron] Lyra

didn't make it.

[Jon Aars] What's sad is that

she had two small cubs when we

captured her last autumn.

[Aldo Kane] The cubs

you think are dead also?

[Jon Aars] They, they

are for sure dead.

[Aldo Kane] If she died then

[Jon Aars] Because there's

no, no way they could have

survived without her.

Hm.

[Aldo Kane] The mortality

rate is quite high then?

[Jon Aars] It's pretty high

among juveniles, so maybe

2 out of the 3 you know dies.

[Aldo Kane] Oh wow.

[Jon Aars] Within a

bit more than a year.

Yeah.

[helicopter whirring]

[Aldo Kane] Seeing a polar

bear that's starved to death

was really quite

emotional for me.

To think what she has gone

through, losing her two cubs

and wandering hundreds of

miles looking for food.

You hear about temperatures

rising and ice melting,

but this really brings it home

when you see the

fate of a family.

[dramatic music]

[James Cameron] For the rest of

the team, seeing the speed of

change here is

equally shocking.

[Eric Stackpole] The amount of

sea ice that we're losing just

from changes in the

environment is greater than

the amount of rainforest we're

losing in the last 50 years.

[James Cameron] Seeing this

loss makes their mission

even more urgent.

[Zoleka Filander] Climate

change is not really something

you can see

but here in Svalbard,

you actually get to see it

happening right in

front of your eyes.

[helicopter whirring]

[James Cameron] Aldo and the

helicopter team push on

they need to find out if other

polar bear cubs have survived

with so little sea ice.

[Chopper Pilot] There's a

bear, yeah that's a bear.

[Aldo Kane] A

mother and a cub.

[James Cameron] Both bears

are safely darted;

the team has to work fast.

[Aldo Kane] All good?

She's okay, she's fine?

[Jon Aars] Yeah she's fine.

[Aldo Kane] Good condition?

[Jon Aars] She's not too bad,

given that she has a small cub.

[Aldo Kane] And the cub is?

[Jon Aars] Doing well.

[James Cameron] Jon's relieved

to find a healthy family.

[Rolf-Arne muttering]

[Aldo Kane] Is it a male cub?

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Let's

see

That's a male yeah.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah, male cub.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] He will be

8 months, he was born about

new year's.

[James Cameron] Jon knows

this mother bear too.

He first met her seven years ago

when she was just a cub herself.

It's now her turn to try

to keep her baby alive.

[Aldo Kane] This cub will,

will still be breast feeding,

is that right?

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Yeah.

[Jon Aars] I just checked that

she had milk, so it's like

white milk, so I just note

that, which means she's

still doing ok.

Sometimes you know if they're

really food stressed,

they stop giving milk.

[Aldo Kane] And that

stress would come from the

environment and not

being able to eat?

[Jon Aars] Yeah from too

little food, too little to eat.

[Aldo Kane] And

the cub is fine?

[Jon Aars] Yeah.

[James Cameron] In fact,

he's on the heavy side.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] This

guy is a little chubby.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg]

There we go.

[James Cameron] Weighing mom

requires all hands-on deck.

[Jon Aars] A bit more so

she's almost on the back.

[grunting]

- There?

- Yeah.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg]

Alright she's off the ground.

Okay.

[James Cameron]

She's 385 pounds,

that means she's doing ok.

Jon can now keep track of

both mum and cub with

her GPS collar.

[Aldo Kane] She's starting

to have some twitching.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Yeah, you

gotta be careful, now is not

the time to put

fingers in her mouth.

[James Cameron] Rolf clears her

airway and makes sure she

can't bite her own

tongue as she comes around.

[Aldo Kane] It's good to see

them both back up and awake now.

[Jon Aars] Yeah.

[Aldo Kane] It's great to see

a well-fed mum and cub

at this time of year

but with no seals to hunt,

what are they eating?

[helicopter whirring]

[James Cameron] The team's

second mission is to investigate

if these bears are

adapting to hunt new prey.

[Aldo Kane] So Polar bears

have always been adaptive.

They're opportunistic,

they always have been.

But there isn't much else in

Svalbard and around Svalbard

for them to eat.

So we need to figure out

if they're switching to eat

something else.

[James Cameron] Eric's up first.

He's on the trail of an animal

that could be filling

the seal gap

[grunting]

walrus.

[Eric Stackpole] So, walruses

can weigh over 1,000 pounds

and they have this thick

blubbery layer just like seals.

[grunting]

Could that be what

the bears are eating?

That's what I

want to find out.

[grunting]

[James Cameron] With wildlife

cinematographer David

and polar safety guide Tom,

Eric heads for the

walrus haul out.

[Tom Lawton] If we do see a

bear in the area, if either of

you see anything that looks like

a bear, tell me straight away,

uh if I see a bear, I'll let you

know, but the first thing

we're gonna do if there is

a bear in the area is we're

gonna get back on the boat.

[Both] OK.

[David Reichert] Some

sort of animal poop.

[Eric Stackpole] Oh

yeah look at that.

Let's, you know what that is?

[Tom Lawton] Um.

I mean it's sizable.

[David Reichert] I know,

it's kind of a big animal.

- I mean it's not walrus poop

- No.

- And it's not fox poop.

- No. It's too big for that.

[Tom Lawton] It has fur in it

as well, I mean, so that means

it's a carnivore's poop.

I mean

[Eric Stackpole] This

could be polar bear poop?

[Tom Lawton] Yep.

[David Reichert]

They've been here.

[Tom Lawton] Yeah okay.

[David Reichert]

Something's been in this area.

[Eric Stackpole] Alright well

the, uh, the evidence is, is

mounting that

perhaps we've got bears.

[James Cameron]

As they inch closer,

they get a polar bear's eye view

of the walrus colony.

They've been spotted.

[Tom Lawton] Get down.

[Eric Stackpole] Alright.

[walrus bellowing]

[Tom Lawton] Don't move.

[walrus bellowing]

[Eric Stackpole] Look

at the size of them.

[walrus bellowing]

[James Cameron] They

beat a hasty retreat.

[grunting]

By the time they

reach the boat

they're not alone.

[walrus bellowing]

[Tom Lawton]

They're pretty curious

you might actually

wanna push off right now.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

[Eric Stackpole] All right.

[snorting, grunting]

[snorting, grunting]

They're sluggish on land, but

in the water, that is their

turf and they know how to

handle themselves in it,

so they can be very, very

dangerous, especially to a

boat like this where you know

if they got aggressive with

the boat, it could

puncture the, the hull.

This is an inflatable boat

so these are these moments

where you don't really know

what nature's gonna do.

[Tom Lawton] We're done,

we're gonna get out of here

[Eric Stackpole]

All right, we gotta go.

[motor rumbling]

One encounter is not

definitive, but it seems very

unlikely to me that a bear of

any size is going to be able

to attack a fully

grown adult walrus.

[snorting, grunting]

[helicopter whirring]

[James Cameron] On the other

side of Svalbard, the helicopter

team is also

looking for clues.

[Aldo Kane] It really

does boil life down into the

absolute basics of, of

wandering around a barren

wilderness looking

for your next meal.

[Jon Aars] Yes.

Oh yeah absolutely.

[James Cameron] These bears

are definitely eating

something substantial.

[Aldo Kane] He is fat.

[Jon Aars] Yeah, super fat.

[James Cameron]

They spot a clue.

[Chopper Pilot] Oh is there some

sort of carcass down there.

[Aldo Kane] Just in

front of you, 12:00.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Oh

there is something here.

[mysterious music]

[Jon Aars] That is

a reindeer carcass.

[Aldo Kane] Look at that.

Ah, there's another

carcass there, look?

[Jon Aars] Yeah.

This is uh interesting.

[James Cameron] Jon has only

ever seen bears scavenge

dead reindeer.

[Chopper Pilot]

Reindeer up here.

[Aldo Kane] Yeah,

lot of reindeer here.

[James Cameron] It's not long

before they see the evidence

they're looking for.

[Chopper Pilot] It's a bear.

On the hill right this

side of the snow line.

[Aldo Kane] Oh yeah, yeah.

He's on the move.

Yeah he looks fat.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg]

He's very nice condition.

[Jon Aars] Yeah.

[Aldo Kane] He's sort of

stalking up these little

valleys to where

the reindeer are.

[Jon Aars] Perfect

terrain for a reindeer ambush.

[Aldo Kane] That's the thing

with the bears, they're not

really evolved for running or

for that sort of predation,

but I guess if the terrain

suits that's just like

classic ambush country.

[Jon Aars] Yup it is.

[Aldo Kane] It was thought

that polar bears couldn't

outrun something as fast as a

reindeer, but they're using

the terrain to

their advantage.

As a sn*per it's my job to

close the distance to the

target using cover and that's

exactly what the bear's doing,

before it uses a

final burst of speed.

[James Cameron] It seems that

some of Svalbard's polar bears

have found ways to

hunt new species

in the long summer months

a possible lifeline as

their home gets warmer.

[camera shutter]

[camera shutter]

[Jon Aars] So that's

very interesting.

Professional reindeer hunter.

[Rolf-Arne Ølberg] Yup.

[James Cameron] Analysis of the

blood Jon's taken from the

sedated bears tells him exactly

what they've been eating.

Bears here are now consuming

a higher proportion of

land-based prey than before.

[Aldo Kane] So, I guess with

it becoming warmer up here

and less sea ice, they have

to adapt their behavior and,

and their hunting strategy.

[Jon Aars] So there is a

couple of things we've seen

studying these local Svalbard

bears, is that bears use much

more time on land, and we also

get evidence that reindeer

actually are taken by polar

bears, like what we saw,

you know the reindeer carcass.

[James Cameron]

Mission accomplished.

The team has witnessed the

evidence for themselves,

that polar bears might be

able to adapt and survive

in a warming climate.

It's a Hollywood ending

but nature doesn't

do Hollywood endings.

Polar bears in their prime

might be able to switch

from seals to reindeer.

But for new-born cubs,

that's just not an option.

[squeaking]

[James Cameron] Polar bear cubs

are totally dependent on

their mother's milk.

Mom gives birth in winter and

keeps her cubs in the den for

the first three months

while she nurses them.

When they all emerge in spring,

she's running on empty

and her cubs need solid food.

Her salvation comes in

the form of a unique,

frozen hunting ground,

found at the base of Svalbard's

massive glacial cliffs.

[Zoleka Filander] Glaciers are

an accumulation of snowfall

over thousands of years, and

this forms a huge ice sheet.

Where that ice meets the

ocean, it gives the sea ice

a solid structure to latch onto.

And it's the sea-ice

that's vital for

polar bear mum's in spring

It's where the

seals have their pup's.

For a starving polar bear mum,

these seals are the difference

between life and death.

[splashing]

[James Cameron] These feeding

grounds depend on

glaciers like this

reaching the ocean

and there's the problem

Svalbard's

glaciers are melting

fast.

[rumbling]

[splashing]

[rumbling]

[splashing]

If glaciers retreat onto land,

the sea-ice no longer has a

strong anchor, it breaks

up and drifts away,

taking the seals with it.

Nearly a fifth of Svalbard's

glaciers have now retreated

onto land.

If this trend continues,

do polar bears even

have a future here?

For their final and most

important mission,

the team wants to

answer the question,

how fast are these

glaciers retreating?

[James Cameron] The OceanXplorer

has arrived at the largest

glacier in Svalbard.

Austfonna.

This 3,000 square mile slab of

ice is ten times bigger than

New York City.

Every summer,

meltwater pours off it

and as the temperatures

increase, these waterfalls are

expected to get bigger.

Are these uncontrolled rivers

melting the glacier faster?

The team brings in top ice

scientist Andreas Alexander.

[Andreas Alexander] Hello,

nice to meet you

[Eric Stackpole] Andreas

Alexander is a glacial

scientist, he studies the way

the glaciers are changing

over time, and he's been doing

this for many years, so he's an

expert in all the subtle ways

glacial movement may be

affecting the

environment around it.

[James Cameron] Melissa Márquez

will also be helping Andreas

on this mission.

[Andreas Alexander] Glaciers

are changing up here very,

very fast, they're melting and

every year we get more melt.

What is happening at the edge

where the ice meets the ocean?

We don't know how much water

actually is flowing through

this channel, how fast is

the water flowing, at what

temperature is it?

And a big challenge that

we are facing is,

we can't measure it.

Lucky number 7.

[James Cameron] But Andreas

hopes to change that with a

new piece of tech

[Eric Stackpole] Oh my gosh.

[James Cameron]

This is a dr*fter.

[Andreas Alexander]

Here we go.

[James Cameron] The plan is to

drop it into a river 10 miles

inland on the glacier.

It will travel down the

rapids, recording the water

speed and pressure on the ice.

Finally, if the dr*fter

makes it to the front of the

glacier, it'll tell us

how much these rivers and

waterfalls are influencing

the rate of retreat.

[Eric Stackpole] For us to be

able to gather any information

from these drifters, they have

to be deployed upstream enough

so that they'll follow the

stream for enough distance to

collect good data and then

go over the waterfall

into the ocean.

[James Cameron] No easy task,

how do you get to the

headwaters of a glacier?

You walk.

[dramatic music]

[James Cameron] The rivers

form a dangerous maze

one wrong step and you

risk broken bones, or worse.

[Andreas Alexander]

Some rapids there.

[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.

[Andreas Alexander] Uh-oh

that's big.

[Melissa Márquez]

That's a big one.

[Guide] Whenever you're ready.

[Andreas Alexander]

Three, two, one.

[Melissa Márquez] Yeah.

[Guide] Here we go.

[Andreas Alexander] And

let's get out of this.

[Guide] Go, go.

[Andreas Alexander] Nice one.

Dig in the axe yeah.

[Guide] Stand on those toes

there you go, good work.

[James Cameron] After ten miles

of trekking they reach a

suitable deployment spot.

A river big enough to go all the

way to the front of the glacier.

[Melissa Márquez] I'm just

letting the boat know that

we've got these two drifters

that we're about to send out

and I've gone ahead and

sent the GPS coordinates.

[Andreas Alexander] Then we

are ready to deploy yeah?

[Melissa Márquez] Alright.

[Andreas Alexander]

And wish it the best.

Wish it good luck.

[Melissa Márquez] Good luck.

[Andreas Alexander] Ok and

three, two, one, and off you go.

Three, two, one.

[James Cameron] Two

drifters are away.

Waiting on the ocean, Eric and

Zoleka have the difficult task

of finding the drifters

if they've

survived the rapids.

[Eric Stackpole]

You can scan now

we're just waiting for this

terminal to show a signal.

I haven't heard

anything yet, nothing yet.

[beeping]

Oh, we've got

one we've got one.

Yeah, we got one.

It should be off our

port bow somewhere;

I think it's closer

to the glacier.

[Zoleka Filander] Oh my gosh,

the swell is not helping!

I can see it

my 12:00

I've got eyes on it.

[James Cameron] Both

devices have made it

out of the glacier

but they've landed

in dangerous waters.

[crashing]

[Zoleka Filander] Oh, calving

just happened, oh, oh my gosh.

[crashing]

[Eric Stackpole] So,

what is the plan here?

[OceanX Crew] We're gonna do a

drive by and try and pick it up.

[Eric Stackpole] Got it.

I mean look at this the whole

glacier is disintegrating as

we're up to it we really

have to be careful here.

He's got it,

he's got it, he's got it.

Great Job

okay we're ready for number two

if you're able to get that out.

Two of them in.

[James Cameron] For the very

first time, Andreas's drifters

have been successfully

retrieved from the ocean

after a glacier deployment.

In the ship's mixed reality lab,

the team is eager to see

what secrets they reveal.

[Eric Stackpole] This

basically shows what it looks

like just below the waterfall

when it reaches the ocean.

[James Cameron] Glaciers with no

waterfalls are insulated by a

layer of calm, cold

water at their base,

so they melt very slowly.

But here on Austfonna,

the dr*fter data reveals

a different picture altogether.

[Andreas Alexander] But what

we see now is you have the

fresh water coming in and

that fresh water destroys the

insulation layer of the cold

water, and what that will do

is create heat, and that

heat is what's melting,

what's driving the melt.

Well it's a combination of

warmer ocean water and then

the freshwater hitting and

creating the currents and

those currents are the ones

that are driving the ice melt.

[James Cameron] Scientists had

expected this glacier to

retreat at least

130 feet a year.

But from the new dr*fter data,

Andreas has calculated,

around each waterfall, the rate

of retreat could double.

And that's bad news

for polar bear moms.

They need glaciers to reach

the ocean so that sea-ice can

anchor to them and make a

stable hunting platform.

This revelation is

bittersweet for the team.

[Melissa Márquez] It's

this really big sense of

achievement that we've got

brand new data on how quickly

these glaciers are melting.

But what it's telling us,

well that makes me really

worried for polar bears.

If the climate keeps warming,

is there a limit to how much

more they can adapt?

[Aldo Kane] We've seen that

some of them can adapt,

but is it enough with their

world changing so quickly?

[sniffing]

[Eric Stackpole] This

isn't just about polar bears.

So much of the Arctic

is teeming with life.

It drives ocean currents,

it moderates our climate

So much depends on it.

[James Cameron] But the team

has hope for the future.

[Zoleka Filander] If the

world keeps to its promise and

limits temperature rise

to 1.5 degrees Celsius,

there should still be an ice

kingdom for polar bears.

[James Cameron] Svalbard's

polar bears are just about

hanging in there for now,

but for them to have

a real future

that's on us.