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Find out how these carnivores chase, claw and chomp their way to the top of the food chain.
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This four-part series offers an intimate and powerful experience looking at some of the planet’s most fearsome animals in their own unique neighbourhoods. Narrated by critically acclaimed actor Alec Baldwin, this series reveals the dramatic stories of an African lioness, a great white shark, a polar bear and an Alaskan brown bear, and their gripping struggle for survival.
Icebear, follows a Norwegian polar bear named Binne adapting to survive in the face of global warming. During ten short weeks, Binne must eat enough food to double her body weight and sustain her through the rest of the year. Sea ice around Svalbard makes a unique habitat for seals and provides Binne with an advantageous hunting ground. However, while the other residents of Svalbard are reveling in spring’s early bounty, Binne watches the sea for the prey that has not yet arrived. As the summer unfolds, it is clear that this year, for the first time, the sea ice will not come at all to the west coast of Svalbard.
Great White Shark observes Haai ruthlessly hunt down seals in South Africa’s False Bay. Containing a stretch called “the gauntlet”, this nearly five-kilometre expanse circling the island, is home of up to 6,500 cape fur seals and over 300 pairs of jackass penguins. For Haai, the gauntlet is an exceptionally rich hunting ground during the spring. But a change is soon in store for the gauntlet as dark, ominous shadows are flashing toward the bay. Younger, faster great whites are following a bountiful source of food nearing the bay, and Haai will have to compete with the agile newcomers for the best seals.
While Lion visits Ngornogoro in Tanzania to observe Malkia, a 16-year-old lioness who must beat hyenas to her daily prey of wildebeest, buffalo and zebra. Hunger is not Malkia’s only challenge. Because no outside lions are known to have bred in Ngorongoro within the past 40 years, the weakening effects of inbreeding are threatening the very existence of Malkia’s pride. Twice in the past 10 years, viruses have wiped out a number of Ngorongoro’s lions.
Finally, King Bear charts the battle as two huge brown bears battle for supremacy in the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Battles, though infrequent, can be brutal, with bears using claws, teeth and sheer strength to overpower their opponents. For Tuyuq – a 23 year old bear – this is a challenge he knows well. But, winter and old age have left him unable to compete as strongly. During hibernation, he lost one third of his body weight and must gain 300 pounds of fat to prepare for the upcoming winter. However, as Tuyuq returns to his old fishing grounds, his young rival Stuk challenges him. What will happen to him in the coming winter months?
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