The Harp Seal's Race Against Time - Ep. 5 | Wildlife: The Big Freeze

• [Bertie] Only minutes old, this harp seal pup is quick to fall in love with its icy home sweet home. The ice melts. In just 10 days' time, mom will leave her behind and never look back. The countdown begins. (baby seal cooing) 10, put on at least four pounds per day. Nine, learn to swim before the ice melts. Eight, don't panic; there is no time for this. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. (wind blowing) (daunting music) At first glance, the Arctic feels brutally devoid of life. Though a select group of animals have figured out a way to thrive. (seal pup howls) But the real force here works quietly underfoot. Every winter, sea ice starts small and delicate. Then it grows over billions of square miles. How is it possible that this freeze-up holds the key to our entire planet? Like a lung, sea ice breathes life into the Arctic every year in a cycle that impacts the climate across the globe. This is the story from the edge of the Canadian Arctic where it all starts. My name is Bertie Gregory, and I am a National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker. Everything is at stake; we are all waiting for the big freeze. (clock ticking) (calm music)

Every year, harp seals leave the rich waters of the northern Hudson Bay and join thousands of others migrating south, out of polar bear range, to their breeding oasis. A massive ice flow in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (flute music) (snow crunching) It is hard to believe right now that we are walking over the ocean. Everywhere you look, as far as you can see is ice. That is the reason why I have got this incredibly sexy and very fashionable outfit on, and a stick, is 'cause we want to make sure we don't fall through a crack in the ice into underneath us, which is hundreds of feet of freezing cold water. But right now we are looking for what is arguably the cutest animal on the planet. (seal pup cries) And I can hear it. (flute music) This beautiful little animal, hello, is a harp seal pup. It was born here on the ice about four or five days ago, judging by its size. It is totally helpless without mom right now. (water bubbling) (flute music) (seal chirping) In a colony of thousands, mom needs to make sure she is not feeding the wrong pup. Here she comes. The kiss; this is what harp seals are famous for. That kiss is how the mom and pup recognize each other. (seals cooing) This is what that little pup has been waiting for. It is dinner time, and it has really got to make the most of these feeding sessions because it has only got 10 days with its mom. After those 10 days, the female is going to stop suckling the pup, and she is going to head north with the males. That little pup is going to be abandoned with nothing to eat. So it has really got to build up its fat reserves now.

Since filming that pup, I have found something that is a little bit gross. So you see down here, there is this blood trail. It leads to this. Now this looks like death, but it is not; this is life. This is the placenta, but it is not actually frozen yet. That means that somewhere around here is a newborn pup that has literally just been born. I mean, that would take less than an hour to freeze, so somewhere here is that little pup. Look, there it is. Yeah, that one is just a few minutes old. Look how yellow it is, and you can still see it has got its umbilical cord attached. You know, compared to that other pup we had, which was only a few days old, four or five days older, this shows just how fast they grow, and this little pup has definitely got some catching up to do. (tribal music) You know, it is really cool to see such a young pup, but it is actually not a good thing. This one is four or five days behind the rest, and these adults are already in a race against time to raise their pups before the ice breaks up, so this one has an extra big challenge ahead. (violin music) (seal pup whimpers) (violin music)

[Bertie] Our changing climate is making early ice breakups more and more common. In five of the past ten years, bad ice meant the colony failed to raise pups. In 2017, the ice broke up so early that the entire colony of pups drowned overnight. (fast violin music) So you can see what was once a giant solid sheet is now breaking up, and the ice is really on the move; you can see it. Here now, it is the time for these pups to learn to swim because soon these chunks are going to get smaller and smaller, and yeah, they will be forced to swim. So it is swimming time; they got to go. And that is exactly what is on this mother's mind right now. This real chunky monkey is so fat it is unbelievable, the amount of change just in a few days from that tiny little newborn now to a big fat sausage. So we are going to hang out and see if mom encourages it for its first swimming lesson. (cello music) (seal pup cooing) (seal pup whimpers)

Are we good to go? - [Cameraman] Yeah (flute music) (seal pup cries) (seal pup cries) - [Bertie] Look how she is using her giant belly as a big swim float to help her pup breathe. You can see she is so protective of it in the water. And anytime any of the other adults come anywhere near her, she chases them off so aggressively. It is really doing it; it is swimming. Look at it go. (flute music) How incredible must it be to realize you are actually built for the very medium that was so daunting just minutes ago. Now that the mother knows her pup has the skills to survive the ice breakup, it is time for the hardest lesson of all: saying goodbye. (seal pup howls) The male harp seals are now gathering nearby, ready to mate with the females. Okay, getting in. It is time for the adults to join and head to the north. (seals chirping) (violin music)

We have met truly extraordinary animals on this adventure, surrounded by the pack. Their lives governed by ticking clocks, getting them to run further, fly faster, or swim deeper. But the thing that ties them and us together is the planet's loudest ticking clock: the Arctic sea ice. The big freeze used to give us millions of square miles of sun-reflecting surface, stabilizing the earth's climate. Over just the last thirty years, we have lost more than a third of that sea ice. Now, rather than reflecting the sun's heat, open water absorbs it. And we are witnessing its deadly effects. (violin music) But there is hope, and it lies with harnessing clean energy, using our land more efficiently, and reforesting. Saving polar bears goes beyond just being a nice thing to do; we are also saving ourselves. It really is in our hands whether we want this place to exist in the future. Now is really a turning point. Do we let it go, or do we really band together to make sure that it survives into the next century? (orchestral music) (piano music)