ANDREW LINCOLN: Our weather is wilder...
..fiercer...
..more unpredictable...
..than ever before.
JOURNALIST: Rare red weather warnings
meaning there's a potential danger to life.
Such weather is more frequent and intense.
I think we had this conversation in our newsroom, you know,
when they were evacuating all the people...
what about the animals?
For the first time...
..we see the planet's most extreme weather...
..through their eyes.
When nature turns against them...
..they're not just enduring...
..they are fighting back...
..in remarkable ways.
The bigger the storm...
..the greater the heroes.
GROWLS
TRUMPETS
These animals are... a force of nature.
JOURNALIST: A rise in temperature would mean
that all of the Earth's frozen parts
would experience irreversible damage with disastrous consequences
for millions of people, societies, and nature.
Finding new ways for people and wildlife
to coexist has become more urgent.
Are they invading our space, or are we invading theirs?
BARKS
MOOS
The Himalayas, peaking at over 8,800 metres.
It's the highest mountain range on Earth.
Temperatures can drop to -50 degrees Celsius.
But even here, life can find a way.
Known as the ghost of the mountains...
..the snow leopard.
With a three inch thick coat...
..he's perfectly adapted to these extremes.
Snow leopards typically live solitary lives...
..but he is not alone.
Unusually, at two years old...
..he still lives...
PURRS AND GROWLS
..with his sister.
But their world is changing around them.
The Himalayas are warming nearly three times faster
than the global average.
THUNDER RUMBLES
In this shrinking ice world,
they are losing their territory...
..and, with it, their prey.
Those that remain... live a precipitous life.
It's a perilous place to hunt.
But they can scale the seemingly impossible.
Using their thick tails as a counterbalance,
and inch-long claws like crampons...
..they close down the distance.
At twice his size,
a male blue sheep is too dangerous to tackle alone.
But working together, they can corral it.
Driving it closer...
..to the edge.
GROWLS
A kill this big will feed the siblings for a week.
DISTANT SCREECHING
But they might not have a week.
SCREECHING
An older, larger male.
He's looking for a territory of his own...
..and is ready to kill for it.
The Himalayas may be warming at an alarming rate...
..but nowhere is melting faster than the Arctic.
ICE CREAKING AND RUMBLING
BIRDS SQUAWKING
JOURNALIST: The area of Arctic sea ice
was almost one million square miles below its average in past years.
An Arctic fox.
Forced to make one of the greatest journeys by any land animal.
JOURNALIST: Foxes like these becoming increasingly isolated.
This could threaten the very survival
of the region's most iconic inhabitants.
FOX YELPS
Hungry, desperate, and trapped in the middle of a melting ocean.
July in the high Arctic welcomes new life.
A female Arctic fox pup.
Only two months old, she's one of a litter of five.
THEY YELP AND SQUEAK
Like all Arctic foxes, she was born with a brown coat...
..and a spring in her step.
CHATTERS
But all this play...
..is important practise for the serious business ahead.
In summer, Svalbard becomes home
to one of the largest gatherings of sea birds on the planet...
CHIRPING
..including hundreds of thousands of guillemots.
But a thousand metres up, they're impossible to reach.
YAPS
CHIRPS
Closer to home...
..a lone skua chick.
CHIRPING
An opportunity...
..to make her first kill.
GROWLS AND YELPS
She's no match for an angry skua mum...
..with a beak that could easily blind her.
There's no such thing as an easy meal.
With each passing day, she only grows hungrier...
..but Mum knows good things come to those who wait.
At three weeks old, the guillemot chicks are ready to fly the nest.
Their maiden flight.
A mile-long glide to the sea.
SQUAWKING
While most land safely out of reach...
..a few fall short...
..and Mum seizes the opportunity.
The first one is free.
Now it's her turn.
She's creating a larder.
But her store will only last so long.
Once the birds have left and winter hits,
she'll face starvation.
ANDREW LINCOLN: In the far north,
a warming planet is playing havoc with the seasons.
Usually, we have eight inches of snow.
This type of winter could be a preview of the future.
Winter is a month late.
But when it finally arrives...
..it hits fast...
..and it hits... hard.
In Alaska,
life is defined by a short summer...
..followed by a long winter.
But today, that's all changing.
Summer weather is still here in September.
No complaints from this Arctic ground squirrel.
It means more time can be spent eating...
..in preparation for winter hibernation.
This year, the late summer has delivered a new treat.
Mushrooms...
..packed with vital protein and vitamins.
CHIRPS
He must take advantage - fast.
Others have their eye on the prize.
And thieves won't be tolerated.
CHIRPS
SQUEAKING
SCREECHES
He may have seen off the competition...
..but he's strayed far from home...
THUNDER CRASHES
..and now the big freeze sweeps in with a vengeance.
He needs to quickly find his burrow...
..if he's to survive the first day of winter...
..let alone six months of it.
The climate is getting warmer, the weather is getting more extreme.
Warming mountains and shrinking territories...
..are setting the Himalayas' big cats on a collision course.
A rival male is muscling in...
..on the young snow leopard's territory.
But it's a home worth fighting for.
SNARLS
GROWLING
He's been banished from the only home he's ever known.
He must find a territory of his own.
But in a mountain range that is melting...
..his world is fast disappearing.
Glaciers on the Himalaya Mountains are melting at a rapid rate.
They could lose 80% of their volume by the end of the 21st century.
Go too high...
..and the air is too thin to breathe.
Too low, and he'll overheat.
Any suitable remaining territory...
..is already taken.
He has no choice but to keep on moving.
Descending below the snow line...
..into an unfamiliar, new world.
Farmers now graze their livestock at higher and higher altitudes.
And coming with them... BARKING
..packs of feral dogs.
The hungry snow leopard
has never encountered creatures like these before.
MOOING
BARKING
All he knows is that he needs to eat.
ANDREW LINCOLN: In Alaska...
..winter temperatures have dropped to -40 degrees.
GROANING
Only a few hardy specialists, like musk ox, can survive in the open.
Others don't have to.
A metre below the surface,
the Arctic ground squirrel is defying the laws of nature.
With unique blood chemistry, he's the only mammal
who can withstand a body temperature of -3C.
His heart usually beats 200 times a minute.
Now... just once.
In a state of torpor...
..he can live off his energy reserves
for six long months.
But today...
..winter temperatures fluctuate wildly.
Weather swings are having real effects on wildlife
and they are changing their hibernation routines.
A rise of a few degrees...
..triggers his body to start waking up.
And if he does...
..he'll burn through his fat reserves.
He needs the cold weather to return and stay...
..or he'll never leave his burrow again.
While some hunker down for winter...
..other Arctic animals have no choice but to face it head on.
REPORTER: Rising temperatures are also affecting wildlife habitats.
REPORTER: The risk is only getting worse.
Svalbard is warming six times faster than the global average.
Winter in Svalbard
and the landscape is barely recognisable...
..and neither is the young Arctic fox...
..wearing a new winter coat.
At six months old, she's now fully independent.
She's eaten everything she buried in the summer...
..and, marooned on her island...
..she's slowly beginning to starve.
Her fate is tied to one of the planet's greatest transformations.
The freezing of the Arctic Ocean.
As the water turns to ice...
..it provides an escape route off her island.
As the sun sets for the last time...
..she enters the four-month-long polar night.
Her strategy on the sea ice is not to hunt...
..but to exploit those who can.
She can pick up the scent of a seal kill from 20 miles away.
Stealing scraps from the biggest land predator on Earth
is not without risk.
POLAR BEAR ROARS, ARCTIC FOX SQUEALS
In years gone by...
..Arctic foxes spent the winter shadowing polar bears...
..within a few 100 miles of Svalbard.
But today, the ice is poor and the bears are scattered far and wide.
REPORTER: The Arctic sea ice has fallen more than 60%
in the last 30 years.
She's forced to travel further out into the Arctic Ocean...
..on a desperate quest for food.
Today, only 25% of Arctic foxes survive their first year.
To make it, she'll need to do something extraordinary.
ANDREW LINCOLN: Over in Alaska...
..spring has returned ten days earlier than just a decade ago.
REPORTER: Spring is arriving earlier. This has consequences.
The migration, hibernation
and reproduction of animals can be impacted.
After six months asleep...
CHIRPS ..the Arctic ground squirrel
finally emerges fit and healthy...
..in preparation for the breeding season.
And he's not the only early riser.
An amorous female.
This year, the unseasonably warm spring
has brought the females out early.
With just a short summer ahead...
..there's little time to raise a family...
SQUIRREL CALLING
..so, remarkably, she is only fertile for a single day.
There's not a second to lose.
SQUEAKING
She looks good.
She even smells good.
Trouble is...
he doesn't yet have the goods.
To save energy while hibernating, he stopped producing testosterone.
Last summer, he went to bed as a man...
..but he's woken up as a boy.
And she won't waste time with boys.
Males are normally out a week before the females
to give them time to get the hormones pumping again.
But today, the early spring brings the females out sooner...
..before the males are ready to perform.
Unless they can adapt, this could spell disaster...
..for the entire species.
The Arctic fox has survived the perilous journey
across the melting sea ice.
From Svalbard,
she's crossed an astonishing 2,000 miles of Arctic Ocean.
As the polar sun finally returns...
..so does the sight of land.
After four months, she's made it to Canada.
It's only in the last decade
that Arctic foxes have been tracked making this record-breaking journey.
And it's been worth it.
Arctic foxes live such short, dangerous lives,
they can mate within their very first year.
SHRIEKING
With a lifelong partner and better prospects for food,
they will settle here for good.
Arctic foxes are struggling in a melting world...
..but thanks to her resilience and determination,
she crossed a vast frozen ocean...
..giving some hope...
..for their future survival.
BARKING
Driven by a desperate hunger...
..the young snow leopard has descended into the valley...
..facing animals he's never encountered before.
DOG YELPS
Battered and bruised from the 100-metre fall...
PEOPLE CHATTING, LEOPARD GROWLS SOFTLY
..he's been rescued by the local wildlife-protection team.
And incredibly, the dog also survived.
He doesn't yet know it...
..but it's the beginning of a new life.
SNARLS
SIREN BLARING
He's being taken to a new mountain home...
..free from humans and rival leopards.
With only 750 snow leopards left in India...
..every single one is precious.
He is one of the lucky few to be given a second chance.
Snow leopards have run wild in these frozen peaks
for more than a million years.
But today, it's up to us to give them the space they need
in a melting world.