Alaska: Earth's Frozen Kingdom

Alaska. A land shaped by ice-sheets and glaciers, dotted with huge rivers and lakes. Its northerly position, up on the Arctic Circle, means winters can be bitterly cold, while in summer, the size and shape of the land brings surprising heat waves. This is a tough landscape. The human population density is lower than Siberia, and animals have had to adapt to the most extreme seasonal variation on Earth. Yet despite the hardships, it is home to a phenomenal range of wildlife. Wild Alaska explores spring, summer and winter in this extreme wilderness, and discovers the unique species that have learned to thrive in these harsh conditions. Stories include a mother sea otter trying to get her vulnerable baby through the early, chilly days of spring, grizzly bears rushing to feed in the short summer and finding ingenious ways to fatten up, and young polar bears taking tentative steps on 'bouncy ice' as the freeze begins and puts them back in their element. (BBC America)