The Search (Full Episode) | Kingdom of the White Wolf | Nat Geo Animals

♪ ♪ (howling) (snarling) (wind howling) NARRATOR: Ellesmere-- one of the world's largest, wildest islands, just 500 miles from the North Pole. Almost half its rugged surface is encased year round in ice. But at the island's center, steep mountains shelter a tundra plain, and in summer, for three bright, brief months, it explodes with life. This is the Garden of the Arctic. (snorting) (chirping) A lone wolf makes her way through the valley she's known her whole life. Here she hunts, howls, and raises her young just as her ancestors have done since the last ice age... far beyond human reach. (bird squawking) Today hunger drove her to a cache site where she chewed on buried bits of meat from an old kill. It's all she's got access to, and there are at least two reasons she really needs to eat. (pups whimpering) Two pups are waiting at the den. Wolf pups are born deaf and blind. At about one month old, they're still dependent on Mom's milk. (pup howling) A note on the air catches her attention. Her pups are hungry. (pups howling) With a few bites of food in her belly, Mom hurries home. Her pups must put on 2 to 3 pounds per week, and if Mom doesn't eat, her pups won't make it. (pups whining) (wind whistling) Elsewhere in the valley, Mom's mate and 2-year-old daughter are hunting. It's their job to bring home food while mom's still nursing. They're a small family, not much of a hunting party. (grunting) The wolves' main prey, musk oxen, can grow to 10 times their size. Theirs is an ancient relationship. For 100,000 years wolves have winnowed the weak and sick from the herds, keeping musk ox numbers in check and preventing them from overgrazing the tundra. Together they balance this fragile landscape. (sniffing) But musk oxen are formidable, armed with spear-like horns and sharp hooves. Hard prey for the hungry. A successful hunt requires teamwork, strategy and strength in numbers, an advantage Dad and Big Sis clearly lack. Ellesmere is virtually empty of humans-- more than 850 miles from the nearest city. But today a visitor has arrived. RONAN: I've spent years observing and photographing the wolves in Yellowstone, where for centuries humans have seen wolves as the enemy. They've been hunted, trapped, and poisoned. (camera shutter clicks) These wolves, they're stressed and afraid and have spent most of their lives hidden from humans. (click) Which makes it incredibly challenging to capture their natural behavior. But two years ago here on Ellesmere, I encountered wild wolves with no fear of humans. I realized then this is the only place in the world to tell the true story of wild wolves. I knew I needed to come back and to embed with a pack longer than anyone ever has... to reveal the day-to-day life of this misunderstood predator. And through understanding and connection it's my hope that we can learn how to co-exist. NARRATOR: Back in the valley Mom and her pups wait for Dad and Big Sis to return with food. Mom is patient with her pups. She sets a tender pace, prepares them for what's to come. For the next three weeks, the world around their den will be their classroom. Time is short. The pups have much to learn before winter arrives, when the sun disappears for six months and the temperature can fall to 60 below zero. For now, these two are carefree babes, learning a brand new world through their awakening senses. No wolf is born a hunter. To find a pack that will let him near... RONAN: Hello, hello. NARRATOR: ...Ronan must first find an active den. (whistling) RONAN: Gosh, everything is just iced. A wolf can't even fit in there. NARRATOR: He must hurry. In early summer the wolves leave their dens. RONAN: Once the pups outgrow the den, the family is going to become nomadic, and finding an active den is going to become a whole lot harder. Wolves need a source of water and food near their den, so I'll look for that. And places where meat scraps and wolf waste have fertilized the tundra, those are green spots, which is a good sign of a recently active den. (on radio) I see nice water in that one, too. Let's just touch down anywhere near... PILOT: You got it. NARRATOR: Wolves rarely dig new dens; the permafrost is simply too hard. Instead, they use shallow caves, hollows and natural ledges. The best spots can be re-used for generations. RONAN: Wow. I mean, it's just a block of ice under there. The same as that other one. This whole thing... just solid ice, plugging up that entire den hole. NARRATOR: A wolf mom will deliver her pups on bare ground if she must. But without the protection of a den, newborns are left vulnerable to the weather and rival packs. RONAN: These are relatively fresh tracks. I guess it seems like the wolves are still coming back to check if these are viable options. This one's full of ice. Well, this is an unexpected challenge. On Ellesmere's west coast, a small meteorological station has tracked weather and climate trends for over 70 years. RONAN: It looks like this huge weather event came through in August last year and dumped nearly an inch of rain, which is half the annual average. Then the temperature dropped, and all that water must have frozen solid, especially in low areas. So wolf moms couldn't find ice-free dens. The Arctic is warming faster than any other part of the planet, and the seasons are out of balance. There are real consequences. NARRATOR: Ronan decides to scout for dens on higher, drier ground. (radio chatter) RONAN: I'm going to go check out a place called Wolf Valley. It's the only habitable land for wolves that I haven't checked yet on this peninsula. If I can't find an active den there, this project is over. Whoa, look at that. If any place has wolves, it should be that. Let's touch down over there. Wow. Oh, my gosh, I mean... look at the landscape behind it. If only this was active. That's a fresh wolf track. There's puppies. We got to go, we got to go. Mom knew Ronan was here long before he ever discovered her den, but will she accept him around her pups? NARRATOR: It's summer in the high Arctic. Snowmelt feeds two rivers in Wolf Valley that run south toward the Arctic Ocean. This is a good place to raise young. The two pups have taken their first steps beyond the den under mom's watchful eye. Soon they'll go farther. For now, they're still babes-- clumsy and curious, with milk teeth and sky-blue eyes. Before the visitor commits his camp to this valley, he's looking for signs the pack will accept his presence. He came this far to tell the story of fearless wolves that have never heard the shot of a rifle or been lured by a trap. RONAN: The old mat of musk ox hair. NARRATOR: The pack was away when Ronan first discovered the den. But now introductions need to be made. Big Sis reads the breeze. A new scent, an unfamiliar creature. She's on alert. RONAN: She's walking right towards us. Coming closer. This isn't a sneak-up game. It's a meeting ritual. She's trying to get downwind. NARRATOR: She understands her world through her nose-- 100 times more sensitive than ours. RONAN: Hey, girl. She's zigzagging back and forth to get our scent. So I think she's just curious. There's two more wolves above, watching. They all seem relaxed. None of them are chuffing or barking or howling at me. This is great. You know, when something's like staring at you like this, it means that they're anxious. She was kind of doing the slow blinks. That was about as good as it gets for first meeting a wild wolf. PILOT: Wow, there's so much water around it. RONAN: Nah, that looks pretty rough. PILOT: Put you over this little spot here. The wolves seem willing, and Ronan decides to commit. He'll move 10,000 pounds of food and supplies to Wolf Valley, enough to last the summer. Half a mile from the den, Ronan settles in to study the routines of the pack. RONAN: It is 20 past midnight in Wolf Valley... watching this den. They're just relaxing now. I think she's nursing. Yeah, she's nursing. Oh, man. That's so great to see. I never saw this in Yellowstone. Despite Ronan's distance, Mom doesn't seem to like being watched as she feeds her pups. RONAN: She's kind of squinty-eyed, looking down here. Mmm, hmm hmm. 1 a.m. Constant sun. Ugh, I can feel it's already burned. June 18th. Wolf Valley. These wolves are shyer than I anticipated... and I don't understand why. I'm trying to be patient, but in order to capture their intimate behaviors, I have to be closer. I might need to improvise. NARRATOR: While the adults are away, Ronan gets to work. The wind's in his favor, and the wall makes an effective blind, hiding him from view. For the moment, he's allowed a privileged glimpse into this small pack's home life. (yelping) RONAN: Big Sis, little sis, little bro, all having a big kissy-face party. Here comes Mom. Everyone's getting up to greet Mom. Everyone's got their muzzles in there. Kisses, tongues, happy, happy. (laughs) (whimpering) Pups are enjoying being around the big dogs. Sweet. You can tell the adults are starting to shed a bunch. The pups are actually getting chunks of fur caught in their mouth when they're going in for snuggles. That's pretty funny. This one pup has a big chunk of fur on his face. There's Dad, he's lying on his back rolled over. He's got a pup climbing on top. NARRATOR: Dad indulges the pups' nipping and shoving, building bonds that'll see them through winter's darkness. RONAN: Dear old dad. NARRATOR: Wolf Valley, on Ellesmere Island. It's midsummer in the land of the midnight sun. It's prime feeding time for musk oxen, their only chance to pack on pounds for the long winter. Soon the rut will come, mating season, when this bull will battle others for dominance in the herd and access to females. Dad and Big Sis have left the valley on a hunt. Mom is still unsure of the visitor who arrived several weeks ago. RONAN: Every wolf is different. Mom's showing me she's shy, and I don't want to push it. Camera traps will let me get close without upsetting the family. It's the same focal length, roughly, of the human eye. It's just unparalleled the intimacy you can get where you can hear them breathing, you can hear their footsteps. I mean, the ultimate picture would be the pups would be playing, the whole group gets back... and there's this whole kind of reunion going on. And to be in the middle of that, to me, would be the perfect picture. These contraptions are the only way. I could never be laying there underneath a family of wild wolves, although I'd love to be. (ATV rumbling) NARRATOR: The Wolf Valley pack patrols a vast territory-- up to 1,000 square miles of mountains, meadows, and riverbeds. As they roam, tracking the movements of their prey, the wolves circle back again and again to specific locations. These spots are perfect for camera traps, which will record their passing. RONAN: Sweet. Looks like a fresh set of wolf tracks in the mud. Yep. NARRATOR: Wolves often return to old kills, even if there's little meat left. Cracking bones can release marrow and help sate their hunger. RONAN: This carcass, it's months old. Maybe even a year or more. But the tracks are telling me that the wolves are still visiting it. I have to be strategic about where I put the cameras. NARRATOR: The pack usually follows familiar routes, but they'll go anywhere in search of a meal. (rumbling) (insect buzzing) This musk ox kill will feed the Wolf Valley pack for days. RONAN: A young male, maybe like a 3- or 4-year-old. This is super fresh! I would have loved to have been here when the wolves took down this beast. NARRATOR: The camera traps are a gamble; they could scare Mom and her pack. (insects buzzing) (birds squawking) It's been three days since Dad and Big Sis left the valley on a hunt. Mom's howl can carry 10 miles in the clear Arctic air. She's sending a reminder to Dad and Big Sis: "I'm hungry. The pups are, too." They'll need to find a meal soon. For now, Mom must keep nursing and rely on whatever food she's cached near the den. At the East Fork, Big Sis finds a strange object with an unfamiliar scent. RONAN: Oh, it's Big Sis! Oh, sweet. (crunching) Oh...that sounds like you're breaking something on the camera. She's coming back. Sniffed the head. (growling) Just doing her thing, ignoring the camera. That's exactly what I hoped for. Eh, some pretty good little teeth marks in there. Camera trap carnage, courtesy of Big Sis. She just wrecked it. NARRATOR: Dad triggered another camera while crossing the river at the confluence. (precipitation pelting tent) RONAN: Dad, he seems to be the most comfortable, or least curious to camera. Looks like he's missing an eye. That's incredible that he's still able to run and hunt without good depth perception. That's Mom in the background. She's got her tail kind of tucked in. NARRATOR: Mom signals her feelings through body language. The message is hard to miss. RONAN: Tail tuck is a sign of anxiety. This is unnatural behavior that's being brought on by the camera. Yeah, there's Mom again. Not happy. Tail tucked. NARRATOR: The smell of plastic, Ronan's scent, a shiny new object-- any of these might make Mom nervous with vulnerable pups nearby. RONAN: (groan) Oh, she's just fully tucked underneath. There's no point in photographing an animal that's stressed. It's a behavior as a result of me, essentially. And that completely defeats the purpose of trying to document natural behavior. I mean, this is Mom totally cowering in front of the camera. Ugh. This just makes me feel terrible for even being here. Camera traps are not working. I came here for wolves that are unfazed by human presence, but Mom is as stressed as the wolves in Yellowstone. And it's because of me. There's one last option: to try following Dad and Big Sis on a hunt. Away from the den, these wolves might yet reveal themselves. NARRATOR: For days a storm has battered Wolf Valley. A reminder that winter is always near in the Arctic. The pack is surviving on stored bits of old meals. There's no musk oxen to hunt in the valley. Ronan worries his camera traps may be stressing Mom, and so when the pack is away, he removes them. Summer soon returns, but its warmth won't last. By Ronan's sixth week, the sun is dropping behind the mountains and stripping heat from the valley. The pups are still too small to wander far beyond the den. The pack can't survive on cached meat much longer. But it turns out Mom chose this den in this valley for a good reason. A large herd of musk oxen arrives. Most herds are led by a female with a keen memory; she knows where the best forage can be found. Musk oxen mow through the grasses, lichens, and dwarf willows that thrive here, packing on fat for the lean season ahead. (grumbling) RONAN: It's nice to see such a big herd. NARRATOR: They're so well-adapted to this landscape they survived the great Pleistocene extinction, outlasting mammoths, saber-toothed cats, and dire wolves. (snort) It's now the start of the rut, when bachelor males rejoin the herd and bring hormonally triggered chaos, battling each other for dominance and showing off for the females. The herd moves slowly through the valley. At three months old, the calves are filling out. They make tempting targets for the hungry pack. Dad and Big Sis test the herd for weakness. They need just one uncertain calf, a moment of hesitation, a wrong turn. But this herd is strong, confident. They close ranks and pull their young in tight. Dad and Big Sis know they're outclassed and break off their attack. RONAN: It's not easy to be a wolf and to hunt something that's five times your size. NARRATOR: The pair head out of the valley in search of an easier meal. This may be Ronan's opportunity. RONAN: The wolves just made a beeline, heading essentially due west from the den. (engine starts) The river's low now, it's slow enough to cross. On foot, trying to follow a hunt-- it's not possible. With ATVs, there's a bit of a chance. Witnessing a successful hunt would give me a view into how these wolves strategize and select their prey-- a window into their hunting culture. NARRATOR: Dad and Big Sis slip like smoke over the rugged landscape. While the visitor struggles to keep up... (Ronan grunts) even on a powerful ATV. Wolves may travel 20 miles with ease. But for Ronan, distance goes down the hard way. (crash) NARRATOR: 700 pounds of machine and photographic gear. (engine struggling) The wolves float to the horizon and vanish. Ronan can't keep up. (sighs) He has no choice but to head back to base camp. The valley grows darker and colder. RONAN: Wolf Valley, July 27th, 3 a.m. Really starting to feel the stress of failure on this one. (power tool whirring) It's ridiculous that I need all sorts of equipment to try to keep up with the wolves when all they need is a hard pair of foot pads and a fur coat. They're traveling over rugged land, looking for prey, and I can't follow them. And then Mom's disdain for humans. It's all super challenging. have rejoined Mom and the pups, but now Ronan finds them at a different den site. RONAN: Wolf Valley, July 28th, 7:20 in the evening. I spotted the pack at the confluence, atop a new den, about three miles north of the old one. Looks like Mom moved the family north. Perhaps to be closer to water... or to be further away from me. Mom has weaned her pups, and now they'll eat whatever the adults carry back in their stomachs. They lick their big sister's muzzle, begging for dinner. No luck. Big Sis marks her family's new home with scat and urine-- a signpost that defines their territory. Wolves learn from each other, and from experience. Most on Ellesmere have never been hunted, and they don't know to be afraid of humans. But somehow, Mom learned to identify Ronan as a potential threat. RONAN: This is... super frustrating... to come to such a wild place and negatively be affecting the wild animals. So, I'm done trying to force these wolves to be on camera. I think it's time to leave. (water flowing) NARRATOR: Ronan's arrival in the valley has upset the normal order, altering the very behavior he hoped to observe. But there are other wolves on Ellesmere and a few weeks left of summer. There's still time to win the trust of another pack. Ronan just needs to collect his camera trap from Falcon Ridge. RONAN: Check out some of these pellets. So this is regurgitated from a gyrfalcon adult. This is essentially stuff that they can't digest. This is the foot of a small bird, like a sandpiper. (bird calling) NARRATOR: Just as Ronan is ready to quit this place... RONAN: Oh, yeah. (laughs) NARRATOR: ...the valley reveals one last parting gift. RONAN: She's coming. She's right there. (squawking) There's an active gyrfalcon nest. There's at least two big chicks. One of the adults just delivered something to the nest and the chicks. (shrieking) It's such a big bird up here. Biggest falcon in North America. We'll get higher up and see if I can get a better vantage into the nest. The gyrfalcons are another big white apex predator here on the landscape, just like the wolves. And kind of exploit all the chicks of the other birds that are around in the valley. That's cool. There's three big chicks. They're like pumping their wings trying to strengthen themselves and get ready to leave. Chicks seem like they're well fed. They're all big, almost all the same size which is, can be rare in the raptor world. The chicks usually start to call right before the adults come, and the chicks are calling now. Yeah, there's one. She's coming in. Let's see if I can get a delivery here. That was cool. just dropped off, pshoo, taking off, bombed down the valley again to go find some more food for these chicks. That's a lot of work to try to keep those three alive. NARRATOR: Like wolf pups, these chicks are ready to leave the nest after eight weeks. In the Arctic the young grow up fast to take advantage of the short summer. RONAN: This place is as far from civilization as you can get... (camera shutter clicking) yet it can't escape the effects of the modern world. A million species now face extinction around the globe. I feel a tremendous responsibility to document places that are still wild, to celebrate them and raise awareness about the value of our wilderness before we lose it. What the heck is that? That's a wolf heading towards camp. Walking like Dad. It gives me the feeling that the wolves are watching me as much as I'm watching them. Sniffing around my tent. And it's definitely Dad, 'cause he's peeing on things. Oh, yeah. He's marking his territory. Well done, Dad, well done. NARRATOR: Dad's camp visit and gift of his scent on tent and gear boxes, for Ronan, feels like a fitting send-off. RONAN: Mom, Dad and Big sis; the Wolf Valley pack. Oh, and Mom. I had such high hopes of us getting along, but you do not like humans. But I respect you for that. (chuckles) Eight weeks ago, when I first got here, I saw fresh paw prints around a few of the frozen dens in the Eureka Basin. That tells me the wolves were still checking back to see if any of the dens had thawed enough for them to move in. I've got to go back there and start over before my time runs out. NARRATOR: Ronan will move his camp 60 miles east to another part of the island. It's a hard choice. There's no guarantee he'll find another pack, or that a new family will let him in. But when a hunt is poor, wolves expand their search and look further. Now Ronan must go further, too. (wolf howling) RONAN: You're pretty close. Hey! Come on, guys. Only thing wolves would be scared of here would be other wolves. (barking and growling)