Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge Page #2
- Year:
- 1995
- 52 min
- 75 Views
the white bear has jet black skin
to absorb heat
from the sun when he's on the surface
In the near freezing water
him warm and afloat
He's not above taking a bird or two
But the murres take no notice
and prepare to leave
for they have an urgent
appointment to keep
Timing is everything here
and the schedule is set
by the sun
The murres head for land
has begun
and for those who come late
there'll be no second chance
Their destination is a lonely
outpost in Lancaster Sound
...the towering cliffs of Prince
Leopold Island
Half a million seabirds crowd onto
these rocky ledges
one thousand feet above the sea
almost 200,000
as the murres battle
for the safest nest sites
They lay only a single egg
pear shaped to prevent
it from rolling off
the narrow rock shelf
The stronger, more aggressive birds
win sites midway down the cliff
leaving the weaker birds at the top
where they're most vulnerable
An Arctic fox has been stranded here
as the ice retreated from the island
His white winter fur has been replaced
by a sleek, brown coat
A castaway for the summer
he hunts alone on an island of birds
He heads for the cliffs the only
place to find food on the island
Faced with a dangerous thief
And though they can lay another
a late season chick will not survive
The fox steals all the eggs
he can reach
but he'll need dozens each week
to stay alive
Some he stashes in the cold ground
There will be lean days ahead
It's June. A hundred miles
from the island
a fleet of white whales has arrived
at the ice edge
belugas hunting for cod
The sea is suddenly alive with sound
This chirping
white chorus emerges
the frozen sea
like a gathering of polar ghosts
With no dorsal fin to impede
their icy travels
these are true Arctic whales
The belugas' rich symphony
of sounds hints
at the complexity of their lives
Their sonar may be the most
sophisticated of any whale
they bounce clicks off shifting floes
using a kind of "sound imaging"
their rounded foreheads
the frequencies fine tuned
like a focused beam of light
piercing the blue depths
The bonds between them are strong
A mother and calf will swim side
by side for three years
Shadowy gray at birth
they only gradually turn as perfectly
white as the surrounding ice
The sun is riding high now
Strong winds from the open sea
unleash their power against the ice
Beaten by wind and wave
weakened by sun and current
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"Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/arctic_kingdom:_life_at_the_edge_14515>.
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