Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge Page #5
- Year:
- 1995
- 52 min
- 75 Views
All around her the ice is changing
The pasture of algae
that once blanketed the surface has
sloughed off
and joined together in flowing
ribbons of green
absorb light
and nutrients from the
passing currents
A new lead has opened in the ice
and a pod of narwhals comes
streaming into the crack
They usually travel in small numbers
but when fishing is good
hundreds may come together
As they enter the crack
these specialized hunters
take a risk
The opening unlocks a rich store
of Arctic cod
but the ice is still shifting
Without warning, the lead closes off
The whales are trapped
The entire pod must surface to breathe
in this small pool of open water
They bob up and down
in a crush of bodies
careful not to wound each other
with their tusks
If the hole closes over completely
the narwhals will have to make a
run for open water
if they don't find it
they will suffocate and die
Then suddenly, as unpredictably
a it closed
the lead reopens
and the whales are free
High off the cliffs of
Prince Leopold Island
fulmars and kittiwakes ride
the wild winds
Even gusts of 40 miles per hour
present no problem
Landing is the tricky part
There is new life in the murre colony
The adult birds are busy plying back
and forth to the sea
returning with cod for their young
The chick will need to triple
its weight over the next three weeks
in the constant daylight
At the top of the cliff
glaucous gull chicks are hungry too
diet to fish
This one goes hunting closer to home
looking for an unprotected chick
It returns with a grisly catch
For the fox, these are hungry times
Egg laying is over and the chicks
have hatched out of his reach
He has only his store of buried eggs
to see him through
High summer finally reaches the Arctic
The last remnants of ice swirl near
The frozen sea is broken at last
drifting in tattered pieces
on the current
Moving inshore are the gleaming
white shapes of belugas
They return by the hundreds to the
same inlets they frequent each year
Their smooth, white skin has turned
yellow and wrinkled
It's time to molt
On the rocky bottom of the shallows
the whales scrape off their old
weathered skin with a rejuvenating rub
for bits of molted skin
As the tide turns, the whales retreat
into deeper water
But one young beluga has pushed too
far inshore
The benevolent sun now becomes
his greatest enemy
and out of the cold water
he could overheat
The others can do nothing
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"Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 6 Jun 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/arctic_kingdom:_life_at_the_edge_14515>.
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