Get up close and personal with North American bears in NATURE's three-part special "Bears of the Last Frontier." NATURE joins adventurer and bear biologist Chris Morgan on a year-long motorcycle odyssey deep into Alaska’s bear country to explore the amazing resiliency and adaptability of these majestic animals as they struggle to make a living in five dramatically diverse Alaskan ecosystems: coastal, urban, mountain, tundra, and pack ice.
Some bears are so comfortable living in urban surroundings that their primary habitat is a golf course. In residential areas, bears frequently raid garbage bins and birdfeeders for easy snacks. But these behaviors are less than ideal for bears and residents alike.
Morgan heads north out of Anchorage to Denali National Park, where the mountains loom over treeless plains and bears get by on a diet of thousands of berries a day. The grizzlies share the enormous park with foxes, wolves and moose — and with one intrepid bear biologist and his team.
Morgan continues his journey north on a bone-shaking, 610-mile motorcycle journey from Denali to Prudhoe Bay along the only Alaskan highway to reach the Arctic. Prudhoe Bay, a once pristine area at the edge of the Arctic Ocean, has been changed forever by the oil industry.
Up Next:
"Bears Of The Last Frontier: Arctic Wanderers" airs Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 8 p.m.
The first episode, "Bears Of The Last Frontier: City Of Bears," originally aired in 2011, and rebroadcast July 11, 2012.
NATURE is on Facebook, and you can follow @PBSNature on Twitter.
Watch the full episode. See more Nature.
Watch the full episode. See more Nature.