The Arctic is changing. As temperatures slowly rise and the ice recedes, the shore is getting further away. Food sources that the polar bear have come to rely on are becoming less plentiful. In this changing climate, the polar bear is already showing signs of distress.

While polar bears struggle, opportunistic grizzlies fare well, as they benefit from the melting Arctic’s effects on its ecosystem. While the grizzly moves into newly opened territories, the polar bear can only wait for the freezing of its one-time kingdom. If the changing world proclaims the grizzly the new king of the Arctic, what will become of the polar bear?

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Online content for Arctic Bears was originally posted February 2008.

A grizzly in his prime is the undisputed master, able to take down prey as easily as he is able to dominate the fresh kills of other predators. The wolves of Yellowstone must use their numbers to their advantage, organizing to take down their prey and defend the spoils of their hunts from the bears. Together, a strong pack of wolves can challenge a solitary grizzly, and defeat it. As these two fierce competitors test their strategies for survival against each other, an entire food chain of scavengers survive in their wake. Crafty coyotes and cunning crows take advantage of the predators’ feuds to make the most of any felled feast.

It’s a test of skills and wills in the often harsh environment of Yellowstone as two of the continent’s greatest hunters take each other’s measure. Now, join NATURE and discover who will triumph in Clash: Encounters of Bears and Wolves.

Stretching across more than 2.2 million acres of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho is one of the greatest expanses of unspoiled nature and wildlife anywhere on Earth — Yellowstone National Park. Designated America’s first national park in 1872, Yellowstone now receives almost three million visitors each year. Yet only a small fraction of those who glimpse the park’s stunning vistas, geological wonders, and animal residents do so during the winter months, a time when nature’s inhospitality is matched only by its serenity.

NATURE follows in the snowy footprints of Yellowstone’s red foxes, spies on the predatory warfare of wolves and elk, and climbs into the den of a grizzly bear that gives birth to two cubs while deep in hibernation. In addition to mesmerizing footage of landscapes and wildlife, trail alongside author and photographer Tom Murphy, who has been coming to Yellowstone for the past 26 winters, camping and photographing amid the silence and solitude of the park. And go behind the scenes with filmmaker Shane Moore to find out how he kept up with Murphy during an at times harrowing trek, reminiscent of the legendary John Colter’s first journey into the park nearly two hundred years ago. Buy the DVD. This film premiered in November 2006.

Photo © Tom Murphy

The two-hundred-foot walls of ice in Glacier Bay overwhelm the senses, but they also surround the most beautiful sights Alaska has to offer — the Northern Lights, the roaming grizzly bears, and the humpback whales. The glacier itself is also creating new life — it has retreated some 70 miles up the bay, wiping the ecological slate clean, allowing new plants and animals to start again from scratch. This film originally premiered November 7, 1993.

Yellowstone National Park is a world of predators, scavengers and opportunists. In this vast and complex kingdom, two dominant predators reign supreme: the grizzly bear and the wolf. Size and power square off against speed and teamwork, as mighty grizzly bears contend with powerful packs of wolves for control of the food supply. Normally these two fearsome hunters would rule their ranges uncontested, but in Yellowstone they must share resources, or face starvation. Buy the DVD. This film premiered in January 17, 2010.

After a decades-long comeback, the grizzly bears of Yellowstone National Park appear to be thriving. Should they now be removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act? This question has provoked one of the most emotionally charged wildlife controversies in America today. This program premiered November 21, 2004.