Now Streaming
"The Great Polar Bear Feast" is the astonishing story of an annual natural phenomenon that occurs in early September on the north slope of the Arctic. Every year, up to 80 polar bears gather on the frozen shores of Barter Island, near the village of Kaktovik, to feast on the hunter-harvested bowhead whale remains.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Providing Support for PBS.org
Scientific Feast For Polar Bear Studies
Dr. Todd Atkins and his team from the U.S.G.S. track and study the bears.
Polar Bears and Humans Are Dangerous Neighbors
With no food left, the bears head towards Kaktovic to scavenge during the night.
Gathering is a Challenge for Solitary Bears
The normally solitary bears must navigate a complex social scene as they gather to feed.
"The Great Polar Bear Feast" is the astonishing story of an annual natural phenomenon that occurs in early September on the north slope of the Arctic. Every year, up to 80 polar bears gather on the frozen shores of Barter Island, near the village of Kaktovik, to feast on the hunter-harvested bowhead whale remains. This extraordinary gathering is highly unusual because polar bears are known as solitary predators, rarely - if ever - moving in a group.
Kaktovik is a small Inupiat hunting community. Perched on the edge of the world, it’s inaccessible by road and locked in by frozen sea ice for 9 months of the year. But for the month of September, it becomes the center of polar bear studies as scientists and wildlife photographers flock to the tiny town to observe the bears’ unusual behaviour. And with more and more polar bears turning up year on year, scientists are determined to find out why this is happening. How do the bears know to come to this remote island at exactly this time of year? And what is happening to the polar bears of the South Beaufort Sea that is seeing so many of them desert the ice for land?
What happens to the inhabitants of Kaktovik when the whale bones are picked bare, and the huge group of polar bears heads for the town?
The film has extraordinary access to the work of scientist Todd Atwood, the lead polar bear scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey. He has estimated that there has been a 40 percent decline in the polar bears around the South Beaufort Sea since 2006. It is an extraordinary decline, and he is determined to find out why.
A polar bear eats at the Bone Pile with the town of Kaktovic in the background.
1/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A polar bear swims in the Arctic Ocean near Kaktovic.
2/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A lone bear walks the area with Kaktovic in the background.
3/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A curious polar bear approaches the camera with Bone Pile in background.
4/11
Janine Terry/Renegade Pictures
Polar bears gather to eat the fresh meat on the Kaktovic bone pile.
5/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A caught Bowhead whale with members of Kaktovic Inupiat tribe in the background.
6/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
Early fall in Kaktovic, before the first snow.
7/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A lone polar bear entering the water near Kaktovic.
8/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A mother polar bear with two cubs walk on shoreline in Kaktovic Bay after an early snowfall.
9/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
A mother polar bear with cub on shoreline in Kaktovic Bay.
10/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
Sectioned out Bowhead whale meat waiting to be divided up and distributed to the Inupiat tribes people in Kaktovic.
11/11
Andrew Brown/Renegade Pictures
Support for PBS.org provided by:
