NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: THE GRIZZLIES (TV)
Summary
One in this occasional series of nature specials presented by The National Geographic Society. This installment concerns the grizzly bears of Alaska. The program begins as narrator Peter Coyote discusses the bears' great strengths and survival abilities, but notes that they are now endangered and that bears and humans now dictate one another's nature experience. On Admiralty Island near Juneau, wildlife experts John Shane and Verne Beier explore the bears' territory and find a cave which the animals use to hibernate for half the year, observing the insulating nest within. In ancient times, the tribes in the area revered the bears and learned survival skills from them, though in modern times they are regarded with a combination of "admiration and scorn" because of their powerful and sometimes violent behavior. Their unofficial name comes from their "grizzled" appearance, though they have many different colors and appearances. Cubs stay with their mothers for two years and spend most of their awake months eating and preparing for their hibernation; their diet is wide-ranging and consists of 80% vegetation, though fish provides essential nutrients. While young they engage and play with one another, but in later years become more isolated, and mothers are fiercely protective of their young, particularly from other bears, who will sometimes make a meal of a cub when food is scarce.
"Bart the Bear," a trained grizzly who has appeared in many films and shows, works with trainer Doug Seus, who explains that bears are temperamental and can "go insane" over minor annoyances at a moment's notice. He states that they are "easy to train and hard to tame," noting their personality similarities to mischievous children. Though more people are annually struck by lightning than attacked by bears, they can very easily kill when acting in self-defense, and a Yellowstone Park ranger describes her encounter with a bear from which she escaped by playing dead. Dr. Steve French talks about the remarkably low number of bear-human encounters that result in violence, saying that they often make "bluff charges" to test a person. He explains that he once harbored anger for the powerful creatures, but sought to learn about them and became an "admirer" through his many hikes and filmed adventures. The bears originated in Europe and Asia and crossed a "land bridge" into North America, but as the United States was settled they began to be killed for sport, eventually eliminating the population from many states. Now they live primarily in established national parks, including Katmai National Park and Preserve, which features a developed area for visitors, Brooks Camp. Those who come to fish must observe proper "bear etiquette" and stay a safe distance away, as explained by the rangers and wildlife professor Barrie Gilbert, himself a bear-attack survivor. The rangers note that the bears need the fish to live more than the humans do, and they are given precedence.
Founded in 1872 as the first official national park, Yellowstone acquired its bear population with its garbage dump, and the animals soon became an attraction for visitors. Many bears died when the dump closed, however, as they had come to rely on humans for food. Over time they became more independent, but the "balancing act" between bears and visitors continues, with the staff monitoring and frequently moving bears away from populated areas. One bear, known as #59, was at first thought to be friendly, but then killed a human and was put down. Identical twins Frank and John Craighead use sedation drugs and tracking collars to study the bears, researching their biology and distinct reproductive habits from their headquarters in Missoula, Montana. Beyond the Arctic Circle lies a "desolated" area uninhabited by humans, and the researchers explore the home of the Arctic Grizzly, coming across the tracking collar and remains of a bear killed by another. They tranquilize a mother bear and catch her cubs by hand to apply tracking devices, noting that bears can birth upwards of eight cubs in a lifetime, though many die within their first year.
At the McNeil River, campers need a permit to enter the bears' territory and are selected by lottery to observe dozens of the creatures fishing in the falls. The humans' behavior is predictable and therefore does not alarm the bears, and they spend their time teaching their young to fish, consuming up to fifteen salmon a day or more. More and more areas of the state are being developed, however, calling the bears' safety into question. In a reverse of ancient times, it is now humans that must help the bears to survive, and as winter approaches, the bears of Alaska begin their traditional hibernation. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: WQED / PBS
- DATE: March 11, 1987 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:50
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:38358
- GENRE: Science/Nature
- SUBJECT HEADING: Science/Nature; Bears
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 1987
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Chevron energy corporation
CREDITS
- Dennis B. Kane … Executive Producer
- Thomas Skinner … Executive Producer
- Theodore Thomas … Producer, Writer
- Peter Pilafian … Associate Producer
- Scott Harper … Music by
- Peter Coyote … Narrator
- Verne Beier
- Frank Craighead
- John Craighead
- Steve French
- Barrie Gilbert
- Doug Seus
- John Shane