Part of the most modern nation on Earth, Alaska is a unique wilderness marked by extremes. This series offers a beautiful insight into life in this untamed land.
New York – February 23 – Alaska is huge – a fifth of the size of the US – but with fewer than three-quarters of a million human beings. Instead, it has a phenomenal range of wildlife. Why should such a vast land, part of the most modern nation on earth, still be so untamed and barely trodden, yet full of life? It’s because a unique combination of forces made it, and still dominate it. Narrated by Dougray Scott, this three-part BBC Earth series explores spring, summer and winter, discovering the unique species that have learned to thrive in these harsh conditions. Wild Alaska premieres Tuesday, March 10th at 10:00pm on BBC AMERICA’s Earth Night. TRAILER HERE
Alaska has its head in the Arctic Circle, so the whole land has been shaped by ice-sheets and glaciers, which have made huge rivers and vast lakes. Its northern position means the most extreme winters on earth – but the size and shape of the land brings heatwaves and wildfires to the interior every summer. And surrounded on three sides by the sea, it has great coastal storms to the south and a frozen ocean to the north.
All this has created a land of great variety and extremes – but also a wilderness full of life. All across its face, animals – and people – have adapted to the land, under the influence of the most extreme seasonal variation on earth.
This is a tough landscape, where the human population density is lower than Siberia. But dotted through the land are small communities where life is unusual – where fearless fishermen go extreme crab-fishing and fire-jumping, and where there’s high-stakes gambling over epic river breakups, and competitions to grow monster vegetables in the endless summer daylight.
Wild Alaska is a BBC AMERCIA and BBC co-production, from the BBC Natural History Unit. The executive producer is James Honeyborne. The series come to BBC AMERICA’s Earth Night, after Frozen Planet. TRAILER HERE
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