In The Ends of the Earth, Frozen Planet takes viewers on an extraordinary journey across the polar regions of our planet. The Arctic and Antarctic are the greatest and least known wildernesses of all. Our journey begins out on the frozen Arctic Ocean, close to the North Pole. The sun is back after six months of darkness. We follow a pair of courting polar bears, which reveal a surprisingly tender side. Next stop is the giant Greenland ice cap where waterfalls plunge into the heart of the ice, and a colossal iceberg calves into the sea. Humpback whales join the largest gathering of seabirds on earth to feast in rich Alaskan waters. Further south, the tree-line marks the start of the Taiga forest, containing one third of all trees on earth. Here 25 of the world’s largest wolves take on formidable bison prey. At the other end of our planet, the Antarctic begins in the Southern Ocean where surfing penguins struggle to escape a hungry sea-lion, and teams of orcas create giant waves to wash seals from ice floes. Diving below the ice, we discover terrifying sea spiders and woodlice the size of dinner plates. Above ground, crystal caverns ring the summit of Erebus, the most southerly volcano on earth. From here we retrace the routes of early explorers, Scott and Amundsen, on their quest to be the first humans to reach the South Pole. Our journey ends at the formidable Antarctic ice cap, which contains 75% of the world’s freshwater and is the largest concentration of ice on the planet.

Originally released by BBC Worldwide Learning, 2011. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on April 20, 2018.

Polar Regions (2:05); --Polar Bears (5:57); -- Polar Waters (2:12); -- Greenland Environment (6:24); -- Tundra Biome (5:34); -- Characteristics of Snow (2:59); -- South Pole (5:18); -- Antarctica (7:32); -- Ice Sheet (3:25); -- Transatlantic Mountain Range (4:20); -- Credits: The Ends of the Earth (0:39);.