Winter Pushes Life to its Limits | Wild Winter
Dec 19, 2025
From near-whiteout blizzards in the Arctic, where rare fox pups take their first steps into the wild, to volcanic mountains in Japan where macaques warm themselves in steaming pools, survival is a daily challenge. On remote islands, king penguins crowd together by the hundreds of thousands to breed, while elsewhere, predators stalk silently through frozen forests, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Against extreme cold, fierce winds and dwindling daylight, nature adapts, endures, and fights on. This is life at its toughest, and most extraordinary.
Temperatures have dipped below freezing and wind chill makes it feel like minus 20 degrees Celsius.
During the mission to release 19 rare arctic foxes, a blizzard has whipped up near white-out
conditions. But to release the foxes at this critical moment, the team has decided to push
on through the wind and snow. Against the odds, they arrive at the release site with a few hours
of daylight to spare. This artificial den is the foxes' temporary home until they're ready to
strike out on their own. One by one, the pups are released into the shelter. Siblings are kept
together to minimize the stress of the release. The pups are left to adjust and acclimatize
before the den is reopened and the foxes are finally free.
It doesn't take long for one pup to get a taste of freedom. Temperatures are below minus 20 degrees
Celsius, but with the warmest pelt of any arctic species, the pups don't seem to mind. Every day
more animals arrive on this 1500 square mile island. It is thought that the king penguins
find their way here following geomagnetic or celestial cues, but this is still speculation.
Like the Antarctic fur seals, they come here to breed.
So many penguins, so little space, and every male strutting to outbest the one next to him.
They show off their colors and voices. It works. A female finds one of them appealing
and it's a match. They get to know each other and form a bond that will likely last the rest
of this breeding season. They are one of the 450,000 pairs of king penguins on this island,
a quarter of the world population.
Japan's central Honshu Mountains, dominated by active volcanoes,
winter temperatures drop below minus 15 degrees, but Japanese macaques call this home year round.
Volcanic thermal pools make life here not only bearable, but enjoyable
for these most northerly of any non-human primate. However, there's a strict entry system.
A dominant male rules these waters. Only high-ranking females and their offspring
have his permission to bathe. Here, where there is nowhere to hide, it is necessary to move as
stealthily as possible. Fallow deer. This is exactly what the Lynx is looking for.
Fallow deer have a highly developed sense of smell and hearing.
Surprising them is not easy, but there are plenty of them in the grassy meadows with oak trees
and there is always a chance for the old male. Fallow deer are never alone. They live in herds
and there are many eyes and snouts watching. The cat must get as close as possible undetected
and attack at full speed in silence.