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The start of winter.
Vast expanses of the planet begin to freeze.
Every night grows longer.
But now, with new technology, we can see into this darkness...
...and reveal secret lives within...
as animals battle to survive
the coldest and longest nights on Earth.
At the equator, day and night are equal.
But head north or south,
and the balance shifts with the seasons.
In the High Arctic, around the islands of Svalbard...
...it's early winter.
Nights are lengthening fast.
Soon, the sun won't rise for months.
A low-light camera
reveals a mother polar bear and her two cubs...
venturing into the polar night.
The two-year-old cubs are almost fully grown.
If they make it to spring, they will be ready to head out alone.
Until then,
they are dependent on their mother.
With three large appetites to satisfy,
she will struggle to provide for the family.
The long darkness ahead will be a test of her endurance and skill.
For a new family, night poses a different challenge.
Winter has reached the mountains of Patagonia, southern Chile.
A mother puma and her four young cubs make the most of the warmth before nightfall.
To see puma cubs this young is rare.
As they grow, they make increasing demands on their mother.
And soon they will start eating meat.
A herd of guanacos.
Her best chance to make a kill.
But it's hard to hunt in such an open landscape.
She must wait for the cover of darkness.
On a moonless night,
a thermal-imaging camera can see into the darkness.
The female puma now has the advantage.
She can see...
where the guanaco is near blind.
Mirror-like cells in her eyes amplify what little light there is.
But the herd catch the scent of danger.
A male puma, also on the hunt.
If he finds her cubs...
...he could kill them.
With danger roaming in the darkness,
she cannot risk leaving them alone.
She must go hungry tonight.
Across the northern hemisphere,
the deepening winter forces many animals to either migrate
or hibernate in order to escape the deadly chill.
Some, like the wood frog, can do neither.
It's trapped in this Alaskan forest.
Decomposing autumn leaves
provide a little humidity and warmth during the day.
Still, it is only just above freezing.
And with nightfall, temperatures plummet to -16 Celsius.
Cold seeps in through the frog's thin, moist skin.
Its small body generates almost no heat.
As the night grows colder,
many of its bodily functions grind to a halt.
Its heart stops beating.
To all appearances, it has frozen to death.
But when morning breaks, the first rays of sunlight
spark a miniature miracle.
As temperatures creep above freezing,
the frog's heart begins to beat again.
Its cells contain high concentrations...
...of urea and glucose,
which prevent harmful ice forming in its tiny body.
By midwinter, it can survive for weeks in this deathlike state.
Thanks to this extraordinary adaptation,
this is the most northerly frog in the world.
As winter deepens,
nights grow even longer.
In Japan, another species is at the limit of its survival.
Macaques spend hours in this thermal pool.
The water is 50 degrees warmer than the surrounding air.
It's the perfect place to relax
before they head off to sleep in the forest.
This young male is in need of friends.
Without them, he faces a dangerously cold night alone.
In macaque society, friendships are formed through grooming.
But all he gets is the cold shoulder.
At dusk, the troop move up into the trees
to avoid predators below.
Infrared light, invisible to the monkeys, reveals their high perches.
There is warmth in numbers.
Huddling together preserves just enough heat
to survive the freezing temperatures.
But the young male isn't allowed to share the narrow branch.
He is dangerously exposed.
It's now -10 Celsius.
His only hope is to squeeze in with the other males.
But they show no sign of accepting him.
By midnight, everyone is feeling the cold.
It's time to make his move.
Now, any extra body warmth is welcome.
Simple contact is enough to save his life.
And theirs too.
The only way to survive these harsh winter nights is by sticking together.
In the mountains of Patagonia,
the mother puma has capitalized on the darkness.
Thermal imaging reveals a fresh kill.
A still-warm guanaco.
She hasn't taken her fill,
but she can't stay.
Her cubs are three kilometers away
and the large male is still in the area.
She must bring her cubs to the kill,
and soon.
By day, they will be visible to all predators.
This will be the first time the litter has left the den.
Not all welcome the move.
The wind is increasing to gale strength.
It makes it harder to follow their mother's calls.
Especially in the long grass.
Halfway there.
But something is wrong.
One cub has become separated.
She must return to find it...
alone.
Now all her cubs are exposed.
The male is back.
Submission is not enough.
Her only option...
is attack.
Bravery has bought her time.
Unable to hear over the wind, she must rely on her exceptional night vision.
The missing cub.
All back together again.
Finally, a chance to feed.
This is the first time these cubs have tasted meat.
With each night, they grow closer to independence.
By mid-winter, food is so scarce
that animals must find ways to survive months of near starvation.
Some hibernate, their bodies burning minimal energy.
But wood mice don't have that option.
And this one is pregnant.
The food stores she laid down in the fall are now exhausted.
She must search for food in the cold night.
Darkness is her only protection from predators.
Snow makes it harder to find food on the forest floor.
She must search elsewhere.
A tree hollow is worth investigating.
And it's warmer here too.
Others have already claimed this refuge.
A colony of honey bees.
Like her,
they don't hibernate.
They can feed through the winter on stored honey.
Despite the cold, their food supplies haven't frozen.
Thousands of bees vibrate their wing muscles,
generating enough heat to keep the hive warm.
But it's a huge drain on their energy.
Individual sacrifice ensures the colony's survival.
This opportunity is too good to pass.
A sting could kill her,
but, luckily, the bees are too cold to attack.
Everything she needs is here.
Warmth, food,
and safety.
The perfect place to start a new family during the long winter night.
Late winter in Svalbard.
The sun has not risen since October.
Temperatures regularly drop below -40 degrees Celsius.
A low-light camera reveals this frozen world.
The mother polar bear can cover up to 80 kilometers in 24 hours
in her search for food.
Not easy with cubs in tow.
The young male seems more interested in play fighting.
But they haven't eaten in days.
The mother must hunt.
She needs stealth...
...not two noisy cubs.
The darkness gives cover.
But footsteps resonate across the sea ice.
Enough to alert a wary seal.
But there are others hiding within the ice.
With her incredible sense of smell, she seeks them out.
Polar bears use their immense strength to break through the surface.
But at least two-thirds of hunts will end in failure.
The young cubs have found trouble.
An adolescent bear...
on a kill.
The lone bear will not give up his meal without a fight.
He's larger...
...and faster.
These battles can be lethal.
Mother comes to the rescue.
Scraps will not satisfy their hunger for long.
The cubs may be close to full grown,
but they still lack the skill or strength to survive without their mother.
The polar night is not an all-consuming darkness.
In the heavens there is magic.
Electrons cast from the sun bombard the Earth.
As they hit the atmosphere, their energy turns into light.
They illuminate the magnetic lines that arc around the poles.
The auroras.
But this faint glow is little help
for animals looking for food on the ground.
They must rely on other senses.
In the pine forests of Scandinavia,
there's a creature with almost supernatural powers.
Her nose is twice as keen as a bloodhound's,
sensitive enough to sniff out a carcass two meters under the snow.
A wolverine is a rare sight.
There may be just ten within 1,000 square kilometers.
Broad, hairy feet glide over the deepest snow.
She travels up to 40 kilometers a night, searching for food.
She can take down prey ten times her size.
But her incredible senses are all focused on one task.
Scavenging.
Winter has taken care of the hard work.
Her jaws are so strong they can crunch through bone.
Wolverines thrive in the frozen lands encircling the top of the world,
from Russia to Canada.
Turning the challenges of winter to their advantage,
they have become true masters of these long northern nights.
Even at extreme latitudes,
winter doesn't last forever.
As the sun passes further into the northern hemisphere,
day length increases and darkness gives way to light.
With the strengthening sun,
new life begins and hardships are slowly forgotten.
Further north still,
and the darkness hangs on a little longer.
Then...
at last...
day finally breaks over the mountains of Svalbard.
For the first time in three months, the bears feel the warmth of the sun.
For all animals that have endured the frozen night,
it's a welcome change.
Ringed seals haul out to rest in the morning glow.
In the light of day,
the mother bear will have to use all of her skill.
A meal like this will sustain the family for days.
Now,
finally,
they can afford to relax.
This will be one of their last swims together.
Within a week, these cubs will have separated from their mother.
Left to fend for themselves.
It won't be easy.
As weather conditions across the world become increasingly erratic,
it is impossible to predict what their future holds.
But for now,
this family have survived the longest night on Earth.
All around the planet,
night presents animals with extraordinary challenges...
...and opportunities.
Our understanding of some of the most iconic creatures on Earth
is already being redefined.
Who knows what other secrets there are to uncover...
during a night on Earth?
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