Our Planet: Climate change's affect on walruses / Netflix
WARNING: Confronting content
Climate change is reshaping the natural world as rising temperatures cause polar ice to melt, and some animals are less equipped to adapt to their new environment than others.
A gut-wrenching scene in Netflix's new David Attenborough series Our Planet brings that reality into sharp focus.
It's been labelled the Walrus scene and if you haven't watched it yet, consider yourself warned. It's no walk in the park.
It takes place in the Bering Strait, which separates Russia and Alaska slightly south of the Arctic Circle. Filmmakers captured a large group of Pacific walruses engaging in behaviour that once would have been quite unusual.
According to the show's producers, because their icy habitat is shrinking, walruses are being driven on to land to haul-out in large numbers where they can be a danger to themselves.
In the Netflix footage, a conflict between walruses is believed to have prompted others to scramble to safety, some climb up a steep cliff face to find solace.
But it's not a usual place for animals that can weigh up to two tonnes to find themselves. In their clumsy and desperate attempts to get back to the water, they stumble from the cliff's edge.
Horrified filmmakers look on as they bounce off the jagged rocks below. Many dying on impact, or crushing other walruses beneath them.
They teeter on the edge and appear as though they can't work out how to get down.
Some walruses can weigh as much as two tonnes.
Filmmakers said it was the hardest thing they have ever had to film.
As their preferred habitat disappears, deadly scenes like this one are becoming a more common occurrence, the World Wildlife Fund says.
Ordinarily they would gather in smaller groups and often lay about on ice.
Even the show's producer, Sophie Lanfear, was startled by what she saw and recalled how hard it was to witness during filming.
"The walrus scenes were the hardest things I've ever had to witness or film in my career," she told The New York Times.
When planning the story, she chose the location because she knew about the mega haul-outs that were taking place in the region, which are the largest in the world. But she wasn't aware of the potential carnage.
"I was expecting that perhaps the walruses would tumble down, but at the end, they'd be okay. I really wasn't prepared for the scale of death," she said.
"What we think is going on is that the ones at the top can probably hear the ones in the water, and they can sense that there is water below. They teeter on the edge, and they just can't work out how to get down there.
"A small group of maybe six or seven would make it down safely, and we'd all celebrate. But the vast majority do not. They basically walk themselves off the cliff."
The show's creators partnered with the wildlife organisation, as well as a team of scientists, to depict how various ecosystems around the world are being impacted by human-led climate change. The series is unapologetic in its advocacy.
Some critics have questioned the link between the grisly scene and climate change, instead asserting it was the threat of polar bears that drove the animals off the cliff during an event in 2017.
Those who believe the circumstances around the Netflix scene have been misportrayed have labelled the episode "tragedy porn".
However, the reaction to the show — and particularly the hard to watch scenes like this one — show it was having the desired impact for filmmakers.
To those who say climate change isn’t a legitimate threat I implore you to watch just the second episode of Our Planet and watch a Walrus fall off a cliff it should never have had to scale were it not for its natural hahitat literally melting before them
Burst into tears watching #OurPlanet , that walrus scene was the most harrowing thing I've ever seen on a documentary. But well done #netflix, sometimes the heartbreaking scenes are what will inspire people to make a difference
A behind-the-scenes segment shows the impact it had on filmmakers.
"There's probably two or three hundred dead walrus on probably a half-mile stretch of beach here," a cameraman explains through tears.
"They're exhausted because they're having to swim a hundred miles now to get to food and then coming back here because it's the only place to sleep," he said.
"They used to sleep on the ice and dive down, eat the food and sleep on the ice.
"And now they're swimming a hundred miles, coming to this place and climbing cliffs, getting exhausted and falling down and either being killed falling or crushing each other because there's several thousands crammed onto little tiny bits of beaches."
