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Clip: Episode 3 | 2m 56s | Video has closed captioning.
As spring arrives in the Arctic, a male polar bear's attention turns to finding a mate. With the vast frozen landscape providing little in the way of clues, he must use his highly sensitive sense of smell to track down the faint scent of a female. But winning her over won't be easy.
Aired: 05/24/23
The sun's reappearance ignites a dormant lust in male polar bears.
This male is now entirely devoted to finding a mate.
He might have to travel hundreds of miles to find a female, and in the vast frozen landscape, there's only one way to track down romance.
He must follow his nose.
Scent glands on polar bears' feet mean that every footstep they leave encodes their identity onto the ice... and he's following the faint footsteps of a female.
After days of pursuing her...
There she is.
Finding her is only half the challenge... Polar bear courtship is anything but simple.
Males are usually so aggressive that females spend most of the year avoiding them.
If he wants to win her trust, he'll need to turn on the charm.
Because it takes so long for a polar bear couple to meet, her ovulation will only be triggered after several days of his company.
And it'll take much longer than that, for his efforts to bear any fruit.
After a winter alone, he's willing to take on the challenge.
