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| Credit: Henryhartley |
"Eden: Untamed Planet" is a seven-part BBC documentary released in 2021. I just watched the sixth episode, titled "Alaska: Last American Frontier". It took me some time to find the correct English title (I watched it on a Swedish channel), and I´m beginning to suspect that all of these Alaskan wildlife documentaries were really taped at the same time in exactly the same spots! Then, they are edited and marketed as a dozen different docus...
The last American frontier turns out to be the good ol´ Alaskan Panhandle, more specifically the Alexander Archipelago (actually named after Russian Czar Alexander II). I admit that I wasn´t *that* touched by it, but then, legends about Sasquatch *are* more interesting, let´s be honest!
"Grizzly" bears (I assume they are really mainline brown bears), moose, bald-headed eagles and grey whales are some of the pretty inevitable animals showed. For some reason, the Alexander Archipelago wolf is only featured for a couple of seconds, apparently eating a moose carcass. We also get to meet flying squirrels, beetles and fungi.
I was surprised to learn that bears only eat a smaller part of the salmons they catch, leaving the rest to rot in the forest. This has the intriguing consequence of making the trees grow taller and stronger. The rotting fish contain nutrients the trees need. Well, thank god somebody else takes care of the delikatessen spurned by the grizzlies!
The production ends with the usual moral preaching about taking care of Nature, blah blah, as if Nature couldn´t take care of itself just fine. We´re the real endangered species here. I´m pretty sure the carrion beetles will still be around in 1,000 years...
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