For most polar bears, the summer months are typically lean without access to the winter sea ice they rely on to hunt.

But a group of them around Seal River in northern ManitobaB次元官网网址檚 Hudson Bay region have found what experts are calling an B次元官网网址渋ngenious strategyB次元官网网址� to find a meal in the hotter weather.

As the new series B次元官网网址淪even Worlds, One PlanetB次元官网网址� shows, polar bears there patiently wait on boulders for pods of beluga whales to come in with the tide and then jump on their backs to hunt them.

Chadden Hunter, an Australian wildlife biologist and filmmaker who is a producer on the series, says such behaviour hasnB次元官网网址檛 been studied and wasnB次元官网网址檛 reported on until recently.

He says itB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址渜uite unusual,B次元官网网址� as polar bears typically just come ashore during the summer, sleeping and conserving their energy while they wait for the cold weather to return.

He adds the discovery could help experts understand what polar bears might need to do more of in the future, if theyB次元官网网址檙e going to survive longer and hotter summers.

B次元官网网址淲hat we might be witnessing with this amazing behaviour that we filmed in Hudson Bay is the kind of thing that would enable some groups of polar bears to survive as climate changes,B次元官网网址� says Hunter.

B次元官网网址淲e canB次元官网网址檛 say that theyB次元官网网址檙e doing it directly because of climate change, but there really is an interesting question here about the future.B次元官网网址�

Premiering Saturday on BBC Earth, B次元官网网址淪even Worlds, One PlanetB次元官网网址� has stunning footage from 41 countries in seven continents, with a crew of 1,500.

Renowned nature documentary broadcaster David Attenborough narrates the series, which showcases animal behaviour on each continent and the impact of humans on the planet.

SaturdayB次元官网网址檚 debut looks at Australia.

Canada will be featured in the Jan. 25 North America episode, which shows the polar bears north of Churchill, Man., in summer 2018.

As Hunter explains, polar bears lose about a third of their body weight when theyB次元官网网址檙e unable to hunt on winter sea ice in the summer.

But the summertime polar bears around the remote Seal River area have learned to wait for up to six hours on top of giant rocks for beluga whales, which come into the river mouth with the tide and their calves to exfoliate their skin on the boulders.

The bears then leap onto the backs of the whales at just the right moment in an attempt to get a big summer meal. As a result, theyB次元官网网址檙e fatter and healthier than polar bears usually are in the summer.

B次元官网网址淲hen we were filming this behaviour, a lot of scientists couldnB次元官网网址檛 believe that it was happening,B次元官网网址� says Hunter.

B次元官网网址淭here was absolutely no records in scientific papers, there was no studies on it, and a lot of scientists are champing at the bit to get into this Seal River area to study this group of polar bears to see if they can study the behaviour more.B次元官网网址�

Hunter and his crew achieved such footage using a drone and a small boat with a stabilized camera on the end of a crane arm.

They also used boats to capture fascinating footage of bears in another region of Canada: Tofino, on the western shore of Vancouver Island.

There, we see a subspecies of black bears from the rainforest that have learned to wait for low tide for a rich source of seafood, including fresh crabs underneath massive boulders.

Cameras capture a mother black bear teaching her mischievous young cubs in the springtime how to roll over the boulders to get to the food.

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Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

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