Emperor penguin, Atka Bay (Neumayer Station), Antarctica

Due to an outbreak of Covid in their quarantine hotel in South Africa, the crew had to quarantine for over 40 days before they could travel to Antarctica to film the emperor penguins. The delay meant they only had ten days to complete the sequence, all the time working on sea ice that was breaking up due to the spring melt. To film the penguins first swim the crew spent up to nine hours a day in water that was -1°C.

Killer whale, Antarctic Peninsula

‘Wave-washing’ involves multiple individuals swimming in tandem and then coordinating their tail beats to create waves which then go on to wash seals off ice floes. Family groups are led by matriarchs who can live to be over hundred years old. Only about 100 killer whales in the Antarctic peninsula use this complex hunting technique.

The only other time that the wave-washing killer whales have been filmed creating waves to knock prey off ice floes was when the BBC made the original Frozen Planet series.

For the first time Frozen Planet II films this incredible behaviour using drones from an aerial perspective, allowing the team to see how the whales coordinated their attack from the air.

Pallas’s cat, The Great Steppe, Mongolia

The Pallas’s cat has the densest fur of any cat which allows them to stay warm through the harsh Mongolian winter.

To film the Pallas’s cat the production team had to sit completely stationary in wooden hides for up to eight hours a day. It was so cold their sandwiches froze solid.

Siberian tiger, East Siberia, Russia

Even though tigers are the biggest of all the big cats they are incredibly wary, choosing often to walk behind the camera traps that were deployed to film them. It took over three years to finally capture them patrolling their huge 700 square mile territories on the hunt for black bears.

Musk Ox, Nunavut, Canada

Musk oxen give birth during spring just as grizzly bears emerge from hibernation, posing a great danger to their calves. At this time of year it can be light for almost 24 hours a day so, in order to film the herd, the lone camera operator followed it around the clock on his Skidoo, only taking short breaks to sleep. After three weeks he eventually filmed the predation event, which only lasted for just over two minutes.

Hooded seal, Greenland Sea

The hooded seal can inflate a large balloon like sac from its left nostril. This is done by shutting one nostril valve and inflating a membrane which then protrudes from the other nostril. It is the only animal to perform this extraordinary behaviour.

Polar bear, Russia and Svalbard, Norway

Some polar bears, as seen in this episode, use a technique known as ‘aquatic-stalking’ in which they sneak up on their prey and ambush from the water.

Calving glacier, Store glacier – Greenland

A whole fleet of light-weight fast-response drones were used to document ice calving from Store glacier in Greenland – a fast and ephemeral event.

This is the first time drones have been used in such a way to capture a full calving sequence for television. Aerial filming of glaciers has usually been done by helicopter.