(melodic music) (baby seal barking) - [Caitlin ] It seems like everyone has an idea of what Antarctica looks like.

(seal barking) - [Arlo] For us, it was this endless landscape of white, as far as the eye could see.

- [Caitlin] But when we got here, we were greeted with something different... a wild and varied terrain.

(melodic music) - [Arlo] One of its most striking features is its sea ice.

- [Caitlin] It's also one of the most dangerous, covered in cracks that open straight to the freezing water below.

- [Arlo] But if you take a closer look at these cracks, you might be rewarded with the sight of a creature that has made them their home.

(seal wailing) (light music) - This is what we've been waiting for.

This is what we have been training for all week long.

We're finally gonna get to go out on the sea ice and meet with a scientist who is studying seals out there.

- [Controller] 6-0-1, stand by.

- That means don't say anything, right?

- [Guide] Right.

- Whenever someone falls over into a crack, they actually name the crack after them.

(snowmobile engine revving) (slow country rock music) - If I could have a crack named after me that'd be, that'd be great.

You know, it would be like Crack Arlo... or Arlo's Crack.

Kinda has a different ring to it.

- [Caitlin] We're riding to Big Razorback Island, where a colony of Weddell seals live.

They are the southernmost mammal on the planet.

(slow country rock music) - [Arlo] And we've come at the best time of year, because it's pupping season.

Baby seals are everywhere.

(baby seal sniffing) - [Arlo] And we can get surprisingly close to them.

- He was probably born maybe four days ago?

- [Caitlin] Jay Rotella and his team are researching seal families, a study that's been going on for just over 50 years.

- [Caitlin] Is it trying to find milk right now?

- [Jay] Yeah, so the two nipples are back towards us, and he or she may find them.

- [Caitlin] You can do it, buddy, you're close.

- [Jay] That baby was 66 pounds.

On average, that's pretty typical.

And it will be 250 pounds or so, 220 pounds within a month.

- [Caitlin] Oh my gosh.

- [Jay] So it'll go from about the size of a second-grader to an NFL football player in 30 days.

(adult seal moaning) - My friend Arlo wants to have a crack named after him.

- Oh.

- But you have to fall into a crack to do that.

- Yeah.

I've heard this.

- So what do you think about a seal?

Can we name a seal after him?

Like, can we name-- - [Jay] Arlo can have a seal, yeah.

- [Caitlin] Can we name him Arlo?

- We'll just have to find a boy seal and you can name it Arlo, that's fine.

- Is that a boy seal?

- Well, we can check.

- [Jay] Arlo's a boy.

- [Caitlin] Arlo's a boy!

(laughing) - [Arlo Voiceover] The seal colony is in the middle of one of the most breathtaking landscapes - There we go.

- [Arlo Voiceover] where the sea ice flows around an island.

(camera clicks) (happy music) - [Arlo Voiceover] Here, pressure builds in the ice creating these towering icy sculptures appropriately called pressure ridges.

- [Arlo] Now, what is probably most stunning about these pressure ridges is how similar it actually looks to water.

You actually look at it and you can imagine like waves crashing against the surface.

- [Arlo Voiceover] But they're not just cool to look at.

They're actually a lifeline for seals.

Because among these ridges are weak points in the ice - cracks that allow the seals to get in and out of the water.

(water bubbles) Which probably means that walking through here - Yep.

- [Arlo Voiceover] Is a pretty stupid idea.

- That sounded like it was cracking.

Further out, the view over here, actually.

Watch out for this crack.

- [Jay] When you think about where we're living and what that pup is about to face, only about two out of ten will survive to be adults.

The scientist part says I hope you get all the help you can.

That's one of the things we're studying is all the things mother's do for their babies.

So we're trying to figure out the recipe for success.

These female seals are very faithful to these places for their pupping.

So, they'll come in during October, and then they'll be here and raise their pups for a month.

- [Caitlin Voiceover] To figure out the recipe for seal success, Jay and his team tag the newborn seals.

- I can see her tag numbers.

She's wearing a pair on each of her hind flippers.

- [Caitlin Voiceover] And this allows them to track the seals through their lives.

- When did this female start breeding?

Which years did she have pups or not have pups?

What were the ice conditions like?

We try to figure out why are some years better for making babies than others.

- [Caitlin Voiceover] In the last 50 years, they've followed over 25,000 seals, and that has allowed them to learn a lot about this population.

- [Jay] They look kinda cumbersome up here, you know?

They kind of flop along their belly to move around.

But when you see them in the water swimming, they become these athletes (water and ice sploshing) and you realize, yeah, they have this very dual existence.

(seal breathing) - [Caitlin] These seals spend a lot of their lives in the water.

Here, they fight for territory, look for food, and apparently sing.

(seal singing) - [Caitlin] I have to say, they make some amazing sounds.

- [Jay] Yeah, they make canary chirps, and they make some big booms.

Really great sounds.

(Seals chirping) - [Jay] It's almost like they're singing these bird songs underwater.

- [Caitlin] Turns out, they can be pretty chatty up on the ice, too.

(seals whining) - [Arlo] Ah, hey there!

- [Arlo Voiceover] Here in Antarctica, seals don't have predators on the ice.

Unlike most big mammals, you can get surprisingly close to them in their natural habitat.

(camera clicks) - [Arlo Voiceover] And because of that, you can capture some deeply intimate moments... and a lot of poop.

- [Caitlin] Yuck!

Gross.

- [Arlo Voiceover] That said, I come across one moment that stands out above all the rest.

(baby seal whining) (water sploshing) (baby seal whining) (mamma seal maoning) - So we're watching this really incredible moment happen.

(Water sploshing) - [Arlo] The mamma's trying to convince the pup that it's time to learn how to swim.

(seal moaning) - [Jay] Earlier we were talking about things mothers do with milk.

One of the other things they do is some mothers go in that water and seem to just sit there and call to the pups and won't come out and nurse them until the pups come in, is what it looks like.

And so we're wondering if some mothers make their pups swim, so to speak.

Some pups hardly ever swim, like ever, in thirty days.

And you think, well that's kind of part of being a seal.

Maybe you should learn to do that.

(laughs) - [Arlo] This pup couldn't build up the courage to take its first plunge.

(Seal whining) - Other pups start swimming maybe as early as a week old and are in for hours and hours a day.

So, we're kind of curious, because you try and drink that milk and get big, and if you go into that cold water maybe you lose some weight.

And so we're kind of curious if your mom makes you big and heavy at birth, and then gives you lots of milk are you willing to go swim more?

- [Caitlin] Jay and his team are still searching for answers.

(instrumental music) (Birds calling) - [Caitlin] The team lives out here for a couple of months every year.

- [Arlo] So, this is from New Zealand?

- We think so, just cause it said mince beef on it, and it doesn't seem like an American thing to say.

(laughs) - You're gonna share?

- [Caitlin Voiceover] It's cozy living conditions.

- Who's the chef?

Do you guys sit down for dinner like this, altogether, every night?

- [Man] We do, every night.

- [Caitlin Voiceover] But I'm impressed by how tight the seal team is.

(woman laughing) - [Caitlin Voiceover] They're like a second family for each other.

And they seem to deeply enjoy the work.

- We were talking about earlier it's really fun to watch the pups grow up.

I love it.

I've seen one actual birth, and then there have been a few times, yeah, where you pass by a mom, you go do something, and then you look back, and you're like, wait, she didn't have a pup when I walked by a minute ago.

(laughter) - [Caitlin Voiceover] That's exactly what happened to us.

(slow music) - [Arlo Voiceover] After dinner, when we went back outside a new pup had been born.

Just in the short time that we'd been away.

(Pup crying) - [Arlo Voiceover] A tender moment found, of all places, in one of the most hostile environments on earth.

(camera clicks) - [Caitlin Voiceover] Everyone has an idea of what Antarctica looks like.

- [Caitlin] Hey, Arlo.

- [Arlo] Hey!

- [Caitlin] Get any good photos?

- [Arlo] Yeah, I'm also being one with the seals.

(laughter) - [Caitlin Voiceover] But as we sat there watching the seals, we realized there's so much more to this place than we could have every imagined.

- [Arlo Voiceover] It feels magical.

- [Arlo] You know, it's really beautiful.

If you ignore all the poop and blood.

- [Caitlin] I want to show you something.

- [Arlo Voiceover] And it's a spot where a piece of us will always stay.

- I named that one Arlo.

- What?

- [Caitlyn] So now we don't have to name a crack after you and you don't have to fall in one.

- [Arlo] Okay, okay, okay.

Let's not go too far.

(seal whining) - I don't think I've every really just stopped and paused to watch stuff like this before.

(slow music) (seal yawning) - [Caitlin] Do you want to see more baby seals?

- [Arlo] Or experience what it's like to ride a snowmobile across the sea ice... in 360 video?

- [Caitlin] Or find out what Antarctic seals can tell us about our changing climate?

- [Arlo] Then you've got to check out NOVA's polar lab.

- [Caitlin] Where you're in the driver's seat as the polar adventure continues.

(electric music) (piano music)