Great Yellowstone Thaw

It's summer in Yellowstone, and with soaring temperatures and drought comes the risk of wildfires. All the water from 'The Thaw' has flowed away and a lack of rain has left the ground tinder dry. When a major blaze breaks out in the Beartooth Mountains, wildlife cameraman Jeff Hogan scrambles a team to see if the family of Great Gray Owls he's been following all year has survived. The beaver family now has three young kits. But Jeff is shocked when their mother suddenly moves them out of the family home. It's a risky journey over dams and upriver and not something he's ever witnessed before. Meanwhile the Pinnacle Peak pack of wolves near Jackson also has young and in a year that's been tough for Yellowstone's top predator, wildlife photographer Charlie Hamilton James unravels why this pack is doing better than most. Up in the Gallatin Mountains are two orphaned young grizzlies. Host Kirk Johnson joins bear expert Casey Anderson to witness the relationship between man and bear on ranch land, where there's a balance of mutual tolerance. But with no mum alive to teach them, these yearlings are vulnerable and Casey is worried. As our climate changes, one of the biggest signs in Yellowstone is the effect on pikas. These alpine mammals rely on the cold high up in the mountains. But as temperatures slowly increase, the pikas are struggling. Kirk meets a scientist studying them to see what's going to happen when there's nowhere left to go but the sky.

Duration: 56 minutes and 46 seconds

Episode Number: 103

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About Great Yellowstone Thaw:

Journey with Kirk Johnson to Yellowstone, where wolves, grizzlies, beavers and Great Gray owls survive one of the greatest seasonal changes on the planet.

As the temperature swings 140 degrees, cameras capture how the animals cope.