- The episode shows a group of foxes fighting over a carcass along Hudson Bay in Canada.
Hungry arctic foxes turn to cannibalism as they battle climate change and a lack of food in one of the saddest scenes ever filmed for a Sir David Attenborough show.
In a heartbreaking moment in the BBC series Mammals, desperate foxes are seen feeding on one of their own who is believed to have collapsed and starved to death.
Rising temperatures in the Arctic have caused the sea to freeze over at the end of the year and, without sea ice, foxes cannot hunt.
Desperate and hungry, in the latest episode they resort to cannibalism to survive in one of the scariest and saddest scenes the station has ever filmed.
In scenes that some viewers might find too unbearable to watch, the episode shows a group of foxes fighting over the corpse that has starved to death in Canada’s Hudson Bay.
Hungry arctic foxes turn to cannibalism as they battle climate change and food shortages along Canada’s Hudson Bay in heartbreaking scenes filmed for BBC Mammals.
Desperate and hungry, in the last episode they resort to cannibalism to survive in one of the most frightening and sad scenes ever filmed by the station.
Sir David Attenborough’s latest wildlife series focuses on how animals are adapting to the world while fighting climate change.
Sir David will tell viewers that only “time will tell” whether the species can survive in the long term, reports Mirror.
He says: ‘Arctic foxes form unlikely alliances with polar bears.
‘We are already at the end of the year and both species are waiting for the sea to freeze.
“When it does, polar bears will be able to hunt seals on the ice again and Arctic foxes will scavenge their carcasses.
‘But right now, they’re both hungry and they both have to wait. Ten days pass but still no sea ice is seen.
‘For the foxes the situation is becoming desperate. The wait for an arctic fox has been too long.
‘Hungry survivors cannot ignore this opportunity. Despair has led to cannibalism, something increasingly seen in the Arctic.’
The new series has earned rave reviews from critics and viewers despite unfounded claims by some that the elephants in one episode “look like CGI.”
Rising temperatures in the Arctic have caused the sea to freeze over at the end of the year and, without sea ice, foxes cannot hunt.
Elephants enter a Zimbabwe village in scenes filmed for new BBC series Mammals
Some have claimed that the elephant scenes looked computer-generated, but this has been denied.
Audience members took to social media during the show to highlight concerns about scenes showing nighttime walks by African elephants through a Zimbabwean town.
But Mammals assistant producer Sarah-Jane Walsh confirmed it was real, from a “low light camera” and “high ISO” – a setting to capture brighter images in dark situations.
Another production assistant on the show, Harriet Lawrence, said the elephants were difficult to find, and the team used thermal telescopes to spot them in dark alleys.
The final episode of the six-part series, titled Cold, airs this Sunday on BBC One at 7pm.