‘Earth’s Great Seasons’ Recap: ‘Summer’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the second episode of ‘Earth’s Great Seasons’.
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Summer truly is a magical time. Simply because, it features nothing but blue skies and great weather. The kind that motivates us to forget about the bitterness of winter and the chilly nature of spring so that we can enjoy everything that the outdoors has to offer. Which is why we are eager to take time off when summer arrives. So, we can enjoy the open road without any concerns, or the open water if beach or lake related activities make you happy. But regardless of which summer activity brings you joy, what matters most is that this particular season reminds us to take it easy and relax a little bit, so we can soak up the wonder of nature. But while we’re enjoying a freshly gilled burger and a cold brew in the middle of July at our cabin retreat, the animals surrounding us are focused on some vastly different goals.

For the BBC America documentary series, Earth’s Great Seasons took the time to dive deep into how the wildlife of the world handles ‘Summer’ and what we learned about how animals view this warm and wonderful time of year, was quite fascinating to say the least. Because for a great many animals, this is the perfect time to simply feast to their heart’s desire. For food is plentiful during this time of year and they can gorge with impunity and begin to fatten themselves up for the impending winter, and it was just amazing to see animals feast in such an exuberant and sometimes downright dangerous manner. Since we saw bears suffer through endless waves of bee stings, just to get a taste of delicious honey or watch lizards risk life and limb atop a lion, in order to get a taste of a fat and succulent fly.

But what was truly fascinating about this segment of the story, is that it also taught us that an abundance of food, also leads to a second mating season for some animals. Because they know they can easily feed their young, so now is the time to start a family. A notion that has merit and also elicits a touch of risk as well. For summer is also a time of year when the heat is tough to beat and we were also privy to a look at how animals keep cool in the middle of the scorching summer, since they don’t have access to air conditioning like we do. And as it turns out, if animals aren’t sleeping to beat the heat, they’re using their surroundings to cool off. Since Koalas hug trees to stay cool and hippos cover themselves in mud and oddly enough, some animals have naturally adapted to the heat. Such as the Silver Ant, a Saharan ant that actually has fur designed to deflect the sun’s punishing rays.

Yet while there were plenty of creative ways to beat the heat on display in this documentary, the fact of the matter is, nothing cools a living being down quite like a good old-fashioned drink of water and even that… can be a challenge to find in nature, in summer. Because sometimes the heat evaporates that precious resource, but even then, animals know where to go in order to get the water they need. Take the wildlife in Namibia for instance. Since they all know to make their way to a spot where an underwater spring bubbles up to the surface, year round. And it was quite fascinating to see both predator and prey come to this place and share this water and function in harmony, all in the name of survival; and speaking of a grand pursuit for resources, that’s something that motivates some animals to spend a better part of their year traversing the globe. Such as the Arctic Turn, a bird that spends its entire year in summer, migrating from one pole to the next to enjoy the bounty that the various seas send their way.

If anything, it is just best to declare summer as a supremely busy time in nature, since animals are working hard to eat hearty and to keep their family line going, since there are a bevy of breeding rituals happening around the world during this time of year. So many in fact, that we nearly forgot to mention the crab migration that occurs on Christmas Island and the sea turtles that return to Australia to lay their eggs and really, in the end, this particular chapter in this magnificent documentary; does a fine job of reminding us; just how good we have it on planet earth. Because while we are cracking open a cold beverage and preparing to enjoy some sun and relax, there are creatures everywhere working hard to make it to tomorrow and it is humbling to be reminded of that. And now that our journey through the toasty months has come to a close, it should be interesting to see what the animals of the world do to prepare for the long and bitter winter when fall arrives, when this journey through the seasons, resumes on Saturday. Until next time.

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