PLANET EARTH Great Plains

Snow geese pair for life. As soon as couples arrive, they must stake a claim to a nesting patch. Ideal sites are in short supply and quarrelsome neighbors are all around. Disputes can be vicious. Point taken. It's a long way to travel, but for a short period the tundra is the ideal place for a grazer. The grass grows vigorously during the short intense summer and there are fewer predators than farther south.



Here, geese can nest on the ground in relative safety nonetheless this female must incubate her eggs for three weeks and throughout this time she will be very vulnerable. An Arctic fox surveys the colony. She's been waiting for the geese all winter. Sneaking up unnoticed is impossible. Perhaps fortune will favor the bold. The colony is well defended. There are no easy pickings here.



She's driven away from every nest, but hunger compels her to continue（compel to 强迫某人做某事）. There are more eggs here than she can possibly eat now but the nesting season is short so she stashes（隐藏） much of her plunder（掠夺物） for later in the year when all the geese have gone. Further south, other bigger predators prowl（小心翼翼地潜行） the tundra. Wolves. For them, finding food on the plains is an even greater challenge. Not only is their prey seasonal it's also hard to find.