PLANET EARTH From Pole to Pole

The cub is a year old and still dependent on its mother. Deer are frequent casualties of the harsh winter and these leopards are not above scavenging from a corpse. African leopards could never survive here, but the Russian cats have thick fur to shield them from the cold.



There are only forty Amur leopards left in the wild and that number is falling. Like so many creatures, the cats have been pushed to the very edge of extinction by hunting and the destruction of their habitat. The Amur leopard symbolizes the fragility of our natural heritage. The future of an entire species hangs on survival of a tiny number of mothers like this one. All animals, rare or common, ultimately depend for their energy on the sun.



In Japan the arrival of the cherry blossom announces the beginning of spring. The sun's energy brings color to the landscape. The earth, as it makes its annual journey around the sun, spins on a tilted axis. And it's this tilt that creates the seasons. The advance of the seasons brings constant change.



As the sun's influence diminishes in the north, so the deciduous forests of America begin to shut down losing their leaves in preparation for the dark cold months ahead. One season hands over to another. Some organisms thrive on decay, but most must make special preparations for winter and a life with little sun.