page_title: Life in the Freezer
section_title: 5. "The Big Freeze"
hierarchical_section_title: Life in the Freezer / Episodes / 5. "The Big Freeze"
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kaiserpinguine mit JungenРусский: Императорские пингвины в Антарктиде
context_page_description: Life in the Freezer is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the United Kingdom from 18 November 1993.
  A study of the seasonal cycle of Antarctica, it was the first of Attenborough's more specialised surveys following his major trilogy that began with Life on Earth. Each of the six 30-minute episodes examines how species cope with life on the Antarctic continent during the year.
  The series was produced in conjunction with The National Geographic Society and Lionheart International, Inc. The producer was Alastair Fothergill and the music was composed by George Fenton.
  Part of David Attenborough's 'Life' series of programmes, it was preceded by The Trials of Life and followed by The Private Life of Plants.
context_section_description: Broadcast 16 December 1993, this programme deals with those who stay during the coldest weather. As almost all animal inhabitants of Antarctica are forced to migrate, the sea underneath the ice still provides a home to many specially adapted fish whose cells are protected from freezing through an inherent "antifreeze". Many feed on the faeces of other animals. Perhaps the most notable larger creature that does not journey north is the Weddell seal, which can be found as close as 1300 kilometres to the pole. Groups of seals tear holes into the ice to dive for food and come up to breathe. The females come back to the ice to give birth. Also described is primitive plant life such as lichen, which can still be found on the continent in winter, even in the extremely dry and permanently frozen valleys — conditions under which dead animals can lie frozen for many centuries without decomposing. Attenborough observes that the Antarctic plateau is so "forbidding, hostile and desolate" that human life there seems not only insignificant, but also "totally irrelevant". Also explored is the life of the emperor penguin, "the only birds to lay their eggs directly on ice". While others retreat, emperors migrate not just to the ice, but into Antarctica itself. The newly laid egg is quickly transferred from female to male. They then incubate the eggs under the harshest conditions on Earth (huddling closely together in temperatures of minus 70 °C), while their partners return to the sea.
caption: Emperor penguins
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