Award-Winning Polar Bear and Wildlife Documentarian Talks to OceanFootage:
An Interview with Daniel Zatz

February 2007
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What fascinates you most about polar bears?

I love filming bears -- black bears, brown bears and polar bears. I like the speed of their lives and the beauty of their habitats. But it’s not just bears -- I enjoy the Arctic and the challenges of working in the Arctic.

How long have you been filming polar bears?

I first spent time with polar bears was in 1989. My friend Bill DeCreft from Kachemak Air Service called to say he was flying to McNeil River that afternoon and would I like to go? I said “Yes, but what’s McNeil River?” But after three days with the polar bears there, I was in love with them, and with Alaska. Since then, I’ve worked with bears in Alaska, Russia and Canada, and have produced several bear programs including “Alaska’s Biggest Bears,” which won two Emmys for Best Children’s Film.

What's the biggest misconception people have about polar bears?

Many people have more experience than I do, and if possible, I like to have a biologist with me who’s very tuned into the bears. With brown bears and black bears, the deal is, “don’t surprise a bear and you won’t get hurt.” However, Polar bears are somewhat different, as they need to be more opportunistic about their food. My sense with polar bears is that most do not see people as food, but rather that they are curious when people are around. If an opportunity for a good human meal appears easy, they might take it. But for the most part, bears are curious, and most encounters with brown, black and polar bears are ended simply by yelling at the bear to go away. Of course, life is precious, and there are crazy bears, just as there are crazy people, so I try to evaluate every situation and judge every polar bear’s personality accordingly.

What are the technical challenges of filming polar bears in such cold climates?

The biggest challenge is, of course, keeping things and people warm. Video gear works remarkably well in cold temperatures, and we invest a lot of time in preparing the camera for the cold—especially when the temperature drops below 10F. This includes using covers, heater packs (many each day), and carefully monitoring the internal temperature. We are also careful to keep people warm. The biggest challenge is that we spend so much time not moving — just waiting for the polar bears. My favorite clothing for work in the Arctic in the winter includes a North Face 8000 meter suite and bunny boots. With these, my world is as comfy as a day on the beach in Hawaii.

What are the technical challenges of filming polar bears themselves?

My experience filming polar bears is limited to Kaktovik, Alaska and Churchill, Manitoba. In both places, I’ve worked out of trucks or Tundra Buggies. Frontiers North Adventures provided a Tundra Buggy for the recent work, and I lived in it for six weeks. My wife and son were there for part of this time, and it was a great adventure. The buggy was outfitted with a cage that I could crawl into and then film at nearly eye level with the polar bears, providing for some especially great images of the polar bears.

The clips of polar bears on your website really give us a view into their habitat, hardiness against the elements, and even behavior. How are you able to capture so much candid footage of polar bears? Do polar bears become acclimated to the cameras, do you work from a distance, or is it a combination of both?

Each polar bear is unique. Some are comfortable with people or buggies, while others are shy. My observation is that some of the females polar bears with cubs are more comfortable near the buggies, while the larger males are more wary around them. But I am not a polar bear expert, so please don’t quote me on polar bear behavior!

What are some of the most striking moments you have filmed of polar bears to date?

I think the most striking time for me was an evening spent with a polar bear mother and her two cubs. It was late in the day, about an hour before sunset, and this female polar bear was sleeping in a snowbank. My assistant, Konrad Schaad, and I watched as she and the cubs awoke, scratched their bottoms on alders, and then returned to their sleeping spot to nurse. She was a beautiful polar bear, and we watched as she slowly fell asleep while the cubs nursed. It was a great evening.

Your video footage seems to demonstrate that polar bears have a much tougher time as their environment warms unseasonably with the progression of Global Warming -- would that be accurate?

Hard to say. Every year, the water freezes on Hudson bay. There’s a time when it is liquid, and then a transition time to solid ice. During this time, the polar bears are testing to assess the stability of the bay, and sometimes the polar bears fall into the water. It happens every year, and it’s likely happened for thousands of years.

The images of the polar bears falling in the water is powerful, however, and they remind us of the challenges we face with global warming. What is very interesting is that Hudson Bay is frozen for four to six weeks less each year today, than it was twenty years ago. This is a huge loss of feeding time for the polar bears.

What do you hope others will learn when they view your incredible polar bear footage?

That there is beauty in all corners of the world, and my hope is that the more of this that people see, the more they will care. Capturing beautiful images of polar bears on HD and making these available is a small step to reminding people about the polar bears and the challenges that await them — and us.

How much of your polar bear footage is currently available (in hours or minutes) via OceanFootage? What are the footage's primary formats?

All of my polar bear footage is, or will be available shortly, through OceanFootage. This includes the selects from over 40 hours of HDCAM material shot at 24p and 30p, 1080. The material includes polar bears fighting, nursing, walking out on the ice, falling in the water, swimming and more.

What is your relationship or affiliation with Polar Bear International?

Polar Bears International, or PBI, is one of the great groups working to conserve polar bears. ALL of the money they raise goes directly into programs, and nothing is used for staff pay. My connection with PBI is through my robotics company, SeeMore Wildlife Systems. We installed a remote camera powered by a fuel cell and linked to the world via a 40-mile wireless connection for PBI. The camera was at Cape Churchill, and it was used by polar bear researchers in Florida to monitor polar bear activity before and after people arrived at the Cape. PBI is also one of the sponsors of project to stream live video of the bears to the world. I worked with PBI and Frontiers North Adventures to outfit one of the Tundra Buggies with an HDCAM and transmitters, so that we could stream live video to National Geographic’s website, bringing increased awareness of polar bears to people and children all over the globe.

Is there anything I haven't asked you that you would like to add?

One thing that has been fun for me has been working with David Conover from Compass Light Productions to shoot the series SunRise Earth for Discovery HD Theater over the last year and half. During this period, we traveled to Central America, China, Cambodia, Turkey, the U.K., Greenland, and then to Peru and Argentina to capture sunrises. It’s been a great adventure, and the style of the show — the very long shots with little camera movement — has greatly influenced my HD shooting.