Nature (1982–…): Season 39, Episode 7 - The Alps: The High Life - full transcript
Enjoy the Alps in spring and summertime as newborn animals grow up to face the coming brutal winter.
These lofty peaks
are among the most
revered in history.
Their very name defines
every mountain habitat
the world over...
Alpine forest,
Alpine lakes,
Alpine tundra.
They are a battle
ground of ice against rock,
wind against water,
winter against summer.
♪
And yet, remarkable
mountaineers thrive here,
busy with battles
of their own...
♪
While others are
slowly returning
to reclaim their place.
♪
All must seize the
high life of summer
before these peaks
become winter's fortress.
Soar into the Alps, a
realm of white brightness...
♪
And thunder.
♪
♪
A thousand peaks
crowning a continent...
The Alps.
Between sea and summits,
a trove of natural treasures...
Alpine grasslands...
Arctic tundra...
Mediterranean gardens...
gigantic glaciers...
gaping canyons echoing the
sound of thundering waters...
♪
Dark woodlands
full of mystery...
barren crags...
and slopes of vivid green.
A raw expanse to overwhelm
the eye of all but one...
The one who soars above it all.
♪
♪
It takes an eagle's eye
to appreciate the Alps...
Their majesty and
their dimensions.
♪
From its rise over
their eastern foothills
until it lights up
their western valleys,
the sun takes nearly an hour.
Grim north faces forever
steeped in frosty shadows,
back to back with
sunny southern slopes
and valleys.
♪
This ice-clad barrier splits
Europe into north and south,
while its valleys have
always been a bridge
between east and west.
Arching across
more than 600 miles
and rising steadily
from eastern lowlands
westward to the highest peak,
this crumple zone
between converging plates
sends major rivers
to three different seas.
Surrounded by crowded land,
the Alps are shared
by eight nations.
Towards sunset, they do not end
but dip down steeply into the
depth of the Mediterranean Sea
where they emerged.
From the coast below,
a whiff of spring arrives...
while some 6,500 feet
higher up, the crests are arctic,
and so is the wildlife.
♪
An eagle's flight
between these contrasts
is just a matter of minutes.
♪
Erosion of the rising
Alps turns coastal canyons
into plains... Attractive
human habitat.
♪
Steep slopes rising from
these plains are terraced
by thousands of stone walls.
♪
Ancient olive gardens
are the haunt of
Europe's biggest lizard.
The ocellated lizard ranges
from the western Mediterranean
to the foothills of the
French and Italian Alps.
Spring is the time for a male
to visit a female's territory.
This is where she
lives... A self-dug hole,
or one taken over from a rodent.
For a while, they
move in together.
♪
The sunny south-western
fringes of the Alps
are now resplendent
with bright colors,
alive with the rhythmic
song of cicadas,
fragrant with wild
and cultivated herbs.
Lavender fields are vibrating
with the hum of a zillion bees.
♪
A griffon vulture.
Plunging from 3,000
feet to nearly sea level,
deep canyons like
Verdon or Remuzat
offer ideal nesting
places for griffons.
♪
Cut out by cold mountain streams
while inhaling warm ocean winds,
these canyons invite
Mediterranean vegetation
and wildlife deep into the Alps.
It's a short cycle
of rain clouds
flowing inland
from the nearby sea
and these southern rivers
rushing back towards the coast.
When the morning sun
heats up the canyon walls,
hundreds of master gliders
launch into the thermals.
But in this season, every
other adult stays grounded.
For vultures, of course,
the ground is vertical.
Males and females take
turns feeding their offspring
in a lofty crib.
The nestlings need lots of
moisture, gathered from carrion.
Along these cliffs, the
southern sun and hot up-winds
make for a climate
like in the Sahara.
♪
From this vertical desert,
the birds soar into
freezing spheres,
covering hundreds
of miles each day.
But for griffons,
the peaks and glaciers
are just fly-over country.
♪
Also just passing, a
young golden eagle,
a nomad searching for a space
unoccupied by breeding pairs.
He's made it
through a long winter.
Now morning temperatures
are finally above freezing.
Remaining snow is
wet and heavy now.
Up here, the sounds of
spring are rather different
from the birdsong and cicadas
buzzing in the foothills below.
Each sunny afternoon, the rumble
and roar of wet snow avalanches
echoes from all sides
like muffled thunder.
An avalanche's megaton
momentum will thrust huge boulders
across a valley floor
and heap up mountains
of compacted snow
as hard as concrete.
Finding a safe and soft spot
between ravines is crucial.
After six months of
hibernation deep in the ground,
marmots need exercise.
Neighborhood scuffles
offer a perfect opportunity.
Breaking the fast
is also welcome,
but the leftovers of
last year's grazing
are still a far cry
from the fresh herbs
that will soon sprout.
♪
Some like it wet.
An amphibian way
above 8,000 feet.
Sounds like a record.
Brown frogs have
spent the winter
in underground bodies of water.
On the very day the ice on
high Alpine lakes begins to break,
brown frogs appear as if
summoned by a magic reveille.
Marmots are impatient to feed.
But not the frogs.
In their hundreds, they
race towards the water.
None wants to
miss the annual orgy.
In order not to freeze to death,
the frogs must
move in the daylight.
Their skins have a
built-in sunscreen.
Ultraviolet radiation at
this altitude is powerful.
♪
Just above freezing in here.
Quite agreeable.
♪
But in the shallows,
over dark peat,
the water is lukewarm,
the perfect spot to spawn.
The males ride piggy-back
on the larger females,
eager to fertilize the spawn
as it's released into the water.
The orgy lasts
three or four days.
Some males embrace
their partners in autumn
and cling to them all winter
until this super-productive
spring event.
High-mountain
populations lay bigger eggs
than those in the valleys,
giving their offspring a boost
for the short Alpine summer.
♪
Voraciously, a warm, dry wind
licks the last snow
from the slopes.
♪
Millions of crocuses have only
been waiting for this moment.
♪
Alpine flowers now
turn the meadows
into an inverted
star-spangled sky.
Neon colors and fluffy leaves
shield many of these plants
against aggressive radiation.
♪
Some visitors are not coming
for the stunning scenery.
After a long winter
of deprivation,
roe deer are arriving
from the mountain forest.
The females especially
need fresh vitamins.
They'll soon give birth.
♪
The thawing ground
is soaked now.
Deep down below the surface,
cracks and cavities
in the bedrock
are filling up with water.
♪
Springs are gushing,
streams are in spate.
♪
The mountains' green
lungs are breathing again,
exhaling the rich
fragrance of life.
♪
From bursting buds and the
bubbling of a thousand brooks,
a strange percussion
takes its cue.
To capercaillie hens,
this sound is music.
The artist is eager to
impress the female audience.
Flashy iridescence, high
jumps, and wildly flapping wings
on a carefully chosen stage
are sending a message...
Look at me!
Enchanted, a female fan has
dived down from the gallery
right onto the stage floor.
She, too, has
something to offer.
He's got what he wanted,
but it's not the
end of the show,
which has turned
on the neighbors.
They want more
than just to watch.
Lines are crossed.
This is his hen, on
his very own claim.
To be enamored,
embattled, and embroiled
means to be blind
to one's surroundings.
♪
This hunter, however,
is anything but blind.
♪
♪
Careful calculation is critical.
♪
With an eagle's wingspan,
a rapid attack between
the trees is risky.
♪
♪
When a life is taken,
it nurtures others.
This eagle was not
hunting for himself.
♪
These nestlings are a few
days old, two or three days apart.
From the moment of
birth, they are competitors.
For about six weeks
now, the female stays put
while the male provides.
Later on, both
parents will hunt.
For a nestling to
become a fledgling,
it takes about 12 weeks.
In a brief mountain summer, a
lot of growing has to be done.
While some lives start
high up in dazzling sunlight,
others begin way
down in the dark.
♪
♪
♪
Within just a few weeks,
a new generation is born
in thousands of dens
and nests across the Alps.
♪
With a litter of five, suckling
and warming the cubs,
cleaning the den, and hunting
will push parents
to their limits.
♪
Vast tracts of the Alpine
landscape are woodland.
The mix of broadleaf
and conifers
varies with altitude,
orientation, and topography
and harbors a wide
variety of habitats.
A young boreal,
or Tengmalm's owl,
one of 10 different
owl species in the Alps
and a typical inhabitant
of conifer forests.
Even fox parents will
hunt in daylight now.
For these youngsters,
everything is new, exciting.
♪
They are still
too young to hunt,
but they'll soon go for the sort
of prey the fox has just missed.
♪
Fortunately there's no shortage
of rodents in Alpine woods.
♪
Nor a shortage of enemies.
♪
A lynx will not tolerate
foxes in its domain.
♪
The fox is lucky.
The lynx has
something else in mind.
♪
European lynx, missing from
the Alpine forests for a century,
were reintroduced to
various regions in the 1970s.
♪
Their preferred
prey are roe deer,
chamois, and young red
deer, but also smaller game.
Lynx have a habit of
hiding it from ravens,
foxes, and other scavengers.
♪
♪
Another home-comer
from the woods of
south-eastern Europe.
This brown bear cub
was born in the Alps.
Its mother would
be an immigrant.
The two are poking around
for insects, roots, and rodents.
A bear mother will shift aside
rocks of 400 pounds with ease.
Now and then, bears
sniff out a real treasure.
Wild honeybees tend
to hide their sweet gold
in hollow trees.
This is a mouth-watering treat.
No matter how viciously
the angry bees attack,
a bear won't be deterred
from the taste of honey.
A few decades ago,
there were only a handful
of bears in the Alps.
Now, there are well
over 100 individuals.
Some have wandered
all across the Alps.
♪
3,000 feet higher,
the snow is gone.
Another 3,000 feet,
and the snow still
lingers in the shadows.
♪
And up here, not
just the snow is going.
♪
Animal Alpinists are
shedding their winter wool.
♪
Not really a pretty sight.
♪
Just weeks ago,
this cocky ptarmigan
was still completely white.
For ibex bucks, getting rid of
a mangy coat is an itchy affair.
The ptarmigan is also
itching but in a different sense.
With some urgency,
he's making himself heard,
hoping to impress a hen.
♪
This may not be
the only use of horns,
but it might explain
their extraordinary length
and their elegant curve.
♪
Horns, of course, are
not just for scratching.
Bucks are busy all year-round
testing their powers
and prowess.
The swelling of the
male's red eye bulges
clearly signals his desire.
♪
Already one step ahead, a
marmot is busy with parental tasks.
♪
The little ones are
just over two weeks old.
Changing the hay is the
marmot way of changing diapers.
A newly-born weighs as
much as two tablespoons of salt.
To survive their first winter,
they must increase
their birth weight 40 fold
within three months.
♪
Mountain hares
have already replaced
their snow-white winter coat
with the camouflage of summer.
Right from birth, they
are out in the open.
Unlike marmots, they
are born with fluffy fur.
In cold weather, the
mother keeps them warm.
♪
With the snow
melt nearing its end,
the roar and rage of spring's
10,000 torrents has faded,
but glacial rivers
are now running high.
♪
Swelling to a maximum
under the midday sun
and waning in the cool of night,
glacial runoff carries
megatons of finely-ground rock
out into the lowlands.
♪
Europe's highest waterfalls
and longest cataracts
are the glaciers'
spectacular gift.
♪
When glaciers
vanish, rivers run dry,
and valleys are
filled with silence.
As long as mighty
rivers in the sky
bring masses of moisture
from the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean,
lush green mountain
meadows above the tree line
invite summer guests,
as they have since the
end of the last Ice Age.
♪
Red deer are back.
♪
After half a year
down in the woods,
red deer seem impatient to
enjoy the sprawling pastures
with their luxury
of fresh herbs.
Stags shed their
antlers after the rut.
To grow new ones
just takes 3 1/2 months,
from March to mid-July.
During the summer,
the stags flock together
in all-male groups.
♪
Calves and their mothers
form their own herds.
♪
Among red deer,
twins are a rare sight.
♪
Some ranges are
not green at all.
Limestone karst formations
are usually dry and rugged,
uninviting, except
for avid Alpinists.
♪
The grip and traction of these
hooves are almost magical.
Total control of balance,
sureness of foot,
and no fear of heights
are among the
outstanding features
Alpine ibex have developed
in their giddying habitat.
It's lonely at the top,
and that's exactly why
ibex came to live up here.
Once humans had
conquered the high Alps,
ibex were nearly wiped out.
Today, they are back
but face new challenges.
Ibex are best
adapted to the cold
and suffer in hot weather.
At this time of year,
mothers and kids like to play
and rest on the
last snow fields.
But now, instead of old snow,
they often rest on dry scree.
♪
300 miles to the west
and some 6,500 feet up,
on granite, a similar scene.
♪
Grazing is sparse up here,
but the world of
the ibex is changing.
♪
The high Alps are getting
greener, just like the Arctic.
Glaciers are losing ground
which is soon colonized
by hardy green pioneers.
♪
Carrying those
heavy horns is tiring.
But after grazing, ruminants
must rest in any case.
♪
Lately, however, even up here,
the peace has been disturbed.
♪
Ever warmer summers bring
horseflies and other parasites
to an altitude where they
had not ventured before.
♪
The animals are stressed.
Many lose weight and get sick.
Worst of all, the new pests
are affecting their
reproduction rate.
♪
A warming climate means
more than just stifling heat.
♪
While baking and
drying out the slopes,
the summer sun
forces a glacial runoff.
♪
The net loss of ice
each year is stunning.
As hanging
glaciers disintegrate,
huge volumes of ice and rock
thunder down into the deep.
♪
Once this ancient
ice is gone, it's gone.
Debris-covered glaciers
may last a little longer
but also waste away from inside.
♪
On the last snowfields,
mothers and aunts run
an Alpine kindergarten.
Some of these aunts are
gifted dance instructors.
♪
Delighted, the kids join in.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
And now, refreshments!
♪
But, all of a sudden,
the party is over.
♪
For a few weeks, chamois
kids are just the perfect size
for a hunting eagle,
a welcome change from
the eagle's staple food
and easier to get.
♪
However, 8 out of 10
eagle kills are marmots,
most of them youngsters.
Even these heavyweights
once had a risky childhood.
When rough play gets too
rough, mother has to interfere.
The eagle is always on her mind.
♪
The old eagle's trick...
Pretending to leave,
letting the target relax.
♪
Then a surprise return...
under the radar.
♪
♪
Decelerating from
150 miles an hour...
not even a cheetah
would outrun an eagle.
♪
♪
They must have heard
the mother panting
How good to be alive.
♪
For the eagle mother,
too, someone is waiting.
Of the two hatchlings of three
months ago, one has survived.
It's time for takeoff.
♪
The mother goads him on.
Knowing that he's hungry,
she's placed a carcass.
♪
It must be the scariest and
yet the most glorious moment
in an eagle's life...
and so satisfying to a mother.
♪
Leaving behind the
limits of a single viewpoint,
it's an explosion
of perspectives.
♪
♪
That ravenous
hunger is forgotten.
♪
Together, they soar.
During the year ahead,
both parents will
teach the young bird
how to make it in this
mountain wilderness.
♪
In this harsh environment,
the bud of a glacier crowfoot
takes two years to blossom.
Now the flowers are
gone within minutes.
Both the snow vole
and this hardy plant
are Ice Age relics and
champions of altitude.
No other Alpine mammal
covers a range from
1,000 up to 14,000 feet.
Down under the scree, snow voles
may seem like miniature marmots.
But in spite of living under
even harsher conditions up here,
they do not hibernate
but spend the
best part of the year
in a labyrinth of tunnels
under snow and ice.
♪
♪
Everything flows... the
light, the ice, even the rocks.
♪
Glaciers are gigantic
conveyor belts
moving enormous volumes of rock.
♪
This is the longest
valley glacier in the Alps,
the famous Aletsch.
In 2020, it's still more
than 12 miles long
and more than half a mile thick.
Due to a warming climate,
nearly all the glaciers
of the Alps are shrinking.
By the end of this century,
not much will be left
of the Aletsch glacier.
♪
Melt water from the surface
seeps deep into the ice,
transporting heat
into the glacier's core.
When a glacier
shrinks, sooner or later,
accumulations of
boulders, scree, and sand
dropped by the ice floe
are conquered by
the hardiest of trees.
♪
Prominent among
these pioneers...
The stone pine.
How does it get up here?
The rasping calls of a special
bird echo along the timberline,
where stone pines
define the scenery.
The spotted nutcracker
and the stone pine
have a win-win deal.
Stone pine seeds are too
heavy to be spread by the wind.
This is where the
nutcracker comes in.
Harvesting stone pine seeds
is less a matter of
strength than skill.
Begging from a parent is easier.
An adult flying off, his
crop bursting with pine nuts.
Making sure that no one's
watching, he buries his load,
dozens of seeds
in a single cache,
adding up to 16,000 per season.
♪
These larders will get
the bird through the winter.
Next spring, leftover
seeds will sprout.
♪
In the high Alps, there
are really just two seasons,
one short and warm,
the other long and cold.
When cold air from the Arctic
flows south, the sky changes.
And not just the sky.
Frosty nights paint the green
slopes red, brown, and yellow.
The colder the air,
the warmer the hues,
and the hotter the
rut of the red deer.
Commotion, aggression,
jealousy, unbridled lust,
rough roars, and
pungent perfumes
make up a rutting ground.
Each mature, strong stag
has staked a
claim for his harem.
Once females have
made their choice,
they group around their stag...
while rivals close
in from every side.
Their females are synchronized,
ready to conceive for
just a few hours at a time.
Experienced stags will
recognize this time window.
Pushy young rivals don't.
Relentlessly, they try to steal
hinds from stags of high status.
The females run
from these invaders
while a boss struggles
to stave them off
and round up his harem.
♪
These constant
scuffles are grueling.
♪
A neighbor attempts
a hasty copulation.
♪
He fiddles and fails
and enrages the boss.
♪
♪
The challenger
has lost the fight,
but he can force a straying
female back into his fold.
The calving season in spring
will show whether their
all-out efforts have been fruitful.
♪
The warm half of
the year is over.
♪
Up on the highest peaks,
winter has never really ended.
For the eagle
and all the wildlife,
harsh days lie ahead
but also the stunning
glory of winter in the Alps.
♪
It takes an eagle's
eye and wings
to pan out across the
full range and richness,
the gamut of life and landscapes
encompassed by the Alps.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
are among the most
revered in history.
Their very name defines
every mountain habitat
the world over...
Alpine forest,
Alpine lakes,
Alpine tundra.
They are a battle
ground of ice against rock,
wind against water,
winter against summer.
♪
And yet, remarkable
mountaineers thrive here,
busy with battles
of their own...
♪
While others are
slowly returning
to reclaim their place.
♪
All must seize the
high life of summer
before these peaks
become winter's fortress.
Soar into the Alps, a
realm of white brightness...
♪
And thunder.
♪
♪
A thousand peaks
crowning a continent...
The Alps.
Between sea and summits,
a trove of natural treasures...
Alpine grasslands...
Arctic tundra...
Mediterranean gardens...
gigantic glaciers...
gaping canyons echoing the
sound of thundering waters...
♪
Dark woodlands
full of mystery...
barren crags...
and slopes of vivid green.
A raw expanse to overwhelm
the eye of all but one...
The one who soars above it all.
♪
♪
It takes an eagle's eye
to appreciate the Alps...
Their majesty and
their dimensions.
♪
From its rise over
their eastern foothills
until it lights up
their western valleys,
the sun takes nearly an hour.
Grim north faces forever
steeped in frosty shadows,
back to back with
sunny southern slopes
and valleys.
♪
This ice-clad barrier splits
Europe into north and south,
while its valleys have
always been a bridge
between east and west.
Arching across
more than 600 miles
and rising steadily
from eastern lowlands
westward to the highest peak,
this crumple zone
between converging plates
sends major rivers
to three different seas.
Surrounded by crowded land,
the Alps are shared
by eight nations.
Towards sunset, they do not end
but dip down steeply into the
depth of the Mediterranean Sea
where they emerged.
From the coast below,
a whiff of spring arrives...
while some 6,500 feet
higher up, the crests are arctic,
and so is the wildlife.
♪
An eagle's flight
between these contrasts
is just a matter of minutes.
♪
Erosion of the rising
Alps turns coastal canyons
into plains... Attractive
human habitat.
♪
Steep slopes rising from
these plains are terraced
by thousands of stone walls.
♪
Ancient olive gardens
are the haunt of
Europe's biggest lizard.
The ocellated lizard ranges
from the western Mediterranean
to the foothills of the
French and Italian Alps.
Spring is the time for a male
to visit a female's territory.
This is where she
lives... A self-dug hole,
or one taken over from a rodent.
For a while, they
move in together.
♪
The sunny south-western
fringes of the Alps
are now resplendent
with bright colors,
alive with the rhythmic
song of cicadas,
fragrant with wild
and cultivated herbs.
Lavender fields are vibrating
with the hum of a zillion bees.
♪
A griffon vulture.
Plunging from 3,000
feet to nearly sea level,
deep canyons like
Verdon or Remuzat
offer ideal nesting
places for griffons.
♪
Cut out by cold mountain streams
while inhaling warm ocean winds,
these canyons invite
Mediterranean vegetation
and wildlife deep into the Alps.
It's a short cycle
of rain clouds
flowing inland
from the nearby sea
and these southern rivers
rushing back towards the coast.
When the morning sun
heats up the canyon walls,
hundreds of master gliders
launch into the thermals.
But in this season, every
other adult stays grounded.
For vultures, of course,
the ground is vertical.
Males and females take
turns feeding their offspring
in a lofty crib.
The nestlings need lots of
moisture, gathered from carrion.
Along these cliffs, the
southern sun and hot up-winds
make for a climate
like in the Sahara.
♪
From this vertical desert,
the birds soar into
freezing spheres,
covering hundreds
of miles each day.
But for griffons,
the peaks and glaciers
are just fly-over country.
♪
Also just passing, a
young golden eagle,
a nomad searching for a space
unoccupied by breeding pairs.
He's made it
through a long winter.
Now morning temperatures
are finally above freezing.
Remaining snow is
wet and heavy now.
Up here, the sounds of
spring are rather different
from the birdsong and cicadas
buzzing in the foothills below.
Each sunny afternoon, the rumble
and roar of wet snow avalanches
echoes from all sides
like muffled thunder.
An avalanche's megaton
momentum will thrust huge boulders
across a valley floor
and heap up mountains
of compacted snow
as hard as concrete.
Finding a safe and soft spot
between ravines is crucial.
After six months of
hibernation deep in the ground,
marmots need exercise.
Neighborhood scuffles
offer a perfect opportunity.
Breaking the fast
is also welcome,
but the leftovers of
last year's grazing
are still a far cry
from the fresh herbs
that will soon sprout.
♪
Some like it wet.
An amphibian way
above 8,000 feet.
Sounds like a record.
Brown frogs have
spent the winter
in underground bodies of water.
On the very day the ice on
high Alpine lakes begins to break,
brown frogs appear as if
summoned by a magic reveille.
Marmots are impatient to feed.
But not the frogs.
In their hundreds, they
race towards the water.
None wants to
miss the annual orgy.
In order not to freeze to death,
the frogs must
move in the daylight.
Their skins have a
built-in sunscreen.
Ultraviolet radiation at
this altitude is powerful.
♪
Just above freezing in here.
Quite agreeable.
♪
But in the shallows,
over dark peat,
the water is lukewarm,
the perfect spot to spawn.
The males ride piggy-back
on the larger females,
eager to fertilize the spawn
as it's released into the water.
The orgy lasts
three or four days.
Some males embrace
their partners in autumn
and cling to them all winter
until this super-productive
spring event.
High-mountain
populations lay bigger eggs
than those in the valleys,
giving their offspring a boost
for the short Alpine summer.
♪
Voraciously, a warm, dry wind
licks the last snow
from the slopes.
♪
Millions of crocuses have only
been waiting for this moment.
♪
Alpine flowers now
turn the meadows
into an inverted
star-spangled sky.
Neon colors and fluffy leaves
shield many of these plants
against aggressive radiation.
♪
Some visitors are not coming
for the stunning scenery.
After a long winter
of deprivation,
roe deer are arriving
from the mountain forest.
The females especially
need fresh vitamins.
They'll soon give birth.
♪
The thawing ground
is soaked now.
Deep down below the surface,
cracks and cavities
in the bedrock
are filling up with water.
♪
Springs are gushing,
streams are in spate.
♪
The mountains' green
lungs are breathing again,
exhaling the rich
fragrance of life.
♪
From bursting buds and the
bubbling of a thousand brooks,
a strange percussion
takes its cue.
To capercaillie hens,
this sound is music.
The artist is eager to
impress the female audience.
Flashy iridescence, high
jumps, and wildly flapping wings
on a carefully chosen stage
are sending a message...
Look at me!
Enchanted, a female fan has
dived down from the gallery
right onto the stage floor.
She, too, has
something to offer.
He's got what he wanted,
but it's not the
end of the show,
which has turned
on the neighbors.
They want more
than just to watch.
Lines are crossed.
This is his hen, on
his very own claim.
To be enamored,
embattled, and embroiled
means to be blind
to one's surroundings.
♪
This hunter, however,
is anything but blind.
♪
♪
Careful calculation is critical.
♪
With an eagle's wingspan,
a rapid attack between
the trees is risky.
♪
♪
When a life is taken,
it nurtures others.
This eagle was not
hunting for himself.
♪
These nestlings are a few
days old, two or three days apart.
From the moment of
birth, they are competitors.
For about six weeks
now, the female stays put
while the male provides.
Later on, both
parents will hunt.
For a nestling to
become a fledgling,
it takes about 12 weeks.
In a brief mountain summer, a
lot of growing has to be done.
While some lives start
high up in dazzling sunlight,
others begin way
down in the dark.
♪
♪
♪
Within just a few weeks,
a new generation is born
in thousands of dens
and nests across the Alps.
♪
With a litter of five, suckling
and warming the cubs,
cleaning the den, and hunting
will push parents
to their limits.
♪
Vast tracts of the Alpine
landscape are woodland.
The mix of broadleaf
and conifers
varies with altitude,
orientation, and topography
and harbors a wide
variety of habitats.
A young boreal,
or Tengmalm's owl,
one of 10 different
owl species in the Alps
and a typical inhabitant
of conifer forests.
Even fox parents will
hunt in daylight now.
For these youngsters,
everything is new, exciting.
♪
They are still
too young to hunt,
but they'll soon go for the sort
of prey the fox has just missed.
♪
Fortunately there's no shortage
of rodents in Alpine woods.
♪
Nor a shortage of enemies.
♪
A lynx will not tolerate
foxes in its domain.
♪
The fox is lucky.
The lynx has
something else in mind.
♪
European lynx, missing from
the Alpine forests for a century,
were reintroduced to
various regions in the 1970s.
♪
Their preferred
prey are roe deer,
chamois, and young red
deer, but also smaller game.
Lynx have a habit of
hiding it from ravens,
foxes, and other scavengers.
♪
♪
Another home-comer
from the woods of
south-eastern Europe.
This brown bear cub
was born in the Alps.
Its mother would
be an immigrant.
The two are poking around
for insects, roots, and rodents.
A bear mother will shift aside
rocks of 400 pounds with ease.
Now and then, bears
sniff out a real treasure.
Wild honeybees tend
to hide their sweet gold
in hollow trees.
This is a mouth-watering treat.
No matter how viciously
the angry bees attack,
a bear won't be deterred
from the taste of honey.
A few decades ago,
there were only a handful
of bears in the Alps.
Now, there are well
over 100 individuals.
Some have wandered
all across the Alps.
♪
3,000 feet higher,
the snow is gone.
Another 3,000 feet,
and the snow still
lingers in the shadows.
♪
And up here, not
just the snow is going.
♪
Animal Alpinists are
shedding their winter wool.
♪
Not really a pretty sight.
♪
Just weeks ago,
this cocky ptarmigan
was still completely white.
For ibex bucks, getting rid of
a mangy coat is an itchy affair.
The ptarmigan is also
itching but in a different sense.
With some urgency,
he's making himself heard,
hoping to impress a hen.
♪
This may not be
the only use of horns,
but it might explain
their extraordinary length
and their elegant curve.
♪
Horns, of course, are
not just for scratching.
Bucks are busy all year-round
testing their powers
and prowess.
The swelling of the
male's red eye bulges
clearly signals his desire.
♪
Already one step ahead, a
marmot is busy with parental tasks.
♪
The little ones are
just over two weeks old.
Changing the hay is the
marmot way of changing diapers.
A newly-born weighs as
much as two tablespoons of salt.
To survive their first winter,
they must increase
their birth weight 40 fold
within three months.
♪
Mountain hares
have already replaced
their snow-white winter coat
with the camouflage of summer.
Right from birth, they
are out in the open.
Unlike marmots, they
are born with fluffy fur.
In cold weather, the
mother keeps them warm.
♪
With the snow
melt nearing its end,
the roar and rage of spring's
10,000 torrents has faded,
but glacial rivers
are now running high.
♪
Swelling to a maximum
under the midday sun
and waning in the cool of night,
glacial runoff carries
megatons of finely-ground rock
out into the lowlands.
♪
Europe's highest waterfalls
and longest cataracts
are the glaciers'
spectacular gift.
♪
When glaciers
vanish, rivers run dry,
and valleys are
filled with silence.
As long as mighty
rivers in the sky
bring masses of moisture
from the Atlantic and
the Mediterranean,
lush green mountain
meadows above the tree line
invite summer guests,
as they have since the
end of the last Ice Age.
♪
Red deer are back.
♪
After half a year
down in the woods,
red deer seem impatient to
enjoy the sprawling pastures
with their luxury
of fresh herbs.
Stags shed their
antlers after the rut.
To grow new ones
just takes 3 1/2 months,
from March to mid-July.
During the summer,
the stags flock together
in all-male groups.
♪
Calves and their mothers
form their own herds.
♪
Among red deer,
twins are a rare sight.
♪
Some ranges are
not green at all.
Limestone karst formations
are usually dry and rugged,
uninviting, except
for avid Alpinists.
♪
The grip and traction of these
hooves are almost magical.
Total control of balance,
sureness of foot,
and no fear of heights
are among the
outstanding features
Alpine ibex have developed
in their giddying habitat.
It's lonely at the top,
and that's exactly why
ibex came to live up here.
Once humans had
conquered the high Alps,
ibex were nearly wiped out.
Today, they are back
but face new challenges.
Ibex are best
adapted to the cold
and suffer in hot weather.
At this time of year,
mothers and kids like to play
and rest on the
last snow fields.
But now, instead of old snow,
they often rest on dry scree.
♪
300 miles to the west
and some 6,500 feet up,
on granite, a similar scene.
♪
Grazing is sparse up here,
but the world of
the ibex is changing.
♪
The high Alps are getting
greener, just like the Arctic.
Glaciers are losing ground
which is soon colonized
by hardy green pioneers.
♪
Carrying those
heavy horns is tiring.
But after grazing, ruminants
must rest in any case.
♪
Lately, however, even up here,
the peace has been disturbed.
♪
Ever warmer summers bring
horseflies and other parasites
to an altitude where they
had not ventured before.
♪
The animals are stressed.
Many lose weight and get sick.
Worst of all, the new pests
are affecting their
reproduction rate.
♪
A warming climate means
more than just stifling heat.
♪
While baking and
drying out the slopes,
the summer sun
forces a glacial runoff.
♪
The net loss of ice
each year is stunning.
As hanging
glaciers disintegrate,
huge volumes of ice and rock
thunder down into the deep.
♪
Once this ancient
ice is gone, it's gone.
Debris-covered glaciers
may last a little longer
but also waste away from inside.
♪
On the last snowfields,
mothers and aunts run
an Alpine kindergarten.
Some of these aunts are
gifted dance instructors.
♪
Delighted, the kids join in.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
And now, refreshments!
♪
But, all of a sudden,
the party is over.
♪
For a few weeks, chamois
kids are just the perfect size
for a hunting eagle,
a welcome change from
the eagle's staple food
and easier to get.
♪
However, 8 out of 10
eagle kills are marmots,
most of them youngsters.
Even these heavyweights
once had a risky childhood.
When rough play gets too
rough, mother has to interfere.
The eagle is always on her mind.
♪
The old eagle's trick...
Pretending to leave,
letting the target relax.
♪
Then a surprise return...
under the radar.
♪
♪
Decelerating from
150 miles an hour...
not even a cheetah
would outrun an eagle.
♪
♪
They must have heard
the mother panting
How good to be alive.
♪
For the eagle mother,
too, someone is waiting.
Of the two hatchlings of three
months ago, one has survived.
It's time for takeoff.
♪
The mother goads him on.
Knowing that he's hungry,
she's placed a carcass.
♪
It must be the scariest and
yet the most glorious moment
in an eagle's life...
and so satisfying to a mother.
♪
Leaving behind the
limits of a single viewpoint,
it's an explosion
of perspectives.
♪
♪
That ravenous
hunger is forgotten.
♪
Together, they soar.
During the year ahead,
both parents will
teach the young bird
how to make it in this
mountain wilderness.
♪
In this harsh environment,
the bud of a glacier crowfoot
takes two years to blossom.
Now the flowers are
gone within minutes.
Both the snow vole
and this hardy plant
are Ice Age relics and
champions of altitude.
No other Alpine mammal
covers a range from
1,000 up to 14,000 feet.
Down under the scree, snow voles
may seem like miniature marmots.
But in spite of living under
even harsher conditions up here,
they do not hibernate
but spend the
best part of the year
in a labyrinth of tunnels
under snow and ice.
♪
♪
Everything flows... the
light, the ice, even the rocks.
♪
Glaciers are gigantic
conveyor belts
moving enormous volumes of rock.
♪
This is the longest
valley glacier in the Alps,
the famous Aletsch.
In 2020, it's still more
than 12 miles long
and more than half a mile thick.
Due to a warming climate,
nearly all the glaciers
of the Alps are shrinking.
By the end of this century,
not much will be left
of the Aletsch glacier.
♪
Melt water from the surface
seeps deep into the ice,
transporting heat
into the glacier's core.
When a glacier
shrinks, sooner or later,
accumulations of
boulders, scree, and sand
dropped by the ice floe
are conquered by
the hardiest of trees.
♪
Prominent among
these pioneers...
The stone pine.
How does it get up here?
The rasping calls of a special
bird echo along the timberline,
where stone pines
define the scenery.
The spotted nutcracker
and the stone pine
have a win-win deal.
Stone pine seeds are too
heavy to be spread by the wind.
This is where the
nutcracker comes in.
Harvesting stone pine seeds
is less a matter of
strength than skill.
Begging from a parent is easier.
An adult flying off, his
crop bursting with pine nuts.
Making sure that no one's
watching, he buries his load,
dozens of seeds
in a single cache,
adding up to 16,000 per season.
♪
These larders will get
the bird through the winter.
Next spring, leftover
seeds will sprout.
♪
In the high Alps, there
are really just two seasons,
one short and warm,
the other long and cold.
When cold air from the Arctic
flows south, the sky changes.
And not just the sky.
Frosty nights paint the green
slopes red, brown, and yellow.
The colder the air,
the warmer the hues,
and the hotter the
rut of the red deer.
Commotion, aggression,
jealousy, unbridled lust,
rough roars, and
pungent perfumes
make up a rutting ground.
Each mature, strong stag
has staked a
claim for his harem.
Once females have
made their choice,
they group around their stag...
while rivals close
in from every side.
Their females are synchronized,
ready to conceive for
just a few hours at a time.
Experienced stags will
recognize this time window.
Pushy young rivals don't.
Relentlessly, they try to steal
hinds from stags of high status.
The females run
from these invaders
while a boss struggles
to stave them off
and round up his harem.
♪
These constant
scuffles are grueling.
♪
A neighbor attempts
a hasty copulation.
♪
He fiddles and fails
and enrages the boss.
♪
♪
The challenger
has lost the fight,
but he can force a straying
female back into his fold.
The calving season in spring
will show whether their
all-out efforts have been fruitful.
♪
The warm half of
the year is over.
♪
Up on the highest peaks,
winter has never really ended.
For the eagle
and all the wildlife,
harsh days lie ahead
but also the stunning
glory of winter in the Alps.
♪
It takes an eagle's
eye and wings
to pan out across the
full range and richness,
the gamut of life and landscapes
encompassed by the Alps.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪