Nature (1982–…): Season 39, Episode 8 - Winter's Fortress The Alps - full transcript
Nature: The Alps: Winter's Fortress
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 battleground
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.
This is the realm
of the golden eagle.
In Alpine lore,
the realm of winter.
♪
Arching across some 600
miles, this crumple zone
between converging plates rises
steadily from eastern lowlands
to Europe's highest pinnacle.
Major rivers rising
on the roof of Europe,
often separated by
narrow watersheds,
reach three different seas.
Eight nations share the Alps...
Three of them, their
highest mountain.
Monumental towers
guard the King of the Alps.
Dwarfing Europe's
ancient fortresses,
this martial architecture bears
witness to an age-old battle...
The elements against
a rising mass of rock.
♪
These ramparts are granite,
the rock that sets this mountain
apart from the rest of the Alps.
Looking east from its top,
a skyline of majestic,
yet lesser peaks.
To the west,
nothing but big skies.
♪
Mont Blanc...
The ancient
patriarch of the Alps,
the highest point.
Other parts of the Alps
were thrust together
from far and wide...
Stacked, folded,
and jumbled in the vise
of colliding continents.
But these granites rose
straight from the deep,
and they are still rising.
It may seem strange,
but glaciers
accelerate their rise.
In high valleys, the snowfall
of millennia accumulates.
Snow turns into solid ice,
but solid is not rigid.
Ice under pressure
begins to flow downhill.
As the valley widens and
the ice flows over edges,
it's stretched and torn.
♪
At the height of summer,
once the blanket
of snow is gone,
the sun can reach deep down.
For decades, summers
have been getting hotter,
with a new record
nearly every year.
Today, glaciers are melting.
But for eons, the
scraping, scouring, plucking,
and polishing action
of massive ice flows,
many times mightier
than those we see today,
have worn down the Alps.
Thousands of feet of
rock have been removed...
An enormous weight loss
enabling the Alps to rise.
♪
Below the glaciers
and above the tree line,
sprawling grasslands are
the summer resort of red deer.
But the summer is gone,
and the rut is all but over.
The stags are totally exhausted,
worn-out and bruised like
warriors returning from combat.
And combat it truly was.
Many hinds have gathered
on this rutting ground
and attracted many stags.
♪
Where strong stags
compete for females,
there are battles.
♪
For dominant stags
defending a harem,
that means relentless stress.
♪
After two weeks
of total exertion,
the stags stay on for a few more
quiet weeks to heal their wounds
and regain strength
to face the winter.
♪
♪
Clear frosty nights
and frigid morning mists
mark the change of the season.
In the skies, the
tide has turned.
From now on, the
northerlies prevail.
♪
Returning from a
reconnaissance flight,
the eagle has seen
all he needs to know.
♪
A marmot den is something
an eagle will remember,
even until next spring.
♪
Marmots are twice as
fat now as in the spring,
unlike stags, who've just lost
one-fifth of their body mass.
For half a year, these Alpine
rodents have stuffed themselves.
Now it's time to
make the den cozy
for a long winter underground.
To hold out six
months underground,
you want a comfy home.
♪
In this den, the male
prepares the bedding.
His mate supplies the hay.
Out there, it's risky.
But as long as the choughs
are watching, one can relax.
♪
A safe, well-furnished
den is a marmot's dream.
But it's not quite there yet.
More padding is wanted.
Even when the bed's perfect,
with a restless bedfellow,
a good rest is hard to get.
♪
Marmots have to
stay put all winter...
while the choughs can escape
to a milder sphere.
♪
Way below, at the
foot of the mountain,
autumn still has a few
short but sunny days in store
before winter arrives.
♪
Magically, overnight, maples
and larches have turned to gold.
♪
Rooted in the sediments
of an ancient ocean,
vertical forests now
shine in the brightest hues.
But soon, the scenery
will be monochrome.
♪
In hidden valleys
of the southern Alps,
a revenant has
been secretly about
for a few decades now.
The Slovenian, Italian,
and Austrian Alps
have seen the cautious,
gradual return of an old native
who had been missing from
almost the entire mountain range
for a century.
A brown bear mother and
her nearly grown-up cubs,
feeding on beechnuts.
They're getting
ready to hibernate
in a well-hidden cave...
Maybe together
for one last winter.
When ravens appear, it
may be taken for a sign.
Alerted, one of the
youngsters tests the wind.
The mother lets him take
the lead... a teaching moment.
That's what the ravens meant.
A stag, gored in the rut...
Something the cubs
have never seen before.
Warily, they explore.
But then, they really go at it.
Every extra pound on their ribs
will help to get
over the winter.
This might be the
family's last shared meal
before they go
their separate ways.
Ravens... early
birds at any carcass,
but they need big
predators to carve it up.
It's best to wait a while.
These wise birds know...
First come, first served
is not a natural right.
♪
The wind is getting
colder, sharper.
♪
A thousand mountain
streams have fallen silent.
♪
Warm hues of fall
belie the coming cold.
Glowing in the sunset, the
cold rocks of these famous peaks
conjure up memories of a
distant, much warmer past.
♪
A young eagle in search
of a territory of his own
explores the Southern
Limestone Alps
stretching across
Slovenia, Austria, and Italy.
The limestone of
Italy's Dolomites
has nothing in common with
the granites of Mont Blanc.
The Dolomites are
only half as high,
yet their breathtaking panoramas
can vie with any
icon of the Alps.
Erosion grinds its sculptures
down to what they once were...
Sand and silt in a
warm, shallow sea.
♪
Layer by layer, over more
than 200 million years,
skeletons of marine organisms
accumulated enormous
bodies of sediment
on the ocean floor.
Africa's collision with Europe
pressed them up into the sky.
Thus a tropical seafloor
became the habitat
of an ice-age remnant.
♪
Arctic or mountain hares
once inhabited the cold
plains of ice-age Europe.
When the climate turned warm,
they retreated
northward to the Arctic
and up to the higher
regions of the Alps.
Scandinavian and
Alpine populations
are now 1,200 miles apart.
Adapting their camouflage,
mountain hares change
their fur twice a year.
A few more weeks,
and their winter coats
will be as white as snow.
♪
Meanwhile, it's
best to stay alert
and near hiding places.
With marmots
already underground,
the eagle has set
his sights on hares.
An eagle's eye works
like a powerful zoom lens.
He can spot his prey
long before it can spot him.
♪
♪
A bungled stealth attack.
This eagle is still a rookie.
♪
A majestic rookie, by any means.
♪
The low sun dazzles the eyes.
But the moment it's hidden,
the cold breath of the
mountains makes the body shiver.
♪
Those who remain up
high and out in the open
must be well-prepared
for harsh days ahead.
Down in the valleys
below the fog,
it's now often colder
than on the high slopes.
Soon the bears will
have disappeared
into their winter dens.
Deer descend to their
winter quarters in the forest.
♪
Long before the first snowfall,
winter sends its harbingers.
♪
♪
Each night now, the temperature
plummets below freezing.
♪
The mirrors of a
thousand mountain lakes
will soon go blind.
♪
Up among the crags,
the snow is here to stay,
setting the stage for a
breathtaking spectacle.
Chamois don't fear the cold.
Quite the opposite...
After languishing in
humid summer heat,
they are now in their element.
On high slopes and crests,
the wind will sweep
away the snow
so that the chamois can
find grazing even in winter.
♪
One who has prudently
prepared for a long winter
is the spotted nutcracker,
having stashed thousands of
pine seeds in hundreds of deposits
in the ground
along the timberline.
The challenge is to find
these larders under the snow.
This takes nearly magic memory.
His bird brain has stored a
precise topographical map...
a 3-D map of a vast
and complex terrain,
which looks very different
now than it did in autumn.
Sometimes the
ground is frozen so hard
that the nutcracker cannot
get all the seeds he has buried.
These seeds will
sprout in spring,
thus the flying forester
rejuvenates the stock of pines
from which his own
species will profit
for centuries to come.
♪
Among the chamois,
the mood is tense.
Bucks and females are
now coming together.
It's all about the future
of their population.
Bucks spray their coats
with sperm and urine...
Personal perfume any
female will remember.
A secretion from glands at
the base of a buck's horns
marks his claim near the
female's stamping ground.
♪
Rivaling bucks tax each other.
♪
Each buck needs to decide...
Attack or retreat?
♪
Counterattack or
exhaust the opponent?
Anything but surrender.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
A performance, and a stage,
to take one's breath away.
♪
This is the sovereign airspace
of a pair of golden eagles.
♪
Over the years, they've built a
number of nests around here.
They do not breed each year,
but soon, there will be two
eggs in one of the nests.
Across the Alps, well
over 1,000 breeding pairs
are occupying all
the suitable territories.
Breeding success greatly depends
on how well a pair
gets through the winter.
♪
Golden eagles stay
together for life...
For three decades and more.
♪
♪
Being born up here
means being born to climb
and to flourish in
arctic conditions.
Each morning, the females
scramble up to the ridges
where the wind has cleared
away the snow and they can feed.
The bucks follow.
It's not an easy climb.
A film of frozen fog covers
these limestone rocks
in the southern Alps.
This is dangerous terrain.
In early winter, bucks
become obtrusive stalkers.
Every move she makes,
every step she takes,
a buck will be watching.
There's no liquid water up here,
yet ibex stay up
high all winter.
A gang of young bucks has
closed in on a female leading a kid.
With their tongues and a
special organ on their gums,
they taste the scent she emits,
which signals her
readiness to mate.
♪
She's the focus of attention,
but indifferent to
these youngsters.
♪
♪
♪
To be taken
seriously as a suitor,
a buck must be at
least 6 years old,
but it's rare that bucks under
9 or 10 years get to mate.
Two mature, strong bucks have
been standing back and watching.
One of these, she might choose.
But the choice is
often made by fate.
♪
He's out of the race...
for good.
A broken leg up
here means death.
♪
Fate and the weather
turn quickly in the Alps.
Within an hour, a
calm and sunny day
can turn into a
howling white inferno.
A humid southerly
from the Mediterranean
hitting the high ridges
can bring gale-force winds
and masses of snow.
♪
In an airborne life,
whims of the atmosphere
are not the only challenge.
Bearded vultures,
giants of the sky,
are claiming their
share of space.
♪
To avoid nasty weather from
any direction, ibex and chamois
try to be in the right
place at the right time.
Mountain hares let
the wind work for them,
exploiting snow
drifts for shelter.
In the same way,
ptarmigans will calmly
sit out any storm for days.
Not even an eagle
can see them now.
For the golden eagle...
Neither an arctic nor a
high-mountain species...
These are hard times.
Six feet under is the perfect
place to truly rest in peace.
Marmots cozy up as
families to keep warm.
The temperature inside
the den decreases gradually
from 60 degrees in
autumn to freezing in spring.
The animals also lower
their body temperature
down to about 40 degrees plus.
They survive on their body's
storage of fat and water.
♪
With thick layers of
snow and soil on top,
the entrance to their
extensive den securely blocked,
the marmot is nature's
paragon of bunker mentality.
There's not the
slightest draft down here,
no matter how hard the
storm may blow outside.
♪
In such weather, the zone above
the tree line is a hostile place.
Roe deer and red deer
are seeking shelter
in the mountain forest.
But more and more
often in recent years,
they are not alone here.
♪
Wolves had almost
become extinct in the Alps
by the early 20th century.
About a century later,
their tracks in the
snow appeared again.
♪
For thousands of years, red deer
would migrate from the high Alps
down to the
floodplains of big rivers.
But their migration routes are
now cut off by roads and towns,
so they stay in the
mountain forest.
Covered in
water-repellent top hair
over a fluffy layer of wool,
they can deal with the cold.
It's the deep snow
that wears them down
and the lack of forage
forcing them to subsist
on a meager diet of
bark and branches.
Their bodies are now in
energy-conservation mode.
In this state, having
to flee from a threat
will critically tax
their reserves.
♪
For fast-flowing mountain
rivers to freeze over,
temperatures
must drop further...
and they will.
The deer limit their movements
to trampled paths between
resting and feeding areas
and nearby drinking places.
In contrast to deer, a wolf's
energy level stays high.
Blood circulation never slows.
Being much lighter than deer,
wolves do not sink into
deep snow as easily.
After generations
without wolves,
bears, and lynx in the Alps,
deer are beginning to learn
again about big predators.
For a deer, the extra
stress of a chase
lowers the chances
of surviving the winter.
Remote valleys of the Alps
have been abandoned by people
in recent decades.
Fortunate for red deer,
the new wilderness
offers alternative prey.
♪
♪
One particular species
has invited back the wolf.
♪
♪
A burly wild boar would
be too risky a quarry
for a single wolf.
But as a team,
the pack is confident it
can take on a single animal.
♪
♪
Poor judgment.
This individual
seems rather powerful.
Better to let it go.
♪
But somewhere, there's
always a ready meal.
Worn out by the
rut, the trials of winter
have proved too
much for an old stag.
♪
Winter is a hostile season.
Up among the peaks,
it never really ends.
The monumental Matterhorn
and the massive Mont
Blanc have featured
as the thrones of winter
in ancient Alpine lore.
♪
No matter how often the sun
has risen during past millennia,
so far it's never
thawed away the snow
on these iconic summits,
never stripped them of
their mantle of majesty.
However stunning
the snow-capped Alps
may appear from
distant lowlands,
to fully appreciate their glory,
their vastness, and complexity,
one must ride the
winds like an eagle.
♪
But the face of the
Alps is changing.
A thick new layer of
fresh winter snow veils
the rapid melt of what used
to be called "the eternal ice."
Over eons, at a glacial pace,
ice has been grinding
down the rocks.
Now a warming climate
bears down on the glaciers.
In their rapid demise,
winter is just a minor break.
♪
Even the harshest
winter has its balmy days.
The storm is over.
But other risks persist.
♪
Ptarmigans and hares
are now replacing marmots
on the eagle's menu.
♪
But the little animals in
their winter suits are lucky.
The eagle is distracted.
A huge bearded vulture
allows no stranger near his nest.
♪
Ignoring the sky, the youngsters
are caught up in a play-fight.
♪
In the eastern Alps,
tracks in the fresh snow
are evidence of chamois on their
way back up to the high ridges.
♪
The forest offered shelter
from the wind, but little food.
♪
The snow now lies deep.
♪
It's only on windswept hilltops
where some grazing
might be found.
♪
After a blizzard, the steep
lee side of a mountain
can turn into a hazard zone.
♪
The wind... The
architect of avalanches...
Has moved enormous
volumes of snow.
Along the edges, it
has piled up huge drifts.
Tons and tons of
wind-pressed snow
projecting from sheer cliffs
are a threat to every
living thing below.
♪
Impossible to say
when the spell will break.
♪
The speed and force of the white
death is beyond comprehension.
Heart-stopping violence
fades into peaceful silence.
♪
♪
A new sunrise...
An expression of
nature's indifference.
♪
The misfortune of some
is fortunate for others.
Ravens, as always, the first
to descend on a funeral feast.
A frozen chamois is
not exactly fast food,
yet the ravens must be quick
before the sovereign
claims his own.
♪
♪
Both ravens and eagles
depend on avalanche victims
to make it through the winter
and get ready for an
early breeding season.
♪
"Cleanliness is
next to godliness,"
the old saying goes.
And why not mix in
a little playfulness?
♪
When dense
fogs fill the valleys,
they give a vague impression
of an ice-age panorama
of the Alps some
20,000 years ago.
♪
Back then, only
the highest peaks
would protrude from the ice,
such as the Grossglockner,
Austria's highest mountain.
It's been the ice ages
that sculpted the rising Alps
and ground them down
to their present size.
♪
Where the ice has vanished,
grassland and woodland
has conquered the ground,
inviting new inhabitants.
♪
Europe's biggest cat.
The Eurasian lynx is
another revenant to the Alps,
after a century of absence.
The lynx is an
elusive, solitary hunter.
♪
Roe deer, abundant in Alpine
forests, are his preferred prey.
♪
Like most cats, the lynx
hunts by surprise, not chase.
♪
Between hunter and hunted,
it's a battle of the senses.
♪
Both animals pick
up the slightest sound,
the smallest movement.
♪
Cats can move
noiselessly, like ghosts.
♪
Success depends on getting
close enough for a surprise attack.
♪
♪
The frustration is shared.
The waters are
beginning to flow again.
The ice is gone.
Warm winds set off the snowmelt.
♪
Even under the snow,
the marmot's inner
clock is right on time.
♪
There's nothing
in these mountains
that would escape
an eagle's eye.
♪
High up, on a tiny ledge,
two delicate new
lives have just begun.
♪
As spring cascades towards
another Alpine summer,
thousands of parents will
again raise the next generation
of wildlife in 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 battleground
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.
This is the realm
of the golden eagle.
In Alpine lore,
the realm of winter.
♪
Arching across some 600
miles, this crumple zone
between converging plates rises
steadily from eastern lowlands
to Europe's highest pinnacle.
Major rivers rising
on the roof of Europe,
often separated by
narrow watersheds,
reach three different seas.
Eight nations share the Alps...
Three of them, their
highest mountain.
Monumental towers
guard the King of the Alps.
Dwarfing Europe's
ancient fortresses,
this martial architecture bears
witness to an age-old battle...
The elements against
a rising mass of rock.
♪
These ramparts are granite,
the rock that sets this mountain
apart from the rest of the Alps.
Looking east from its top,
a skyline of majestic,
yet lesser peaks.
To the west,
nothing but big skies.
♪
Mont Blanc...
The ancient
patriarch of the Alps,
the highest point.
Other parts of the Alps
were thrust together
from far and wide...
Stacked, folded,
and jumbled in the vise
of colliding continents.
But these granites rose
straight from the deep,
and they are still rising.
It may seem strange,
but glaciers
accelerate their rise.
In high valleys, the snowfall
of millennia accumulates.
Snow turns into solid ice,
but solid is not rigid.
Ice under pressure
begins to flow downhill.
As the valley widens and
the ice flows over edges,
it's stretched and torn.
♪
At the height of summer,
once the blanket
of snow is gone,
the sun can reach deep down.
For decades, summers
have been getting hotter,
with a new record
nearly every year.
Today, glaciers are melting.
But for eons, the
scraping, scouring, plucking,
and polishing action
of massive ice flows,
many times mightier
than those we see today,
have worn down the Alps.
Thousands of feet of
rock have been removed...
An enormous weight loss
enabling the Alps to rise.
♪
Below the glaciers
and above the tree line,
sprawling grasslands are
the summer resort of red deer.
But the summer is gone,
and the rut is all but over.
The stags are totally exhausted,
worn-out and bruised like
warriors returning from combat.
And combat it truly was.
Many hinds have gathered
on this rutting ground
and attracted many stags.
♪
Where strong stags
compete for females,
there are battles.
♪
For dominant stags
defending a harem,
that means relentless stress.
♪
After two weeks
of total exertion,
the stags stay on for a few more
quiet weeks to heal their wounds
and regain strength
to face the winter.
♪
♪
Clear frosty nights
and frigid morning mists
mark the change of the season.
In the skies, the
tide has turned.
From now on, the
northerlies prevail.
♪
Returning from a
reconnaissance flight,
the eagle has seen
all he needs to know.
♪
A marmot den is something
an eagle will remember,
even until next spring.
♪
Marmots are twice as
fat now as in the spring,
unlike stags, who've just lost
one-fifth of their body mass.
For half a year, these Alpine
rodents have stuffed themselves.
Now it's time to
make the den cozy
for a long winter underground.
To hold out six
months underground,
you want a comfy home.
♪
In this den, the male
prepares the bedding.
His mate supplies the hay.
Out there, it's risky.
But as long as the choughs
are watching, one can relax.
♪
A safe, well-furnished
den is a marmot's dream.
But it's not quite there yet.
More padding is wanted.
Even when the bed's perfect,
with a restless bedfellow,
a good rest is hard to get.
♪
Marmots have to
stay put all winter...
while the choughs can escape
to a milder sphere.
♪
Way below, at the
foot of the mountain,
autumn still has a few
short but sunny days in store
before winter arrives.
♪
Magically, overnight, maples
and larches have turned to gold.
♪
Rooted in the sediments
of an ancient ocean,
vertical forests now
shine in the brightest hues.
But soon, the scenery
will be monochrome.
♪
In hidden valleys
of the southern Alps,
a revenant has
been secretly about
for a few decades now.
The Slovenian, Italian,
and Austrian Alps
have seen the cautious,
gradual return of an old native
who had been missing from
almost the entire mountain range
for a century.
A brown bear mother and
her nearly grown-up cubs,
feeding on beechnuts.
They're getting
ready to hibernate
in a well-hidden cave...
Maybe together
for one last winter.
When ravens appear, it
may be taken for a sign.
Alerted, one of the
youngsters tests the wind.
The mother lets him take
the lead... a teaching moment.
That's what the ravens meant.
A stag, gored in the rut...
Something the cubs
have never seen before.
Warily, they explore.
But then, they really go at it.
Every extra pound on their ribs
will help to get
over the winter.
This might be the
family's last shared meal
before they go
their separate ways.
Ravens... early
birds at any carcass,
but they need big
predators to carve it up.
It's best to wait a while.
These wise birds know...
First come, first served
is not a natural right.
♪
The wind is getting
colder, sharper.
♪
A thousand mountain
streams have fallen silent.
♪
Warm hues of fall
belie the coming cold.
Glowing in the sunset, the
cold rocks of these famous peaks
conjure up memories of a
distant, much warmer past.
♪
A young eagle in search
of a territory of his own
explores the Southern
Limestone Alps
stretching across
Slovenia, Austria, and Italy.
The limestone of
Italy's Dolomites
has nothing in common with
the granites of Mont Blanc.
The Dolomites are
only half as high,
yet their breathtaking panoramas
can vie with any
icon of the Alps.
Erosion grinds its sculptures
down to what they once were...
Sand and silt in a
warm, shallow sea.
♪
Layer by layer, over more
than 200 million years,
skeletons of marine organisms
accumulated enormous
bodies of sediment
on the ocean floor.
Africa's collision with Europe
pressed them up into the sky.
Thus a tropical seafloor
became the habitat
of an ice-age remnant.
♪
Arctic or mountain hares
once inhabited the cold
plains of ice-age Europe.
When the climate turned warm,
they retreated
northward to the Arctic
and up to the higher
regions of the Alps.
Scandinavian and
Alpine populations
are now 1,200 miles apart.
Adapting their camouflage,
mountain hares change
their fur twice a year.
A few more weeks,
and their winter coats
will be as white as snow.
♪
Meanwhile, it's
best to stay alert
and near hiding places.
With marmots
already underground,
the eagle has set
his sights on hares.
An eagle's eye works
like a powerful zoom lens.
He can spot his prey
long before it can spot him.
♪
♪
A bungled stealth attack.
This eagle is still a rookie.
♪
A majestic rookie, by any means.
♪
The low sun dazzles the eyes.
But the moment it's hidden,
the cold breath of the
mountains makes the body shiver.
♪
Those who remain up
high and out in the open
must be well-prepared
for harsh days ahead.
Down in the valleys
below the fog,
it's now often colder
than on the high slopes.
Soon the bears will
have disappeared
into their winter dens.
Deer descend to their
winter quarters in the forest.
♪
Long before the first snowfall,
winter sends its harbingers.
♪
♪
Each night now, the temperature
plummets below freezing.
♪
The mirrors of a
thousand mountain lakes
will soon go blind.
♪
Up among the crags,
the snow is here to stay,
setting the stage for a
breathtaking spectacle.
Chamois don't fear the cold.
Quite the opposite...
After languishing in
humid summer heat,
they are now in their element.
On high slopes and crests,
the wind will sweep
away the snow
so that the chamois can
find grazing even in winter.
♪
One who has prudently
prepared for a long winter
is the spotted nutcracker,
having stashed thousands of
pine seeds in hundreds of deposits
in the ground
along the timberline.
The challenge is to find
these larders under the snow.
This takes nearly magic memory.
His bird brain has stored a
precise topographical map...
a 3-D map of a vast
and complex terrain,
which looks very different
now than it did in autumn.
Sometimes the
ground is frozen so hard
that the nutcracker cannot
get all the seeds he has buried.
These seeds will
sprout in spring,
thus the flying forester
rejuvenates the stock of pines
from which his own
species will profit
for centuries to come.
♪
Among the chamois,
the mood is tense.
Bucks and females are
now coming together.
It's all about the future
of their population.
Bucks spray their coats
with sperm and urine...
Personal perfume any
female will remember.
A secretion from glands at
the base of a buck's horns
marks his claim near the
female's stamping ground.
♪
Rivaling bucks tax each other.
♪
Each buck needs to decide...
Attack or retreat?
♪
Counterattack or
exhaust the opponent?
Anything but surrender.
♪
♪
♪
♪
♪
A performance, and a stage,
to take one's breath away.
♪
This is the sovereign airspace
of a pair of golden eagles.
♪
Over the years, they've built a
number of nests around here.
They do not breed each year,
but soon, there will be two
eggs in one of the nests.
Across the Alps, well
over 1,000 breeding pairs
are occupying all
the suitable territories.
Breeding success greatly depends
on how well a pair
gets through the winter.
♪
Golden eagles stay
together for life...
For three decades and more.
♪
♪
Being born up here
means being born to climb
and to flourish in
arctic conditions.
Each morning, the females
scramble up to the ridges
where the wind has cleared
away the snow and they can feed.
The bucks follow.
It's not an easy climb.
A film of frozen fog covers
these limestone rocks
in the southern Alps.
This is dangerous terrain.
In early winter, bucks
become obtrusive stalkers.
Every move she makes,
every step she takes,
a buck will be watching.
There's no liquid water up here,
yet ibex stay up
high all winter.
A gang of young bucks has
closed in on a female leading a kid.
With their tongues and a
special organ on their gums,
they taste the scent she emits,
which signals her
readiness to mate.
♪
She's the focus of attention,
but indifferent to
these youngsters.
♪
♪
♪
To be taken
seriously as a suitor,
a buck must be at
least 6 years old,
but it's rare that bucks under
9 or 10 years get to mate.
Two mature, strong bucks have
been standing back and watching.
One of these, she might choose.
But the choice is
often made by fate.
♪
He's out of the race...
for good.
A broken leg up
here means death.
♪
Fate and the weather
turn quickly in the Alps.
Within an hour, a
calm and sunny day
can turn into a
howling white inferno.
A humid southerly
from the Mediterranean
hitting the high ridges
can bring gale-force winds
and masses of snow.
♪
In an airborne life,
whims of the atmosphere
are not the only challenge.
Bearded vultures,
giants of the sky,
are claiming their
share of space.
♪
To avoid nasty weather from
any direction, ibex and chamois
try to be in the right
place at the right time.
Mountain hares let
the wind work for them,
exploiting snow
drifts for shelter.
In the same way,
ptarmigans will calmly
sit out any storm for days.
Not even an eagle
can see them now.
For the golden eagle...
Neither an arctic nor a
high-mountain species...
These are hard times.
Six feet under is the perfect
place to truly rest in peace.
Marmots cozy up as
families to keep warm.
The temperature inside
the den decreases gradually
from 60 degrees in
autumn to freezing in spring.
The animals also lower
their body temperature
down to about 40 degrees plus.
They survive on their body's
storage of fat and water.
♪
With thick layers of
snow and soil on top,
the entrance to their
extensive den securely blocked,
the marmot is nature's
paragon of bunker mentality.
There's not the
slightest draft down here,
no matter how hard the
storm may blow outside.
♪
In such weather, the zone above
the tree line is a hostile place.
Roe deer and red deer
are seeking shelter
in the mountain forest.
But more and more
often in recent years,
they are not alone here.
♪
Wolves had almost
become extinct in the Alps
by the early 20th century.
About a century later,
their tracks in the
snow appeared again.
♪
For thousands of years, red deer
would migrate from the high Alps
down to the
floodplains of big rivers.
But their migration routes are
now cut off by roads and towns,
so they stay in the
mountain forest.
Covered in
water-repellent top hair
over a fluffy layer of wool,
they can deal with the cold.
It's the deep snow
that wears them down
and the lack of forage
forcing them to subsist
on a meager diet of
bark and branches.
Their bodies are now in
energy-conservation mode.
In this state, having
to flee from a threat
will critically tax
their reserves.
♪
For fast-flowing mountain
rivers to freeze over,
temperatures
must drop further...
and they will.
The deer limit their movements
to trampled paths between
resting and feeding areas
and nearby drinking places.
In contrast to deer, a wolf's
energy level stays high.
Blood circulation never slows.
Being much lighter than deer,
wolves do not sink into
deep snow as easily.
After generations
without wolves,
bears, and lynx in the Alps,
deer are beginning to learn
again about big predators.
For a deer, the extra
stress of a chase
lowers the chances
of surviving the winter.
Remote valleys of the Alps
have been abandoned by people
in recent decades.
Fortunate for red deer,
the new wilderness
offers alternative prey.
♪
♪
One particular species
has invited back the wolf.
♪
♪
A burly wild boar would
be too risky a quarry
for a single wolf.
But as a team,
the pack is confident it
can take on a single animal.
♪
♪
Poor judgment.
This individual
seems rather powerful.
Better to let it go.
♪
But somewhere, there's
always a ready meal.
Worn out by the
rut, the trials of winter
have proved too
much for an old stag.
♪
Winter is a hostile season.
Up among the peaks,
it never really ends.
The monumental Matterhorn
and the massive Mont
Blanc have featured
as the thrones of winter
in ancient Alpine lore.
♪
No matter how often the sun
has risen during past millennia,
so far it's never
thawed away the snow
on these iconic summits,
never stripped them of
their mantle of majesty.
However stunning
the snow-capped Alps
may appear from
distant lowlands,
to fully appreciate their glory,
their vastness, and complexity,
one must ride the
winds like an eagle.
♪
But the face of the
Alps is changing.
A thick new layer of
fresh winter snow veils
the rapid melt of what used
to be called "the eternal ice."
Over eons, at a glacial pace,
ice has been grinding
down the rocks.
Now a warming climate
bears down on the glaciers.
In their rapid demise,
winter is just a minor break.
♪
Even the harshest
winter has its balmy days.
The storm is over.
But other risks persist.
♪
Ptarmigans and hares
are now replacing marmots
on the eagle's menu.
♪
But the little animals in
their winter suits are lucky.
The eagle is distracted.
A huge bearded vulture
allows no stranger near his nest.
♪
Ignoring the sky, the youngsters
are caught up in a play-fight.
♪
In the eastern Alps,
tracks in the fresh snow
are evidence of chamois on their
way back up to the high ridges.
♪
The forest offered shelter
from the wind, but little food.
♪
The snow now lies deep.
♪
It's only on windswept hilltops
where some grazing
might be found.
♪
After a blizzard, the steep
lee side of a mountain
can turn into a hazard zone.
♪
The wind... The
architect of avalanches...
Has moved enormous
volumes of snow.
Along the edges, it
has piled up huge drifts.
Tons and tons of
wind-pressed snow
projecting from sheer cliffs
are a threat to every
living thing below.
♪
Impossible to say
when the spell will break.
♪
The speed and force of the white
death is beyond comprehension.
Heart-stopping violence
fades into peaceful silence.
♪
♪
A new sunrise...
An expression of
nature's indifference.
♪
The misfortune of some
is fortunate for others.
Ravens, as always, the first
to descend on a funeral feast.
A frozen chamois is
not exactly fast food,
yet the ravens must be quick
before the sovereign
claims his own.
♪
♪
Both ravens and eagles
depend on avalanche victims
to make it through the winter
and get ready for an
early breeding season.
♪
"Cleanliness is
next to godliness,"
the old saying goes.
And why not mix in
a little playfulness?
♪
When dense
fogs fill the valleys,
they give a vague impression
of an ice-age panorama
of the Alps some
20,000 years ago.
♪
Back then, only
the highest peaks
would protrude from the ice,
such as the Grossglockner,
Austria's highest mountain.
It's been the ice ages
that sculpted the rising Alps
and ground them down
to their present size.
♪
Where the ice has vanished,
grassland and woodland
has conquered the ground,
inviting new inhabitants.
♪
Europe's biggest cat.
The Eurasian lynx is
another revenant to the Alps,
after a century of absence.
The lynx is an
elusive, solitary hunter.
♪
Roe deer, abundant in Alpine
forests, are his preferred prey.
♪
Like most cats, the lynx
hunts by surprise, not chase.
♪
Between hunter and hunted,
it's a battle of the senses.
♪
Both animals pick
up the slightest sound,
the smallest movement.
♪
Cats can move
noiselessly, like ghosts.
♪
Success depends on getting
close enough for a surprise attack.
♪
♪
The frustration is shared.
The waters are
beginning to flow again.
The ice is gone.
Warm winds set off the snowmelt.
♪
Even under the snow,
the marmot's inner
clock is right on time.
♪
There's nothing
in these mountains
that would escape
an eagle's eye.
♪
High up, on a tiny ledge,
two delicate new
lives have just begun.
♪
As spring cascades towards
another Alpine summer,
thousands of parents will
again raise the next generation
of wildlife in the Alps.
♪
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