Original subtitles

(light music)

You have the feeling you're by yourself

in the forest and you have the strange sensation

you're not alone.

Your heart starts pounding and then, a squirrel.

The forest is the original home of this little creature

who makes every walk through the woods an adventure.

Lively, nimble-footed squirrels enchant young

and old alike.

But what makes them different?

What's their secret recipe?

Let yourself be enchanted by the secret life

of squirrels and their fascinating characters.

(light music)

In a mixed forest somewhere in central Europe,

far above our heads something magical is taking place.

A squirrel is becoming a mother.

Like she does every spring, the female has built

her nest in a protected tree trunk and has cushioned it

with moss.

The baby is born feet first.

It's her third.

Another one will follow.

A female can have up to six young in one litter.

The big wide world awaits four baby squirrels.

And their world looks something like this,

at least from a squirrel's eye view.

Squirrels have conquered almost the entire earth.

Maybe 280 different species live on four continents.

Only Australia and Antarctica are squirrel free.

The differences between them are as far apart

as their ranges.

(light music)

Fall in North America.

It's not only leaves that fall from the trees

but also acorns.

It's harvest time and it's raining food.

This is a job for chipmunks.

This is just what they've been waiting for.

Chipmunks are probably the best known relatives

of our native European squirrel and the sound

of falling acorns brings them up to speed.

Now begins the time of abundance.

There's food all over the forest just waiting

to be collected.

But there's no time to hesitate since snow

will soon cover everything.

Chipmunks can't build up fat reserves

so they have to squirrel away as many nuts as possible

for their hibernation.

Every acorn is tested for its preservability

and makes it way into the big elastic cheek pouches.

There's room in there for up to seven nuts.

This saves running around and with so much energy at that.

Countless trips are needed to fill up

such an underground cache.

(light music)

The chipmunks hustle and bustle don't go unnoticed for long.

His neighbor collects leaves for a cozy sleeping chamber.

That takes time away from nut gathering.

But why go long distances?

The coast is clear.

(suspenseful music)

Leaves in, nuts out.

A good exchange.

Open doors make thieves of squirrels too.

But woe to those who are caught.

The underground nut stores are life insurance

for chipmunks.

Without them they couldn't survive the harsh winter.

That's why the fun is over when it comes to nuts.

(suspenseful music)

Chipmunks are solitary creatures.

Normally they'd ignore one another.

For other kinds of squirrels, cooperation

with others is essential to survival.

(light music)

On the treeless North American prairie,

little mounds of earth are within site

and hearing of one another.

Prairie dogs are communication experts.

Their calls roll across the endless plain

like an acoustic Mexican wave.

The guards confirm their vigilance with each other

so individuals in the colony can go about

their favorite business undeterred.

For instance, digging.

Or just sparring with a member of the family.

Despite their name, prairie dogs are not dogs

but get their names from their dog-like barking.

Yet this isn't just meaningless yelping.

It's a language.

Prairie dogs have developed an individual warning call

for each enemy, which everybody understands.

They have to keep the grass short so they can see

potential intruders.

It's the only way they can keep an overview.

Prairie dogs are rarely alone.

Though the grassland looks deserted at first,

unannounced visitors could always come by.

That's why every prairie dweller is kept

careful track of.

(squeaking)

If the squirrel guard spies a robber,

he gives off an individual warning call.

(squeaking)

And automatically sets off the appropriate

flight measures within the colony.

The whistle sounds monotonous to the human ear.

Yet to the prairie dog it's unmistakable.

The sounds are so specific that the ground squirrels

know exactly that they're dealing with a coyote,

how far away it is, and which direction it's coming from.

(suspenseful music)

A danger foreseen is a danger avoided.

The better prairie dogs communicate with each other,

the better their chance for survival.

(squeaking)

A journey to the other side of the earth takes us

to a very different world.

(light music)

Extensive tea plantations and thick evergreen woodlands.

We're in southwest India.

(light music)

An area that despite all the people still shelters

unique wildlife, like the lion-tailed macaque,

one of the rarest primates in the world.

(monkey squawking)

A very special relative of our squirrel lives here,

the Indian giant squirrel.

Big as a monkey, it's a Goliath among squirrels.

They live only in the treetops of the Indian rainforest

and almost never need to frequent the ground.

Their walkways are the canopies.

(monkey squawking)

Lion-tailed macaque's only a bit bigger

than the giant squirrels, share the canopies with them.

But encounters between the two are not

necessarily desirable.

A narrow squirrel road 20 meters off the ground.

The squirrel doesn't give way voluntarily.

They each have only one goal.

Giant overripe jackfruit.

These heavy fruits weighing up to 30 kilograms

hang on tree trunks shortly before the rainy season.

The forest is permeated by their smell.

The giant squirrel effortlessly gnaws the hard shell open

to get to the nutritious sticky fruit.

For a short period of time, jackfruit are the main source

of food for many forest dwellers.

(light music)

The best fruits are the hardest to reach.

(light music)

How nice would it be to have a fruit that's already open

like this one.

(suspenseful music)

Much better.

But the giant squirrel is not considering retreat.

The Indian forest in June is full of fruit

and yet they both got their eye on just

this one specimen.

Partly peeled ones are particularly highly prized.

Neither wants to clear the field.

(suspenseful music)

Following some back and forth, the monkey finally gives up.

No pain, no gain.

He'll have to crack his next fruit himself.

The giant squirrel's tenacity has paid off,

another character trait that has helped

all his cousins on their triumphal march through the world.

Things are peaceful in our Eurasian red squirrel's tree.

The young have grown quickly and at nearly six weeks,

they already look like real squirrels.

It's starting to get crowded in there.

(upbeat music)

Scuffles among the siblings can't be avoided

in such a small place.

(upbeat music)

The young squirrels playfully test their agility

and jumping power, improve their physical condition

and develop their motor skills.

Soon they'll leave the nest on their own

and will have to prove their prowess as tree acrobats.

(light music)

Mid winter in the far north of America.

Freezing cold and darkness are too extreme

for many animals.

And so they migrate south.

(whimsical music)

Yet there's secret life in this northern winter night.

(whimsical music)

As one of the few nocturnal squirrels, these little

tree dwellers must stay permanently in motion

so that they don't freeze.

Lichens, tree fungi and small seeds are their only sources

of energy at these latitudes.

(owl hooting)

Despite this extreme cold, these animals don't hibernate.

They stay awake scurrying like miniature goblins

up and down the tree trunks throughout the night.

The trees that provide them with food are mostly set apart

and the path across the snowy ground consumes

far too much energy.

And it's dangerous.

But how to reach a goal that's outside squirrel

jumping distance, with a special trick.

A powerful jump and a flying squirrel sails

through the night.

A tiny flying carpet in the wintry forest.

At nearly 30 kilometers per hour, flying squirrels

glide up to 80 meters through the night

aiming directly for food sources that are far apart.

(owls hooting)

(upbeat music)

This special ability allows them to cover a lot of ground

with a minimum of effort.

And they're one of the few mammals to have conquered

air space.

(upbeat music)

A fascinating evolutionary leap for our squirrel family.

Which wouldn't work at all in the desert of Arizona.

No flying squirrel would survive even one landing

on forms like these.

(light music)

During the day, temperatures in the Sonoran Desert

can reach over 45 degrees Celsius.

The air burns and most desert dwellers spend the day

in the shade.

The coast is clear for a heat-loving squirrel.

The Harris's antelope squirrel really gets going

when the going gets hot.

It can withstand temperatures of over 40 degrees,

actually life-threatening for such a little mammal.

But his inner clock tells him when a heat stroke threatens

and he has to seek shade to cool off.

His cousin, the round tailed ground squirrel

doesn't leave his shadowy spot at all at mid day

just to be safe.

Cacti are nutritious but they know how

to protect themselves from hungry mouths.

Their thorny covering keeps enemies at a distance.

But not the antelope squirrel.

Centimeter long spikes are no hindrance to them.

At least, not a major one.

(light music)

Like a (mumbles), the squirrel approaches the tangled thorns

to reach the upper chutes.

(light music)

On the ground floor, things are more tranquil.

The round tailed ground squirrel only dares

to go out briefly into the harsh sunlight

then cools off in the shade.

As it does, its body temperature quickly falls

to a bearable level.

It's even harder to get past the thorns unscathed

when you're upside down.

Antelope squirrels are very skillful climbers.

But how they survive running the gauntlet like this

without being injured remains their secret.

The squirrel hurries relentlessly from cactus to cactus.

Its neighbor in the shade has a different strategy

and this is, don't jump the gun and stay cool

relaxing in a sand bath.

But he always keeps his eye on the (mumbles) squirrel.

(suspenseful music)

The decisive moment approaches at the spiky peak

of the cactus.

The reward for all the climbing are the energy-rich seeds

in the chutes of the cholla cactus.

There are only dried branches down below, unless.

(upbeat music)

Now the shading squirrel gets his money's worth.

Delicacies like this would otherwise be out

of his reach.

Two strategies, the same reward.

Squirrels are inventive, especially when it comes to food.

(light music)

15,000 kilometers from Arizona lies the South African

Kalahari Desert.

A relatively large amount of rain falls here.

So calling this a desert is not intrinsically accurate.

(light music)

Meerkats benefit from the rainfall

which causes the landscape to turn green regularly

and the ground to swarm with insects.

The Kalahari is a dry savanna.

After every downpour, grass sprouts from the dry ground.

But the chutes have no chance to grow longer

than 10 centimeters here.

An entire armada of large and small grazers

make sure of that.

(light music)

Cape ground squirrels also feast immediately

on the green chutes.

It's not long before the South African sun

burns mercilessly down again.

It's good to have that built-in sunshade.

Cape ground squirrels are born with a standard

sun protection.

When they look for food in the blazing sun,

they hold their bushy tails over their bodies

like umbrellas creating shade for themselves.

This allows them to keep a cool head

during the heat of the day.

These squirrels live in colonies.

After the rain there's a circus of food

so there's enough time for social contact

and party games.

The colonies visit each other and play boisterously

across the green savanna.

(upbeat music)

(suspenseful music)

So much activity has lured the cape cobra

from its hiding place.

The snake has its eye on the young squirrels

in the burrows.

It's bite could be deadly.

But the cape ground squirrel doesn't run.

Quite the opposite.

It gets in the way of the cobra.

Like a protective shield, it holds its tail

in front of its body.

The squirrel seems bigger irritating the snake.

The combatants are soon discovered.

All the squirrels in the colony come to the rescue.

A dance of life and death begins.

(suspenseful music)

The cobra is surrounded.

Its bites are ineffective.

The snake gave up long ago.

It's time for the final attack.

The tide has turned.

The attacker is now the target.

(snake hissing)

And hurries off into the distance.

Not one of its bites has hit its target.

With courage, team spirit and a multifunctional tool,

cape ground squirrels withstand the dangers

in the Kalahari.

Their tail also plays a big role in the lives

of our Eurasian red squirrels.

Like a rudder, it helps the flying acrobats

to keep their balance.

And when they take breakneck leaps off trunks

and branches, their tails maintain their equilibrium.

Their body is perfectly adapted to life

in the treetops.

(upbeat music)

The squirrel is one of the most accomplished climbers

among mammals.

(light music)

(water splashing)

As perfectly as they may climb, they dislike

going into water.

Now it could do with some good advice.

It's worth a try.

Careful.

(light music)

The nut is too far from the shore.

The squirrel needs a different tactic.

Maybe from above.

Foiled again.

One more time, raccoon style.

Now using only one hand, the nut slides back

into the depths again.

Even though sparrow hawks don't hunt squirrels,

this visit could not be more unwelcome.

The little raptor is in the move to swim

and take things slowly.

First she takes her time checking the situation.

The squirrel is excited.

But the first thing to do is keep distance

just to make sure.

Onward, the nut has not been forgotten.

The path to the goal has been determined.

Where were we again?

And now two for the price of one.

But one slips.

A last final attempt.

The raccoon method brings success.

This squirrel has learned to get at nuts

that nobody else can find.

On the other end of the northern hemisphere

a squirrel has also tapped into an unusual food source.

(light music)

Every summer millions of salmon swim along the coast

of southwest Alaska.

Fish plays a central role for all northern wildlife

as it does for grizzlies.

The bears eat almost only fish for weeks at a time.

(birds squawking)

(bear grunting and splashing)

Much to the delight of the arctic ground squirrels

which are otherwise also on the bear's menu.

But when the salmon are migrating, they have

nothing to fear.

The grizzlies often eat only the filet pieces

and leave the rest.

Still the squirrels have to be alert.

Summer is the time of abundance in the far north.

Friend and foe are constantly out and about.

The fox smells something in the wind.

But he's choosy.

This fish is probably already too old.

(upbeat music)

But the salmon is just right for the squirrel.

It's a lot of fish for a little squirrel.

But the younger generation are on their feet

right nearby.

(upbeat music)

And one of them is always hungry.

The young animal has never seen a fish.

He doesn't seem too convinced.

Mother squirrel must first show junior

the right opening.

After a hesitant sampling, the young squirrel

quickly develops a taste for it

and discovers the grizzly in himself.

The feast is discovered and the second offspring

doesn't hesitate for long.

Food envy sets in and the two of them finally

take turns satisfying their ravenous hunger.

(upbeat music)

Where food is rare, you can't afford to be picky,

a principle that safeguards the survival

of many squirrel species in baron landscapes.

(light music)

Several thousand kilometers further south

along the west coast of California,

the hills of the back country are lined

with old oak trees.

There's food here in abundance.

For specialists.

Acorn woodpeckers live in large family groups

of up to a dozen.

As their name indicates, they specialize

in harvesting acorns.

Each acorn is flow individually to a central spot

in the territory.

The granary tree.

Winter food supplies are stored over generations

in such a tree.

(light music)

Over the years, the woodpeckers have pecked away thousands

of little holes into the trunk and filled them

with acorns.

The size and shape of the openings are trimmed

to the precise size of the acorns.

But not every acorn fits into every hole.

(bird knocking)

The birds are being watched.

For California ground squirrels, a storage tree

full of nuts like this is a table set for dining.

But it's not so easy.

(dramatic music)

The woodpeckers have stationed a guard.

For now the intruder is kept off.

But a squirrel doesn't give up quite so easily.

Wait for a moment until the woodpecker is distracted and go.

(dramatic music)

The coast is still clear.

It's time to get down to business.

(dramatic music)

Again, nothing.

The woodpecker can quickly get rid of the traces

of the attack.

Now it's time to wait and look as innocent as possible.

The next attempt starts in the woodpecker's blind spot.

The guard hasn't spotted the squirrel.

(suspenseful music)

No rash movements.

(suspenseful music)

The tactic pays off.

Quickly fill your cheeks before the woodpecker notices.

Don't lose your cool now.

(dramatic music and birds squawking)

All you can do now is bear the pain, close your eyes

and hope for the best.

Made it.

Thick fur also protects you from sharp beaks.

A little cheeky, a little painful,

but somehow you pulled through.

(light music)

The Alps.

The meadows above the treeline are the home of marmots.

They too are squirrels.

Alpine marmots spend the summer days literally

fattening themselves.

The alpine pastures are their land of milk and honey.

Good provisions are necessary, for here there will

soon be meter-high snow.

(light music)

The most valuable tidbits are defended vehemently.

(dramatic music)

Layers of fat are good for the winter.

But it does mean you get out of breath easily.

Marmots don't like heat.

Their comfort zone is the cool mountain region.

They have few sweat glands and have a hard time

getting rid of stored body heat.

Marmots live close together so there are

often skirmishes.

Then the slow-paced alpine residents turn

into bear-like sumo wrestlers.

(suspenseful music)

They bite, scuffle and shove.

If one starts, a pack quickly forms

and then everyone fights each other.

The opponents try to knock each other over

with targeted attacks.

With marmots as with real sumo wrestlers,

big is beautiful.

(dramatic music)

A heavier dead weight has advantages when you're wrestling.

Strength and agility take care of the rest.

Fit and fat.

For marmots, these attributes are not at odds

with each other.

The squirrels of the world are as different

as they can be.

But they all have one thing in common,

astonishing adaptability.

Some of it is hereditary.

But much of it is learned or simply tried out.

They learn about danger and how to find things

that are edible early on from their mothers.

But later too, they're clever and quick to learn.

When the time comes to find new feeding grounds,

they're second to none.

They are true survival artists.

Their shrewdness and cleverness are legendary.

Squirrels have become one of the most successful animal

families and live almost all over the world today.

(upbeat music)

Our Eurasian squirrels have also found new territories

though they quickly reach their limits.

Time to dare one last mighty jump into the world of people,

into our cities.

The asphalt jungle doesn't look like the optimal

living space at first but squirrels are no

big city neurotics.

They take urban life from the practical side.

And certainly appreciate being close to us humans.

This is based on reciprocity.

The little fellows are very popular in the nature poor

world of big cities.

More and more people set up feeding sites

to have the comical vagrants nearby.

(light music)

Today squirrels have gotten used to life

in the city.

They are even less stressed than their fellows

outside town despite the continuous disruptions

and street noise.

The city offers them plenty of food

because where there are people, there is always food.

And who knows, maybe their adaptability will soon lead

to the evolution of a new ultra relaxed

big city squirrel.

At any rate, they're always full of surprises.

(light music)