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Europe.
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Home to 850 million people.
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This is a continent
that has been transformed by humanity.
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It is a crowded world.
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But not all of it.
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There are still precious areas
of wilderness
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and, living within them,
some very surprising animals.
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Forest once covered 80% of Europe.
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Now only half of it remains.
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A brown bear.
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One of only 1,500 that are left
in Finland's forests.
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Her cubs have recently emerged
from their nursery den.
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The long summer days
means there's plenty of time for play.
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With two boisterous cubs...
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...it pays to rest, whenever you can.
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But their mother must be on her guard.
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The cubs have spotted something.
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A large male, looking for a mate.
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The cubs aren't his.
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So he might try to kill them.
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Bear cubs are excellent climbers.
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And now they're beyond his reach,
15 metres up.
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Their mother warns him
to keep his distance.
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But the cubs are coming down too soon.
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She can't take any chances.
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That was a close call.
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Finland's forests give us a glimpse
of what Europe was once like.
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A land of endless wilderness,
where large animals roamed far and wide.
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In the north, the continent extends
beyond the Arctic Circle.
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Here, the skies are illuminated
by the aurora borealis,
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the northern lights.
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Trillions of charged particles,
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ejected by electric storms on the sun,
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react with the Earth's atmosphere
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to create
this surreal nocturnal spectacle.
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But by day, this is a barren land.
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The Dovrefjell mountains of Norway.
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One of the last refuges
for an animal that once lived
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all across northern Europe.
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The musk ox.
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This bull is in his prime.
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He protects the herd
and fathers all the calves.
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His is a greatly sought-after rank...
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...and that means that,
in the mating season,
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he has to deal with rivals.
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And here is one.
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Raking the ground is a warning
to other males to keep away.
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But some ignore it.
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He now has no choice
but to defend his crown.
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The challenger attacks.
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Each male weighs nearly half a tonne.
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These clashes are usually short
and intense,
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but not this time.
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As his family looks on, neither gives in.
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The bull will need to draw
on all his experience.
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But he's beginning to lose ground.
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Now he's broadsided.
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If he's defeated,
he will lose all his females.
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With one final effort,
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the bull pushes the challenger
back up the hill.
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It's over.
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The old bull successfully defended
his rights as head of the family.
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And the challenger has to return
to a lonely life for another year.
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One of Europe's last remaining areas
of wilderness lies at its heart.
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A mountain range spanning
750 miles across eight countries.
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The Alps.
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Europe's mountain ranges
may be inhospitable,
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but wildlife has shared this terrain
with people for centuries.
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It's dusk in the mountain villages
of Abruzzo, in central Italy.
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And deep in the surrounding woods,
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thermal imaging cameras reveal
the continent's most elusive predators.
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Wolves.
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Right on the edge of the village.
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It's midwinter,
and food is hard to come by.
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This pack may not have fed for a week.
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They can travel many miles in a night,
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searching for prey.
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Red deer.
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It's pitch-black.
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Perfect conditions for an ambush.
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But even so...
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...the odds are stacked
against the wolves.
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One wrong footstep,
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and they have lost
the advantage of surprise.
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The deer scatter
right across the mountainside.
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And to make matters worse,
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the hunt is interrupted.
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The deer are now high up the mountain.
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But the wolves use the road
to travel faster and in silence.
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They manage to get above the herd.
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Now they make their move.
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The pack needs to single out one animal.
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A wolf is more nimble in thick woodland,
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but a deer can run faster on open ground.
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Once they're close,
the pack drive the deer
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straight down the mountain.
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And now it's more likely to stumble.
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In this case, the icy road proves fatal.
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But the commotion has attracted sheepdogs
from the nearby village.
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They have been bred to protect livestock
by chasing away wolves.
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With the kill lost to the sheepdogs,
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the wolves will go hungry
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for yet another night.
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Today, much of Europe's wildlife
has to live alongside people.
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The most adaptable can be found
in our towns and cities.
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Gibraltar, right on the southern tip
of the continent.
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Home to Europe's only monkeys.
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Barbary macaques.
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Four family troops live here.
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In macaque society,
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there is a strict hierarchy,
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and status within it is inherited.
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This female has just given birth
to her first baby.
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She is at the bottom of the pecking order.
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So her son is, too.
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They're bullied constantly...
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...and forced to live
on the fringes of the troop.
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As outcasts,
their only comfort is each other.
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He's been snatched,
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stolen by a higher-ranking female.
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She is childless,
and she wants a baby of her own.
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He's only a few metres away...
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...but if his mother approaches,
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the rest of the troop
could well attack her.
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The kidnapper
has never raised a baby before,
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so this one is in danger.
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They're headed
towards a cable car tower.
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The young mother can't let them
out of her sight.
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They're 30 metres up.
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If she tries to grab her baby and fails,
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he could fall to his death.
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The kidnapper refuses
to surrender him.
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There's one last thing a mother can try,
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and to do it
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she needs to recruit another macaque.
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Now the mother begins to groom
her companion
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in full view of the kidnapper.
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All monkeys love to be groomed,
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even by a low-ranking female.
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It's the basis for peace
in macaque society.
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Eventually, the urge to join in
is just too strong.
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The kidnap is over.
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And the youngster can climb
back into his mother's arms.
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There are pockets of wilderness
even in Europe's cities.
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Green oases among the urban sprawl.
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Vienna, in Austria, has over 2,000 parks,
gardens and cemeteries.
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And down in the undergrowth,
a rather unusual resident.
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A European hamster.
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Wild hamsters are found in grasslands
throughout central Europe.
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Here, in the city,
they're doing extremely well.
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This male is on a mission to find food,
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and he's set his sights
on one thing in particular.
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Fresh flowers.
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To survive the winter,
hamsters must fatten up.
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So there's no time to waste.
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The only problem - these flowers
are in someone else's patch.
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Graveside bouquets are worth fighting for.
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The winner gets to keep the territory
and all the food within it.
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The loser has to beat a hasty retreat.
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But the lure of fresh petals
is just too much.
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Plan B.
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Stealth mode.
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The coast looks clear.
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But best not take any chances.
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The trick is to get in and out
before you're caught.
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And now... dessert.
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Candle wax -
it's full of oil and high in calories.
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A hamster's cheeks can hold
a quarter of its body weight.
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Just one more mouthful.
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Oh, dear.
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Big cheeks and narrow bottlenecks -
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how very embarrassing.
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Mission accomplished.
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Europe's landscape
has changed dramatically,
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but its temperate climate
is still good for wildlife.
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The continent has warm summers...
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...and mild winters.
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These conditions are a consequence
of its position on the globe...
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...and the influence of the Gulf Stream.
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This current of warm water
in the Atlantic Ocean heats the air
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that then flows over the land.
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And every year, Europe's unique climate
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helps trigger an extraordinary
natural event.
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The Tisza River, in Hungary.
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For a few days in June,
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when day length
and water temperature are just right...
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...the largest of all mayflies emerge.
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After three years of feeding
and growing on the riverbed,
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the males appear first.
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With new wings,
they can fly to the river bank
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and there undergo a final moult.
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Now sexually mature,
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they have just one purpose in life -
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to find a female.
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Each male has only three hours to live.
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And now the females begin to emerge
on the surface of the river.
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The males scour the water surface,
searching for them...
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...each desperate to be the one
that fertilises her eggs.
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Every female is pounced on
as soon as she appears.
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With only minutes left
for each male to live,
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the competition becomes
increasingly urgent.
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And all too soon, the males' time is up.
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All of them die.
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But the females' journey
has only just begun.
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Now that they've mated,
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they start to fly upstream
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and continue for as much as three miles.
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At the height of the hatch,
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there may be as many
as ten million insects on the wing.
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Exhausted,
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the females now collapse
and rain down onto the water's surface.
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And as they hit it,
each releases thousands of eggs.
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As the eggs slowly sink,
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they drift downstream,
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so that by the time
each reaches the riverbed,
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it will be in exactly the same spot
that its parents emerged.
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Just hours
after the first mayflies appeared,
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this great eruption of life is over.
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Europe's extensive waterways
are a haven for wildlife.
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One of the richest of its wetlands
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lies on the edge of the Black Sea,
in Romania.
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The delta of the Danube River.
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Migrating birds are drawn here
from as far away as central Africa
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and Asia.
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Great white pelicans.
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Every summer, three quarters
of the world's population
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flock to the delta.
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They've flown thousands of miles
to get here,
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and they will spend the summer
feasting on the delta's riches.
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To find the best fishing,
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they take to the air.
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From half a mile up,
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they search the entire delta,
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200 miles across.
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They can't see individual fish
from this height,
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so instead they look for others below
that have already done so.
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Cormorants.
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They are diving deep
to reach the biggest shoals,
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flushing them to the surface.
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A couple of pelicans land...
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...and others soon home in on them.
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The pelicans don't join the feast
directly.
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They mug the diners.
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This brutal tactic enables each pelican
to catch many more fish,
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more quickly than it would do
if it worked by itself.
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Once the shoals of fish
have been plundered and dispersed,
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the cormorants make their escape.
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And the pelican pirates fly off
in search of their next meal.
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Water has shaped Europe's landscape
in another way.
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There is a vast wilderness lying
within the rocks of the continent.
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Caves.
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Over 12,000 have been discovered
in Slovenia's Karst region alone.
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Each has been eroded by water
over millions of years...
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...and shaped drip... by drip.
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The largest cavern is over 15 miles long,
256
00:41:16,521 --> 00:41:19,481
and there are certainly many more
still to be discovered.
257
00:41:32,721 --> 00:41:38,641
Down here live some of the most
specialised animals on the planet.
258
00:41:43,321 --> 00:41:48,521
New species of them are discovered
in Europe's caves every year.
259
00:41:56,321 --> 00:42:00,441
This is a world
that still holds many secrets.
260
00:42:08,321 --> 00:42:10,241
In the deepest pools
261
00:42:10,361 --> 00:42:15,641
lurk animals that were once believed
to be baby dragons.
262
00:42:36,121 --> 00:42:40,081
They have feathery gills
which enable them to breathe underwater,
263
00:42:40,201 --> 00:42:41,641
as well as on land.
264
00:42:46,001 --> 00:42:48,041
They are olms.
265
00:42:54,801 --> 00:42:57,601
They're completely blind,
266
00:42:57,721 --> 00:43:01,241
but sensory pits around the mouth
enable them to detect
267
00:43:01,361 --> 00:43:05,481
the faint electrical currents
emitted by their prey.
268
00:43:07,681 --> 00:43:11,641
Food of any kind down here
is hard to come by.
269
00:43:13,321 --> 00:43:17,841
But an olm can go without a meal
for a decade...
270
00:43:17,961 --> 00:43:20,281
...and live for a century.
271
00:43:29,561 --> 00:43:34,161
The olms' world has remained
virtually unchanged for millennia.
272
00:43:36,881 --> 00:43:42,081
Above, however,
Europe has altered beyond recognition.
273
00:43:47,521 --> 00:43:53,201
Its landscape has been transformed
by humans.
274
00:43:55,201 --> 00:44:00,961
Protected wilderness now covers
less than 4% of its surface.
275
00:44:02,961 --> 00:44:07,601
The disappearance of wilderness
has had catastrophic consequences
276
00:44:07,721 --> 00:44:09,081
for wildlife.
277
00:44:15,121 --> 00:44:19,601
One fifth of Europe's animals
are now under threat.
278
00:44:27,321 --> 00:44:30,561
Some teeter right on the brink
of extinction.
279
00:44:34,961 --> 00:44:37,081
The Iberian lynx.
280
00:44:40,441 --> 00:44:43,601
One of the world's most endangered cats.
281
00:44:47,361 --> 00:44:50,041
In less than two decades,
282
00:44:50,161 --> 00:44:54,561
the lynx population decreased
by nearly 90%.
283
00:44:58,241 --> 00:44:59,721
At one point,
284
00:44:59,841 --> 00:45:03,881
there were fewer than 100 individuals.
285
00:45:19,161 --> 00:45:21,281
Today, their last stronghold
286
00:45:21,401 --> 00:45:26,601
is in the mountains of
the Sierra de Andujar, in southern Spain.
287
00:45:29,521 --> 00:45:34,481
Here, a natural park was created
to help protect the lynx.
288
00:45:40,321 --> 00:45:43,841
Only 25 miles across, it is small.
289
00:45:47,361 --> 00:45:51,241
But for this male, it's just enough.
290
00:46:05,481 --> 00:46:07,561
He's lived here all his life.
291
00:46:10,481 --> 00:46:17,201
At ten years old, he's reached
a remarkable age for a wild lynx.
292
00:46:25,161 --> 00:46:29,681
Once persecuted, he's now protected.
293
00:46:42,521 --> 00:46:47,761
For this old male,
and Europe's entire lynx population,
294
00:46:47,881 --> 00:46:51,521
this could be the beginning
of a new chapter.
295
00:47:00,201 --> 00:47:01,921
In this year alone,
296
00:47:02,041 --> 00:47:05,561
nearly 200 kittens have been born,
297
00:47:05,681 --> 00:47:10,481
and the population has risen to over 700.
298
00:47:16,481 --> 00:47:19,401
But the fate of the Iberian lynx,
299
00:47:19,521 --> 00:47:22,521
and indeed of all Europe's wildlife,
300
00:47:22,641 --> 00:47:25,081
is far from certain.
301
00:47:27,241 --> 00:47:30,961
The continent has now been so changed
by humanity
302
00:47:31,081 --> 00:47:35,441
that many of its animal species
are under threat.
303
00:47:38,801 --> 00:47:43,441
Only by protecting
the few wildernesses that remain
304
00:47:43,561 --> 00:47:47,321
and creating new wild spaces
305
00:47:47,441 --> 00:47:52,521
can we ensure a future
for Europe's precious wildlife.
306
00:48:11,001 --> 00:48:14,721
Europe's predators are rare and elusive...
307
00:48:17,561 --> 00:48:21,801
...and none more so
than the Iberian lynx...
308
00:48:23,441 --> 00:48:25,001
...and the grey wolf
309
00:48:26,841 --> 00:48:29,361
Just finding them can be difficult...
310
00:48:29,481 --> 00:48:32,481
It's completely pitch-black now.
311
00:48:35,361 --> 00:48:36,881
...let alone filming them.
312
00:48:37,001 --> 00:48:42,281
We are packing up the kit... again,
cos it's raining... again.
313
00:48:43,761 --> 00:48:47,001
Two crews set off
to different countries...
314
00:48:49,001 --> 00:48:52,041
...armed with different technology,
315
00:48:52,161 --> 00:48:55,961
but united by a single mission.
316
00:48:59,561 --> 00:49:04,801
One team travelled to the heart
of the Apennine Mountains in Italy,
317
00:49:04,921 --> 00:49:07,961
where wolf sightings had been reported.
318
00:49:16,201 --> 00:49:19,121
Using the latest thermal camera,
319
00:49:19,241 --> 00:49:22,761
the team will be able to film the wolves
in the darkness,
320
00:49:22,881 --> 00:49:24,641
when they're most active.
321
00:49:27,561 --> 00:49:29,601
This is quite a beast of a camera,
322
00:49:29,721 --> 00:49:32,601
but it can see way into the distance.
323
00:49:32,721 --> 00:49:37,681
So if anything warm-blooded appears
on the landscape, I'll see it for sure.
324
00:49:38,921 --> 00:49:41,801
We just need
that little stroke of luck now.
325
00:49:43,201 --> 00:49:45,881
But luck is not on their side.
326
00:49:48,081 --> 00:49:49,721
Whoo!
327
00:49:49,841 --> 00:49:52,601
Hold on to your horses,
328
00:49:52,721 --> 00:49:55,841
it's blowing an absolute hoolie out there.
329
00:49:55,961 --> 00:50:00,081
I think this hide is just going to
literally blow off the mountain.
330
00:50:02,281 --> 00:50:06,561
In Spain, the lynx team
are taking a different approach.
331
00:50:08,921 --> 00:50:12,921
Camera traps, and lots of them.
332
00:50:13,041 --> 00:50:15,521
So we've got one camera here,
333
00:50:15,641 --> 00:50:18,441
one camera hidden in the olive groves here
334
00:50:18,561 --> 00:50:20,841
and one camera,
which you might just be able to see,
335
00:50:20,961 --> 00:50:24,041
hidden in the olive groves there.
336
00:50:26,761 --> 00:50:31,001
The crew rigs remote cameras
wherever the lynx are known to roam...
337
00:50:35,121 --> 00:50:39,161
...including
some surprisingly busy locations.
338
00:50:40,881 --> 00:50:43,041
We've been told
that they use these underpasses
339
00:50:43,161 --> 00:50:45,241
to get underneath this massive motorway,
340
00:50:45,361 --> 00:50:48,361
so we're going to work out
where to put our cameras
341
00:50:48,481 --> 00:50:52,241
and hopefully capture them moving
around this urban environment.
342
00:50:52,361 --> 00:50:54,441
To record enough footage,
343
00:50:54,561 --> 00:50:59,601
the cameras will need to be left
in the field for six months.
344
00:50:59,721 --> 00:51:04,841
With the last one set,
the long wait begins.
345
00:51:09,201 --> 00:51:12,361
In the mountains of Italy,
346
00:51:12,481 --> 00:51:14,761
the weather has improved,
347
00:51:14,881 --> 00:51:16,401
but that is all.
348
00:51:17,681 --> 00:51:20,161
So we're about halfway
through the shoot now,
349
00:51:20,281 --> 00:51:22,001
and we don't know where the wolves are.
350
00:51:22,121 --> 00:51:25,481
I'm pretty gutted.
351
00:51:25,601 --> 00:51:27,801
Going to have to just stay here
through the night, scanning
352
00:51:27,921 --> 00:51:28,961
with the thermal camera
353
00:51:29,081 --> 00:51:33,361
and hoping that some wolves
appear on the landscape.
354
00:51:33,481 --> 00:51:35,601
It's really difficult
when nothing's happening.
355
00:51:39,881 --> 00:51:44,481
But finally, a promising lead
in an unexpected location.
356
00:51:47,321 --> 00:51:50,401
We got a report last night
that there was a wolf kill on the road,
357
00:51:50,521 --> 00:51:53,401
so, you know,
we've been going into the wilderness
358
00:51:53,521 --> 00:51:55,401
to try and find wolves,
359
00:51:55,521 --> 00:51:58,841
when actually they've just been
on our doorstep in the village.
360
00:52:00,281 --> 00:52:04,041
The wolf must have chased the deer
from there, and it tried to jump.
361
00:52:04,161 --> 00:52:06,761
But it... it got stuck here
because of all the... all the fur.
362
00:52:06,881 --> 00:52:08,281
You see, also there is some...
363
00:52:08,401 --> 00:52:11,081
...also some... some wolf fur here.
364
00:52:11,201 --> 00:52:12,721
I mean, it's the best signs
365
00:52:12,841 --> 00:52:15,481
of wolf activity
we've seen since we've been here.
366
00:52:15,601 --> 00:52:18,801
I just wouldn't have thought
it would have been in the village
367
00:52:18,921 --> 00:52:22,401
when there's so many miles
of wilderness, the mountains.
368
00:52:23,481 --> 00:52:25,081
Yeah, we're changing strategy.
369
00:52:25,201 --> 00:52:27,561
Um, I've moved the camera teams
370
00:52:27,681 --> 00:52:30,641
to a car park
above the village where we're staying,
371
00:52:30,761 --> 00:52:34,241
which... I can't even quite believe
I'm saying that, but, uh,
372
00:52:34,361 --> 00:52:36,041
hopefully it will pay off.
373
00:52:38,881 --> 00:52:44,201
Time to move the operation
to the edge of the village.
374
00:52:52,121 --> 00:52:55,401
We're just a stone's throw
from that village full of people.
375
00:52:55,521 --> 00:52:58,321
I can... I can hear a wolf howling
just over there,
376
00:52:58,441 --> 00:52:59,601
so I'm hurrying to set the camera up,
377
00:52:59,721 --> 00:53:02,401
cos I'm pretty sure we're going to see
some wolves quite soon.
378
00:53:08,241 --> 00:53:13,361
We have got nine European wild wolves
379
00:53:13,481 --> 00:53:16,601
howling down there in the valley.
380
00:53:16,721 --> 00:53:18,521
Unbelievable.
381
00:53:20,441 --> 00:53:24,001
Who'd have thought that you'd have
that many wolves so close to the road?
382
00:53:24,121 --> 00:53:25,721
There's cars passing just beneath me.
383
00:53:27,401 --> 00:53:29,441
It's just beautiful.
384
00:53:31,561 --> 00:53:33,561
For the lynx team in Spain,
385
00:53:33,681 --> 00:53:37,121
things are taking a turn for the worse.
386
00:53:39,201 --> 00:53:43,481
We've just come down to discover
our camera traps are not weatherproof.
387
00:53:43,601 --> 00:53:46,721
All the electronics and the circuit boards
are starting to act up,
388
00:53:46,841 --> 00:53:48,681
so we're having to rip everything out
389
00:53:48,801 --> 00:53:50,881
and we'll have to see what's going on.
390
00:53:54,321 --> 00:53:55,721
The weather's been so bad,
391
00:53:55,841 --> 00:53:58,121
there's so much rain coming down
from the mountain.
392
00:54:04,521 --> 00:54:10,001
The only option is to bring
all the cameras back to base.
393
00:54:10,121 --> 00:54:12,641
I'm hooking it up, drying it out,
394
00:54:12,761 --> 00:54:15,361
finding out where water's getting in
and sealing it.
395
00:54:15,481 --> 00:54:20,441
With ten camera traps to fix,
the crew workaround the clock
396
00:54:20,561 --> 00:54:23,961
until the last one is ready.
397
00:54:24,081 --> 00:54:26,881
It looks like we're good to go.
398
00:54:28,321 --> 00:54:33,521
But the team can't re-rig the cameras
while it's still raining.
399
00:54:35,481 --> 00:54:39,521
And the weather shows no sign
of improving.
400
00:54:40,641 --> 00:54:44,041
We really want to find these lynx,
but without...
401
00:54:44,161 --> 00:54:47,201
...without a couple of dry days
to set the kit up,
402
00:54:47,321 --> 00:54:49,761
we're... we're up against it now.
403
00:54:52,841 --> 00:54:55,521
All we can do is wait, I guess.
404
00:55:02,241 --> 00:55:07,281
Eventually, the rains pass
and the crew set up the camera traps.
405
00:55:07,401 --> 00:55:08,721
This is the last one.
406
00:55:08,841 --> 00:55:11,921
I'm going to close it up, and then
we're going to leave it for a month.
407
00:55:12,041 --> 00:55:15,761
It feels really fitting to be ending
on a really lovely sunny day
408
00:55:15,881 --> 00:55:17,881
with everything working perfectly.
409
00:55:18,001 --> 00:55:21,481
So I'm feeling quite confident
and positive.
410
00:55:21,601 --> 00:55:24,761
Hopefully,
this will get us some lynx shots.
411
00:55:29,521 --> 00:55:33,601
In Italy, the thermal camera
is allowing the team
412
00:55:33,721 --> 00:55:39,041
to reveal, for the first time,
the secret lives of Europe's wolves.
413
00:55:41,241 --> 00:55:46,721
And it appears that they live much closer
to home than anyone thought.
414
00:55:46,841 --> 00:55:49,841
They're just so close to the road.
415
00:55:49,961 --> 00:55:52,281
You've got the village
up in the background,
416
00:55:52,401 --> 00:55:53,681
and I can see the houses.
417
00:55:53,801 --> 00:55:58,481
There's people sleeping all around,
and yet they're so confident,
418
00:55:58,601 --> 00:56:03,161
so confident, they're undisturbed by,
uh, all the humanity that's around them.
419
00:56:07,561 --> 00:56:11,681
It's just amazing to me
that they know how to stay out of sight
420
00:56:11,801 --> 00:56:14,241
but be so close to humanity.
421
00:56:15,361 --> 00:56:17,561
They just have this night shift.
422
00:56:17,681 --> 00:56:19,401
And then they just meld away
into the shadows.
423
00:56:21,881 --> 00:56:26,761
And it's not just the wolf team
making surprising discoveries.
424
00:56:28,201 --> 00:56:33,521
Camera trap footage reveals
how confident the Iberian lynx is,
425
00:56:33,641 --> 00:56:35,521
living alongside people.
426
00:56:38,481 --> 00:56:43,401
And towards the end of the trip,
the team have a memorable encounter.
427
00:56:43,521 --> 00:56:46,561
We've just woken up
from staying in the house,
428
00:56:46,681 --> 00:56:48,081
and we've had a visitor overnight.
429
00:56:49,641 --> 00:56:56,081
To see a wild lynx up this close
is, yeah, completely amazing.
430
00:56:56,201 --> 00:56:59,801
It was a surprising revelation
for both teams
431
00:56:59,921 --> 00:57:03,081
to find the continent's
most elusive predators
432
00:57:03,201 --> 00:57:05,081
living right alongside us.
433
00:57:12,361 --> 00:57:13,641
Next time...
434
00:57:14,881 --> 00:57:17,161
...a land of constant change...
435
00:57:19,001 --> 00:57:23,841
...where pioneering animals
make the most of every opportunity.
436
00:57:28,881 --> 00:57:31,121
North America.