Original subtitles

(dramatic violin tones, drumbeat)

- [Narrator] No animals fascinate like snakes.

(dramatic up tempo drumbeat)

Terrifying to some,

exquisite to others.

Elegant

and in danger.

Born to hunt

yet so vulnerable.

(dramatic violin tones, chanting)

(relaxed violin music)

Late winter.

The snow has grown damp and heavy.

Most of the animals have

survived the cold months quite well.

Soon the white ermine will change its color to brown.

South-facing slopes are already nearly bare.

Those who succumbed to the cold and snow

slowly appear, insects for example.

The snow also reveals other fragile forms.

A snakeskin discarded last autumn.

But where is the snake itself?

Where did it disappear to when

snow and ice covered the earth?

(relaxed violin, guitar tones)

Snakes spend the winter in

frost-free cavities in the ground.

Their body energy is reduced to a minimum.

In this brumation, they can just keep alive.

(bird cawing)

The power of the spring sun changes everything

until the snakes drowsily abandon their refuge.

(relaxed violin, electronic tones)

Its first winter over, a young Aesculapian snake

directs its attention to the spring butterflies.

They don't count as prey but they're

the first lifeforms it's seen in six months.

And soon there's much more to see.

(light chimes)

More and more snakes also appear

with the rising temperatures to sunbathe.

The harmless grass snake is the most common snake in Europe.

It's recognized by the two yellow

markings on the back of its head.

After its winter rest, it's not just looking for warmth.

Sometimes spring sees the phenomenon

of mass mating when 50 or more gather.

They'll spend the rest of the year alone.

Spring is also the time to encounter the slow worm.

It looks like a snake but only at first glance.

It has eyelids

and that makes it a lizard.

(relaxed piano tones, light drumbeat)

Snakes eyes by contrast are lidless

and covered by a transparent scale.

That's what gives them the snake-like stare.

So if it blinks, it's not a snake.

A subtle but important difference.

Even today there's a great deal of ignorance about snakes.

Their permanently darting tongues are not

a sign of aggression, it's their way of smelling.

(relaxed guitar tones)

Older molecules are drawn from the air

and evaluated by a special organ in the roof of the mouth.

Their darting tongues lead them to their prey.

It even works underwater.

The growing intensity of the spring sun

quickly warms the upper levels of the lake.

The swimming season has started for the grass snake.

(birds chirping)

A grass snake can grow to nearly two meters,

moving with extreme elegance in the liquid element.

The search for amphibian prey

may mean swimming hundreds of meters.

No shortage of frogs and toads

in the tangled vegetation along the shore.

Toads are perfect-sized prey

but this one has a bright signal cover.

Toads and grass snakes don't exactly live in harmony

but the snake is indecisive.

It may look like the toad is giving up

but in fact it's displaying its warning colors.

To the grass snake that means I'm inedible, move on.

And when the snake is out of range, the toad takes off too.

Another predator is in and out

of the water, a European otter.

It eats fish, crabs, mussels, amphibians

and snakes.

Otters are superb divers.

(anxious violin music)

A gently gliding grass snake has no chance.

(ominous piano tone)

The snake has no defense.

The scent gland meant to frighten off smaller

attackers only seems to make the otter's meal more tasty.

It devours it whole,

every little piece.

(relaxed guitar, piano music)

Snakes have conquered nearly every habitat in Europe.

One climbs to great heights.

Spotted in treetops at 20 meters or more,

the Aesculapian snake.

It's not poisonous and a true survival specialist.

(birds chirping, cawing)

Its greatest skill

is climbing trees.

(relaxed piano music)

As if gravity didn't exist,

it glides higher and higher in a vertical line

by jamming the edge of its

belly scales into any irregularity

and snaking its way continuously up the trunk.

At dizzying heights it seeks out

an undisturbed place in the sun.

The northernmost habitat of the Aesculapian snake

takes in southern Germany, the Czech Republic,

Slovakia and Austria.

At over two meters, it's one of the largest

snakes in Europe and it's harmless to humans.

About 2,000 years ago, the species was given

a boost by the Roman city of Carnuntum near Vienna

when more Aesculapian snakes were brought from

the Mediterranean and released in Carnuntum.

(dramatic trumpet music)

The snake was welcome for religious reasons.

It was dedicated to the Roman God Aesculapius

and was itself considered divine.

Even today it symbolizes

the healing arts by physicians and pharmacists.

But the Romans didn't just bring the Aesculapian to Austria,

they also brought domestic rats

that hadn't been known here until then.

Proximity to humans gave them refuge

and plenty of food and they multiplied rapidly.

(anxious violin music)

Aesculapian snakes almost became domesticated

thanks to the permanent offering of rats.

(anxious violin tones, drumbeat)

In Roman times the Aesculapian was

highly appreciated as a pest controller.

Some things change over time.

2,000 years later, Aesculapian snakes are

still seen in gardens in Vienna and lower Austria.

These gardens are rarely full of mice or rats.

But another potential prey, birds and their young are often

found in larger numbers here than in forests or meadows.

(birds chirping)

The goldfinch is possible prey for an Aesculapian snake.

(relaxed guitar, violin tones)

But this climbing snake is drawn by a different odor trail,

a tit box.

If its occupied, that's the end of the brood.

If not, it'll be a good overnight shelter.

(relaxed guitar, violin music)

Where there are no nestings, an Aesculapian

snake will also be satisfied with a clutch of eggs.

(ominous violin tones)

Its lower jaw is so flexible

that it can swallow the eggs whole.

Some species of snake can be found in large numbers

at the end of the spring in piles of leaves and vegetation.

In such exposed areas they're not seeking

food but suitable locations for their offspring.

Three central European snake species don't give birth

to live young, they lay eggs in decomposing vegetation.

Snake eggs don't have hard shells like bird's eggs.

Their surfaces appear leathery and have indentations.

Female grass snakes lay 10 to 50 eggs.

Snakes don't brood the eggs themselves,

the heat of rotting vegetation does it for them.

(relaxed violin music)

Central European landscapes reach

from the lowlands to the highlands.

One species of snake has adapted to the higher climates.

It's found in the foothills of

the Alps between 1,000 and 2,000 meters.

It loves the harsh mountain climate.

A snake wreathed in myth and legend,

the adder

or common viper,

a contemporary of the mammoth

that has survived to the present day.

The vertical pupil of the viper family is its most

distinctive feature and vipers are poisonous.

On the back of the head, there's often a V or X shape

and a dark zig-zag ribbon along its back.

The females are mostly brown to copper

colored while the males are more of a gray color.

But even among hundreds of animals,

no two share exactly the same coloring.

Their tail always ends in a short tip.

In the cool alpine climate,

mating often first takes place in May.

(relaxed violin, guitar music)

The smaller males besiege

the females and perform mating dances.

The whole process can take several hours.

For centuries there have been stubborn rumors

that a highly dangerous poisonous snake

lives in remote mountain regions.

Immediately recognizable for everyone,

it's black as midnight,

the black common viper.

They exist but they're neither

a separate species nor especially dangerous.

They are completely black common vipers

that every now and then appear.

In effect the opposite of an albino

and like every common viper,

they have an appetite for mice.

(rustling)

(anxious electronic tones)

Two hollow teeth like injecting

needles are located in the upper jaw.

They're supplied by poison glands in the head.

(anxious violin, piano music)

The poison targets the vascular system.

The mouse dies within minutes.

Only then will the snake claim its prey.

(relaxed piano, flute music)

Common vipers rarely grow longer than 60 to 70 centimeters.

They can become angry if they're

approached too closely and feel threatened.

Deer leave the mountain forests to graze in green pastures,

the preferred sunbathing area of the common viper.

(anxious light chimes)

Snakes have neither an outer ear

nor an eardrum and therefore hear poorly.

Their inner ear is sensitive to

the vibrations caused by larger mammals.

(anxious drumbeat)

A snake's first instinct is to flee.

But when a common viper feels crowded

and the unsuspecting deer continues to advance,

a step too far can lead to doom.

A defensive bite injects less poison

than a hunting attack but this is a young deer.

After just an hour, it loses its balance

and it crashes to the ground.

(somber violin music)

The poison has caused internal

bleeding and damaged critical organs.

In some cases, a viper's bite can result in death.

But no human has died from the bite

of a common viper since the 1960s.

Hedgehogs make their home in many different

habitats including those shared with common vipers.

As well as alpine uplands,

common vipers also like hilly moorland.

They've adapted to the damper climate over millennia.

(low anxious violin, electronic tones)

When a common viper encounters a hedgehog,

the snake doesn't stand a chance.

Hedgehogs are passionate insectivores

but they won't slink at a poisonous snake.

Their spines are perfect protection.

(snake hissing)

(dramatic violin music, drumbeat)

It's only a matter of time before the exhausted

common viper loses the life-or-death struggle.

The bobby cotton-grass meadows hide a doppelganger

of the common viper, the harmless smooth snake.

(relaxed guitar music)

A closer look reveals the difference.

While common vipers have vertical pupils,

a smooth snake's pupils are always round.

It may not be poisonous but it is unusual.

Smooth snakes hunt lizards and other snakes.

If it meets a common viper, the viper's life is in danger.

But this one's too big.

(wings buzzing)

The smooth snake stops.

(anxious violin tones)

It coils 'round its victim to strangle it.

The mini-anaconda only lets go

when it's suffocated the lizard

and it can drag it away.

(relaxed piano, violin music)

A summer dawn over the warmest alpine lake,

Carinthia's Worthersee.

Snake Island was named for its elongated shape

but like its neighbor, Capuchin Island,

it's a perfect habitat for the dice snake.

(birds chirping)

It's harmless to humans and a habitat specialist.

It can swim and dive exceptionally well,

remaining underwater for an hour or more.

(anxious chimes, violin tones)

Dice snakes prefer to hunt small fish.

They lurk at the bottom of

the lake and snap at passing prey.

(anxious chimes, violin tones)

If the tidbit is too big to devour immediately,

the dice snake brings its prey onto land.

(anxious trumpet, violin tones)

This snake can be found throughout

Europe when the conditions are right.

Above all it needs unpolluted waters

like here in the Worthersee

or natural flowing streams with unreconstructed banks

like the Kamp in northern Austria,

one of the few rivers that remains unregulated.

The dice snake hides on a gravel bank,

warming up between dives.

Then it returns to the flowing waters.

(up tempo electronic tones)

Although the dice snake is rarely

longer than one meter, it's extremely powerful.

Once it has a grip, it won't let go of this one.

Like all snakes it isn't able to

dismember its prey, so it devours it whole.

Thanks to its extremely flexible jaw,

it can swallow relatively plump fish.

It then wrenches its mouth back into shape.

In 2009 the dice snake was named Endangered

Reptile of the Year and that still applies today.

It only survives where there is clean, clear water.

The dice snake has laid up to 25 eggs

in rotting vegetation near its hunting grounds.

The heat of decomposition will

hatch the clutch of eggs after 10 weeks.

The leathery shell is perforated from within.

It can take minutes or several hours

for the young snakes to struggle out of the eggshell.

(relaxed violin music)

The birth process of these reptiles

hasn't changed for millions of years.

(relaxed flute, violin music)

The little snakes are perfectly developed

from the first moment and still carry their yolk sac,

which they'll lose in the next two days.

Tangles of young grass snakes are found until midsummer.

Once they make their way to the surface,

each goes its own way.

Frog spawn has long since transformed into tadpoles.

In cool mountain areas they develop

slowly and can still be found in August.

The table is set for the young grass snakes.

They don't need to learn to hunt, they're born to.

(anxious violin tones, drumbeat)

Tadpoles are the ideal prey for snakes

that are hardly longer than 10 centimeters.

The young grass snakes seem insatiable

but when they can't find food,

they may need to fast for several weeks.

It's not unusual for several young

snakes to fish in the same pond.

There are lighter and darker versions

of grass snakes but the behavior is the same,

eat as much as you can.

Time for a rest after a good meal.

That applies to all snakes because they digest slowly.

(anxious up tempo drumbeat)

However, the slow and the inattentive live dangerously.

Of the large number of grass snakes that

hatch every year, only a fraction survive.

Ravenous hunters are everywhere.

(light anxious electronic tones)

A praying mantis can overwhelm young grass snakes.

The mantis will devour the reptile

right down to the last scale.

Relatively soon after birth, young snakes have milky eyes.

This is not due to an illness but is

part of a cycle that recurs throughout their lives.

In order to grow,

they must shed their skin at regular intervals.

This usually happens in one piece.

The transparent eye scale is also shed

and headfirst, the snake peels off the parchment-like skin.

It tangles itself in vegetation to create friction

and rolls off the old skin like a glove turned inside out.

(relaxed piano, violin music)

The slough remains, a thin shell of scales.

Like snakes,

black storks avoid humans.

Quite unlike their white relatives,

they brood hidden deep in forests.

Freshly molted young Aesculapian

snakes live in the same habitat.

Black storks have excellent eyesight and hunt

all kinds of small creatures in forests and meadows.

Young Aesculapian snakes look a lot like grass snakes.

The black stork isn't choosy.

Its massive bill can cope with large prey

and at one meter tall, it's a dangerous predator.

(anxious violin tones)

By late summer, there are large numbers of young snakes.

The black stork has no problem finding them.

(up tempo drumbeat)

Her bill has sharp edges to go with its sharp tip.

The shaking breaks the snake's vertebrae and ribs.

The stork takes its time,

making sure the snake is truly dead before it swallows.

(relaxed violin music)

The black stork can't endanger the Aesculapian

snakes as a species, it's much too rare for that.

(up tempo electronic tones)

Summer has passed its peak.

In the alpine foothills the signs are all there.

Plants like the corn lily

or monkshood.

The adder now bears 15 young that haven't

hatched from eggs but are born fully developed.

The important thing now is to

spread out and find suitable living space.

The lack of suitable habitats means that

some snakes are becoming rarer throughout Europe.

Some are now only found in tiny areas

limited to a few square kilometers.

One of these nature islands is Carinthia's

Gaea Valley in Austria at the foot of the Dorpache mountain.

This almost impossible area has been battered by rockfalls.

(mysterious chimes)

In places it looks as though a giant

has strewn boulders around like pebbles.

Hard to believe a landscape like

this could attract much animal life.

(relaxed chimes, violin music)

And yet one of the largest and most

poisonous snakes in Europe lives in this region,

the nose-horned viper,

also called the sand viper.

The scaled horn on the tip of

its snout makes it unmistakable.

It's found in the Balkans, Bulgaria and Greece

and anywhere between South Tyrol and Turkey.

(birds chirping)

(anxious violin music)

Like all vipers, it has two poison fangs in its upper jaw.

Its bite is more dangerous than the common

viper's but deaths are still extremely rare.

The last one in Austria was around 70 years ago.

The poison works quickly on rats and mice.

The nose-horned viper is perfectly

camouflaged in its rocky surroundings

but its popular name of sand viper is inaccurate,

it's never found on sand.

The dark zig-zag band on its back is especially pronounced.

The male, larger than the female,

can grow to more than a meter.

Males and females are often so different

in coloring, they look like different species.

The females are mostly brown to copper colored,

the males more ash to dark gray.

Dusk in this wild area

of rockfalls in southern Carinthia.

The giant rocks release the stored heat of the day,

best conditions for warmth-loving reptiles.

Nose-horned vipers are active at twilight.

(anxious violin music)

They don't lay eggs

but instead give birth to live young.

The climate in mountain regions

would be too harsh for clutches of eggs.

Live birth is better for the survival of the species.

The young are still in their

amniotic sac when they're born.

But after only a few hours they become

quite lively and already resemble the adult snakes.

Nose-horned vipers can give

birth to up to 20 young per litter.

That seems a lot but only one or two will survive to breed.

The fight for survival is tough for young snakes.

The future of this majestic species is more than uncertain.

Their tiny remaining habitats are

isolated islands and could disappear in time.

(relaxed violin, flute music)

From Austria's alpine regions

to the Kanonian lowlands close to Hungary,

this region is home to very special flora and fauna

that have adapted to the aquatic world and the swamps.

A mysterious little snake settled in the water meadows.

(relaxed guitar, violin music)

It wasn't described by science until 1897,

Orsini's viper.

But hardly had it been documented,

then it was threatened with extinction.

Within 80 years it was gone.

The last photos in the wild were taken 50 years ago.

The last half century

has changed the ecosystem dramatically.

(relaxed guitar music)

Like here at the border between Austria and Hungary.

(relaxed violin, guitar music)

Orsini's vipers have gone from here

and though the Neusiedler-See National Park

does all it can to protect flora and fauna,

Orsini's viper has become a phantom.

But kilometers beyond the Austrian border in Hungary,

we still find the smallest

and rarest poisonous snake is Europe.

(birds chirping)

From the tip of its snout to the end of its tail,

Orsini's viper measures no more than 35 to 50 centimeters.

It's never found in the forest,

specializing in open water meadows and grassy steppes.

Orsini's viper ignores other snakes' prey,

they're much too big.

It hunts insects like crickets and grasshoppers.

(relaxed electronic tones, drumbeat)

The green bush cricket is relatively safe in the bushes.

Orsini's vipers don't climb trees.

(relaxed ensemble tones)

The wart-biter however is definitely within range.

(anxious violin tones)

Once again the insect is swallowed whole.

(tense violin tones, chanting)

Sadly, Orsini's vipers have disappeared

almost everywhere in Europe,

the result of persecution and habitat loss.

(relaxed violin music)

Autumn in Austria, the colors change within weeks.

The days grow shorter and temperatures drop,

a profound change for snakes that above all need warmth.

As the insects collect the last pollen and nectar,

the active phase for Aesculapian snakes is ending too.

(birds chirping)

The final beautiful days of autumn.

(relaxed piano music)

The sun gives its all one last time

but the power of late summer has long since waned.

(relaxed guitar, flute music)

One last sunbath for an Aesculapian snake

but the falling leaves disturb its peace.

With the evening fog, the temperature sinks to zero.

High time for snakes to find frost-free quarters

or they won't survive the winter.

(relaxed ensemble music, light chimes)

Some abandoned mouse nests will be

comfortable snake villas over the winter.

Layers of autumn leaves provide perfect insulation

no matter how cold and frosty it gets outside.

When winter comes to Europe,

all the snakes have long been at rest.

Only occasionally does an empty slough

recall their mysterious lives.

(dramatic violin music, drumbeat)