Croatia's Secret Animal Paradise | Free Documentary Nature

a picturesque region in the Balkans packed with strange customs Birds eat with spoons horses go bathing and a big mouth goes swimming in the woods in the middle of Croatia there is an abundance of water the unpredictable waters of the Sava know no restrictions and create an amphibian world flooded for months at a time the wetlands are home to swarms of young creatures like the ugly ducklings piggyback chicks and builders busy grooming themselves in the floodplains large birds catch fish and large fish catch bird here people live with the water as was usual in many parts of Europe centuries ago at a time when rivers could meander as they pleased [Music] an ancient cultural landscape in which many domesticated animals can wander freely all year round like the deer in the forests and the beavers in the water that landscape shows us today what flood protection can mean [Music] the most plentiful tributary of the Danube has its headwaters in the julian alps of slovenia fed from glaciers snow and ice one of its stems has its source in the foothills of mount airy bluff this is where the Sava river begins its over 940 kilometer journey emerald-green Springs produce crystal-clear groundwater like miniature volcanoes before it got this far it trickled down underground through the mountains it's still winter up here everything is sheathed in ice even lake behind where the two stems of the Sava join forces still has a coating of ice from here the Sava continues as a tumbling mountain torrent towards the Danube and the Black Sea to save energy in this gushing river the trout and speckled trout aim into the current despite the bitter cold of the winter many parts of the Sava remain ice-free where it becomes shallower it freezes over from the banks towards the center but the fast flowing current will not permit the ice to cover the surface completely mountain streams like this are the preferred hunting ground of a rather special bird the white throated dipper relies on the streams not freezing over completely in the winter it doesn't just dip its head into the water to hunt for antha ponds or insect larvae [Music] the Dipper is the only songbird that can swim and can dive for up to 30 seconds [Music] it even takes a dive into the gushing Sava where a Danube salmon has already caught its lunch but is having difficulty swallowing it there was a time when this predatory fish that grows up to 1.8 metres in length was ubiquitous throughout the Danube area today the Danube salmon is less frequent it needs fast flowing well oxygenated rivers with plenty of gravel to breed in in many places those rivers have been dammed with barges and lock systems this is why the untamed Sava is a crucial retreat for the Danube salmon the Sava is still passing through mountainous country but soon the gradient becomes less obvious and the river completely changes its character as it passes through Slovenia Croatia Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia the lively mountain stream from the eastern Alps becomes a leisurely meandering river that joins the Danube at Belgrade halfway along southeast of Zagreb it snakes through flat plans with only the slightest gradient here in paws Avena lies the long scope Auliya nature reserves in one of the last contiguous River landscapes in Europe [Music] [Applause] in the cold winter many of the side arms of the Safa wetlands are frozen to a large extent in the Balkans the summer is much warmer than in Central Europe but the winter can be very hard there are not many sections of this tranquil stretch of water that stay free of ice [Music] they're only superficially frozen and many of the fish spend the winter here [Music] as do the great white heron they may look exotic but they can deal with extremely frosty temperatures since they don't only live off fish they don't have to migrate when the waters freeze over they find enough mice and other small animals under the snow and this fox is hoping his lock is in today [Music] the open sections of the Sava are a center of attraction for many mute swans the largest waterfowl in Europe get social during the winter sometimes dozens of them will congregate around the unfrozen arms of the river in places like this no movement in the water will go unnoticed by the white and grey herons after all it might be a fish and in these temperatures every calorie is precious and worth an argument [Music] and this wild boar does not want to be left out so he goes over to sort the harems out and disappears into the extensive forests of the Sava wetlands the Nature Reserve is not only home to centuries-old Slavonia oak whose particularly durable wood is highly sought-after for furniture and wine barrels it's also where the best ham is domiciled so the saying goes the winter resistant chirrup olia pigs with their layer of fat up to 15 centimetres thick live here all year round and root around in the woods looking for acorns during the Balkan war at the beginning of the 1990s this ancient species of animal was nearly made extinct but the robust original Europe aalia's are an essential source of genetic material for pig breeding fortunately it was possible to save them and with them the traditional grassland farming by the sava an ancient cultural bio diverse landscape artificial canals cut their way through the wetlands but the neatly felled trees were not the work of humans fresh tracks indicate that they're still active even in the cold season beavers do not hibernate these large rodents have to eat regularly they've stocked their underwater ladders for difficult times [Music] but wherever possible they prefer to save their energy and eat fresh bark even if the way to the next snack is a little slippery even the Magpies can take a slide now that it's slowly beginning to thaw some small tip bits are becoming accessible the great bitten likes to stalk along the edge of the reeds where there are often breaks in the ice looking for unmoving fish while Magpies as omnivores can survive in the cold season by feeding on vegetarian meals the great bitten needs its meat dishes then spring comes and in the Julian Alps where the Sava has its source everything is thawing water from the massive catchment area tumbles over the cliffs one great torrent is making its way in the paws of ena plane the water masses build up the entire Sava basin fills up sometimes as much as 10 meters above the normal level although it looks like a natural disaster this is actually saving the towns along the Sava from urban flooding the Sava wetlands act as a detention basin over 600 square kilometers is flooded every year like an enormous sponge the alluvial forests soak up the water from around 10 billion bathtubs in the past many River landscapes around Europe looked like this these trees often spend several weeks and months standing in the water without these floodplains towns like Zagreb and Belgrade would frequently be washed out many animals benefit from the flooding no less than 15 species of amphibians like the moor frog these 7 centimeter long frogs leave their winter quarters on mass in the spring and for the spawning season the male's take on a blue color these flooded meadows provide plenty of food herons fish while beside them the wild boar graze on fresh greens in the water or dig in the soggy soil for insect larvae and roots even the torah' polla pigs wade in the marsh with their powerful snouts they plow the river landscape they're digging action breaks up the heavy soil allowing fresh grass to establish itself in the nutrient-rich mud by maintaining this traditional meadow management system the inhabitants of the Sava region have found a way of making the most of the wetlands despite regular flooding they live with the water rather than fighting against it since the level can rise by 10 metres overnight the houses are built on embankment and usually 2 storeys high when the floods come the inhabitants move up to the top the Chi got village has 70 timber houses and used to be home to 300 people there are now only a hundred and twenty but they have sub-tenants there are over 40 pairs of storks nesting on the roofs g-gosh was christened Europe's first stork village the inhabitants support the storks and provide platforms for them to build their nests on the alluvial forests are a plentiful source of nest building materials a stork's nest can have a diameter of 2 meters many are the work of successive stork generations when the partner returns carrying building materials he or she is greeted with bill clattering the nest is also the mating location a balancing act high up on the roof while the storks actively seek human habitations to build their nests others prefer the privacy of the alluvial forest after the winter the mute swans give up their social gatherings their strict vegetarians and mainly live off aquatic vegetation but when a pair start exchanging aquatic undergrowth they're collecting building materials branches and twigs form the base construction the greenery is for the padding the swan couples like to build their nests that are big enough for five to seven eggs on small islands away from the banks to prevent the Foxes getting close the crested grebe have already laid their eggs in the floating nest made of reeds branches and water plants as underwater hunters they catch small fish interspersed with aquatic insects and crayfish [Music] this one has caught a particularly bulky specimen swallowing this large crayfish with its hard shell and cumbersome pincers is quite a feat once dinner is over the group has to preen itself thoroughly what looks like a heap of old sticks dumped in the forest is in fact an architectural masterpiece beavers build dams to maintain a steady water level the entrance to their Lodge is under water to keep out land-based predators they may not look very graceful a beaver can weigh up to 40 kilograms which is heavier than a roe deer but underwater they cut a very streamlined figure they propel themselves forwards with their hind feet the scaly tail acts as a rudder [Music] the beaver will gnaw at a large tree for several days once the tree has been felled that will gorge themselves on the juicy leaves and buds from the crown of the tree thinner twigs up to the thickness of a pencil that's still very soft are eaten completely with the wood and bark many of the felled trees will sprout again the next year the larger branches are only used as building materials for the lodge and dam this is what causes beaver Lakes with constant water levels these permanent water features created by beavers are extremely important for the plants and animals in the alluvial forests the European pond turtle for example one of 12 reptile species in the Nature Reserve these turtles prefer thick underwater vegetation with muddy sediment they usually mate in the water on dry land it can be a risky affair in summer beavers will mainly eat juicy green vegetation fresh herbs and foliage buds and water lily roots they generally only live off tree bark in the winter when there's nothing else a fully grown beaver needs a kilogram of fresh vegetable matter every day when they dive they can stay underwater for a quarter of an hour their nose and ears are closed off they can see because their eyes are protected by an additional transparent skin [Music] the lodge has now seen the arrival of the kids between April and June the female will give birth to one to four kids with hair and their eyes open the young spend the first month in the living quarters of the lodge for six to eight weeks they're subtle by the mother as long as the kids are in the lodge they're safe [Music] but out in the waters of the sava terrifying predators are waiting catfish can grow to 100 1/2 meters long and weigh more than 50 kilograms some have even been known to grow to three metres in length and reach weights of over a hundred and fifty kilogram words the Sava wetlands are home to one of the largest catfish populations in Europe they're usually loners [Music] but in spring there are sometimes unusual gatherings the focus is usually a group of overweight females with swollen bellies full of spawn a large female can lay up to half a million tiny eggs and yet these whirling catfish are not mating this puzzling spectacle is perhaps a kind of foreplay [Music] the mating act takes place only between two catfish in private after the male has created a spawning burrow in the shallow water close to the bank among thick underwater vegetation [Music] there are many suitable places along the Sava the quiet side arms are often overgrown with a thick mat of pond and water lilies [Music] they're juicy branches are nourishing tidbits for the Beavers [Music] and the broad floating leaves are a welcome diving board for France hunting insects [Music] in this way the Fertile waters of the wetlands are a good source of food for many species and a nursery one of the most common fish in the Sava is not even from this area in the densely vegetated shoreline pumpkinseed fish with their black mark on the gill cover have found a hole at the end of the 19th century the fish was introduced in Europe from North America and escaped from some garden ponds since it breathed several times a year it was able to spread rapidly across the continent the pumpkinseed protects its spawning burrows aggressively it will even attack very large intruders [Music] one level higher another baby has just freed itself of its eggshell stripy as squeakers or baby boars its siblings already swimming around the nest the chicks of the crested grebe do not all hatch out at the same time but a day apart surprisingly the parents offer their babies freshly pulled feathers even order the chicks eat them one explanation might be this it's possible that the feathers protect the tender stomach linings of the babies against sharp fish bones [Music] the first weeks the chicks spend a lot of time in a cozy hollow of warm down this protects them against the cold water and the hot Sun [Music] frequently the parents will go swimming with the chicks on their banks and they have even been known to dive with but this grebe is just looking for a more comfortable position on the nest in their piggy back position the chicks are relatively safe from predators in the air and in the water the sava wetlands offer many different possibilities for undisturbed nesting some build floating nests where they can bring up their young another crested species the hoop hole find safe breeding in tree hollows in the oak forests here the young wait for their parents who take turns to bring food mainly crickets beetles and larger caterpillars in the alluvial forests the penduline tit hangs its nest from a branch to build the nest it uses fine vegetable fibers sometimes even spider's webs the soft pouches used to be collected for use as children's slippers the who posed nest is now attracting unwanted attention there are strange noises in the hollow a Starling is intent on stealing nesting material and the Hoopoe keeps well out of the way discretion is the better part of valor but what does the Starling really want it flies off without the nesting material so the Hooper parents can carry on with feeding their young in peace two-thirds of the landscape olia Nature Reserve is covered with alluvial forests one third is wet meadowland which provides the storks with a well-stocked larder to choose from every adults talk requires a pound of food a day and the chicks need more than twice that so store parents have to transport several kilograms of food every day they poke around in the grass to find insects and mice amphibians slugs and earthworms if the meadows are under water they catch crayfish and small fish their stalks are characteristic of the Nature Reserve there are over 700 pairs breeding here they're constantly repairing their nests this means they can grow over the years to 4 metres in height and can weigh up to 600 kilograms after over a month of incubation the young storks have hatched at the beginning one of the parents will always stay with the nest provide shade and regurgitate tidbits for the clamoring babies everywhere in the wetlands there are newborn babies [Music] after a good five weeks of incubation the mute swan cygnets have hatched in their grayish white plumage they're anything but ugly ducklings they preen themselves in the water hands together with their parents in the nest the swans distribute oil from their preen gland all over their plumage to make every single feather waterproof soon after hatching the cygnets are expected to find their own food in the water the parents were there longer necks may be able to reach deeper into the water [Music] but that doesn't mean they're going to give away any of their lunch the wetlands are fertile along the banks of the snaking Sava river there are cormorants the water is teeming with fish the larger catfish have retreated to quieter regions the younger catfish are swarming in the open water like tadpoles catching amphipods and insect larvae this way they confuse fish predators that have to be able to concentrate on one target there are predators hiding everywhere in the wetlands [Music] like this spotted eagle that's just grabbing a pumpkin seed fish [Music] the noisy cormorant colony where the birds brood together high in the trees can be heard from a distance the older fledglings extract their lunches from deep inside their parents throat pouch [Applause] if it's very hot the parents also give them water the diverse bird life in the wetlands can't be taken for granted the fine balance can easily be disturbed this can be seen from the crappier dal sidearm where grey heron and spoonbills breed side-by-side the heron are frequently seen in Europe and even nest in large towns the more rare spoonbills however only frequent intact wetlands at the end of the 1980s this sidearm was drained and the spoonbills disappeared fortunately there are now a hundred and twenty pairs here reading beside the herons [Music] after the sidearm was returned to its natural state the spoonbills returned within two years and are now bringing up their young again in this joint colony and even the young have a spoon shaped bill [Music] today attends of all the spoonbills in Europe breed in crappy Adal [Music] this is why the bird with the strange shaped beak was honored as the symbol of the Nature Reserve in the slit of the sidearm there are other birds with odd-looking beaks the Bill of the pied Avocet bends upwards towards the tip while the spoon bill uses its extremely sensitive bill to search the riverbed for aquatic insects crayfish and clams the Avocet sifts for small animals in the shallow silt even the young chicks emulate this by swing their heads to detect prey since their tools dictate the way they search and what they find they do not infringe on each other's territory in the crocodile sidearms [Music] we're into midsummer in the wetlands and the entire beaver family has taken to the water the youngsters are still a little apprehensive about the water and have to be encouraged to swim or are even carried by the bank an adult and a juvenile from last year are combing their fur using the special combing claw on their hind feet and applying oil to make it waterproof they tend to spend several hours a day in the water on average and can't afford to catch cold [Music] on average the sava wetlands are flooded for 32 a hundred days a year it's not only in spring but in any month of the year that powerful rainfall can cause it to burst its banks and generate fertile habitats for many creatures including the Osprey although it only weighs one other half kilos is able to catch fish weighing two kilograms after locating them with its eagle eyes from afar and picking them out of the water in the sava wetlands with their plentiful supplies of fish the Eagles also have ideal locations for their areas in the tall trees normally they produce two to three chicks these youngsters are already a few weeks old allowing both the parents to leave the nest regularly to bring home enough food for the family the labyrinthine waters of the wetlands are often murky so not all the fish hunters need to have such good eyes as the Eagles that hum from high in the sky the large catfish have relatively poor eyesight but their whole body and in particular their long feelers is covered with sensitive sense organs this allows them to notice quickly in the muddy sediment of the sidearms if a competitor has already staked out a good hunting ground with their large mouths catfish can catch not only fish and crayfish their hearing is so sensitive that they can detect vibrations outside the water and go to check out the hunting options in the flooded alluvial forests the catfish is looking for a particular hunting ground there are reports of small dogs ending up inside the jaws of the catfish this is where pigeons come down to the water to drink they're flapping wings are a giveaway that attacked was a failure the pigeons are weary and don't allow themselves to be dragged into the water that easily they're still thirsty though and come back a new opportunity for the catfish the pigeons are forewarned for they keep coming back the third attack is a success in the summer The Meadows are a blaze of red a sea of poppies growing in a field near the village in agriculture in the Sava wetlands the emphasis is on livestock breeding but in some places arable farming is also possible peppers and sweet corn cobs dry outside the houses as they have done for hundreds of years there's twittering coming from the rafters Housemartins in the protected environment of old houses we find a whole colony some of the Housemartins have been here twice this summer the others still have to complete their nests they build the walls of their nests from inside using moist lumps of earth until there is only their front door left open there's a plethora of building materials in the Sarver wetlands thanks to the moist surroundings these Martens can always find lumps beside puddles and on the banks of the waters even in the hottest summer [Music] it takes around a fortnight to build a nest and then they lay up to five eggs in it and up in the loft there's a lively commotion the mouse eared bats spend the daylight hours up here squeaking most of these are females and they will give birth to their young here and bring them up hundreds sometimes even thousands of bats buy for the best places holding on tight with their claws they spend the day hanging upside down under the wooden roof there will swarm out after darkness falls and go searching for food thanks to their large ears they can locate their prey in the dark by ultrasound mainly all manner of insects in these moist wetlands there are many different midges and flies moths and beetles the floodplains of the sava are of importance to the protection of birds throughout Europe on the one hand they're the breeding area for over a hundred and forty different bird species numerous waterfowl like the snipe nest in these moist meadows [Music] but for migrating birds to the sava wetlands are one of the most important rest areas on the continent here they can plan a stopover to recover from their long flights and eat to their heart's content [Music] all-in-all no less than 240 bird species have been registered in the Nature Reserve [Music] including the curl you wear the cure polio pigs plow up the sava mud in spring we now get fresh grass a great benefit to the powerful paws of inna horses with their broad hooves they have no difficulty walking over the soften ground in the summer they like to enjoy a cooling bar in the sava since the start of spring the horses have lived here without any human influence in the wetlands with their fluctuating water levels this is the ideal environment for grass snakes that can hunt mainly toads and amphibians in the moist surroundings the snake could hardly catch healthy fish in the river but when the water recedes from the flooded Meadows the fish left behind in the puddles virtually leaps straight into the grass snakes mouse [Music] this easy to catch prey also attracts stalks onto the moist meadows and pasture land they pick the juiciest insects often they will follow the cattle on horses because as they move around grazing they dislodge grasshoppers and other creatures the storks benefit from these free roaming domesticated animals in many ways if there were no horses or cattle here there will be fewer storks [Music] on the one hand puddles of this kind are maintained by them because horses and other livestock wallow in them and keep the muddy areas open the sava wetlands though a considerable degree of their diversity to the hungry stomachs of these large herbivores without the help of these natural mowing machines the damp pastures would soon degenerate into closed oak forests this traditional pasture farming keeps the ancient cultural landscape alive and encourages Himura files like the stork to breed here in large numbers by the end of the summer there are more storks living in g-gosh than people in many nests for chicks are produced sometimes even 6 when it's really hot the parents will dribble water from their beaks into those of the chicks and even grass snakes find their way from the swamp to the nest and from there into a storks stomach in the late summer early morning mists arise over the Nature Reserve a melancholy middle when the sava wetlands of Croatia remind us of paintings by famous landscape artists [Music] and that is no coincidence because large regions of Europe used to look like this before the rivers were forced to behave and flooding was normal times when all over the continent riparian wetlands could only be used naturally for grazing this created landscape diversity are still seen in the landscape olia puddles and pools on moist meadows mocchi sidearms and river meanders traditional woodland and pasture while the paws afina horses spend their winter in their stables the pigs stay outside all year round in the autumn they're driven into the woods where they mainly eat acorns these woodland pastures keep the forests open and free of undergrowth and that produces park-like landscapes in the wetlands when autumn arrives there's a lot of action to see in here [Music] during the last warm days of the year the squirrels and foxes build up their layers of winter fat and in the country by the sava the Red Deer are heard bellowing [Music] those from the posavina region are some of the strongest in Europe the most important time of the year is fast approaching the rutting season [Music] attracted by the bellowing of the stags the Hinds gather at the traditional meeting points [Music] these are usually spaces that have not grown over the Stags need open spaces to give them room to impress the Highlands and intimidate the rivals the last big wetland area in Europe is still a coherent mix of River and flooding managed pasture and diverse nature it's like looking into the past of our continent that shows us how natural flood protection for large towns and cities can be as in the sava wetlands of Croatian you [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

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Rating: 4.6920857 out of 5

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, biodiversity, ecology, Animals, Animals Documentary, Wildlife, Wildlife Documentary, nature, plants, National Park, Wildlife Preserve, Nature Reserve, national parks, ecosystem, ecosystems, national geographic, bbc documentary, Croatia, Sava River, sava floodplains, Balkans, Zagreb, eastern europe, dubrovnik, Split, Croatia Vacation, Free Documentary Nature

Id: vQDPgnpZWN4

Length: 50min 49sec (3049 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020