Into the Forest: Amphibian Nature Documentary

[Music] I spent part of my childhood in a small European village or every so often I returned to visit my roots including a forest on the edge of town amidst medieval villages and filled with creatures that inspired folklore the forest and the intriguing animals that live here have enchanted me throughout my life and I want to share its story with you [Music] [Music] [Music] it's been some time since I returned to my second home and I'm anxious to get back into the forest to see what's happening though it might seem still on the surface hidden our natural dramas they can surpass the most captivating fairy tales to reveal them I'll be filming every day for the next three months from the final days of winter into the light and warmth of early summer and I hope to find all of the animals that I once discovered here as a child to see if they've persisted through the decades in mid-march winter still endeavors to persist and though it might appear as if the plants and animals are still dormant the signs of spring are already present [Music] I visit one of the many ponds throughout the forest and discover something interesting beneath the ice a handful of early frogs have spawned during a few warm days before the freeze breeding so early was a risk but their egg masses will survive as long as the ice melts soon despite the cold as the earth tilts winter can no longer oppose the arrival of spring [Music] in late March I come across something peculiar on the bottom of the forest ponds mail common toads have migrated to the water and gather in anticipation for the females to arrive they've emerged from hibernation in the forest and headed straight to the cold water without even feeding fixated only on mating they'll try to clasp anything that moves in hopes that it's a female including each other and even my camera but females won't begin to arrive for a few days in the middle of the forest there's a system of tunnels that I've known uh for decades it's been used by animals for generations with a dozen entrances across the hillside I suspect which character lives here but to find out for sure I have something in my bag of tricks movement triggers my trail cam to start recording and it takes infrared videos at night I'll let it brew and return after a few days to see if it's captured anything one spring sets into motion there are new events to be witnessed that come to life every day [Music] warming temperatures have kindled the female common toads out of hibernation to begin their migration to the ponds as soon as they enter the water the waiting males embrace them in a stronghold called in Plexus some pairs have found each other in the forest right after emerging from hibernation the smaller male climbs aboard a passing by female and rides her to the water he holds on tightly because instinct tells him that a gauntlet of treachery lies ahead lone males looking for females also emerge from the forest their drive to Maine is so strong that they'll aggressively try to steal the female but the original mail won't have it and puts up a gallant fight against the larger attacker fixated on reaching the water the female barrels through the aggressor the smell of the pond where she was once a tadpole draws her closer he pursues to the bitter end warded only by the male strong defensive kick finally if they've made it to the water together but the chaos continues in the water he must now defend his female against the worst possible scenario the toad ball this is a single female engulfed by several males they're attracted to the largest females and try to grasp her until there's no place left if this bedlam prevents them from surfacing for air some may drown if they don't absorb enough oxygen in the water through their skin preventing the toad ball is why the male's powerful kick is so important as more females arrive mating pressure subsides and the toad balls dwindle life isn't easy as a toad the forest has revealed much to me on my journey thus far and I'm encouraged by the animals that I find still thriving here every night after filming I returned to the home of my relatives in the village I lived here in the region of Swabia when I was very young I was a cold war child with a GI father and a German mother my grandfather used to take me on walks in the forest to show me the plants and animals even though I grew up in ocean away I've returned over the decades to stay connected to this place and especially the forest it was my escape into a different world where I discovered animals that seemed magical to me and developed a particular interest in being fibulas I explore every layer of the forest so that it might reveal more of its secrets to me and as I delve deeper I discover tales that range from the odd to the beautiful and combinations of both in medieval times much knowledge of wild creatures came from mythical stories passed down influenced by a belief in the supernatural [Music] one animal of the forest in particular became a legend it was believed to be born out of fire with magical abilities to control and extinguish flames as such it was classified along with trolls elves and other magical creatures these beliefs were based on an amazing behavior that people often claim to observe when wood from the forest was burned this creature would be seen walking out of the flames and in fact this story is true the fire salamander they live among logs that were gathered as firewood and when it was burned salamanders emerge from the fire fleeing for their lives the fire salamander is common in deciduous forests across Europe they live near small puddles and tiny fishless streams where they breed [Applause] but many people who visit the forest often have never seen one because fire salamanders come out when people don't when it rains and at night I head out on the year's first warm rain - hopefully witness a mass emergence of fire salamanders and I discover that the forest exudes them from all of its dark nooks and crannies [Music] they meander in mass to the streams [Music] males interested in breeding may try to mate with passing-by females who aren't receptive and even fight with other males but when a compatible pair meets the mating ritual is surprisingly delicate he intoxicates her to become receptive by rubbing her chin in her cloaca when he senses the moment is right he drops a bead of sperm onto the ground and lowers her so she can pick it up with her cloaca she stores the sperm for several months and uses it to fertilize the eggs of next spring while some females mate others have carried developing eggs inside of them all winter and arrive at streams to give birth a larva begins to emerge she lays dozens of curled up larvae one by one that take a few moments to spring to life the fire salamanders ability to give birth to live offspring is special most salamanders lay eggs that then take several weeks to develop the handsome fire salamander is so colored not necessarily to look dapper but to warn that's poison if a predator attacks a milky white neurotoxin loses out of glands along the salamanders yellow spots if the predator doesn't die from ingesting the poison it's sure to remember the terrible taste and never make the same mistake again but a new organism has arisen in Europe they could be catastrophic to the fire salamanders existence that isn't stopped by its poison time to check the trail cam to see if it's discovered what lives here Badgers and it seems to be a clan of three Badgers don't emerge until total darkness and return before sunrise they spend the night foraging for food and fastidiously keeping their burro in good order every night they dig removing debris and keeping the shape of their tunnel intact they even keep a separate burrow as a latrine this badger hauls in dry leaves for bedding to keep their sleeping chambers cozy constantly refreshing the old leaves is how badgers keep their burrow hygienic danger approaches what is it it's just their friend having a bit of fun the day's straddling the end of March and beginning of April are a very busy time for the amphibians I film around the clock to not miss anything the breeding of the common frogs is one of Springs explosive events that happens in an instant the forest entire adult population arrives at the ponds at once to mate they breed as soon as the average temperature remains above freezing males become bluish-gray during mating while the larger females on the bottom are reddish-brown pairs stay in em Plexus for 24 hours during which she lays over a thousand eggs the ponds edge becomes a quivering field of jelly as all of the frogs lay their egg masses around the same spot this entire ritual happens within the span of a week after which all of the frogs disappear back into the forest as land-dwelling nomads among the leaves I visit the eggs every day to observe their rapid development at two weeks the jellies surrounding each tadpole dissolves as they hatch out of the egg at first they can only wriggle atop the jelly from which they just emerged they still have large feathery gills but within a few days gills are absorbed and the tadpoles become free swimming they hatch by the thousands so there are too many at once to be completely consumed by predators this means that some must sacrifice themselves for the survival of their siblings a fire salamander larvae that was laid in the same waters dives headfirst into hatching eggs for an easy meal this one bites off a tadpole that it can barely swallow the Badger cam has captured not one but three roe deer a buck and two dope patrol the forest after sunrise the Badger have already been asleep for over an hour now in mid-april the forest transforms as spring bursts into its full splendor within just a few days the forest shifts from brown and bear to green and fertile leaves unfurl and returning melodies echoes through the ranges new shoots pierced through the cold soil as the chain reaction flourishes I feel like I'm walking into a brand new landscape [Music] as I roam the forest I come across metre tall domes that protrude from the ground like little volcanoes they're the nests of wood ants they fan out in foraging trails scouring the forest for food that they bring back to the nest but some ants have traded the life of a hunter-gatherer for that of a farmer [Music] dairying ants have a mutualistic relationship with the Rayford cattle Athens are tiny bugs that embed into the stems of their host plant and suck out the glucose rich sap that flows within it they excrete it as a sugary liquid called honeydew which the ants covet for food the ants tapped the Ravens with their antennae to milk them for a sweet drop of honeydew in return for food the ants protect the aphids from predators the ants release a chemical that subdues the aphids and keeps them from wandering off to greener pastures like little Ranchers when the aphids have depleted their host plant the ants picked them up and bring them to a new one at the ponds the breeding frenzy of the common toads ended two weeks ago females extruded four meter long extremes containing six thousand eggs immediately after egg-laying all of the toads disappeared back into the forest and left behind hundreds of thousands of eggs that now hatch all at once in some ponds so many eggs were laid that the water becomes a swirling mass of tadpoles like raindrops in a storm [Music] while exploring the forest I often come across signs left behind by large powerful beasts they're from the wild boar but I've never seen them firsthand the wild boar is very numerous in the forest but it's weary and nocturnal and the seldom seen here a sounder of boar that lives within a fenced part of the forest lets me extensively observe them to satiate their 5 thousand calorie daily need the wild boars diet is as varied as humans they consume mostly root seeds and insects but if given the chance will also eat carrion slow-moving fish and whatever animals it can catch they can till the entire forest floor bare in search of food in times past the wolf kept them at bay mating took place over winter and now piglets have just been born Seau usually have litters of four to eight and the young piglets are eager to start exploring the forest [Music] they're born with the instinct to root and so begin to learn what's edible but at only two weeks old they'll start to join maman foraging trips [Music] wild-boar plow the soil with their massive neck and head mom uses it to keep the nest tidy they're a tight-knit bunch if something were to happen to Mom other females will adopt her piglets [Music] these fuzzy defenseless babies will soon be old enough to mate and defend themselves [Music] the leaf litter conceals many curious creatures on warm days I often encounter one of them as I cross the forest the slow worm quietly creeps about on the forest floor on his hunt for slugs neither a worm nor a snake you can tell he's actually a legless lizard because he can blink and his tongue isn't completely forked like that of a snake's but he has another interesting ability you've found only in lizards being relatively slow and defenseless nearly every predator in the forest would like to eat him so when grabbed his tail breaks off and wriggles about as a distraction the predator gets a free piece of meat left behind while the slow worm flees and begins regrowing his tail [Music] every morning freshly disturbed soil around the badger set reveals that activity of the previous night Badgers are very social and love to play their part of the weasel family and are related to the Wolverine otter and skunk play strengthens bonds but for when their normal diet of worms and acorns becomes dull play hones their skills to hunt rabbits and hedgehogs the forest so lush and tranquil may seem primordial but is in fact a production forest standing for the purpose of timber harvest [Music] [Music] selection cuts instead of clear cuts preserve the appearance of an intact forest and while logging may not be part of the natural process in some cases it can actually enrich the ecosystem as heavy logging vehicles push through the forest they leave behind an unexpected side effect that's ironically crucial to the survival of certain species their large tires make deep gouges that fill with water to create small ponds they become thriving oases for the forest animals and possess a special characteristic needed by an fib Ian's in particular that not all water bodies provide some amphibians like the fire salamander lay only a few offspring at a time that are vulnerable to predation they can only breed in water without fish because fish rapidly devour all of their few offspring unfortunately fish have been introduced into many ponds throughout the forest making them uninhabitable for these amphibians that's why the modest fish list tire tracks are so important for the amphibians these tracks aren't new I discovered them decades ago when the machinery first cut the trail and they've since become a well traveled route through the forest a thick soup of plankton grows in these water holes these tiny crustaceans are Daphnia a foundation of the food chain from which larger animals like salamander larvae live in spring after enough rain has fallen to fill the tire tracks their most colorful dweller arrives the Alpine Newt after entering the water males acquire vivid breeding colors and begin searching for females - newts cross paths but their acute smell tells them that they're both males females are larger and more chemists both sexes have the same orange belly to one of their poison when he finds a receptive female he gets into position to dance while showing off his vivid colors and the size of his crest he's also Fanning as pheromones for her to smell and taste she's captivated by the show and comes closer to get a better with her continued interest motivates him to intensify his dance [Music] he drops a spermatophore onto the leaves which she'll take inside of her and used to fertilize her eggs several days later she begins depositing her eggs in the aquatic plants she sniffs each one to ensure that it's a suitable nursery and then attaches a few dozen to several hundred eggs [Music] they hatch after about two weeks and the larvae spent three months developing in the water then as tiny baby newts they take to the land living beneath leaves [Music] outside of the breeding season adults also become terrestrial and their body adapts for a life on land their tail changes from flattened to round mating colours diminish and their skin becomes tougher leading two distinct lives one in the water and the other on land the alpine newt is an amphibian in the truest sense another resident of the tire tracks that I often see in late spring is the yellow-bellied toad though humble in appearance he's resilient this one is missing part of his leg but he seems to be surviving well despite this I found this same individual several times throughout spring I even find one missing an eye there's no scar so he was either born so or sustained the injury very young and is still able to hunt they lay small egg masses that are prone to predation and may breed a few times throughout the summer to counter this the well camouflage yellow-bellied toad may look like a splash of mud that fell off my boot but he knows that he's handsome where it counts when a predator attacks the own can reflex reveals his dark and yellow pattern similar to the fire salamander that warns of his poison I checked the small streams every day to observe the progress of the salamander larvae and witnessed some amazing phenomena one night I shined my headlamp into the water and can't believe what I see an albino larva a rare mutation renders the body unable to produce pigment this larva is unlikely to survive much longer because it lacks camouflage when scrutinized these tiny waters are microcosms of life and death struggles a very fertile spring has packed each pool of normally dense with larvae these conditions lead to cannibalism barely a few days old itself this one picks off a newly born larva that hasn't even unfurled yet older larvae makes short work of the younger ones around them this unfortunate larva goes down tail first as he slowly disappears they can recognize siblings by smell and are unlikely to eat them however brutal this may seem it's part of nature's precise equation perfected over the millennia to save the limited resources for the fittest individuals so that only the best adapted genes may continue and while the young salamanders are menacing to each other to the dragonfly larvae they're a soft defenseless meal between the edge of the forest and the orchards local farmers keep beehives in the process of making honey the bees fertilize flowers fruit trees and nearby crops should pollinating insects like honeybees be allowed to diminish our world would look much bleaker and so too what our diet I'd like to find the forests only venomous snake the common adder but it's long since disappeared from here to encounter one I'm headed to another forest to one of its remaining holdouts I meet up with my friend and wildlife expert Markus Muller he knows right where the adders live and we found them in these parts before but they're rare in past decades they were cold at a fear of their venom and today struggle against habitat fragmentation we're wide tracts of development separate populations making it difficult for them to reproduce this has relegated the common adder to remote locations where people don't frequent like the mysterious mountains of the Black Forest but after days of relentless searching unusually cold weather prevents us from finding this already elusive creature so we head further south in forests from Austria to the southern tip of Europe lives another venomous adder [Music] but here we don't search long before nature rewards us [Music] a young horned Viper the horned Viper is Europe's most venomous snake with venom composition similar to American rattlesnakes but it's also perhaps Europe's most peaceful snake in the face of danger it prefers to stay motionless and camouflaged and can't be provoked to strike easily after all it would rather save its venom for hunting than depleted on biting creatures that it can't swallow though Viper sounds intimidating viviparous simply means that it gives birth to live young rather than eggs like most snakes adders in Europe can have a stable future as long as their living space is simply left alone back in the forest there's been an unusually long bout of heat with no rain I returned to discover that some of the puddles begin to dry up along with the tadpoles the tadpoles parents invested a lot of work to create them and I'd find it sad to watch them perish [Music] this little bit of water that I have left over after a day of filming might just be enough to save them if the downpours that are forecast for tomorrow arrive [Music] [Applause] the puddles have been replenished [Music] every time that I returned to the forest and find that fire salamanders are still here I'm relieved recently fire salamander suddenly died off in forests in northern Europe where they became extinct it was from an unknown epidemic that destroyed their skin and quickly spread among all of the fire salamanders in the population and now it's spreading further through Europe threatening to vanquish the fire salamander in its wake the culprit was a type of fungus related to the Kittredge fungus that has caused the extinction of around 200 frog species but this newly discovered fungus specifically infects salamanders it's called bee Sal for short bee Sal is from Asia where it lives on the skin of native newts who are resistant to it but when Asian newts were imported into Europe as pets some were released into the wild where they infected native fire salamanders without an evolved resistance to be Sal the fire salamanders died when they came in contact with it but the fire salamanders in this forest and most of europe are still healthy and flourishing they mustn't go extinct if we take swift actions now to halt the spread of b-cell so what can be done the international trade of amphibians spreads fatal disease across the globe this trade is not essential to human life and if we stopped it could save theirs only the US and Switzerland have halted the import of amphibians the European Union still allows their import but requires that they be tested for b-cell before entry but it doesn't have to be up to just governments hobbyists can decide that the joy of keeping exotic in fib Ian's isn't worth their extinction and choose not to purchase them and finally people can keep watch over the fire salamanders in their forests and report any sign of b-cell to the early warning system [Music] through a love of wild creatures the fire salamander mustn't become a legend that burned out [Music] [Music] [Music] Dragons were once a revered part of Europe's lore legend says that a dragon once reigned over these hills above the forest and so came to adorn the region's coat of arms [Music] hi in these vineyards live the creature that could have inspired such legends and they've claimed these sandstone walls originating from a thousand years ago as their home the green lizard males have distinctly turquoise throats females are greener but may also have some blue on their throat males with bluer throats can better attract females and proclaim their territory against other males he purchased high to keep watch over his large territory which may encompass a few walls and several hundred square meters green lizards form pairs that bond for the breeding season this pair claims a prime section of walls surrounded by bushes for her to lay her eggs he bites his female within his lair to stimulate her to mate she'll lay between five and 20 eggs which take around two and a half months to hatch ticks are unwanted hitchhikers that adorn most green lizards but don't cause serious harm this population of green lizards is unique because they're not native here they were introduced from southern Europe their success here comes from the warm microclimate that the geology of this mountain creates which mimics the Mediterranean where green lizards originate the south-facing slopes receive direct sunlight throughout the day which the sandstone bedrock just beneath the surface absorbs keeping these hills warmer than the surrounding area but unlike most animals introduced by humans the green lizards haven't spread beyond these vineyards and don't seem to have negative effects on the ecosystem and so the green lizard embodies the legend of the dragon by reigning over these stone walls as their castles the Badger switched entrances throughout the year so I changed the location of my trail cam to keep up it reveals that this badger was away foraging for six and a half hours [Music] the Croke of the European tree frog signals that summer approaches and that the lifecycle of the other aunt Vivian's has come full circle after hatching three months ago the toad and frog tadpoles now metamorphose they emerge from the water in masse and head into the forest to find refuge the tiny toadlets are only as large as pebbles so many emerging at once ensures that enough will survive the perils of the wilderness and return to breed as adults freshly hatched grass snakes are themselves tiny and are on the hunt for their first meal fire salamander larvae also metamorphose at this time when they leave the water they'll become poisonous as their Brown pattern blossoms into the black and yellow spots that we know and they'll hopefully return for infinite generations to come [Music] for now my time here has come to an end and it's time to pack up [Music] I visit my favorite spots one last time to say farewell to the forest and to the creatures who I've spent every day with from winters last snow until the year's longest day but I don't intend to be away from my forest for too long I'll be back soon [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Bryan Maltais

Views: 198,711

Rating: 4.876307 out of 5

Keywords: nature documentary, reptiles, amphibians, herps, herping, salamander, wildlife, germany, deutschland, natur, Baden-Württemberg, BBC, animal planet, discovery channel, natgeo

Id: AIp8h-b-HnE

Length: 53min 12sec (3192 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 16 2019