Tough at the Top - Go Wild

among the summit's of the Austrian Alps this could be midsummer or deepest winter this white wilderness way above all green seems uninhabitable yet even here there's life battling against the elements the few inhabitants of these high mountains are perfectly adapted to the tough conditions but it's still a struggle to survive up here especially in winter this chinois buck is strong and healthy yet he may not live to see her spring or even the next day the golden eagle soars high as though oblivious to the life below but its existence depends entirely upon those struggling on the mountain face for hunter and prayer like it is the Arctic altitude of these high peaks that spells the terms of life and sometimes of sudden death the forces of nature displayed in these majestic mountains are daunting and life amongst these Peaks is tough the heartland of the Austrian Alps is the holy town range dominated by the country's highest peak the grouse Glockner from its peak one overlooks the largest Nature Reserve of the Alps the height our National Park which is a wildlife refuge for cont las' national treasures other launches are devastating to the genre but in the bitter months of winter they are a blessing for the eagle this Golden Eagles last meal may have been weeks ago his favorite prey are marmots but they spend the winter in their burrows deep under the snow bad weather can keep an eagle grounded for days and even when the sky is clear potential meals are scarce in the winter mountains if there are traces of potential prey in these vast and solitary Heights whoever left them has been careful not to come out in bright daylight this mountain hare has spent a long winter night feeding high above the Timberline now as the Morning Sun bursts above the horizon it's time to withdraw into the shade and the shrubs along the fringes of the mountain forests camouflaged by their winter fur mountain hairs are nearly invisible in the snow except to an eagle's eye which can spot even the slightest movement in an open snow field the mountain hair is the most secretive animal in the Alps hiding and running are his only defenses a freshly dug hollow in the snow serves as a hiding place from the daytime enemy up in the sky at this bright morning our he does not worry about his nighttime threat of the fox after hunting all night the fox should be looking for a resting place to though he still seems hungry and excited by something - the Fox with his acute sense of smell the ground and the air are full of messages an adult Shinhwa need fear from neither the Fox nor the Eagle its enemies are snow and hunger and there is little threat from either at the moment the ptarmigans though are at risk when a fox is near they feel safest among small boulders where they find cover and can keep an eye on the surrounding snow fields while feeding when an enemy approaches ptarmigans can always rely on their wings but the threat of a surprise attack keeps them on constant guard for all their tranquility and beauty these mountains are a cold harsh wilderness the holy town range is the highest and wildest region of the eastern Alps with ice capped peaks and valleys carved out by blessings beyond the grim north faces and barren crags there are also sunny southern slopes and lush green valleys that offer a haven for an astonishing diversity of plant and animal life nighttime is not necessarily dark time the full moon is almost like a Midnight Sun on such a white night it's as well to keep your running gear in shape the wind is in the hunters favor to make a kill the Fox must come very close before attacking if the mountain hair breaks into a run there's little point in the fox even getting under starter's orders such a waste of effort in these conditions could end the hunters life the hare knows she need not really exert herself all it takes is a small reminder about who has the snowshoes and who hasn't another wind another message and this time it's good news very good news indeed a lucky find like this is rare after weeks of patrolling the mountains night-in night-out he has some sustenance at last each winter thousands of avalanches wipe out many animals most carcasses are trapped beneath snow and ice until the summer fall this is one in a thousand which remained unburied the Fox's energy levels can be restored at last even so it's not an ideal meal to sink one's teeth into frozen food is not necessarily fast food with every day of early spring the Sun gets stronger which he never deeper into the valleys south-facing quarries catch the Sun like giant reflectors but there are certain secret places where even the sun's rays can't penetrate after six months in perfect darkness it's not the Sun but an inner hormone clock that brings this Marmot into the dazzling light to get here marmots often have to dig upwards through metres of wet and heavy snow as its fur soaks up the sun's warmth all winter stiffness will gradually melt away the first sound that meets a marmots ear in spring is the excited mating call of a neighbor a male ptarmigan the ptarmigan shows off marking his territory with vigorous bursts of flight his is a double message females are welcome males keep out marmots have the right idea for the harsh winter the whole family cuddled together in their underground burrow a typical family consists of an established couple and their litters from previous years as with everything which is small and furry around these parts marmots are on predators menus they try to stay close to their bolt-hole burrows but the smell of something tender and green after a six month fast is too alluring since they went underground last autumn they have burned off most of their body fat about one-third of their total weight a busy spring and short summer lie ahead there's not much time to mate raise a family did new tunnels regain weight all before winter comes back another ptarmigan has arrived but it isn't a longed for female a male intruder may be he's made mistake and has only overlooked the occupants of this territory but this looks more like a challenge and may require assertive action the established tenants angry and shows that he'll stand no nonsense his flight demonstrates exactly where he draws the line the day's grow warmer and the ibex lose their shaggy winter wool it's not the mating season so these powerful mature males form a separate herd from the females and kids you the IBEX were once hunted to the brink of extinction strict protection laws in all the Alpine countries have brought them back 400 of these champion climbers now live in the heightened National Park you you their natural talent for climbing comes into its own when these male adolescents play fights such practice becoming useful in later life when they have serious rival fights to challenge the authority of high ranking males eight months worth of snow is locked up on the peaks but not for much longer now that spring is here NASA's of snow and glacial ice are waiting to be released the Big Four has begun day and night thousands of streams and waterfalls now fill the height and valleys with their music there's no stopping the urgency of the sprouting and blossoming not a single hour of sunshine must be missed as the Sun heats up these enormous cliff faces the thermal winds of spring carry up a flock of Alpine shafts into dizzying heights these are partners no other bird can ride the rough and ever-changing winds that sweep along the crags as elegantly as the child these are the master gliders of the Alps safely tucked away in crevices a hungry chicks it may be a desirable and a safe place to be reared but it's a lot of daily commuting for the chuff parents every morsel of food we eat insects small mammals bits of carcass must be flown in from way below in this vertical landscape up to 50 round trips a day is a taxing theat few words could achieve flying conditions are not always so ideal rainstorms and fog can cut off outside supplies in a flash and then chicks have to stay hungry and try to conserve energy by sleeping back down to earth another new parent this mother mountain hair is on patrol how one-week-old Leverett is left alone all day but the mother stays nearby only at night does she come to feed and groom usually there are two to four siblings nearby each one is kept alone in its own hiding place after only three weeks of suckling the young hairs are self-sufficient and go their own not very social ways all that suckling means the mother needs a protein boost the salda Nala's are the very first fresh green of the season in a few weeks her coat will be as uniformly Brown as that of her young by then she will be ready to mate again and have the second litter of this year like everyone else she has a lot to pack in while the weather's fair in the Alps mountain hairs are extremely secretive and solitary they are rarely seen and they rarely see each other late June and the ptarmigan hens plumage has long changed announcing that summer has arrived her partner continues his vigilant guarding of their exclusive territory in a perfectly camouflaged nest somewhere on the ground the hen has laid six to nine eggs marmots must be the most social of all animals on the mountain these pipes between clan members may establish rank and position but just as often it is mere play and social interaction and fighting skills are sometimes needed to defend the clans territory against other Marvel clans in July when the days are warm and long and the grass is thick and green this Springs litter makes its debut when the youngsters firstly the family burrow they are 40 days old and already half grown these are careless days but young marmots may get carried away which makes them vulnerable to predators growing and feeding is packed into each sunny day in three months they will have to be that enough for their first six months of hibernation even outside their burrow where they sleep together marmots maintained close relationships by frequent physical contact a fundamental lesson for young marmots always stay close to your nearest tunnel and to your clam they should do so with good reason the neighborhood watch has spotted an unwelcome visitor alarm within seconds the Klan loads away the folks approaches the burro in a roundabout an tactical way but the entrances are too narrow even for small apprentices entering would not be a good idea marmots can be ferocious if confronted in their home while an enemy is near they will wait patiently underground this was by no means the Fox's first visit and it won't be her last the mahmud clan has learned to live with this almost daily intrusion after all the Fox lives just around the corner in of all things an abandoned mammoth burrow here too is a growing and hungry family the young foxes are about the same age as the young marmots fresh young marmots in the locality is as strong a selling point as any when choosing a home even so the dens very high up it's possibly the highest in all of the Alps unlike the marmots the vixen has to traipse through the neighborhood scouring the land for mice and marmots and scavenging mountain farms for food for her young life is tough for her whatever the season for thousands of summers the wildlife of the Alps has shared this habitat with man's domestic animals in an almost nomadic tradition cattle sheep and goats are brought to the high pastures above the Timberline for three months a year in places grazing has changed this habitat and pushed down the timber line centuries ago some of today's pasture land was alpine forests the ancient forests in the National Park though are still pristine a black woodpecker the largest of its kind in Europe its life would be very deprived without dead timber and old trees Deadwood is rich in grubs old trees make splendid homes once chiseled out young trees just won't do these three week old chicks are big enough to climb up inside the tree to meet their parents another week and they will fly the nest as with all wild animals at this time of the year the parents commit themselves to finding food for their young there are bumper crops of ant and beetle larvae in the old trees raising a family is a risky business at the moment life is blooming but their fortunes would crash if the weather were to change the woodpecker industriously pokes a hole into the rotting wood with its razor-sharp beak a long and sticky tongue is ideal for extracting delicious forest la vie cultivated woodland with little or no Deadwood would be a very undesirable residence for insect larvae woodpeckers depend completely on these old forests black woodpeckers build generous nesting caves spacious enough for the odd squatter the rare tag mounds owl for instance would be hard-pressed to find suitable family quarters without the woodpeckers help by late June the owls for chicks are well developed but still depend completely on their parents who are just as busy finding food as are the woodpeckers winter is never far in the Alps but at such a sensitive time at the height of the breeding season it spells disaster within a single hour it's as though summer were never here temperatures fall below freezing weather like this will sort out the weak from the strong adult ptarmigans are unfazed under the snow the hence it's tight on her nest but for how much longer alpine plants are able to cope with the cold but they too are losing precious time while they are in bloom everything goes on hold for two weeks soon the freezing interlude takes its toll out of four young owls just one has survived on the bodies of its siblings griffon vultures such behavior suggests there must be other victims in such untimely winter conditions the cattle brought up here for summer grazing suffer most every year animals are lost but then nothing is ever really lost when nature has its way like the cattle these vultures are only summer guests most of their year is spent on the croatian coast food is sparse there in the summer so in years when they don't read they come up here and banquets like this are a good reason why the brightening horizon heralds a change this time it's for the better the weaker siblings remains are a pungent reminder of nature's harshness but the one survivor has emerged from the experience stronger than before as an only chick he thrives on his parents devoted attention even during the crisis he has grown and is now big enough to swallow whole mice high up among the boulders there is another survivor it's a bad year for the ptarmigans but at least they have one hatchling out of their six to nine eggs the chick packs up small seeds and insects from the very first day of its life the mother hen guides and protects it the youngster was lucky if the snowfall of three weeks ago can now it would not survive the mother and her offspring have a territory all to themselves including the luxury of an all-day security guard Father time is running out autumn isn't far away soon the male will leave the territory and form a flock with other males in late autumn the male flock will be joined by the mothers and their grown chicks summer hasn't been the kindest subtle signs of autumn lurk around for weeks color hues merge from green to yellow and brown and there's a sharp nip in the morning an in spite of the signs autumn is always a surprise when it arrives and it's always too early a sudden night frost turns the lodge into a fiery yellow the few daytime hours of Sun are precious the chuff's descend into the mountains Lee but even down here snow may come any day in the treetops of the stone pine forest nutcrackers are finishing their harvest of fine mush this isn't the feeding frenzy it seems they're preparing for winter by stocking a ladder with pine nuts nutcrackers can carry up to 70 pine nuts in their crop in an autumn season one bird will store 100 thousand seeds many of these will never be recovered from their hiding place between the rocks and will germinate in fact the spreading of stone pine forests depends on these birds early September already the smell of snow is in the wind yet the Sun squeezes out a few more rays upon these dwarf willow seeds the early snow on the peaks and ridges is there to stay the sluggish young marmots are fattened and furry ready for their first hibernation the Burrow is cleaned and extended in preparation the final touches are added to make it all the more cozy fat momma make tempting prey but next to their boat hole nothing can worry them what made the mountain hair come out of hiding she should not be out here in the open in daylight once more nature adjusts her balance sheets a life is lost a life is nourished for every animal life is tough in these mountains and yet life will go on having survived but truly Arctic childhood the Tang mounds I'll will cope with its first mount in winter and having learned it's lessons in the wild this youngster looks live calmly in the eye the Hoey town range is wilderness a place where nature still as its way

Channel: Go Wild

Views: 782,709

Keywords: orf universum, documentary, blue chip, natural history, secrets of nature, planet earth, natura, naturaleza, documentales, wildlife, alps, mountain range, wilderness, flora, fauna, austria

Id: uGEX-SxxyYg

Length: 48min 28sec (2908 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 25 2014