Wild Italy | Part 3: Islands of Wind & Fire | Free Documentary Nature

a million years ago Italy was a battlefield where enormous violent volcanoes offered competing displays of bursts of fire lava flows clouds of hot ash and showers of [Music] lapili they raised mountains and erased valleys it was a mineral World there was no room for plants or [Music] animals then a 100,000 years ago one by one the volcanoes stopped erupting rain gradually filled the ancient craters turning them into lakes it was the beginning of a new adventure for life which this time conquered the land of volcanoes [Music] many of the most beautiful Italian Islands have volcanic Origins stroli Lipari and volcano as well as lenosa and pantelia are all the result of gigantic and violent volcanoes that built new land with explosions of Fire lava flows clouds of incandescent Ash and lap [Music] Fallout [Music] [Music] at their birth these islands were worlds of minerals with no room for life they were mountains of rocks and black brown and Red Sands scorched by the sun rising from deep dark seabeds but then courageous plants and animals colonized the now cold lava and soon after humans [Music] arrived today they still battle against the wind and the fire of the earth to turn the volcanic islands into Lush Gardens the evolution of life in this and in fact in all the islands is one of the most fascinating examples of biogeography the science that studies the distribution of organisms on the planet from the biogeographical point of view the islands can be classified in two main categories continental and oceanic Islands the former once formed part of a larger land mass from which they were separated as a result of rising sea levels or movements of the Earth's crust for example the island of lampion one of the pagi islands is part of the North African platform and is uninhabited by the same reptiles that live in Tunisia as well as other plants and animals that lived there before it separated from the African [Music] continent other islands are classified as Oceanic even if they are in small enclosed Seas like the Mediterranean one of these is lenoa although it is one of the pagi islands like lampion it has a completely different origin then there are the aolian islands the wind islands of which vulcano is the closest to Sicily these islands arose From the Bottom of the Sea following the eruption of Submarine volcanoes that is why they were initially virgins like the surface of the Moon and only over time were colonized by the organisms that arrive there after short or longer Journeys across the [Music] sea the lady bird is a tiny insect with two small wings that support it for short and barely controlled flights but if it is caught by a gust of wind it can travel in the air for tens of kilometers before landing these fell in the wrong place on the crest of the island of volcano where there are no plants nor aphids on which to feed they can only hope to resume their flight and land somewhere Greener they deserve some luck because they have already flown at least 12 miles the distance that separates the island of volcano from the Sicilian [Music] Coast a modest but continuous emission of sulfur Laden vapers from the main and secondary craters testifies that the volcano on the island of vulcano is merely sleeping and sooner or later will wake up but for now plants and animals benefit from the short ceasefire and can try to recover the time and space lost after the last eruption which took place at the end of the 19th century so these rocks have had around 125 years to fill with plants and animals but apparently not much has happened an unreal silence rains on the crest of the volcano only broken by the distant calls of birds singing much lower [Music] down colonization is extremely slow because the difficulties that plants and animals have to face are many and almost insurmountable yet sooner or later life takes [Music] hold broom is is one of the few plants able to grow on land subject to landslides its roots go deep to Anchor the shrub to the ground even where the soil is more Compact and etched with small Gorges excavated by the rare but torrential winter [Music] rains if people had not had goats they would never have been able to live permanently on volcanic islands these animals can live on very little water which they take from Dew and the meager fodder their milk yields are low but the milk is highly nutritious and rich in salts as the Ancients knew very well Zeus the father of the Gods was said to have been fed by a rustic Frugal Med terranean goat just like [Music] this in Salena the Century's long Cal has allowed more mature vegetation to develop on the fertile volcanic [Music] soils the Evergreen plants have leaves covered with a waxy cuticle thanks to this coating which functions like a rain coat but keeping moisture in rather than out lush scrublands have formed on [Music] Selena in summer they ReSound with the deafening chirping of cadas the cadas are among the first settlers of volcanic islands unlike the little ladyb birds they have long wings and are able to fly over the Open Sea for several kilometers the nymphs develop underground and remain buried alive for seven years eating sap from tree roots after this long period underground they emerge into the open leaving their shell on the Trunks and the branches and start to sing they spend a few weeks in the top of the trees in the Summer sun just long enough to mate and lay eggs then their life cycle is [Music] complete those with wings have an advantage but even those who make cobwebs have found a way to fly over the Open Sea for Miles some species of spiders are carried by the wind using a silk thread as a [Music] parachute once they reach the island if they do not want to travel anymore they can do without wings the carabus morosus beetle has atrophied wings enclosed in its fused elra it secretes a disgusting substance that protects it from being eaten by lizards the most common vertebrates on the iolan islands which certainly did not swim here in fact lizards do not like getting wet especially in salt water these little predators are able to survive in a few square meters of rocks lashed by wave waves swept by the wind and scorched by the Sun but they cannot stand the idea of ending up in the water each male defends a small territory chasing away potential competitors and letting only females Remain the most beautiful of the lizards on the volcanic islands as black as the rocks on which it lives is the males lizard which can also be found in lenosa it moves agile across the stones that in the warmest part of the day can reach temperatures of 60° Centigrade looking for anything edible the buzzards are the largest winged Predators on the archipelago they are adaptable creatures that hunt small rodents rabbits and lizards among the very few other sedentary species are the gold finches if you look at them carefully and listen to their song they seem a little different from their relatives on the mainland as if they are about to turn into a new species as has happened with The Sparrows on the island of volcano a population distinct from others living in [Music] Italy the wildlife is richer in Lipari the largest and most inhabited island of the archipelago its slopes are covered in in dense shrubs of ladies mantle that reach the [Music] seashore from leari you can see the northern coast of Sicily and Mount Etna the summit of Etna is covered in snow in winter because it reaches 3,350 m in altitude and despite the volcanic emissions it is in the grip of frost for many months even volcano and Stromboli could have Peaks covered in snow because they are more than 3,000 M High except for one detail the first 2,000 M 2/3 of their height are below the surface of the sea so their real height is less than 1,000 m however the main difference is not the obvious presence of snow on the summit of Etna but is present at the organic level while volcano Stromboli and the other volcanoes of the oan islands are surrounded by the Sea Etna is surrounded by land [Music] the population of the islands is the result of a delicate balance between the species that settle and those that become [Music] extinct humans intervene to modify the balance not only by causing or accelerating extinctions but also by bringing animals and foreign plants for example collored doves are closely linked to humans and could not live in a completely natural habitat which is why they Thrive among houses and [Music] Gardens humans have managed to colonize the volcanic islands and to settle permanently in many of them but even today they have to deal with the limitations imposed by one of the most hostile environments on the planet if the sea is rough ships cannot sail and since there are no airports the aolian islands return to their isolation for many days for everyone even [Music] humans a mistal wind has blown up and the sea is gradually becoming rough 4 six and seven according to the shipping forecasts waves lash the northern coast of the island It seems impossible that the rocks can resist this Fury yet they have been there for millions of years the mistal lasts for 5 days then little by little the sea Cals entire Marine Meadows of posidonia seagrass have been torn up by the waves and now lie heaped on the beaches among it are some survivors that have been swept off coar and miraculously escaped the fury of the storm a swarm of migratory locusts was caught up in the fury of the wind and has been transported hundreds of miles away from North Africa where it was devouring the meager vegetation many drowned but some were lucky enough to end up in the shelter of the coast and find dry land they do not manage to breed at least for the moment but in the future with Rising temperatures and the northward expansion of arid areas they could end up becoming regular guests to Southern Italy [Music] for many invertebrates the storm is a boon it leaves refuge and Dead Fish behind on the rocks and crabs with their sharp sense of smell can locate them in a matter of moments the problem if any is sharing out the spoils in one corner smaller crabs slender but fast runners in the other a slow fat marbled rock crab the match seems to have turned in favor of the rock crab a true heavyweight who drags his prey into his lirer but then he has to accept to share it with his cousins who may be featherweights but are very [Music] [Music] tenacious the aolan Islands belong to a volcanic chain of the Southern terranean Sea which here is over 3,000 M [Music] deep [Music] at some tens of meters below the surface the lava rocks are colonized by a fantastic patch of gorgonian Coral or sea fans and other Aquatic invertebrates populated by many forms of [Music] life by the flashing lights of a submarine exploration vehicle we discover an unusual almost lunar landscape a wavy plain buried under a layer of fine almost weightless sediments at times small craters open up evidence of the volcanic activity still underway in this part of the Southern terranean [Music] Sea some of these chimneys emit Jets of cold water others release hot water saturated with sulfur and carbon dioxide it is an extreme environment sunk in perennial [Music] Darkness yet life has found a way to establish itself here too in particular microscopic organisms that derive The energy they need to live from the reactions from the numerous chemical compounds present in the water [Music] these Waters have some of the most dense fish populations in the Mediterranean thanks to a fortunate combination of strong Summer Sunshine and cold Rising currents the sea currents which come from the Eastern Mediterranean flow deep down touching the seabed but when they reach the volcanic cones of the aolian islands they are forced to turn turn upwards towards the surface then they become Rising currents upwelling and bring to the surface chemical compounds from the seabed that fertilize the water and encourage the proliferation of plankton the Plankton are the beginnings of a rich food chain that benefits both humans and seabirds especially sheer [Music] Waters similar to the albatrosses sheer Waters fish on the high seas for several days in a row and then return to the nest where their companion or chick is waiting for them for these birds the islands are like an aircraft carrier from which to take off for their hunting or rather fishing trips [Music] the rough sea when the wind blows at 40 knots and obliges fishing boats to repair lewood does not stop the shearers which speed without apparent effort across the waves hundreds of miles a day are not a problem for the larger Shear Waters who come ashore only to reproduce choosing the steepest and most inaccessible stretches of the liery Crags they exploit The Cliffs between the boulders and the Burrows of wild rabbits where it's cooler and choose the darkest hours of the night to return to land to avoid running the risk of meeting gulls that could steal their [Music] food in total darkness the silence that rains on the northern coast is interrupted by a concerto of cries they sound like sobs the Wailing of a newborn baby or laments for the ancient peoples of the sea they were the durges of the Warriors of diamides mourning the death of their leader a hero of the Trojan War much simpler are the communic ation and courtship cries of the Cory sheer Waters that inhabit the largest colony in the central Mediterranean they are sea creatures spending months on end without ever seeing dry land but now they are facing the most difficult moments of their existence contact with the Earth an environment that they find hostile they are large birds the size of a seagull with hooked beaks and webbed feet the horar low Cry of the female and the higher note of the male follow one another and create a rhythm some specimens bear a ring that was applied to their feet in the past some more than 30 years ago the are old acquaintances of the ornithologists and return every year to nest in the same cavities they occupied the previous year technology has given researchers satellite mini recorders GPS and GLS devices these are miniaturized so as Not to cause the birds any discomfort are attached to the legs or back and record the position the sheer Waters reach in the course of 10 days or after a full year this will make it possible to discover where they go to look for food during The Mating Season and where they spend the winter only at the end of the breeding season do they leave the Mediterranean to Winter in the Atlantic Waters off the coast of Sagal feeding in those stormy seas teeming with fish fortunately apart from humans she Waters have few natural enemies or rather they had few natural enemies even in the most remote areas of the Rocks several predatory animals from the mainland have appeared versatile agile and daring Predators black rats brought to the island inadvertently by men became very common and found food to live on around the houses but especially in the shield water Colony they discovered that the eggs and youngest and most defenseless chicks made an excellent meal in a few years 70% of the incubating eggs had been destroyed by the greedy [Music] rodents in a small inaccessible Rock lives some pairs of a miniature version of the albatross the storm petrol for 350 days a year it is impossible to approach the small rock in front is the Open Sea the slightest wind and the Sea begins to heave and the waves beat violently against the Rocks this is one of the few places in the world where one of the mediterranean's most mysterious inhabitants the storm petrol breeds despite its small size the storm petrol is related to the largest birds in the world the albatross although it weighs just 30 G and has a 35 CM wingspan they are birds of the Open Seas pelagic to use the precise term and come to dry land only to reproduce [Music] storm petrols materialize as if by Magic from April but always at night moving safely in total darkness they lay only one rather large [Music] egg there is nothing darker than the darkness of a grotto during a moonless night and yet these birds fly in confidently through the narrowest fishes how they Orient themselves is still a mystery perhaps like bats or the oil birds of the caves of South America which navigate by echol location in fact their agile flight is accompanied by the most unusual cries that bounce off obstacles and may serve to guide their movements the Precision with which each parent Finds Its young in the almost complete darkness is extraordinary they are probably Guided by the chick's chirping which is unique to each individual here shot with an infrared camera is the delicate phase of finding the beak [Applause] everything happens in almost total darkness their nourishment consists mainly of planktonic crustaceans tiny fish and Squid belonging to species that live on the high seas [Music] Plankton the same that sustains storm petrols is at the base of the food chain that leads to the largest animals on the [Music] planet until the recent past it was thought that the great stations entered the Mediterranean only occasionally through the straight of Gibralter coming from the Atlantic [Music] [Applause] Ocean it was also believed that they did not stay for long just long enough to take a swim in the clear warm Waters of this small Inland Sea but research carried out in recent decades has shown that their presence is stable and that there are populations of sperm whales and blue whales that live only in the Mediterranean concentrated in the most favorable areas groups of pilot whales crisscross off the aolian islands along with risso's dolphins great squid Hunters spotted and bottle-nosed dolphins follow the schools of sardines in search of easy prey they make long movements in the threedimensional universe that for them has no boundaries storm petrols and sheer Waters feed on cfop pods squid and octopus and pelagic fish which are a vital Link in the food chain that transfers energy from phytoplankton to the fastest and Most Fascinating predators in the Mediterranean the [Music] Tuna the Tuna is a large and Rapid fish the largest specimens can measure 3 m in length and weigh one ton warm blood flows through its arteries its streamline shape and Powerful muscles allow it to swim at 90 M an hour and its breeding capacity is [Music] amazing tuna have been a vital resource for the coastal populations of the Mediterranean for thousands of years but they are difficult to catch as they are large and open [Music] waterfish it took all the Ingenuity of first the Phoenicians and then the Arabs and other ancient peoples to design a system system for catching them the tonara this is a complex of fixed Nets made up of robust Nets fixed to the seabed by large metal anchors the net must be perfectly Tor from the bottom to the surface in order to form an impenetrable wall that can intercept the schools of tuna that enter the Mediterranean through the straight of jalar and move along the coast to SPO hor and force them into the giant trap from which they will only emerge when they are dead it is a thrilling spectacle no doubt but it has its rules the tuna should not suffer unnecessarily the young fish are spared and thrown back into the sea the tonara is the only method of fishing that allows only tuna to be caught and only mature [Music] adults the pressure on Mediterranean Marine Resources has become unsustainable fish stocks are becoming exhausted and many species are on the road to Extinction even red tuna may become a thing of the [Music] past humans were among the last creatures to reach the islands attracted by what the eruptions had brought to the surface from the womb of the earth among Liar's most valuable products are obsidian a substance of glassy consistency used to build blades and arrow heads as well as kolin indispensable for hardening terra cotta and the pmus stone which has always played an important role in construction due to its lightweight once they arrived on the islands they had to cultivate the sand and the volcanic rock but the main problem has always been the scarcity of fresh water in pantel a volcanic island on the other side of Sicily from the aolian islands there is an entire Lake but its Waters while they may look inviting are actually a poisonous broth saturated with chemical compounds the Islanders collect rainwater exploiting the domed roofs that convey it to underground systems these islands produce a large part of Italy's Capers as well as olives citrus fruits and Vines which grow in small spaces protected by the stone walls that shelter them from the wind and preserve the humidity the rich cultivation encourages the presence of animals and the migratory birds that move between Africa and Europe stop over on the islands they are tiny birds the fly catcher weighs 10 G the melodious warbler less than eight and the winchat 6 G yet they are extraordinary Travelers that have crossed the desert and the Sea navigating by the sun and stars to come to nest in the woods and Countryside of Europe and [Music] Asia the seagulls are waiting for them their flight is rapid and their appetite insatiable they are able to chase Birds until they fall exhausted into the water but once they reach the land the little birds are safe and only have to think about drinking eating and resting before the next [Music] stop [Music] in these little Islands Early Autumn coincides with a second spring the first rains after months of drought give new life to the vegetation and dracoon kulus flowers bloom among the shrubs this is a plant of the aroid family which rather than having a sweet perfume stinks like rotting meat to a ATT ract the flies that help pollinate [Music] it many Mediterranean bushes are covered with fruits and berries of all kinds food for many species of small migratory Birds when these little birds come down from the north to go back to Winter in Africa they once again face a tiring and risky Journey made even more dramatic by the eleonora's Falcons the great birds of prey with sythe wings and the lightning flight waiting for them on the [Music] cliffs [Music] [Music] they too are migratory and once the young have grown we leave for a long journey that will take them all the way to Madagascar [Music] stroi is the last island of the volcanic arch of the aolian islands and is the most remote surrounded by miles of Open Sea it has been reached only by a small small fraction of the plants and animals that live in Lipari or Salena there are some lizards and a few sedentary Birds including the inevitable sparrows Stromboli which is almost 1,000 m above sea level is a young volcano it is only a 100,000 years old and like all all youngsters it is very Lively it is considered the most active volcano in the Mediterranean because its three vents are in perennial explosive activity an explosion occurs every 10 to 20 seconds it is accompanied by the launch of Boulders bombs which for fall along the steep slope that descends directly into the sea sometimes the eruption is accompanied by the emission of liquid lava which flows downwards accompanied by landslides that also generate small tsunamis the volcano then begins to look like an immense and interminable firework visible from a great distance it has always been a beacon for [Music] sailors [Music] the owls are taken by surprise perhaps even a little frightened they cling together to get through this very unusual [Music] night when calm returns relative calm because the volcano never sleeps the island Rouses itself from the trance State into which it has fallen during the last violent eruption and resumes its life following the same slow rhythm of time [Music] immemorial although water today arrives on tankers and links to the mainland are frequent this and the other wind Islands continue to remain Hostage to the Waters of the Sea and the fires of the earth there are few things you can be sure of in this world but one thing is certain this eruption will not be the last and life here Will will always be an uphill [Music] struggle for [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary - Nature

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), nature documentary, Free Documentary Nature, Nature Documentaries, Nature, Wildlife, Wildlife Documentary, Animals, Animals Documentary, Animal Documentary, Wildlife Italy, Wild Italy, Italy Documentary, Mediterranean, Mediterranean Documentary, Mediterranean Wildlife, Wildlife of Italy, Italian Volcano

Id: TL54hAyr1WA

Length: 48min 3sec (2883 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 24 2024