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00:30Europe, home to more than 700 million people.
00:45This is a continent that has been transformed by humanity.
00:54It is a crowded world.
01:00But not all of it.
01:08There are still precious areas of wilderness.
01:13And living within them, some very surprising animals.
01:17Forest once covered 80% of Europe.
01:32Forest once covered 80% of Europe.
01:44Now, only half of it remains.
01:47A brown bear.
01:57A brown bear.
02:15One of only 1,500 that are left in Finland's forests.
02:20Her cubs have recently emerged from their nursery den.
02:34The long summer days means there's plenty of time for play.
02:45With two boisterous cubs,
03:09it pays to rest whenever you can.
03:19But their mother must be on her guard.
03:22The cubs have spotted something.
03:35A large male looking for a mate.
03:39The cubs aren't his.
03:50So he might try to kill them.
03:56Their cubs are excellent climbers.
03:58And now, they're beyond his reach, 15 meters up.
04:07Their mother warns him to keep his distance.
04:16But the cubs are coming down too soon.
04:19She can't take any chances.
04:31She can't take any chances.
04:31That was a close call.
04:50That was a close call.
05:01Finland's forests give us a glimpse of what Europe was once like.
05:14A land of endless wilderness where large animals roamed far and wide.
05:20In the north, the continent extends beyond the arctic circle.
05:32Here, the skies are illuminated by the aurora borealis.
05:52The northern lights.
05:53Trillions of charged particles ejected by electric storms on the sun
06:03react with the Earth's atmosphere
06:05to create this surreal nocturnal spectacle.
06:13But by day, this is a barren land.
06:23The Dovra Fjell Mountains of Norway.
06:36One of the last refuges for an animal
06:38that once lived all across northern Europe.
06:50The musk ox.
06:53This bull is in his prime.
07:16He protects the herd
07:18and fathers all the calves.
07:23His is a greatly sought-after rank.
07:32And that means that in the mating season,
07:35he has to deal with rivals.
07:47And here is one.
07:48Raking the ground is a warning to other males to keep away.
08:11But some ignore it.
08:16He now has no choice but to defend his crown.
08:26The challenger attacks.
08:40Each male weighs nearly half a tonne.
08:50Each male weighs nearly half a tonne.
09:03Each male weighs 1-1.
09:04Each male weighs hundred and half a tonne.
09:06Each male weighs a bit.
09:07Each male weighs full of wolves.
09:08The hardest носinas weighs 1-7.
09:09The horse weighs
09:33gives in. The bull will need to draw on all his experience. But he's beginning to lose
09:56the ground. Now he's broadsided. If he's defeated, he will lose all his females.
10:26With one final effort, the bull pushes the challenger back up the hill. It's over. The old bull successfully
10:50defended his rights as head of the family. And the challenger has to return to a lonely
11:04life for another year. One of Europe's last remaining areas of wilderness lies at its
11:18heart. A mountain range spanning 750 miles across eight countries. The Alps.
11:28Europe's mountain ranges may be inhospitable, but wildlife has shared this terrain with
11:44people for centuries. It's dusk in the mountain villages of Abruzzo in central Italy. And deep
12:06in the surrounding woods, thermal imaging cameras reveal the continent's most elusive predators.
12:27wolves. Right on the edge of the village. It's midwinter, and food is hard to come by. This
12:49pack may not have fed for a week.
12:59They can travel many miles in a night, searching for prey.
13:04Red deer. It's pitch black.
13:26Red deer. It's pitch black. Perfect conditions for an ambush. But even so, the odds are stacked
13:46against the wolves. One wrong footstep, and they have lost the advantage of surprise.
14:04Red deer. The deer scatter right across the mountainside.
14:25Red deer. And to make matters worse, the hunt is interrupted.
14:50The deer are now high up the mountain.
14:53Red deer.
14:55Red deer.
14:56Red deer.
14:57Red deer.
14:58Red deer.
14:59Red deer.
15:00Red deer.
15:01Red deer.
15:02Red deer.
15:03Red deer.
15:04Red deer.
15:05Red deer.
15:06Red deer.
15:07Red deer.
15:08Red deer.
15:09Red deer.
15:10Red deer.
15:11Red deer.
15:12Red deer.
15:13Red deer.
15:14Red deer.
15:15Red deer.
15:16Red deer.
15:17Red deer.
15:18Red deer.
15:19Red deer.
15:20Red deer.
15:21Red deer.
15:22Red deer.
15:23Now, they make their move.
15:53The pack needs to single out one animal.
16:10A wolf is more nimble in thick woodland, but a deer can run faster on open ground.
16:22Once they're close, the pack drive the deer straight down the mountain, and now it's more likely to stumble.
16:44In this case, the icy road proves fatal.
16:52But the commotion has attracted sheepdogs from the nearby village.
16:59They have been bred to protect livestock by chasing away wolves.
17:07With the kill lost to the sheepdogs, the wolves will go hungry for yet another night.
17:14With the kill lost to the sheepdogs, the wolves will go hungry for yet another night.
17:21With the kill lost to the sheepdogs, the wolves will go hungry for yet another night.
17:28Today, much of Europe's wildlife has to live alongside people.
17:35The most adaptable can be found in our towns and cities.
17:42The most adaptable can be found in our towns and cities.
17:49Gibraltar, right on the southern tip of the continent.
17:56Home to Europe's only monkeys.
17:57Home to Europe's only monkeys.
18:03Barbary macaques.
18:04Barbary macaques.
18:10Link's places through the next place.
18:12In my eyes, the second place.
18:13Child's места.
18:14הג protein and thumped.
18:15In the last place, the most протes of things.
18:16The next place is
18:17It's all the afflict bull window.
18:18Isaires can take care of people and mathemates?
18:19We're moved to Europe, our ownMay buff and tribal species.
18:20To respond to them all.
18:21Do the rune of Johanness?
18:22Guerezo.
18:23How speaking?
18:24In theiruggles?
18:25Is fox species...
18:26Can you uczest信?
18:27Artofair?
18:28What's next?
18:29partitioned?
18:31What's next?
18:32What's next?
18:33You'll see first.
18:35Uh.
18:36Hogs?
18:37Notice what's next?
18:38Four family troops live here.
19:04In macaque society, there is a strict hierarchy, and status within it is inherited.
19:15This female has just given birth to her first baby.
19:21She is at the bottom of the pecking order, so her son is, too.
19:29They're bullied constantly, and forced to live on the fringes of the troop.
19:57As outcasts, their only comfort is each other.
20:08He's been snatched.
20:19Stolen by a higher ranking female.
20:26She is childless, and she wants a baby of her own.
20:35He's only a few meters away, but if his mother approaches, the rest of the troop could well
20:43attack her.
20:53The kidnapper has never raised a baby before, so this one is in danger.
21:08They're headed towards a cable car tower.
21:13The young mother can't let them out of her sight.
21:17And the human being who it is, and the other people are trying to fight.
21:22They say, oh, well, I'm not.
21:26I'm not going to die.
21:28I'm not going to die.
21:30I'm not going to die, but I'm going to die.
21:34They're 30 meters up.
21:59If she tries to grab her baby and fails, he could fall to his death.
22:04The kidnapper refuses to surrender him.
22:24There's one last thing a mother can try.
22:26And to do it, she needs to recruit another macaque.
22:34Now, the mother begins to groom her companions in full view of the kidnapper.
22:53All monkeys love to be groomed, even by a low-ranking female.
23:02It's the basis for peace in macaque society.
23:07Eventually, the urge to join in is just too strong.
23:14The kidnap is over.
23:21And the youngster can climb back into his mother's arms.
23:27The kidnap is over.
23:34And the youngster can climb back into his mother's arms.
23:42There are pockets of wilderness, even in Europe's cities.
23:49Green oases among the urban sprawl.
23:56Vienna, in Austria, has over 2,000 parks, gardens, and cemeteries.
24:03Vienna, in Austria, has over 2,000 parks, gardens, and cemeteries.
24:09And down in the undergrowth, a rather unusual resident.
24:37A European hamster.
24:50Wild hamsters are found in grasslands throughout Central Europe.
25:04Here in the city, they're doing extremely well.
25:09This male is on a mission to find food.
25:15And he's set his sights on one thing in particular.
25:19Fresh flowers.
25:22To survive the winter, hamsters must fatten up.
25:34So there's no time to waste.
25:37The only problem, these flowers are in someone else's patch.
25:56They're in someone else's patch.
25:59They're in someone else's patch.
26:03They're in someone else's patch.
26:33The winner gets to keep the territory and all the food within it.
26:54The loser has to beat a hasty retreat.
27:03But the lure of fresh petals is just too much.
27:12Plan B. Stealth mode.
27:28The coast looks clear.
27:33But best not take any chances.
27:37The trick is to get in and out before you're caught.
27:56And now, dessert.
28:06Candle wax. It's full of oil and high in calories.
28:14A hamster's cheeks can hold a quarter of its body weight.
28:26A hamster's cheeks can hold a quarter of its body weight.
28:38Just one more mouthful.
28:48Just one more mouthful.
28:59Oh dear.
29:00Big cheeks and narrow bottlenecks are very embarrassing.
29:12How very embarrassing.
29:25Mission accomplished.
29:26Europe's landscape has changed dramatically.
29:38But its temperate climate is still good for wildlife.
29:44The continent has warm summers.
29:48And mild winters.
29:52These conditions are a consequence of its position on the globe.
29:58And the influence of the Gulf Stream.
30:10This current of warm water in the Atlantic Ocean heats the air that then flows over the land.
30:16And every year, Europe's unique climate helps trigger an extraordinary natural event.
30:41The Tisa River in Hungary.
30:47For a few days in June, when day length and water temperature are just right,
30:53the largest of all mayflies emerge.
31:02After three years of feeding and growing on the riverbed, the males appear first.
31:08With new wings, they can fly to the riverbank and there undergo a final moat.
31:23Now a section immature, they have just one purpose in life.
31:52To find a female.
31:54To find a female.
32:04Each male has only three hours to live.
32:11And now the females begin to emerge on the surface of the river.
32:14The males scour the water surface, searching for them.
32:15Each desperate to be the one that fertilizes her eggs.
32:19Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:24Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:25Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:29With only minutes left for each male to live, the competition becomes increasingly urgent.
32:32And now the next day.
32:33Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:37Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:38Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:44Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:45Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:46Every female is pounced on as soon as she appears.
32:50With only minutes left for each male to live, the competition becomes increasingly urgent.
32:59And all too soon, the male's time is up.
33:16All of them die.
33:29But the female's journey has only just begun.
33:46Now that they've mated, they start to fly upstream
33:51and continue for as much as three miles.
33:59At the height of the hatch, there may be as many as 10 million insects on the wing.
34:29Exhausted, the females now collapse and rain down onto the water surface.
34:46And as they hit it, each releases thousands of eggs.
34:50As the eggs slowly sink, they drift downstream so that by the time each reaches the riverbed,
35:13it will be in exactly the same spot that its parents emerged.
35:17Just hours after the first mayflies appeared, this great eruption of life is over.
35:37Europe's extensive waterways are a haven for wildlife.
35:41One of the richest of its wetlands lies on the edge of the Black Sea in Romania.
35:52The delta of the Danube River.
35:58Migrating birds are drawn here from as far away as Central Africa and Asia.
36:03Great white pelicans.
36:23Every summer, three-quarters of the world's population fluk to the delta.
36:29They've flown thousands of miles to get here.
36:39And they will spend the summer feasting on the delta's riches.
36:43To find the best fishing,
37:12They take to the air.
37:33From half a mile up, they search the entire delta 200 miles across.
37:41They can't see individual fish from this height, so instead they look for others below that have already done so.
38:05Cormorants.
38:07They are diving deep to reach the biggest shoals, flushing them to the surface.
38:15A couple of pelicans land.
38:25And others soon home in on them.
38:33The pelicans don't join the feast directly.
38:41They mug the diners.
38:51They mug the diners.
39:01This brutal tactic enables each pelican to catch many more fish more quickly than it would do if it worked by itself.
39:15.
39:25.
39:29Once the shoals of fish have been plundered and dispersed,
39:43the cormorants make their escape.
39:47.
39:51.
39:53Once the shoals of fish have been plundered and dispersed,
39:57the cormorants make their escape.
39:59.
40:01.
40:03.
40:04.
40:05.
40:07.
40:08.
40:09.
40:10.
40:11.
40:12.
40:13.
40:14.
40:15.
40:16Water has shaped Europe's landscape in another way.
40:27There is a vast wilderness lying within the rocks of the continent.
40:39Caves.
40:46Over 12,000 have been discovered in Slovenia's karst region alone.
40:54Each has been eroded by water over millions of years.
41:00And shaped drip by drip.
41:11The largest cavern is over 15 miles long,
41:15and there are certainly many more still to be discovered.
41:32Down here live some of the most specialized animals on the planet.
41:37New species of them are discovered in Europe's caves every year.
41:55This is a world that still holds many secrets.
41:59Let's live in the depths of the ocean.
42:08In the deepest pools lurk animals
42:10that were once believed to be baby dragons.
42:16Bloody Mother
42:20In the deepest pools lurk animals
42:22that were once believed to be baby dragons.
42:26They have feathery gills, which enable them to breathe underwater, as well as on land.
42:41They are Olms.
42:47They're completely blind.
42:55But sensory pits around the mouth enable them to detect the faint electrical currents emitted by their prey.
43:06Food of any kind down here is hard to come by.
43:12But an Olm can go without a meal for a decade and live for a century.
43:25The Olms world has remained virtually unchanged for millennia.
43:36Above, however, Europe has altered beyond recognition.
43:43Its landscape has been transformed by humans.
43:54Protected wilderness now covers less than 4% of its surface.
44:01The disappearance of wilderness has had catastrophic consequences for wildlife.
44:14One-fifth of Europe's animals are now under threat.
44:26Some teeter right on the brink of extinction.
44:33The Iberian lynx.
44:38One of the world's most endangered cats.
44:46In less than two decades, the lynx population decreased by nearly 90%.
44:56At one point, there were fewer than a hundred individuals.
45:17Today, their last stronghold is in the mountains of the Sierra de Andorra in southern Spain.
45:28Here, a natural park was created to help protect the lynx.
45:38Only 25 miles across, it is small.
45:46But for this male, it's just enough.
45:51He's lived here all his life.
46:06At 10 years old, he's reached a remarkable age for a wild lynx.
46:25Once persecuted, he's now protected.
46:31For this old male and Europe's entire lynx population, this could be the beginning of a new chapter.
46:50In this year alone, nearly 200 kittens have been born.
47:03And the population has risen to over 700.
47:09But the fate of the Iberian lynx, and indeed of all Europe's wildlife, is far from certain.
47:26The continent has now been so changed by humanity that many of its animal species are under threat.
47:36Only by protecting the few wildernesses that remain, and creating new wild spaces, can we ensure a future for Europe's precious wildlife.
47:51Europe's predators are rare and elusive.
48:10And none more so than the Iberian lynx, and the grey wolf.
48:26Just finding them can be difficult.
48:29It's completely pitch black now.
48:34Let alone filming them.
48:36We are packing up the kit again, because it's raining again.
48:41Two crews set off to different countries, armed with different technology, but united by a single mission.
48:57One team travelled to the heart of the Apennine Mountains in Italy, where wolf sightings had been reported.
49:09Using the latest thermal camera, the team will be able to film the wolves in the darkness when they're most active.
49:26This is quite a beast of a camera, but it can see way into the distance, so if anything warm-blooded appears on the landscape, I'll see it for sure.
49:37We just need a little stroke of luck now.
49:40But luck is not on their side.
49:47Woo!
49:49Hold on, your horses.
49:51It's blowing at absolute gloomy out there.
49:55But I think this hide is just going to literally blow off.
50:00In Spain, the lynx team are taking a different approach.
50:04Camera traps and lots of them.
50:12So we've got one camera here, one camera hidden in the olive groves here, and one camera which you might just be able to see hidden in the olive groves there.
50:21The crew rigs remote cameras wherever the links are known to roam, including some surprisingly busy locations.
50:38We've been told that they use these underpasses to get underneath this massive motorway.
50:43So we're going to work out where to put our cameras and hopefully capture them moving around this urban environment.
50:50To record enough footage, the cameras will need to be left in the field for six months.
50:59With the last one set, the long wait begins.
51:02In the mountains of Italy, the weather has improved.
51:13But that is all.
51:15So we're about halfway through the chute now, and we don't know where the walls are.
51:20I'm pretty gutted.
51:22I'm going to have to just stay here through the night scanning with a thermal camera and hoping that some walls appear on the landscape.
51:32It's really difficult when nothing's happening.
51:38But finally, a promising lead in an unexpected location.
51:43We got a report last night that there was a wolf kill on the road.
51:49So, you know, we've been going into the wilderness to try and find wolves.
51:54When actually, they've just been on our doorstep in the village.
51:58The wolf must have chased the deer from there.
52:01And it tried to jump, but it got stuck here because of all the fur.
52:05You see also some wolf fur here.
52:08I mean, it's the best signs of wolf activity we've seen since we've been here.
52:14I just wouldn't have thought it would have been in the village when there's so many miles of wilderness and mountains.
52:21So, yeah, we're changing strategy.
52:24I've moved the camera teams to a car park above the village where we're staying,
52:29which I can't even quite believe I'm saying that, but hopefully it will pay off.
52:34Time to move the operation to the edge of the village.
52:50We're just a stone's throw from that village full of people.
52:54I can hear a wolf howling just over there.
52:57So I'm hurrying to set the camera up because I'm pretty sure we can see some wolves quite soon.
53:00We've got nine European wild wolves howling down there in the valley.
53:16Unbelievable.
53:19Who'd have thought that you'd have that many wolves so close to the road.
53:22There's cars passing just beneath me.
53:25It's just beautiful.
53:27For the Lynx team in Spain, things are taking a turn for the worse.
53:37We've just come down to discover our camera traps are not weatherproof.
53:42All the electronics and the circuit boards are starting to act up.
53:45So we're having to rip everything out and we'll have to see what's going on.
53:49The weather's been so bad. There's so much rain coming down from the mountain.
54:03The only option is to bring all the cameras back to base.
54:07I'm hooking it up, drying it out, finding out where water's getting in and sealing it.
54:14With ten camera traps to fix, the crew work around the clock until the last one is ready.
54:21Looks like we're good to go.
54:27But the team can't re-rig the cameras while it's still raining.
54:34And the weather shows no sign of improving.
54:37We really want to find these links, but without a couple of dry days to set a kit up, we're up against it now.
54:48All we can do is wait, I guess.
54:51All we can do is wait, I guess.
54:58Eventually the rains pass and the crew set up the camera traps.
55:04This is the last one. I'm going to close it up and then we're going to leave it for a month.
55:09It feels really fitting to be ending on a really lovely sunny day with everything working perfectly.
55:16So I'm feeling quite confident and positive.
55:19Hopefully this will get some link shots.
55:28In Italy, the thermal camera is allowing the team to reveal for the first time the secret lives of Europe's wolves.
55:36And it appears that they live much closer to home than anyone thought.
55:45They're just so close to the road.
55:48We've got the village up in the background, but I can see the houses.
55:52There's people sleeping all around.
55:55Yet they're so confident.
55:57So confident and undisturbed by all the humanity that's around them.
56:06It's just amazing to me that they know how to stay out of sight, but be so close to humanity.
56:13You just have this night shift and then they just meld away into the shadows.
56:21And it's not just the wolf team making surprising discoveries.
56:27Camera trap footage reveals how confident the Iberian lynx is living alongside people.
56:34And towards the end of the trip, the team have a memorable encounter.
56:42We've just woken up from staying in the house and we've had a visitor overnight.
56:47To see a wildlings up this close is, yeah, completely amazing.
56:53It was a surprising revelation for both teams to find the continent's most elusive predators living right alongside us.
57:11Next time, a land of constant change.
57:15A land of constant change.
57:18Where pioneering animals make the most of every opportunity.
57:28North America.
57:29If you enjoyed your Sunday roast earlier, consider what our taste for meat is doing to the planet.
57:43That's tomorrow night at nine.
57:45And later, don't mess with an armored bear, and especially when it's in a bad mood.
57:49His dark materials continues at eight.
57:51At eight.
57:52But next, music.
57:53We swap Bruno for Andrea Pacelli.
57:54And the strictly results.
57:56Why?
58:00Well the know of his thinking also goes to Vic.
58:03It's been Ihnen, Gian
58:21I've been � L teste and I've been trained in the universe.
58:22Tell him that this is a good idea for theعد元.