Category: Nature & Wildlife

Surrounded by Sharks: Close-Up of the Prehistoric Hunters

With the aid of modern technology, the unknown behavior of some unusual species of shark—lemon sharks and their white-tip reef counterparts—is revealed. Our film trip begins on the Bahamas—to be more precise, in the turquoise-blue waters of the Grand Bahama Bank, in an exactly fixed location. In the spring, 70 to 80 pregnant lemon sharks…


The Santa Anas: The Fiery Breath of California

The Santa Ana wind comes out of the Mojave Desert and blows hot and destructively across the coast of Southern California. But the wind is not just a nuisance and a threat. The fact that California is at the forefront of wind energy is also thanks to the Santa Ana wind. Director Monika von Behr…


The Reliable Horses of Genghis Khan

In the remote regions of the Tien Chan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, French horse devotee Jacqueline Ripart hopes to find the last remaining specimens of the small, tough horses with which Genghis Khan once conquered Central Asia and which are now threatened by extinction. Under Soviet rule, the Kyrgyz horse was bred with Russian breeds to…


Deadly Game: Seconds From Disaster

Whatever walk of life, from bug to bear, we are all under threat. Every second, somewhere, something goes wrong for an animal. There’s a fight or an attack. What decides our fate? Is it predetermined who lives or dies or do we take our chances, living our lives constantly seconds from disaster? On the African…


Wild Workers: Prime Movers

This documentary shows how wild creatures help to build the very foundations upon which environments depend. In North America, herds of bison maintain the prairies that used to spread across the continent, while in Africa giraffes work as tree pruners and help maintain the savanna grasslands that the greatest herds on earth depend upon. In…


The Amazing Beauty of Wildlife in Bavaria’s Magical Alpine Kingdom

There is a magical land in the very south of Bavaria: its vaults are the mountains, its animals are the crown jewels. There are sparkling palaces from ice and snow, like a fairytale, made from nature’s forces. Magnificent castles built with human hands. The mountains and the rough climate are challenges for nature and the…


Survival in the Carpathian Mountains

It is in the Bohemian Forest that this truly special story takes place—the story of survival and of the challenge to master one’s life without a mother’s protective care. The two bear twin cubs would have been destined to death from starvation if a man, Vaclav, had not adopted them. It’s the story about two…


One Cat to Rule Them All: Is the Lion the True King of Beasts?

There are 41 members of the cat’s family—all are the embodiment of grace and power, spectacular top predators that command respect. This dramatic special reviews the feline family to find out whether there really is one Top Cat to rule them all. From domestic cats to Siberian tigers, all cats are predators and built for…


A Ticking Time Bomb: The Lethal Legacy of Wrecks From World War II

Scattered around the coasts of the world are ticking time bombs, so far virtually unknown to the public; 6,300 wrecks, sunk in World War II, have been rusting away in the sea for over 70 years. The threat they pose goes way beyond all the oil spill catastrophes ever experienced. In 1989, the tanker Exxon…


The Fascinating World of Angry Birds

Angry birds are very popular—especially in the minds of game-playing kids—but are there real angry birds out there? Birds battle to survive, find enough food and shelter, avoid danger, and on top of that, must raise their young. Life’s hard, but will they get in a flap? As the year passes, birds face fresh challenges…