Original subtitles

(MUSIC PLAYING)

[Narrator] The Pyrenees is a mountain range full of secrets,

a high barrier which extends for 400

kilometers with dry, arid land on its Southern side.

A huge mountainous area of steep climbs,

forests and waterfalls.

In these arduous valleys, some of the rarest species

can be found.

They've taken refuge far from the disruption,

the ravaging and the spoiling of human activity.

This is where season upon season,

a whole world of discrete and fragile fauna survives.

You think you know about nature,

and then all of a sudden, something unexpected

comes along.

You hear the call of the wild, you set out on a path.

You listen and you observe.

You come across an initial trace,

and you realize that you're going

to have to start from scratch.

Close to the mountaintops, a pirate glides.

With his eyes masked in black, the bearded vulture

is a creature of fascinating rituals.

He puts on makeup, he breaks bones,

he cleans up the mountainsides.

He is the butcher of the peaks.

To observe the bearded vultures behavior,

you need to climb towards the peaks,

above an altitude of 1,500 meters where everything

is vast and more rugged.

Animals are rarer.

Some camouflage themselves as protection from predators,

others have incredible physical abilities.

It is truly humbling.

You have to contend with the steep slopes and the altitude.

Here, confronted by the elements,

you can truly breathe.

Birds of prey circle above your head.

Flocks of Griffon vultures indicate

that a dead animal is nearby.

With their keen eyesight, these scavengers can spot a corpse

several kilometers away.

Aware of the ongoing feast, the bearded vulture

is more reserved.

He'll come down in a few days time when all that's left

is the skeleton.

The bearded vulture has a wingspan

of almost three meters.

It is the largest bird in Europe.

With black masks surrounding their red rimmed eyes, goatees

and fiery feathers, the adults sport the look

of bloodthirsty pirates.

But they're the furthest thing from pirates.

Bearded vultures are shy, and for the most part,

only eat bones.

The color of their feathers is not natural.

They dye them by bathing in colored water.

To observe this ritual, you have to go upstream.

Up there the springs have the rusty color of iron ore.

Maybe we'll be able to see some telltale signs

of their presence.

Water is the magical force of the mountains.

It appears in the most unexpected places,

in places that seemed the driest, the most desolate.

Beneath the surface lies another world.

The Brook salamander, formerly known as the euproctus,

only exists here in the Pyrenees.

Observing the stream means taking your eyes off the sky.

The Dipper flies as well as it swims.

This bird feeds on larvae, mollusks and small fish.

The Tichodrome is only slightly smaller.

It's known as the butterfly bird.

With its fast flapping wings, it climbs the steepest

of slopes with ease.

It explores every crevice to root out insects.

In winter, some migrate to the countryside,

sometimes nesting on our most beautiful cathedrals.

Here we find the springs of ferrous water.

The bird is still almost white.

Today there's a couple bathing, the male

and the female getting together to dye their feathers.

We still do not know why this behavior occurs.

Perhaps it's simply that, like other birds,

being beautiful, being noticed helps to find a mate.

The sheer genius of nature will always amaze us.

Two large birds of prey are hovering in the sky,

observing the land.

The golden eagle is hunting while the bearded vulture

is looking for a carcass.

They are two great loners, the predator and the butcher.

The way in which the bearded vulture feeds

involves one of the most impressive rituals,

the splitting of the bones.

In order to eat the marrow, the bird releases its food

from several dozen meters high while

aiming for the right spot, where

the stones are sharp enough for the bone to break.

The grassy slopes provide a rich supply of food

for herbivores when they are not the stage on which

dramas are being played out.

Marmots build a solid network of informants

to protect themselves from predators.

This is the golden eagles nest.

Just over the cliff, the eaglet looks ravenous.

If you keep your distance, you'll

be able to witness a hunt.

Scenes such as this are a reminder

of how wild the Pyrenees are.

There are few places in Europe where

you can see so many animals in such an abundant environment.

If you want to witness the splitting of the bones

but you don't know where the bearded vultures nest is,

you have to understand the birds' habits,

find out where it can gather bones and break them.

As you rise from the ridges, different landscapes

become entwined.

Food reserves and scree slopes where

our pirate could break bones.

What luck, on the other side, a young bear

has emerged from the forest to eat the thick grass.

The pair of bearded vultures, often

flies over this small plateau inhabited by many animals.

This grassland may be a feeding ground.

The birds have spotted this cow carcass,

but only the Griffon vultures are interested in it.

The bearded vulture bears the scars

of centuries of persecution.

Its incredible metabolism has played tricks on it.

Capable of swallowing a cow's femur,

it was suspected of devouring children.

In the Pyrenees, these beliefs almost led

to it disappearing completely.

The izard, a Pyrenean cousin of a chamois,

is the only hoofed mammal, apart from the ibex,

to adapt to such a high altitude.

Its carcass is an important source

of nourishment for the pirate of the mountains.

Before nightfall, the animals' activity increases.

The vixen is on the lookout.

She's noticed our presence and is worried.

It's better to leave the area so we don't

prevent her from hunting.

She needs to feed her cubs.

Spending a night alone in the mountains

means taming your demons.

The wilderness remains active in the darkness of the night

when we humans feel very vulnerable.

Examining these rocky areas is a laborious process.

We're looking for carcasses and broken bones

in these broad piles of rocks, hoping that the bearded vulture

makes use of this spot.

No clues here.

Clearly the bone breaking takes place elsewhere.

The environment seems hostile, and yet the rocky slopes

are home to many animals.

Rock ptarmigans are well camouflaged.

They protect themselves from the formidable golden eagle.

Their summer feathers blend in with the rocks.

And here, finally, is the right observation post.

The bearded vulture gathers the remains of a carcass.

The prize is delivered to his partner.

Feeding is a shared duty.

If we follow him, he'll lead us to the nest.

During their lifetime, bearded vultures remained faithful

to their spouses, and they also never leave their territory.

The young bearded vulture is still black.

He'll acquire his perfect adult feathers

when he's six years old.

Meanwhile, the little eagle is strengthening its wings.

It will soon be ready to leave the nest.

Autumn begins to take hold in the mountains.

The choughs are still moving about in their gangs.

Some animals let out their mating calls.

(STAG BELLOWS)

The stag bellows.

It shapes the soundscape of the mountains.

The eaglet and the young vulture have left home.

The cliff has been uninhabited for several weeks.

The next months will be crucial for the young vulture.

He will have to feed himself and find his own territory.

The two bearded vultures are showing off to each other.

Nearly 200 couples have been recorded in the Pyrenees.

This is by far the largest population in Europe.

Yet even here, the species remains vulnerable.

Human activity often disturbs the birds' daily lives.

These large birds of prey don't always breed successfully.

Raising chicks is fraught with danger.

It only succeeds, on average, once every three years.

Prior to the arrival of the cold weather,

food remains readily available.

In a few weeks, perhaps even sooner, the bodies of water

will be frozen and the mountains buried in snow.

The colors of this young bearded vultures feathers

indicate that he is at least four years old.

Surprisingly, he's tolerated on the couple's territory.

He'll have to find an uninhabited area quickly.

The chick born this year is nowhere to be seen.

This young bird is cautious.

He doesn't approach the carcass, nor the red kites that

are congregating around it.

Unlike the young eagle, he is not interested in fresh meat.

The izard's mating season marks the impending arrival

of winter.

Not so long ago, the males would chase each other

at breakneck speed through the snow to defend their territory.

Now, with global warming, it's no longer unusual to see them

cavorting on the rocky slopes, which makes the spectacle

all the more impressive.

It's the same movement depicted in the hunting

scenes on cave paintings.

Their gracefulness has impressed

man since the dawn of time.

The snow always arrives unexpectedly.

The most vulnerable animals won't

be able to withstand the lack of food or the extreme cold.

Their remains will help the more resistant ones

to get through the hardships of winter,

like the Griffon vultures, the golden eagle,

and the bearded vulture.

The chick born this year is nowhere to be found.

Perhaps it's gone to live elsewhere

if it's managed to survive the first months of autonomy.

If you want to be able to see the rituals

of these birds of prey, you have to be methodical.

Find a carcass, build a makeshift hideout

and, finally, watch the succession

of large, hungry birds.

The ptarmigans have changed their plumage.

They hope to avoid the sharp sighted eagle

and its powerful claws.

Despite the cold, some animals do not change their habits.

The dipper remains at high altitude

until the river freezes over.

The large raven signals that dinner is served,

a roe deer has succumbed to the hardships of winter.

This is the right place to set up a hideout.

The Griffon vultures prey on the creature

before being scared off by the golden eagle,

the lord of the mountains.

What a powerful animal with its fiery crown.

The female, the more dominant of the two, scolds the male.

Only the skeleton remains.

Now we must wait to hopefully see the bearded vulture.

10 days of patiently waiting, 10 days

of coming at first light and leaving at nightfall.

Hands frozen, cheeks burned by the cold

until he finally arrives.

It's him.

His head is black.

It's the youngster.

It has a white patch on its back.

This is the bearded vulture we saw in its nest.

It's most likely spent the winter here.

The time has come to return home,

to leave the mountain tops, to return to the valley.

The Pyrenees are like a compass.

They preserve secret sanctuaries

where nature lives freely alongside human activity.

They recall the words of a great naturalist,

"The day will come when the degree of civilization will be

measured not by the hold of society on nature,

but by the extent of the wilderness

it allows to remain."