All language subtitles for Wild Prague 2022_track5_[eng]

A peaceful valley with a river
covered by woods

hadn't changed for thousands of years.

But in an instant,
it was swallowed up by a town.

And it keeps changing.

People built it here

as from a bygone age - they wish
to fix the world in their own way.

Although nature too has a place
in their adapted world.

But beware - it must be
a nature well-behaved,

obedient and tamed.

People love animals.

Above all, those who
don't take them by surprise.

Best of all those who don't move much.

And those who embellish.

For example,
the oldest working clock in the world,

Prague's Astronomical Clock.

It enables them to seize the entire
universe and even to harness time.

And that reassures them.

But other animals also live in Prague.
And nobody invited them here.

People don't tend to notice
these neighbours,

but they would also wish
to call the city their home.

So they learn how to survive
in a diverse urban environment.

Many a time cozy,
but sometimes also dangerous.

What is Prague, actually?

Can the animals and plants survive here?

How does the city look through their eyes?

How do they see people?

THE HOME OF YOUR LIFE

Let's go and see together
how they live in a place

that people proudly call
the Mother of Cities.

WILD PRAGUE

Sixty years ago, people introduced
mouflons to the outskirts of Prague.

They probably wanted to turn

Kunratice Forest
into an area of wild nature

where they could visit and observe them.

But they kept taking dogs along
and mouflons get startled by them.

Wouldn't it be more safe beyond
the forest?

So being guided by an experienced female,
they tried the other side of the fence.

But to add some nutrients,
you have to keep looking for new sources.

Mouflon used to be a domesticated sheep.

Will his ancient past help him
to survive in the vicinity of humans?

Winter is the time when Prague
shows its amiable face.

The temperature is milder
than in the surrounding countryside.

Food is more accessible.

And most importantly, thanks to the dams
the river doesn't freeze anymore.

And that is what has attracted
quite new inhabitants into the city.

Isn't it a waste of time to fly south
for the winter to a warm climate?

And so the common moorhen
tried living in the city.

Would it be worth it?

She has found a nice small pond
with bulrush vegetation

and hid her nest over there.

Her young birds are safe here.

What a paradise.

But what kind of paradise would it be

if a snake didn't pop up?

Or at least a coypu.

Another new conqueror of the city.

The moorhen doesn't like them.

As if she sensed that they come
to spoil her family's happiness.

Coypus originate from South America.

They are here purely because of people
as they escaped the fur farms.

Although coypus are herbivores,
they do find eggs tasty.

And, above all, they take
what the moorhen needs most:

vegetation alongside the banks.

But what will the moorhen do now?

The courtship of the common blackbird
starts early in the spring.

The blackbird couple is often
connected for life.

All blackbirds were originally
shy inhabitants of forests.

Then some of them decided
for a life in towns.

We don't know what made them do it.

But we have been observing them here
for almost two centuries.

But the city's environment changes
much quicker than the forest.

In recent years magpies have also
started to penetrate into Prague.

After many calm years, this is
an unexpected danger to the blackbird.

And so the blackbirds
keep changing their behaviour.

Now they carefully hide their nests.

For example, in a thick thorny bush.

Other blackbirds seek refuge
in close proximity to humans.

They hope the magpie won't dare go there.

An island in the middle
of the city's historical zone.

Half park and half forest.

That is the Petrin Hill in Prague.

Its most mysterious inhabitant
is a shy edible dormouse.

Most people don't even know
about their presence.

And the dormouse
doesn't pay attention to them either.

Although at times
they use some human amenities.

The female has awaken
from a long winter sleep.

She crawls through tree tops as
if she was diligently inspecting them.

If there'll be an abundance of beechnuts
she can allow herself to produce young.

But if there is a shortage of beechnuts
dormouse will prefer not to mate.

And she must decide right now
in the spring.

But on what basis?

Yeah...

She probably sees into the future.

It seems that the beechnut yield
will be good this year

because just now the dormouse
is choosing a safe birth centre.

That's it. An empty birdhouse.

It could be a good year.

One of the biggest colonies
grey herons have established

is within the capital city's boundaries.

Why here?

There are about 80 nests here.

And gradually the young hatch.

The entire colony daily needs two hundreds
of kilograms of fish to feed them.

But where to find them?

To feed pelicans in the city?

That is clearly a human's idea.

The herons don't seem to mind.

Unlike people they've no idea
that stealing is a crime.

It's probably no coincidence

that grey herons have built
their nests here,

in the ZOO.

A park was created in the city by people.

And gradually they are adapting so,
above all, it pleases them.

And their dogs.

If the moorhen was consulted on plans
for modifications of the city greenery

there'd be more vegetation on banks and,
to the contrary, fewer annoying dogs.

And coypus.

But people don't take into account
the moorhen's needs when adapting parks.

Spring has come.

The moorhen has to nest.

But where?

This is an unexpected decision.

If she doesn't find safety low down
she looks for it up above.

But nature didn't fit her out
for such activities.

Amongst the tangled water plants
her long claws come in handy.

But in the branches of a tree
they are more of a hindrance.

But eventually it works.
Eventually she manages it.

What happens when the young hatch?

There are not only houses
and parks in the city.

There are many spaces
that people didn't even name.

Bank martins dig their burrows
for their nests in vertical walls.

They used to nest in steep river banks.

But try to find
a natural river bank today.

It's mostly concrete.

They will more like find a pile of rubble.

Bank martins do not care.

They have found what they needed.

And unlike the moorhen,
they haven't had to change their habits.

They see the world in their own way.

And the city as well.

Let's hope the excavator won't be back

before the bank martins
take their young out of the nests.

About ten million people
live in our country.

But also ten million blackbirds.

Everybody knows blackbirds.
But not all are the same.

What about this one?

Here we see a little genetic aberration.

With blackbirds it sometimes happens
that part of the body ends up white.

This striking bird would have
no chance of survival in a forest.

Most likely it would be hunted down
quickly by a predator.

But this blackbird has lived in the city
for at least four years.

Fewer predators here by far,
which improve its chances.

In its long life it has gained
sufficient experience.

For its nest it has chosen a perfect
hideaway which magpies won't disturb.

Thanks to city advantages,
the mottled blackbird can keep hiding.

Uniquely in the world,
the Astronomical Clock

shows the ancient Babylonian time.

According to it, when the sun
is above the horizon only lasts a day

and this time changes during the year.

People in the city do not care much.

But plants and animals
still navigate mostly by the sun.

Today is the summer solstice,

the shortest night of the year.

So whoever comes alive
only after the sun sets

will have to get a move on.

A human lives through some 30,000 days.

But a grown stag beetle only
has only dozens of nights at his disposal.

The biggest European beetle
isn't exactly a top-class flier,

and also it gets confused
by lantern lights.

Meanwhile, females wait quietly on trees.

They are full of eggs

so they find flying
even more difficult than the males.

They usually manage to take off
only once in their lives.

And even then don't get far.

This female went in search of the light.
She ended up in the garden restaurant.

There's no other option but to wait and
see whether a male will seek her out.

Darkness falls and by the river as well
as here insects gather round the lights.

By the water tens of thousands of night
spiders crawl from their hideaways,

bridge spiders.

They are exceptional eaters

and so they must create webs double-quick

so they can make full use
of the short night.

For millions of years bridge spiders
have avoided light

so they could shelter from their enemies.

Then people invented artificial lighting,

not only for themselves
but for bridge spiders too.

Because they soon found out
that this light attracts their prey.

So they make webs in a city
as close to street lamps as possible.

The webs are finished

and the bridge spiders
wait for their first catch.

In the meantime, male stag beetles
on Petrin hill have settled down

and with the use of antennae
try to pick up a female's scent.

At last!

Such an opportunity
might not come up again.

The male sets off immediately
in search of his good fortune.

But he's not alone.

And the other one is capable
of doing anything for his victory.

Make your bets,

bout is about to begin.

Pity that their strip is so similar.

Either way, there are one too many here.

Petrin belongs to lovers.

The North Pole is beginning
to deviate from the sun.

From this moment, days will be shorter
and winter will come ever nearer.

A million people are asleep.

Whereas five million sewer rats
are waking up.

At last they've peace for their work.

Like the dustmen have to clear away
the remains of the day gone by.

In a city it's never completely dark.

That confuses all animals,

even birds who otherwise go by the sun.

Blackbirds in a city start singing
long before it gets light.

The spiders' hunt was successful
and before they hide

the gobble up the most valuable
bits of their torn webs.

Amino acids from the sticky fibres will
serve them again the following evening.

The day arrives.

New stories begin.

Swallows entangled their lives
with humans.

They wait for the first Metro train.

The longest day of the year
is about to begin.

Just because of such days the swallows
weighed up their trek from the Equator.

There length of a day
is the same all year round.

But in Prague they can hunt for food
for their young for the entire 16 hours.

Magpie feels right at home
in the city. We know it,

there is nothing it misses,
notices everything at once

and wonders how it could prosper from it.

Magpie has rifled through the waste bins
but keeps looking for a bite to eat.

What an idea!

In their fur mouflons
could after all have some titbits.

Let's have a look.

See, a tick!

Yummy! Mouflon's tick tastes super.

Although other magpies
have learnt it from it

the patent is clearly held
by the bird you are looking at.

Such rarities are to be seen only
in the city.

Within a few days it seems that
here in Prague's Krc everyone is happy.

Apart from the mouflon's tick.

The dormouse gave birth to young ones
in the birdhouse.

But how many?

Usually there are about six.

Another unique world occurrence perhaps?

No way!

Here arrives another dormouse.

It's her daughter from last year and
this year shares the nest with her mother.

Mother and daughter can share
the care needs of the offspring.

Dormouse grandmother's prophecy
has been fulfilled.

Beechnuts are ripening.

These very fruits have the highest
content of fats of all our plants.

Beechnuts are the main
food source for the young

who gather them by leaving
their birdhouse even in daylight.

They must hurry.

If they don't at least
triple their weight by October

they've no chance of surviving winter.

Without beechnuts they won't manage it.

For the barely weaned young'uns
a race against time has begun.

Don't you think the landscape
outside of the city is dull?

Monotonous?

This is how most of our
so-called nature looks like.

Isn't the city in the end
the most interesting part of nature

with it's diversity,
variety and unpredictability?

It keeps changing constantly.

Suddenly
we have a different view of Prague.

Shouldn't we call it a National Park?

It's strange but true.

If you want to know about nature,
you can start in the city.

Although we might have thought
there was no real nature at all.

What is the real nature after all?

In a pile of rubble, bank martins
see a wall suitable for nesting.

But what brought here the green toad male?

This is what they have been waiting for.

All year they made do without water,
but now it's essential for them.

The rainfall is stronger in the city
than elsewhere.

But the rainwater
has no way of being retained.

In the landfill,
there is a chance of pools forming.

The green toad
must be on standby all the time

so it can make use
of the rare opportunity.

A concert for the females can,

in the evening's quiet,
be heard from afar.

They're coming!

The males settle on the females' backs.

Sometimes also on other males' backs.

In the chaos... they have very little time.

The toads' eggs are laid.

One string can be as long as five metres.

And each contains up to 10,000 eggs.

But the apparent wastage
has a good reason.

It's the only possibility
for how to pass on one's genes.

Folk don't have a clue of all the ways
they influence nature in the city.

Railways linked up the entire world
into a network

which is used even by those
who otherwise don't walk or fly.

Plants love to travel by train.

At railway stations, some plants transfer
and some decide to stay.

But it's not a place for everyone.

Station plants don't have a year
measured only by alternating seasons,

but also by the alternation
of poisonous sprays.

For a short time a barren land is created
and everything starts from scratch.

But these conditions suit many.

The most varied types of plants
are growing in Prague.

Many of them got here
from the other side of the world.

Looks like an alien.

And it is an alien.

Octopus stinkhorn -
fungi from faraway Tasmania.

It got to Europe
a hundred years ago by boat.

But now it does not need people anymore.

The stinking fungus attracts flies

who spread their spores.

Traveling this way is slow but steady.

And so octopus stinkhorn has step-by-step

eventually reached Prague.

The shallow water warms up quickly

and so in only three days
tadpoles hatch from the eggs.

Temporary puddles benefit from no fish
or other predators living there.

But the tadpoles face
another mortal danger here.

In hot days,
puddles disappear before our eyes

and with it more and more tadpoles.

In the deeper hollows
a little water has remained.

It's necessary to last
for at least a couple of weeks.

Water, that's a rare
commodity in the city.

The centre tends to be as parched
as a rocky desert.

Even birds have every source
perfectly mapped.

And even the smallest one
is extremely valuable.

For some heat presents mortal danger,
for others a blessing.

Hot summer holiday afternoon
on a housing estate.

Warmed surfaces attract insects.

A perfect idyll.

But the truth is that a robbery
is being planned,

a kidnapping and possibly a murder.

'Steppe' ants are busy working.

The real rulers of the anthill are
down there, in the dark and warmth.

Rusty Amazonians.

This ant species
has earned the name "slavers."

Warmth-loving Amazonians
do well in the hot city.

Now they're resting.

Only occasionally they accept food
from their slaves, 'steppe' ants.

Without them they'd starve.

These slavers are totally dependant.

They can't do anything.

Apart from one thing...

Just now two Amazonians are coming back.

They are scouts and bring exciting news.

The Amazonians come alive.

The army of slavers are ready to march.

Along the way they leave scent
markings to find their way back.

The colony of
the 'steppe' ants has no inkling

of the approaching calamity.

As always workers take care of the pupae.

This is an assault!

There below is hidden treasure
for which the Amazonians have come for.

In the nest they disperse an agent which
paralyses the 'steppe' ants for a while.

The ants under attack do not resist

and the slavers come to steal the pupae

out of which later more slaves will hatch.

The 'steppe' ants desperately defend
the nest entrance and their pupae.

This one manages save one pupa.

Others join forces
and keep one Amazonian in check.

But thousands of other Amazonians
keep plundering.

They carry off more and more pupae.

This is the only thing they are good at.

And they can do it perfectly.

They go back with them to their nest.

A new generation of slaves
will hatch soon.

They'll never know that their real home

is far, far away, beyond the car park.

All their lives they'll
attentively care for their masters.

Amazonian ants.

Of the many thousands of eggs,
tadpoles rarely finish their development.

These small frogs were lucky.

And now they set off
towards an uncertain future.

Each year they will wait for the scent
of rain and seek out new puddles.

The common moorhen
has no idea which ancestor

decided to settle in the city.

She has learnt to nest in trees.

And she is trying it here
by the Vltava river.

Its young are safe high up.

They must leave their nest soon
but there is only one way out.

A decisive moment in their lives.

Parents are encouraging them from beneath.

This is no pond or a small lake in a park.

There is a strong current and the young
must immediately fight for their lives.

One has managed
to reach the embankment wall.

But another
young'un is carried by the river

in the other direction, to a weir,

and it has hardly any strength left.

The mother is calling out desperately,
but that's all she can do for it.

In the end,
she must leave it to its destiny.

And tries at least to steer
the remaining two young ones to safety.

It came off. But here out in the open,
it's not safe either

and the little moorhens
can't return to their nest.

The mother attempts to construct
a temporary shelter for the young birds.

But there are no water plants here

and she has to make use
of everything the river brings.

But who is this?

It's the third youngster!

It actually managed to overcome
the current and reached the river bank.

A day full of mortal danger
comes to a close.

This time the risky operation came off.

Tenacious moorhen doesn't give up.

This is also Prague.

Every evening since the end of summer
hundred of thousands of birds fly here.

Reed beds by
the banks of a reservoir basin

is a safe place to spend the night
for starlings from all around Prague.

In a couple of weeks
they will fly to warmer climes.

In the autumn male mouflons
return to the herd

as for the next two months their interest
in the females has grown again.

Rams who from the spring had lived

in a matey atmosphere of
a gentleman's club

are now fighting for their favours.

Such blows can even cause concussion.

Fortunately, right now
they don't make much use of the brain.

An eight-year-old ram, the strongest
male in the herd, is the favourite.

He is trying to bring together
as many females as he can

and create his own harem.

A little inattentiveness and one
of the greenhorns tries to take advantage.

Usually his impudence
ends up being punished.

The old ram picks females
from his harem who are in a state of rut.

He walks around his herd
and draws in the air.

The strongest and most experienced male

passes on his genes to many offspring.

Long ago, a calm green sea
flowed through Prague's basin.

A forest.

Following a long evolution,
it reached perfection.

Here, everyone had his place

and nothing ever changed.

A forest was similar to a museum.

But a city is a laboratory.

A stormy sea where many creatures
look for islands of green patches.

In such a place one can easily
spend one's entire life.

Even so someone now and then
sails through a sea of houses

and tries to discover a new green island.

At the New Jewish Cemetery
lives a male wood mouse.

Surroundings appeal to him, but lately
it's been somewhat "overmiced."

Too many neighbours, too little food.

But the wood mouse senses
that not far away

could be another perhaps bigger island.

And so at night he sets off
on an adventurous journey.

His gamble pays off.

This island is much bigger.

Will he find here all he needs?

The young dormice in Petrin
left their native birdhouse

and must take care of themselves.

Facing them now
is their most difficult task in life.

Gain sufficient weight
to survive their first winter.

Is there something to eat
in the surrounding sea of houses?

Quite a lot of interesting things here

but unluckily for the dormouse
all are hidden.

He will try his luck in the pantry.

Dormice do not dare to venture
further than the neigbours' house.

The city poses to dormice
insurmountable difficulties.

How did dormice get to Petrin hill?

Similarly to this inconspicuous

little beetle barely
half-a-centimetre big.

He can't fly and so cannot move
to new places like the dormouse.

Weevil only lives
in thousands years old woods.

Together with the dormouse
he provides proof

that at least part of Petrin hill
has always been covered by a wood.

Ages before people built a town around it.

Olsany Cemeteries,

the home for two million deceased
but also many still living.

Within a couple of days the wood mouse
realised he made a sound choice.

Here many more tenants will make a living.

Particularly now, it's All Souls' Day.

At his former home only small stones
lay on top of the gravestones.

But the Christian hospitality
pleased the mouse no end.

He is glad he converted.

Young dormouse has prepared
himself well for the winter.

He now weighs 150 times more
than when he was born.

Just remains for him to find
a safe place where he won't freeze.

But where has he found himself?

The dormouse knows what he wants.

A peaceful spot with a constant
temperature where he could spend

the coming freezing months.

Which way now?

The dormouse managed his task.

In the tricky labyrinth he didn't
lose his way and reached his goal.

Here is his time machine
in which he'll travel into the spring.

The shortest days of the year are coming.

But even now in Prague it is warmer
than in the open countryside.

And the river doesn't freeze up.

Every evening thousands of gulls fly in.

Here in the middle of the current
they can fall asleep safe from enemies.

The temperature drops down to -20°C.

Such frost comes to Prague
only once every few years

but then lives are at stake.

Worst off are the birds.

Every flight saps their strength which
they then miss when fighting the cold.

At the last moment
some of them are saved by people.

Today each morsel can be
the difference between life and death.

In Stromovka park birds have been left
with just one area of ice-free water.

The moorhen curses her ancestors

who once decided they wouldn't fly south.

She was born in Prague.

She has no idea
that there is something on the outside.

She is a bit trapped in Prague.

Gulls aren't kept captive by Prague.

Today they'll fly out
to a tip beyond the city.

Only yesterday some of them were in Vienna

and tomorrow they could
be looking for food in Berlin.

City blackbirds will never again meet
their relatives from the forests.

Each leads a different life

and they're becoming
more and more distinct.

Blackbirds in their new habitat lost
the instinct to migrate in the autumn.

Hormones which manage
the onset of breeding

come to the fore some weeks earlier.

While their forest brethren are
still somewhere in the Mediterranean

in Prague they are already
feeding their young.

Their body changes too.

Wings become shorter, perhaps so they can
manoeuvre better in the city's traffic.

And all these changes are hereditary.

Before our eyes one of the greatest
of miracles occurs - evolution.

If the city blackbirds have enough time

perhaps one day they'll develop
into a new bird species.

And who knows? Maybe they'll be pied.

Even in the unpredictable city
environment a few certainties exist.

For example,
that winter will come to an end.

Even though here the differences
in seasonal cycles aren't so marked

spring will affect everyone.

Krc hospital's old ram watches with
the serenity of an even-toed ungulate.

He has seen it happening.

The gentleman's club
has renewed its activities.

Concussed brains have been cured,

old passions have dozed off
for some months.

But at the maternity unit
it's the peak season.

After five months of pregnancy
one birth follows another.

Somewhere in the mouflon is still hidden
a ten thousand year old sheep.

But in that sheep is still hidden
the original undomesticated animal.

What exactly is the mouflon?

Well, what suits at a given moment.

Makes use of humans now and then,
but also makes do quite well without him.

The city keeps surprising its inhabitants.

Sometimes unpleasantly.

Sometimes delightfully.

The city is an opportunity.

People would like to control not just
their surroundings but the whole world,

but nature keeps doing its own thing.

And its effort, unlike the human one,
never lets up.

All our endeavours, our cities,
our struggle which we cannot win.

What if it all is just an episode
of a much bigger and longer story?

Well, what will this year be like?