The Majestic Natural Landscapes Of Switzerland | Wild Faces Of Switzerland Marathon

The Majestic Natural Landscapes Of Switzerland | Wild Faces Of Switzerland Marathon

At the heart of Europe lies Switzerland it’s a surprisingly big little country small in area but big on natural beauty and like its many languages and cultures its Landscapes vary widely too from mighty Alps and dense forests to mysterious Moes and roaring waterfalls Switzerland has many faces some familiar some Hidden it’s a country that’s astonishingly rich in variety Wilderness and Scenic Wonder sometimes beauty is not Apparent at first glance things are not always as they seem some regions in Switzerland are less well known so now is the time to discover them this tree keeps its real age a secret known as Leen de boss the gnarled Oak it’s said to have witnessed the

Changing of the seasons over a thousand times here in the Swiss Jura the Jura encompasses the entire low mountain region stretching from the northeast of Switzerland along the French border right down to Lake Geneva The Jura is synonymous with time it’s given its name to an entire Global Epoch and is also home to traditional horological craftsmanship there are traces of time or Times Gone by Everywhere the Jura mountains are a kind of little brother to the Alps compared to the rest of Switzerland the entire region is quite sparsely populated that’s why there’s one thing in abundance here peace and quiet usually that is but right now it’s spring in the northern Jura and that means The Mating Season the trees are alive with a chirping song contest

It’s a musical competition for the favor of the females they decide whether a male is a worthwhile breeding partner or not evidently this nut hatch passed the test in addition to their reproductive instinct animals have one other overpowering driving force Hunger the IR moves as fast as Lightning but life at this pace takes a lot of energy which means food mice are a favorite food in the past m were often kept as pets to keep Farms free of Mice because no mouse is safe anywhere near an ER one unguarded moment and death is at the door death and life the Eternal cycle of nature under the first warming rain rays of sunshine snow drops and crocuses are the first to venture forth other flowers follow swiftly like the cuckoo Flower and when these buds open a touch of the Orient unfolds in the middle of Switzerland I think that’s an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription required because later they will result in a very special fruit the damson plum Legend has it that these damaskin plums were a souvenir brought back by

The Crusaders from Damascus in Syria over 800 years ago its integration was a success to today it’s a Swiss speciality and is enjoyed especially in high proof liquid Form growing alongside them are apples cherries and Mirabel plums it’s no coincidence that the Jurassic air is known as the fruit Orchard of Western Switzerland for the blossoms to become Delicious Fruit however a specific interaction is necessary one that has worked for hundreds of millions of years blossoms aren’t stingy with their charms in Spring scent color and shape they use the lot to lure their pollinators and it works bees need huge

Quantities of nectar and pollen to feed The Brood in their hives as they go pollen grains get stuck to their beefer and are carried from flower to flower bees are also true to a single variety they remain with the plant species until the blossoms fade it’s a

Great Advantage for fruit trees if only their own pollen dust is carried about plant or animal kingdom new life is springing up everywhere here too in the nearby forests around the old A whole pack of young foxes enjoys some unsupervised time their mother has probably gone off looking for food as these four to five week old Cubs can’t do that Yet they still have no idea how serious life is Hunters cars there are many dangers out there in the big wide world but right now that doesn’t concern them fun and games are the privilege of Childhood today mountains rise up in the place where the tethis ocean lay in prehistoric times deposits of sediment led to the formation of limestone Stone one could say that the Jura mountains are underpinned by the remains of sea shells corals and crabs the characteristic cast formations of the Limestone mountains aroused the

Interest of nature researcher Alexander Fon hombal he named these rock strata after the place where they were discovered Jura later this name was adopted to describe the entire period of their creation Almost as if a giant had left Footprints funnels in the ground like these appear unexpectedly in cast areas called dolans they’re formed by the corrosive dissolving of rock in Rainwater this is also how Subterranean cast formations are created better known as stalactite caves so far 9,000 caves have been discovered in Switzerland most of them in the Jura one of these is the Rea cave it affords a glimpse into the mysterious bowels of the Earth as well as a journey

Into the deepest Mists of the past time seems to have Stood Still Here stalactites grow at a rate of about 8 to 15 mm every hundred Years Drip by drip sculptures are formed the water evaporates a wafer thin lime deposit remains over millions of years this process has created the astonishing works of art that fire our imagination today stalactites grow down from the ceiling to start with they form thin tubes because of this peculiar shape they’re called macaroni

Some of the staic mites reaching up from the floor of the cave are more reminiscent of Canalone reair is where Switzerland’s largest stalagmite Reigns Supreme known as the Cathedral it’s some 15 M tall and so is thought to be around 200,000 years old in the cave the temperature is a constant 7° Centigrade all year round for some these are ideal conditions in which to spend Winter 11 spe species of bat use the frostfree caves as their winter quarters from November when food becomes scarce they Retreat to the caves and go into a kind of hibernation to save valuable Energy among them are the Lesser and greater horseshoe bat both of which are on the endangered list for them to be woken now would be fatal which is why the caves are closed to the public during winter much less well-known than bats are the inhabitants of the Subterranean

Lake you have to look really carefully to spot them nephus a freshwater crustation about the size of a thumbnail they feed partly on the remains of of creatures who’ve strayed into the cave and got lost there such as toads or Mice the powerful interplay of water and time its impressive results can be observed on the Earth’s surface Too for millions of years the D River has csed its way through the Limestone until a landslide blocked its way some 14,000 years ago the result the lak de BR like a fjord the lake winds its way between steep walls up to 80 M High at the de Falls the water Cascades with tremendous Force into the valley Below the waterfall has another feature it also forms the border between Switzerland and France For almost 500 kilomet the river do snakes backwards and forwards between France and Switzerland as if it were unable to make up its mind where to Go in some places the high rock walls make it almost inaccessible so it’s pristine Untouched by human influence but there are also flatter stretches this makes it flow at different rates in some places very fast and others more sedately in between it seems to pause and rest in peaceful Pools the area is home to Black kites they often frequent places near water so they can catch fish this kite has caught something else what it intends to do with this Branch isn’t entirely clear probably use it for nest building right now it’s breeding time for black kites in the Jura it’s a migrating bird and spends the winter in Africa from March to September it returns to Switzerland the kite is a master Master of the art of gliding using the smallest updraft to conserve strength the river du has plentiful fish reserves to provide the kite and other

Birds with the food they need to survive but their idil is at risk the DU has a serious problem with environmental pollution agriculture industry and hydroelectric power plants all contribute to the threat posed to the river’s abundant fish Stocks there are still areas that look almost untouched where the do still provides a valuable habitat especially as breeding grounds for water foul on the banks or in the lake where cots build their floating nests using twigs and water plants the mute swan prefers to nest on the river banks

It’s young could hardly be called ugly ducklings though it’s never too early to start getting a bit of beauty sleep the chicks stay with their parents for 8 to n months before they’re independent it’s lunchtime for this family with its long neck the adult Dives for aquatic

Plants deep under water the staple diet for swans big or small nature conservationists have been trying to protect this paradise for years they might succeed if especially the hydroelectric power plants are willing to reduce their use use of the river whether that will happen remains to be

Seen on some days the moisture in the river valley draws skaines of fog across the landscape this is good for the neighboring forests and Fields the juicy grass provides food for the Region’s large cattle herds many people here make a living from agriculture the milk is turned into the

Juror’s famous cheeses such as as T Dean in the advancing early summer whatever hasn’t been eaten or mowed in The Meadows bursts into colorful Bloom but the idel can be deceptive danger lurks hiding in weight a crab spider is on the prowl instead of spinning a web it waits patiently well hidden for its Victims this time it’s unsuccessful these dram atic scenes of life and death take place in Wildflower Meadows thousands of times every day to the south of the DU region lies the F Montana District a territory with few people but an abundance of Fields this region is home to an old Swiss horse breed the F Burger their ancestors came from abroad but the F burger also called the FR Mont horse has been bred in Switzerland for the past 200 years and so they are held to be Swiss strong calm and even tempered these were the characteris I iscs that made this horse so popular especially as a Workhorse and for the Military today favored as coach horses and for riding they’re the pride of the region there’s enough space in the F M for them to spend the entire summer in the fields almost like the Wild West except that it’s in Switzerland the Jura often seems to

Visitors to be a Haven of Peace even in the peak tourist season there are no hordes of people time here often seems to have stood Still Come Longee The Swiss tourism hotspots aren’t far though the famous Beres Highlands are just across the way the best view of their impressive Peaks can be had from the chasseral one of the jura’s highest mountains however at under 2,000 M compared with the Giants of the Alps it’s something of a Dwarf these animals rarely move away from the Alpine region muts they were brought to the chasseral in the 1960s they settled in here quickly mamuds have been around since the Ice Age and have learned to adapt today there are several colonies along the entire mountain range flowers leaves or buds whatever’s

Juicy protein rich and vegetarian is used to tank up the fat reserves that have been lost during winter play fighting strengthens family bonds but their motto is stay alert a shrill whistle sounds the alarm and they all dive for cover not far from the muts on the barren Limestone precipices of the

Chasseral narcissi and various types of gensin Bloom and Thrive they prefer low fertility soils but these are becoming ever scarer most gensin have one thing in common to protect themselves from rain or cold air they close their cxes wild orchids such as the purple orchid are also in their element on the

Poor soils of the Mountain Fields Southwest of the chasar the Vista opens up to the chains of the Jura mountain range the limestone rocks and densely forested Peaks are characteristic of the region Jor or Forest was what the Kelts called this area the name Jura might well have originated from this Celtic word the forest

Region there are many so-called ven dotted about wooded pastures that are good for both Agriculture and Forestry known as the D Deon this towering Mountain might be regarded as the tooth of time at its foot lies the valet deu home to many famous watch and Clark makers who are the economic

Backbone of the region on the high pastures of the Jura mountains hikers will often come across dry stone walls there a legacy of the ancient Romans who brought the art of drystone masonry to Central Europe Stone upon stone with no mortar for centuries the walls were used

To demarcate land from Neighbors or to fence pastures many of them were replaced by wire and wood becoming forgotten relics in time blending in with their surroundings others are properly maintained whatever condition they’re in today we know how important they are for plants and animals valuable biotopes form inside and around dry stone

Walls whether small like this wall lizard or larger like this mouse All Creatures appreciate a safe dry Hideway Away from the wall life is much more dangerous a fox is on the hunt for food and a mouse like this would suit him Perfectly he searches is through the high grass all his senses honed to catch the slightest movement not even the faintest rustle escapes Him he can jump up to 6 ft into the air to perform his so-called Mouse leap and is sometimes rewarded with a plump water V will he eat it straight away or take it home to his young or even store it for later that’s his secret the Mountain Meadows of the do

Deon are a colorful organic home remedy Center many of the wild flowers growing here are held to have healing properties such as the Coline in earlier times it was said to be effective against scurvy but also prized as an aphrodisiac the dead nettle is supposed to help against

Insomnia this aerial acrobat seems wide awake though the hummingbird Hawk moth it’s often mistaken for a calbri as like the hummingbird it also hovers this helps it maintain the right position to suck nectar with its long prosis summer is the main blooming season for Meadow flowers across the Val deu even

In July and August temperatures are mostly moderate because the High Valley lies at 1,000 m above sea level its showpiece is the eponymous Lake the lak deu at 9 km long it’s the largest lake in the entire Jura Massif Not everyone is awake this early in the Morning although the has a lot to do it’s breeding season for the Great Crested Gree a thick Reed belt is an ideal spot for its floating nests using aquatic plants twigs and Reed stalks together the couple build a safe home for their eggs the quiet southwesterly shore of the lake offers good breeding grounds not only for the Great Crested GRE it’s popular with many other Aquatic

Birds insects thrive in the marshy tributary of the lak deu especially dragonflies Two Become One the dragonfly’s famous mating wheel male and female dragonflies can be joined in this reproductive position for up to 6 hours this damsel fly is still on the lookout for a partner blue damsel flies are rare and

As their breeding ground requirements are very specific the water can’t be too warm so high altitude Lakes are ideal if they feel threatened the males spread their wings and lift their abdomen to frighten off other dragonflies but generally speaking dragonflies are peaceful Creatures the Lac deu is fed by the orb river that rises in the French part of the Jura mountains here the river orb takes its natural course with loops bends and curves this Meandering is due to the low gradient of the Valley mands Line the banks making them hard to Access for a long time the valy deju was inaccessible so it was only settled very late hardly surprising as to the West it’s completely sealed off by the gr rizu the largest forested area in Switzerland 200 years ago wolves and bears roomed the Area today the forest still seems almost impenetrable it’s also the green border separating France and Switzerland on clear days M Blan can be seen from here the highest mountain in the Alps but size alone isn’t the whole story some small things are quite impressive too even very small things the valet deju is home to one of the largest colonies of red ants in Europe with around 20 million

Insects every one of them appears to know exactly what their job is but who controls the big Picture the intelligence and sensory skills of an individual ant are to put it kindly somewhat limited the secret of this perfectly functioning Collective lies in communication because there’s no one single Determinant ants communicate via pheromones odiferous substances that they receive and pass on with their feelers this enables them to identify members of the same Colony but the best feeding spots possible sources of danger ants also get all this information from the scent of others and like a snowball

System The pheromonal Cloud of knowledge spreads in a very short space of Time all of this serves a single purpose survival of the species the center of the colony is the nest where the queen ant lays her eggs fur and Spruce needles twigs and resin it’s all used as construction material for this antique the super colony of the Swiss

Jura consists of around 1200 nests like this an entire Empire and an impressive Wonder of nature in Miniature but the Jura is big on other things Too another of Switzerland’s largest and most impressive natural phenomena is located here the co Du the rocky arena is a geological feature the result of erosion of the Jura mountains after the last ice age at the bottom in the wooded Caldera there are still remnants of glacial morines the sheer rock walls plunge 160 m down to the valley floor below it’s known as The Swiss Grand

Canyon an imposing Monument to Time The Caldera is one of the country’s oldest nature conservation areas up on the plateau’s Alpine pastures cows spend their Summers the crud is a popular destination for hikers especially those interested in botony in addition to the breathtaking views the there’s a treasure Trove of colorful mellany the white anemone yellow globe flower or the meadow Ru or Siberian Coline with its exotic looking Umbles the C Devon’s Rock faces rise steeply from the dense forests that reach right up to the high plateau and here with a little luck one might encounter an extremely shy Inhabitant the links its shyness is not unfounded the relationship between the links and humans is a difficult one at the beginning of the last century this Predator was extinct in SS Switzerland in the 1970s a few pairs were reintroduced among other areas in kivar in the meantime the number of

Links in Switzerland has risen and there is currently heated debate over whether they should be C to protect the indigenous Wildlife but this feral inhabitant of the Swiss Jura still retains its protected status and luckily has many on its side the CR is situated in the middle of the

Val tra it’s famous as the home of Aban this highly alcoholic drink known as the green fairy was held to be dangerous and outlawed for a long Time in the fur Treetops blue tits are ging themselves for the coming Winter Now’s the Time When Nature yields all her Fruits in some cases this can take quite a while it takes 30 years before beach trees bear their fruit but to make up for it in some years there’s a veritable glut of beach Nuts oh trees also have boom years for acorns they are merely ensuring that enough fruit will germinate in the ground because most of them are eaten before they do hungry Forest creatures such as wild boar route out as many acorns and Beach nuts as they possibly

Can in Autumn to fatten up for the winter Autumn is a colorful time as leaves die they display their most Splendid Colors Many forest dwellers begin to prepare themselves for their imminent winter hibernation to survive it the Hedgehog has to Gorge itself on as much food as possible and it’s not picky nuts snails beetles every calorie counts and the Hedgehog is in a hurry every day brings fewer hours of Sunshine with less Sunshine leaves stop the process of photosynthesis which produces their green coloring they die off and fall the further Autumn advances the thicker the carp of fallen leaves Becomes for the fire salamander this is a signal to begin its search for suitable winter quarters it won’t sleep here but we’ll be able to find Shelter From the first frosts because these often arrive earlier than expected and without warning especially in the higher altitudes of the Swiss Jura and eventually the time has come winter Arrives one region in Switzerland is especially closely linked with the cold season it’s actually quite famous for being Cold Laine a high Valley in the Canton of Nur chatel because of the Valley’s isolated location so-called cold air lakes form here cooled air is heavy and stays near the ground it cannot escape from the hollow of the High Valley people here say that there are only two seasons winter and the next winter minus 40° Centigrade has been measured here temperatures more likely to occur in Siberia not every year is that extreme but life here is still a challenge for man and Beast alike the thicker the snow cover the

Harder it is to find food a simple and bitter fact not only for this deer some creatures clear the way for others Badgers like this one are a rare sight now it’s normally hibernating so why did this one Venture forth it May well have been woken by hunger Hunger can make other animals

Restless too this fox is looking for stores it set aside during summer because hunting now would require too much energy so this hair feels quite safe The Grooming process spreads its scent around its whole body thereby marking its territory mobile communication hairstyle sleeping through the cold months the survival strategy preferred by many

Animals hollow tree trunks or nesting boxes are good winter quarters for the Dormouse it hibernates from September right through until June more or less Soundly during hibernation it loses up to 50% of its body mass energy saving is essential the best motto is keep calm and carry on sleeping winter in the Jura has many faces depending on on the altitude it can be covered with deep snow or sometimes just bare and foggy like here

In the jura’s northeastern tip the bishop of Bal had the ball ponds artificially laid out at the end of the 18th century to keep him supplied with fresh carp today these ponds are a nature reserve in Winter the water temperature can be extremely cold but there is still

Enough food for the Ducks so they don’t have to move on like many other birds Ducks always have cold feet their special blood circulation ensures that their body stays warm but their feet remain cold this prevents them from sticking to the ice back to Swiss Siberia where Winter

Arrives first and leaves last back to LaVine Valley near the village of the same name lies the Laker a typical Cast Lake it has no inflow or outflow maintaining its levels with rainwater and meltwater The water from the lake seeps away continuing to flow underground and then as if from nowhere reappearing 6 km away here it emerges from a rock becoming the source for the river AR the most important river in the Canton of Nel IT Supplies 70% of the population with drinking Water at 30 km in length the Aros is not a long river but it’s nonetheless Impressive even smaller bodies of water can excavate given enough time the Aros has inexorably carved through the Jura Rock creating the wild romantic Aros Gorge our ancestors evidently also felt at home here the remains of Stone Age cave dwellings have been found in the Rocks above the gorge the first warmer temperatures are

An invitation to sunbathe and for some to dive the Dipper is one of the few song birds that can swim and dive underwater it collects insect lvi a tasty Snack sooner or later the cold Retreats winter is on the Way and Time Marches On A year has gone by another ring added to the trunk of the gnarled old oak tree In its shadow the world has turned again and deeply anchored it continues to defy the rigors of time here in the Swiss Jura At the heart of Europe lies Switzerland it’s a surprisingly big little country small in area but big on natural beauty and like its many languages and cultures its Landscapes vary widely too from mighty Alps and dense forests to mysterious Moors and roaring waterfalls Switzerland has many faces some some familiar some [Applause] hidden it’s a country that’s astonishingly rich in variety Wilderness and Scenic Wonder on the southern side of the Alps just three and a half hours drive from Bal lies Tio the Swiss Enclave on the border with Italy Switzerland’s southernmost Canton stretches from the main Alpine Ridge down to the po valley in the north of Italy t is home to all the country’s vegetation zones making it a Canton of tremendous Contrasts from palm trees to Glaciers the span of shapes and colors could hardly be Wider like a mighty w all the Alps hold back the cold from the north as a result the climate to the South is almost Mediterranean while other parts of Tino are still covered by a thick blanket of snow around Lake maiori spring is already in full Swing it’s a season for all the senses blossoms are out in a dizzying array of colors and numerous species of chamia perfume the air with their bewitching Scent the Magnolias are also in full bloom they are among the world’s oldest plants living fossils that have flowered since the Cretaceous Period although they have no nectar they do have nourishing pollen a sweet Temptation for bees that Harvest it diligently among the Labyrinth of Pistals Lake maor only 1 fifth of the lake belongs to Switzerland the rest lies in Italy what Chino has in common with Switzerland is federal law the Swiss frank and price levels everything else is Italian language food culture and Temperament over the past few decades proximity to LA doita and a Mediterranean climate have attracted money to the once extremely poor Canton today lavish Villas bear witness to the wealth that has migrated to the tourist centers of asona and Loano the rule is the closer to the water the more exclusive the location not everyone can afford direct access to the water if you happen to be human that is but just a stone Thro from the lavish luxury and Splendor unspoiled nature awaits the B di magadino a large

Conservation Area here the Chino and Vasa rivers flow into Lake majori the marshlands are an important Habitat For Animals the combination of water and land is ideal for amphibians and reptiles the harmless dice snake swims and hunts in the water pausing occasionally to warm up in the Sun

They like Sunny spots too the river CA these exotic creatures ended up here involuntarily freed illegally into the wild they’re now driving out the native Pond terrains the B magadino is above all a paradise for Birds migratory birds as well as permanent residents such as the gander and the Great Crested gree around

300 different species have been cited here the swamplands are especially busy in The Mating Season Turf walls and nest building are the order of the day the Great Crested Greaves are constructing their floating nests many of these are Anchored In The Water others are attached to tree trunks nest building is teamw work

During the breeding season Greaves are monogamous and the couples work together hand in hand or beak to beak the foundation is made of branches and algae and leaves provide comfortable padding for the eggs but Offspring doesn’t happen on its own among the malard ducks mating is already in full

Swing as is often the case in the animal world things can get a bit rough some ducks have actually drowned while culating but fortunately not this time the Greaves are a little more elegant starting with the courtship this follows an elaborately choreographed ritual the head shaking and plumage pecking are just the Overture first they have to establish that they really Harmonize in the second act there’s the handing over of the bridal gifts if this is accepted they can finally start to Dance if the courtship has an appropriately successful outcome the act itself is similarly civilized the nest serves as a comfortable mating Platform as evening approaches calm descends on the B magadino once again a cal in which the presence of human beings can almost be forgotten but at night with lights reflecting in Lake majori it’s clear how densely populated it is loano has only 16,000 inhabitants but in High season this can

Rise to four times as many the shore is dotted with countless hotels lake majori has been a popular tourist destination for Decades sundrenched promenades along the lake shore the cafes and the picturesque narrow streets invite visitors to stroll and Linger culture Beach and mountains an ideal vacation spot for everyone and for the whole family it’s an angle used by travel companies to attract custom and has made tourism one of ticino’s main Industries geographically speaking Lake majori marks the most low-lying and nearly southernmost point of Switzerland in the middle of the lake lies a floating Paradise the brago island The surrounding water stores the sun’s warmth and releases it in winter resulting in predominantly subtropical conditions almost year round the large Botanical Gardens on the main island uses this to full advantage and the observant might even catch a glimpse of some FAA among the Flora a sea of blossoms provided by the

Rhododendrons is this lizard’s hunting grounds it can only spot its prey once it moves but once in the Hunter’s sights There’s No Escape for the victim and the lizard enjoys its own version of Lulita it’s hard to imagine today but at the beginning of the last century tin was regularly gripped by Famine being so isolated meant that industrialization and tourism simply never reached it the barren soil made it mostly unsuitable for agriculture The Valleys in the hinterland were especially severely poverty-stricken Tino’s real treasure has always Lain in the beauty of its Landscape just 50 kilom away from loano the Maia Valley is a fine example the Maia drains most of the tachino Alps on its way to Lake majori it transports huge volumes of water as well as gravel and sand natural sandpaper that accentuates the individual patterns grooves and Ridges of the rocks

The Maia Valley is the largest Meadow landscape in toino wide gravel Banks and flood plane forests create a rich biotope all four types of lizard native to Switzerland are found here in ticino the most common is the wall lizard which is a past Master at camouflage the iridescent Emerald lizard is far

More striking it’s the largest indigenous lizard and is especially happy in the warmth of ouino like all reptiles lizards cannot regulate their own body temperature they need to keep warming themselves up in the sun warm stone is a favorite for this and there are plenty of them near the

River insects breed on the water too so there’s food in Abundance something that attracts the wagtail as Well it’s an exceptional aerial acrob acat no insect is safe with the wagtail around and it needs a lot of them as its hungry young are waiting back at the Nest this young wagtail’s plumage is still Brown it’s already fledged but still has to learn the right hunting Techniques the adult Bird’s demonstrate how to do it especially how one can never stuff one’s beak to Full On hot days the turquoise Waters tempt many people to take a cool dip but it’s not without its risks after heavy rains the water level can rise quickly turning the magia into a torrential River it’s a danger that’s often underestimated costing several unsuspecting bathers their lives but luckily the water’s elemental

Power is generally demonstrated in other ways over Millennia the river has ground and Polished the Rocks along its course this decorative magice is also quarried ending up decorating Terraces and Floors around the world heading north the further away from Lake mjor the harsher and more isolated the Terrain many inhabitants were driven away from this rugged region in the 19th century whole Villages left here and headed for America but decades later many of these immigrants returned with their newly accumulated wealth making a tremendous contribution to the economic development of Tino nature didn’t miss the presence of

Human beings a primeval Forest flourished Untamed in the mountains wild lies Thrive especially well in The Damp Earth under Shady trees trees one sound is typical of tachino the gushing of waterfalls some only occur in spring when the snow melts others can be admired year round the FIA waterfall at

Val bavona for instance that Cascades over 100 m in free fall down the rock face The eponymous Village of folo is made up of traditional tachino rusticos simple stone buildings it’s one of 12 little hamlets in the v bavona a valley only inhabited in summer as early as the 15th century the last Farmers vacated the land to this day they only return in the warm

Summer months to put their cattle to pasture only one of the villages has electricity the others use gas petroleum and solar panels when Necessary but there’s enough energy for everyone needs half the electricity used in Switzerland is supplied by hydroelectric power lagor ROM originally a glacial Lake was turned into a reservoir especially for this purpose 100 years Ago countless streams carry the water down from the mountains ensuring the lake is kept filled lagoom is one of 28 Mountain Lakes on the valora the largest High plateau in Tigo over 2,000 m above sea level it’s home to a unique variety of almost all Alpine plant Species a sea of flowers from the whites and Bruno Lily to the Alpine anemone especially in summer the fields are a colorful nutritious Paradise for insects and Butterflies ants are also fond of the plants sweet cxes they gather nectar from the ovaries of gensin helping to pollinate them as they do so the common house leak or hens and chicks is often found in front Gardens it’s undemanding and easy to grow a Roman Superstition held that it

Protected buildings against lightning strikes no no Superstition but an unusual natural phenomenon has drawn scientists from all over the world to the peora valley in their idilic located Research Center they’re studying samples from Lake kadano which features a peculiarity that’s almost unique worldwide it has two extreme layers of water that never

Mix the upper layer of water is oxygenated and filled with life but the depths of the lake are a dead zone consisting of sulfur examination of various microorganisms from the lake have already shed light on how crude oil is formed under the planet’s oceans a great finding from a small Lake the peora Valley’s wonderfully diverse vegetation has also been the subject of research and documentation for centuries the earliest record s originate from the 17th Century scientific theory doesn’t interest the plateau’s animal population however all they’re concerned with is practical issues the high nutritional value of the mountain plants is a perfect basic diet for mammuts they spend most of their time eating and they’re in a hurry they only have the brief Alpine summer months to

Put on the fat reserves they need to see them through the winter they don’t Venture more than 100 met from their Burrows their aerial enemies are especially dangerous but not this rare rofus tailed rock thrush that breeds in Rocky crevices this female wheater has been hunting for its brood

Wheat ear build their nests under stone and gravel heaps in Meadows so they’re the mut’s friendly Neighbors one of the reasons behind the wide variety of species in the peora valley is its specific geological setting crystalline and calcarius rock alternate with each other providing ideal fertile ground for plants which in turn offers food and protection for [Applause] Animals close to the Timberline of the mountain forests Swiss Stone Pines Larch and Spruce trees Thrive happily next to each other On the other side of the valley the first peaks of the Chino Alps can be seen towering into the sky up here it’s still like the ice age in Spring at almost 3,000 M temperatures stay below freezing for a long time but even in this seemingly Perpetual

Winter the power of the sun melts the mighty alpine snow masses replenishing the waterfalls streams and glacial lakes while the lemon trees are blossoming in the south of tachino up here the season has just begun for the Alpine Snow Bell the first to spring up out of snowf free patches of

Ground the Alpine Primrose has its own padded Nest that protects it from the cold and supplies it with moisture only plants that are masters of adaptation can grow here like the gensin or the Alpine anemon the Alps are the centerpiece and True Heart of Switzerland from the

Passes of the gothart Massif their peaks are revealed in all their Glory praise the Lord For Oh Come son R the rugged Mountain terrain is perfect for ibexes this goat is licking salt from the Rocks like many herbivores ibexes need an additional source of minerals to grow and flourish whoever believes they’re alone in an isolated Mountain world is wrong this is where the Gotthard pass runs the main gateway to

Toino for centuries crossing the Alps was an exhausting business it took around 50 hours to get from Bal to tachino by stage Coach but with the construction of the railway tunnel a link was finally created to the rest of the country and the modern area era and today the new gotard base tunnel ensures an even faster Journey to the South the old gotard pass the tremola is today a heritage site and still a favorite among tourists who rather than reaching their destination as quickly as possible prefer to enjoy The View the gotard massive provides a barrier against the cold Northern Air but the rainclouds from the south discharge their moisture before crossing

Over the Alps this makes Tino one of Switzerland’s wetest cantons it rains twice as much here as in Zurich muts don’t let a bit of bad weather interfere with their Chief preoccupation Though they ingest their fluid requirements at the same time as their food which means they don’t need to Drink there’s just the right mix in the juicy lower store of these thistles and they’re not too prickly mmads are highly social creatures living in groups of up to 20 they greet one another by rubbing noses which also lets them identify by the scent whether they’re Related play fighting happens in the best of families The gotart Massif is part of the European Watershed apart from the Rin Roy and ran it’s also the source of the tachino river which gives its name to the Canton southeast of the massive lie the highest pastures in Chino the cattle spend the entire summer outside in these lofty

Heights but the number of farmers in the highlands is steadily decreasing their Farms are simply too expensive to run as a result the scrub spreads encroaching on The Meadows and endangering their biodiversity cultivated land needs to be properly managed to prevent bushes and trees from taking

Over the Dutra Alp is an example of how Agriculture and nature conservation can coexist harmoniously when they mow the grass every 2 years farmers are assisted by volunteers helping to retain the precious biodiversity of Flora and FAA the slightly acid soil is an ideal habitat for all kinds of wild Orchids these pristine grasslands are home to a veritable microcosm of Insects The Pearl boarded ftill is a sun worshipper if it’s too chilly down below it heads for the Heights And its climbing abilities are quite Extraordinary up at the top the butterfly tanks up on sunlight once it’s warmed up enough it’s off again but life in the meadow isn’t all sunshine and light the Oak spider’s web is a cleverly spun death trap the oak spider is an ambush Predator an alarm thread vibrates as

Soon as an insect gets trapped in the web the victim is stunned with a bite at the same time the spider injects it with a poison that dissolves organs and tissue turning it into pulp the prey is dextrously wrapped up and taken to the spider’s store Room and when the spider is feeling a bit peckish the packages are sucked Dry Quite a different danger used to lurk in the SVA Seca the biggest Stone Pine Forest south of the Alps Bandits would Ambush and Rob Travelers so no one would venture into the forest anymore this was a blessing for the trees elsewhere the Swiss Stone Pine was felled in its

Thousands for its valuable wood but in the sisa these trees survived and thrived the stone Pine also known as the aura Pine is ideally suited to the rough conditions in the high mountain region it’s practically the most resilient Tree on the planet left alone they can live for up to A Thousand Years

The breno river flows through the forest cutting a deep valley into the Rock on its way to the South the River Winds through the enchanted landscape and then passes through the bleno valley there’s a southernly feeli to the so-called Valley of the Sun the warm sunshine bathes the valley Unobstructed the area is famous for its Chestnut trees for a long time they were the most important tree in tachino their fruit was a valuable source of food for animals and humans and the wood was used for building and fuel even even wine grows in the bleno

Valley but the main growing region for Fine Wines is the south of tachino the soo chener is especially renowned for its Vineyards this is the famous sunniest corner of tachino it covers the area around Lugano as well as the southern valleys of the menri Sioto lake Lugano is the Region’s Main Attraction it was formed during the Ice Age by the meeting of two glaciers when they melted a typically fork-shaped Lake was Created along the banks picturesque Villages cling to the hillsides one of these is morot formerly one of the most important trading ports between Switzerland and Italy there’s still a lot of trading around the lake the city of Lugano has become the third largest financial center in Switzerland hardly surprising that

There’s plenty of traffic to and from the City but just behind the wooded mountains in the last Alpine Foothills there’s no trace of all that hustle and bustle here in the southernmost part of Switzerland lies one of its most unknown spots the muo valley naled old beach trees form dense forests for some however it isn’t the

Magnificent trees that attract them but the dead wood dead beach trees are an important factor in the survival of one of Europe’s rarest Beetles the longhorn beetle apart from its conspicuous blue color the Beetle’s main feature is its long hairy feelers in the males these antenni are even longer than their

Entire bodies they’re its most important orientation Instruments these sensitive feeling and senting tools need very careful looking after when two males meet they immediately begin a duel and only the winner may make with a female which is their main preoccupation in Life the difference in size between the genders is sometimes quite striking though it poses no obstacle to their Meeting The female carries the male around as a piggyback passenger it’s a practical way for him to ensure that no one else can steal his Bride the search for a suitable spot to lay her eggs is the female’s job she only deposits the individual eggs in the cracks of dead would preferably Beach the life expectancy of the European longhorn beetle is only a few weeks the L on the other hand take up to four years to develop into fully formed beetles which makes it even more vital for their survival that their Deadwood Nursery is left undisturbed the European longhorn beetle has been

Around since the ice age but what did the world look like back then before humans populated the Earth some answers can be found in the breia gorge an archaeological Chronicle carved by a river over time the breia river has worn through the rock revealing layers and traces that go back up to 200

Million years fossils and other findings are embedded in the stone providing information about the Earth’s history and climate change over the Millennia they illustrate quite accurately how this region was formed at a time when the Alps as we know them today didn’t exist but lay thousands of

Meters below the Earth’s crust or on the floor of ancient oceans In 2001 the first Swiss geop park opened here along the 1 and 1/2 km path visitors can take a trip back into the Past witness to all these days past is the Monte generoso during the Ice Age the mountain was a so-called nunatak a peak sticking out of the thick ice Shield like a kind of Noah’s Arc this enabled animals and plants here to survive the Ice Age some plants still grow here like this type of wild peony it’s extremely rare and can only be found in a few places in Switzerland in May and June it blooms in full Splendor far more common and seen all year round is the shamwa there are 350 of them living on Monte generoso alone the Steep Mountain sides pose no problem for them their hooves are elastic and have padded Souls giving them surefooted confidence as they Traverse the terrain their basic diet consists of grasses and

Herbs and they’ll go to any lengths or Heights to get hold of them although usually quite shy The Mont generoso Shamir are used to humans and so can be seen quite often there’s a bit more luck involved in in citing one very unusual wild Creature a herd of halflinger run wild lives on Monte joso these horses know no saddle Bridal or Bit since the death of their owner a reclusive Mountain Farmer they have wandered unobtrusively around the meadows of Monte generoso during the harsh winter of 2008 hunger drove them into the valley the villagers there were not amused to have wild horses suddenly descend on their fields Gardens and even cemeteries eating everything in

Sight there were calls for them to be captured or shot but animal conservationists fought for the wild halflinger since then the horses are caught and kept indoors in Winter and released again in summer there are 25 animals in the herd today halflinger are robust and undemanding as long as they have enough

To eat they also ensure that the fields and Med ows are protected from encroaching Bush although these animals are not truly wild they’re allowed to keep their Untamed nature and enjoy their Summers of freedom to the Limit true symbols of Freedom are the Alpine Swift and the common Swift they spend

All their lives Airborne they can stay in the air continuously for up to 10 months sleeping mating and catching insects these gliders use uplift and let themselves be driven by the wind to save energy they only land to brood and hatch their young in Autumn they head for Africa where they spend the Winter migratory Birds need safe stop off points on their long Journeys many of those from the north find their way to the B de magadino the nature Conservation Area on Lake maor several weeks have passed the aluvial forests and bogs of the Wetland are now resplendant with Color a reunion with the Great crested grebs their eggs have hatched the chicks are known here as pulley a pair of adults can hatch up to six young only one of this pair’s chicks has survived many pulley fall prey to predatory fish or Birds the parents Supply a constant

Stream of small fish as with the young of All Creatures the appetite of this little GRE is simply Insatiable getting the feeding skill right is quite tricky fish like this are very slippery luckily there’s plenty of opportunity to Practice for the first few weeks the young are carried on their parents’ backs the GRE is is a precocial bird and can swim immediately after hatching the parents feed their offspring Fish and Feathers the feathers line their stomachs to protect them from sharp Fishbones the adult birds pull out their

Own feathers for this purpose The chicks can dive very early on too despite these little foray into Independence life is much more comfortable with Mother even though the climb can be quite a Challenge the adult Bird’s feathers can’t protect against every danger but they do keep the chick nice and Warm the cots have had Offspring too the young Bird’s heads are a striking red color they’re also precocial but stay with their parents for the first few months the wases of the B de magadino are not just ideal breeding grounds for Birds but also for gnats and Flies Paradise for barn Swallows they only come here to hunt their next nests are usually located close to human beings in earlier days they often built their nests in Barns hence their Name they truly are the king of the Skies here a few kilometers from Lively Lucano one could fancy oneself in another World wild Landscapes not far from tourist promenades rugged mountains next to lovely Lakes this is what makes Tino what it is the Canton of Contrasts At the heart of Europe lies Switzerland it’s a surprisingly big little country small in area but big on natural beauty and like its many languages and cultures its Landscapes vary widely too from mighty Alps and dense forests to mysterious Moors and roaring waterfalls Switzerland has many faces some familiar some [Applause] hidden it’s a country that’s astonishingly rich in variety Wilderness and Scenic Wonder Switzerland is also known as the moted castle of Europe This description fits the bernes oeland Uplands and surrounding region particularly Well without the water supply from the Alps Europe would be an empty desert millions of people would go thirsty huge suedes of agricultural land would be parched Europe’s largest rivers the Ry ran danu and po would dry Up around 260 cubic kilm of water flows down from the Alps every year more than five times the volume of Lake Constance the Swiss mountains play a key role the melted snow ice and Glaciers Supply Europe with water but the mountains also act as rain catchers the humid air from the Atlantic collides with the massive wall of mountains releasing its moisture in the form of precipitation One of the most beautiful results of all this moisture is the Mountain Lakes some such as the Bak Alp Lake above grindel VA are covered with ice right through until summer it’s hard to find any life in these Lakes the water is too cold and the Winter’s too long and many of these

Areas are extremely isolated any passing water fou that might have a few fish eggs stuck in its feathers would hardly consider stopping here for a rest which means that some of these Lakes seem almost to be underwatered deserts famously the weather in these mountains can change within

Minutes gray skies Misty damp air and Rain doesn’t exactly Gladden most Hearts except for one rather special creature the Alpine salamander likes these conditions it might be native to the Alps but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s good at Climbing at 85% humidity level these mainly nocturnal creatures will also Venture forth during the day and it can often seem to be raining salamanders a salamander wanting to get back to its cave won’t be put off by even the sheerest rock Face and another try nearly made It its sensitive skin equipped with poisonous glands to protect it against Predators must be kept moist that’s why it’s important that it reaches its shelter when the weather turns Fine before the sun comes out the salamanders disappear Without a Trace only to reappear again when it Rains the androsace Vaneli wait wait for Sunshine and the insects that appear with it yellow blossoms signal to the bees I need pollinating but pink ones say fly on there’s nothing more to fertilize here Alpine flowers need special strategies to survive the harsh conditions this is one of the world’s

Most famous flowers the mythical Alpine adelice the typical Sheen of the leaves around the bloom comes from tiny air bubbles that reflect the light attracting insects and protecting the leaves from the Strong high altitude ultraviolet rays when the yellow bell flower blossoms it’s doomed some can grow for

Up to 10 years before they blossom once and then die fine hairs on Alpine flowers protect them against the harmful UV light rays that are stronger in the mountains as well as from dehydrating in the thin air and dry Fern winds not all genins have blue

Flowers but the intense color gives it a high sun protection factor and as a positive spin-off for the plant bees find the blue irresistible the golden root needs neither other Rose root plants nor insects to reproduce at a pinch it will do so on its own another

Adaptation to the hardships of life in the high mountains they look quite artless these colorful Alpine flowers and yet they’re absolute experts where it comes to sophisticated survival strategies [Applause] In Switzerland these seemingly idilic Mountain pastures with farm houses dotted about are simply called Alp the cattle spend their summer here while their milk is converted into the renowned Alpine Cheese more than 100,000 dairy cows spend the Swiss summer on an Alp since the Bronze Age Farmers have been bringing their cattle to summer as they call it in in the mountains the Lush Green Meadows with their multitude of aromatic herbs suggest a natural biotope but appearances are deceptive Alpine

Meadows are a man-made landscape without active cultivation and Care the forest would once again encroach and overrun The Meadows in some regions the ground is too damp and cows sink deep into the soil while grazing some Farmers keep special cows however formidable these creatures might look Scottish Highland cattle are smaller and lighter than others of their species they provide excellent meat but unfortunately not very much milk Here on the imri Alp these cows are on night Duty during the day they are plagued by biting house flies and horse flies so they graze at night and go back into their cowed in the morning everyone knows their place and what needs to be Done L For Other Sorrow Oh he col So even in summer the more than 4,000 M High might te Giants in the yunga region are covered with ice and snow there are very few plants and animals that are able to survive Here the tarmigan is a little like the chameleon of the mountains in summer its plumage takes on the color of the rocks as Autumn approaches and with it early snowfalls the first white feathers start to appear gradually white as snow becomes the fashionable shade of the season one might almost think that

Wallowing in the snow turns the bird’s white in actual fact the snow bars help to get rid of their itchy summer plumage the bird’s perfect adaptation to their surroundings is no surprise they are relics from the Ice Age and have been as much a part of the Alps and for

As long as many of its glaciers in Winter the tarmigan is to all intents and purposes invisible it can be quite startling for unwary hikers to have a perfectly camouflaged Tagan suddenly rise up out of their path at the last moment and flap away Tans generally spend the summer at over 3,000 M

Altitudes the temperatures up here on the Yung Y saddle only climb above 0° in the summer but even in July there are up to 18 days of frost although these conditions are apparently not Arctic enough to put some birds off living here the Alpine chuff can be found in

The Asian Highland taklamakan desert region as well as the Balkans Pyrenees and the Northeast African Atlas Mountains they can breed at altitudes of up to 3,800 M there’s a very large colony of these birds on the Yung yor thanks to a million tourists and the remains of their picnics that get left behind Three large ice streams flow together in Confluence below the yunga Y forming a 900 M thick ice Shield alpine glaciers have been around for perhaps 2 and a half million years and though it’s hard to imagine these pictures clearly show the unthinkable the eternal life of this ice mass is coming to an end the ice has gradually retreated by over 100 m since 1850 the cause is climate change which affects Switzerland more than many other countries around the World In the valley below near grindel VA the effects of climate change can also be Seen at the foot of the metan B some bushes are clothed in a fine silk webbing many of these delicately silken clad trees and bushes are also stripped Clean the IR moth caterpillar has taken firm hold here it loves warm dry conditions and climate change is greatly to its Advantage the extensive silk covering protects them against rain and hungry predators none of this disturbs the affected trees as soon as the caterpillars turn into butterflies and fly off the trees Sprout new leaves the ichneumonid WASP is the caterpillar’s greatest natural enemy with its long ovipositor it deposits an

Egg inside a caterpillar the WASP lava hatches and grows inside the caterpillar devouring it alive but if the silk is too thick the parasitic wasp has no chance its ovipositor cannot pierce It with the warmer climate here these webs are more common and larger areas are Affected a more dramatic sign of climate change is demonstrated by the Glaciers there are around 5,000 glassiers across the Alps after the oceans they are the Earth’s biggest water store glassiers store almost 3/4 of all the fresh water on the planet their weight distorts rocks and grinds down whole mountains but they are shrinking since the mid 1800s almost half the entire glassier

Surface of Switzerland has disappeared in the summer of 1744 Swiss artist kaspar wolf painted the lower grindel Val glassier today it has disappeared The gon horn saddle and gon glacia in the laanan valley are today barely recognizable all that’s left of the massive ice shield and fern areas are only scanty snow patches entire Mountain panoramas have been altered by global warming both the grindel Val glassiers used to reach right down to the bottom

Of the valley people used to sell the ice to cool food transported to Paris in 2007 the glacial ice had melted quite far back the valley floor was several hundred M away and today from the valley There is almost nothing to be seen of what was the massive upper gindel vaal Glasser the Black luchina River now flows where once not long ago the valley

Was filled with a thick mass of ice rock walls ground Smooth by the ice bear witness to the old glassier what was once one of Switzerland’s foremost tourist attractions is no more than forgotten Splendor and there is no end to climate change in sight it’s estimated that in some 80 years only the mightiest glaciers will be left the cause is global warming both natural and Man-made compared to the others the Stein glacia in the susten pass is an absolute Sprinter in just one year it has retreated by more than 150 M making it one of Switzerland’s fastest disappearing glaciers before the Melt water escapes it flows under the ice towards the valley floor

Picking up pulverized Rock along the way and emerging from the glacia snout as glacial milk sometimes one can go right up to a glasser’s Terminus though the constant risk of collapse makes this quite dangerous hikers who prefer not to end up like ety The Iceman should keep their

Distance the world beneath a glacia is Ephemeral the these ice sculptures change constantly it won’t be long before they Disappear Completely but the Stein glassier doesn’t just reveal the beauty of nature it also demonstrates its hazards the melting glassiers leave behind numerous dangers for mankind landslides and Ice Avalanches can occur along the sides as the retreating ice mass is no longer there to support the rock walls even the Melt water can be

Dangerous all over the Alps new Lakes have formed some empty themselves in catastrophic floods that Cascade down into The Valleys with tremendous destructive force the upper Stein Lake has not yet broken its banks the lower one has done so Twice not far from the Stein glacia meltwater Brooks Meander across a Plaine Here A mysterious though small scale disaster has occurred a so-called crime of nature this little meltwater Pond is full of corpses what carried off these frogs or mass was it a virus perhaps or the skin fungus that has killed frogs all over the World creepy insect lvi and fish have also Fallen victim to the Sinister killer so what happened the answer answer to the gruesome riddle proves that nature is not cruel it is just appallingly Indifferent right in the middle of the Frog’s Mating Season the meltwater pond suddenly froze solid the creatures all [Laughter] suffocated but the story does have a happy Ending before they died some frogs did actually managed to mate protected by the gelatinous Frog spawn coating many frog lves survived the Deadly Frost so in future the Stein glassier will still be home to Frogs The immense volumes of water in the Swiss Alps in the form of snow ice rain standing and flowing water have shaped the mountains a new for millions of years water sculpts entire valleys in the rock water freezing in crevices and Fisher bursts the stone rocks stones and sand so-called

Debris swept Along by water help to form entire landscapes in the course of time this creates unique Wonders of Nature here water demonstrates what it can do over thousands of years of gradual perseverance during the Ice Age the meltwater from the ARA glacia gouged out no fewer than seven deep Gorges in a

Rock Plateau one of these Gorges is today the riverbed of the river AR for some it’s an eerie Place The Gorge is said to have been the home of a mythical milipede type dragon the sheer rock walls rise up to 188 80 M at its narrowest point it’s just 1 M

Wide the ARA flows quite sedately through the gorge here but meltwater from the high mountain regions can behave quite differently the trimel FED By the Waters of the Yung munch and IGA has excavated no fewer than 10 waterfalls into the rock over 20,000 tons of debris every year have created a partly Subterranean

Ravine through which the water rages with full force but even in this world whirling churning chaos and infernal thundering there are moments of poetic Beauty it’s no surprise that this incredible landscape has inspired so many artists and Writers Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chose the ranbar Falls as the scene where his master detective Sherlock Holmes dies the ranbar Falls as he wrote in his story the final problem is indeed a fearful place the torrent swollen by the melting snow plunges into a tremendous Abyss from which the spray rolls up the

Shaft is an immense Chasm lined by glistening coal Black Rock and narrowing into a creaming boiling pit of incalculable depth and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever upward turns a man giddy with its constant whirl and clamor No fewer than 72 waterfalls plunge into the LA brunin valley below each more impressive than the last glaciers M the valley out of the stone its almost sheer rock walls are several 100 m high but the water of the stabb falls doesn’t always reach the bottom often it’s completely dispersed by the Wind in the 1930s John Ronald Royal tolkin visited the L brunin Valley he was so impressed by it that it inspired him in his Lord of the Rings trilogy there is also a place that is surrounded by High rock walls with cascading waterfalls Rivendell the Elven Town once the water has left the mountains all the Roaring booming and foaming is Over the white luchina flows quite tamely in the direction of the ARA since leaving the gorge the ARA itself has become a long peaceful River This is partly due to its canalization malicious tongues claim that the ARA isn’t actually a river but rather a 288 km long production site for the energy sector it has been damned for numerous hydroelectric power stations like this one on Lake Beal which it flows through it didn’t always used to do that

Though it’s forced to by a man-made canal Now and then heads straight as a Dy towards the river Rine but despite the power stations and canalization there are several places where the ARA also shows its real Face in nature reserves such as the alter ARA Wetlands at least parts of the river ARA are allowed to flow as they wish its conservation with an ulterior motive the wetlands provide a flood plane protecting people and their Villages from floods countless ponds and pools in this

Landscape are teeming with life some of the inhabitants might not be instantly recognizable to everyone though few people get this close to Tadpoles up in the mountains it can sometimes take a year for tadpoles to develop into frogs and then the baby frogs have to survive the hard Winters Below on the Swiss Plateau it all goes much faster warm sun and plentiful food in the form of plant parts reduce the tadpole’s transformation period period

To a couple of Weeks as soon as its legs have grown the future frog can easily be identified but the tadpole still has gills like a fish and cannot yet survive on land its final transformation goes against the current Zeitgeist it changes from being a vegetarian to a dedicated carnivore one animal that vanished from

Switzerland for a long time now turns up more often and leaves very obvious traces during the day it’s rarely seen at all one has to wait until after dark to catch a glimpse of It The fact that beavers are cited more frequently is the result of a successful reintroduction program since the 1950s 141 beavers have been released into the wild today they number over 3,000 they’re notorious tree fellas they can’t climb so they fell trees instead to get at their juicy leaves if they think the

Water level in their territorial water is too low they will build effective dams that doesn’t appeal to everyone beavers only eat plantss and they’re not fussy Anything Green tastes good to them their diet consists of an astonishing 300 kinds of plants not a particularly sociable animal beavers are either solitary or

Live in close family groups males and females pair for Life they’re impossible to tell apart only beavers themselves recognize a male from a female For nature the beaver is a blessing where it builds dams and creates pools the groundwater increases and plants can grow better their tree felling allows more light and warmth to reach the forest floor and its pools are also valuable biotopes teeming with life the nature Conservation Area that

This Beaver has selected as its habitat looks like an impenetrable Jungle it’s hard to believe that this jungle is a tiny island in the middle of an industrial Area water creates landscapes in Switzerland that one wouldn’t normally expect to find here otherwise Mes in the enler biosphere Nature Reserve between burn and lucern there are more than 100 Moes and Upland bogs they were created after the last ice age around 10,000 years ago over the centuries huge areas of bog were drained as human beings needed the land or they

Extracted the Pete for heating but in enl 2,000 hectares of more was retained a unique Habitat inconspicuous yet rather special the Alpine Blue Grass has adapted to the brief Alpine summer it doesn’t form seeds that have to go through the elaborate process of germination the grass is vivus and bears fully germinated seedlings including Greenery and Roots there’s a creature hiding somewhere in this picture this green huntsman spider is a female as it’s completely green camouflage reveals the males have a red stripe down their Backs not all insect eaters have legs the butter wart Bears white or purple flowers larger creatures such as the Smooth N have no reason to fear the plant but for insects the leaves of the butter wart are a death trap the plant digests the insects Alive the same goes for the Suu it has sticky glands that it uses to catch its prey the suu relies on its carnivorous meals it cannot get enough nutrients from the poor soil of the Mo Moes are very moist regions formed among other things by rainwater that cannot drain away in U a very different landscape has also been created by rainwater not stagnant but Flowing the rainwater has created a bizarre landscape out of the Limestone Mountain but the shratton flu wasn’t formed like the Gorges in the Alps by minute quartz particles in the water grinding The Rock Away the shratton flu was formed by chemistry the slightly acid rainwater dissolved the Limestone creating fishes and grooves

The shaten flu is as full of holes as Swiss Cheese some 250 kilm of caves have been discovered by researchers to date but the shatten flu is probably riddled with many more holes shafts and Tunnels On the cave floor a surprise imprints of seashells and corals inconceivable that deep below the Earth’s surface many millions of years ago this place once looked like this for a long time the question of where the leeched rainwater actually flowed to remained a mystery some of it covers quite an impressive distance it’s

Transported by Subterranean streams to Lake tun almost 20 kilm away Lake tun is one of the nearly 1500 lakes in Switzerland apart from the coldest Mountain Lakes they’re generally highly biodiverse habitats several Swiss Lakes including Lake Zak here are home to a highly controversial animal it can turn fishermen and fish Farmers red-faced

With anger their accusation the creature eats too many fish and is emptying the Lake the corant used to visit Switzerland as a migrating bird it stayed a short while and then left but increasingly corant decided not to leave Switzerland the number of breeding pairs has meanwhile risen to around 1500 at Lake senar there’s a small Colony nesting in three or four

Trees each Nest holds between two and four chicks there’s a fair division of labor among corant one adult bird guards The Brood keeping them warm warm in the cold and providing shade in the heat the other adult bird tirelessly provides food the young beg for food by nudging

The adult bird’s beak the adult bird stores the fish its caught in its throat pouch which the chicks empty quite quickly the biggest chick has the best chance of survival because not every chick makes it the smaller ones have to ensure that they don’t get a raw deal on the

Food life in the breeding Colony has one disadvantage one can never be sure what will come one’s way from above whether corant are actually emptying the lake hasn’t been scientifically proven yet but even if they were they’re unlikely to allow themselves to be chased away from Switzerland’s Lakes anytime Soon slowly but surely the ARA flows to its final destination the further onwards it flows the more densely populated the countryside little traditional Villages like picturesque burin dot its banks its passage is now largely channeled and controlled but the ARA Has Two Faces one tame and predictable the other wild and natural

Alongside the canal likee River there are wildly romantic stretches many kilometers long finally in Cobin in Switzerland the moment arrives the ARA flows into the Rin there’s something of an injustice here the ARA actually carries a larger volume of water so the r ought to be a

Tributary of the ARA not the other way around A few kilometers Upstream the otherwise sedate River rine demonstrates that it is quite capable of a bit of Drama although the mighty River at its source is rather more idyllic almost like a little mountain stream but the birds are well advised to stay close to the banks because in the center of the river there’s all hell let loose in summer 600 cubic M of water descends here every second making the

Rainfalls one of the biggest waterfalls in Europe even though at 23 M it’s far from being the highest but the Run rainfalls at sha Housen are one of the most impressive natural wonders that Switzerland has to Offer the fact that this Splendid phenomenon still exists is sheer luck it’s often been suggested that the Rind should be made navigable along its entire length the Rin Falls would just have been in the way but fortunately these plans all came to Nothing today the rinf Falls are no longer seen as a nuisance but rather one of the most spectacular places in Europe a sight not to be missed either by day or by Night The passage of water through Switzerland is a journey through widely diverse beautiful landscapes and and splendidly pristine Nature all life depends on this water also that of the people who drink it irrigate their fields with it or use it to generate power without the water from the Alps Life as we know it in Switzerland and in Europe would be impossible so there is concern at the Alpine

Winters becoming drier the Summers warmer the breathtaking Pace at which the Glaciers are Disappearing but nature finding refuge in so many places in a densely populated country like Switzerland and still flourishing has a valuable lesson to pass on climate change will bring far-reaching changes but nature will surely find a way to Adapt At the heart of Europe lies Switzerland it’s a surprisingly big little country small in area but big on natural beauty and like its many languages and cultures its Landscapes vary widely too from mighty Alps and dense forests to mysterious Moes and roaring waterfalls Switzerland has many faces some familiar some hidden It’s a country that’s astonishingly rich in variety Wilderness and Scenic Wonder to the east of Switzerland bordering on Italy and Austria lies grow bundan its best known towns a Davos and St Moritz the entire Canton is situated in the Swiss Alps these images make the hearts of skiers and snowboarders beat faster a picturebook winter with Sunshine biting cold and plenty of snow grow bundon is a winter Wonderland But fun on the slopes and AA ski Pleasures are only one aspect of a Swiss Winter winter in the Alps can also be deadly it heaps snow and ice mercilessly over everything in its path anything not properly prepared will find it difficult to survive just the sight of this is enough to make humans freeze yet these cold Rocky valleys and inhospitable forests are wildlife habitats even at subzero

Temperatures and in Lethal winter storms oddly for a Highland region animal the IEX doesn’t actually like snow it will go out of its way to avoid it but in very snowy Winters that’s pretty well impossible in addition to frozen food an itchy winter coat is a constant

Irritation in the cold season but the ibcs can always find a good Solution As for smaller more delicate or sensitive creatures they’re best advised to take refuge under the snow despite snow being nothing more than frozen water it actually works as a kind of thermal insulation nature can be a ruthless killer but it can also be an inventive lifesaver it offers plenty of options

For animals to survive the Winter for mots their survival strategy is Hibernation however hibernation isn’t actually sleep it’s anything but restful it’s an emergency situation in which animals shut down most of their bodily functions to save energy hibernating is so exhausting for the animals that they have to wake up periodically to get some proper sleep without these breaks from their hibernation they would perish

Some creatures don’t sleep they chill this way even the most delicate summer Beauties can survive the winter including the brimstone butterfly it’s a kind of alcoholic its body’s sugar alcohol glycerin helps it to survive the winter there’s an entire Kingdom spending winter in this Heap workers lar and of

Course a queen ants also spend the cold months hibernating many survival experts spend their Winters well protected underground or in Hollows they’ve chewed into dead Wood they’re not worried about the cold a warm winter on the other hand would be a death sentence fungi and bacteria would decompose them like rotting wood inside a reptile’s cave it can be up to 5° Centigrade even though outside it might be snowing and stormy but even an internal anti freeze

System or a cozy cave can be insufficient protection against extreme Winters if ice crystals form inside their bodies the cells burst and then it’s all over for the hibernating Creature in Winter the days might be cold and hostile to life but the nights often turn into an icy Hell it can plummet to 30° below zero and colder not much fun for anyone or anything this is when the ibags switch to energy saving mode they sink their body temperature down to 15° centigrade in their legs for other animals that would be fatal but it enables the Ibex to [Applause] Survive a glimmer of hope on the horizon the first light of the Rising Sun not only Heralds a new day it also means spring is a little Closer finally the icy night is over this time without claiming any victims with a kind of stubborn tolerance the animal kingdom has survived another brutally cold Night the ibcs have spent the night sheltered from the wind now they have a specific goal in mind they plan to reach it during the morning but they’re not heading down towards the warmer valleys they’re going uphill higher and higher they go on legs stiff with

Cold they’ll need a bit of luck what this IEX procession is hoping for doesn’t appear every Day only if they can occasionally drive out the cold from their freezing Bones by sunbathing can they survive the winter time they’ll even tolerate the scanty food supply among the Steep rocks just to spend some time in the Sun it can often take until afternoon for these Alpine icks to warm up and get their stick LIF joints Supple again only then do their Spirits return Too by this time other animals have long been busy finding their breakfast the fox needs around 20 mice a day to survive but in winter it’s not that easy to catch Them its sharp sense of hearing reveals even the quietest Mouse by fine-tuning its hearing it can locate a mouse to the millimeter next comes the mouse jump a miracle of precision and accur accuracy nothing can save the mouse now apart from a frustratingly hard snow crust but the fox isn’t about to throw in the towel that Easily this mouse and 19 of its Brethren won’t have much of a chance today 1,000 M higher up another act unfolds in the drama of life now in December and January it’s the rutting season by a special kind of sniffing known as the flaman response the Ibex males can

Smell which goat will soon be ready to mate or which one is already estris ranking fights that take place in Winter are mostly playful skirmishes the animals have to conserve valuable energy so the males only push each other around a bit they already know which of them is

Strongest and therefore allowed to mate they established that back in summer when they were all well Fed but these two apparently have more issues to sort out between themselves the fight even continues the next morning a blow just 1 160th of the force of these would fracture a human skull but ibec skulls are made up of movable plates with a cartilagenous buffering substance between them that cushions the blows The imposing bucks aren’t the only ones that indulge in skirmishes sometimes the females fight as well Are these also ranking fights or just bad-tempered female spats humans would call catfights no one knows but they certainly look Serious the Los is chased away humiliated in Winter the world might appear empty lifeless and lonely there are very few animals about they’re mostly hiding from the cold or have dug themselves in underground the only Birds to be seen are the ones that usually stay behind Birds of Prey like the eagle

The migrating birds have all gone fleeing not only from the cold but also from Hunger there’s not much nourishment about for insect devores in this icy world the only survivors here are survival experts and those who have help in a hard winter with permafrost freezing rain or a closed blanket of

Snow bird feeders help song birds survive domestic Birds such as tits would probably survive without food despite the harsh conditions anyone standing around in the snow for too long gets frozen feet the tits are no exception the feeding of song birds is a controversial issue in many cases it

Supports species that are already very common and some bird feeders become infested with germs spreading deadly diseases The nut hatch wedges its food in tree bark cracks that way it can crack things open in summer insects in Winter seeds and nuts this squirrel is doing well it lives in a coniferous forest where it can find food all year round so it can be quite lazy during summer unlike its

Relatives that live in deciduous forests that have to lay down Supply of food the Red Cross bill has the perfect survival tool Nature has shaped its beak like crossed Spruce seed pincers the Red Cross Bill’s life is closely intertwined with the spruce in years where the trees

Carry few seeds the birds migrate away in intensive fruiting years forests can experience actual Crossbill invasions so the Crossbill is a sporadic Migrant Onethird of Switzerland is covered in Forest that’s around half a billion trees which works out to around 60 trees per Swiss Citizen forests are so important to the Swiss that they have a unique law whatever was once Forest may never be cleared because Forest equals protection protection against Avalanches landslides and floods the forests prevent damage worth 4 billion Swiss Franks every Year 25,000 species of animals depend on Forests Switzerland’s largest wild animal is also a forest Dweller as soon as the first snow falls the Red Deer move from the mountains down to The Valleys their survival strategy save energy to protect themselves from the cold they grow a warm top coat of long fur they also reduce their body temperature shrink their digestive organs lower

Their pulse and stand still a lot of the time their lives depend on them staying quiet every time they have to gear up their cooled down bodies to flee for instance a stag can use up so much energy that it’s no longer able to survive through until the end of the

Winter weaker animals haven’t a chance of survival but their death provides a source of food for others there are around 200 lynxes in Switzerland the result of a successful reintroduction program this Lynx seems to be an accomplished Hunter it’s apparently so full that it’s going to freeze the rest of the carcass for Later this herd of deer is lucky they’ve found a south-facing slope where they don’t need to dig around much for their food these deer will stay here all winter 150 years ago the Red Deer was extinct in Switzerland today there are around 35,000 of them here the first to return

Were fugitives from stag hunts in Austria some forests in this region are rather special They Swiss Stone Pine forests and very rare only one 100th of the forested land in grundon consists of stone or aurola Pines here they’re known as Queen of the Alps the Swiss author alloy schneid wrote The Stone Pine

Forest is the adornment of the mountains whose bold skull it decorates with incense perfumed curls the Stone Pine is an astonishing tree alone among trees it can Brave temperatures of- 45° C and flourishes in an area in which winter rules for most of the Year the stone Pine’s life happens in slow motion it doesn’t bear a single pine cone before it’s 40 years old then when they appear they take 3 years to ripen and the stone Pine can live for over 1,000 Years to the people here this Forest is almost holy the god tamur or Forest over there lies in the Far East of grundon just a Stones Throw from the Italian border it’s a symbol of tenacity strength and the will to survive the rians also lay claim to these characteristics for centuries people

Mined silver and Lead in the area the mines and the smelting of the ore consumed vast quantities of wood but this special Forest survived this era undamaged and today no one may touch it the God tamur one of the world’s highest Stone Pine forests is a forbidden zone for axes or SS because they grow so slowly the trees have wafer thin annual growth rings the age-old wood is therefore very fine grained and highly prized and it smells better than almost any other wood too but it won’t come from here it’s more than 50 years since a pine tree was

Felled in the god Tam Mangur Stone Pine forests are profoundly peaceful places but they would never even exist were it not for a manically active Creature the spotted Nutcracker it’s obsessed with stone pine nuts to the exclusion of almost anything else it can eat so many that it was feared for a long time that the trees would be forced into Extinction but precise ly the opposite proved to be true and that’s

Because this bird has an ability that is unique in the animal world the story of the spotted Nutcracker and the stone Pine Forest begins in Summer the spotted Nutcracker is a hard worker during the summer months it gathers around 100,000 Stone pine nuts transporting the pine cones to one special spot to hack them out of the cones like Scrooge McDuck with his money the spotted Nutcracker thinks only about its pine nuts it’s a wonder that it can

Find any time at all for life’s trivia like eating or breeding the spotted Nutcracker sets up around 10,000 stashes of nuts and will find almost all of them again in winter A few of its stores do go undiscovered however and those nuts germinate the following Spring the saplings protect each other against chill winds excess rain or from being eaten with any luck one of them will grow to be a proud thousand year old stone pine tree if the spotted Nutcracker didn’t exist these seeds wouldn’t get taken up the mountain the stone Pine would only

Germinate Down The Valleys where they cannot Thrive without the birds these trees would long have vanished from the earth including the magical forest of God Tamur below the forest the River clenia Winds through the valley the water alel seems to be the only creature here that isn’t hibernating but it’s living proof that the river itself is actually brimming with life it’s constantly diving to take its prey especially ly insect lby and it’s a very successful

Hunter not many know the water owle although it’s very widespread once noticed they seem to turn up everywhere As the vegetation indicates conditions are much harsher in the higher mountain regions Stone Pines do grow at up to 2,800 m above sea level very high indeed but they actually Thrive best at below 2,000 m above that living conditions are too tough even for the resilient SSS Stone Pine very cold Winters will drive animals that actually prefer a high mountain habitat down into the lower regions the Shamir can find food more easily here and it’s more plentiful than up in the mountain but the dry grass is not very nutritious to get enough nourishment the animals have to eat

Almost all day Long But the fodder isn’t free the price is interference by human beings skiers and snowboarders are the reason why not all the shamwa head down into The Valleys when food rations become Scarce Several herds prefer to stay further up the mountain where there are no human beings but where life is tougher and more challenging unlike the ibcs they don’t Sun themselves preferring to stay in the Shade Now in January it’s closed season so the Shamir have no need to fear Hunters not the ones with guns at any rate for the links it’s open season on Shamir all year round and golden eagles are especially fond of Shamir kids But sometimes the greatest Hazard for shamwa is neither man nor animal All year round avalanches and landslides pose a tremendous danger for shamua snow avalanch es in Winter and rock and Boulder slides the rest of the year bigger animals than these shamwa or even the ibeck may be regularly spotted in the Swiss mountains one just has to be observant however some animals spend

Their lives in secrecy even the hardiest hikers never encounter them it’s as if they simply weren’t there and yet every year there are more of them Since the mid90s it’s been back in Switzerland canis lupus the bane of Little Red Riding Hood the fairy tale monster the big bad Wolf anyone following the acrimonious discussion about the wolf might assume that there were hundreds of them roaming about Switzerland and yet there are only around 30 in three packs some of the alleged wolves that have been spotted have been in fact been dogs even wolf researchers hardly ever

Get to see the object of their research programs anyone wanting to study wolves Behavior or film them has to rely on an animal park those who try researching them in the wild generally end up examining what they’ve left Behind should the Swiss Wilderness be home to Europe’s biggest predator the question prompts Fierce debate and is almost as old as Switzerland itself and it’s not only conducted verbally but with shotguns wolves are constantly being shot by faceless Poachers many experts believe that fear of wolves is unwarranted that the only dangerous wolves are found in children’s fairy tales across the expanse of the Swiss Alps there’s actually enough room for 150 wolves not just 30 others say that wolves are dangerous to both man and

Beast and that they have no business in such a densely populated country at all now Gish kite or conviviality and comfort settles on the towns and Villages the livestock spend the cold season in pleasantly warm stalls well stocked with feed the long nights and low temperatures in Winter also cause problems for the Wolves their prey is hard to catch in the deep snow winter is a time of Hunger and privation for the alleged monster

The Valleys however seem like a land of milk and honey so in extreme Winters some wolves make their way down into The Valleys they’re not welcome though any wolf that approaches a settlement should beware of shotguns if the pack living in the kalanda range gets too close to town a young wolf is meant to be shot to scare them off but the cander wolves are as invisible as if cloaked by

Magic can one protect livestock from wolves especially in summer or are they all helplessly at the wolves’s mercy there is actually something that keeps Wolves Away from the herds when they’re outside and it lives right in the midst of the Herd herd guard dogs more and more Shepherds goat herds and cattle herders rely on them it seems somewhat paradoxical at first glance that the very creature that protects herds from being attacked by Wolves is the wolf’s close cousin but these animals are famous for their unconditional loyalty and protective

Instincts and so many guard dogs are born among the sheep or cows the puppies are raised with their charges the animals they will be protecting so there’s not the slightest doubt in their minds that they are part of the herd and they will protect their herd at all Costs Her guard dogs are not sheep dogs they don’t know how to gather and run a herd that’s a job for Specialists like the Border colag herd guard dogs learn another skill to protect their herd independently and without human intervention as well as Chase off Predators the dogs might sometimes

Mistake an innocent hiker for a predator in that case the clever hiker is well advised to beat a hasty Retreat wolves that rarely attack domestic animals are persecuted by humans less often so herd guard dogs are simultaneously wolf packed protection Dogs winter is the quiet time of year supposedly it’s just silently falling snow and peaceful still Lakes but that’s not true all the time or everywhere Every year 13,000 CrossCountry skiers turn the upper Eng Gardine Valley near St Moritz into sporting pandemonium for a couple of days peace and quiet take a back seat an unusual feature of the engadine skiing Marathon the course crosses two frozen lakes Lake sils and Lake Silver PL 40 cm below the ski the commotion above can’t even be heard under the ice the lake is quiet and still the fish have disappeared to hibernate in the deepest Waters even the plants seem to languish in the dim light that penetrates the ice Shield it seems as if all of nature is holding its breath waiting for spring to Arrive but spring takes its time Here Frost ice and snow still have the upper Hand Yet the middle of winter is the hottest season for the Ibex they’re in rut it’s a busy time for the bucks they pursue the females Tirelessly Using their tongues and the Jacobson’s organ in their nasal chamber the ibeck Bucks scan the female scent for feromon and some of them discover the hard way that if the back end doesn’t smell right there’s likely to be trouble from the front end all the Bucks in the area are now

Following the scent of nature the bewitching aroma of the ladies has a magical attraction for them even those who haven’t a chance of actually mating being too far down in the herd’s Ranks a ticklish situation for the female that isn’t yet ready to mate the eager bucks Corner the female They’re obeying the call of Nature and it’s telling them to be more insistent passing on their genetic material to the next generation is the Buck’s highest priority All the pestering by her L stricken suitors is getting more and more unpleasant she senses that the cave isn’t going to offer her protection for much longer finally she’s had enough and makes a dash for it but she can’t shake off her admirers the chase ends in tragedy for the Female hours later she’s spotted injured with a split Hoof she will only survive this harsh winter if it comes to an end Soon and indeed spring arrives one day in full Force the Alpine Snow Bell is an early Harbinger it starts blossoming under the snow and rings in the spring from There and with the melting of the snow and ice everything else Follows soldiers report for Duty workers start spring cleaning and the queen busies herself with Breeding the animals have long forgotten winter they’ve forgotten the months of privation hardship and torpor forgotten too are those that have fallen victim to the Cold if only it weren’t for this wretched winter coat it’s still Itchy the female Shamir and their kids now form herds of up to 30 animals the males are loners and stay away from the herds it seems that in Spring some Shamir have a luxury problem they’re too warm the experienced mothers now want to head for the highlands where they don’t

Perspire as much and where food has started to grow in Abundance but sheer High Spirits put paid to that idea for a While the higher the altitude the longer the wait for spring and warmth to arrive the higher regions are still covered in deep snow winter seems to want to retain its strangle hold despite blue skies and sunshine but for some hibernators it’s high time for them to wake Up The mut’s summer is so short they’re constantly in a hurry some of the males will even mate with females while they’re still sleeping depending on the summer they have just 12 weeks to work their way through the Marmet to-do List there’s hardly any time for lengthy relaxation or sunbathing Sessions whatever happens now in nature everything is oriented towards preparing for the next possibly lethal winter summer is spent Gathering stores eating to set up protective layers of fat breeding the Next Generation in short guaranteeing the future because winter in grow Burton can be deadly while still being strikingly Beautiful to C andly you CL

Switzerland is a country that may be small in size, but is large in culture. It is full of many different languages as well as landscapes, like the beautiful alps, dense forests, and a variety of wildlife. From the Jura mountains, north of the alps, to the incredible sourthern region of Ticino, where you can find vegetation from both from palm trees to Glaciers and the span of shapes and colors could hardly be wider. The Swiss mountains play a key role in supplying Europe with water, as the glaciers melt and freshwater is delivered into the rivers.

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