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00:00Siberia, the largest wilderness on earth, endless forests, untamed
00:29mountain streams and the oldest lake on earth.
00:38Russia's largest area of unspoiled nature is at the same time a largely
00:45unknown world.
00:49Siberia begins just beyond the Ural Mountains, the border between Europe and
01:05Asia. Geographers regard just under half of Russia as belonging to this gigantic
01:12region. In the south, close to the Mongolian border, lies the legendary
01:21Lake Baikal, 600 kilometers long.
01:33February. A meter-thick sheet of ice covers Lake Baikal. Open water can be
01:40found at only one spot, where the Angara River flows from the lake and deep water
01:46rises to the surface.
01:54For the golden-eyed ducks, it is a refuge in hard times. On the edge of the ice
02:00they dive for food in large groups.
02:10The face of Siberia is characterized by the taiga, the northern coniferous forest,
02:35the largest uninterrupted area of woodlands in the world.
02:43To survive here, you have to withstand the long, cold winters.
02:55A deer with vampire fangs, the musk deer. These shy forest dwellers mainly feed on
03:02lichen from tree trunks. Hard to digest, but still accessible when the snow is
03:08especially deep. The males have been hunted for centuries for their musk
03:14glands, an important ingredient in perfume production.
03:21Frozen food. These ravens have found some carrion. But it's not the birds that are
03:40making the musk deer nervous. The real owners of the carrion have returned.
03:50Wolves do not hibernate and thus have to keep hunting, even when it is bitterly
03:57cold. Their survival depends on hunting in packs. There's always disagreement
04:07when dividing up the spoils.
04:12Meanwhile, the ravens while away the time doing sideways rolls.
04:27One of them hasn't quite got the hang of it yet.
04:41It does get it right in the end, even though its recovery is not exactly graceful.
05:00Siberia's cold pole lies in Russia's largest Republic, Yakutia, where
05:07temperatures of below minus 70 degrees have been registered. The coldest
05:13regularly inhabited area on earth. It is March. The mares of the incredibly
05:24resilient Yakutian horses are in the last stages of pregnancy.
05:30They have never seen the inside of a stable. For thousands of years, these
05:40horses have been bred in the open.
05:50The animals pour the snow to uncover last year's grass. Their diet is meager,
05:57at a time when they should really be eating for two. Not all of them will see
06:02the end of this Siberian winter.
06:18A village on Lake Baikal. Wood is one of Siberia's great riches and is exported
06:26all over the world, especially to neighbouring China.
06:37Here, as almost everywhere in Siberia, various ethnic groups coexist peacefully.
06:56Late winter. The growing strength of the sun causes the first cracks in the ice.
07:04Even in this white wasteland, there is life. Baikal seals. Four weeks ago, the
07:11females bore their young in snow holes. In the meantime, the protective roof has
07:21melted, and the pup is thus lying in the open near the waterhole, waiting for its
07:27mother. She only comes once or twice a day to suckle her young. Baikal seals are
07:35unique. They exist only here, further from the sea than any other species of seal.
07:41They number about 130,000. If the pup survives the hard first year, it can live
07:49to the age of 50. Thanks to its thick layer of fat, the young seal is impervious to the
07:59chilly water. As if weightless, it swoops from one air hole to the next in a fairy-tale world of ice.
08:19The Verkhoyansk Mountains north of the lake.
08:351,000 kilometres long and more than 2,000 metres high, they extend from the middle
08:42reaches of the Lena River almost to the Arctic Sea.
08:49One morning at the end of March, Yakutian reindeer herdsmen catch their strongest animals and harness
09:14them to their sleighs. Yakutians and reindeer have lived side-by-side in Siberia for millennia.
09:23This is probably what enabled humans to survive in such a cold environment the whole year round.
09:30Now the men have to find their main herd, which are currently roaming the Sowie Tiger,
09:49and round them up.
09:50In a few days, they will set off for their summer quarters. They're running out of time,
10:04because travelling in Yakutia is only possible as long as there is frost. After the thaw,
10:11the herdsmen will be cut off from the rest of the world by impassable swamps.
10:20With its nose close to the ground, a wolf searches for food. In the winter,
10:42mice are very active beneath the snow cover. Only a small snack, perhaps, but better than nothing.
10:49This is no mouse. Still, the wolf wouldn't say no to this finely furred fellow. A sable. Its fur
11:05once adorned tsars and kings. Attracted by rich pickings, hordes of hunters came out here to trap
11:13the little marten. Today, as the demand for fur recedes, predators are more of a threat than
11:20humans. This time, the wolf will go hungry. After a two-hour ride, the herdsmen have reached
11:50their destination. The herd is about 1,000 strong, so the roundup is no easy task.
12:05In the northern regions, reindeer are not only a basic foodstuff,
12:10providers of pelts and draft animals, people also ride them.
12:20The herdsman feeds salt to the reindeer, a rare delicacy.
12:40Thanks to his years of experience, he can negotiate the forest of antlers.
12:502,000 kilometers to the southwest, close to the Mongolian border,
13:12a hint of Africa accompanies herds of goitered gazelles as they cross the southern Siberian
13:19steppes. Their squawking and chortling enables the group to stick together.
13:29The animals are only short-term visitors to the south Siberian steppes.
13:37The gazelles jump the fence, separating them from Mongolia. Nature knows no political boundaries.
14:07The Lena, Siberia's mightiest river, flowing 4,400 kilometers from the Baikal Mountains to
14:23the Arctic Sea. On the hillside above, a sea of blooms, Siberian pasque flowers.
14:38Mid-May, the Yakutian horses have survived the winter and borne their foals. They've developed
14:48well and are now enjoying their first rays of sunlight. The mares have to graze constantly
14:57to provide sufficient milk for their foals. The mares are showing signs of emaciation and
15:11there's still nothing green and nourishing to eat, only the previous year's dead grass.
15:28The Seyon Mountains stretch for 2,000 kilometers along the border between Russia and Mongolia.
15:35Peaks over 3,000 meters high.
15:55The snow melts earlier, lower down the southern slopes, home to an extraordinary amphibian.
16:02The Siberian salamander. Of all the amphibians on earth, this is probably the least sensitive to
16:14cold. The salamander's mating ritual and spawning takes place in open water. Why the animals mate
16:28this early in the year, in such cold water, is a mystery.
16:32Flowing water and lush greenery as far as the eye can see,
17:01spring comes to Siberia at last. Impetuously, the young river rushes through canyons into
17:14the vast lowland plains, where its water is formed into huge rivers that fill the
17:20pearl of Siberia, Lake Baikal. The deepest lake in the world, storing 20% of the planet's
17:39fresh water, Lake Baikal is finally ice-free. Seals have lived in Lake Baikal for thousands
17:50of years. How they got here is something of a mystery. Scientists believe that about 500,000
17:58years ago, ringed seals swam up the Yenisei River from the Arctic Ocean and into Lake Baikal. Over
18:06millennia of isolation, they evolved into a new species. In the summer, many Baikal seals can be
18:18found near the Ushkan Islands. The dry spots on the rocks are highly sought after. The water
18:26temperature in the lake rarely rises above eight degrees centigrade, and as a result,
18:32the seals spend hours warming up. The most popular places are quickly taken.
18:45Baikal seals are excellent divers and can stay underwater for up to half an hour.
19:01The best spots in the Bel Etage are obviously still occupied. The damp
19:22basement will have to suffice. Still, there are others even worse off.
19:28Baikal seals live exclusively on fish, diving down hundreds of meters in their search for food.
19:46The underwater world is unique. Coral-like Baikal sponges project like fingers.
19:56The underwater slopes in the lake fall away to a depth of 1,600 meters.
20:04More than two-thirds of all the lake dwellers are only to be found here, like this amphipod.
20:18Its body length of 10 centimeters make it a giant compared to many of its relatives.
20:26The grayling is one of many fishes that inhabit the cold, nutrient-filled waters of Lake Baikal.
20:37The rocky beaches attract other animals, too.
20:49Brown bears leave the shelter of the dark tiger and come to the lakeside,
21:01which is sunnier and drier, and thus a source of herbs that do not grow in the shady woods.
21:08Oil-rich, aromatic plants like aniseed, caraway and fennel are especially popular with bears.
21:19An unexpected sight, a bear grazing like a cow.
21:26After the meal, the young male heads for the water. This part of the shoreline is known as
21:42the bear coast. Cautiously, the bear checks the surroundings in all directions. Even here,
21:50in the Baikal Lena Nature Reserve, it has to be on the lookout for poachers. The coast is
21:57several hundred kilometers long and cannot be covered completely by the reserve's rangers.
22:02Today, everything seems okay, but now danger lurks on the landside. A large adult bear
22:12approaches. For the younger animal, a potentially threatening situation.
22:18Escape is the only chance of avoiding a fight with a stronger rival.
23:01Summer in the Sayan Mountains.
23:19Pikas live above the treeline.
23:21The guinea pig-sized rodents graze incessantly because the winter returns very soon at 1,700
23:34meters. The young female boasts sleek, well-preened fur, while the older male looks
23:50somewhat tousled. The Irish heather seems to be the male pika's favorite food.
23:59The pikas only rarely take breaks from feeding, but what could be better than snoozing in the sun?
24:20Snow still caps the summits of the nearly 3,500 meters high Mount Mongkhusadik on the
24:39Russian-Mongolian border. Further up, Siberian ibex search for food. The high-wire artists of
24:49the animal kingdom can scale the most inaccessible mountainsides and get by on sparse food.
25:19Siberia is wolf territory. About 40% of Siberia's population are wolves.
25:48In the middle of the last century, there were five times as many.
25:56This morning sees a rare encounter.
26:01A lone wolf does not usually pick a fight with a bear. The situation would be quite different
26:17if the wolf were in a pack. The bear has made unmistakably clear who is boss of the swamp.
26:47It is now June, and summer has reached all of Siberia. For a few weeks,
27:08there is an explosion of growth. The larch woods are bedecked with rhododendrons.
27:14The real rulers of the Siberian forests are neither bear nor wolf, but redwood ants.
27:24They act as both hunters and gatherers, killing up to 10,000 insects a day.
27:30This longhorn beetle is taking a big risk. In a lightning attack, the ants overpower the beetle
27:50and kill it with their acid, which permeates the thin synovial tissue of their heavily armored prey
27:57and poisons it. Back to the Baikal. Not only the deepest lake in the world,
28:26but also the oldest. Geologists put its age at over 20 million years.
28:41A deep trench formed, where two continental plates drifted apart.
28:46Water flowed into a huge abyss, and Lake Baikal was born.
28:56In the seal colony, there is still a lot of jostling going on, both above and below the
29:09surface. The young seals have made huge strides and are now almost indistinguishable from their
29:18elders. Flipper slaps mean, stay away from me, and when two disagree, the ensuing disharmony
29:31can spread to the whole group. The elegant bodies glide through the water like torpedoes. On land,
29:52however, this grace is sadly lacking. Early July, martygon, red turks cap, and yellow day lilies
30:05decorate the steep banks of the southern part of the lake. Millions of anemones transform the
30:12nearby Tonka Valley into a sea of blooms. Olkhon Island, in the middle of the Lake Baikal. Here,
30:29the last foothills of the Mongolian steppes reach the sky-blue waters of the lake. A place
30:36full of contrasts, which has been enchanting people for thousands of years. Always with an
30:47inquisitive eye for the world, gophers. The siblings are just five weeks old and have only
30:55just left their burrow. While one keeps watch, the others eat as much as they can. Without a
31:09solid layer of fat, they will not survive their eight-month hibernation. But there's always enough
31:17time to play. All the same, they still have to take care. Many predators, from the fox to the
31:24golden eagle, would love to get their claws on them. A close eye is also kept on the Dion rat
31:35snake, even though it's not poisonous and poses no threat. The snake can grow up to one meter in
31:47length, and their area of distribution spans from Turkey to Korea. Russia is their most northerly
32:01habitat. Dusk falls on Olkhon Island. The gophers enjoy the sun's last warm rays.
32:22They will spend the night in the safety of their burrows.
32:31Fog on the Bear Coast. There is tension in the air. The animals are hungry and waiting for something.
33:01Early one morning, an invasion begins, and a feast for the bears. Millions of caddis flies
33:26emerge from the water in which they've spent the last few years as larvae, and the big bears begin
33:34their pursuit of the tiny insects. Reaching dry land is no easy task for the flies. Again and
33:43again, the lake pulls them back into the water. Yet they have to reach the bank. It's the only
33:50way to achieve their purpose in life. The flies mate between the stones, an act that many males
34:03do not survive. The females then return to the water to lay their eggs. The caddis flies hide
34:14underneath big rocks on the lakeside, safe from bad weather and hungry birds, but not from hungry
34:22bears. These protein-rich insects are an important part of the bears diet. Prey doesn't have to be
34:35large, there just has to be enough of it. Ten days later, the feast ends as suddenly as it began.
35:05In August, the Siberian summer comes to an end. For the bears, it's time to work up the layer of
35:31fat needed for winter. The pair have settled who eats when.
35:47But a lone wolf seems ignorant of the agreement. It must be very hungry, otherwise it wouldn't
36:11provoke a bear. Again and again, it challenges the larger predator. Unsurprisingly, in the end,
36:40the bigger animal wins. Autumn has now also reached the villages.
36:56Rural life is sparse. Most villagers grow their own food. The fertile black earth of the Tungka
37:07Valley produces especially tasty potatoes. The harvest is a communal activity. Pictures as if
37:23from a bygone area, many of the old Soviet tractors have long broken down and there is
37:29no money for spare parts. Happy the man with a good strong horse. The tiger is home to a tree
37:41without which many animals could not survive, the Siberian pine. A busy day begins for the chipmunk.
37:51The delicious cones hang high up in the treetops. The activities of the chipmunk have long been
38:03observed by a neighbor. The unsuspecting chipmunk enjoys his feast of nuts. But the cheeky neighbor
38:30is looking for trouble. In the end, the rightful owner returns. Only when its burrow is filled
38:47with pine nuts can the chipmunk survive the long winter. But first, it's time to stuff its face
38:54again. The Altai Mountains on the Mongolian border in southwest Siberia,
39:09craggy and hostile. The first snows of winter cover the peaks.
39:22Home to one of Siberia's shyest animals, the agali, the largest wild sheep in the world.
39:30Now, in October, the bucks join the kids and the females. It's the mating season but so far
39:44everything is quiet. Adult males grow to the size of ponies and are magnetically attracted to the
39:53females. The buck tastes the air with its tongue hanging out, so-called flamen, which tells him
40:06whether a female is ready to mate. Right now, the answer is obviously no. A rival appears.
40:24Each buck will do anything to eliminate its opponent.
40:42Two quarter tons of sheep crash into each other at full tilt.
40:47Enormous forces act on the buck's skulls. Such fights have been known to leave agalis unconscious.
41:18The victor gets to mate with the majority of females.
41:38Some way lower down, large herds of Altai Maras roam the mountain steps. This subspecies of
41:47red deer is also in mid breeding season. Meanwhile, the situation between the agali
42:01bucks is escalating. Two equally strong males are fighting. The alpha animal drives his herd
42:08away from the young pretender. But the rival persists and closes the gap. Now it's all or nothing.
42:38This spectacular behavior has never been filmed before.
42:52Eventually, the younger buck gives up and the victor gathers his herd and moves on.
43:09At Lake Baikal, too, the winter is not far off.
43:19Soon, the old sea will disappear for months under the ice.
43:24And Siberia, the huge icy heart of Russia, will find peace again.
43:54I am certain,
43:57Mother of God,
44:02I am certain, Mother of God,
44:03I am certain, Mother of God,
44:04I am certain, Mother of God,
44:05I am certain, Mother of God,
44:06I am certain, Mother of God,
44:07I am certain, Mother of God,
44:08I am certain, Mother of God,
44:09I am certain, Mother of God,
44:10I am certain, Mother of God,
44:11I am certain, Mother of God,
44:12I am certain, Mother of God,
44:13I am certain, Mother of God,
44:14I am certain, Mother of God,
44:15I am certain, Mother of God,
44:16I am certain, Mother of God,
44:17I am certain, Mother of God,
44:18I am certain, Mother of God,
44:19I am certain, Mother of God,
44:20I am certain, Mother of God,
44:21I am certain, Mother of God,
44:22I am certain, Mother of God,
44:23I am certain, Mother of God,
44:24I am certain, Mother of God,
44:25I am certain, Mother of God,
44:26I am certain, Mother of God,
44:27I am certain, Mother of God,
44:28I am certain, Mother of God,
44:29I am certain, Mother of God,
44:30I am certain, Mother of God,
44:31I am certain, Mother of God,
44:32I am certain, Mother of God,
44:33I am certain, Mother of God,
44:34I am certain, Mother of God,
44:35I am certain, Mother of God,
44:36I am certain, Mother of God,
44:37I am certain, Mother of God,
44:38I am certain, Mother of God,
44:39I am certain, Mother of God,
44:40I am certain, Mother of God,
44:41I am certain, Mother of God,
44:42I am certain, Mother of God,
44:43I am certain, Mother of God,