ARTE Distribution

Dive into 5 of the most visited European heritage emblems and their breathtaking, unexpected and diversified wildlife. This ambitious series is an amazing immersion into the heart of incredible ecosystems, with the people who preserve it everyday.

Mont Saint-Michel, the Loire valley châteaux, Alhambra or Bastei Bridge… Every year, these breathtaking sites attract tourists from across the world. But hidden in the meanderings off the beaten track, fascinating and unexpected stories unfold: the stories of the wildlife that inhabits these places.
 
For, although these famous French cultural heritage sites have been built over the centuries, they are located within areas of outstanding natural beauty, with their own iconic species such as the Red deer of Chambord, the Black stork of Pont Bastei or the toads of the Alhambra.
 
Today, the preservation of these exceptional sites can no longer be done without taking into account the wildlife. And after several centuries of ignoring each other, these two worlds are finally coming together to show that natural and historical heritage can become allies! Over the course of four seasons, this prestigious documentary collection revisits the great French heritage sites from the perspective of the wildlife that inhabits them, offering an unusual look at these mythical sites, with fur, feathers or scales.

In North America, grizzly populations are now small and isolated.  So in a small key region on the border between the USA and Canada, a group of men and women have decided to open up a network of corridors between grizzly stomping grounds... to enable the bears to find each other.

The caribou is Canada’s most emblematic animal. Sadly, it did not safeguard it from being in serious danger of extinction in the south of the country. Suffering from habitat loss and under increasing threat from predators, the Canadian Rocky Mountains’ caribou are endangered.  However, the future of one of these caribou herds is looking up, thanks to an exemplary conservation plan initiated by indigenous peoples.

The wolf is the ghost of Canada's Great North-West. They are invisible, yet roam these vast expanses in great numbers. In this northernmost tip of the Rockies, wolves and humans are learning to coexist and are building a shared future. Fearsome predators in competition with the First Nations of the Yukon, they find themselves, against all odds, at the heart of an ecology of reconciliation.

An immersion in the heart of the mountain wildlife. Each episode follows an animal living in a specific landscape’s altitude: the wild cat, the bear and the eagle, from the lowest to the top! 

Discover wildlife filming behind the scenes and find out that more often than not, animals are much more cunning than men. Unfortunately, this lush world is still not very accessible – the animals fear the presence of man in this emblematic massif. To discover them, you have to investigate, find clues, follow tracks and be very patient before you finally get the chance to see them.
Luckily, the journey proves to be just as exciting as the objective: chance upon a mountain-size game of hide-and-seek where man must understand nature and tame it in order to discover its secrets.
 
Also available : 3x43' and 52'

Out-of-competition Selection Green Screen Festival 2022, Official Selection Le Grand Bivouac Festival 2022, Wildlife Vaasa International Nature Film Festival 2022 & The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival 2022

A stunning series that takes you along the most beautiful and vast corridor of life in the Rockies. Discover groundbreaking local conservation initiatives designed to preserve the ”iconic four”: bison, grizzly, caribou and wolf.

Yellowstone National Park was created in 1872. It was the first natural park in the world. As we celebrated the 150th anniversary of this park back in 2022, it's to this part of the world that we must once again look to see the unfolding of a revolutionary initiative. As a new concept of nature conservation, the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative preserves the heritage of Yellowstone National Park.
Through the success stories of four emblematic animals (bison, grizzly, woodland caribou, wolf), we follow this immense 2000 mile corridor of life all the way through the four episodes of this series and discover how it is working to preserve the Rocky Mountain  ecosystem, in close collaboration with Canadian Indian and First Nations tribes.

A unique documentary on chameleons living on the island of Madagascar, the world’s largest chameleon concentration, revealing incredible never-before-seen images and behaviors. Discover their incredible abilities such as: sleeping techniques, dancing, camouflage, 340° peripheral vision, catapult tongue, seduction, fluorescence...

If you thought you knew everything about this strange reptile, certainly the most astonishing of all, you were wrong. If you take the time to observe chameleons in the wild and try to truly understand them, you will soon realize that their armed tongue and their independent and peripheral ocular system, although spectacular, are only a small part of their incredible abilities. Actually, the chameleon’s trump card is its ability to evolve and adapt...

Follow an international team of scientists on a mission to develop groundbreaking solutions to save the Great Barrier Reef and its 9,000 unique species from extinction.
 

These species interact with the coral to form a complex and delicate ecosystem whose survival depends on each and every one of them. Yet today the coral—and therefore all the organisms that depend on it—is in great danger. In a visually stunning series about one the most beautiful natural habitats on Earth, our international award winning crew has followed a team of scientists for 5 years. Their mission is to develop groundbreaking technological solutions to save the GBR from destruction.

There is no standard picture that describes the largest and most varied country in Western Europe in terms of wildlife and landscapes. Discover a one-of-a-kind variety of natural wonders populated with  small creatures with stunning never-before-seen images.

The North-West: from Paris along the wild coast, the romantic Normandy and the picturesque Loire
The South-West: the garden of France along the Atlantic Ocean, the wine regions of Burgundy and Bordeaux
The South: where mountains meet the Mediterranean Sea and the blooming Provence
The East: mountain area
Anyone who looks closely will discover something unusual, something never seen before. Especially, some small creatures often show behaviors nobody knows about, like these bioluminescent worms or catfish that hunt pigeons. France is one of those countries you think you know, but when you explore it, it can still surprise you!

Did you always think that fish were mute, amnesiac, or insensitive to pain? Well you'd be wrong. Scientists are discovering that fish have astonishing cognitive abilities, a hectic social life, and even emotions. What if, fish were not so stupid after all? An investigation that takes place in the heart of the sea…

There is the land and the sea, as there are men and fish. Two worlds, which seem unable to communicate and understand each other. We treat these animals in a way that would seem outrageous if they were cats, baby seals or pandas. However, in 2019, some fish have joined the VIP circle of species capable of passing an age-old intelligence test: recognizing themselves in a mirror. Thus, it is now known that fish have self-awareness like humans, chimpanzees or dolphins. Fish are full of surprises: we discover that they are melomaniacs, like tickling or can have depression. 

The southern east French coastline’s ecosystem was one of the earliest to be affected by climate change. The Mediterranean is warming up at a rate that is 20% higher than the rest of the world and the effects are already strongly affecting this very special wildlife. How does this unique ecosystem, composed of native and rare species, deploy the utmost ingenuity to try and adapt to an increasingly extreme environment?

In this spectacular and fragile semi-desert environment, underwater heat waves have recently occurred. On land as well as in the sea, native organisms are strongly challenged by plants or fish coming from warmer or more arid latitudes. Terrible viruses and dormant bacteria found in the water are awakened and proliferate thanks to the heat. In this culture medium, some organisms have already been decimated. Others show an unsuspected capacity of adaptation... Let's discover these fighters of global warming, thanks to this 4K journey in a magnificent threatened site kown as the Massif des Callanques.

In the heart of the Amazon forest, hides a strange animal we do not expect to see thousands of kilometers from the ocean: the Amazon Pink River Dolphin. Is it a simple descendant of the marine species, or a distinct species that has survived through the ages and adapted to this lush environment?

Where does it come from? How has this animal come to acclimate to this tropical rainforest environment? What links do they have to marine dolphins?
Unknown for a long time, the pink dolphin remains a mystery to the scientists struggling to reconstruct its evolutionary course. Now thanks to a recent discovery, scientists are finally able to understand more about the mystery of the pink dolphin and its origins.
Join them on this remarkable scientific adventure...