OUR MAGIC FORESTS (2/3)
A YEAR AMONG TREES
During it’s life a tree produces thousends of seeds - but few survive to becomes a full grown tree. This wastage is what keeps animals in the woods alive. When hundreds of thousands of tree seeds fall from the crowns in autumn, the sumptuous feast begins. Hardly any other ecosystem is as complex as the forest.
Spring, summer, autumn and winter not only bring colours to our forests, they also open small time slots, many forest dwellers have to harness, in order to survive. From the lavish flowerage of early bloomers, who have only a few weeks beneath leafless trees to produce enough carbohydrates for the entire year, to the intensive fruit-bearing in years when seeds are available in abundance. In those years the forest overwhelms its inhabitants to such an extent, that enough seeds survive, to grow new trees. As soon as cones and beechnuts, acorns and nuts have fallen off the trees in autumn, they are followed by leaves soon after, to prevent the tree’s veins from bursting by frost. Trees are preparing for hibernation - like animals. Some - such as the dormouse - remain asleep up to eleven month, if there is nothing to eat, this way they are best protected from enemies. Others - like the red deer - virtually sleep while walking. In Our Magic Forests animations show how nutrition for all forest dwellers develop during the years - such as the wood of the trees - and why woodpeckers may pound on it up to 10.000 times a day without head injuries. Many creatures of the forest live within or on the wood of the trees. But some subtenants - such as the bark beetle - may cause real decimation. When the forest, due to the massive number of deaths, are to become a virgin forest again, there will be passionate debates among us Germans.
Spring, summer, autumn and winter not only bring colours to our forests, they also open small time slots, many forest dwellers have to harness, in order to survive. From the lavish flowerage of early bloomers, who have only a few weeks beneath leafless trees to produce enough carbohydrates for the entire year, to the intensive fruit-bearing in years when seeds are available in abundance. In those years the forest overwhelms its inhabitants to such an extent, that enough seeds survive, to grow new trees. As soon as cones and beechnuts, acorns and nuts have fallen off the trees in autumn, they are followed by leaves soon after, to prevent the tree’s veins from bursting by frost. Trees are preparing for hibernation - like animals. Some - such as the dormouse - remain asleep up to eleven month, if there is nothing to eat, this way they are best protected from enemies. Others - like the red deer - virtually sleep while walking. In Our Magic Forests animations show how nutrition for all forest dwellers develop during the years - such as the wood of the trees - and why woodpeckers may pound on it up to 10.000 times a day without head injuries. Many creatures of the forest live within or on the wood of the trees. But some subtenants - such as the bark beetle - may cause real decimation. When the forest, due to the massive number of deaths, are to become a virgin forest again, there will be passionate debates among us Germans.
Facts
First aired 4th June 2017, 7:30 pm, on ZDF
90-minutes-special on ARTE
18th January 2020, 8:15 pm, on ARTE
With a wide variety of topics—from “The European Saga” to “Our Forests” to “Lights of the Deep Sea”—and impressive images, the “Terra X” documentary series attracted more viewers in 2017 than previous year: an average of 3.91 million viewers (13.3 percent market share) tuned in.
The series Our Forests is available online on DVD or Blu-ray.
Credits
Written, directed, and produced by: Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus
Producers: Francesca D’Amicis, Susanne Rostosky, Kay Schlasse, Friederike Schmidt-Vogt
Director of photography: Tobias Kaufmann
Helicopter camera: Peter Thompson, Klaus Stuhl
Animations: David Cornfield, Liz Elkington, Lauri Gibbs, Libby Redden, 422 South
Line producers: Svenja Mandel, Christine Marzi
Narrator: Dietmar Wunder
Editors: Johannes Geiger, Friederike Haedecke, Katharina Kohl (ZDF)
A colourFIELD production commissioned by ZDF
