Europe: A Natural History
Encyclopedia
Europe: A Natural History is a four-part BBC
nature documentary
series which looks at the events which have shaped the natural history
and wildlife
of the Europe
an continent over the past three billion years. It debuted on UK television on BBC Four
in February 2005, and was repeated on BBC Two
in September the same year. The series was broadcast in some other territories as Wild Europe.
The programmes featured extensive use of CGI
to bring to life extinct species, and show how the European cities of today would have looked at various points in the past, when the climate
was very different.
Europe: A Natural History was a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit
and the public-service broadcasters of Germany and Austria, ZDF
and ORF
respectively. The executive producers were Walter Köhler, Mike Gunton
and Reinhard Radke. The music was composed by Barnaby Taylor and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra
, and narration for the BBC broadcasts was provided by actor Sean Pertwee
.
The series forms part of the Natural History Unit's "Continents" strand. It was preceded by Wild Down Under
in 2003 and followed by Wild Caribbean
in 2007.
Europe's natural history is the product of a complex history stretching back half a billion years. Its most ancient mountains, the Caledonites
and Urals
, were formed during the collision of continental plate
s from which modern Europe is assembled, described as "the first act of European union". During the Carboniferous
period, Europe's equatorial jungle
s harboured giant predatory invertebrate
s, and the landmarks of Paris
, Frankfurt
and Berlin
would have stood amid unbroken primeval forests. By 270 million years ago, Europe had drifted north and become part of the supercontinent
Pangaea
. The forests of the interior, cut off from life-giving rains, turned to desert
, their remains forming the rich coal
seams deposited in Europe's rocks. The Swiss Jura
and other limestone
regions are formed from the remains of marine creatures deposited as shallow seas evaporated. This was a time when reptile
s ruled, and Oxford
would have been roamed by dinosaur
s. Rising sea levels triggered by a warming climate would have submerged much of Europe around 100 million years ago: only London
's tallest buildings would have risen above the waves. The demise of the dinosaurs created opportunities for bird
s and mammal
s, evidence of whose ancestors has been unearthed at Messel pit
. The subsequent break up of Pangaea, the birth of the Atlantic
and Mediterranean
and the creation of the Alps
and Pyrenees
were driven by tectonic forces which continue to this day in Iceland
. The cyclic draining and flooding of the Mediterranean was the last geological act in the genesis of the continent.
2.5 million years ago, a periodic shift in the Earth's orbit
, coupled with a tilt in its axis, triggered a sudden change in climate and Europe was plunged into an ice age
. The wintry iciness of today's Alps spread across northern Europe as ice sheet
s extended as far south as London, Amsterdam
and Berlin. Conditions were ideal for cold-adapted animals, forerunners of musk oxen and reindeer
. Woolly mammoth
bones dredged from the bottom of the North Sea
are evidence that this was once icy tundra
. The warm interglacial
periods attracted very different creatures: fossil hippos, rhino
s, lion
s and hyena
s have been unearthed in London. This thermal pulsing has occurred around twenty times, the last ice age ending 15,000 years ago. Europe now bears the scars of repeated glaciation
s. Lake Ladoga
, Europe's largest freshwater body, is a product of the last thaw and has its own subspecies of seal
as well as osprey
, moose
and beaver
. Ibex
are ice-age immigrants from Asia
, stranded in the European mountains by the receding glaciers. Even the desert sand of Słowiński
in Poland
can be traced back to glacial debris washed up by the sea. As the ice retreated, the plants and animals associated with modern Europe began to advance north. Those featured include the capercaillie
of the northern forests and migrant birds on Germany
's wetlands. Modern humans began to settle the coasts alongside otter
s and seal
s, and slowly spread along inland waterways, but made little impression on the deciduous forest
s of the interior.
The third programme explores the growing influence of people on the land. After the last ice age, Europe's mild climate and virgin forests attracted human and animal immigrants, including moose, bear, deer
and wild boar. The agreeable climate also attracted immigrant farmers from Mesopotamia
to the eastern Mediterranean, and reliable food supplies encouraged permanent settlement. By 3000 BC, civilization had spread to western megalith
ic sites such as Stonehenge
and Carnac
. Bronze Age
Europeans discovered the smelting
process, leading to a period of conflict and conquest over valuable metal ore
s. The Roman Empire
was born, and a massive road-building enterprise ensued, enabling a flow of trade, livestock, ideas and culture. A sudden cooling of the climate may have precipitated its collapse. In the Middle Ages
, cultures such as the Viking
s were influenced by the land and the sea, while in southern Spain
the Moors
introduced new irrigation canal
s. A fresh onslaught on Europe's forests supplied timber for boat-building, housing and fuel. Rat
s brought the Black Death
into Europe's new towns and cities, killing half the human population. It would be 250 years before the numbers recovered, but this allowed wildlife some breathing space. The medieval voyages of discovery brought new plants and animals to the continent, including the potato
. The Industrial Revolution
made Europe rich, but at great cost to its natural resources. The birth of tourism
encouraged a new appreciation of nature, and modern Europeans have switched their attitude from consumption to custodianship. As a result, wildlife is returning.
Europe is home to more than 700 million people, most of them city dwellers. Much of its wildlife has suffered as a result, but efforts are underway to protect and reintroduce
some species. Others have exploited new opportunities offered by man-made environments. In Rome
, the first metropolis
on the continent, winter tourists watch swirling clouds of starling
s flocking over the city. Buildings and structures have replaced caves and cliffs as preferred perches and nest sites for some birds, including kestrel
s and white stork
s. On a nearby landfill site, griffon vulture
s and red fox
es forage and scavenge food. Wildlife and people are coming into contact more often. Joggers in the woods around Budapest
often encounter wild boars, while farmers in the Carpathian Mountains
live alongside Europe's biggest populations of bear, wolf and lynx
. These predators were hunted to extinction in Western Europe
, but are now returning, aided by green corridors such as the European Green Belt
and wildlife-friendly development. Beavers have also returned in large numbers due to protection and the clean-up of Europe's polluted rivers. A chemical spill in the 1960s killed all the fish in the Rhine, but now there is a project to reintroduce Atlantic salmon
to the river. There are, however, new dangers. Invasive species
such as Chinese mitten crab
s, Asian long-horned beetle
s and Japanese knotweed
threaten the native flora and fauna. Climate change
could also have a dramatic effect on the continent, but Europe's natural history has experienced many such changes in the past.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
nature documentary
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
series which looks at the events which have shaped the natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
of the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an continent over the past three billion years. It debuted on UK television on BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
in February 2005, and was repeated on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
in September the same year. The series was broadcast in some other territories as Wild Europe.
The programmes featured extensive use of CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
to bring to life extinct species, and show how the European cities of today would have looked at various points in the past, when the climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...
was very different.
Europe: A Natural History was a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
and the public-service broadcasters of Germany and Austria, ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
and ORF
ORF
ORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
respectively. The executive producers were Walter Köhler, Mike Gunton
Mike Gunton
Michael Gunton is a British television producer and a senior executive at the BBC Natural History Unit, the world's largest production unit dedicated to wildlife film-making...
and Reinhard Radke. The music was composed by Barnaby Taylor and performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC Concert Orchestra
The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five which is not a full-scale symphony orchestra....
, and narration for the BBC broadcasts was provided by actor Sean Pertwee
Sean Pertwee
Sean Pertwee is an English actor known for his television, film and voice-over work.-Career:In the early 80s, he auditioned for a place at the Surrey County Youth Theatre where he was cast as Captain Fitzpatrick in the play Tom Jones, based on the novel by Henry Fielding...
.
The series forms part of the Natural History Unit's "Continents" strand. It was preceded by Wild Down Under
Wild Down Under
Wild Down Under is a BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural history of the Australasian continent, first transmitted in the UK on BBC Two in September 2003...
in 2003 and followed by Wild Caribbean
Wild Caribbean
Wild Caribbean is a four-part BBC nature documentary series exploring the natural and cultural history of the Caribbean Islands and Sea. It was first transmitted in the UK on BBC2 in January 2007. The series was produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and narrated by actor Steve Toussaint...
in 2007.
1. "Genesis"
- UK broadcast 15 February 2005
Europe's natural history is the product of a complex history stretching back half a billion years. Its most ancient mountains, the Caledonites
Caledonian orogeny
The Caledonian orogeny is a mountain building era recorded in the northern parts of the British Isles, the Scandinavian Mountains, Svalbard, eastern Greenland and parts of north-central Europe. The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly...
and Urals
Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia...
, were formed during the collision of continental plate
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
s from which modern Europe is assembled, described as "the first act of European union". During the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
period, Europe's equatorial jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
s harboured giant predatory invertebrate
Invertebrate
An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
s, and the landmarks of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
would have stood amid unbroken primeval forests. By 270 million years ago, Europe had drifted north and become part of the supercontinent
Supercontinent
In geology, a supercontinent is a landmass comprising more than one continental core, or craton. The assembly of cratons and accreted terranes that form Eurasia qualifies as a supercontinent today.-History:...
Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
. The forests of the interior, cut off from life-giving rains, turned to desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
, their remains forming the rich coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
seams deposited in Europe's rocks. The Swiss Jura
Jura mountains
The Jura Mountains are a small mountain range located north of the Alps, separating the Rhine and Rhone rivers and forming part of the watershed of each...
and other limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
regions are formed from the remains of marine creatures deposited as shallow seas evaporated. This was a time when reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s ruled, and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
would have been roamed by dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s. Rising sea levels triggered by a warming climate would have submerged much of Europe around 100 million years ago: only London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's tallest buildings would have risen above the waves. The demise of the dinosaurs created opportunities for bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s and mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s, evidence of whose ancestors has been unearthed at Messel pit
Messel pit
The Messel Pit is a disused quarry near the village of Messel, about southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its abundance of fossils, it has significant geological and scientific importance...
. The subsequent break up of Pangaea, the birth of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
and Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
and the creation of the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
and Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
were driven by tectonic forces which continue to this day in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. The cyclic draining and flooding of the Mediterranean was the last geological act in the genesis of the continent.
2. "Ice Ages"
- UK broadcast 22 February 2005
2.5 million years ago, a periodic shift in the Earth's orbit
Earth's orbit
In astronomy, the Earth's orbit is the motion of the Earth around the Sun, at an average distance of about 150 million kilometers, every 365.256363 mean solar days .A solar day is on average 24 hours; it takes 365.256363 of these to orbit the sun once in the sense of returning...
, coupled with a tilt in its axis, triggered a sudden change in climate and Europe was plunged into an ice age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
. The wintry iciness of today's Alps spread across northern Europe as ice sheet
Ice sheet
An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² , thus also known as continental glacier...
s extended as far south as London, Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
and Berlin. Conditions were ideal for cold-adapted animals, forerunners of musk oxen and reindeer
Reindeer
The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...
. Woolly mammoth
Woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth , also called the tundra mammoth, is a species of mammoth. This animal is known from bones and frozen carcasses from northern North America and northern Eurasia with the best preserved carcasses in Siberia...
bones dredged from the bottom of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
are evidence that this was once icy tundra
Tundra
In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...
. The warm interglacial
Interglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...
periods attracted very different creatures: fossil hippos, rhino
Woolly Rhinoceros
The woolly rhinoceros is an extinct species of rhinoceros that was common throughout Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene epoch and survived the last glacial period. The genus name Coelodonta means "cavity tooth"...
s, lion
Cave lion
Panthera leo spelaea also known as the European or Eurasian cave lion, is an extinct subspecies of lion known from fossils and many examples of prehistoric art.-Physical characteristics:This subspecies was one of the largest lions...
s and hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
s have been unearthed in London. This thermal pulsing has occurred around twenty times, the last ice age ending 15,000 years ago. Europe now bears the scars of repeated glaciation
Quaternary glaciation
Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, the current ice age or simply the ice age, refers to the period of the last few million years in which permanent ice sheets were established in Antarctica and perhaps Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets have occurred elsewhere...
s. Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga
Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, not far from Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake in Europe, and the 14th largest lake by area in the world.-Geography:...
, Europe's largest freshwater body, is a product of the last thaw and has its own subspecies of seal
Ladoga Seal
The Ladoga ringed seal , is a freshwater subspecies of the ringed seal which are found entirely in Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. The subspecies evolved during the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago...
as well as osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
, moose
Moose
The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...
and beaver
European Beaver
The Eurasian beaver or European beaver is a species of beaver, which was once widespread in Eurasia, where it was hunted to near extinction both for fur and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties...
. Ibex
Alpine Ibex
The Alpine ibex, , is a species of wild goat that lives in the mountains of the European Alps. In its habitat region, the species is known as bouquetin , steinbock , and stambecco ....
are ice-age immigrants from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, stranded in the European mountains by the receding glaciers. Even the desert sand of Słowiński
Słowiński National Park
Słowiński National Park is a National Park in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It is situated on the Baltic coast, between Łeba and Rowy. The northern boundary of the Park consists of of coastline.-History:...
in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
can be traced back to glacial debris washed up by the sea. As the ice retreated, the plants and animals associated with modern Europe began to advance north. Those featured include the capercaillie
Capercaillie
The Western Capercaillie , also known as the Wood Grouse, Heather Cock or Capercaillie , is the largest member of the grouse family, reaching over 100 cm in length and 6.7 kg in weight. The largest one ever recorded in captivity had a weight of 7.2 kg....
of the northern forests and migrant birds on Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's wetlands. Modern humans began to settle the coasts alongside otter
European Otter
The European Otter , also known as the Eurasian otter, Eurasian river otter, common otter and Old World otter, is a European and Asian member of the Lutrinae or otter subfamily, and is typical of freshwater otters....
s and seal
Earless seal
The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...
s, and slowly spread along inland waterways, but made little impression on the deciduous forest
Temperate deciduous forest
A temperate deciduous forest, more precisely termed temperate broadleaf forest or temperate broadleaved forest, is a biome found in North America, southern South America, Europe, and Asia. A temperate deciduous forest consists of trees that lose their leaves every year...
s of the interior.
3. "Taming the Wild"
- UK broadcast 1 March 2005
The third programme explores the growing influence of people on the land. After the last ice age, Europe's mild climate and virgin forests attracted human and animal immigrants, including moose, bear, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
and wild boar. The agreeable climate also attracted immigrant farmers from Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
to the eastern Mediterranean, and reliable food supplies encouraged permanent settlement. By 3000 BC, civilization had spread to western megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
ic sites such as Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
and Carnac
Carnac stones
The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. The more than 3,000 prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people...
. Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
Europeans discovered the smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
process, leading to a period of conflict and conquest over valuable metal ore
Ore
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals with important elements including metals. The ores are extracted through mining; these are then refined to extract the valuable element....
s. The Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
was born, and a massive road-building enterprise ensued, enabling a flow of trade, livestock, ideas and culture. A sudden cooling of the climate may have precipitated its collapse. In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, cultures such as the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s were influenced by the land and the sea, while in southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
introduced new irrigation canal
Acequia
An acequia or séquia is a community-operated waterway used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest, acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or...
s. A fresh onslaught on Europe's forests supplied timber for boat-building, housing and fuel. Rat
Black Rat
The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...
s brought the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
into Europe's new towns and cities, killing half the human population. It would be 250 years before the numbers recovered, but this allowed wildlife some breathing space. The medieval voyages of discovery brought new plants and animals to the continent, including the potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
. The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
made Europe rich, but at great cost to its natural resources. The birth of tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
encouraged a new appreciation of nature, and modern Europeans have switched their attitude from consumption to custodianship. As a result, wildlife is returning.
4. "A New Millennium"
- UK broadcast 8 March 2005
Europe is home to more than 700 million people, most of them city dwellers. Much of its wildlife has suffered as a result, but efforts are underway to protect and reintroduce
Reintroduction
Reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild in zones formerly inhabited by said species but where it has disappeared from for a number of reasons, from captivity or relocated from other areas where the species still survives in...
some species. Others have exploited new opportunities offered by man-made environments. In Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, the first metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
on the continent, winter tourists watch swirling clouds of starling
Starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The name "Sturnidae" comes from the Latin word for starling, sturnus. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent...
s flocking over the city. Buildings and structures have replaced caves and cliffs as preferred perches and nest sites for some birds, including kestrel
Common Kestrel
The Common Kestrel is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European Kestrel, Eurasian Kestrel, or Old World Kestrel. In Britain, where no other brown falcon occurs, it is generally just called "the kestrel".This species...
s and white stork
White Stork
The White Stork is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average from beak tip to end of tail, with a wingspan...
s. On a nearby landfill site, griffon vulture
Griffon Vulture
The Griffon Vulture is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae.The Griffon Vulture is long with a wingspan. In the nominate race the males weigh and females typically weigh , while in the Indian subspecies the vultures average...
s and red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
es forage and scavenge food. Wildlife and people are coming into contact more often. Joggers in the woods around Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
often encounter wild boars, while farmers in the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
live alongside Europe's biggest populations of bear, wolf and lynx
Eurasian Lynx
The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, South Asia and East Asia. It is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx...
. These predators were hunted to extinction in Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, but are now returning, aided by green corridors such as the European Green Belt
European Green Belt
The European Green Belt initiative is a grass-roots movement for nature conservation and sustainable development in the area of the former Iron Curtain. The term refers to both an environmental initiative as well as the area it concerns. The initiative is carried out under the patronage of the IUCN...
and wildlife-friendly development. Beavers have also returned in large numbers due to protection and the clean-up of Europe's polluted rivers. A chemical spill in the 1960s killed all the fish in the Rhine, but now there is a project to reintroduce Atlantic salmon
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon is a species of fish in the family Salmonidae, which is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers that flow into the north Atlantic and the north Pacific....
to the river. There are, however, new dangers. Invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
such as Chinese mitten crab
Chinese mitten crab
The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis is a medium-sized burrowing crab, named for its furry claws that look like mittens, that is native in the coastal estuaries of eastern Asia from Korea in the north to the Fujian province of China in the south...
s, Asian long-horned beetle
Asian long-horned beetle
The Asian long-horned beetle known as the starry sky or sky beetle is native to eastern China, Japan, and Korea. This species has now been accidentally introduced to the United States, where it was first discovered in 1996, as well as Canada and several countries in Europe, including Austria,...
s and Japanese knotweed
Japanese knotweed
Japanese Knotweed is a large, herbaceous perennial plant, native to eastern Asia in Japan, China and Korea...
threaten the native flora and fauna. Climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
could also have a dramatic effect on the continent, but Europe's natural history has experienced many such changes in the past.