Unlocking the Real Secrets of Our Deepest Forests | Full Documentary

In our eyes, wild animals will always  have a certain element of mystery.   Some of them have an unpleasant reputation.  Magicians and witches turn them into evil spirits.   But reality contradicts these beliefs.  Filmed in the wild without any gimmicks,   these notorious or unloved  animals are simply magnificent. The first morning mists appear in the  woods and rivers. Autumn isn't far behind. At this time of year, legends say the forest is  shrouded in mystery and hides all kinds of evil   spells. In truth, it encourages one of its  most discreet guests to break its reserve. For the moment, we can't hear this great  loon yet. And we can barely see it. Its majestic crown reveals its presence.  And that's what makes it so imposing. This king of the forest, who seems to embody power  and virility, has always been hunted down by man. What's it blamed for? Its taste  for young shoots and tree bark. Undoubtedly a pretext to justify hunting it.  Its antlers truly make a magnificent trophy.   It has long adorned the shields of the rulers,  who for that matter reserve the privilege   of shooting it down. This large animal that  can weigh 250 kilos is very impressive,   but it's secretive and fearful, and  flees at the slightest suspicious noise. In Saint Croix Park,   Pierre Sandra observes deer all year round.  He clearly understands their uniqueness. The older they are, the more like a The older they  are, the more like a ghost in the forest they are. They're alert to the slightest  noise. Always on their guard. Which is what makes this animal so exciting. Fascinated perhaps by his presence,  man both admires and envies the stag.   Hence the many legends that attribute demonic  powers to it, and sometimes even enviable virtues. The power of this voice it's  that of a male ready for battle. Just yesterday he was still a young fawn. And now he's the king of this  forest, a king wearing a crown.   Its branches resembling those of a tree make  it a symbol of life, longevity, and rebirth.   Its antlers must have supernatural powers. Healers use them as aphrodisiacs, ointments  to heal wounds, panaceas against spells. But here is another figure. The stag Furfur, who first appeared in the 19th  century in a book on demonology. Furfur the   furious, capable of stirring up all the legions of  hell to call the devastating fire to his rescue. He wants to defeat the king  deer. The dark forces have lost.   Lucifer returns to his shadows and the  king of the forest keeps his throne. In our forest, in solitude, the stag wait for the  greatest event of the year, the bellowing season. Another secluded and furtive inhabitant is active  in the forests, even in the coldest winter. Usually, you hear it long before you see it. Once the forest has been covered with snow,  it's easier to spot. His work betrays it. At the foot of his tree, the chips  pile up. It's a black woodpecker. This male is carving a box  to shelter his future nest. Not far away, a female watches him. If the male  succeeds in seducing her with his building skills,   if the future nest suits her, she  might even take him as her partner. The male chose a healthy and  dry tree to avoid wood diseases   and rainwater infiltration that would  compromise the survival of the chicks. Claude Maurice, who watches the black woodpecker,  lives at the gates of this great bird's estate.   A preserved forest in the Vosges Mountains. The black woodpecker likes the mountains,   but its range now extends much  further west, increasing each year. I've tried to make students love nature  throughout my career as a teacher.   And it works well with children. But once you  get older, you start being afraid of anything.   We're not afraid of what's needed.  We're afraid of what's not a problem. The raven is black, the cormorant is black,   the black birds, the black cats, the  black bugs, which is a blacker night. This bird, which makes strange cries,  has long been viewed with suspicion.   Its plumage is black like the raven's, and in  our societies, black is the color of death.   From there, it only has a step to  associate the woodpecker with witches. Not only is he black and wearing  a blood red cap, but he's noisy. This drumming doesn't it sound like the  noise the witches make on their sabbath? One of them once turned into  a black [music] woodpecker   and began to haunt some of  the trees in the forest. A real pair of woodpeckers wanted to  make their home in one of these trees,   but the witch cast a spell on it. The bird couple  who had gone away for a few moments found a very   unpleasant surprise when they returned. The  entrance to their lodge is covered with a grid.   The male can drum like a moving Roman  army, but he can't get into his lodge.   To be released from the curse,  he must find a martagon lily.   One petal is enough to blow off the grid. The pair  returns to their lodge. In the human imagination,   this bird was in turn evil and a victim of  evil spells, but always a remarkable architect. The Vosges offers a rich terrain  for naturalists to study. Yann Lovassal has been passionate  about badgers since the age of 22. Everyone knows the name badger. The  word badger often in a pejorative way.   For example, to say that someone is badgering  you. No one actually knows the animal itself.   If you ask people on the street, no  No actually knows what badgers do. The badger is nevertheless a fascinating animal,  and Jan will help us discover its secret life. We meet these builders at the edge of the forest. The construction site is underground. Badgers go out at the end of the day  and start on the earthworks again. Digging the ground, clearing  the ground, digging again.   They're constantly expanding  their underground domain. Their burrow is a remarkable labyrinth.   Galleries on several floors leading to  10, 20, sometimes even 50 different exits. Badgers often dig smaller burrows,  which serve as a second home. Men have invented many ways to  hunt badgers in their galleries   because they cause too much damage  to crops and can carry diseases. And the badger is an elusive  creature who only comes out at night.   That's all it took to ignite the imagination.  Since the Middle Ages, its nocturnal habits have   been associated with some evil doings. Then  you do whatever it takes to get rid of it. A curious growl. Clowed paw prints. And voila! He waited  until nightfall to leave his burrow like   a masked bandit. He's not alone. There's a  whole clan of evil creatures there. Poor. They engage in strange rituals. They stink.   And they're greedy. They eat whatever  they come across, plant or animal. Worse, [music] they go in  commandos to loot the nests. But the worst and most [music] worrying  thing is what they do underground.   They dig tunnels to reach the  underworld or laze around. [groaning] We'll get the hunters to kill these  filthy beasts. We're going to skewer them,   smoke them out. With claws and teeth, the  bandits attack the dogs and try to escape. But we're better hunters [music] and  we'll bring them out of the depths of   the earth where they plot with the occult forces.   We'll make boots from their fur. With  their fat, concoctions against rheumatism.   And this is [music] how, by inventing a thousand  and one defects, men got into the habit [music] of   tracking badges. Fortunately, their ingenious work  as a digger saved many lives and still saves more. Since the badger It's a dirty  beast but it's not a fool.   Badgers are classified as harmful. And in these  days, they make stinking. There's a belief in   the hunting world that badgers are a dirty beast.  But a hunter won't really be able to tell you why. Spring urges birds to make their  nests with mosses, lichens, twigs. The black woodpecker isn't content with a plant  mattress. He wants his nest solid, deep, safe.   He digs it with the force of his  beak. He's been at work for weeks. In this box perched 15 m above the ground,  its young will be protected from predators. The female seems definitively conquered. She'll  stay close to the nest until the day she moves in. From time to time, she'd  examine the site more closely. This woodpecker is fascinating because  it's the biggest, the heaviest.   You can hear it hitting the tree.  It's really a powerful bird. He's very shy. He doesn't like to be disturbed.  Here he is in his environment, at home. The green woodpecker also digs a cavity.  He's returned to it several years in a row. The black woodpecker prefers to relocate almost  every year to avoid being spotted by predators. His cabin gets put to good use, though.   Other forest dwellers, like the Tengmalm's  [music] owl, will gladly occupy it. The woodpecker is what's  called an umbrella species.   An animal whose ecological niche allows  many others to live or reproduce safely. Squirrels are among the forest dwellers   who benefit from the lodges abandoned  by the largest of the woodpeckers. Some birds haven't made their nests yet,  and time is running out. They wouldn't mind   squatting in this brand new cavity, but  it's already occupied and well defended. Always on the alert, on the  lookout for the slightest intruder,   the woodpecker won't let anyone settle here. So, here it is. The nest is ready for the female,   and the male is finally  available for breeding time. Everywhere in nature, seduction  can be a big part of reproduction. At the end of the summer, after weeks of  solitude, the deer is ready for the big action. He uses all the power of his vocal  chords to demarcate his territory. [music] He snorts. He sniffs the air to find  the olfactory trail of females in heat. With this brief and hoarse  cry, he affirms his presence. [music]   The message, bursting with testosterone,  is addressed to other males in the area. Because he's not alone in this war of conquest. Other contenders are on the lookout. Everyone  is sure they'll soon be the chosen one,   the dominant one, the glorious seducer.  However, there will only be one winner,   a single master of all he pleased  to honor all the deer in the herd. In Saint-Quentin Park,   the transformation of this solitary animal  into a rutting stag is being studied. The deer is going to transform.   He'll go from a total lack of interest  in sexuality to a total obsession. He goes crazy. Totally obsessed  with one thing, finding females. We always see the stag like the  prince in the movie of his heart. Surrounded by females doing his bidding. In fact, totally the opposite. Stags living in groups of  single individuals alone. They have no contact with females.   So, he'll go sniffing in search of the  right smell. Then, the smell of the female. The rest of the year he has no voice. It's only  now that he can make a loud a very powerful sound.   Here's really an expression of frustration.  He bellows to express his frustration.   To impress other males. And not to impress  other females as in popular history. On the contrary, they're rather disturbed.   They only find it interesting  when they're tired of hearing He'll have to wait for the signal. The smell  emitted by does when they're sexually receptive. It's a heavily populated forest. There  are a lot of birds of different species. This is the short-toed tree creeper. And he  defends his territory by giving out all the   other males in the area. That's why he sings to  birds, especially those that are territorial.   I'm going to make them all go away. All  those competitors who want to settle down. That's why he rehearses his song.  Especially in the early morning.   For the last 15 days, the black  woodpecker has been singing constantly. He drummed against a dry branch that  resonated well. It's really exciting. The black woodpecker chooses very  dry trunks for maximum resonance.   His percussions carry more than a kilometer. Under the forest vault, the symphony  of birds in love rises in tone. The games of seduction have begun. To please his beauty, the  kingfisher brings her an offering. [music] [music] [music] After drumming on and on, the black woodpecker  continues its parade. He was obviously convincing. Among deer, the breeding season drags on. In  mid-autumn, this male, infused with desire,   is still waiting for the does  to show their willingness.   He no longer eats, drinks very little,  remains focused on his only aim, to reproduce. To calm his fervor, he plows the  vegetation with great blows of his antlers. He's in agony. Younger stags also burn with rutting fever,   but with no hope of reproducing  before the age of five or six. If deer need to show up and be  heard, it's the opposite for badgers. Yann Le Bechec has identified an observation site   from which he can sometimes  film and photograph badgers. He is very careful not to get into the wind.  The badgers would smell it immediately. We don't see them every day. Even if you  go there regularly, it's very stealthy.   He comes out of his burrow and  leaves. For many animals, like foxes,   there is a certain emotion when you  see a badger coming out of its burrow. I don't know if we have any communication with the  badgers. Sometimes, the mouse is on the lookout.   I feel like the badgers know we're here. They're  looking at us. They will occupy a lot of the land   beyond us. There are behaviors that give me this  feeling. It's not scientific. It's an impression   that the badgers know that we're there, and  that we film them without disturbing them. Their poor eyesight is compensated by excellent  hearing and a competitive sense of smell. The slightest noise, the slightest  suspicious smell makes them go underground. At night, anything dangerous is  sleeping. So are the hunters. That's why badgers prefer to go out in  the moonlight to inspect their territory,   hunt earthworms, or quench their thirst. In addition to earthworms, insects, and larvae,  they eat a wide variety of plants and fruits.   Sometimes they also eat frogs,  mollusks, and young mice in the nest. Males often venture into the  plain with determination. They go in search of another  forest, a new home, a new partner. This change of address isn't just a whim.   It provides the genetic mixing that's  needed [music] to limit inbreeding. [music]   This male has already visited a group of  badgers living on the other side of the plain.   He easily finds his way back. He finds a female there. It takes them  a few minutes to recognize each other. Finally, the courting is done. The male leaves quickly. The female  then harvests mosses and dead leaves   that will be used to line the  underground chambers of the burrow. Animals that prefer life in the open  air prefer to live in dead tree trunks. The holes in this old birch tree  interest a black woodpecker.   Only one of these duplexes is  already occupied by squirrels. They're obviously not happy with  the arrival of this flying tenant. [music]   But even though it's not malicious,  the woodpecker is stubborn. Trees that naturally die  standing are called candles.   Larvae and carpenter ants enjoy this  softwood and accelerate its decomposition. It's a forest on a southern slope.  On a great slope abandoned by man.   It's a wild forest, please. A lot of trees  dying that we leave to die where they stand.   It's a living forest. Who dies and who lives. The woodpecker clings to the trunk  and progresses by resting on its tail. It makes a strong impact with its beak   and puts its long sticky tongue into the  holes and hooks the insects to eat them. It splits the bark into pieces. Chips are found  everywhere. That's how we detect his presence. When you see it, it's really  fascinating. Not everyone sees it.   Not everyone sees it. You  have to or be very lucky. The black woodpecker perceives the slightest  movement of thousands of insects hidden under the   bark. With its solid beak, it exposes the stumps  and traps ants with its long and sticky tongue. With spring, thousands of insects emerge. Manna  for the young birds that have just hatched. In the black woodpecker's lodge,  three little ones are clamoring.   The male and female take turns supplying them. They regurgitate a very thick insect  gruel into the back of each little throat. Thanks to this intensive feeding,  the young woodpeckers grow quickly. At the end of May, they're less than a  month old and already ready to take off. The precociousness of the young black woodpeckers  enables their parents to raise a second clutch. Our first candidate wants to try flying.  Not realizing that it's make or break. First, it examines this unknown world.   Vast, dazzling with light, and full of dangers,  no doubt. Quite the opposite of the lodge. He still hesitates. His parents encourage  him with their screams and drumming. The black woodpecker lives in the world  up above. The upper floors of the forest. The world below is the world of badgers. They sometimes go out in broad daylight,  but with the greatest of caution. Before going any further, they always  sniff the air around them. [music] The young ones were born in [music] this burrow.  They're not allowed to leave their rooms yet.   Will this beautiful spring day be  a good time for their first outing? First of all, the badger gets rid of  the dry soil embedded in its coat. Second priority, shaking out its  fleas and itchy lice constantly. [music] The badger isn't just a bag of parasites.   Mindful of his hygiene, he dug latrines  outside the burrow or in a separate gallery. For a long time, we thought the badger was  solitary, which made it even more diabolical   in the eyes of its critics. In fact, it lives  in clans, usually of three or four individuals.   They delouse each other, chew each other,  scratch each other. Grooming is done in groups.   More than mutual help, it's a way to  reconnect and build relationships. About 2 months after their birth, the  little badgers emerge from the burrow.   They now have a coat thick enough  to withstand the cold of the night. They grew up on a cozy little space  warmed by their mother's presence. The two white stripes are already  clearly visible on their snout   and they look like smaller  versions of their parents. Their mother still suckles them  and regurgitates food for them. This first outing will be educational. Lesson number one is in the form of a game.   The mother hides a worm. She wants to  train her babies to find their own food. This apprenticeship, which is essential  for them to become independent,   will last almost two months. To signal their membership in the clan,   badgers mark each other and mark their  domain with the same fragrant secretions. The markings deposited here and there are  a means of communication between badgers. The clan lives peacefully. No leader, no  power struggle. Life is sweet for badgers. The little ones tumble, jostle, chew  each other. It's the age for playing. [music] [music] They play,   but never far from the burrow in case they need  to go underground quickly if there's any danger. [music] In summer, badgers sometimes  sleep outside the burrow. It's not easy to surprise them  in the nights under the stars. Let's leave them to their dreams and  move a few weeks forward in the calendar   to see what the deer are up to. Females live in herds. They form a large group.  The stag is happy because now they have an   excessive sexual appetite. When he arrives in this  beautiful clearing with this group of females,   he's in heaven. In reality, it's more like  hell. Since in the middle of this paradise,   there's already a huge male who's taken  up position as the master of the place. The females are inaccessible. This mighty  behemoth is there, very excited, truly angry,   very powerful, very impressive. The females become the focus of interest. Now I see other males prowling  around the same female,   waiting for the opportunity to jostle in  the hierarchy for mating with the female. [groaning] Autumn is well underway,   and the excitement is at its height for  both large males and the younger ones. The smell of the females in heat  has spread through the forest.   It is finally time for  rutting, and it will be short. The bellowing challenges are multiplying,  but there will only be one chosen one.   The others are condemned to bellow  without ever mating, unless they cheat. The master of all the place  seems to have been appointed. He parades in the middle of the  herd, proudly displaying his antlers. Nature knows what she's doing.   She selects the strongest male to  ensure the strongest possible offspring. But he hasn't won yet, because other  stags are lusting after the herd. The opponents are measuring each other  up. Only the strongest have a chance   to defeat the dominant male and win the  exclusive privilege of mating with females. A male of the same age and power  challenges the dominant one to a duel. Once again, it was the dominant one who won.   The challenger will have to wait  till next year to try his luck again. As for the males, exhausted by the  ordeal of the bellowing season,   they return to their solitude. They've lost a lot  of weight, but now they can start eating again.   And above all, they'll sleep and sleep  some more to get their health back. This is how life goes in our forests, where  the same rituals are repeated indefinitely. Among its dark copses, we can find gems. It's also  surprising to hear animals without seeing them. They're smart as elves, not demons. The forest is a benign space. We can  enter without fear. It has no trolls,   no devils, no hungry wolves. Only creatures  that are like it, beautiful and wild. Mhm.