Episode list

A rare hunter has reappeared in the Bohemian Forest. He had disappeared for years. Now he is very present again. He finds plenty of prey and space for his nursery. Europe's largest cat - the lynx - returns on silent paws to the forest along the Czech-German-Austrian border. In winter, an ice-cold wind whistles across the plateaus almost every day, and the snow is often several meters thick. The male lynx, also called a "hatcher", is not bothered by the cold in his thick fur. His territory, which is several hundred square kilometers in size, overlaps with that of a lynx cat. They mate in the middle of winter and then avoid each other for another year. Soon the female lynx also withdraws from her almost grown-up cubs and seeks shelter in a rock cave to give birth to her next offspring. A little later, two tiny, blind lynx babies crawl around her. Only rarely can the lynx leave her completely helpless offspring to satisfy her hunger. Just like their parents, the lynx children are descendants of the animals that were resettled in the Bohemian Forest in the 1970s and 80s. The big cats were extinct in Europe early on. They stayed in the Bohemian Forest the longest - until the second half of the 19th century. Then the last one was killed there too. Another exile returned to the Bohemian Forest on its own: the beaver. The "king of fur animals" had largely disappeared from Germany in the early 1990s. Coming from the Czech Republic and across the Danube, it recently reconquered Lake Arber. At five weeks old, the little lynxes leave the cave for the first time and make a surprising discovery: there are not only lynxes in the world. The squirrel is too quick, but maybe the young tawny owl, which has also just left its birth cave, can be caught? In impressive, rarely seen images, nature and documentary filmmaker Sigurd Tesche and his team document the life of one of Europe's rarest predators. The film also presents other rarities such as wild cats, wolves and boreal owls. But the main role is played by the charismatic hunters with the brush ears: Tesche and his team accompany them from birth to the moment when they sneak away on silent paws to conquer their own territory - somewhere in the Bohemian Forest, in the forest of the lynx.

In Patagonia, far to the south of Chile and in the middle of the rugged Andes mountain range, there is a very special place. The conditions here are tough - winds whip incessantly across the barren plateaus, the summers are short, but the winters are long and full of privation. And yet the Torres del Paine National Park is a paradise for pumas. A female puma has managed to do something special and rare in this merciless region, which requires a lot of strength from her: the experienced mother has given birth to four young, which she now has to care for. But her will is strong and she rises to the challenge. The most important prey for pumas are guanacos. The large herbivores are twice as heavy as a full-grown puma, often live in tight herds and have sharp senses. The female puma has to divide her strength and so she looks primarily for dead animals or those that are weakened by disease. Preparing for the fight for survival The mother not only looks after her young, she also tries to teach them everything they will need to survive later. How to hunt properly, how to sneak up and how to use the terrain. The little ones have to learn quickly, because after a year they will have to rely on themselves. This is exactly the fate that befalls the little pumas earlier than planned. One day their mother does not return from the hunt. A tragic mistake while hunting, another puma or a snow avalanche has most likely cost her her life. Now the little pumas have to cope on their own, are they really ready for this? After months without a sign of life from them, a younger female appears in the old hunting grounds of the female puma. It is one of her daughters, she has actually managed to survive and is now taking over from her mother. The second part of the "Ghost Cats" series presents another adventurous story with spectacular images about an extremely shy animal of the Andes, the mountains of the pumas.

In the shadow of the peaks of the Tibetan plateau in China's Qinghai province, there is a hidden valley that is home to more snow leopards than anywhere else on earth. The film follows a pregnant female on her search for a safe territory. In one valley, the snow leopard finds a suitable cave in which she gives birth to two cubs. For the next 18 months, her life revolves around providing the cubs with enough food and protecting them from all the dangers that lurk everywhere in the rugged mountain world. An old, battle-hardened male snow leopard also lives in the valley. He could be dangerous to the small family. The old man also attracts younger rivals who want to challenge him and could also get in the way of the snow leopard. They would not hesitate to kill their cubs in order to mate with the female themselves. And as if that wasn't enough trouble, herds of yaks, guarded by Tibetan mastiffs, keep moving through the valley. The wild cattle calves are tempting prey, but the yak mothers defend their offspring with sharp horns. The snow leopard will need all her strength and skill to get her young through the first few months. Many do not survive the first year. But she is an experienced mother and will do everything she can to ensure that the next generation can soon move through the valley of the snow leopards.