Europe's New Wild

Europe... a continent renowned for its spectacular cities

and civilizations.

But this is a surprisingly wild land,

with over 10 million square kilometers

of diverse natural habitat...

stretching from the northernmost reaches of the arctic...

to the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

And across this extraordinary continent,

an epic transformation is under way...

as the wild heart of Europe is unleashed once more.

People are supporting the natural world.

Let's go to the nest and see how the chick is.

Species are being reintroduced.

He's not sleeping very well, so we have to be really fast.

And nature itself is bouncing back.

The circle of life is bring reforged...

as the wild returns to Europe.

In Spain and Portugal,

an astonishing project is under way...

to reverse the effects of a centuries-old extinction...

and secure the future of one of the rarest cats in the world

here in Europe's new wild.

Iberia.

Bordered by the Atlantic Ocean...

and the Mediterranean Sea.

On the west coast of Europe...

this vast peninsula is home to Spain and Portugal...

...as well as some of the most diverse landscapes

on the continent.

Scores of unique species live here.

Its national parks host millions of migrating birds

and hundreds of mammals...

...including the rare Iberian wolf...

...as well as the most endangered cat in the world...

...the elusive Iberian lynx.

These cats are known for their black ear tufts...

...and their long cheek fur, called ruffs.

Specially adapted to Iberia's dry, arid landscape,

the lynx's sandy coat

allows it to camouflage amid brush and rock.

Lynx are generally nocturnal.

But in the winter, these solitary cats

become active during the day.

A highly effective predator,

its hearing is eight times sharper than a human's.

And its large eyes allow it to see well, night and day,

advantages it uses to stalk its prey.

European rabbits evolved here in the Iberian Peninsula.

And many of the region's predators

specialize in hunting them.

They're a lifeline for hungry hunters.

But in the northern peninsula, like other parts of Europe,

there's a place where the predator-prey balance

has been disrupted...

...where the circle of life has been broken

and where the lynx has not been present for many years.

The Côa Valley in Portugal lies nestled

between the Douro River and the Malcata mountains.

Its dramatic river gorges and vast grasslands

may look vibrant.

But as the land degraded,

many animals disappeared from the area.

And predators are rarely seen.

The Côa Valley is ripe for rewilding...

...helping native species return...

...so nature can take care of itself

and work as it's meant to.

In Portugal, efforts began

in the Valley's Faia Brava Reserve.

Pedro Prata is a conservation biologist

and the Rewilding Portugal Team Leader.

What we want to achieve

is a habitat where wildlife is abundant

and prey and predator and scavengers

can be commonly seen in this landscape.

- Pedro and his team are on an urgent mission...

to start building from the ground up

and transform the land and lure back wildlife,

like the Iberian lynx.

The key to this transformation...

is grazers and prey animals...

...like those in Spain's Doñana National Park.

Here, large herbivores, like red deer, help shape the landscape.

Their constant grazing creates open meadows,

which makes food available for smaller animals.

Female red deer gather at the best grazing sites

where food is plentiful.

In mating season, savvy males seek out these open meadows.

A dominant male tries to round up fertile females

to create a harem.

He's persistent...

...roaring to show his dominance...

...and flicking his tongue to catch scent of their pheromones.

His roaring is a warning to other mature males

and potential competitors.

Finally, his hard work pays off.

In the Côa Valley, the loss of wild herbivores

has had a huge impact.

And now livestock herds are vanishing, too.

Just like deer, livestock animals graze constantly.

Each sheep eats about 2% of its body weight per day...

...which means they spend most of their life

tucking into greenery.

This constant eating eventually creates open spaces...

...which can provide micro-habitats

for other animals.

But as domestic animals disappear from the landscape,

brush and scrub quickly takes over.

The Côa Valley has some of the highest rates

of land abandonment in Europe.

As farmers left the countryside to start lives in the city,

livestock disappeared.

Land that was once clear transformed.

The dense shrubs and bushes that grow back

limit the variety of plants and trees that can grow.

And that leads to less wildlife.

It also produces dry brush,

which helps fuel devastating wildfires...

...like the one in southern Spain.

In June 2017, a forest fire began near Doñana National Park.

It quickly spread.

Firefighters tackled the blaze throughout the night.

But by daybreak, it was clear they were losing the battle.

The El Acebuche Lynx Breeding Centre

stood directly in the fire's path.

It's one of five lynx breeding centers in Iberia.

In the year 2002,

there were only 94 Iberian lynx left on the planet.

The Spanish government started a program to breed cubs

that could be released to live wild

and save the cat from extinction.

As the fire approached, staff at the breeding center

took the unprecedented decision

to evacuate the lynx.

The cats are housed in individual dens.

They have limited contact with people,

so they're cautious,

which makes catching them difficult.

Among the cats evacuated

were Homer and her two 5-week-old cubs.

Staff managed to catch the three

and move them to safety outside the fire zone.

After burning for three days,

the fire was finally brought under control.

Forest fires are natural processes.

But this fire's intensity was fueled

by an ungrazed landscape.

Fortunately, the breeding center was spared.

But not all of the evacuated lynx survived the ordeal.

In the aftermath of a 2017 wildfire in southern Spain,

staff returned to the Iberian Lynx Breeding Centre

and to devastating news.

One of the lynx, Homer, died in transit.

Already weak after giving birth to cubs,

the stress of the move proved too much for her.

Paco Villaespesa is the director of the breeding center.

- Homer's two little cubs, Oslo and Opilano,

lost her at a very vulnerable age.

If her cubs are hand-fed,

there's little chance they can live wild,

and they'll spend their lives in captivity.

And this meant the cubs still had a chance of living wild.

Iberian lynx generally give birth between March and April.

The average litter size is three,

but rarely do more than two cubs survive weaning.

They stay with mom until they're about 10 months old.

And they spend most of the time playing.

It may look like fun and games,

but this helps the cubs develop skills they need in the wild.

Play between siblings

strengthens their social bonds...

...and develops physical abilities

for breeding and hunting.

At 4 weeks old, cubs start eating meat.

A lynx needs between 600 and 1,000 calories a day...

...about the same amount of energy

contained in a single rabbit.

A mother lynx will need to catch several rabbits each day

to feed herself and her cubs.

They may be small, but rabbits prop up the entire ecosystem.

Their grazing clears the ground so new plants can grow.

Rabbits also make a tasty meal

for a range of Iberian predators.

So their excellent hearing,

which captures sound from up to three kilometers away,

comes in handy when hungry wolf...

and fox are nearby...

...as well as the Spanish imperial eagle,

which favors anywhere with rabbits.

Just like the lynx,

more than half of the eagle's diet is rabbit.

The eagle is one of Iberia's many predators

that rely on rabbits to survive.

But then the rabbit population crashed.

Rabbits were once so numerous across Europe,

they became an agricultural pest.

So humans introduced a virus... myxomatosis.

It ran out of control and killed 90% of Europe's rabbits.

Carnivores like the imperial eagle

started taking other prey.