BBC Wildlife December 2019 Seven Worlds, One Planet 232
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CONTINENTAL STATS
THESTATS
EUROPE
To t a ll a n da r e a :10.18millionkm^2
(includingEuropeanRussianFederation)
Humanpopulation: 747 million
Populationdensity: 34 perkm^2
Numberofcountries: 50 (+6 limited
recognition+ 6 dependencies)
Countrywiththemostthreatened
species:Spain738*
Conservationthreats:habitatlossand
fragmentation,urbansprawl,pollution- especiallypesticidesandherbicides
- invasivealienspecies,diseases,over-
huntingandclimatechange
*IncludesIUCNRedListcategories:Critically
Endangered,EndangeredandVulnerable.4 Callingcavesinthe
Dinaridesmountains
ofSloveniaand
Croatiahomefor 20
millionyears,the
blindolmsalamander
cansurviveupto 10
yearswithoutfood.5 Europeanhamsters
rangefromeastern
FrancetoRussia,
andhaveadaptedto
takeadvantageof
humanneighbours
incrowdedcities
likeVienna.wouldfranticallytrytoswallowits
fish,buta pelicanwouldgrabit by
thethroatandsqueeze.Intheshock
oftheattack,thecormorantwould
spitoutitscatch.It wasparticularly
violentkleptoparasiticbehaviourthat
wereallyhadn’texpected.”Buildinglinkswitha lynx
OntheIberianPeninsulainthe
southwest,theSevenWorldsteam
weretaskedtofilmtheworld’smost
endangeredcat– theIberianlynx–
and,liketheDanubecrew,theywere
in for a few surprises.
Assistant producer Charlotte
Bostock thought, understandably,
“How are we going to film such an
elusive animal? Not only are they rare,
but they also roam over huge distances
in a complex habitat.” She need not
have worried. The lynx came to her.
“We decided to use camera-traps to
locate the lynx, but as we were settingthemup,oneparticularlynx,which
wenamedFarron,wouldjustappear,
andcalmlysitandwatchus!”
ForCharlotteandthecrew,it was
a keymoment.Asshepointsout,
pullingthiscatbackfromedgeof
extinctionis probablyEurope’smost
successfulconservationproject.
“However,wethoughtthepurpose
ofthissequenceis biggerthanthat.
Wewantedtohighlighttoviewers
thattoprotectandsavea speciesin
today’srapidlychanginglandscape,
is tomakespaceforthemandgive
them a helping hand,” Charlotte
explains. “In the case of the lynx, it
has meant making space alongside
us, managing the land, maintaining
prey numbers and quality, and
running complex reintroduction
programmes to keep the gene pool
varied. Without these measures,
this species would have been unable
to recover.”“ We had been waiting
several weeks for this
moment, and I was
thinking, ‘That’s it, the lens
is smashed, shoot over.’ ”
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EUROPE In a nutshell
A rich range of rivers, grasslands,
forests, seas and mountains, Europe
is home to an equally varied mix of
species. But with 850 million people
on the second-smallest continent,
coexistence is the key to survival.
Pelicans, musk ox & bear: BBC NHU; olm: Alex Hyde/naturepl.com; hamster: Julian Rad/BBC Studios
EUROPE