Rheas: The Invasive Giants Reshaping Europe’s Farmland (Documentary, 2021)

The only colony of wild rheas in Europe inhabits a small area of northern Germany. Twenty years ago, the forebears of these ostrich-like birds escaped from an enclosure. Since then, they have been reproducing more or less undisturbed. Rheas prefer a warmer climate, and live in the open pampas and plains of South America where they are now threatened with extinction. In Europe, they are farmed for their feathers, their hides and also their meat. Some specimens escaped from a private enclosure near Luebeck at the turn of the millennium. Since then, rheas have appeared in the former inner-German border area in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The open landscape here, with its many hedges and wooded areas, is dominated by extensive agricultural steppes. There, the rheas find everything they need to survive even cold winters: rapeseed, beets and corn plants produced by modern industrial agriculture. The rheas have hardly any natural enemies in this country. In some places, the big birds are causing crop damage and displeasure among farmers due to their appetites. Conservationists are also sounding the alarm. Young rheas are said to eat endangered insects and lizards. Although strictly protected, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Ministry of the Environment has placed the exotic ratites under the hunting laws. Since then, rheas may be shot and killed. At the same time, the birds are increasingly attracting curious weekend tourists and nature photographers on rhea safaris. They’re easy to observe from the roads because they display hardly any shyness. But are rheas really a threat to farmers and nature? A biologist follows the big, flightless runners, and attempts to gather facts to learn more about this potential pest. ------- Chapters ▷ 00:00 - Introduction ▷ 01:11 - The Rhea Project - Monitoring an Alien Species ▷ 02:00 - Counting Rheas - A Unique Wildlife Census ▷ 02:58 - Seven Birds That Started It All ▷ 04:34 - Why Rheas Thrive - Open Fields and Few Enemies ▷ 06:08 - From Seven to 450 - A Population Explosion ▷ 07:18 - Alien Invasion or New Neighbours? ▷ 08:15 - Living with Wildlife - Rheas, Deer & Shared Vigilance ▷ 08:50 - Danger Zones - Roads, Traffic & Survival ▷ 10:47 - Orchards, Meadows & Protected Landscapes ▷ 13:02 - Farmers vs Rheas - Crop Damage and Conflict ▷ 15:25 - A Legal Grey Zone - Protected but Problematic ▷ 18:01 - Rheas in South America - Rare at Home, Abundant Abroad ▷ 20:18 - Winter Battles - Courtship, Power & Territory ▷ 21:58 - Science in Action - Tagging and Tracking Rheas ▷ 24:24 - Solo Fathers - Eggs, Chicks & Survival ▷ 36:54 - Politics Step In - Hunting and Population Control ▷ 45:46 - From Pest to Symbol - Tourism, Trade & Debate ▷ 50:15 - When Does a Species Become Native? ▷ 51:29 - Credits #documentary #animals #wildlife #nature #rheas #biodiversity #birds #alienspecies #conservation #ecosystem #animalbehavior #animalplanet ------- Watch all videos in our playlist: https://bit.ly/49hcVqb Subscribe to wocomoWILDLIFE: https://goo.gl/L5puvQ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wocomo ------- Ostrich-sized rheas trample fresh shoots in the farmlands of northern Germany. Flocks of bright green parakeets screech around Cologne cathedral. And beaver-like, orange-toothed coypus gnaw at Dutch dams and dikes. All these “nuisance” animals are non-native and are suspected of causing ecological and economic damage. Should the invaders be fought against? Or is it just prejudice against previously unknown species? This short series of three films gets to the bottom of the accusations against alien species. To achieve this, the immigrant creatures are observed in their new environment, their relationship with other species is examined and the latest scientific findings are presented. Original title: Rheas | They Came to Stay - Our Alien Animal Neighbours A film by Herbert Ostwald © 2021, Licensed by Albatross ------- Videos about animals, aquatic life and nature: wocomoWILDLIFE offers...