Oh Deer! Nature facing new Extremes

Synopsis

What happens when the world goes off kilter – loses balance – turns crazy? That is the world wild animals now face as their habitats transform into increasingly dangerous places by extreme weather events. Our story homes in on the habitats of Central Europe. Can the residents of these forests, rivers, grassy meadows and mountains adapt?

This film gets up close to record what happens when climate chaos clashes with the natural world. The story is told through the trials of a family of deer as they strive to survive this new threat to their lives.

A young deer, just able to walk, must face hungry predators like buzzards, foxes and red kites. The mother deer will protect her newborn from these threats, but she cannot save her baby from the unpredictable weather. Lately, it has become extreme. The thunderstorms are fiercer, the wind stronger, the floods more frequent. Extreme weather has added another barrier to making it to adulthood in the forests and meadows of Central Europe.

As it grows, the fawn and its family encounter other local inhabitants like hares and hedgehogs. While small animals may face different threats, all living things must deal with this worsening climate chaos. And then there are the plants that animals and insects rely on. Some flowers are blooming weeks earlier than they did just a few decades ago. Life is no longer in balance.

Seasons that once had predictable cycles can no longer be relied upon to keep internal body clocks in sync.

Migratory birds lured by mild air currents return too early from their wintering grounds in the south. Once back in Central Europe their senses are shocked by the sudden onset of winter. They struggle to find food, or even a home. Sometimes no nesting sites are left because non-migratory birds hit there first!

Can life adapt to this new world where winter snow is rare and glaciers turn to water; where spring and autumn grow shorter every year, and the summer becomes more tropical than temperate?

Some have managed to change their behaviour, like the colourful bee-eaters. These tiny, long beaked birds normally live in more southerly regions of Europe, but now they benefit from rising temperatures further north. Insects that bee-eaters like to eat, like the praying mantis, also take advantage of this new world order.

How do other animals and plants manage to cope with the chaotic seasons? What adaptations, if any, can they make? Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. Is there time enough to engage new survival strategies? We will find out as our cameras follow a group of deer and the animals and plants they encounter while they navigate this rapidly changing world. In the process we will reveal previously undocumented behaviours that our characters use in response to a global change that affects us all.

A co-production of Terra Mater Studios, Längengrad Filmproduktion and WDR