The white-throated dipper is one.
Hardly any other bird is as much at home in fast-flowing waters as this one.
It dives for insect larvae that are plentiful in such clear, oxygen rich waters as these.
[water rushing] As spring makes its entrance, things begin to move again.
The chamois have survived the worst of it.
The green is beginning to show again.
The water may not yet be free of ice, but the toads already feel the need to return to the waters where they originally hatched.
Normally, the male rides piggyback until the pair reach open waters where the eggs are laid and fertilized.
But this trek across the ice is obviously taking too long.
[water rushing] The rising temperatures not only reveal numerous natural beauties, they also provide the streams with their most plentiful water input.
[water rushing] They're fed by meltwater from all sides, and it's now clear why they're called whitewater, even on more gentle slopes.
[water rushing] The Danube bleak waste no time in making their way upstream to their spawning sites.
They spend the rest of the year in brackish areas in the lower parts of the rivers and estuaries.
These small members of the carp family grow to about the length of a pencil.
Their streamlined bodies show them to be specialists for rapid currents.
Once they reach their destination, the males court the females.
But why do they take on such an arduous journey? Mountain streams flow so fast that air bubbles are constantly bursting, so the water contains more oxygen than any other body of water.
This makes the spawn develop especially well.
But due to the current, many of the attached eggs are pulled off.
This looks like a disadvantage but can in fact be a benefit.
They're only after one thing: the bleak's eggs.
If all the eggs stayed in one place, hardly any would be spared.
Like almost all fish, the bleaks put their faith in quantity.
Despite attacks by marauding predators, there will still be enough offspring to hatch.
The white-throated dipper is one.
Hardly any other bird is as much at home in fast-flowing waters as this one.
It dives for insect larvae that are plentiful in such clear, oxygen rich waters as these.
[water rushing] As spring makes its entrance, things begin to move again.
The chamois have survived the worst of it.
The green is beginning to show again.
The water may not yet be free of ice, but the toads already feel the need to return to the waters where they originally hatched.
Normally, the male rides piggyback until the pair reach open waters where the eggs are laid and fertilized.
But this trek across the ice is obviously taking too long.
[water rushing] The rising temperatures not only reveal numerous natural beauties, they also provide the streams with their most plentiful water input.
[water rushing] They're fed by meltwater from all sides, and it's now clear why they're called whitewater, even on more gentle slopes.
[water rushing] The Danube bleak waste no time in making their way upstream to their spawning sites.
They spend the rest of the year in brackish areas in the lower parts of the rivers and estuaries.
These small members of the carp family grow to about the length of a pencil.
Their streamlined bodies show them to be specialists for rapid currents.
Once they reach their destination, the males court the females.
But why do they take on such an arduous journey? Mountain streams flow so fast that air bubbles are constantly bursting, so the water contains more oxygen than any other body of water.
This makes the spawn develop especially well.
But due to the current, many of the attached eggs are pulled off.
This looks like a disadvantage but can in fact be a benefit.
They're only after one thing: the bleak's eggs.
If all the eggs stayed in one place, hardly any would be spared.
Like almost all fish, the bleaks put their faith in quantity.
Despite attacks by marauding predators, there will still be enough offspring to hatch.
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