Close-up of a jaguar’s face showing its intense eyes, detailed fur patterns, and distinctive black spots on golden-brown fur.
A person swims at the water’s surface with their face visible above water, while a large whale shark with white spots is seen underwater beneath them.
Two colorful parrots, one red and one blue and yellow, sit side by side on a tree branch surrounded by lush green leaves, with blue sky visible in the background.

Wild Souls

Nature & Wildlife·2 x 50 min·In Production

Discover the fragile bonds between animals, people, and a threatened world.

Factsheet
Genre
Conservation
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
2 × 50 min
Definition
4K
Audio
5.1
Status
In Production
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Synopsis

Join us on a fascinating journey to South America, to meet its most iconic wildlife and some dedicated people working to protect them. This two-part documentary showcases jaguars, anacondas, hummingbirds, spectacled bears, manta rays, whale sharks and many more.

WILD SOULS uncovers the complex relationships that sustain life across this biodiverse continent. Part 1 takes us to Peru’s Pacific coast and the Andes. Part 2 ventures into the Amazon and Brazil’s savannah.

Part 1

In the eastern Andes, the Marvelous spatuletail dazzles with its violet plumage and long tail feathers. Conservationist Santos Montenegro, inspired by tourist birders, discovers that his ancestral land is home to this rare hummingbird. Santos works to protect the tiny bird‘s threatened habitat. He sets out to find a nesting site in the forest, that also hosts glass frogs, glasswing butterflies, giant moths and night monkeys.

Peru’s northern coast teems with life, thanks to the Humboldt current. Humpback whales, penguins, sea turtles, and swordfish thrive here. The region also harbours one of the world’s largest manta ray populations and massive gatherings of whale sharks. Yet, fishing and oil industries pose serious threats. Marine biologist Alejandra Mendoza Pfennig campaigns for a protected marine area, with surprising support from local fishers.

In a secluded valley in northern Peru, a small population of the rare spectacled bear has survived. It‘s Peru’s first private nature reserve, the rescue centre is run by veterinarian Juan Plenge. When the female bear “Amazonas” escapes during a storm and flees into the valley’s wilderness, Juan sets out in search of her. After months, Juan’s camera trap at one of the waterholes reveals that the bear has not only survived in the wild – she has a cub with her…

 

Part 2
The Amazon is a web of life, where species like the Brazil nut tree play key roles. This tree depends on orchid bees for pollination, while its nuts support countless animals. Agoutis crack the nuts, frogs raise tadpoles in shells, and even fish nest in them. João Paulo Cardoso Caldas, a young nut farmer, fights deforestation and gold mining to protect his family’s forest and its inhabitants – from leafcutter ants to harpy eagles.

Amid Brazil’s red rock savannah, life adapts to harsh conditions. Maned wolves, rattlesnakes, and anteaters roam, while yellow-breasted macaws nest in cliffs. Capuchin monkeys here use tools to crack palm nuts – an extraordinary behaviour first witnessed by Marino Junior Fonseca Oliveira as a child. He and his siblings now document the troop, observing generational changes and the effects of global attention.

The Puruborá tribe lives on the edge of the Amazon, where poaching endangers both, culture and wildlife. Legends tell of shamans transforming into jaguars. Soi Bari, granddaughter of a vanished shaman, feels especially emotionally attached to the jaguars. She fights to defend her people and the rainforest’s creatures – from pygmy marmosets to giant anacondas and, of course, the mysterious Amazon River dolphin. This iconic animal can, according to indigenous mythology, transform into a human.

Team

Written and directed by Alexander Sommer
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer, Jörn Röver
Production companies A co-production of Doclights/NDR Naturfilm and Terra Mater Studios
Footage rights

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