BIALOWIEZA - O PARQUE JURÁSSICO DE HITLER E SEUS MONSTROS

Documentários
BIALOWIEZA - O PARQUE JURÁSSICO DE HITLER E SEUS MONSTROS
O extraordinário e único Parque Nacional de Bialowieza na Polónia, que contém um dos únicos e raros bosques primários do mundo, aqui revelado em excelentes documentários com a qualidade da National Geographic. Bialowieza ficou famoso pelo plano e esforços feitos por Göering para levar a cabo a transformação do bosque de Bialowieza na Polónia, num bosque primário onde com apoio de zoólogos, repovoariam o bosque com bestas selvagens já extintas. Para o efeito, fazem uma autentica viagem no tempo, levando a cabo um programa de selecção natural de raças de alguns animais, a fim de conseguirem recriar velhos animais já extintos, alguns da época da idade do bronze. Uma aventura digna de filme, mas que foi inteiramente verdadeira. Conheça toda a história aqui.

Áudio: Inglês
Texto: Inglês
Fontes: National Geographic - YouTube - Wikipédia - Metro.co.uk

DOCUMENTÁRIO
HITLER'S JURASSIC MONSTERS

DOCUMENTÁRIO

BIALOWIEZA PRIMEVAL FOREST - Parte 1

 

DOCUMENTÁRIO

BIALOWIEZA PRIMEVAL FOREST - Parte2

The Wisent or European Bison was hunted to extinction in the wild. By 1927, fewer than 50 animals remained, all in zoos. It is from those captive animals that the entire world's current population is derived from.

 

Hitler’s Jurassic Monsters sheds new light on the Nazis’ terrifying vision for the future

Heck cattle aka Hitler’s cows (Picture: Quickfire Media/Sam Gracey)

It has been almost 70 years since the Nazis were defeated, but the reality of their terrifying vision for the future is still only just coming to light.
And now a documentary by National Geographic has focussed on the largely unknown Nazi plan involving not humans, but animals.
Because as well as being obsessed with the idea of creating a perfect Aryan race, the Nazis were also attempting to take control of the animal kingdom.
And their plan wasn’t far off the plot of early-90s film Jurassic Park.
But instead of recreating a land of dinosaurs, the Nazis attempted to recreate the primeval forests of Germanic folklore stocked with ancient breeds of beasts for ultimate hunting sessions (yes, they were attempting to recreate extinct animals, just so they could then hunt them).

Lutz Heck post-war (Picture: National Geographic)

The brains behind the plan were zoologist brothers Lutz and Heinz Heck. Their plan actually started as a private project before the Nazis came to power, but it wasn’t long before Lutz embraced the new regime and became good friends with Hermann Göring, Hitler’s second in command.
There were two aspects to the plan – the animals and the land.
The two creatures they focused on (although it seems they were working on trying to back-breed a few) were auroch (a super-sized, wild and violent breed of cattle) and tarpan (the wild and aggressive ancestor of the modern horse).
Then there was the land. The area the Nazis earmarked for this project was the primeval Bialowieza forest in Poland, which was home to packs of wolves, the elusive Eurasian Lynx, the European moose, and some of the last surviving European bison.

Senior Nazi’s looking at a model of the Bialowieza forest (Picture: National Geographic)

So how far did they get in completing this plan?
Well pretty far. Sort of.
They gained control of the land when they invaded Poland, and in true Nazi style they immediately set about ethnically cleansing it. In three years they cleared 20,000 people including a large Jewish population who they either executed on the spot or sent off to concentration camps.

An Auroch skull (Picture: Quickfire Media/Sam Gracey)

And what about the animals? Well it took him 14 years, but Lutz Heck did manage to breed what he thought was an auroch, which he subsequently released into the Bialowieza forest. But while it may have resembled the ancient creature physically, scientists say they are no closer genetically than any other cattle.
Today the forest flourishes as a vast nature reserve between Poland and Belarus, and is still a major sanctuary for rare wildlife including wild bison. But what happened to the Nazis’ faux-aurochs? Well that still remains a bit of a mystery, but it’s thought the aurochs were probably slaughtered by partisans or Soviet officials.






Bialowieza forest:
Białowieża Forest is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to 800 European bison, Europe's heaviest land animal.^[2] The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site,^[3] a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation. The World Heritage Committee by its decision of June 2014 approved the extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Belovezhskaya Pushcha/Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland”, which became “Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland”.^[4] It straddles the border between Poland (Podlaskie Voivodeship) and Belarus (Brest Voblast and Hrodna Voblast), and is 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest, Belarus and 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok, Poland. Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists.

Name

The Belarusian name is Byelavyezhskaya pushcha (Белавежская пушча), although both the Belarusian authorities and UNESCO use the original Russian name Belovezhskaya pushcha (Беловежская пуща) from before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.^[1][5][6]

Nature protection

Białowieża National Park, Poland

Main article: Białowieża National Park

Białowieża National Park Visitor Centre

On the Polish side, part of the Białowieża Forest is protected as the Białowieża National Park (Polish: Białowieski Park Narodowy), with an area of about 105 km² (41 sq mi). There is also the Białowieża Glade (Polish: Polana Białowieska), with a complex of buildings once owned by the tsars of Russia during the Partitions of Poland. At present, a hotel and restaurant with a car park is located there. Guided tours into the strictly protected areas of the park can be arranged on foot, bike or by horse-drawn carriage. Approximately 120,000–150,000 tourists visit the Polish part of the forest annually (about 10,000 of them are from other countries). Among the attractions are birdwatching with local ornithologists,^[7] the chance to observe rare birds,^[8] pygmy owl observations,^[8] watching bison in their natural environment,^[7] and sledge as well as carriage rides, with a bonfire.^[7] Expert nature guides can also be found in the nearby urban centres. Tours are possible all year round.^[8] The popular village of Białowieża lies within the forest. Białowieża means "the white tower" in Old Polish, but also "village on swamp"^{[citation needed]} or "village of free people"^{[citation needed]}.

Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park, Belarus 

On the Belarusian side, the forest is protected as the Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park with an area of 1,771 km² (684 sq mi). The core, strictly protected, area covers 157 km² (61 sq mi), the buffer zone 714 km² (276 sq mi), and the transition zone 900 km² (350 sq mi); the National Park and World Heritage Site comprises 876 km² (338 sq mi).^{[citation needed]} The Belovezhskaya pushcha headquarters at Kamyanyuki include laboratory facilities and a zoo where European bison (reintroduced into the park in 1929), konik (a semi-wild horse), wild boar, Eurasian elk and other indigenous animals may be viewed in enclosures of their natural habitat. There is also a small museum, restaurant, snack bar and hotel facilities (built during the Soviet era and currently in a state of disrepair). Due to the lack of facilities and little tourist stream in the country, few foreign tourists visit the Belarusian part. A new attraction there is a New Year's museum with Ded Moroz (the East Slavic counterpart of Father Christmas)

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