"What we're about to see, in some form, contradicts Lorentz's theories. In wildlife, the adopcition between different animal species is also viable"
1. PROBLEM POSING
Infographic screen: "This story si based on the investigators of the biologist Angel Corral Arroyo and the pedagogue Pedro Conde de Caso."
Press cuts, news items and fotographs appears from the black screen, which inform or denounce the extinction of the species, and their behavioural changes.
VOICE IN OFF:
"The resources with which many animals rely on for their survival, diminish due to the rapidly increasing evolution of mankind. With this documentary we offer an alternative in the recovery of endangered species."
We see images of the ecosystem, vegetable species, ground type, typical crop plantations, types of birds . Documentary's title. Shots of Almeida, infographic map of location. Amongst the town countrymen, is Pedro with a boy, Dani, with whom he leaves a house and closes the door. Pedro has a large rucksack. Dani listens music on a CD player.
VOICE IN OFF:
" We are in Almeida de Sayago, a town in the province of Zamora, in western Spain. Fortunately, in these poor lands, the works of modern man, have not made a strong mark on nature. For this reason the
original species still remain. This is why Pedro and Angel have chosen this area to study its habitat.
Pedro, one of our protagonists, has decided to show Dani, a student of Almeida, all his knowledge on the subject. One of the common species of this area is the Great Grey Shrike (butcher bird). This sedentary bird of the Iberian Peninsula, which is loyal to its mate, builds its nest in blackberry bushes once or twice a year when spring arrives. Many times in the same bush."
They remove the bushes, get closer to inspect the contruction material and form of the nest. They set up a hide. They place it in from of the nest, and then leave.OFF:
"Pedro has discovered a shrike's nest."
OFF:
"Once one of the objectives has been located, Pedro and Dani set up a headquarters from where they observe the shrike." Shots of the shrike.
OFF:
"In spite of its calm appearance, this birds conceals a great fierceness. In scientific terms, it's known as Lanius Excúbitor which means something like the guardian destroyer."
Typical town streets. Nightime.
6. INT. HOUSE OF ALMEIDA DE SAYAGO
The boy that we saw before lives in the town. He's playing with a videogame. In the bedroom there are two birdcages in which there are a pair of goldfinches and a pair of canaries and each pair with its nest.
VOZ EN OFF:
Various types of birds show how they behave in the habitat. This section finalises with hunting images showing the similarity that exists between the magpie and the shrike as regards to their food diet.
OFF:
"It's the case of the stork, one of the most commonly seen birds throughout these spots. To build is its meganests it usually chooses belltowers, electricity poles or buildings. Nearby, an ancient health spa of the late XIX century, which is under restoration, shelters various nests of these birds
As well as the stork, another bird which can be seen marrauding throughout these farmlands, is the magpie, scientifically know as thePica Pica. Chased by the local farmers, it isn't lucky as the stork as quite often they and the sheppards destroy them and their nests.
The magpie builds its nest in springtime in blakberry bushes and hawthorns. The blakberry bushes are similar to those used by the Great Grey Shrike. Also, a great part of the magpie's food is very alike. It's because of this, that Pedro has chosen these two species to carry out this experiment."8. EXT. DAY. SHRIKE'S NEST
Pedro shows the boy the magpie's eggs. He places them in the shrike's nest, and removes another two eggs which he also shows to the boy. Dani listens to music on a walkman.
OFF:
"These two species have two things in common, part of their food diet and the construction site for their nest. The size and colour of the egg varies considerably.
Swaping the eggs between these two species, the parents will incubate them without any problems."
9. EXT. OPEN SHOTS
Golden nightfalls, rain, skies...
10. INT. NIGHTIME. HOUSE OF ALMEIDA DE SAYAGO
Dani rewinds a videotape. He goes to see the goldfinches, and sticks his hand in the nest that contains eggs.
OFF:
"Dani had realised that this breeding process, where parents are different from their young, had been practised in his house along the years.
The interchanging of eggs has been carried out with success...and what if we exchanged the chicks directly?"
The adopted and the very own young, are in the same nest. They are fed by the adults.VOZ EN OFF:
"In scientifics teminology, the guests are the shrikes and the parasites are the magpies. The actual theories accept that the parasites are well received by the guests only if the eggs are of similar tone, and if the colours of the mounth or windpipe are similar in shape and colour to those of their young. As we can see in this case, they are not alike. Both Pedro and Angel chose these two species because their eggs are different both in size and colour, as well as their red and yellow windpipes respectively, which are also very different.
" At first we could have indistinctly chosen birds or mammals as the hosts of our experiments, as the use of superior species that are seemingly different, produces a common tendancy in the results. However, after considering the pros and cons, we were inclined to choose the birds mainly because of various motives:
In the ecosystem, bird life is richer in abundance than mammals and this facilitates the task of finding the location and the adecuate species.
Birds are also easier to observe, photograph and to film as their lack of smell or poor use it, permits us to hide close by without being discovered.
Also in the wild, the Cuckoo and the Great Spotted Cuckoo.
OFF:
"In the wild, parasitism amongst birds is not common. In spite of this, there are cases such as the Great Spotted Cuckoo which parasitizes on the magpie. Or the most common case, the cuckoo.
There is nothing genetic about parasitism: western cuckoos that migrate are parasites, whilst the ones that remain in Africa do not migrate, they themselves build the nest and rear their young."
Different adult species with their young.-
OFF:
"In the animal kingdom, the least the brain capacity is, the more they tend to reproduce the conducts learnt from their parents, therefore their behaviour is acquired and not genetic.
(The boy touches the shrike chicks with his finger and they lift theirheads). Intuative or inbred behaviour is a response to a stimulation, therefore without stimulus the behaviour does not take place."
Ellipsis: Open shots.
14. INT. NIGHTIME. DANI'S HOME
The eggs of the canary and goldfinch have hatched and the boy observes the chicks mixing.
OFF:
"In this documentary we have tried to demonstrate that animal species can be accepted and raised by different species whether it be in captivity or in the wild where there are no drawbacks of the genetic or instinctive type.
Here is where we must ask ourselves whether the adult bird will genetically behave like its biological parents or not?
We see still life shots of the nests.
-
OFF:
"The form of the shrike's nest is half spherical with a flattened base, and is made of small straws and wool or animal hair. The
magpie's nest is deeper and surrounded with thorny branches forming a crest, and strong branches joined by mud are the materials used in abundanceCould the adult magpies make a shrikes's nest? Or a shrike a magpie's nest? Or maybe a bit of both?"
Dani flicks around with the teletext. Pedro calls him. The boy, unenthusiastically turns the computer on and off, gets his walkman and leaves with Pedro.
OFF:
" Because of his intelligence, mankind evolves very rapidly and the adult children's behaviour is quite often different from that of their parents. It's because of this that cultures exist. (We see archive images like those at the beginning) Cultures that don't always know how to live together with their own species."
Various shots.
OFF:
"To avoid death, the survival instinct of the species, has forced them to change some of their conducts so as to adapt themselvesto the new habitats that human nature has imposed. However, other species could not keep up with mandind's rate.
They need help to survive."
With this experiment we offer an alternative and quite often only route in the recovery of the species in imminent danger of extinction. When there is no other means, this could be the only viable solution."
Pedro strolls through the field with Dani. Pedro shows him other types of birds that fly above them. He gives him the binoculars. Dani uses them.
The stars are bright and the crickets and frogs can be heard. Above them, the title credits.
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