For 70 years, the population of the wapiti deer in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States increased unchecked. Without natural predators and despite all human attempts to check the increase of the deer population they kept spreading and destroyed vast regions of the park's vegetation. They literally defoliated the National Park. However, a well-directed reintroduction of 41 wolves between 1995 and 1997 worked wonders: The animals restored the natural balance in the National Park.
Cinematography
Wolves looking majestic AF in golden hour
Editing
Before/after vegetation shots that hit different
Director
Jürgen Hansen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'trophic cascade' effect shown here became one of the most viral ecology clips in internet history, though scientists later debated how much credit wolves alone deserved versus other factors like drought cycles.
This documentary fueled a meme-worthy obsession with wolf reintroduction that led to actual policy debates—and the controversial 2011 delisting of wolves from endangered species protection in several states.
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