Roland Gockel

Africa's giant rats – the size of a cat – can be trained to detect land-mines by smelling them. Giant rats are clever and they learn fast. Their sense of smell is better than a dog's, they have more stamina, and they're a lot cheaper to train. This documentary follows "Miss Marple", who was born in a training lab and who goes through a year's training before being sent on her first mission to Mozambique. A shorter version (43 minutes) screened at festivals in 2009 but was never widely released.

Cuckoos are brood parasites who they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, a clever trick that spares the rearing and feeding of their own offspring. Why do other parent birds let this happen? Are they too stupid? Too inept? Or simply clueless? None of the above!

Barely known and never seen, elephant shrews baffle even the zoologists. With their stilt-like legs and long mobile trunk, joined to the body of a large shrew with a golden bottom, they certainly deserve their name - though they are related to neither elephant not shrew! This shy, endangered creature has become the mascot of Kenya’s beautiful Arabuko National Park. The income they attract via tourism pays for the education of local children. The elephant shrew has truly become the Spirit of the Forest.

Berlin is a metropolis, a big city with international flair and at the same time the habitat of countless raccoons, foxes, bats, squirrels, hedgehogs and beavers. There is at least one pair of birds for every human inhabitant of Berlin, and nowhere else are there so many sparrows and nightingales. Swarms of bees harvest honey from almost half a million city trees, a badger roams through a backyard, and praying mantises lurk for prey in railroad tracks.

Stories of extraordinary lives and extraordinary lands across the globe.