Animals That Made History

Swimming in the sun in the water, now and then a gourmet meal with fresh seafood and extensive grooming - these are the sea otters' favorite pastimes. Now strictly protected, it lives in small populations on the coasts of California and Alaska. But the peaceful idyll has a bloody past. Between 1750 and 1910, the sea otter is hunted to the point of extinction.

The silk, the fabric of kings, is an animal product. It owes its splendor and elasticity to the thread from the glandular secretion of a voracious caterpillar that spins a protective cocoon to transform itself into a butterfly. 5,000 years ago Leizu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor, is said to have discovered the secret of silk.

The horse originally came from America and from there it began its triumphal march into the world - to Asia, Europe and Africa. But in America of all places it died out at the end of the Ice Age. Not until 1519 did sixteen horses return there: in the belly of the ship of Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conqueror.

Whales are the largest marine mammals on earth. You cross the coldest waters, protected by the thickest layer of fat. Most of them feed on the smallest sea creatures, only the sperm whale dives to the greatest depths in search of giant octopuses.

Pigeons live monogamous in a lifelong couple relationship, they are very fertile and lovingly raise their young. As descendants of the rock pigeons, they have an imperturbable homecoming instinct and a remarkable sense of direction. But our image of the pigeon is contradicting itself.

It is a big hit in evolution: the cod. Some specimens grow to the size of a man and the females produce millions of eggs each year. An incredible rate of reproduction. The predatory fish eat everything that comes before their mouth, even young cod. But the cod is no ordinary fish. When dried and salted, it becomes the world's first canned fish.