NARRATOR: Set loose on an isolated European island,
horses jostle for control of the herd.
But like the land itself,
these relics of colonial times
face an uncertain future,
on the jagged coast of Canada's Eastern shore.
A delicate and diverse ecosystem
thrives on the fringes of the continent.
Welcome
to the Wild Wild East.
NARRATOR: Off the southern coast of Newfoundland,
an archipelago of eight islands,
together known as St. Pierre and Miquelon.
This is a French territory in North America.
Across a thin sand dune,
a majestic beast runs free.
Herds of horses are colonizing
their own piece of the islands.
This is Langlade,
one of the eight islands.
The semi-feral horses are a throwback
to a bygone era.
A time before domestication.
Technically, each of them has a human owner.
But in spring, the graceful creatures
are let loose from their winter stables.
For the next six months,
their only fence is the Atlantic Ocean.
Every year, the island welcomes more horses.
It's this colt's first summer.
Three months old,
his legs are already 90% of their adult length,
but he's just a third of his full-grown weight.
This colt could eventually max-out at 1200 pounds.
He's slowly becoming more independent.
Each foal enters the world with a pre-determined place
in the pecking order of the herd.
Individuals are born into the same caste
as their mothers.
His arrival in the spring aroused the curiosity
of the other herd members.
In wild herds, the dominant stallion
may kill a foal if it's not his offspring,
so, by nature, mares are protective of their young.
Over time, he'll learn how to survive on his own
by observing mom and all the other members of the herd.
To do that, he must master the subtleties
of horse protocol and hierarchy.
And get used to discipline from his elders.
In a wild herd, once the colt's fully weaned
at around three years old
he'll be cast out by the stallion.
This show of dominance
is also prevention against inbreeding.
But this colt will be gelded,
which will halt the production of testosterone,
curbing attitude problems
and controlling reproduction within the herd.
The rules of the game are different
for semi-feral horses.
They're domesticated,
and are mix of geldings, mares and stallions.
Still, wild or not, all horses instinctively form herds
for protection against predators, like wolves.
Even here on Langlade, where there's no such threat,
horses grow anxious when alone.
Horses are flight animals by nature,
and will flee the moment they sense a threat.
They are so perceptive to potential dangers
that when a group of researchers showed horses
pictures of angry human faces,
their heartbeats intensified.
Normally in the wild, a lead mare
guides the day-to-day movements of the band,
deciding where to graze and when to visit water.
Within this semi-domesticated herd,
an aging black gelding has taken over the lead role
typically held by a mare.
Size has an impact on which horse takes the reins,
but he has the quality the horses value most:
experience.
Langlade's horses only spend half the year together,
so the herd is prone to shifting loyalties.
This brown and white pinto is challenging
the black gelding's position
by stirring up the herd and trying to guide
its day-to-day movements.
It looks like the leadership
might be ready to change hands.
People arrived here with their horses 500 years ago
to colonize the islands,
and fish along the rocky coast.
The ocean surrounding St. Pierre and Miquelon
is among the richest fishing grounds in the world.
Below the surface,
the Atlantic cod cuts through the ocean current.
Between 6 and 60 pounds,
with the largest on record weighing in at over 100,
Atlantic cod was the most important
commercial fish in Canada.
Whether it's a pub favorite like fish and chips,
or the good-for-what-ails-you vitamins in cod liver oil,
the Atlantic cod has shaped life in Atlantic Canada,
and colonial France.
And here, in the French waters off the coast
of St. Pierre and Miquelon,
is one of the highest concentrations of cod
anywhere in the world.
A fact that this pod of harbor seals knows well.
Warmed by a protective layer of blubber,
4 inches thick,
these semi-aquatic mammals
fish in the frigid waters of the Atlantic year round.
Underwater they use their long whiskers,
which interpret the vibrations of nearby fish,
to locate and hunt down prey.
The whiskers are so perceptive,
scientists have discovered blindness
doesn't limit a seal's hunting ability.
Above water, a Canadian icon
also fishes these French waters.
(loon call)
In the spring, when rearing young
creates a high-demand for food,
one family of loons can eat a half-ton of fish
in 15 days.
But that's nothing compared to the annual yields
of the commercial cod fishery.
At its peak in the 1960s,
two million tons of Atlantic cod
were being fished each year.
The success of the fishing industry
propelled the island's progress
as an overseas territory of France.
But over-development led to most of the island's
forest cover being destroyed.
Now, in a curious twist,
the exposed fields of Langlade,
with plenty of grassland and water sources,
resembles the pre-domesticated home of the horse.
There were never horses on St. Pierre and Miquelon
until they arrived with the island's first settlers
stowed away on a fishing boat.
For four and a half centuries,
the horses were a necessary part of life
on the islands.
Now the beasts of burden
serve only recreational purposes.
The horses are a metaphor for St. Pierre and Miquelon itself,
a nostalgic relic of the past.
The semi-wild horse herds contain a mix of breeds,
including a few Shetland ponies.
Though the makeshift bands are piecemeal,
they still mirror the politics of wild horses.
To maintain order within the herd,
horses rely on a subtle language.
Meaning can shift
depending on who's doing the talking.
Adolescent play fighting is practice for future challenges,
but this behavior is almost indistinguishable
from an adult horse's battle for dominance.
Nose nuzzling is the handshake of the horse world.
It's also a gentle expression of friendship.
Horses form intense bonds with one another
that can outweigh their loyalty to the group.
But horses can also be flakey,
and friendships often deteriorate
or shift over time.
The shifting nature of individual horse relationships
has led some researchers to compare herd-life
with a soap opera.
Like any good drama it's full of power and conflict.
Put two horses together and immediately,
one will begin to establish control over the other.
Here on Langlade, food is abundant,
but who eats what is highly political.
This horse is one of the only true stallions on Langlade.
With a simple wag of the tail
he tells the brown horse to move on to new pasture.
Brownie ignores him.
The stallion moves on,
for now.
But when brownie lets his guard down,
the stallion sneaks up from behind him
and nips his butt.
Posturing is instinctive for the stallion.
If he were a truly wild stallion,
he'd have to protect the herd from danger,
and keep competitors away from his harem of mares.
There's no rivals or predators here,
but his aggressive instincts remain.
At three months old, the colt still isn't fully weaned.
It could be a full year before he's completely shifted
to the grass diet of adult horses.
Unlike most ungulates,
horses are non-ruminant herbivores.
They don't have 4-chambered stomachs
like cattle and other grazers,
so they don't chew their cud.
Their digestive system works more like a human,
except horse digestion occurs mostly in the intestines,
not the stomach.
That's because the horse gut
is only 4-times as long as a humans',
even though horses eat nearly 10-times more food.
Instead of ingesting large meals
that would stretch out their small bellies,
horses fuel themselves with a steady input of food
all day long.
But grazing 15 to 17 hours a day
takes its toll on horses' hooves.
The hoof wall is made from the same material
as fingernails, keratin,
and likewise, never stops growing.
Without hard terrain to strengthen the hooves
and file down the hoof-wall,
horses need to be fitted for shoes.
If the hooves aren't strong enough,
or the hoof-cover grows too long,
it will crack and split, harming the horse.
Horseshoes keep the hooves strong and intact.
Horses also spend most of their time on their feet,
because they're more vulnerable when lying down.
But occasionally they need to,
rolling to relieve back pain
and for scratching themselves.
Although horses can sleep standing up,
they need complete muscle relaxation
to achieve REM sleep
and that means lying down.
But they only need to hit the sack
for less than 10 minutes
for rapid eye movement to set in.
For these insomniacs,
sleep is spread across 15-minute naps,
totaling only two and a half hours every day.
For centuries, the cod fishery was the life-blood
of St. Pierre and Miquelon.
And the image of great cormorants
sharing the seal's surf-soaked rocks
was a common sight for fishermen.
These gangly waterfowl
are unwelcome birds in the fishing community.
Cormorants have earned a nasty,
and mostly unfounded, reputation
amongst in-land anglers and commercial fishermen,
who see the bird as competition.
Cormorants, they believe,
take more than their fair share of fish.
Although scientists have rejected the popular myth,
in the past entire colonies have been decimated
to cull the bird's alleged appetite.
Cormorants actually eat
about a pound of fish a day on average.
It sounds like a lot,
but it's nothing compared to the two-million tons
that were hauled out annually
during the peak of the cod fishery in the 1960s.
By the early 1990s,
the Atlantic cod's conservation status
was considered "critically vulnerable,"
and the Canadian government banned cod fishing
in the Northern Atlantic.
Even with this moratorium,
the stocks are still struggling.
There aren't enough breeding age cod,
6 years or older,
to properly replenish the population.
With economic prospects at an all-time low,
how could people, and their horses,
afford to stay?
To protect the last bastion of its once vast empire,
and ensure its inhabitants enjoy a high quality of life,
the French government heavily subsidizes the islands.
They even chip in on the horses' vet bills.
The government pays a veterinarian
to come and do rounds here once a week.
The soil of St. Pierre and Miquelon
isn't good for growing commercial crops,
but the nutrient stripped lands
give rise to rough grasses.
And the horses aren't the only ones chowing down.
Sheep are the most common grazers
on St. Pierre and Miquelon.
There are just over 500 of these fluffy mammals here,
but more than a billion worldwide.
Prized equally for their wool and their meat,
sheep are one of the first domesticated animals.
These members of the bovidae family are smart,
and can memorize up to 50 sheep faces.
When studied, their brains exhibit
similar neuron patterns as humans when recalling memories.
Their eyes are located on the side of their head
and have large rectangular pupils,
giving sheep 360-degree vision.
But one of these things is not like the others.
A herd animal by nature, this alpaca,
brought here from South America,
has found himself amongst curious bedfellows
in the Northern Atlantic.
Alpacas make excellent bodyguards for flocks of sheep.
They are often aggressive toward canine species
and will kick away foxes and wolves.
Like sheep, alpacas are valued for their hair.
The smallest member of the camel family,
when sheared their fur is used to make a fabric,
similar to wool, but softer and hypoallergenic.
With the cod gone, agriculture is just one way
residents are looking to the land
to boost economic prospects on the islands.
Sheep, wide open meadows,
and blowing grass.
This is a true pastoral paradise.
And best of all, it's surrounded by sandy beaches.
This little piece of France
is like nowhere else in North America.
With cod stocks left alone to rebound,
the government of St. Pierre and Miquelon
hopes tourism can make up for the loss of the fishery.
And the territory's tourism officials
have little interest in dispelling the growing legend
of Langlade's wild horses.
The horses have their run of Langlade for the summer.
They still share the island with humans.
These flighty beasts can be unpredictable.
Sometimes the smallest things
will set off their ancient instincts.
(truck horn blows)
When danger rears it head,
flight is the first line of defense.
Even a slight fright like this one
causes the herd to turn to their leader.
The brown pinto has been
jockeying to move up the pecking order all summer.
This might just be her chance.
She's neck and neck with the aging gelding.
Experience wins out and he pulls ahead,
successfully leading the herd away.
The old gelding will maintain his position
for the rest of the summer,
but who knows what next year will bring.
St. Pierre and Miquelon is the last European colony
left in North America.
For 500 years the cod brought people here
from around the world.
Now the islands are looking to animal life once again
as a way to draw in visitors.
The coming winter will bring an end
to the colt's first summer in the wild.
He'll return next year, bigger and stronger,
with keener insight into the ways of the herd.
In the waters surrounding the archipelago,
the cod is slowly making a comeback.
For these lands of a by-gone era,
it's time to gallop toward a new future
in the Wild Wild East.
♪ THEME MUSIC ♪