Echoes of the Ice Age

Description

There are more secrets to reveal where the mountains disappear into the depths of Lake Königssee, a lake that holds a stark resemblance to a fjord at the coasts of the Atlantic ocean. Underwater, fossil marine creatures in limestone rock tell of an ancient seabed, buried deep then heaved skywards by battling tectonic plates.

Deep grooves and gouges in the rock were left by an ice age glacier, more than one kilometer thick as it chiseled its way down the valley. The glacier was one finger of a vast ice sheet that covered this alpine landscape. Though the ice age ended 12,000 years ago, the mountains still carry echoes of that frozen past.

The biodiversity of this region is protected by a National park. Alpine animals, such as the golden eagle, live here. The bird of prey was exterminated in these mountains. Today there are again almost 50 breeding pairs. Some of them have their territory in the steep walls around the Königssee. It has long been doubted that the Alpine ibex is native to the ancestral wildlife of the mountains around the Königssee. Until bone finds a few years ago proved that he had always been native to this area. Today, about 200 ibex roam the peaks of this alpine region. The alpine salamander is the lover of miserable weather par excellence. He usually comes out of his hiding place late at night, because then the humidity is particularly high. Only in rain and dense fog does it also go out and about during the day. The largest native orchid, which grows hidden in the forests at Lake Königssee, has giant flowers but does not offer nectar. Plenty of orchids thrive so magnificently here, because conditions in the woods at the lakeside are ideal, like in a primeval forest.

ECHOES OF THE ICE AGE is a portrait of the wildlife in this breathtaking scenery of the Berchtesgaden Alps. The echoe at Lake Königssee is world famous and it was made possible by the transforming forces of glaciers of the ice age.