The Last Paradises: On the Track of Rare Animals
The Last Paradises: On the Track of Rare Animals is a German nature documentary from 1967. It was directed and shot by Eugen Schuhmacher, produced by Schuhmacher, and narrated by Wolf Ackva, with Helmuth Barth as a cinematographer. Filming began in spring 1959 and lasted seven years, ending in 1966. The project had a budget of about 1,000,000 Deutsche Marks (about $250,000).
The film takes viewers to about 60 countries and territories, visiting many famous national parks. It shows some of the world’s most endangered animals, including Hamilton’s frog, the Javan rhinoceros, the kākāpō, the takahe, red-crowned cranes, Kodiak bears, the whooping crane, the Asiatic lion, the Komodo dragon, the tuatara, the indri, and birds of paradise. An opening sequence features an animated history of extinct species like the quagga, great auk, and dodo.
A notable sequence documents the rare whooping cranes. Because access to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas was restricted, the filmmakers arranged feeding by airplane and filmed from a boat near a fence, capturing footage of a female crane with her chick.
The Last Paradises was released on February 28, 1967 (West Germany), runs 116 minutes, and is in German (with subtitles) or English dubbing. The film also inspired a book that was translated into many languages and won awards at the Trento Documentary Film Festival.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:19 (CET).