There is no compassion in the pitiless universe inhabited by wild beasts. When leopard meets gazelle, or the cobra a monitor, when a bear encounters a salmon, or an eagle an antelope, life ends as the strong devour the weak. This film contains a few of these sumptuous and terrible "wild tales". But there are also some stories of sheer beauty, featuring deer's grace, bears' gaiety, bison power, the elegance of pink flamingos, and walrus' amusing behavior. All of these animals live in freedom in a few million square kilometers spread out from north to south in the Russian immensity, in fiery deserts or Arctic ice - vast natural reserves in which the species threatened with extinction are preserved. That is where they were filmed, from close range - so close that one sometimes wants to stretch out a hand to pet them.