The young cheetah carefully marks his new terrain which is full of another an- imals strange scent. A group of young falcons are nervous: its their first attempt at flight. Nina, the young keeper of the bats, is excited and sad its time to set her young animals free, to fend for them-selves in the woods around Schonbrunn palace. What these animals share is their proximity to humans in a zoo the worlds oldest, Viennas Schonbrunn Zoo: a centre for animal care, conservation and international breeding programs. This is the story of Schonbrunns zoo-keepers who devote their lives to the animals,witnessing birth, aging, death and, occasionally, the end of an entire species.