"The year is 1985" "We found a small shallow footprint in clay" "Our discovery did not elicit much reaction in the academic world" "But for us, this piece of plaster had special significance" "We knews we were on the right track" "Ústøední pùjèovna filmù present" "The FAMU graduate movie" "Oil Gobblers" "North Bohemia 1987" "It's best to travel at the end of summer" "The days are not stuffy, but the nights are still warm" "We are the same team as two years ago" "Ivo Soukup, doctor of zoology... ..and doctor Lubomír Bauer, biochemist ... you remember the photos I showed you!" "Here I'll show you..." "The rest of the expedition consists of the cameraman Jirka Mráz and me ...and you die from cancer at the end." "We are headed to North Bohemia again because Petroleus mostensis or mud-like Oil Gobbler cannot be found anywhere else" "This animal is not yet included in zoology textbooks but it's argued in scientific periodicals whether its ancestor is European Hare or European Otter" "Doctor Soukup is one of the few people who has seen Oil Gobblers with their own eyes" "He believes that mud like Oil Gobbler evolved in its own unique way" "Our first steps led to a man, who some time ago... showed doctor Soukup a place where Oil Gobblers can be seen" "His name is Emil Nedbal, He has no scientific degree... but knows things about Oil Gobbler life that no expert has dreamed of." "Come to my shed." "This is director Navrátil" "Nedbal, Nedbal..." "Nedbal." "Pleased to meet you" "And the cameraman Jirka Mráz" "Cameraman, cameraman..." "I should tell him something cheerful so he can find joy in life." "Come show us the pictures." "Yes." "To my shed." "Come on." "You'll see so many experiments in here." "Luboš come here, come here." "Mr. Nedbal, you've painted all this yourself?" "Sure thing." "Look at this place." "Look here." "And Mr. Nedbal." "Are these the oil gobblers?" "Of course not, that's some smudge." "This is where I keep the bastards." "Here they are." "We decided tobuildcampclosetoplaces... where, according to Mr. Nedbal, the Oil Gobblers dwell." "If you'd come a week ago... there was so much smoke here,.." "the Oil Gobblers were shambling around." "There was much smoke around the people, too." "Then the wind came and blew it away... and the Oil Gobblers haven't been seen since." "Dr. Bauer  volunteered to guard the camp... while the rest of us investigated the surroundings." "In my opinion, they probably like... the smell of the smoke from burning coal." "...when it's being burned, you see..." "Maybe it's good for them and they like it too." "They reportedly prefer to stay at the bottom of surface mines because the underground coal seam is constantly afire providing them with heat and placidity as well." "Carbon monoxide, from improper burning, is colorless and odorless... and extremely toxic for humans." "This is where the Oil Gobblers reportedly go." "Mr. Nedbal has seen them biting the plastic wraps around the trees" "Dr. Soukup decided to do chemical analysis of this material" "These Oil Gobblers bite." "They have teeth as..." "Their teeth are like... outstretched teeth." "They aren't like those of other wild animals." "Three, four, five teeth." "And that's a mouthful." "They can bite off a steel rope... when they have nothing to eat and have the means." "They have enormous power in their teeth." "On our way back, we detected a curious motion at the bottom" "But were too far away to get it on camera." "We"ll need to go a little lower" "But it's not possible on foot." "The easiest way leads straight down the perpendicular slope." "We know what kind of air is down there." "But our cameraman refused to take an oxygen mask." "The mask would get in the way of shooting" "In case anything goes wrong, we maintain continuous contact with him" "OK?" "Yes" "I have ten meters to the ground." "Three meters more!" "I'm almost there..." "I'm almost on the ground!" "Jirka, can you see anything?" "I can't see anything." "There's too much smoke here." "I'm on the ground now!" "We'll ease away the rope, okay?" "OK." "Something's moving here." "I'll try to get it on camera." "At one point, Dr. Soukup though he saw... a white ruff of an animal." "But we assume extreme melanism in Oil Gobblers therefore a significantly darker pigmentation... as in all animal species from industrial areas." "Jirka!" "Jirka!" "We're pulling you back now." "Can you hear me?" "!" "Can you hear me, Jirka?" "Wake up, boy!" "Come on, Jirka!" "Do you have some quinine?" "See if the deceased is breathing." "If he is, it's okay." "We'll give him some quinine and you'll see that he'll be fine!" "We were very lucky" "Our cameraman is alive and the camera should be working." "Well, they seem to like it, the coal." "It may be that ..." "The coal is soaked." "With oil or something and it tastes sweet to them." "Or it has a kind of a smell, A smell which makes it tasty for them" "They love it." "They relish it." "It is incredible, OK?" "There came these guys with some oil." "They dumped it just over there." "The oil was somehow badly sealed... so oil oozed out and the Oil Gobllers came... and actually drank it." "Yep" "They guzzled it and liked it." "And now you see it was oil." "Sure thing" "Dr. Bauer  didn't find anything unusual." "It's a common polyethylene normally derived from crude oil." "Although ethylene occurs naturally as plant substance... we can't imagine... what it could be used for in the body of an animal." "And they really nibble it like this, Mr. Nedbal?" "Sure thing" "I put my wellingtons near the shed... and when I went to work in the morning... the boots were chewed." "I am sure about it." "Who could it have been?" "It was the Oil Gobblers." "So I turned the old wellingtons into sandals." "I said I was sure." "That's how it was and that's what I saw." "Strange sounds woke us at night." "It wasn't hard to guess to whom the voice belonged." "Dr. Soukup admitted he knew no animal which made a similar sound." "These Oil Gobblers are..." "Those animals..." "They are little creatures." "And they have such huge..." "asses so big and bushy..." "They have to be bushy, understand to prevent skin abrasion" "When they're sliding and shuffling all day long on their short legs" "We decided that we must find Oil Gobblers on the second day." "Mr. Nedbal promised to show us a place where they've nowhere to hide." "Do you see anything?" "Yea." "Come from the other side." "We take the road under the dam not to scare the gobblers away" "We will use both cameras we have" "To make sure we get the footage" "OK?" "Yes" "So" "You see, there he is." "See, there he swims." "Do you see?" "See, there he is!" "Look." "He is clearly visible." "That's great." "That's great!" "It's like a frog" "Where is he?" "Here" "He goes silent past us." "There's a second one." "Where are they?" "They are here for now." "Look." "This will be a female." "And he goes after her and gets her" "And they are gone." "We decided to go back to the mine in the afternoon." "We were lucky." "We found an Oil Gobller on the third terrace." "Look Ivo." "Look there." "Do you see?" "Do you see there uphill?" "He had nowhere to run nor go underwater so it was easy study his anatomy." "What's he doing there?" "Dr Soukup wants to know what it's watching." "Because it looks like it's  just loitering which is an activity unknown to animals since it requires a highly developed nervous system, similar to us humans." "Why is he sitting on the edge?" "The blade will hit him!" "Hey, get out!" "Should I shoot it?" "Yes." "It's coming." "We spent most of the afternoon in the mine... but didn't see the Oil Gobllers." "We went to look again in the evening." "On the top, there's better air, so it's easier to breathe." "Look." "They nibble it from above." "Hey!" "Come here!" "It's either dead, as it shows no signs of life." "Or ... we could save it." "Do you have some quinine ?" "We began the autopsy after dinner." "In each of the two corners of the uterus there is an embryo." "Placenta labyrinth tip." "Kidney under-porous." "Body weight 6800 grams." "Composition of milk: protein 12.4;" "sugar 1.8; fat 13.2; ashes 2.3" "High weight brain..." "The autopsy lasted nearly 3 hours" "Found pieces of white polyethylene in the stomach of the dead Oil Gobbler and a brown oily substance identified as engine oil by Dr. Bauer" "Both substances had been digested not causing toxic changes in the organism." "Dr. Soukup finds that the cause of death must have been oxygen poisoning!" "Quietly." "Quietly." "Slowly." "It must be somewhere here." "Here he is!" "Careful, he may bite you!" "No." "He won't bite me." "You won't bite me, will you?" "For now we know little about Oil Gobbler life" "We deal with the foundling as we do with other young animals" "The best thing we have is 92 octane petrol." "Oil Gobbler is a getting better but his coughing bothers us." "Dr. Soukup is convinced that it is irritated by fresh air." "It may be choking him." "We must place the box carefully so that he's not burned by the hot exhaust." "But not too far away, otherwise too much exhaust escapes into the air." "Why?" "Bill, it's hard to say." "I came to support Joe Kent." "We hope we have enough petrol to... leave the engine running till morning." "Dr. Soukup wants to transport young Oil Gobbler to Prague." "He is confident the Prague air is suitable for Oil Gobblers." "But we fear the Louny-Slany area." "Concentrations of emissions are significantly lower there than what is needed for  succesful transportation." "We came back again after two years." "Everything indicates the Louny-Slany area... ceased to be dangerous to Oil Gobllers... and we'll be able to transport them to Prague without any risk." "We may have to wait longer than two years... but we are patient." "We're certain that the mud-like Oil Gobblers will never appear... in the Red book of endangered species" "Its living conditions can only keep getting better"