Taiwan may be best known internationally for semiconductors and technology, but beyond its cities lies another side of the island few outside the region have seen: dense subtropical forests, soaring mountains, wetlands and rural landscapes inhabited by some of Asia’s most remarkable wildlife.
A new international documentary series, “Satoyama: Wild Neighbors,” brings that hidden world to global audiences with rare footage of Taiwan’s native species—including a wild Leopard Cat hunting in its natural habitat, Pangolins roaming a university campus, and a Crab-eating Mongoose searching for prey under the cover of darkness.
Coproduced by Taiwan’s Public Television Service (PTS), TaiwanPlus, NHK, and NHK Enterprises (NEP), the series combines Japanese wildlife filmmaking expertise with the deep local knowledge of Taiwanese production crews to document both the island’s extraordinary biodiversity and the growing efforts to protect it.
Producer and Programming Director Jessie Shih described the production as “the most ambitious wildlife documentary ever undertaken in Taiwan, with no effort spared to capture the country’s rarest natural treasures.”
Covering just over 36,000 square kilometers, Taiwan contains an unusually diverse range of ecosystems, from tropical and subtropical forests to wetlands and alpine mountains rising nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. Forests cover nearly 60% of the island, according to Taiwan’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, providing habitat for thousands of plant and animal species—including many found nowhere else on Earth.
“Satoyama: Wild Neighbors” introduces viewers to some of Taiwan’s most distinctive wildlife, including the Leopard Cat, Chinese Pangolin, Crab-eating Mongoose, and Taiwan Blue Magpie. But the series goes beyond spectacular wildlife encounters to reveal the increasingly fragile relationship between these animals and the human communities that share their habitats.
Habitat loss, road mortality, invasive species, and human activity continue to threaten native wildlife. The documentary follows conservationists, researchers, veterinarians, and wildlife rescue teams working on the front lines—monitoring vulnerable populations, treating injured animals, restoring habitats, and preparing rescued wildlife for carefully planned releases back into the wild.
Executive Producer and TaiwanPlus CEO David Ho said the project demonstrates what international collaboration can achieve. “This documentary is a model of international collaboration,” Ho said. “By combining NHK’s extensive wildlife filmmaking expertise with the local knowledge of our Taiwanese production team, we were able to capture extraordinary images of Taiwan’s endangered wildlife that have never been seen before.”
At the heart of the series is the idea of satoyama, a Japanese concept describing landscapes where people and nature coexist in balance. Across Taiwan, rural communities, farms, forests, and waterways form interconnected habitats where human activity and wildlife often coexist.
The series examines both the possibilities and challenges of that coexistence: what happens when endangered animals live alongside roads, farms, campuses, and communities—and what people can do to ensure they continue to have a place in Taiwan’s future.
Through intimate wildlife encounters and the stories of the people working to protect them, “Satoyama: Wild Neighbors” reveals a side of Taiwan rarely seen by international audiences—and asks a larger question increasingly relevant around the world: How can people and wildlife continue to share the same home?
“Satoyama: Wild Neighbors” will be released in English, Japanese, and Mandarin. The three-part English-language series, with each episode running 25 minutes is available on the TaiwanPlus website, app, and TaiwanPlus Docs YouTube channel, with new episodes released weekly.
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