Big Cat Week Returns to Nat Geo Wild Beginning Friday, Nov. 27th #BigCatWeek

NAT GEO WILD’S 10 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING

The Holiday Harvest Features Big Cat Week,

a Thanksgiving Disneynature Marathon

and Yellowstone Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Disneynature Marathon Premieres Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, 1/12c

Big Cat Week Premieres Friday, Nov. 27, 9/8c

Wild Yellowstone Premieres Sunday, Dec. 6, 9/8c

"Nat Geo WILD’s Thanksgiving celebration is an epic lineup of animal adventures that will keep the whole family glued to the couch for 10 days straight. Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, kicks things off at 1/12c with a best of Disneynature daylong marathon, featuring heartwarming and inspiring films. 

Big Cat Week follows as the anchor event, featuring Cougars Undercover, a groundbreaking special that reveals the private life of a secret predator, premiering Friday, Nov. 27, at 9/8c. 

The week also features three straight nights of Safari Live, beaming the wilds of Africa directly into your living room in real time, premiering Friday, Nov. 27, at 11/10c. Wild Yellowstone, an award-winning two-hour spectacle, rounds out the WILD holiday with an innovative special that pushes the boundaries of wildlife filmmaking, offering audiences some of the park’s most spectacular views and intimate wildlife stories ever captured on film, premiering Sunday, Dec. 6, at 9/8c.

“For five years, Big CatWeek has delighted family audiences around the world, inspiring them to help these magnificent creatures,” said Geoff Daniels, general manager and executive vice president, Nat Geo WILD. “This year we are giving our viewers a special treat: 10 days celebrating the best of WILD including a one-of-a-kind interactive live safari experience, plus a feast of extraordinary and entertaining wildlife stories that take place from the depths of the oceans to the tops of our most majestic mountains.”

DISNEYNATURE MARATHON

Premieres Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, 1/12c

This Thanksgiving, travel the world from the comfort of your couch with four of Disneynature’s blockbuster wildlife feature films.

Deep Blue, network premiere

Premieres 1/12c and 8/7c

Take a fascinating voyage through awesome aquatic realms where humans have rarely dared to go. Waddle with playful penguins, ride the waves with massive whales, meet families of polar bears and seals and discover rare, alien like creatures.

Chimpanzee

Premieres 3/2c and 10/9c

Narrated by Tim Allen, this is a story of triumph and family bonds set in the African rainforest that follows an adorable young chimp with an entertaining approach to life.

The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos

Premieres 5/4c and 1:30a/12:30c

Narrated by Mariella Frostrup, this is a miraculous story set in the dramatic and desolate Lake Natron in northern Tanzania, where a million crimson-winged flamingos arrive to continue the circle of life.

Wings of Life

Premieres 6:30/5:30c and 12a/11c

Narrated by Meryl Streep, this is an intimate and unprecedented look at butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, bats and flowers.

BIG CAT WEEK

Premieres Friday, Nov. 27, 9/8c

This year’s Big Cat Week is our biggest event yet, with five new premieres and a live African safari beamed into your living room.

Cougars Undercover

Premieres Friday, Nov. 27, 9/8c

This is the moving story of two mountain lion mothers raising their cubs, each trying to survive the harsh conditions of a bitter winter season outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Never-before-seen video captures the playful, intimate and sometimes tragic lives of these two families — part of a groundbreaking study by Panthera’s Teton Cougar Project. This is the most intense study of mountain lions ever conducted in the U.S., and the research raises some key questions. Are these cats the solitary hunters we previously thought? Why is their population dropping in the Rockies? The answers are fascinating and the stunning portrayal of the highs and lows of daily life will keep you glued to the story.

Safari Live

Premieres Friday, Nov. 27 – Sun, Nov. 29, 11/10c

Premieres Sat, Nov. 28 – Fri, Dec. 4, 9a/8c (two-hour morning specials)

Now there’s no passport required to go on the trip of a lifetime to see big cats up close and personal. We provide you with two expert guides who will lead the way to stunning wildlife, in real time. You can follow along with our online bingo game to win your very own African safari, and even reach out to the guides to ask questions via email and Twitter. All you need is an appetite for adventure and a love for our wild friends in the African bush. We’ll go deep into South Africa’s Sabi Sands Park and come face to face with the best of Africa’s wildlife, including lions, leopards, elephants, buffalo and many more.

The Lakeshore Killers

Premieres Saturday, Nov. 28, 9/8c

Deep in the heart of Africa, three male lions are coming into their prime with much to prove. They must forge strong bonds with a new pride and navigate the dangers of this unique wilderness, competing with hippos and crocodiles, to become true pride males and rulers of this land. We get a bird’s-eye view of their survival tactics, including adapting their hunting skills in surprising ways.

Cat Fight

Premieres Sunday, Nov. 29, 9/8c

A special edition of the popular series Animal Fight Night, Cat Fight reveals the secret tactics of the animal kingdom’s most ferocious feline fighters and brings you closer than ever before to adrenaline-packed fights from Africa, the Americas and beyond. Watch lions fighting tooth and claw to protect their pride from outsiders, and tigers fighting for rights to a hunting ground. In Africa, the big cats of the savannah go head-to-head with their ultimate enemy — the hyena.

The Ultimate Predator

Premieres Sunday, Nov. 29, 10/9c

It is said that the lion is king of beasts, but is he alone? There are 41 species of cat — the embodiment of feline grace and power, spectacular top predators that command our respect. But who is The Ultimate Predator, the one to rule them all? They have a lot in common, including elegance, agility, strength, heightened senses, silent feet and the killer instinct. So which of them has what it takes to be a top cat — the giant tiger, the powerful jaguar, the speedy cheetah or the socialite lion? Tune in to find out and learn all about your favorite cats.

Big Cat Games

Premieres Wednesday, Dec. 2, 9/8c

Big Cat Games pits the world’s most ferocious land predators against each other in a series of trials that will determine once and for all who is king of the cats. Lions, cheetahs and tigers will be pushed to the limits of their natural athletic abilities. Our competitors go claw-to-claw in four events: the hunt, the jump, the seek and the catch. Overseeing the games is big cat specialist Boone Smith, who brings his expertise and insight to each event.

More than a television event, Big Cat Week is an extension of the Big Cats Initiative, a long-term commitment by the National Geographic Society to stop poaching, save habitat and sound the call that big steps are needed to save big cats around the world. This global initiative actively supports on-the-ground conservation projects and education to help stem and eventually reverse the rapid disappearance of big cat populations.

WILD YELLOWSTONE

Premieres Sunday, Dec. 6, 9/8c (two-hour special)

From the producers of the award-winning and genre-defining documentary, “The Art of Flight,” Wild Yellowstone presents one of our country’s greatest national parks as it has never been seen before. After two years in the making, the filmmakers at Brain Farm apply their innovative action sports cinematography to the natural history genre, pushing boundaries with cutting-edge camera stabilization, drone, time-lapse and infrared technologies. The result is an all-access look at Yellowstone’s stunning animals and vistas. This is natural history 2.0.

Wild Yellowstone kicks off a cross-network celebration of the centennial of America’s national parks, which will continue on sister network National Geographic Channel with eight hours of premiere park programming throughout 2016.

Wild Yellowstone employs a contemporary shooting and editing style that combines the highest production values in blue-chip natural history with cutting-edge technology and a fresh, contemporary score. Cinematographers were encouraged to take the camera off the tripod and look for new and unexpected camera angles to reveal an immersive side of nature.

The Wild Yellowstone team camped out for a year capturing a cauldron of gripping animal dramas. The two-hour event includes a visit in summer and in freezing winter, an extraordinary world of fire and ice, ever changing and always testing its animal inhabitants."

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About Nat Geo WILD

For more than 30 years, National Geographic has been the leader in wildlife programming. The networks Nat Geo WILD and Nat Geo WILD HD, launched in 2010, offer intimate encounters with nature’s ferocious fighters and gentle creatures of land, sea and air that draw upon the cutting-edge work of the many explorers, filmmakers and scientists of the National Geographic Society. Part of the National Geographic Channels US, based in Washington, D.C., the networks are a joint venture between National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks. In 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) debuted, and 10 years later, Spanish-language network Nat Geo Mundo was unveiled. The Channels have carriage with all of the nation’s major cable, telco and satellite television providers, with Nat Geo WILD currently available in over 58 million U.S. homes. Globally, Nat Geo WILD is available in more than 120 million homes in 90 countries and 28 languages. For more information, visit www.natgeowild.com.