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'EARTH A New Wild' to premiere on AETN Feb. 4

Posted 21 Jan 2015

'EARTH A New Wild,' a landmark series revealing the extraordinary way humans are intimately connected to the wild animals and wild places of this planet, will premiere on the Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) Wednesday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. Following episodes will air at 9 p.m. each Wednesday, beginning Feb. 11. The series reveals nature as never before seen with one simple act: by turning the cameras around to put humans into the picture. Additionally, Dr. M. Sanjayan, host of 'EARTH A New Wild' and leading conservation scientist, will join Steve Barnes for a new episode of 'Barnes and… A Conversation With' airing in conjunction with the premiere Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Produced by National Geographic Television in association with Passion Pictures and hosted by Sanjayan, the series takes viewers to the frontiers of where man and wildlife meet. Viewers will discover how humans are inextricably woven into every aspect of the planet's natural systems and how saving and restoring wild nature is key to preserving – and enriching – future existence.

'The pristine views of epic nature shows always leave something out of the picture: us,' Sanjayan said. 'I traveled the world to film some of the wildest places.

'What I found were amazing stories that reveal a new paradigm about us and the planet we live on – that when we save wild nature we really are saving ourselves.'

With 45 shoots in 29 different countries using advanced filming techniques, the series provides all the spectacle of the best nature documentaries but goes a step further to capture encounters between wild animals and the people who live and work with them. These up-close looks at a range of species, from giant pandas to humpback whales, African lions and Arctic reindeer, uncover how people and wildlife – even top predators – can thrive alongside each other and be mutually beneficial.

Episodes include:

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• 'Home,' Feb. 4 – Viewers will discover how captive-born pandas are learning to be wild, fly with vultures in the Himalayas, travel with Jane Goodall to Tanzania and, finally, learn a shocking lesson from a community of people who live under the constant threat of man-eating tigers.
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• 'Plains,' Feb. 4 – Home to the greatest number of mammals on Earth, plains and grasslands are also among the world's most endangered places. Sanjayan travels to the great plains of the world to discover that people and wild predator play an active and beneficial role to the revitalization of these habitats.
• 'Forests,' Feb. 11 – A journey deep into the great forests of Earth reveals a new way of looking at wild places and the people and animals that live there. In the episode, Sanjayan travels into an uncharted Amazon area home to previously 'uncontacted' tribes, British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, Portugal's cork forests and Sumatra, where frightening elephant battles are exploding.
• • 'Oceans,' Feb. 18 – Reporting from one of the most remote coral atolls on Earth (Palmyra Atoll), the Bahamas and from New York Harbor, Sanjayan draws deep on his own ocean experiences to reveal a vibrant community of scientists, engineers and fisherman who are discovering new ways to help maintain the remarkable productivity of oceans.
• 'Water,' Feb. 25 – To unravel the dramatic connections between fresh water and the health of the planet, Sanjayan travels to some of Earth's greatest bodies of fresh water. Highlights include a gathering of people, elephants and lions at the Singing Wells of Northern Kenya; a kayak journey down the Colorado River; an investigation into why a depletion in fish stock in Lake Malawi is giving rise to HIV infections; the man who stopped the Sahara desert with an ancient use of nature; and one of the greatest ecological disasters on the planet: the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan.

In collaboration with PBS, The Nature Conservancy will be an engagement and outreach partner for the series, extending the reach and impact of 'EARTH A New Wild.' The Conservancy will create a digital companion site to the series, offering web content with online community and interactivity integrated throughout. The goal of the site is to build and engage an audience around the series content with additional content and online features.

Funding for 'EARTH A New Wild' is provided by a grant from the Anne Ray Charitable Trust.

National Geographic Television is the production arm of the National Geographic Society, one of the world's largest scientific and educational organizations. For 50 years, NGT has been producing groundbreaking documentary films, pushing filmmaking technology to its limits, bringing great stories to television audiences worldwide.

Led by multiple award-winning producer David Allen, Passion Planet is the landmark television department of Passion Pictures, whose Academy Award-winning feature documentaries, including 'One Day in September' and 'Searching for Sugar Man,' make it one of the leading documentary companies in the world.

The Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN) is Arkansas's statewide public television network that enhances lives by providing lifelong learning opportunities for people from all walks of life. AETN delivers local, award-winning productions and classic, trusted PBS programs aimed at sharing Arkansas and the world with viewers. AETN depends on the generosity of Arkansans and the State of Arkansas to continue offering quality programming. For more information, visit aetn.org, or follow the AETN blog at aetn.org/engage. AETN is broadcast on KETS (Little Rock), KEMV (Mountain View), KETG (Arkadelphia), KAFT (Fayetteville), KTEJ (Jonesboro), and KETZ (El Dorado).