Arkansas PBS > Engage > Pressroom > 'EARTH A New Wild', a new five-part series, to premiere on AETN Feb. 4

'EARTH A New Wild', a new five-part series, to premiere on AETN Feb. 4

Posted 09 Dec 2014

"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. The series reveals nature as never before seen with one simple act: by turning the cameras around to put humans into the picture.

Dr. M. Sanjayan, host of "EARTH A New Wild" and leading conservation scientist, will be in Little Rock Wednesday, Jan. 21, for a free screening and discussion of "EARTH A New Wild" brought to you by AETN, The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas and the Museum of Discovery. Other panelists include Scott Simon, Director of the Nature Conservancy of Arkansas and YET TO BE NAMED.  Kevin Delaney of the Museum of Discovery moderates.  We invite you to join us at the Ron Robinson Auditorium, 100 River Market Ave. in Little Rock's historic River Market district at 6 p.m. for a reception, screening and discussion.  Interested parties are asked to R.S.V.P. to PHONE #.  For more information visit aetn.org/earthanewwild.

Produced by National Geographic Television in association with Passion Pictures and hosted by Dr. M. 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.

Each of the five episodes visits a different, critical habitat in which humans are engaging with nature in new ways. People in these "frontier" places are discovering new and surprising roles of wild nature in the world and the critical role people can play in restoring the natural world.

Episodes include:

• "Home" – Viewers will discover how captive-born pandas are learning to be wild and witness release of the first captive-born female giant panda into the wilds of China. From there, audiences will fly with vultures in the Himalayas; travel with Jane Goodall to Tanzania where she first began her work and where chimps and humans are now sharing the land; and finally, learn a shocking lesson from a community of people who live under the constant threat of man-eating tigers. "Home" reveals the threat human beings pose to the world's extraordinary animals and their habitats, yet it also relays powerful, dramatic human stories illustrating that wildlife and human life can thrive side by side.
• "Plains" – The plains and grasslands of world are home to the greatest number of mammals on Earth. They are also among the most endangered places on Earth. Traveling to the great plains of the world, from Africa to the arctic tundra, Sanjayan discovers that people and wild predator play an active and beneficial role to the revitalization of these habitats. Wildlife highlights include the first HD footage of rutting Saiga antelope on the steppes of Russia and the return of an ancient tradition in the arctic – the castration of reindeer males not by mechanical means, but by biting. Here on the plains, human-animal conflict is at its highest, but so is the promise that humans, by mimicking or working with top predators, can restore these grasslands to their former glory.
• "Forests" – 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 Amazon, Sanjayan travels into an uncharted area known as the intangible zone, home to previously "uncontacted" tribes. From there, he visits British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest where he captures rarely filmed wolf behavior. Then it is on to Portugal's cork forests and finally, Sumatra, where frightening elephant battles are exploding. Viewers will discover that today, Earth's great forests are home to a surprising number of people and very likely supported vastly larger human populations in the past.
• "Water" – 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 the never-before-seen-on-television gathering of people, elephants and lions at the Singing Wells of Northern Kenya and Sanjayan's epic kayak journey down the Colorado River from its source to where it dies out before reaching the sea. From there, viewers will discover why a depletion in fish stock in Lake Malawi is giving rise to HIV infections; meet the man who stopped the Sahara desert with an ancient use of nature; and witness one of the greatest ecological disasters on the planet: the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan.
• "Oceans" – 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. He is aware of the vast threat facing our oceans, but standing in the water playing midwife to a large lemon shark is just one of the moments that give him hope.

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 generous 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 Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect the lands and waters on which all life depends. The Conservancy and its more than 1 million members have protected nearly 120 million acres worldwide.

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).