Dangerous Encounters

(Washington, D.C. – December 22, 2010) From the bizarre to the elusive to the downright deadly, throughout his career herpetologist Dr. Brady Burr has risked life and limb to study some of the fiercest creatures on the planet – but never with technology like this. Armed with new technology, Brady is back with a new season, on a new network, as his Dangerous Encounters take him around the globe in the name of science and conservation.

Moving to Nat Geo WILD beginning Tuesday, January 4 at p p.m. ET/PT, Dangerous Encounters returns with five all-new episodes. Brady gets up close and personal with a monster fish’s lethal snout, puts three of the most aggressive shark species to the test to find out which has the deadliest bite and takes on one of the world’s deadliest snakes using a high-tech robot. And later in the season, Brady captures a massive croc that has terrorized a village in Africa, possibly killing dozens of people, and employs a powerful net gun to capture a two-ton hippo.

Premiere episodes include:

Dangerous Encounters: Sawfish Giant
Premiers Tuesday, January 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT
The sawfish is one of the rarest, weirdest and most endangered fish Brady has ever encountered: Its massive body can reach 20 feet in length and its snout, studded with razor-sharp teeth, resembles a hedge trimmer. But scientists aren’t sure what the saw if for – or why this fish needs teeth outside its mouth. Determined to better understand this bizarre creature, Brady embarks on a mission to track down two equally odd and long-snouted fish – the white sturgeon and the paddlefish – to see if their snouts can shed some light on the workings of the sawfish’s saw. Then, in the Bahamas, Brady captures a wild sawfish to attach a satellite tracking tag. Brady hopes to identify a full range of the fish’s habitat – a crucial step in protecting the species and unlocking its secrets.

Dangerous Encounters: Deadliest Sharks
Premieres Tuesday, January 11, at 9 p.m. ET/PT
Sharks are a fearsome apex ocean predator, but which type has the most lethal attack? Brady and his team put three of the fiercest species to the test – the tiger shark, the bull shark and the great white. Brady and his team examine the factors that add up to a deadly, including bite force and hunting strategy. First, off the coast of Florida, the team wrangles the one of most aggressive species – the bull shark. With his hand just inches from the shark’s razor-sharp teeth, Brady uses a bite force meter and measures nearly half a ton of force – proving why its jaws are among the most feared on the planet. Then in the Bahamas, shark expert Ryan Johnson joins Brady as he captures a 12-foot tiger shark and uses electric currents to stimulate the shark’s jaw, providing an exact measure of maximum bite force. And in South Africa, Brady and Ryan take on the most notorious ocean predator: the great white. The team uses a camera-equipped remote control helicopter to get and up-close, aerial view of the shark’s breach attacks. Does its athletic hunting strategy make it the deadliest of all sharks?

Dangerous Encounters: Snakebot
Premieres Tuesday, January 18, at 9 p.m. ET/PT
Can robots offer a safer way to capture and study the most dangerous snakes on the planet? Brady is keenly interested, as his research has put him in direct contact with hundreds of powerful and deadly snakes. Nat Geo WILD follows Brady as he travels to South Africa to use a small robot, disguised as a jackal, to lure a giant python from its underground burrow. Then, Brady gets word that a 9-foot mamba – the deadliest poisonous snake in Africa – has taken refuge in a private home. To catch the mammoth reptile, Brady uses a specially designed “snakebot,” adapted from a bomb-defusing robot, with a mobile arm and a gripping claw designed to grab even the most agile snake. But when the mamba gets in strike position Brady, has to step in rather than risk having the snake escape, with potentially lethal implications.

Dangerous Encounters: Man-Eating Crocodiles
Premieres Tuesday, January 25, at 9 p.m. ET/PT
Giant man-eating crocs have killed dozens of villagers living near Lake Victoria. These beasts have become accustomed to humans and now prey on them, even capsizing fishing boats. Brady is on a mission to help end this reign of terror and trains a local team of rangers to capture crocs for relocation. After several days of training, the team heads back to the village, hoping they are well prepared to handle these on-ton man-eaters.

Dangerous Encounters: To Catch a Hippo
Premieres Tuesday, February 1, at 9 p.m. ET/PT
With over three tons of raw power and aggression, a full-grown hippo is among the dangerous creatures to capture, making it one of Africa’s biggest wildlife management challenges. Now, Brady is testing a new strategy: bringing it down with a net. Brady must use a specially designed gun to launch a massive net with alarming force – one wrong move and the gun could snap his wrist. And, as an added challenge, the net will be deployed from a helicopter. Follow Brady and a team of big game capture experts as they test the gun on alligators and warthogs before trying it out on a massive hippo.

Dangerous Encounters is produced by National Geographic Television, Inc., for Nat Geo WILD. For NGT, executive producer is John Mernit and series producer is Simon Boyce. For Nat Geo WILD, executive producer is Allen Butler and senior vice president of production is Juliet Blake.

For more information, visit www.natgeowild.com.