Travelling the continent for more than three years from the sub-zero Canadian tundra to the tropical rainforests of Panama, Discovery Channel’s first, independently-produced natural history landmark series, NORTH AMERICA, reveals that “survival of the fittest” is truly the law here amid threatening terrain and ferocious weather. You will never look at your backyard the same way again as we discover a hidden world where life – ranging from the familiar to the exotic – battles deep freezes, deadly fires and explosive super storms.
Discovery Channel’s determined production crew journeyed the span of North America including the frigid Yukon Territory, the lush forests of Belize, the snow-capped Rocky Mountains, the barren deserts of the American Southwest and more. They spent 2,830 days on location on 250 separate expeditions, and utilized 11 different types of cameras to shoot more than 850 hours of footage. State-of-the-art equipment including ultra-high-speed cameras, night viewing devices, and a one-of-a-kind submarine camera allowed the crew to capture behaviours never seen before on television. Time-lapses shot in High-Dynamic-Range (HDR) transformed the continent’s most severe weather events into truly mind-blowing imagery.
Get ready to experience an entire world in one continent; welcome to the “home of the brave” – the land where hungry predators and quick-thinking prey battle daily in the land of unpredictable extremes.
Episodes:
Born To Be Wild
The premiere episode begins an extraordinary journey across the entire North American continent – introducing viewers to the wildest places across the land they call “home.” Meet an incredible array of wildlife, both familiar and exotic, that live just beyond our backyards. Journey to the tip of the Canadian wilderness with mountain goats and dive into frigid waters with a whale and her calf facing numerous predators at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Follow the intense journey of sea turtles on the beaches of Costa Rica as they face hungry jaguars all while attempting to lay their eggs and watch wild mustangs fight for a valuable watering hole in deserts of Utah.
No Place To Hide
The fight to survive in this land full of extreme storms and unpredictable weather tests all those who dare to call this unforgiving place home. Watch as animals struggle to find shelter in a region where exposure to the elements means certain death. This episode goes from larger-than-life hunts to courtships invisible to the naked eye. Experience a dramatic hunt as a pack of wolves stalk mother bison and her calves. Peer into the lives of bunker-building prairie dogs as they search for shelter from the inhospitable sun in the plains of South Dakota. See the hidden world of a male jumping spider’s search for love in an endless ocean of grass.
Learn Young Or Die
NORTH AMERICA is home to some of the world’s tallest peaks. Storm battered at the top, these peaks give way to dense forests that are filled with extraordinary wildlife amongst the tallest and oldest trees on the planet. Watch as avalanche-dodging grizzlies, head-bashing Bighorn sheep, elusive mountain lions and cunning coyotes learn to adapt quickly as the weather rapidly changes from winter’s deep freeze to summer’s deadly fires in North America’s forests and mountains. Enter the secret world of America’s most remote places where survival is a daily battle across varying elevations.
The Savage Edge
North America’s coasts are the final frontier where human civilisation and untamed wilderness collide on a razor’s edge. Watch as all life faces the savage forces that storm in from the sea, including Hurricane Irene, one of the deadliest storms in recent history. Travel to the stark cliffs of California as peregrine falcons fiercely defend their nests against predators, watch a fearless band of maverick dolphins hunt by chasing fish onto land and travel to the Atlantic coasts where astounding aerials reveal a massive migration of tens of thousands of sharks just a few feet from Miami’s crowded beaches.
Outlaws And Skeletons
Water drives all life in this parched land. Mystifying adaptations are the only way creatures can survive in the continent’s driest areas. Travel from Death Valley to the scorching deserts of Mexico where both humans and animals live at the mercy of the elements. Go underground as spadefoot toads emerge from the bone-dry earth after a sudden rainfall in West Texas. Watch a rarely-seen jaguar prowl in the lonely darkness just across the border in Mexico. Take to the skies as an entire family of Harris hawks team up to hunt a cottontail rabbit hiding amid spiny cacti.
NORTH AMERICA: Revealed
NORTH AMERICA film crews crisscrossed eight countries and nearly 30 states in America for over three years with more than 2,800 days in the field. Many of these shoots required exceptional skills and tested the crews to their limits, whether filming elusive animals like jaguars and mountain lions, getting close to battling bull bison or trekking across the Rocky Mountains’ bone-chilling peaks in the middle of winter in the search of mountain goats. Perhaps the most dangerous mission of all was when the team went head to head with Hurricane Irene – one of the biggest storms of the decade.
NORTH AMERICA: Top 10
In this special episode, Discovery reveals the results of its online poll asking viewers: “What is the top North America destination?” Over 35,000 online votes reveal what viewers deem as the top natural landmarks of this extreme continent. Expect some surprises along the way. Did the geysers of Yellowstone reign supreme? Did the rainforests of Belize top the competition? Be prepared to view the best that North America has to offer.