Nat Geo WILD Kicks Off Spring With 4 Wildlife Escapades Today

Don't forget your sunblock and sunglasses - we're off for a once-in-a-lifetime journey. Nat Geo WILD is kicking off spring with an impressive road trip around the world! Crossing borders to capture our Earth's rarest wildlife moments, we'll be making our way through exotic destinations, including Antarctica, China and South America, for a voyage into the wild land. Beginning this April through June, Nat Geo WILD presents four wildlife escapades, each focusing on a specific region and the furry friends that call it home.

In bloom this spring, Nat Geo WILD presents four Epic adventures:

· Attenborough's Ark - Premiering today, April 21, 2013, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, world-renowned filmmaker and naturalist David Attenborough reveals the 10 "chosen" creatures he would most like to save from extinction. Although tigers, pandas and polar bears are well known for preservation efforts to save them, Attenborough's own personal ark includes lesser-known black lions, tamarins and Sumatran rhinos, whose populations are dwindling. Nat Geo Wild provides viewers with an all-access pass to this modern-day ark.

· Hummingbird - Premiering one week later on Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, get to know this tiny warm-blooded creature to learn fascinating insights into its life, including its unique mating style. Call up your honey and enjoy a sweet night with one of the smallest birds on earth, capable of both forward and backward flight.

· A Penguin's Life - Premiering Sunday, June 16, 2013, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, march from the tropics to Antarctica and enter the life of a penguin. Waddle alongside as we track a baby to maturity, seeing how parents protect their chicks in frigid conditions. It's an "oohs" and "ahs" kind of night, so grab the kids for a tender walk on the wild side.

· Wild China - Premiering Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, making its three-hour series debut with three back-to-back episodes, we are introduced to China's mysterious, rarely seen wildlife, including giant pandas, Asian elephants and gibbons. We'll travel across China's mountains, oceans and forests to get a sense of the diverse human and animal communities that live in its varied landscapes.

Premiere episodes include:

Attenborough's Ark
Premieres Sunday, April 21, 2013, at 8 PM ET/PT
Nat Geo WILD joins world-renowned filmmaker and naturalist David Attenborough as he reveals the 10 "chosen" creatures that he'd most like to save from extinction. Although tigers, pandas and polar bears make headlines, Attenborough's own personal ark would be filled with some of the more unusual species that don't always receive the attention they deserve. From the black lion tamarin; to the Sumatran rhino, whose numbers hover at just around 200; to the pangolin, a mammal that has fallen victim to the exotic animal trade - these are the lesser-known but no less precious creatures of the animal kingdom. Along the way, meet the dedicated people trying to protect these animals, explore the innovative techniques that researchers have devised to ensure their survival and see the extreme lengths to which conservationists will go to in the struggle to save a species.

Hummingbird
Premieres Sunday, April 28, 2013, at 8 PM ET/PT
Nat Geo WILD travels to South America to explore the secret world of one of the most spectacular creatures on earth and one of the stars of the bird world: the hummingbird. They are among the smallest warm-blooded animals on earth, but despite their size they have enormous physical capabilities and are remarkable flyers - even capable of both forward and backward flight. Using high-speed slow-motion cameras, Nat Geo WILD offers insight into their fascinating lives, such as the unusual amount of Oxygen that their tiny bodies demand when flying and the unique way they mate. Fly with them and discover that there is more to these incredible, colorful, energetic and acrobatic creatures than meets the eye.

A Penguin's Life
Premieres Sunday, June 16, 2013, at 8 PM ET/PT
They roam Antarctica in their black-and-white feathery coats, protecting their eggs in the harshest climate on Earth. Trekking over the ice in search of food, battling off the feared leopard seal and making parenting look easy - this is A Penguin's Life. March alongside these magnificent creatures and see the everyday struggles of a colony of emperor penguins raising their chicks to survive on their own. To ensure that their babies are fed, penguin parents plunge into water at below-freezing temperatures to fetch food. They brave icy winds reaching up to 100 miles per hour to ensure their young remain safe. Using a specialized Crittercam, we'll dive underwater alongside the penguins to see from their perspective what life below the ice really is like.

Wild China (Three-Hour Miniseries Event)
Premieres Sunday, June 30, 2013, at PM ET/PT
Traveling to where few cameras have ever wandered, China is opening up to the world for a landmark three-episode miniseries, Wild China. Gaining unprecedented access into the country's mysterious wildlife and diverse human communities, we'll meet the astonishing wildlife that lives in China's varied landscapes. High-definition cameras capture unique images of the beauty of the region, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the remote wilderness of the Tibetan plateau and all of the geographical and natural beauty in between. Journey through this breathtaking place and discover the mysterious, beautiful, wild and rare creatures, such as snub-nosed monkeys, wild yak, wild elephants and giant panda, that live here. It's an Epic excursion that few have seen or experienced.

For more information, visit natgeowild.com.

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 56 million U.S. homes. Globally, Nat Geo WILD is available in more than 100 million homes in 90 countries and 28 languages. For more information, visit www.natgeowild.com.