Nat Geo Channel to Premiere Special DINO AUTOPSY This Summer

This summer, dinosaurs will again capture the world's imagination with a trip back to the Jurassic period. And though National Geographic Channel can't bring any dinosaurs back to life (at least not yet!), we'll make our own attempt to crack the paleontological code with the new two-hour world premiere special DINO AUTOPSY.

Imagine a biology lab, filled from end to end with a 40-foot specimen, ready for dissection. The creature has skin like a crocodile, a heart well over 100 times larger than a human's, eyes the size of softballs and serrated teeth up to 12 inches long. It would not be a stretch to say this experiment is anything but routine. DINO AUTOPSY will literally go under the skin of a full-size T-Rex for the first time ever to reveal how the 65-million-year-old beast may have lived. (And we don't have to feed a human to it to make it awesome!)

Using cutting-edge special effects techniques, and in collaboration with esteemed veterinary surgeons, anatomists and paleontologists, DINO AUTOPSY will build the world's first full-size anatomically correct Tyrannosaurus Rex, based on the very latest research and findings. The massive monster will be life-like inside and out, giving scientists the chance to Touch it, smell it, scan it, X-ray it and cut it open from head to toe for the first time.

Using industrial-sized tools, a veterinary surgeon will slice and dice the dinosaur on a quest to reveal the answers to a number of questions:

· Did the T-Rex have feathers, and if so, did they have a function?

· How did the T-Rex feed with those tiny arms? It has massive back legs, so it's clear the beast was built for speed, but what happened once it caught its prey?

· How did it digest its prey? Looking at the contents of the T-Rex guts can tell us whether it was a hunter, a scavenger - or maybe even both.

· Just how similar were T-Rex to their closest living relatives, birds and crocodiles? There are clues in its cardiovascular system and its bones.

· How old did T-Rex live to be? Its leg might hold the answer.

· Was the T-Rex warm-blooded like a mammal, or cold-blooded like a lizard? With blood vessels big enough to stick an arm through, the answer may lie in the immense blood pressure necessary to keep the beast on the move.

· And perhaps the question we've always wondered: How did the T-Rex procreate?

Half gruesome monster film, and all real science, DINO AUTOPSY is a special that both aspiring and reformed dinosaur fanatics will find engrossing. Once the T-Rex has been fully dissected and examined, we'll learn just how and why this particular beast met its end, which in and of itself could reveal more information about the prehistoric creatures.

DINO AUTOPSY will air internationally on National Geographic Channels in 171 countries and in 45 languages.

DINO AUTOPSY is produced for National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) by Impossible Factual. For Impossible Factual executive producer is Paul Woodling. For NGCI, Ed Sayer is the executive producer and executive vice president and head of international is Hamish Mykura. For NGC in the U.S., Allan Butler is executive producer and Tim Pastore is president of original programming and production.

National Geographic Channels

Based at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Channels US are a joint venture between National Geographic and FOX Networks. The Channels contribute to the National Geographic Society's commitment to exploration, conservation and education with smart, innovative programming and profits that directly support its mission. Launched in January 2001, National Geographic Channel (NGC) celebrated its fifth anniversary with the debut of NGC HD. In 2010, the wildlife and natural history cable channel NAT GEO WILD was launched, and in 2011, the 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 NGC currently available in over 85 million U.S. homes. Globally, National Geographic Channel is available in more than 440 million homes in 171 countries and 45 languages. For more information, visit www.natgeotv.com.

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