National Geographic to Air T. REX AUTOPSY, 6/7

This summer, dinosaurs will again capture the world's imagination with a trip to "Jurassic World." And though National Geographic Channel cannot bring any dinosaurs back to life (at least not yet!), we will make our own attempt to crack the paleontological code with the new two-hour world premiere special T. rex Autopsy, premiering Sunday, June 7, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Imagine a biology lab, filled from end to end with a 46-foot specimen, ready for dissection. The creature has a heart 100 times larger than a human's, eyes the size of softballs and serrated teeth up to a foot long. It would not be a stretch to say this experiment is anything but routine. T. rex 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.

Using cutting-edge special effects techniques, and in collaboration and consultation with esteemed veterinary surgeons, anatomists and paleontologists, T. rex AUTOPSY features the world's first full-size anatomically complete Tyrannosaurus rex, based on the very latest research and findings. The massive monster is lifelike inside and out, giving scientists the chance to touch it, smell it and cut it open from head to toe for the first time.

Using industrial-sized tools, a veterinary surgeon aided by leading paleontologists slices and dices the dinosaur, on a quest to reveal the answers to a number of questions:

· How did the T. rex feed? It has massive back legs, but what happened once it caught its prey?

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

· Just how similar was T. rex to its 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 a human arm through, the answer may lie in the immense blood pressure necessary to keep the beast on the move.

· And perhaps the question we have always wondered: how did the T. rex procreate?

Part gruesome monster film, and all real science, T. rex 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 will learn just how and why this particular beast met its end, which in and of itself could reveal more information about the prehistoric creatures.

T. rex AUTOPSY will cap off a full slate of dinosaur-themed programming on NGC throughout the weekend, including three additional new premieres:

· Dino Death Match (Saturday, June 6, at 9 p.m. ET/PT): A fossil known as the "dueling dinosaurs" depicts predator and prey as they died in combat. A dramatic fossil, but also one that is central to a controversial debate; does it provide evidence of the existence of a separate tyrannosaur species? It could reveal a pygmy TYRANT - the Nanotyrannus. As the evidence for and against this predator is reviewed, dinosaur like no other is revealed, brought to life in stunning CGI.

· Jurassic CSI Special (wt) (Saturday, June 6, at 10 p.m. ET/PT): Today, all that is left of the dinosaurs are fossilized bones. But, using modern technology, we can now go beyond the bones and use fossils to answer eye-opening questions about dinosaur appearance, behavior and lifestyle.

· Ultimate Dino SURVIVOR (Sunday, June 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT): Tyrannosaurus rex was a top predator of its day. Well-armed with terrifying jaws, it was seemingly impervious to attack. But new fossils are revealing that the life of T. rex and its cousins was brutal. Fossils are probed with cutting-edge techniques to reveal the source of injuries, predation attempts that went wrong and titanic battles where T. rex teeth were sunk into adversaries.

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