ANIMAL PLANET UNVEILS ITS LARGEST NATURAL HISTORY SLATE EVER, DELIVERING JAW-DROPPING, UNPARALLELED PERSPECTIVES IN NATURE

-- The Planet Introduces New Weekly Series FRONTIER EARTH WITH DAVE SALMONI, an Off-the-Beaten-Path Tour of Nature's Most Elusive Inhabitants --

(Silver Spring, Md.) - For the past 15 years, Animal Planet has been synonymous with epic, groundbreaking wildlife programming, partnering with the world's most preeminent producers in this category including the prestigious BBC's Natural History Unit, Natural World's Units, NHK, Parthenon and NHNZ.

"Nowhere else has wildlife programming of this caliber been presented so powerfully, where independent voices from around the globe tell stories in a way only Animal Planet can," says Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet.

The mission is to show viewers the most startling never-before seen images of our ever-changing planet. Now, one of the world's most well-known experts in wildlife - Animal Planet's large predator expert, Dave Salmoni - hosts a series of eye-popping natural history stories in FRONTIER EARTH WITH DAVE SALMONI (wt).

FRONTIER EARTH WITH DAVE SALMONI takes the network's "Surprisingly Human" tagline to the next level in a six-part natural history series, where viewers embark on a Salmoni-guided journey to the frontlines of major ecosystems, unfolding the plights of the world's most enigmatic animals.

· In The Woman Who Swims with Killer Whales (wt), orca passionate Dr. Ingrid Visser is one of the only scientists in the world to dive with these killer whales. This film dissects her daily encounters among this complex mammal society, which is now under attack by competitive killer whales.

· In Killer Queen (wt), Arizona badland ants are Napoleanic; their small stature doesn't hinder them from warlike, aggressive behavior and unrivaled, nihilistic motives.

· Sweeping across the world to the Island of Komodo in the Republic of Indonesia, Salmoni presents Dragon's Bite (wt), where a leading scientist tracks down the Komodo dragon, the reigning lizard king with a deadly secretive, venomous bite.

· Salmoni lends his expertise in large predators to Tiger vs. Leopard (wt), which takes place in India's Sariska Nature Reserve, once known for its crowning efforts in tiger conversation. In 2004, poaching wiped out the tigers, and leopards moved into the territory. With a movement to reintroduce the native tigers, are the tigers able to breed a new population and claim back the territory from the leopards?

· In Anna and the Gremlins (wt), primatologist Anna Nekaris devotes her life to studying the elusive and highly threatened primate, the slow loris. On the outset, these creatures look like adorable characters from children's books, but discover what gives them a Jekyll-Hyde twist.

· US biologist Erik Patel is on a mission to save the Sifaka lemurs from extinction due to logging precious hardwoods used to make high-priced guitars and other luxury items. Lemur Blues (wt) investigates the illegal trade that's killing these lemurs.

In addition to FRONTIER EARTH WITH DAVE SALMONI, Animal Planet boasts its most magnificent lineup of big, bold, glorious natural history programming throughout the 2012-13 Upfront season. In The AFTERLIFE: HIPPO and The AFTERLIFE: ELEPHANT, it's an extraordinary reversed-time odyssey, spotlighting the continuum of life following death. From the filmmakers of Planet Earth and Frozen Planet comes WILD ARABIA (wt), homage to the dramatic and varied geology and wildlife of an exotic landscape a half world away. Award-winning filmmaker Gordon Buchanan takes an unprecedented look at a baby polar bear's struggle to survive against all odds in POLAR BEAR FAMILY AND ME (wt). And, WILD HAWAII (wt) and SWAMPLANDS (wt) convey up-close looks at the wilderness in our own backyard.