Plot Synopsis

In this three-hour event, THE WILD WEST explores the coasts, deserts and mountains of Western North America, revealing up-close footage of some of the toughest creatures to roam, fly and swim in America's west. The three, one-hour episodes are: "Gold Rush," chronicling the famed upstream swim of the Alaskan salmon, the massive brown and black bears hunting for that salmon, an elephant seal colony on the shores of California, and snakes, owls, bobcats and mice all battling for food, shelter and survival among the tallest trees on Earth; "High Noon," featuring desert creatures like vultures which are the undertakers of the desert, hawks which hunt and roam the desert like a biker gang, Western diamondback rattlesnakes which fight their own kind for dominance and banish the loser to cold nights, and the scorpion which has a diet mostly consisting of other scorpions; and "True Grit," showing animals in the Rocky Mountains, including gray wolves which are the outlaws of the mountains, grizzly bears striking fear into the hearts of the animals living in their territory, and cowboys riding bucking broncos. THE WILD WEST was first shown on March 17 at the Sun Valley Film Festival, two-and-a-half months before Nat Geo Wild presented the world television premiere of this program.