Nat Geo WILD Slates Big Cat Week Premieres

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Nat Geo WILD is kicking off its seventh annual Big Cat Week with the premiere of Battle for the Pride on Monday, February 20.

Airing at 9 p.m., Battle for the Pride will examine what it takes for a lion to become king in Botswana, where only one in eight male lions lives to see adulthood. On February 22 at 10 p.m., Nat Geo WILD will air Soul of the Cat, in which National Geographic explorers-in-residence and renowned filmmakers Beverly and Dereck Joubert explore the deep connections and parallels between domestic cats and big cats.

Other Big Cat Week premieres include Storm Cats on February 20. The show follows the lives of two generations of lions and cheetahs during the wet season in Botswana. Jaguar: Supercat, which is narrated by Sir David Attenborough, will debut on February 21 at 9 p.m., while Disneynature’s African Cats rounds out the week. In African Cats, Samuel L. Jackson narrates a tale of big cats on the Savannah.

Big Cat Week is an extension of the Big Cats Initiative, a long-term commitment by the National Geographic Society to stop the decline of big cats in the wild.

“We have reached a critical moment in the fight to save big cats,” said Boone Smith, big cat tracker, biologist and conservationist. “These animals are in decline and if nothing is done to protect them, then we are facing a loss of some of the most incredible species on the planet. Big Cat Week is important because it represents hope for and sheds light on an important cause. The fight to save these species is an uphill battle, but we still have time to win.”