Sharks! Crocs! Giant Salamanders! 24-Foot-Long Snakes! Dr. Brady Barr Returns With Four New Episodes Of DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS

New Episodes Include a Return to Snake Cave Where Brady Was Bitten One Year Ago and First-Ever Tagging of Freshwater Crocs in Africa

Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr Airs Saturdays at 8 PM ET/PT in January -  Airdates are January 3, 10, 17 & 24

During his many adventures for National Geographic Channel, herpetologist Dr. Brady Barr has come face-to-face with some of the largest and most dangerous predators in the world.  He is the only scientist ever to catch and study all 23 species of crocodilians in the wild.  He's gotten his hands on giant reticulated pythons in the caves of Indonesia, dodged the fangs of king cobras, stared down the fearsome Komodo dragon and even swum with great white sharks.

This January, start the New Year off with four new episodes of Dangerous Encounters.  From Jurassic sharks, crocs in crisis and giant salamanders to a return to the infamous snake cave, Dr. Brady Barr fears nothing in the name of conservation and science.

Every Saturday in January, Brady will take viewers on adventuresome expeditions investigating the little-known and accomplishing rare feats:

Dangerous Encounters: Jurassic Shark
Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

Brady is on a quest to shed light on one of the largest and most ancient creatures of the sea - the elusive sixgill shark.  Brady's goal is to find out more about where these giants, which grow up to 16 feet in length and weigh up to 1,200 pounds, roam.  Little scientific knowledge exists about the behavior and migration of these massive animals.  In fact, scientists aren't even sure why they have their namesake six gills instead of the more typical five.

Brady's journey starts in Central America, 1,700 feet below the surface of the ocean in a homemade submarine.  Amazingly, inside the tiny sub, Brady literally bumps into a sixgill shark.  The curious sharks come at his sub in twos and threes ... and even try to sink their teeth into it.  Brady then travels to the Seattle Aquarium, where scientists actually scuba dive with sixgills right in Puget Sound.  The scientists are trying to find out why the sharks come to this busy area - and swim just 70 feet below the water surface.  They think the sharks might be meeting in the area to breed.  To see for himself, Brady dons a dry suit to protect him from the Sound's bitter cold, and dives in.

Brady then leaves Seattle for the coast of Hawaii, where he joins biologist Dr. Dean Grubbs, who is gathering a scientific baseline of information.  At the end of his journey, Brady has a much more complete picture of how sixgills behave.  And he achieves his personal goal:  He gets nose to nose with a sixgill and even swims with the little-known beast - and in the process captures a tiger shark - almost 15 feet long and pregnant.

Dangerous Encounters: Croc Crisis
Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

Brady is racing to South Africa's Kruger National Park to aid of one of his most beloved reptiles - Africa's giant Nile crocodile - carnivorous giants that typically measure 12 feet long and weigh half a ton.  Kruger is home to one of the densest concentrations of Nile crocs, with some 200 living within a five-mile gorge, relying on its deep water and sandy beaches for their eggs.  But a dam upriver is about to obliterate the beaches, so Brady is teaming up with South African Nile croc expert Hannes Botha to find out how the crocodiles will fare as this prime habitat disappears. If they have nowhere to lay their eggs, an entire generation may be doomed.  Brady heads off to capture some giants for a tracking study.  It's a harrowing adventure, as they must go by raft over rapids while contending with hundreds of crocs and hippos, some of the most dangerous animals in Africa.  Brady is not deterred and catches several huge crocodiles, attaches satellite transmitters to them and lets them go.

This is only the second time satellite transmitters have been placed on crocs to track their movements, and the first time they have been placed on freshwater crocs in Africa.  Brady can now see where the crocs are from any computer, anywhere in the world.  For the first time, scientists can follow crocodiles faced with the loss of their home.

Dangerous Encounters: Clash of the Giant Salamanders
Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

They're cute, harmless and usually the size of your thumb ... If you think you know what salamanders are, think again!  Brady is off on a journey to find the world's largest salamanders - giants that can grow up to five feet long and weigh as much as 80 pounds!  But which of these giants would be the King of the Salamanders?

To find out, Brady travels from the swamps of Florida to the jungles of Asia to capture and study the big four of the salamander world - a greater siren that breathes through gills, has two legs and can spin like a top; the two-toed amphiuma; the hellbender, with its flattened head and sagging skin the most hideous of the four; and a big, ferocious, battle-scarred beast called the denmaster.  Brady checks their size, survival skills and overall sliminess to see which of these beasts is truly the King of the Salamanders.  And one of his tests has never been done before on all these salamanders - he tastes their slime!

Brady successfully completes his mission, but not without paying a price!  While in Japan, Brady is bitten underwater by a giant snapping turtle.  Brady also encounters one of the largest salamanders on the planet - a five-foot giant with a head bigger than Brady's!  It beats all the other giants in size - but is size enough to make this creature the King of the Salamanders?

Dangerous Encounters: Return to the Snake Cave
Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

It was the bite heard round the world!  In April 2007, while on a scientific expedition deep in a guano-flooded bat cave in Indonesia, Brady was bitten by a 12-foot-long python - which made headlines for weeks.  But the bite stopped Brady from completing his mission - finding out why such large snakes are drawn to this inhospitable cave.  So, Brady does what he has to do - he returns to the cave!

One year later, Brady's back, waist deep in bat guano.  He's heard rumors that these snakes can reach up to 50 feet long.  But are the rumors true?  There's only one way to find out, and that's deep underground in a place few have gone before.  This time Brady's search will go further in the cave, through smaller crevasses, higher ledges and deeper muck. Trudging deeper into the cave, Brady finds a huge snake wedged in a tiny space.  But how can he capture it to get an accurate measurement?  The tactic is so simple, you won't believe it!  He simply attaches a string to the snake, and follows the trail until the snake leaves the cave.  Once outside, Brady and a team of 12 men successfully capture and measure the beast.  But does this snake confirm the legend of the 50-foot python?

Brady Barr: Dr. Brady Barr was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Bloomington, Ind.  He began his lifelong commitment to education and conservation while teaching high school biology and zoology.  He received a Bachelor of Science degree in science education from Indiana University in 1987, and a Master of Science degree (1994) and a doctorate in biology (1997) from the University of Miami.  His recent work in Costa Rica as a National Geographic Society grantee focuses on conservation and preservation of the American crocodile.  In 1997, Dr. Barr signed on with National Geographic as a field specialist for the Explorer series, becoming National Geographic's resident herpetologist, and he has since appeared in more than 70 National Geographic films.  Currently, Dr. Barr is the host of the NGC hit series Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr and a member of the Endangered Species Coalition of the Council of State Governments.

Dangerous Encounters is produced by National Geographic Television for the National Geographic Channel.  For National Geographic Television, executive producer is John Mernit, senior series producer is French Horwitz, series producer is Simon Boyce and creative director and narrator is Brady Barr.  For the National Geographic Channel, executive producer is Chris Valentini; senior vice president, special programming, is Michael Cascio; and executive vice president of content is Steve Burns.

For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com/dangerousencounters.