Nature "Life in Death Valley"

The simmering cauldron of Death Valley is the hottest, driest place in the United States, epic in its beauty but punishing in its brutal extremes. In a scorched landscape marked by endless miles of salt flats, molten rock canyons and lunar craters, survival itself is a miracle.

NATURE captures the majesty and mystique of the largest national park in the continental United States in "Life in Death Valley," airing on PBS Sunday, January 8, 2006. Check local listings. The high-definition program stars a panoply of fascinating characters, both animal and human, such as the Devil's Hole pupfish, kangaroo rats, coyotes, roadrunners and long-distance marathon runners. Emmy-winning actor Anthony LaPaglia narrates.

Filmed from the sky, under water and everywhere in between, "Life in Death Valley" presents the many faces of the three-and-a-half-million acres of rugged, untouched terrain, some of which are quite surprising. For example, deep under the parched earth in the valley is one of the nation's largest aquifer systems, spreading 40,000 square miles. The program gains access to a remote corner of this underworld known as "Devil's Hole," home of the ancient species of Devil's Hole pupfish.

Relics of the Ice Age, these pupfish have thrived in the waters below Death Valley for thousands of years, but are now dwindling in number. "Life in Death Valley" joins a special team of conservation biologists as they monitor the fish, looking for clues to their decline.

Equally fascinating are the ingenious survival methods used by Death Valley's wildlife population. While Merriam's kangaroo rats and chuckwalla lizards seek refuge from the triple-digit heat in burrows and crevices, blacktailed jackrabbits use their ears to dissipate heat; fringe-toed lizards bury themselves under a layer of sand to cool.

And if the extreme temperatures weren't enough to challenge these creatures, there is also a scarcity of food and water: large mammals such as desert bighorn sheep have developed a nine-stage digestive system to allow them to eat the harshest desert plants, and the desert tortoise must eat a year's worth of food and find a mate in just two weeks in spring.

Although the valley receives an average of less than two inches of rain a year, when it does rain, it pours. "Life in Death Valley" shows the aftermath of the famous August 15, 2004, flash flood, when 13 miles of highway were destroyed and nine cars swept away in the wash, killing two people. The heavy rains of 2004 also brought long dormant flower seeds into bloom, turning the usually barren surface of the valley into a carpet of epic color. It was a sight unequalled in decades.

Despite these moments of transformation, Death Valley lives up to its name. Locations with names such as Coffin's Peak and Dead Man's Pass bear witness to its lethal potential. Yet every year it draws ambitious and determined runners to test their limits. Documenting one of the most daunting footraces imaginable, "Life in Death Valley" closely follows several top athletes, including a three-time Iron Man champ, as they take on 135 miles of scorching Death Valley heat in the Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon. It is arguably the most grueling physical challenge on earth.

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