100 Heartbeats is a 2-hour documentary hosted by famed biologist and television personality, Jeff Corwin, which investigates the plight of our planet’s most endangered wildlife species and the conservation heroes trying to save them.
Save Our Seas Foundation biologist Alison Kock is one of those heroes. Her life’s dedication to unraveling the mysteries behind great white sharks is key to better protecting this vital apex predator, currently listed as vulnerable to extinction on the Red List of Threatened Species. Jeff Corwin and his film crew journey to the waters around Seal Island in False Bay, Alison’s main research site, to witness for themselves how white sharks survive in the cold waters off South Africa’s Cape.
The title of 100 Heartbeats refers to species that are so dangerously close to extinction that they become the ultimate minority. They are forced to join an exclusive club, where the membership’s main requirement is one’s precarious chances for survival – they are often just one heartbeat away from extinction.
Other poignant stories include the recovery of the California condor, as it gloriously takes flight to the skies once again after nearly disappearing forever, and the herculean efforts of scientists to protect the last remaining black rhinos of Africa.
Providing the audience with a rich and complete experience, the documentary travels from the genetics laboratory to the field, from protective captivity to repatriation to the wild. The mission of the documentary is to have the audience feel as though they are in the field, alongside Jeff, witnessing and experiencing these incredible animals first-hand. Ultimately, the mission of 100 Heartbeats is to take the audience on an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime journey, introducing them to both the species teetering on the edge of extinction and the environmental heroes working to pull them back from the brink.
100 Heartbeats premiered on 22nd November 20h00 ET on MSNBC.
Slideshow of behind-the-scenes images taken from the shoot
Trailer for 100 Heartbeats