Animal Face-Off

Animal Face-Off
Directed by	Malcolm Hall
Narrated by	Scott Dreier
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andrew Waterworth Michael Stedman
Producer(s)	Nick Bleszynski
Running time	60/120 minutes
Release
Original network	Discovery Channel
Original release	March 21 – September 12, 2004

Animal Face-Off is a television program that aired on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in 2004.^[1]

Synopsis

This program, produced by NHNZ, centers on hypothetical battles between two animals that could meet in the wild, or, in some cases, have been compared to each other by scientists. CGI replicas and models were used to collect data (such as strength, bite force, etc.) about the animals. Then, in a virtual arena, a brief computer-animated fight scene reveals the results. Some people have declared this show similar to the hit Spike TV show Deadliest Warrior. Since the fights are created artificially, results in real life may vary. Each episode of Animal Face-Off is 1 hour long, with the exception of the 12th episode, which is 2 hours long

Episode list

Episode	Animals	Location	Winner	Recap
1	Great White Shark vs. Saltwater Crocodile	Northern Australian Coast	Great White Shark	A great white shark is roaming close to shore, looking for food; a saltwater crocodile swims nearby, looking for a new territory. The shark hits the crocodile with the bump-and-bite technique. Accustomed to defending himself against rivals, the croc bites its opponent′s tail but can′t get a good grip. The shark swims away and makes a wide turn for a full-on assault; however, the crocodile gets the first bite on its pectoral fin. The bite tears off the shark′s fin, helped by the classic death roll. Despite the injury, the shark is still strong. Then, both animals collide head on; the croc grabs hold of the shark′s snout with its crushing bite. This time, the large fish can′t fight back; the croc attempts another death roll. After that, they both sink. Running out of air, the large reptile breaks the death roll and heads straight to the surface. The shark takes advantage of it; with the reptile′s soft underbelly exposed, it comes back with a textbook attack, killing the crocodile with a powerful bite.
2	African Bush Elephant vs. Southern White Rhinoceros	Serengeti National Park	African Bush Elephant	In the African Serengeti, a white rhino has left his mud hole and is looking for somewhere to feed, nearby, a bull elephant is roaming around, also seeking good grazing. The rhino begin grazing but suddenly feels the ground shaking, and turns to see that it's elephant, due to its bad eyesight, the ill-tempered rhinoceros sees it as a rival and prepares to charge. The elephant responds to the rhino's challenge with a loud trumpet, but the smaller ungulate is not hesitant to charge, the rhino then makes his move, but the much smarter elephant anticipates the attack by charging too and dodging. The rhino then returns and tries to stab the elephants throat, but it's too tall, even with his four-foot horn. The white rhino then tries an agile headbutt, but the elephant proves better with his seven-foot tusks, the larger bull ungulate then turns the rhino around and stabs it twice with its tusks (breaking one in the process that gets stuck in the rhino). The elephant then topples his rival and crushes him under his weight, the elephant steps off and trumpets in victory.
3	Bengal Tiger vs. Asiatic Lion	India	Asiatic Lion	An Asiatic lion is roaming an abandoned Indian temple when he spots a Bengal tiger feeding on a kill close, the lion roars at his striped cousin to back off, but the tiger ignores. The lion then rushes towards the tiger, but trips on him upon impact, the agile tiger recovers quickly and attempts a throat bite, but the lion shakes off this attack and the combatants are back to square one. The big cats roar and slash at each other with their claws, but neither lands a killing blow; the tiger then attempts a neck bite, but the lion's mane deflects his aim. Desperate to put an end to the battle, the bigger striped cat leaps toward his maned relative, but the lion is a much more skilled fighter, he at last catches the tiger off guard and delivers a fatal neck bite. The lion then walks away, roaring in victory and retaining its crown as "King of the Beasts".
4	Hippopotamus vs Bull Shark	Zambezi River	Hippopotamus	A wounded hippopotamus is resting in his stretch of river, unaware that a bull shark is roaming around, looking for food. The shark catches the smell of meat, but doesn't where it's coming from, the shark starts the encounter with an exploratory bump, after confirming the hippo is indeed food, the shark bites the side, but the massive girth combined with the enormous weight of the hippo is too much of a mouthful for the smaller shark. Even the thick skin in the back leg proves too tough, despite this, the fish does manage to rip off the mammals tail. All while the hippo has been roaring in pain, not knowing what him, but his bad temper lights a fire in his belly, the big mammal submerges and spots the deadly shark, the enraged hippo comes forwards to the shark, and the big fish does the same. The hippo then opens his mouth, revealing it's huge sharp foot-long canine teeth, but the bull shark keeps coming and is finally crushed and killed when the larger hippo closes his mouth on him.
5	Gray Wolf vs. Cougar	Rocky Mountains	Cougar	A gray wolf is feeding; from a great distance, a cougar catches the smell of meat, and comes to investigate. The cat comes across the canine eating, Lying down, it thinks about how to steal the meal without having the wolf to call for reinforcements. Soon after, the canine notices the cougar and growls. The mountain lion does the same. The wolf responds by charging forward and ferociously bites the cougar′s back leg, but backs off when the cat pounces on it with its front legs and lethal claws. The wolf howls to its pack for backup. Realizing it′s in grave danger, the cougar tries to retreat, but the large canine stops it by biting its paw. Furious, the cougar rolls onto its back, rakes the wolf with its claws and throws it off to the ground, killing the canine at once. The feline prepares to eat, but it then hears the wolf pack approaching. Left with no choice, the cougar leaves the kill and flees straight to the forest.
6	Walrus vs. Polar Bear	Arctic Circle	Walrus	A walrus is relaxing by the water′s edge, suddenly, a hungry polar bear comes by, startled and nervous, the walrus heads straight for the sea. The bear attempts to bite and scratch it, but the pinniped′s thick skin is too much, even for a large bear like itself. Although it briefly manages to latch on with its sharp teeth, the bear can′t do much serious damage. The walrus then tries to stab the bear with its four-foot tusks, but the agile predator anticipates. It then tries several paw swipes to the head, but the walrus's skull is too thick to land a killing blow. As the walrus flees, the bear holds on and gets dragged into the ocean, afterwards, the walrus turns around, goring the bear with its tusks. The bear, wounded and running out of air, heads straight back to the surface. But the walrus returns with a vengeance – it soon sinks its tusks onto the carnivore's back, killing it. The dead bear sinks into the ocean.
7	Brown Bear vs. Siberian Tiger	Siberian Taiga	Brown Bear	On a snowy day, a Siberian tiger is feeding. A large brown bear passes by, looking for one last meal before going into hibernation. Feeling its meal threatened, the cat roars at the bear to back off, but the much larger carnivore keeps coming. The tiger then tries to knock down the bear with all its might, but the bear absorbs the blows without losing its balance. The tiger tries to deliver a neck-bite, but the bear knocks the striped cat down. The bear then knocks the cat on the ground, and moves straight for the meal. Angry at the thievery, the big, striped cat jumps on the bear from behind and latches on with its claws, cutting deep, but failing to disable. The much stronger bear then turns around and paw swipes the tiger′s head, injuring its face. Soon, the bear sees an opening, so it breaks the tiger′s back and bites its neck, killing it at once, before moving on to the meal.
8	African Lion vs. Nile Crocodile	Maasai Mara	Nile Crocodile	An African male lion is eating by the river′s edge when a Nile crocodile emerges from the water, intent on stealing the meal. Upon seeing that, the cat roars at the reptile to back off, but it does little than get a loud hiss from the croc. The lion attacks but cannot land a deadly blow because of the reptile′s thick armor. The lion then tries to flip the crocodile to reach its unarmored belly, but a roll and tail swipe stops it from doing so. Determined to get rid of the stubborn cat, the large reptile heads back to the water, and gets out of sight. Determined to protect its kill, the cat stays close to the water′s edge, looking for an opportunity to attack. However, the croc launches a surprise attack on the mammal, grabbing his neck and dragging it to the water. The crocodile soon performs a death roll, which kills the lion at once.
9	Green Anaconda vs. Jaguar	Amazon River	Green Anaconda	A jaguar heads to the Amazon River. A large anaconda is patrolling the shore, as the spotted cat enters the water, the snake sees it as prey and takes position, waiting for the right moment to strike. The cat can sense the danger, but cannot see the reptile beneath the surface. A bird call distracts it; the snake takes advantage of it and strikes without warning, wrapping its coils over the big cat. Soon, both mammal and reptile sink underwater, the jaguar gets away at first by biting the anaconda′s tail and cutting it with claws. Hurt and bleeding, the anaconda attempts to flee, but the jaguar, determined to have it for dinner, tries to fish it out of the water. On land, the snake turns around and launches a surprise attack, knocking the cat and coiling around it again. Too tired to fight back, the jaguar is defeated – and soon killed.
10	Mountain Gorilla vs. African Leopard	Congo Rainforest	Mountain Gorilla	A male mountain gorilla has left his family in the trees, looking for a place to spend the night. However, he′s unaware that he′s wandering into the territory of an African female leopard, who has hidden her cubs in a nearby den. The leopardess confronts the gorilla and sees him as a threat to her young. The big primate, upon seeing her, tries to avoid the fight, beating his chest, growling and howling in the process, but the leopard does not flinch. The gorilla approaches, swiping at the big cat, which soon leaps onto a rock. Afterwards, she takes the huge primate by surprise by jumping onto his back and biting his shoulder. The gorilla throws the leopard off, but using her better stealth, she leaps on the ape′s back again. After that, the gorilla easily throws her off again, and the leopard runs for her life, but the ape turns her over on her back. Both animals fight briefly. Then the leopard gets back up again, but the ape chomps on her shoulder, making her roaring in with pain. After that, she backs off. Both opponents stare and snarl at each other. Desperate, the leopardess leaps towards the gorilla, but he throws his powerful arm on her back, breaking her spine and killing her – thus ending the battle.
11	American Alligator vs American Black Bear	Everglades	American Black Bear	On a hot day in the Everglades, a black bear has gone into a lake to drink, not knowing that an alligator is resting underneath, the gator wakes up and sees the bear, but the bear has also spotted the reptile and tries to retreat. The stealthy alligator then ambushes the smaller mammal and grabs his leg and does the classic death roll, but all he grabs is a mouthful of fur, fat and muscle. Hurt, but not fatally and still strong, the black bear fights back by slashing the gator's mouth. the larger reptile then attempts a tail swipe, but the much smarter bear anticipates this; knowing it's vulnerable on land, the gator tries to retreat, but the angered bear lungs at him. The alligator then tries to roll free of the mammal's grab, but this gives bear the advantage to roll him, which exposes the gator's soft underbelly which the black bear slashes fatally into, and kills the giant reptile, the bear leaves as the dead gator rots in the riverbank.
12	Sperm Whale vs. Colossal Squid	Antarctic Ocean	Sperm Whale	A sperm whale is diving into the deep abyss, while a colossal squid rockets through the depths. Both combatants sense each other – the squid sees the whale, while the whale′s echolocation reveals the squid's location. Upon seeing the whale as a potential predator, the squid releases a burst of ink as a warning, but it′s ignored by the whale, which launches a slow attack on the huge squid. Just before it reaches the mouth, the squid latches onto the whale and rakes it with his suckers, wounding it in the process. By rising close to the surface, the squid is shaken off, but not before it scratches the whale further. Although wounded, the whale amplifies his sonar and stuns the squid. The paralyzed cephalic is helpless – and thus eaten alive.

DVDs

Each episode of Animal Face-Off has been released on DVD. You may also rent them from Netflix DVDs which they send them to you in the mail.

See also

• Jurassic Fight Club
• Tiger versus lion
• Deadliest Warrior
• Monster Bug Wars
• Death Battle

References

1. John F. Bonfatti (March 27, 2004), "Survival of the Fittest", The Buffalo News