Discovery Channel Visits Yellowstone National Park With "X-Ray" Vision This Sunday

A special program coming to the Discovery Channel on Sunday takes, quite literally, an inside look at Yellowstone National Park.

“X-Ray Yellowstone,” which airs December 23rd at 9 p.m. (EDT/PDT) on Discovery Channel’s CURIOSITY series, will take viewers inside the hidden wonders of Yellowstone using new imaging technology and the latest scientific research to shed insight on the park's incredible wilderness and the invisible forces at work.

Among the question the program aims to answer: Why is the wolf and elk population dwindling? What triggers the park’s deadly avalanches? What makes peregrine falcons one of world's most lethal hunters? And how does the deadly prairie rattlesnake survive in Yellowstone’s extremes?

The hour-long episode will also go beneath the surface of the park’s most popular attractions. A first stop for many visitors is to one of the hundreds of geothermal geysers that spew boiling hot water and steam into the sky like clockwork. It’s an incredible sight, but few stop to consider what lurks beneath their feet – a massive super volcano with the potential to erupt at any time.

“For most people who come to Yellowstone, it’s hard to comprehend the size of the caldera left over from the last eruption. Most people are standing in it when visiting,” said Greg Vaughn, one of the CURIOSITY scientists.

In this latest episode of CURIOSITY, viewers will see a side of Yellowstone like never revealed before – witnessing first-hand the epic forces that shape this active and beautiful land.