Animal planet - Wild North America -Top Ten Natural Wonders (part 7)
- 6 years ago
Count down the Top 10 Natural Wonders in North America, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone and the Redwood Forest.
Utah's Red Rock Country
The five national parks across Southern Utah feature some of the most unique and beautiful landscapes in North America with much of it sculpted from the distinctive red sandstone that covers this part of the continent.
Together these parks -- including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef -- offer thousands of natural arches, miles of breathtaking canyons, and towering buttes and rock faces that have become a nation's sacred natural treasures.
Acadia
People have been drawn to the rugged coast of Maine throughout history. Awed by its beauty and diversity, early 20th-century visionaries donated the coastal islands that became the first national park east of the Mississippi River. Acadia is home to many plants and animals that are native to northern humid continental forests as well as the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
Today visitors come to Acadia to hike granite peaks, bike historic carriage roads, or delight in the scenery that is little changed since the French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed past it in 1604.
Death Valley
This spectacular below-sea-level basin combines the hottest, driest, and lowest points in North America. Steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley a land of extremes, but each extreme has a striking contrast. Towering peaks are frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor tiny fish and provide refuge for wildlife and humans. Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life survives across this harsh, but beautiful landscape.
Everglades
Everglades National Park is the United States' largest subtropical wilderness that protects an unparalleled landscape filled with flora and fauna that blend life from the Caribbean tropics with more familiar species from temperate North America.
At nearly 1.5 million acres in size -- but still only 20 percent of the historic Everglades ecosystem -- the park provides important habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like the manatee, American crocodile, and the elusive Florida panther.
Mammoth Cave
This underground National Park preserves what one early visitor described as a "grand, gloomy and peculiar place" that's a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. It is by far the world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles (644km) explored.
Humans have been venturing into its vast chambers and complex labyrinths for at least 6,000 years and in 1981 it was named as a World Heritage Site.
Redwood Forest
Most people know California's redwood forest as home to the tallest trees on Earth. But the national and state parks also protect vast prairies, oak woodlands, wild rivers, and nearly 40 miles of pristine Pacific Ocean coastline, all supporting a rich mosaic of wildlife diversity
Utah's Red Rock Country
The five national parks across Southern Utah feature some of the most unique and beautiful landscapes in North America with much of it sculpted from the distinctive red sandstone that covers this part of the continent.
Together these parks -- including Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef -- offer thousands of natural arches, miles of breathtaking canyons, and towering buttes and rock faces that have become a nation's sacred natural treasures.
Acadia
People have been drawn to the rugged coast of Maine throughout history. Awed by its beauty and diversity, early 20th-century visionaries donated the coastal islands that became the first national park east of the Mississippi River. Acadia is home to many plants and animals that are native to northern humid continental forests as well as the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
Today visitors come to Acadia to hike granite peaks, bike historic carriage roads, or delight in the scenery that is little changed since the French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed past it in 1604.
Death Valley
This spectacular below-sea-level basin combines the hottest, driest, and lowest points in North America. Steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley a land of extremes, but each extreme has a striking contrast. Towering peaks are frosted with winter snow. Rare rainstorms bring vast fields of wildflowers. Lush oases harbor tiny fish and provide refuge for wildlife and humans. Despite its morbid name, a great diversity of life survives across this harsh, but beautiful landscape.
Everglades
Everglades National Park is the United States' largest subtropical wilderness that protects an unparalleled landscape filled with flora and fauna that blend life from the Caribbean tropics with more familiar species from temperate North America.
At nearly 1.5 million acres in size -- but still only 20 percent of the historic Everglades ecosystem -- the park provides important habitat for numerous rare and endangered species like the manatee, American crocodile, and the elusive Florida panther.
Mammoth Cave
This underground National Park preserves what one early visitor described as a "grand, gloomy and peculiar place" that's a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. It is by far the world's longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles (644km) explored.
Humans have been venturing into its vast chambers and complex labyrinths for at least 6,000 years and in 1981 it was named as a World Heritage Site.
Redwood Forest
Most people know California's redwood forest as home to the tallest trees on Earth. But the national and state parks also protect vast prairies, oak woodlands, wild rivers, and nearly 40 miles of pristine Pacific Ocean coastline, all supporting a rich mosaic of wildlife diversity