DON'T WATCH ALONE...

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED: "MONSTER WEEK" RETURNS TO ANIMAL PLANET WITH A MONSTROUS NINE-NIGHT LINEUP STARTING MAY 17

(Los Angeles, Calif. - April 24, 2015) - Consider this an official warning - MONSTER WEEK returns to Animal Planet this May, and it's jam-packed with some of the most terrifying beasts to ever have inhabited Earth. That's why this year's MONSTER WEEK needs nine nights to investigate these horrifying creatures, whose teeth and claws strike fear into viewers watching from the comfort of their living rooms.

Beginning Sunday, May 17, through Monday, May 25, viewers can catch bone-chilling programming, including DEADLY AFTER DARK, following polar bears that have taken over a North American town; SERIAL KILLER TIGER AT LARGE, stalking a blood-thirsty tiger that's claimed 10 lives and is still on the loose in India; and KILLER HORNETS FROM HELL, warning of a global swarm that makes killer bees look like butterflies.

In addition to unveiling the most lethal creatures from the natural world, MONSTER WEEK also unleashes the savage stalkers residing within our own imaginations. I WAS BITTEN: THE WALKER COUNTY INCIDENT (working title) goes down south to investigate an unnatural entity that's attacking people in the woods outside a small town in Alabama. A scripted feature based on actual science, THE CANNIBAL IN THE JUNGLE ponders the existence of real three-foot-tall human-like creatures - nicknamed Hobbits - that might have escaped extinction to wreak havoc on a group of scientists in the rainforest of Indonesia.

MONSTER WEEK wraps with a terrifying two-hour edition of RIVER MONSTERS, unveiling monsters from the prehistoric past. Be safe, and don't watch alone.

SUNDAY, MAY 17, AT 9 PM ET/PT

MONSTER WEEK launches with RIVER MONSTERS "Africa's Deadliest" as freshwater detective and biologist Jeremy Wade travels to Botswana in pursuit of a pack-hunting carnivore blamed for mauling the victims of a capsized boat. Jeremy's search for these piranha-like predators leads him 40 feet beneath the surface, where he offers himself up as bait in the crocodile-infested waters of the Okavango Delta.

MONDAY, MAY 18, AT 8 PM ET/PT

The tiger is one of the world's favorite animals, but in India it's considered a public menace. SERIAL KILLER TIGER AT LARGE attempts to track down the man-eating tiger that has an insatiable hunger for human flesh, has claimed 10 victims to date and is still out there lurking.

TUESDAY, MAY 19, AT 8 PM ET/PT

The showdown between man and super predator continues with DEADLY AFTER DARK. The special follows the brave residents of Churchill, Canada as they try to endure the town's annual migration of polar bears. It's survival of the fittest as more than one thousand bears invade this subarctic outpost as they trek north for winter and look for food wherever they can.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, AT 8 PM ET/PT

Find out what the buzz is all about when KILLER HORNETS FROM HELL premieres Wednesday. This real-life monster special follows a relentless group of hunters on a seemingly impossible mission to fight off the swarm of giant hornets quickly migrating across the globe. With flesh-melting venom and a piercing stinger, just one of these death machines can kill a full-grown man.

THURSDAY, MAY 21, FROM 8-10 PM ET/PT

Viewers may never want to leave their houses again after seeing the incredible stories of people who have survived unthinkable animal attacks featured in the terrifying special MAULED, which premieres at 8 PM ET/PT. And, those who survive MAULED can tune into MONSTER ISLAND at 9 PM ET/PT, as a team of expert hunters cull the invasive colony of boars infected by the highly contagious and deadly Brucellosis microbe on Mona Island. The island is a true monster and one of the most forbidding and hostile environments known to man. The hunters face scorching temperatures; venomous snakes and spiders; poisonous plants that can kill you just by brushing up against them; deadly sink holes; and razor sharp coral rocks. Most terrifying is the legend of a beast far more deadly than the killer wild boar.

FRIDAY, MAY 22, FROM 7-10 PM ET/PT

In I WAS BITTEN: THE WALKER COUNTY INCIDENT (working title), from 7-9 PM ET/PT, the townsfolk try to uncover unexplained daily phenomena plaguing their small southern town of Jasper, Alabama. Daniel, a man who has been diagnosed as "Patient Zero," claims to have been attacked in the woods by something unspeakable. When other victims come forward with their own troubling encounters and explanations, he leads an investigation dead set on getting to the bottom of it all. MONSTER CROC INVASION follows at 9 PM ET/PT and features renowned reptilian expert and Gator Boy Paul Bedard who investigates the sharply increasing numbers of human attacks and deaths by crocodiles in Costa Rica.

SUNDAY, MAY 24, FROM 9-11 PM ET/PT

The two-hour scripted feature THE CANNIBAL IN THE JUNGLE follows the story of an American scientist who was convicted of killing and cannibalizing two colleagues in the jungles of Flores, Indonesia in 1977. Branded "The American Cannibal" by the press during his trial, Dr. Timothy Darrow defended himself by claiming a mythic human-ape creature was responsible for the murders. Animal Planet's dramatic story is an imaginative leap inspired by real science. In 2004, a study in the journal Nature announced the discovery of bones of an entirely new, remarkable species of humans. Fully grown adults stood only three feet tall, yet they were able to thrive in the chaotic and dangerous world that surrounded them. The new species was nicknamed "Hobbits," after J.R.R. Tolkien's diminutive heroes. These real hobbits are purported to have lived less than 20,000 years ago, which would make them the last other species of human to live alongside ourselves. But did these hobbits fully go extinct? Later, 60 Minutes sent a film crew to investigate the Nature article. While on site in Flores, the crew unearthed the local legend that the creatures may have never died out at all. Animal Planet's scripted film THE CANNIBAL IN THE JUNGLE follows an expedition team deep into the heart of Flores Island to investigate Darrow's claims and find out once and for all if these legendary creatures still exist.

MONDAY, MAY 25, FROM 8-10 PM ET/PT

MONSTER WEEK concludes with the epic, two-hour extended Director's Cut RIVER MONSTERS: JURASSIC-SIZED PREHISTORIC TERROR as freshwater detective Jeremy Wade embarks on a mission to uncover horrifying killers from the depths of time. Featuring never-before-seen footage, monster-sized catches and one of the most horrifying creatures Jeremy ever has laid hands on, this special episode of Animal Planet's most-watched series explores fearsome, prehistoric beasts that are brought back to life by combining Jeremy's unique understanding of modern-day monsters with state-of-the-art CGI. Super-sized piranhas, fanged swamp sharks and the nightmarish 'buzz-saw killer' are but a few of the real-life predators from long-lost worlds that Jeremy encounters on his quest to unveil the most terrifying RIVER MONSTERS that ever have lived.