"Quest" is Discovery's commitment to fund groundbreaking research in science and exploration. Born in a Cincinnati zoo, two Bengal tiger cubs – Ron and Julie – have spent the last three years being taught how to hunt and live in the wild of South Africa by human teachers John Varty – veteran naturalist and cameraman – and young Canadian zoologist and cat-handler Dave Salmoni. If they can be successfully integrated into the wild, they could become the forerunners of an audacious plan to help save the world's population of wild tigers.
Follow the journey from cuddly cub to professional assassin – all captured on film and video – as the youngsters' feral instincts slowly emerge in the African wilderness. Instinctively, all cats will stalk. However, it is the killing technique that must be learned by watching their mothers. Without their parent's guiding example, the cubs clumsily cut their teeth on large antelope – often holding on for dear life.
More fascinating than gruesome, the drama of life and death unfolds in amazing detail. A handheld camera hovers inches from Julie's jaws as she prowls, while a clever, head-mounted surveillance camera captures Ron's point of view as he closes in for the kill – the very first POV images ever recorded from a large predator while hunting. It is a documentary unlike any other – an intimate, step-by-step look at the transition of two zoo-born tigers into the wild as they struggle to become independent and self-sufficient, while serving as pioneers for captive tigers everywhere.
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