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NEW YORK, July 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Most kids only know elephants from zoos and circuses, but what if your new best friend turned out to be an elephant? In the latest Nick News Adventure: If I Could Talk To The Elephants, airing Sunday, July 22 at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT, Linda Ellerbee and six kids from the United States leave their laptops, cell-phones and televisions behind to live in an elephant sanctuary in the mountains of Thailand, where, after being assigned one particular elephant for a week, each kid must learn to take care of -- to feed, bathe, clean up after, ride -- and communicate with his or her elephant.

But an adventure is always an undertaking of uncertain outcome. What happens on this one is something more than anyone expected. The combination of kids and elephants creates its own magic; friendships are formed, bonds built between humans and pachyderms. Each is teacher. Each is student. An adventure turns into a love story. Tears are shed when it comes time to part.

Before that, it will be hot, humid, uncomfortable, unfamiliar and unexpected (camping in the jungle with their elephants, learning to survive off natural resources, the kids must, among other things, eat ant eggs for protein). Sometimes it will be scary (what exactly are those sounds in the night?). And sometimes it will be funny (after kids realize that what goes into an elephant also comes out, and it's up to them to clean it up, they find something else to do with it).

"Turns out that an elephant-poop fight is like swinging a cat," said Ellerbee, host and Executive Producer of Nick News. "It teaches you something you can learn no other way."

American kids get a remarkable chance to experience first-hand the importance of this special animal in Thai culture, and the ways in which this animal's existence is threatened by its chief enemy: man, who not only destroyed the forest and jungle homes of the elephants, it used elephants to help them do it. Now only man can save the elephant from extinction. The kids' week in an elephant sanctuary is an adventure all right, one that changes them in big and little ways. And not only them. "On this trip, the only thing that taught me more than the elephants were these six incredible kids," said Ellerbee.

Nick News, which last year celebrated its 15th year anniversary, is the longest-running kids' news show in television history, and has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. In 2005, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming for its show, From the Holocaust to the Sudan. In 1994, the entire series, Nick News, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1998, "What Are You Staring At?" a program about kids with physical disabilities, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2002, "Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan," won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2004, two Nick News Specials, "The Courage to Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS" and "There's No Place Like Home," a special about homeless kids in America, were both nominated for the Outstanding Children's Programming Emmy. In fact, Nick News has received more than 20 Emmy nominations. Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is also the recipient of three Peabody Awards, including a personal one given to Ellerbee for her coverage, for kids, of the President Clinton investigation; two Columbia duPont Awards; and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon, in its 28th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in almost 92 million households and has been the number-one- rated basic cable network for almost 12 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B).

Source: Nickelodeon

CONTACT: Mirian Arias, +1-212-846-7653, Mirian.Arias@nick.com, or
Rebecca Boswell, +1-212-846-8914, Rebecca.Boswell@nick.com, both of
Nickelodeon

Web site:

http://www.nick.com/

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Profile: Media News