Virgin River, Zion National Park, Utah, USA

© Jonathan Ross/Getty Image

Zion National Park, Utah, USA

Today we’re visiting a 25-kilometre stretch of the Virgin River where it carves a spectacular deep gorge through the upper region of Utah's Zion Canyon in the United States. Flowing through Zion National Park, the Virgin River is home to unique plants and animals that aren't found anywhere else, due to the unique intersection of biomes found where the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin and Mojave Desert all meet. Without the water of the Virgin River system, creatures like the woundfin minnow, one of rarest species on the planet, couldn't exist.