Original subtitles

I'm Coyote Peterson.

What I have in my hand right here is a forest scorpion.

Down here in this pocket of water, a bunch of California

newts.

Hold on, let me see if I can catch one real quick.

There we go.

Fantastic.

All right, now that I have both of these little creatures,

let's talk about the differences between venom and poison.

Welcome back, coyote pack.

Thanks for joining me out here on location

in northern California.

Now a lot of you have written in with the question, Coyote,

what is the difference between venom and poison?

And that's a really great question.

Now the first major difference is in the delivery method.

When it comes to venom, it has to be injected.

When we're talking about poison, it has to be absorbed.

Now the way that you can be injected with venom

is either through a stinger, or a set of fangs, or a barb.

Now when we're talking about poison,

it has to actually be absorbed into the body.

This can happen in a variety of ways.

It can either be ingested, like through your mouth,

inhaled, like into your lungs, or absorbed

with application to the skin, like poison ivy for example.

So what I'm holding here is a forest scorpion.

This is a perfect example of a venomous animal.

And in this hand, I have a California

newt, which is a great example of a poisonous animal.

Now the second difference between venom and poison

is how it's used and what it's used for.

Now venom for example, is usually used by predators

to kill their prey, whereas poison is used by prey

to help deter predators.

First, let's talk about the forest scorpion.

This is a great example of a venomous animal.

Now the way that the scorpion catches and kills its prey

is through a venom injecting stinger.

What they do is grab onto their prey

with these front pedipalps, and then wap!

They sting the prey, venom is injected,

eventually it dies, and then they have their meal.

Now when we're talking about poison,

it's usually used by plants and animals

to help deter predators.

For example, this California newt--

you see that real bright coloration on his underside?

This bright coloration warns predators that if you eat me,

I'm packed full of poison and there's

a good chance that I'm the last meal you're ever going to have.

And of course, these are generalities

and there are going to be exceptions that

break these general guidelines.

For example, there's a frog that lives in Brazil

that has a venomous spine.

This frog is now using venom instead of poison

to deter predation.

That was a great question, and one that we've been

wanting to answer for a while.

So hopefully now you know a little bit

about the differences between venom and poison.

I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,

we'll see on the next adventure.

I'm Coyote Peterson, and today we're

getting hands on with one of the most poisonous

animals in the United States.

And of course, I'm talking about newts.

When most people think of California,

the imagery of sunshine and beaches probably comes to mind.

However, when it comes to the force of Northern California,

the sand is replaced by enormous prehistoric

looking trees and the ocean's mighty waves

become an intricate maze of battling streams.

San Mateo County boasts some of the most

beautiful and seriously epic forestscapes

in the Pacific Northwest.

And if you navigate your way down into the ravines,

you will find a thriving ecosystem so diverse

that flipping a single trail side rock

may get you up close with a stealthy predator.

Now what you're looking at right there is the forest scorpion,

one of the most common scorpion species

that you'll find here in the forests of Northern California.

It seems that no matter where I go,

the scorpions are right there with me.

But not everything in the forest is equipped with pinchers

and a venom injecting stinger.

Flip over the right rock, and you might just

find a cute little creature that tops

the charts as quite possibly the most adorable amphibian

in California.

Holy moly, look at that.

Is that a newt?

Nope, that is not.

That is actually a newt mimic.

It is an Ensatina.

You can see how it looks like a newt

with the dark upper body and the orange underside,

also poisonous, and if you handle this little amphibian

too much they will secrete a white poison from their skin.

But look how cute that little guy is, just

another one of the salamander species

you can find here in the forests of Northern California.

All right, let's put him back under his rock

and see if we can find some of his bigger cousins.

The forest was alive with salamanders,

and we were even lucky enough to encounter

the arboreal salamander, which is usually only found high

up in the trees, and the larva stage of a giant salamander,

who was happily submerged and breathing

with an elaborate set of gills.

This terrain's rather difficult to navigate

I'm sure it's not easy for you Mark,

filming me as we're walking.

Every one of these rocks has these rounded edges.

That's what we call an ankle breaker right there.

All right, just watch your step coming across this.

However, the real encounter we were looking to have

was with one of the most toxic amphibians in the United

States, the California newt.

And as we quickly navigated downstream,

we eventually came upon a pocket of water that was

absolutely swimming with them.

Holy cow, look at them all!

There must be 40 or 50 of them in there.

OK, this looks like the perfect opportunity for me

to get some of these toxic little amphibians

up close to the camera.

All right, now the reason that I'm taking off my boots

is so that I don't accidentally step

on one of these fragile little amphibians.

Oh, that water is cold!

Wow, they are quick and they're swimming all over.

Wow, look at that.

I'm kind of herding them all in one direction,

but as soon as you get close they dart off to the corners

to get under the rocks.

Got one.

Oh, here's a big one right here.

Ready?

One, two, three, got it!

There we go.

Here we go, coming right towards you.

Four, five.

I think that's probably enough to get

up close for the cameras.

All right, let's get up here on shore and take a closer look.

Oh, that water is absolutely freezing.

Look at that.

How adorable are those little newts?

They're a lot stronger than you would think.

There we go.

That's what we call a handful a newt right there.

I got them all calmed down now, and if you

take a real good look there the top of their body

is very dark in coloration and also rough.

That helps them stay camouflaged in this forest environment.

Now the California newt goes through multiple life stages,

from egg, to larva, to adult stage.

And these ones right here are in the adult stage,

living a mostly aquatic life.

Now they do breathe air, and we've

seen them coming up to the surface, taking a gulp,

and then diving back down.

They can stay underwater for a considerable amount of time,

but like all animals that breathe air,

they have to come out of the water at some point.

Now at the beginning of the episode,

I told you that I was going to be handling one of the most

poisonous animals in the United States,

which in fact these newts are.

However, I don't have to worry about that poison

by just handling them, I actually

have to physically eat one of these newts for it

to cause me any harm.

Now scientists have done research and found

that just a single newt contains enough neurotoxin to kill

almost 1,500 lab rats.

That's insane how toxic these little guys are.

Now let's say a predator comes into this environment

and doesn't know any better when it comes to eating newts.

If this newt feels extremely threatened, what it will do

is actually turn its head up in the air to expose its chin,

and they will bend their tail to expose

this bright orange coloration on the underside.

Now most animals that are poisonous

have some sort of bright coloration to warn predators,

don't eat me, because if you do it may

be the last meal you ever have.

Hiking throughout the course of the day,

I've literally seen hundreds of these California newts.

Just in this pocket of water alone, easily over 50,

which tells me two things.

One, that this ecosystem is incredibly healthy, and two,

that the California newt is certainly thriving

here on the West Coast.

I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

I can never recommend getting hands

on with any poisonous plant or animal.

However, if you do head out to the forests of Northern

California, capture, and handle a newt,

just make sure to wash your hands soon after.

As long as you don't need any newts, you will be just fine.

Oh, that's a big spider.

There you go, go ahead and sit down leaf right there.

Oh, no it's not!

Look out!

Look out!

Look out Far beneath the dense canopy of the Costa Rican

rainforest, a plethora of toxic creatures

hide amongst the foliage and shadows.

From hopping poisonous frogs to slithering venomous snakes,

these so-called biological landmines

can frequently be encountered in almost

any stretch of wilderness.

Tonight we are back exploring the 140 acre expanse

of the Costa Rican amphibian research reserve, where

the crew and I are on the search for one of Central America's

most dangerous arachnids.

However, before we could even begin

to look for eight legged creatures,

we stumbled upon the rainforest most infamous pit viper.

Well guys, one of the most common terms you hear me say

is biological landmine.

We haven't been out for more than 15 minutes tonight

and already we've come across one

of the most toxic snakes in all of Central

America, the fer-de-lance.

It's right there.

But tonight's episode is all about these biological

landmines, so it's just coincidence

that we came across this small one right now.

All right Mark, just crouch down real slowly there.

You can see it's right in the middle of the walking trail.

You can barely see it.

It is perfectly camouflaged,

we almost stepped right on it.

You can see it staying completely still right now,

and look at that camouflage.

This speckled leaf like patterning

allows it to perfectly blend in to these leaves

and all of this dark mud.

I'm not even sure-- like I got a shot of you

and a shot of it, I'm not even sure people can see where

it is it's so camoflauged. - Oh, yeah.

Well actually, that's a good thing.

Why don't you kind of give a general view of this area

and let people try to pick it out on screen.

Can you guys see the fer-de-lance?

Is it there?

No.

Is it there?

No.

Oh.

Now this is the state-- oh careful, Mark.

Careful, careful.

There we go, check that out.

Now this snake is no stranger to us.

We come across fer-de-lance almost every time

we are out here in the rainforest of Costa Rica.

And I would say this one's small to medium size,

we certainly come across some that are much larger than this.

And this snake is responsible for more

deaths than any other species here

in Central and South America.

All right, let's let the snake go and see

if we can find some of those creepy arachnids.

All right, you ready?

Bye-bye.

Encountering snakes is all about being in the right place

at the right time.

But when it comes to encountering creepy crawlies,

these encounters usually happen when you least expect them.

Oh, is this that cabin?

Yeah.

Oh.

There's some interesting looking spiders.

That right there, that's a fishing spider.

That is a wandering spider.

How do you know this?

You can tell by the distinct stripe

that's going right down the center of its back there.

So that's what we're looking for,

just a little small.

Yeah, it's a little small.

We want something much bigger than that.

All right, let's search around the outside of this building.

I feel that we're close.

Oh, a scorpion.

There's a scorpion back here in the thing.

Oh.

Yeah, there's a scorpion right back in there,

you see it?

Oh, yeah. Look at that.

Let me see if I can-- Tickle it out?

Yeah, let me see if I can.

Oh!

There it is.

Here we go.

He feels real comfortable on that leaf.

Check that out.

Yet another one of the Costa Rican rainforest's

biological landmines.

How dangerous is a scorpion?

They vary.

This appears to be some variety of bark scorpion based

on its narrow front pinchers.

But I do not know how potent the venom is,

so I certainly do not want to be stung by any species that

I cannot properly identify.

Pretty good sized one too, if it is a bark scorpion.

Look at that stinger, you see it just in between my glove there?

A black tip stinger.

Yeah.

All right, let's place the scorpion back up

on the side of this old shed and keep searching

for the wandering spider.

It was turning into a night of biological landmines.

And while we came upon several different spider species,

each one more creepy than the last,

our target was yet to be located.

So we continued into the night and headed

toward a small jungle pond that was likely to have

a world of creatures around it.

Upon our arrival, all it took was scanning

the overhanging tree limbs.

And before we knew it, the rainforest most dangerous eight

legged predator was in our sights.

Is that one?

Hold on, let me check Oh, man.

Boy, that's a big spider.

Is it one?

Oh boy.

It's on to us.

Look through there, can you see the red undersides

of it's legs?

OK, I'm going to back up.

It's really wedged in there.

How about that?

Let me see if I can see

the spider through the leaf.

OK, let me see if I can grab it.

Keep watching the spider right?

Yeah.

OK, I got a leaf.

I don't know if I have the spider.

There you go.

Go ahead, set down the leaf right there.

Let me see the capsule.

OK.

You guys got OK shots, right?

Yep.

You didn't see it run out of there when I grabbed the leaf?

I did not.

So there's webbing all over that,

I think that's it's permanent residence.

Probably don't want to destroy it.

I see it.

It's right in here.

Which one?

It's right in this leaf right

here, this main stretch.

What's the game plan here?

I am going to put

the end of the capsule right like this,

and I'm going to gently try to coax it

backwards into the container.

Wait, where's the lid?

Here's the lid.

I don't have gloves, so you're on your own.

Yeah, everybody got a good shot?

Yeah.

OK, it was just in there.

It's in.

Oh!

No it's not!

Hold on, nobody move.

Look out, look out!

Back, back, back!

See how they jump?

Got it.

Oh!

That was a little nerve racking.

Wow.

Talk about one fierce looking spider.

OK, let's back away from this watery area.

What I'm going to do is actually place the leaf back up

in the tree so we can just put the spider

right back up into the tree.

OK?

Here we go.

Oh man, my hands are shaking.

All right, where do you want to do the scene at?

I say we go down to the jungle research hut

and get this spider up close for the cameras.

It's the most controlled situation we could be in.

That takes a lot of nerves, a lot of nerves guys.

Oh, man.

That was definitely one of the most nerve wracking

catches of my entire career.

I couldn't believe that, when I tried to get it

into the capsule and it sprang out

and it came straight towards you guys?

It was like a lightning bolt.

Yeah.

That is why we pay respect to the wandering spider.

Let me take off my pack here and get

a little bit more comfortable.

I'm not going to need the pack for this scene.

I'm going to take off these gloves.

And I was wearing the gloves because I was afraid

that if the spider leapt out of the tree,

it may land on my hand and inflict

one very, very painful bite.

Here we go guys.

Now we have been to Costa Rica many times,

and this is by a landmine, number one.

You always see them hanging up in the trees,

climbing up the trunks of the trees,

running across the jungle floor.

The wandering spider is quite possibly the most

dangerous arachnid we could come across

out here in the rainforest.

Now when I say wandering spider, that's

a generalization for any spider species

that's just crawling around out there on the rainforest floor.

But there are actually eight cataloged species

of Brazilian wandering spider, and I do believe that this

is the Costa Rican variety.

And the way that I can identify it as such

is the quintessential red linings

on the undersides of the legs.

Let me tip it up and see if you can see that there, Mark.

Look at those red legs.

Now what this spider will do if it feels threatened

by any potential predator, is it will

rear up like this on its back legs,

revealing that red coloration.

Now, aposematic, right?

Telling you that I am very venomous.

Now, if the red coloration doesn't warn you to walk away,

you're going to be bitten by 2 massive things that

are armed with huge venom sacs.

Wow.

Yeah.

Look at it looking at you.

It's intimidating.

I mean it doesn't need to be scattering

around inside of this container to know

that it's extremely toxic.

And you may be asking yourself, well Coyote,

are you going to free hold this spider

like you did the black widow?

No way guys, the bite from this is so much worse.

This is probably the only spider species

that I've ever encountered thus far that really, really,

really makes me nervous.

And you look at this, you're thinking well it's just

kind of a big fuzzy spider.

And I know some people have a horrible case of arachnophobia,

and right now you're shaking in your seat thinking

to yourselves, Coyote, how are you

possibly holding this thing?

But it is a creature that we do respect and we do love.

And it is out here just doing its thing, hunting for bugs,

hunting for small frogs.

This spider is actually large enough where it can even

take down some small mammals.

That has one incredible predator right there.

You remember that time

that we were in Osa Peninsula and you actually

put your hand right by one?

I do.

I believe that was the eyelash viper video.

And somebody actually wrote in the comments section

on YouTube, it said, Coyote, you're aware that

was a wandering spider, right?

So we immediately looked it up, and we were like, oh, yeah.

Only the most dangerous spider in the area, and my hand

was literally inches from it.

And as you guys can see from earlier,

they are capable of jumping.

That's what makes them, in my opinion, so scary.

Now they're primarily nocturnal, so during the day

they're hiding underneath old rotting boards,

in between leaves, up in the canopy.

And one way that people often come across these spiders

is because they're constantly found in residential areas

during the day.

They may even come into your house, or hide in your boot,

hide in your sheets, anywhere that this spider can

find a place to hide and stay out

of the daylight is fair game.

So you have to be extremely careful.

It's why we always tell you, especially

when you're in the rainforest, to check your boots

before you put them on.

Because overnight, a wandering spider

could have crawled inside.

And trust me, the one thing you don't want to happen

is put your foot into your boot and you

get a bite from this spider.

Now at full size, this spider can be

about six inches in diameter.

This one here is about four inches

from the tip of its longest leg to the other tip

of its longest leg.

Let me hold it up for you like that, you see that?

Put my hand up next to it, kind of give you some reference.

Oh, that's a pretty big spider right there.

Well I would definitely say that it was one successful evening

when it came to coming across many

of the biological landmines that we see here

in the Costa Rican rainforest.

And nothing could have topped it off better than

this enormous wandering spider.

I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

The crew and I have encountered many spider species

over the course of our travels, some of which

I've even been brave enough to handle despite the risk

of their toxic bite.

However, when it comes to the wandering spider

there is no question about it.

This is the most dangerous arachnid

I have ever worked with.

So if you find yourself in Central or South America

and you stumble upon one of these large predatory

arachnids, do your absolute best to stay safe distance

from this biological landmine, because its bite

is without question something you never want to experience.

It's on the backside of the leaf.

You see that?

I'm going to gently place it like that.

Mission complete.