Original subtitles

Forrest Gump's mama always said, "life

is like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you're going to get."

But when it comes to a bowl full of worms,

I'll tell you exactly what you're going to get,

one adorable little armadillo.

Get ready to meet Daisy.

Oh, she's strong.

Oh, and those claws are sharp.

There you go.

Oh, there's the bowl of worms!

All you have to do is plug the armadillo

into the bowl of worms, and as you can see,

it is a feeding frenzy.

Now, they don't have any sharp teeth up front.

Believe it or not, they have a tooth structure

that's really similar to that of a three-toed sloth,

these little nub teeth in the back of their mouths.

But they're excellent at burrowing,

and that is where they search for the food.

Now, they are opportunistic.

And as you can see right here, that's quite the opportunity,

a bowl full of giant--

oh, just let me borrow one for a second here!

I'm not going to eat it.

Don't you worry.

Look at that night-crawler, pure protein for this armadillo.

Now, she's going to absolutely mow through this bowl of worms.

Can I take some here?

Let's see if we can do this.

What if I put one in my mouth and we do

like the "Lady and the Tramp."

- Oh, really? - Yeah, let's try it.

Here. - Ugh.

Oh, gosh, that's [inaudible].

Daisy, look.

Ugh!

It pooped in your mouth.

Oh, it did!

Is it all in my mouth?

Yeah.

Ugh, I got worm poo in my mouth.

All right, let's continue on with the scene.

Daisy, come here for a second.

Hey, man, can you wipe your face off?

Aw!

Daisy, how do you do this?

That's pretty bad.

Ugh!

Didn't see that coming.

OK, well, nine-banded armadillo, let's think about that name

for a second, because my friend Archie-- you may remember

Archie from the episode we did with Wildman Phil,

and Archie, he calls these creatures rhino pigs,

and I could see that.

This animal's body is covered in a hard series

of armored plates.

You see this?

All on the outside, they have these keratin-like scales

that are then wound together in these bands.

And they say nine-banded armadillo,

but they can have anywhere from 8 to 11.

Let's count Daisy's bands.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, oh, wow.

About a perfect nine.

But as they get bigger and their bodies elongate,

those bands will expand.

Now, unlike some armadillo species, they cannot

curl completely into a ball.

Daisy, can I pick you up?

You guys want to see what the underside of an armadillo

looks like?

Let's see.

Oh, those claws are sharp.

There we go.

Oh!

Man.

Holding the armadillo, I don't think it's going to be possible

unless I'm going to get shredded like the claws

from a velociraptor.

One thing you may not realize about armadillos

is that their claws are incredibly sharp.

They're unbelievable burrowers.

And, actually, they can be considered a keystone species

in many areas because the birds that they dig are oftentimes

used by other animals as homes.

However, one problem that they do serve in areas where there

are desert tortoises and gopher tortoises

is they'll actually distract those burrows,

and they can drive tortoises out of their homes.

So it's kind of a give-or-take when it comes to

whether or not they're helping the environment

or hurting the environment.

Obviously, people see them getting into their gardens.

They come in, root around, dig up all the plants,

but what they're really looking for are the worms.

And as you can see, Daisy has made quick work

of that bowl of worms.

And look at that tail.

The tail is also armored.

And the entire body structure of this animal is just so rigid.

And they're unbelievably strong. Let me see.

Come here.

I'm trying to hold on to you.

Ah!

Oh!

There she goes.

Wow.

Handling an armadillo is like--

look at the scratches on the underside of my hand there.

Those claws are razor sharp.

Oh, Daisy!

Now, she is about a year and a half old.

And believe it or not, they grow really quickly.

And she will get bigger than this.

They can weigh as much as 20 pounds.

And I would say she's, well, maybe

about five pounds in weight.

Oh, this is not full grown.

No, this is not full grown.

She'll get significantly bigger than this.

Oh!

Breathing in a lot of that dust.

Now, you see all these--

Oh!

You all right?

You all right, dude?

Dirt in the face.

Man, almost caught a whole eyeball full of dirt.

Look at how she just--

look at how quick she is digging.

Now, what I was trying to show you there

before I got a face full of dirt was all these little bumps

on the side of her are little osteoderms, just like the skin

of a Gila monster. Woo!

Look at that!

Like a bucking bronco there.

As soon as she feels-- look at that.

Oh!

I'm in a dust storm, in a dust storm.

And you see how they use the elongation of their body

to dig a pile of dirt underneath her back legs,

and then she thrusts it out. Watch, this Mario.

Here it comes again.

Watch this.

Whoa!

Oh!

I'm getting covered in dirt right now.

All right, Daisy, we're going to bring you back up

here on the bench, OK?

She's not going to like this.

You ready?

Ah!

Oh!

Oh!

Just crushed my hand up against the tree!

Did you see that?

Ah!

Ah!

Come on back.

Oh!

That was a dirt party right there.

Hi, buddy.

Yeah, [inaudible].

She has kind of a beard.

She does.

And all that fur up front there helps keep her face protected.

You'll notice that elongated snout

is used for sniffing around in the dirt as to burrowing.

Here's a really cool fact that you may not know.

Armadillos can hold their breath for an incredibly long time for

a mammal, up to five minutes.

And they've actually been seen walking

on the basins of rivers, crawling from one spot

to the next.

Let's turn you this way like this.

There we go.

OK.

I'd love to show you guys the belly.

Can we see your belly real quick?

Ow!

Oh, those claws are sharp.

Oh!

Man, I am getting annihilated here.

Let's see your belly.

Belly, belly, belly, belly.

Look at that underside.

Ah!

Can we show everybody your belly?

Look at the underside of that creature.

It might as well be leather.

Now, here's kind of another interesting fact.

Believe it or not, you can eat an armadillo.

And don't worry, Daisy, nobody's going to eat you,

nobody's going to eat you.

But during the Great Depression, people in Texas

actually used to eat these animals.

And that's how they became not only the state animal,

but have the famous name Hoover Hog.

How about that?

Mark, would you ever eat an armadillo?

No way. Way too cute.

Yeah, way too cute.

OK, let's put you like this.

There we go, Daisy.

Thanks for letting us see your underside.

You're so cute.

Now, talk to me about the skin or the armor.

It looks like it's pliable a little bit.

It is.

Look at this.

See how I can just kind of move those bands individually?

And unlike other armadillo species, they cannot

curl entirely into a ball.

But if they feel threat from a predator,

like a coyote or even a jaguar, because their range extends all

the way down into South America, and that's actually where they

are most prevalent, they can call themselves tight enough

where a predator can't actually get to those softer undersides.

And look at those ears.

The ears look just like the skin of a reptile.

But as we know, the armadillo is a mammal,

and they're most closely related to anteaters and sloths,

believe it or not.

Now, you'll notice that this armadillo has very small eyes.

They actually have poor eyesight,

but they have an excellent sense of smell

and an excellent sense of hearing.

Your belly is just like leather. You know that?

Actually, look at all this fur on the underside.

Do you see how soft armadillos-- whoa!

Where are you going?

Come over here.

All right, well, it's pretty hard

to just contain an armadillo that wants to explore.

So I think Daisy's ready to get down on the ground.

She's peeing on you.

Oh!

Ugh!

That is not my pee.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

I just got peed on by an armadillo.

Ugh.

Oh, man.

I'm loving this armadillo.

I'm getting clawed up.

I'm getting peed on.

It ain't easy working with an armadillo.

I'll tell you guys that much.

Look at that.

Right back in that same exact hole.

You know, if you want somebody to let go of you so that you

can go dig a hole underneath the tree,

one way to do it is definitely to pee on them.

Well, Coyote, I think the armadillo

wants to go adventure.

Why don't we follow her around? Let's grab our GoPros

Yeah.

I think at this juncture, the best thing

to do is just go where the armadillo wants to go.

So I'm going to grab my GoPro.

There we go.

And let's see if we can get into the world

of the nine-banded armadillo.

Oh, I smell urine.

Yeah, it's a good chance.

I want to feel what this is like.

Yeah, go ahead.

Touch the back there.

Oh, wow.

Right?

It's like really tough, but it is a little pliable.

And you can see why Archie calls it a rhino pig.

Yeah.

It's like rhino skin with a pig nose.

How about the tail?

The tail, yeah, completely armor-plated.

Oh, wow. The tail's tougher.

Look at that.

Yeah, and you can even see where the tail connects to the body.

Whoa!

That's all like baseball mitt leather right there.

Crazy cool.

How deep do we want this armadillo

to dig under this tree, guys?

Uh, well, we don't want her to get

all the way underneath there.

And you can see, in just a matter of minutes,

she has dug almost her entire body underneath the root

structure of this tree.

Oh, there she is.

Hi, Daisy.

Hi, Daisy.

Say hi to Uncle Mark.

Oh.

All right, done digging.

Let's see what else we can find.

All right.

Now she's exploring for other possibilities.

Daisy was actually rescued as a baby in Texas.

And our good friend Wildman Phil has been taking care of her

ever since.

And we've shown you guys so many creepy

looking creatures as of late.

We said to ourselves, you know what,

we need another cute animal on the "Brave Wilderness" channel.

So how cool was this?

Spending our afternoon, hanging out

with the nine-banded armadillo.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right, ready?

Here she comes, Mark.

Now, you may be asking yourself, does

Coyote Peterson always have a tiny turtle in his pocket?

Well, not always.

But today, we're going to talk about the differences

between the turtle and the tortoise.

Say hello to Buckshot.

Turtles, turtles, turtles.

For nearly 200 million years, a reptile

we all know as the turtle has inhabited our planet.

These cold-blooded ectotherms are protected

by a hard, bony shell.

They breathe air, and eat their food using a beak.

Of the 327 known species that exist today,

some live in water, while others can be found on land.

Since childhood, I've been fascinated by these seemingly

slow-moving creatures, yet to many people's surprise,

they're actually quite speedy, especially when in the water.

But what about the land-dwelling, stumpy-footed,

slow-moving reptile that somehow defeated that speedy rabbit?

Yes, I am talking about the tortoise.

And the one question people are always

asking, is a tortoise a turtle or is a turtle a tortoise?

Well, there is an answer to that question.

And to help us get to the bottom of this timeless mystery,

we are going to get the cameras up close to one of the largest

species in the world.

OK, I hope everybody out there watching

is excited, because right here in this bag,

I've got a bunch of vegetables.

You guys know that vegetables are good for you, right?

Coyote, I don't think anybody is going to get

excited about vegetables, man.

Ah, well, maybe you're not excited about the vegetables,

but you should be excited about who is

going to eat these vegetables.

You guys ready to see a giant tortoise?

How big is this tortoise? I mean--

Oh, ho! You brought a lot.

Is it going to eat all of that?

Oh, it's going to eat all of it.

We're probably going to run out of food before we're

done filming the segment.

Really?

If you guys are ready, let's go meet Buckshot.

Buckshot?

I like that name.

Oh, yeah!

She's my buddy!

There you are!

Oh, my goodness.

Hi, Buckshot!

This is the Galapagos tortoise, the largest

tortoise species in the world.

And what we're going to do today is feed her her dinner.

OK.

Uh, Buckshot, hey, where are you going?

All the food's over here!

First bite.

Oh, there's a big tortoise poop.

Did you you step in that?

I may have stepped on the tortoise poop.

Oh, did I do it?

Oh, I might have done it. Oh!

It's on my-- Ugh!

It's on my boot!

Oh, man, dude!

Ugh!

Oh, Mark stepped in the tortoise poop.

Oh, is this poo too?

Nope. It's just that side.

Just that one. Oh, gosh.

All right, Buckshot, come this way, away from the poop.

Over here.

Come on, sweetie.

Buckshot.

There we go.

Now, one very distinct thing about tortoises and turtles

is the length of that neck.

And she's holding up the entire weight of her body

and stretching out her neck.

And they would do this in the wild

to forge for plants that were higher up.

She could pull down fruits and berries.

Whoa! Look at that!

Listen to those chompers.

Look at the chomp of that beak.

Now, I'm trying to pay attention to where your camera's at,

Mark, but I also have to pay attention to her beak.

Because you see when she bites out,

she bites and lunges her head forward,

and I do not want to lose a finger in that beak.

Oh, that's a little close there.

Oh.

We're in South Florida right now.

And this is one of the only Galapagos tortoises

in captivity here in this area.

And we were given the opportunity to film with her.

Now, she is 25 years old, and she weighs 140--

oh-- pounds.

She actually just almost bit my nose right there.

No, my nose is not romaine lettuce.

And she is an absolute giant.

This tortoise weighs just about as much as I do.

I weigh 155 pounds.

So this creature is absolutely massive.

And, oh, boy, she's like about to step on top of my leg.

Oh! Watch this.

This is cool.

Watch how high she can bounce up her 140 pound body.

Do you see that? It's like--

I can't even get it all in the frame.

Wow!

It's like a Brachiosaur eating leaves at the top of a tree.

Now, the Galapagos tortoise is an herbivore.

And they get a large percentage of their moisture

through the food that they eat.

And you can see how juicy-- oh, getting close to my fingers!

OK, we're moving on to the next piece.

You can see how juicy a lot of these vegetables are.

Oh, here's something.

Look at this.

Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

Ah, ah!

Look at that.

She's standing on my leg.

She is like squishing my ankle.

Ha.

I never thought I would be feeding a Galapagos tortoise.

I hope that one day we can end up on Galapagos

Island or one of the islands--

oh, that's better!

Now she's not actually on my ankle--

and feed some of these tortoises in the wild.

How about the cucumber?

Let's have some cucumber.

That is my personal favorite.

There you go.

You know, you should do a "Lady and the Tramp."

With the cucumber?

Yeah.

One in your mouth.

Ready?

Get a profile.

Oh, she's standing on me.

Ready?

Oh!

Keep going. One more bite.

Nuh uh.

It's too close to my nose.

No, no, no, no, no, it'll be fine.

Oh, too close.

If she gets my nose, it's--

Oh, man.

Is there any more cucumber back there?

Oh, jeez!

I'm telling you, if I get my fingers stuck in that beak,

it is going to be game over.

She could easily snip off the tip of my finger.

Ow!

Ow!

Oh!

She crushed my shin!

Oh, she found the snacks.

Oh, she did.

Maybe she's after these.

At 25 years old, she is only about a fifth of the size.

Now, at 140 pounds, they can grow

to be close to 1,000 pounds.

Imagine something that is five times this size.

Look at this.

This is me hugging a tortoise.

Oh!

Ah.

Let me see if I can hear her heartbeat.

No.

Nothing inside of that solid bone carapace.

Wow!

I am in just such awe of this creature.

Like, it is massive.

Can you believe this?

And this is rare.

Like, there's not like a Galapagos tortoise

in every street corner.

No.

Many zoos do have Galapagos tortoises,

but they're actually really hard to take care of in captivity.

So this is a very unique situation for us

to be able to get up close with this animal.

And like I said, I would love to be on the island of Galapagos

someday, filming these creatures in the wild,

but we certainly weren't going to pass

up the opportunity to get this one up close for the cameras.

So, Coyote, I have a question.

So we keep talking about turtles and tortoises.

And I'm a little confused.

What separates a tortoise from a turtle?

Great question.

Technically, all tortoises are turtles, but not

all turtles are tortoises.

Think about that for a second.

Kind of crazy, right?

A bit of a brain-scrambler.

Let's look at the body structure of the tortoise,

and that's what will help us distinguish this

as being separate from a lot of the aquatic turtles

that we're used to getting up close to.

Right? You want to do that?

Yeah, let's do that.

OK, where do you want to start?

Let's talk about size.

Size, yes.

Massive size.

Now, tortoises are large because they constantly are feeding.

All this animal does on a daily basis is crawl out

into the sun, heat up for a couple of hours,

and then it forges all day long.

So the more it eats, the larger it grows.

And look at the rugged body structure.

Many tortoise species live in rugged environments,

which has allowed them to adapt to a body structure like this.

Their skin is like leather.

Feels just like an old catcher's mitt.

Come on.

Put your hand on there and feel that.

It kind of feels like a rhino or an elephant skin.

Right?

It's interesting that you mention elephant skin,

because look at this leg structure.

Both the front legs, no webbing on the feet.

Just these big gnarly paws and these stumped claws.

And then the back feet specifically-- here, come

back here and look at this.

Let me get her to put her foot down.

Looks just like-- oh, oh, oh!

Don't want to scare her.

Looks just like an elephant foot.

Yeah, and that's called elephantine leg structure.

And when she lifts her body up-- oh, careful.

Yeah.

A little close, little tight.

Yeah, look at that.

Very sensitive for a big turtle.

Look how big her paws next to my hand.

I don't want to keep that there too long,

because if she does step down on my fingers, she can crush them.

That's a bit of a risky position to be.

But you see that?

They do have claws.

And just like turtles, they lay eggs.

Now, let's look at the shell structure.

As compared to a turtle, a tortoise has a much

more domed shell structure.

Turtles are streamlined.

They have narrower shells that allow them to quickly

move through the water.

A tortoise doesn't go in the water.

A tortoise just needs to be able to traverse over land.

Wow.

So it sounds like tortoises are specialized--

Yes. - for living on land.

So is that the big difference?

That is-- I would say the biggest difference between most

turtle species and tortoises is that tortoises are

specialized for living on land.

Now, you do have some land turtle species,

like the box turtle and the wood turtle, two of my favorites

that live in the United States.

However, tortoises, you'll never find them in the water.

You're never going to come across a pond

and say, oh, there's a tortoise swimming around.

Now, a tortoise may crawl into a puddle of water

to drink and to cool itself off, but you'll

never find them swimming.

They just kind of like--

kind of submerge

through like a giant tank.

Is she full?

Nope.

Oh, she's never full.

Well, I'll definitely say that we learned a lot today,

and that, technically, all tortoises are turtles.

The thing that distinguishes a tortoise as a tortoise

is that it has adapted for a life on land.

And I can tell you this much, you never want to bring

a tortoise to a salad buffet.

I think they could wipe out a salad

bar in about 20 minutes.

Oh, yeah.

Especially the Galapagos tortoise.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

See you later, Buckshot.

The turtle is an evolutionary phenomenon

that has fascinated both children and adults

since the dawn of mankind.

And whether you think they are adorable, or scary, slimy,

or scaly, I think there are two things we

can all certainly agree upon.

Turtles are one of the most unique animals on the planet,

and I like turtles.