Original subtitles

[inaudible].

I see him!

Got it!

I got it!

Wow!

COYOTE PETERSON West Virginia

has an endless expanse of nature,

and is famously known for being a wild and wonderful place

to explore.

Its vast rolling mountain span across the entire length

of the state, and hiding deep within them

is a plethora of wildlife.

Today, we are exploring an incredibly healthy ecosystem

near Elkins, in a secret location that we are not

allowed to reveal, as it is heavily protected

for conservation purposes.

We have special permissions to explore this location,

and are working alongside field herpetologist Tim Brust.

Tim specializes in surveying protected wilderness areas,

where he safely catches, records, and releases

reptiles and amphibians.

What you got there, Tim?

What we have here is a northern water snake.

COYOTE PETERSON Our mission

is going to be anything but easy,

as the goal is to locate one of the rarest amphibians

in the great state of West Virginia,

a giant salamander that is known as the hellbender.

Wow.

There's the river.

And in there is where we'll be searching for hellbenders.

It's absolutely beautiful.

And right now, we're scouting around for a place

to build a base camp.

And, basically, all of this river

that you see in the background here

is fair game for hellbenders.

So in these ripples are great spots.

There are a lot of huge flat rocks.

So I'll be in the water, with a dive mask on, feeling

around for giant salamanders.

This is going to be awesome.

There is no good word

to describe what it takes to find and catch

a hellbender other than difficult.

The fast-flowing water is incredibly cold, so much so

that we're forced to wear dive suits.

Dive masks will allow us to see underwater,

as we literally have to scan the river basin

and look into the dark crevices of rocks,

with a slim hope of seeing a pair of big buggy

eyes looking right back at us.

I am about to stick my face into the water.

Hold on.

I got to get a little--

Oh!

Yeah, that's real cold.

That is real cold.

OK.

Here we go.

All right, guys.

Wish me luck.

Searching for a hellbender is

an incredibly delicate process.

And our intention was to disturb the environment as little

as possible.

This means gently feeling up and under rocks as opposed

to flipping them.

The last thing we wanted to do was

alter a potential hellbender home,

as they are very territorial and will

often stay in one area for a considerable amount of time.

This is unbelievably

freezing to have your complete body

submerged in this frigid water.

I can't even feel my fingers right now.

Wow.

OK, I don't know how Tim is doing this.

Felt it yet?

It is freezing.

Our epic hellbender

hunt went on for hours.

At this point, I was completely frozen and ready to call it

a day.

Yet, Tim absolutely refused to give up.

And his persistence finally paid off.

Got one!

We got one?

Hellbender looking right at me in the face.

We got a hellbender!

OK, so we have a hellbender, 100%, right

here underneath this rock.

Tim's going to use a maneuver to coax it out,

and I'm going to try to scoop it up in the net.

Is it big? Yeah.

It appears to be. Is it big?

Oh, Tim says it's big. Mhm.

It's a big one.

All right.

The, uh, hellbender is right near the entrance of this hole.

We have a really good chance in actually catching it.

It's right here!

I see him. Got him!

We got him!

Oh, man, Tim!

That was amazing!

The coax and the net!

In all fairness, Tim did net the hellbender.

It went right underneath his legs.

There it is.

It is an absolute giant.

Wow!

That was the hardest hellbender catch I've ever had.

Wow!

That was an amazing maneuver.

He just grabbed it up,

it shot out in between his legs, and he netted it!

Wow!

That was incredible.

Look at the size of that giant salamander.

That's a big one.

That's a big one?

That's a good one, yeah.

Wow!

Man, what a weird--

Gorgeous!

What a weird creature.

Most bizarre salamander I have ever seen.

OK, we need to find ourselves a good control

spot in decent light and get this salamander

up close for the cameras. All right.

- You ready? - Yeah, man.

Dude. Yes!

We got one!

All right, guys, well, it was a long, cold day in the river,

but we finally did it.

All right, Tim, bring in the hellbender.

Oh, ho, ho, ho!

There it is.

One of the most elusive creatures

you can possibly come across in the United States,

and the largest salamander species that we

have here in North America.

Look at that.

That is a hellbender.

Whoa.

Very, very slippery.

Very difficult to hold onto.

You notice how flattened the shape of this amphibians body

is.

That's what allows them to easily slide

underneath the crevices in between rocks

and then work their bodies against the current

as they're walking on the basin of a river, looking for food.

Look at the head, completely flat.

Have you ever seen anything like that before?

Some people call it the Allegheny alligator.

Some people call it the mud dog, the mud devil.

My personal favorite, though, is snot otter.

And it feels as if it is covered in snot.

And you can see this brownish-colored body,

very long and slender, makes it look like an otter.

Wow.

But, in fact, we do know this is

an amphibian and not a mammal.

It does feel snotty.

Right?

That's why you can see it's so hard for me to hold onto it.

One thing that I can feel that you guys can't quite see

is that on the tips of their toes,

they have these little grippy pads.

Tim, see if you can kind of fold up a foot there.

Let's show that to the camera.

See the little kind of orange fingertips there?

Now, are those slimy or are those grippy?

Those are very grippy.

That helps these amphibians grab on to the slimy rocks

on the basin of the river.

Look at that coloration, though, right?

Maybe kind of tilt it down.

Can you see that?

Brown with slightly orange patterning

allows it to stay perfectly camouflaged

on the basin of the river.

Can you see the eyes up front there?

Kind of zoom in on those eyes.

See how tiny they are?

They have very poor eyesight.

They can't sense light, but they actually

have all these little light receptors

all over their bodies.

And they can also sense vibrations in the water.

They use that ability to sense vibrations to help

them hunt for their food.

And then look at the tail.

The tail is like a rudder.

Can you see that?

And that's how they're capable of making

quick bursts of movement underwater, if they need to.

Like when it first came out from underneath the rock,

it shot out, and Tim magically somehow managed

to scoop it up in the net.

Now, they're primarily nocturnal.

That's when they come out and do their hunting.

And 90% of this amphibians diet is made up of crayfish.

They will eat small fish.

They will take other little invertebrates.

And, believe it or not, a large one like this

will even eat other hellbenders.

They're very, very territorial.

And, oftentimes, a smaller hellbender

may lose its life to a larger one like this

if it wanders in to the wrong neighborhood.

Oh!

I am just in such awe of this creature right now.

It is unbelievably incredible.

Like, I never thought I would ever see a salamander this big.

That is the largest species of salamander in North America,

and the third largest species of salamander in the world,

third only to the giant Chinese and Japanese salamander.

And look at that little face.

How adorable is this creature?

It's kind of staying pretty calm at the moment.

I'm going to dip it back down into the water.

I need to make sure that this amphibian

stays hydrated at all times.

Here, Mark, come over top, and let me show

you these lateral skin flaps.

This is one of the most interesting

things about these amphibians.

Can you see this?

Sure can.

See those flaps?

These flaps actually help them oxygenate.

And they absorb all their oxygen through the water.

Well, hello.

Hi there.

What's your name?

Should we name you?

Herbie?

Herbie the Hellbender?

I think that's a yes.

Oh, yeah!

He gave me a little squeak and blew some bubbles.

Well, it's interesting because they

breathe through their skin.

And scientists actually aren't sure

if they use their lungs to breathe or just

for buoyancy underwater.

And right there, I would definitely

say that it kind of looked like it came up for air, at least it

exerted some air from its lungs, probably

so that it could get down to the bottom of this tub of water.

Now, one thing that I do want to do very quickly here

is actually get the length of this hellbender.

We're going to do a little biometric research here.

I'm trying to get it completely stretched out here.

Tip of the snout to tip of the tail.

I think with the bend it's 20.

That looks like a 20-inch hellbender

right there.

Wow.

20 inches in length.

So, Coyote, how old is this amphibian?

Well, nobody really knows for sure how long

they can live, but some scientists think they

can live as long as 70 years.

Wow.

I would guess that this one, based

on its size, is probably somewhere

between 25 and 30 years of age.

It's about as old as we are.

Yeah, pretty much.

This is an old creature.

And they're very susceptible to pollution.

This is what we call an indicator species.

And the fact that we found one here in this river

is a really good sign that the water

system is in fact healthy.

Now, their larva are the ones that are

most susceptible to pollution.

But because they absorb so much of the environment

through their skin, like all amphibians, if it's

a polluted area, there's not a good chance

that they're going to survive.

Well, it was one very long and very frigid

day searching the rivers of West Virginia,

but we finally came across the elusive hellbender.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

All right, let's get this salamander back into the water.

Over the past century, hellbender populations

have greatly declined.

And while the species is not officially

listed as being endangered or even threatened,

it is protected across its range.

And strong conservation efforts are helping

to preserve the species.

Organizations like West Liberty University,

which has the largest hellbender conservation facility in West

Virginia, are currently head-starting hellbenders

for release into the wild, helping

to ensure a hopeful future for these giant amphibians.

All right.

There he goes, back up underneath his rock.

Yes!

All right!

Well, Herbie is back in the wild.

High-fives, Tim.

Amazing job.

That was one wild adventure.

All right, guys, let's get out this river and warm up.

I know that I will never forget my time spent

in that freezing cold river, working alongside Tim,

and the moment he successfully netted

that incredible creature.

We got him!

And as it disappeared back into its dark, watery layer,

I felt a sense of overwhelming gratitude

for being given the chance to get up close with the one

and only hellbender.

I see it!

I got it!

Careful, careful, careful!

Woo!

Oh, my gosh. Are you ready?

Yeah.

Oh!

Don't move, don't move, don't move!

I got it, I got it, I got it!

There he is.

The rain forests

of Costa Rica boast being an incredibly diverse

ecosystem, with literally thousands

of plant and animal species.

And while many of these creatures

are nocturnal and rely on the darkness of night

to help keep them hidden, there are also

plenty of diurnal, or daytime animals,

that one can encounter.

Today, we are exploring the Costa Rican

Amphibian Research Reserve, located

in the central Caribbean zone.

It's 121 acre expanse is home to over 50 species

of amphibians, including the iconic green

and black poison frog.

My goal was to find, safely catch,

and get one of these rainforest gems up close for the cameras.

Ah!

No!

Oh!

They're so fast.

However, catching a poison frog is far easier said than done.

Just saw one.

Did it hop away? - Yep.

It's right in these leaves.

Hold on.

Did you get it?

I sure did.

No, I did not.

Are you serious?

Anything?

Ah!

Did it go in the burrow?

I don't know where it went.

Oh, jeez!

Ah!

What is it?

Stinging ants!

Little fire ants!

Ah!

One of the dangers of catching poison frogs, because you just

throw your hands in everything, and I just threw my hands

into a mound of fire ants.

Oh, gosh.

This is, uh-- this is more difficult than I

thought it was going to be.

All right, come on.

COYOTE PETERSON Not only

are these amphibians small and speedy,

they are also incredibly aware of their surroundings.

Oh! There's one on that leaf!

So at any sign of danger--

- they immediately flee

into their burrows.

This is a bromeliad plant.

And you see how thick the middle of it is.

I'm just going to bend this leaf down a little bit.

Take a little glance in there.

See all that water?

That pocket of water is exactly what the female frogs are

looking for to lay her eggs.

Oh!

There's a poison frog right there!

Where, where, where?

There's two.

There's a red, and then-- oh.

The red one just went-- tucked behind the leaf.

But there's a little green. Oh, oh, oh!

That's a baby one!

Oh, it's a froglet!

We're definitely looking for something

that is way bigger than that.

Now, the adults are hanging out by the plants too,

right? - Yeah, they can be.

You can obviously also find them around on the forest floor,

hiding in leaf litter or up underneath root structures.

Like all of this area like this, it's

just a matter of kind of trekking through it

and getting lucky, actually spotting one.

All right, I'm heading into here.

As we travel deeper

into the rainforest, the wet and rocky terrain only became

more difficult to navigate.

And the ever looming cloud layer overhead

threatened a torrential downpour at any moment,

but I was determined to catch one of these frogs.

OK.

Well, so far, I have missed catching

a lot of these poison frogs.

We've seen them.

And as soon as you see one, they disappear to their burrows.

We've been out here for--

I don't know-- what would you say, close to three and a half,

four hours now?

Yeah, and now I think the rain is

going to start rolling in soon.

I did not anticipate it taking this long

to get a little green and black frog in front of the cameras,

but, uh, we are not giving up.

We're definitely seeing them.

It's just a matter of Coyote actually catching one.

All right, let's keep moving.

There's a frog.

You got one?

Yup.

Where, where, where?

Oh!

Ah!

It went right up underneath those roots.

You see that? Where'd it go?

Right there.

You see-- OK, so there's this rock here.

Mhm. - Look behind it.

Yep.

See those roots and those rocks?

Yeah. - Yeah, back up in there.

Frog pretty much just disappears.

Now, you may be thinking, well, Coyote,

just stick your hand in there.

Get the frog.

There could be snakes in there.

There could be spiders in there.

I certainly don't want to disturb the animals' homes, so,

in all fairness, that frog evaded capture.

And then finally,

a combination of patience and a little persistence paid off.

Did you hear that?

Yeah, that's definitely a frog.

I want to see if it calls again.

No.

Your camera didn't get that sound, did it?

You weren't rolling yet? No.

Yeah, I definitely heard one.

All right, I'm moving up this.

It's definitely worth looking.

This is a bit steep, but--

jeez.

I see it.

It's definitely--

Is it catchable?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, none of the rest have been.

Hold on a second.

I'm going to have to dive for it.

Yes!

Did you get it?

I got it, and a handful of grass too!

Woo! All right, I'm coming down.

You ready?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, yes!

Careful, careful, careful.

Woo!

You all right?

OK, yeah.

Covered in mud, handful of leaf litter,

but I definitely have the frog.

Oh, my gosh. Are you ready?

Yeah.

This has been one difficult amphibian to come across.

Ready?

Oh!

Oh!

Don't move, don't move, don't move!

I got it, I got it, I got it!

There he is.

OK.

Hold on.

Just like it come down there on a nice flat spot.

It's going to get away.

Got it!

See how jumpy they are? Yeah.

And, literally, I'm going to have to hold onto this frog's

leg the entire time.

Let me wash off my hands in the stream

here so I can get a good handle on it.

Oh!

Covered in mud again!

My pockets are wedged full of mud.

Totally worth it, though, because now

we have the green and black poison

frog up close for the cameras.

You are not going anywhere.

Wow.

Well, there it is, the black and green poison frog.

They are so incredibly fast.

And the reason I've had so much trouble

is because they often hang out right in front of their burrows

or in front of a root structure, so as soon

as they feel vibrations in the ground, any sort of sounds,

make visual contact, they say, blup, and disappear

down into the ground.

Now, aposematic is the term you always

hear me saying when it comes to these brightly-colored animals.

And what aposematic means is that it's

a warning sign to any potential predator that, I am toxic.

If you eat me, if the stomachache

doesn't make you keel over, it may,

in fact, actually kill you.

Now, this variety is slightly more toxic than the granular

or the strawberry poison frog, so I

am definitely going to be washing my hands

after handling this frog.

Now, when I climbed up the side of the hill,

its back was actually toward me, which

is the only reason that I think I was able to leap

and grab a hold of the frog.

But as you could see, as soon as I gave it

any runway for getting an escape route,

it immediately hopped off my hand and made a break for it.

And the thing is, a lot of times,

you try to catch some frogs, whether it's

this variety, or the strawberry poison frog,

or the granular poison frog, you think that you've got the frog,

but they move so quickly.

Soon as you grab down at it, because you have to be gentle,

the frog is already gone.

Now, this is a terrestrial species of frog.

And you'll notice that it doesn't have

webbing in between its toes.

They're moving throughout the rainforest,

searching the leaf litter for any small bugs

they can come across.

They're opportunistic feeders.

But this species specifically loves to feast on ants.

And it's actually the alkaloids in the ants that

give this frog its toxicity.

So, coyote, why is this considered

the most iconic poison frog?

Oh, just look at the coloration.

I mean, it's absolutely gorgeous.

That green and black marbling is so incredibly distinct.

And look how evenly it's spread throughout the frog's body.

Now, I do have an admiration for these frogs.

But if there's somebody that really loves these frogs,

it's Mark.

Aw, jeez. Yeah.

Yeah, calling you out.

It's true.

Since I was eight years old, that's my favorite amphibian

right there.

Actually, I have a mouse pad of that exact frog.

He does.

I bet you're pretty excited.

Once we get this episode through post-production,

you get to edit the thumbnail.

You're going to actually be scrolling your mouse

pad over an image of this frog while editing

an image of this frog. - I know.

It's kind of crazy.

But, yeah, I'm excited about it.

Very cool.

All right, well, I am muddy, I am sweaty, and I'm exhausted,

but we finally managed to get the green and black poison

frog up close for the cameras.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure!

Over the years filming "Brave Wilderness" episodes,

I have managed to encounter many species of frogs.

And whether they were giant bullfrogs of the South,

culturally iconic red-eyed leaf frogs, or tiny toxic jungle

jelly beans, the green and black poison frog is certainly one

that I will always remember as being well worth the epic

adventure and incredible challenge

to get up close for the cameras.