Original subtitles

Right now we're at Kids Saving the Rainforest,

and we're about to work with a truly nocturnal creature.

Now, I just met it off-camera a second ago,

and it is armed with razor sharp claws,

and some ferocious looking teeth.

But, believe it or not, this creature eats fruit.

So if you guys are ready, I think

I'm ready to feed a kinkajou.

While filming breaking trail,

I have taken many intentional bites and stings.

However, it's the ones that you don't plan for that

can oftentimes be the scariest.

Oh! Oh!

Oh!

Those are marshmallows.

These little squirrel monkeys love marshmallows.

Now, the trick is going to be to get one of the squirrel monkeys

off of the branch and onto my arm,

so that he eats the marshmallows.

See that?

I think they're coordinating a plan here.

Did you see that?

Oh, yeah.

Right above me,

Sorry.

Oh. Did it bit you?

Oh, yeah.

It got me on my arm pretty good.

I guess he didn't like me with the marshmallows.

Just because we

plan to film an episode doesn't mean they always work out.

And this squirrel monkey mishap was a perfect example.

That's a monkey bite.

On the Pacific side of Costa Rica,

the crew and I spent time filming at Kids

Saving the Rainforest, where we had the chance

to get the cameras up close with a rescue kinkajou,

a nocturnal mammal that can deliver an incredibly painful

bite if you aren't careful.

All right.

Now, what I want to do is just get a little piece of fruit.

I'm gonna to open up this little crate.

OK, hi.

Here we go.

Hello there.

Ooh.

Look what I've got.

Look what Coyote's got.

Oh, boy, look at those teeth.

Come on out.

Ooh, ooh.

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Come on out.

Let's get you all the way out.

Whoa.

There it is.

Oh, you going back in?

He's like, a lot of lights.

There you go.

That is a kinkajou.

You gonna go back in there?

Oh, you gonna roll over on your back?

All right.

Look at this creature.

Now, what I want to do is kind of keep the fruit close by.

And you look at this animal, and you think to yourself, wow.

It looks like a mix between something

out of the weasel family, maybe a monkey.

Look at his tail. Looks like a cat, too.

Or a cat.

So this is, like, the combination

of so many different animals.

But, believe it or not, it's related to the raccoon

and the coatimundi.

You love papaya, don't you?

There you go.

Now you're able to get a little bit better shot.

Oh, look at that.

Roll over on your back.

Can I pick you up?

Oh, maybe not.

This is not an animal that I want to just

try to pick up and handle.

Because it is capable of giving me a pretty good chomp.

I need to be as gentle as possible.

Here.

How about you come up on the tree?

Yeah.

You can hold him by the tail.

Oh, no.

You don't want me to do that.

OK.

There you go.

Oh, that's-- that's impressive.

Look at those claws at work there.

Here.

I got the whole bucket right here.

Come on this side.

Hi.

You're gonna eat right out of my hand.

Look at that.

Whoa.

Did you see those teeth?

Oh, yeah.

You can understand why I do not want this animal

to chomp onto my hand.

Wow.

Look at how it's able to just hold on to the food,

and it's actually balancing itself with its tail.

Now, that tail works like a fifth hand,

to be able to help it climb through the tree

and obviously hold itself upside down.

Look at that.

It's completely supporting its weight

with its tail and its hind legs, not even holding

on with the front legs at all.

And look at these little hands--

five fingers on the front toes.

It feels just like the hand of a human, shaking hands.

Oh, there you go. Here.

Try this.

Licking some fruit off there.

What about that?

Now, is he being gentle with you or what do you think?

So far, so good.

Now, keep in mind that I just met this creature,

so I need to be calm.

I need to be quiet.

And, hopefully, it wants to hang out for a few minutes.

But, again, I need to be very careful.

Because if it latches on to me with those claws

and those teeth, it's going to be

a very bad end to this episode.

Now, the coat is very, very dense.

And notice how short all of the fur is.

And you've got these courser guard hairs on the outside,

and underneath, it's also pretty coarse.

Here, Mark.

Look, this is a great chance for us to look at the foot.

They're actually able to turn their feet

180 degrees backwards, which helps them move

in reverse up a tree trunk.

But let's come back down here to the head.

Can you see the eyes from right there?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Those big eyes allow this creature to see in the dark.

Now, they are strictly nocturnal.

And during the day they will hide

in either a cavity inside of a tree or in a cluster of vines.

Look at that.

He's just completely staying still.

Have you had enough to eat?

He may be full at this point.

He's eaten a lot of the fruit in this bucket.

Looks very curious about all

these cameras surrounding him. - Yeah.

Well, I have to imagine for a creature that's

used to being out in the darkness,

it must be pretty disorienting to have

all of these bright lights surrounding you.

But, you know, for a creature that came from the wild

and is being rehabilitated here at Kids Saving the Rainforest,

I'd say it is pretty well behaved.

All right.

Well, this kinkajou has had one incredible meal tonight,

ate pretty much the entire bucket of fruit.

I have to say, this is probably one of the most interesting

mammals we have ever gotten in front of the cameras

on "Breaking Trail."

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

And I know we're all getting really

excited for the holidays, so today I've

got an extra special surprise.

Get ready to meet Blitzen, the baby reindeer.

You ready for your morning walk?

Oh, yeah.

He's ready to go.

We're gonna go back that way.

Whoa.

Here we go.

Oh!

Just watch your cameras.

Oh!

That's a good boy.

And there he goes.

Whoa!

Over the past few months,

we have released several episodes that

were filmed in Haines, Alaska, at Steve

Kroschel's wildlife sanctuary.

I had the chance to splash around in a river with a mink,

got a GoPro camera incredibly close to a weasel,

palled around a baby red fox, and even went

face-to-face with a wolverine.

We had pretty much finished filming

with Steve asked if we wanted to meet an orphaned baby reindeer.

The answer was obvious, as we simply couldn't pass up

sharing this adorable animal with you

just in time for the holidays.

Yum, yum, yum, yum.

All right.

Look at that.

Now, this is a baby reindeer.

In the wild, this is more known as a caribou.

But a semi-domesticated caribou is properly

referred to as a reindeer.

These animals have been used to pull sleighs up in the North.

And, of course, to control a sleigh

you need to have reins, hence, the name reindeer.

You see, right now Blitzen is just

feasting away on this fireweed.

A baby like this needs to consume a ton of food.

They grow rather quickly.

And you can see, even at this age,

he's already has established growing in.

And they're so soft right now, just

covered in this fluffy Velvet.

Yeah.

He's had a lot of plants to eat already this morning,

and he's starting to get a little sleepy, almost

time for his nap.

And like most babies, he spends a lot of time

during the day resting.

And this is really comforting to him

right now, just a little scratch on the side of the neck.

Oof!

You got to watch your eyes next to those antlers, though.

Fortunately, they're still pretty dull.

So you take a hit in the face, and I'm gonna be OK.

And I don't want to talk too loudly.

Obviously, I'm real close to the animal's ears

and they have very sensitive hearing.

They need that sensitive hearing to be

able to hear any sort of predator,

like a bear or a pack of wolves, coming out when

they're up there on the Tundra.

That would be a wolf.

Ooh.

Ooh, yeah, that's-- got the caribou out here.

Don't worry Blitzen.

We're not gonna take you by that wolf.

I may say that I am walking a reindeer,

but the truth is the reindeer's walking me.

See that?

We're gonna go back that way.

Whoa!

Here we go.

Oh, that's the treat right there, huh?

Yum, yum.

So what is that?

This is called Old Man's Beard.

And it's called Old Man's Beard because you

can see it hangs down from tree limbs,

and it looks just like a beard.

And this is the first time the Blitzen

has ever had Old Man's Beard, and he

seems to absolutely love it.

And, in the wild, a tree branch would

be hanging down like this.

You see it'd have the Old Man's Beard hanging off the branch,

and the caribou would come up to feed, just like this.

This is completely natural for this animal right now.

You can see he's just enjoying a breakfast of Old Man's Beard.

I'll kind of peek through here for you.

Hey!

How's that breakfast, Blitzen?

Pretty good?

OK.

Kind of in the danger zone here, right underneath the reindeer.

But I wanted to get a close look at these hooves.

You see how they're crescent shaped like that

and spread wide apart?

That is so that their hooks are like snowshoes.

Now, when they're out they're walking

on the tundra, that helps them stay on top of the snow.

Bet you never thought you'd see me underneath a reindeer,

did you?

All right, let's go back up here by its head.

I'm kind of in the danger zone here.

Now, let's take a look at this animal's coat.

You see how soft and fluffy it is right now?

That's because he's actually shedding out his winter coat,

and his summer coat is growing in.

So soft and fluffy.

Look at that, his little nose just resting on my arm.

I think he's had enough food this morning.

He's probably getting tired.

Now, babies like this do you sleep quite a bit.

He may be getting tired.

I could feel his head getting heavy on my arms.

Aw, what a cute dear.

Now, Blitzen's eaten a lot of plants this morning.

Let's see if he would like some milk.

Oh, look at that.

Yup.

Clearly, he's into milk.

And one really interesting thing about most caribou species

is that both the males and the females grow antlers.

Now, the males have a much larger rack than the females,

and eventually-- oh, oh, oh, careful.

Look how hungry he is.

Eventually, Blitzen's antlers will

grow into this enormous beautiful rack.

Wow!

Look at how fast this reindeer drinks milk.

That is crazy.

Yum, yum, yum, yum.

Oh, my gosh.

You are good at chugging milk.

That is one thing, for sure.

I can see why Santa probably doesn't

bring you into the house.

You'd eat all of his milk and cookies, wouldn't you?

And, just like that, we have run out of milk.

So everybody wanted to know why I grew a beard before Alaska.

I figured I'd fit in perfectly.

And, as you can see, his reindeer loves--

Oh, burped right in my face.

This reindeer loves cuddling up against my beard.

Oh, he's going to sleep right now, I think.

Well, how excellent was this--

spending the morning hanging out with a baby reindeer?

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

Happy holidays.

We'll see on the next adventure.

I'm Coyote Petersen.

Now, we've all seen you in this position before--

no sock on my foot, and the sock being

used to draw in a predator.

Check this out.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

that, right there, is a baby red fox.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Come here.

Working with animals can be incredibly

difficult, especially when you were hoping to encounter them

in the wild and have an up close interaction that

is captured on camera.

The crew and I have visited many locations over the course

of filming "Breaking Trail."

And if you have ever wondered which location has been

the most difficult so far, I would definitely

have to say it was Alaska.

This far northern state is considered

to be the last true frontier.

And trust me when I say the environment posed

incredible challenges, from the vast lakes which were explored

by kayak, to the rushing glacial melt streams that were

nearly impossible to forge without getting soaked by icy

cold water.

Then there were the incredibly dense forests.

Built with ancient trees and thick plants,

this habitat provided the perfect hiding

places for native wildlife.

So I climbed up on top of the stump here,

searching the forest.

Check out this vantage point.

Wow.

That is just trees as far as the eye can see.

So what becomes

the game plan when finding animals in the wild

is next to impossible?

Simple.

We work with ones that have been rescued or raised in captivity.

Today we will be working at Steve Kroschel's wildlife

sanctuary, which is home to many different mammal species,

including moose, weasels, and even a wolverine.

In my opinion, mammals are the most difficult animals

to work with, because they very rarely want to be held,

and getting them to sit still for the cameras

is next to impossible.

And while in the past I have worked with giant grizzly

bears, ferocious badgers, and spring-loaded bobcats,

nothing would challenge me and the crew

more than an incredibly adorable baby red fox named Lupin.

Now, one of the toughest things about working with a fox

is that a fox wants to move around as much as possible.

So right now we are inside of Lupin's enclosure.

And you can see this looks completely natural.

You can barely even tell that we're

in her enclosed environment.

And here she comes.

Lupin.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

She's very excited to have us in here.

Come here.

Come here, you.

Soon as she starts to calm down, I

have a good feeling that she'll probably

come close for the cameras.

But at the moment we have to let her get

acclimated to us being in here.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

There you are.

Are you gonna come hang out with me?

Right about now

I am sure you were wondering, what in the world

are those noises Coyote is making.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Well, they're

fox calls that Steve taught me.

You see, Steve has the uncanny ability to speak with animals.

- Now, Steve-- - Yeah.

I hear you making this--

Sounds like a turkey noise.

Yeah, well, I'm talking mink language now.

- That's min. - Yeah.

Yeah, mink language. You go ahead and try it.

OK.

Just got to go faster. There you go.

Pretty good.

Pretty good.

And he said that if I could master

the language of the fox, I would likely become one of the skulk,

which is a group of foxes.

There you are.

Hello.

Did you have a good sprint?

What do you think?

How about you and I have a conversation

about your 12 vocal calls?

I know you have 12 things to say to me.

My fox lingo was a bit off.

So then we tried a fox toy--

just a simple duck wing tied to a stick.

That is what you call fishing for a fox right there.

Oh, you almost had it.

I'm doing my best to keep her attention.

Hi.

Good-- good afternoon.

Keeping a fox's

attention in front of a camera is far easier said than done.

And before we knew it, Lupin was back to running

laps around her enclosure.

Hey, Lupin, come on back here.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Next, we tried

to get her up close to the cameras

by pretending my hand was a mouse.

What I'm gonna do right now is turn my hand into a mouse.

I'm gonna actually put it down in this hole

and bury it in the grass, try to make some mouse noises,

rustle this around, and see if I can get

Lupin to come and pounce on me. Ready?

Yup.

Let's try this.

Oh!

Yeah, it worked.

Ow!

And she bit right down to the tip of my finger,

only to find that it isn't actually a mouse.

Well, that was pretty cool.

All right.

Well, apparently I can speak mouse.

Haven't quite yet learned how to speak fox.

We had some pretty good success

at first, until she figured out that she

couldn't eat my fingers.

How cool is that?

Every single time, she thinks my finger's a mouse.

And that's such a great hunting instinct for this baby animal,

to be able to learn that this is how I catch mice.

It is very, very difficult to hold onto this baby fox,

because she wants to run around in the enclosure.

So one tactic I used with the ocelot

was to take my sock off and get its attention with that.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Lupin.

Here we go.

She got her attention.

Oh, boy.

Look at that.

Oh, a sock is good.

It worked wonders with the ocelot

in Costa Rica, so I figured why not try it with the fox.

Get it.

Get that sock.

Now, if I was one of her litter mates

and I found something out there in the wild,

like a hunter who left a sock behind,

this would be a great toy to play with.

This fox is incredibly playful.

And at this age that's natural.

But even adult foxes, you'll see running

around on fields prancing, hopping, playing fun games.

Anything that she can potentially get her claws

and her teeth on is fair game.

And while tug of war

seemed to hold her attention at first,

like any curious baby animal she soon lost interest

and went back to going everywhere except in front

of the main camera.

How are you?

You made a buddy.

Kit, kit, kit, kit.

You're so cute.

You're such a cutie.

Well, she's over there rolling around on her back

with Mario.

And he's got that big, fuzzy microphone

on the front of his camera.

And I think she's attracted to the shininess of the lens

or the microphone cover.

It's almost impossible to keep her one spot.

I'm going to put my boot back on.

And one of my favorite things to do with the animals

that we work with is to actually follow them

around with a GoPro camera.

So I've got the GoPro set up on a gimble,

and let's see if we can track down the baby red fox.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Kit, kit, kit, kit.

Now, the red fox is one of the most

elusive animals in the world.

And I would see in my lifetime I've probably only

ever seen fix fox in the wild.

And even when you do see them, it's only for a brief second.

So if you do happen to encounter a fox, consider yourself lucky.

This right here-- getting to play with a baby one--

ooh, it's absolutely exhausting.

If there's one animal that has really worn me out,

it is definitely the baby red fox.

This thing's got more energy than any animal

we've ever worked with.

For nearly 15 minutes,

we attempted to follow Lupin around her enclosure.

And for a brief moment, she rolled over on her back

for a belly rub.

Kit, kit, kit, kit, kit.

Kit, kit, kit, kit.

Kit, kit, kit, kit.

Oh, there she goes.

That's about the closest we've been all day.

Pretty cool palling around with a baby red fox.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Like I said in the beginning,

filming with mammals is incredibly difficult.

And after two hours of following this fox in circles, the crew

and I called it a wrap.

Getting to pal around with Lupin was one of my fondest memories

from Alaska.

And if there's one thing I'm confident we can all agree on,

it's that this baby fox is about as adorable as it gets.