Original subtitles

Whoa, there it is.

What?

I totally got that.

Ah, isn't that crazy-looking?

That's so gnarly.

It did not bite me, but boy, did it make me

jump.

Does the worm feel any

different when it does that?

Yeah, I can feel its body like tense up.

Whoa, there it is.

Ugh.

What's it doing?

It's puking all over me.

Ugh.

Ugh.

Gross.

Oh, it stinks. Oh, yeah.

It does.

Oh, gross.

In most areas around the world,

when the ocean tides recede, they reveal a hidden coastline

that is made up of shallow intertidal pools, many of which

are filled with colorful plants and bizarre-looking marine

creatures.

However, when the tide pulls back

from the inlets and estuaries around Harpswell, Maine,

you are often left with an endless expanse of mudflats.

These exposed layers are formed when

mud is deposited by the tide.

And while they may look like a barren wasteland,

they usually support a large population of wildlife.

Today, the Brave Wilderness team will be joined in the field

by Anthony, who is a professional licensed bloodworm

digger.

For nearly 40 years, he has been raking the mudflats of Maine.

And on a good day, he can haul in around 1,000 worms.

All right, guys, we have multiple cameras going today,

and as you can see, it is still raining, not too bad right now,

but it's going to be a slightly gritty episode,

which is perfect because today, we are looking for bloodworms.

It's going to be muddy.

It's going to be grimy.

And if we're lucky, we're going to find some of these worms

that are then probably going to end up biting me,

isn't that right?

That's right.

OK, well, we're going to leave the big cameras behind,

and what we have here-- check this out--

this is a bloodworm digging rake.

And as I understand it, you kind of slam that into the dirt

and mud, pull it back.

Well, yeah.

Pull it back, flip it over.

Just-- they say it's all in the wrist.

All in the wrist. OK.

Now, you're coming, right?

You're not just going to stand underneath the edge of the car

Ah, I mean, I could stay back here.

No, no, no, no, no.

I can see you've got your water shoes on.

We're all getting muddy today.

We're all getting in it.

All right, guys, ready?

- Let's do it. - All right, let's go.

Yep.

Digging in mudflats

is truly a dirty job.

And believe it or not, blood worming

is a huge part of Maine's fishing economy,

as these marine worms are sold as bait.

So whether you are catching the prized bloodworm

or the slightly bigger sandworm, a heavy haul can equate

to a pretty nice paycheck.

However, the good news for any and all worms we catch today

is that they will be released back into the wild.

Now it's just a matter of getting into the mud

so we can start digging.

Well, you just let

us know what you think the best spot is to start digging.

No one knows.

No one knows.

No one knows.

This is tough.

It's like you're walking on another planet.

It's crazy-looking out here.

It's all kind of glassy looking.

And this is every day for you, huh?

Everyday, right.

Everyday.

Well, I think this little area here looks like a good place

to maybe start.

Why don't you show me exactly what the method is for digging?

Ready?

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

It just peels back like that.

There's a little worm, or is that a stick?

Oh, it's heavy.

See how this rolls?

Wow, it just peels back.

It's like cake.

Oh, oh, oh.

I thought saw--

Oh, what's that?

Is that a tapeworm?

That's a tapeworm.

That's a tapeworm.

That's a big 'ole--

Oh, my goodness.

That's not what we're looking for.

That's a tapeworm.

That's a tapeworm.

Don't get that in your stomach.

All right, we're going to toss him back there in the mud.

Gross.

This is like throwing five-pound weights.

Every lump of mud it's about five pounds.

That's five pounds right there, and Anthony is just throwing

globs of mud effortlessly.

Let me tell you who you don't want to get in an arm wrestling

competition with, Anthony.

He's got Popeye forearms.

It's crazy.

It's tough because you step, and you sink.

You try to move fast enough so that your feet don't sink.

See, like that?

You all right?

Winded, man.

That is tough.

That is a lot tougher than you guys could possibly imagine.

The mud is extremely heavy, and as it pulls

your legs down into it, you're trying

to balance with your feet.

My toes actually hurt from trying to keep myself

webbed on top of the mud surface as you sink down.

And there's nowhere to rest.

It's not like I could just lay down in this mud.

Well, I could, but then the environment

would swallow me alive.

I'm sweating bullets right now.

OK, let's follow Anthony.

We can't keep up with him.

I'm going to try right here.

Oh.

Oh.

Something big.

Get it.

It's not a bloodworm.

Is that a sandworm?

Whoa, look at that.

That's a beaster, right there.

But I don't know if it's a bloodworm.

I don't see its head coming out.

Oh, I'm putting it in the pocket either way.

I got a big one.

You got a big one?

We're on him.

We found the sweet spot.

It's the honey hole.

That's what I dig every day.

What do you got?

Let me see.

Wow.

That's crazy.

That's what I dig every day, worms like that.

Look at its proboscis coming out.

Whoa.

Look at that big head.

Alien, isn't it?

You can see Anthony's excited.

That means this is a good worm right here.

Wow, look at that.

I got full frame.

All right, we are getting closer to the honey hole.

I'm going to put this beast in the bucket.

Show Anthony what we found.

Oh, that's a sandworm.

- That's a sandworm? - That's a sandworm.

They bite too. - Wow.

OK.

Well, at least we found a big one.

Woo.

Hey, muddy over here.

Bloodworming on the coast of Maine.

Blood-- oh, there's another one.

You got one?

Yes.

Oh, it's a big one.

Oh, man.

Yes.

Got one.

See, my bloodworming song brought him up from the mud.

Woo.

A little muddy, but it finally paid off.

I have slung probably 150 globs of mud, and I finally--

woo, don't drop me--

finally found my first keepable bloodworm.

put it into the bucket.

We got it. All right.

We got bloodworms.

We have a sandstorm.

At this point, I say we head back to a controlled situation

and get these worms up close for the cameras.

Woo.

This is awesome.

Oh, man.

I'm stuck in the mud.

Nice.

All right, guys.

We're back at base camp, and what I have here

are two buckets, one that is filled with worms and another

that just has some saltwater.

What I'm going to have to do is dig through all this gloppy mud

that's filled with bloodworms, rinse them off, and then

place them into this clear container

so that we can actually see them.

See, look in there?

Oh, there's the big--

oh, there's one of our big worms there.

OK.

If this saltwater right here?

Yes, this is saltwater.

This is a marine species of worm, which means

that they live in saltwater.

If I were to actually put these worms in freshwater,

it would kill them.

So we do need to be rather gentle with them.

Oh, there's a big one right there.

Oh, that is--

Oh, that's one of the big--

look at this.

That's one of the big ones right there.

Oh, boy.

Yeah, that could give you a good bite.

All right, get in there buddy.

OK, I'm going to move this bucket of water

right here, get rid of the water bucket,

and now we're going to get up close with these worms.

Now we do have a pretty decent size ragworm here.

Anthony also called these sandworms.

See that?

That thing is crazy looking.

Right.

Look at the iridescence to its skin.

And you can see, if you zoom in there, all these little legs

on the side, those are called parapodia,

and that actually helps these marine worms

not only swim but also burrow.

And this also will get extremely long.

But that's about its most shrunken-up state right there.

All right, I'm going to go ahead and put this one back

into the mud bucket.

Crazy.

Woo, what do we have next?

Man, the moment we've been waiting for,

the bloodworm, which is exactly what

we were going out after today.

I wasn't even aware that we would

find other marine worm species.

And we got a whole container full of them.

Now, I'm going to just dump the whole thing in my hand,

OK, ready?

Just so we can see what that looks like.

Ugh.

They really look a lot like earthworms.

Do they smell or anything?

They smell like mud.

They absolutely smell like mud.

And like most worms, they'll just kind of stay completely

limp in your hand like that.

And oh, I can feel them moving.

They don't seem to move as fast as an earthworm.

No.

All right, I'm going to just kind of single

out the biggest ones.

And you may be wondering to yourselves, oh, that one's

putting out his mouth.

Oh, that is a rather big one.

OK, there are one, two, three, four, five really good

sized bloodworms, but I think the biggest are these two

right here in the middle.

So we're going to pare this down.

I'm trying to let them get comfortable and expand out.

I also want to see if there's one that's going to perform

for us with what we're all waiting to see,

which is that weird alien-looking head that they

shoot out of the front of their face.

I think that one. That one--

This one right there?

That one seems to be the most lively.

Yeah, that one also seems to be the largest in diameter.

We're going to put these back.

Now, one thing that I must note up front,

I'm not going to intentionally try to be bitten by this worm.

But this is one of the only venomous

worm species in the world.

There, right there, you see that?

You see the head come out?

They have a proboscis that they shoot

out of the front of their head, which has four fangs.

Those things are made of copper, and they're like this, right,

it's like a grappling hook.

Hold up. Hold up.

Like metal? - Like metal.

Like the element copper.

And those--

So it has metal teeth?

It has metal teeth.

Like a Bond villain.

Like a Bond villain.

You got it.

Yes, this is like one of the most bizarre creatures.

I didn't even know these things existed until we got here

to Maine, and somebody said, you want

to go looking for bloodworms?

And sure enough, this is that creature.

Now, this worm is a predator.

And when they're out hunting, they'll

kind of slink through the mud, and they're

searching for crustaceans or small invertebrates,

and they shoot this grappling hook-type head out

of their proboscis, four fangs dig in,

and then with those fangs, they inject venom.

That venom paralyzes and sometimes even

stops the heart of its victim.

And then they sit there

and slurp up the innards like a slushy.

Now, OK, this is really cool.

You see how it's completely slinked out like this?

Notice that coloration.

You see how purple it is?

It's all peach-colored here and purple here.

That's why they're called bloodworms

because their insides are actually dark red,

and the skin is semi-translucent,

and you can see that coloration right through there.

Wow, that's cool.

You can see like little bubbles

running through the body.

Yeah, isn't that wild?

Look down the side of his body there.

You see how it looks like there's spikes coming off?

Looks like hairs.

Yeah, those are parapodia.

They're like little feet that help this creature to burrow

and also to keep its balance if it's in deep water.

All right, we got to get that proboscis to come out.

Let me see here.

I'm going to kind of just lay the worm out in my hand

here like this.

You can see, look, it's kind of curling around,

probably protecting itself.

Can you see that little nodule up front there?

What is that?

That's a sensory organ.

It's a little tentacle, and that's how this creature

explores its environment.

It can sense chemicals in the water with that little front

appendage.

Look up here.

You see all that purplish coloration?

Oh, yeah.

And it has a lateral line that runs

down the length of his body.

See that real distinct purple line?

That's how you can easily identify this as a bloodworm.

Ah.

Oh.

Oh, it went for my thumb.

Did you see that?

Totally got that.

It did not bite me, but, boy, did it make me jump.

Wow, it shoots out really fast.

Oh, there it is.

What?

Isn't that crazy-looking?

So gnarly.

I think this one's fangs are just too small like it's

coming all the way out.

I see him.

I mean, the fangs are pretty tiny.

So I don't think I'm going to get bitten by this thing.

Ugh.

What's it doing?

It's puking all over me.

Agh.

Agh.

Gross.

Ah, it stinks.

Does it?

Yeah. - Oh, yeah.

It does.

Oh, man, gross.

Oh, disgusting.

Oh, my gosh.

Did you film all that?

I got all of it.

Let me see.

Ugh.

Everything poops on you.

Oh, my gosh.

Even bloodworms poop on me.

Look how long its body is when it's slinked out like that.

Now just like an earthworm, if this marine creature

is cut in any area above pretty much this line right here,

it can regrow parts of its body.

Look at that.

You can actually see the colors going through its body.

Woo.

Did you try to bite me there?

I think it's thinking about it.

Show me your proboscis.

Ouch. Yai!

Did it bite you?

He got me.

I got that.

He got me. I felt it.

It was a little pinch.

Let me see.

Where'd he get you?

Right there, right in the crux of my finger.

It was like a little pinprick.

Ah.

Does it hurt?

Yeah, a little bit, a little bit.

It kind of itches, actually.

Did you see that?

You think you got that? Oh, I know I got it.

Oh, man.

It just kind of whipped around and nailed me.

Well, OK, I was successfully bitten by the bloodworm.

Definitely not as bad as a bee sting, although, you know,

if it was significantly bigger, it may have hurt more,

but it kind of itches a little bit.

Like a little mosquito bite?

Yeah.

Kind of like-- it startled me more than anything,

but I can definitely feel it.

Oh, my heart's racing.

I even say you guys jump back.

You're not touching the--

No, no, no.

I mean, it really didn't hurt, but it was a prick.

It definitely shot me backward.

That was funny. Hey, Coyote.

Yeah. You all right?

I'm all right, man.

Well, it was definitely one very wet, very muddy afternoon,

but we finally came across a whole bunch of bloodworms.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Ready to put him back out in the ocean?

Let's do it.

Sure you don't want to get bitten?

Eh, I'm good.

OK.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

This is Gabe, and this is Garrett,

and today, we're headed into the Redwood forest

to look for creatures.

Are you guys ready?

Yeah.

Let's do it.

COYOTE PETERSON On this episode

of "Coyote's Backyard," I'm taking YouTube sensations

Gabe and Garrett into the towering

Redwood forests of California.

These brothers are used to big adventures in front

of the camera as some of their most successful videos

have racked up hundreds of millions of views.

However, today isn't going to be their average walk in the park,

as my goal was to get them up close with some of the forest's

coolest animals.

OK, well, we have made it to the creek.

Now we're going to head upstream,

so let's head that direction and see what we can find.

You ready? - Yeah.

Let's go.

The first goal was to lead them off trail,

so they could literally get their feet wet.

Look at that.

I can't even get them to stop.

They were straight into the water and ready to look.

All right, we're going to find some cool stuff.

Let's get moving.

One of the biggest parts

of being an adventurer is getting

comfortable in the environment.

It's important to be smart and safe,

but you also need to remember the being brave

can give you some incredible experiences.

Our first encounter came in the form

of one incredibly friendly, yet extremely toxic

animal, the California newt.

Oh, wow.

There we go, guys.

All right, everybody grab one.

Everybody grab one.

I'll get this guy up here.

Have you guys ever held a newt before?

No.

Now, what do you think?

Is this a reptile or an amphibian?

- Amphibian. - Amphibian.

That's right.

All right, guys.

Now, when I hold this newt up and we look at its belly,

what color is it?

Orange.

That's right.

It's orange because this is a warning sign to predators

that they're extremely poisonous.

So what we want to make sure is that we don't eat these newts,

and after we handle them, that we wash our hands.

From newts to millipedes, the forest

was crawling with creatures.

And as we headed upstream, it wasn't long

before we came across our second feature creature of the day.

It was a signal crayfish.

All right, guys.

I'm going to wade into this pool,

see if I can get this crayfish for us.

These crustaceans

can give a pretty nasty pitch.

So it was going to be on me to wrangle this one.

Holy mackerel.

Look at that, guys.

Oh.

Look at those pincers.

It does look a little bit like a scorpion, doesn't it?

The signal crayfish

gets its name because, when threatened,

they hold their pinchers up in the air to display

the bright red underside.

This coloration acts as a signal to predators

that you better stay back or you are going to get pinched.

Oh, ah, yep, that's a good pinch right there.

COYOTE PETERSON Clearly, I

wasn't getting that message.

Yikes.

OK, now go ahead and try to hold him from the back

when he's not actually pinching me.

Squeeze onto his back there like that.

There you go.

You got him?

All right, you're holding a crayfish.

That's a big one, too.

COYOTE PETERSON I was

incredibly proud of the boys.

To handle the crayfish of this size

was a great feat of bravery.

Watch this, guys.

Watch how he disappears back [inaudible] He should

go pretty quick

Whoa.

Pretty awesome, huh?

You guys were so brave holding crayfish.

Let's keep going.

I brought something here for us.

What are those?

Bananas.

This next creature looks exactly like a banana.

It's called a banana slug.

I'm going to give each one of you a banana to carry,

and we're going to try to find a slug that's as big as a banana.

You think you can do that?

Yeah

All right, let's start searching.

If you have ever

explored in the redwood forests, you're

probably aware of how many banana

slugs slink along the trails.

Here's a big one.

Pretty close.

Wow, that one's a monster.

Wow.

I think your slug's definitely bigger than my slug.

And it was only a matter of minutes

before we all had our hands on one.

All right, we have three pretty good looking slugs.

Let's take them over here and get an up-close look.

All right, guys.

Now, look at the front of your slug.

You see those tentacles coming out of the front?

Yeah.

Those are the eyestalks, and that allows

them to see light and movement.

Now, when you guys found these slugs and you picked them up,

what did they feel like?

Super sticky.

They are super sticky.

It feels like someone sneezed in your hand, doesn't it?

Yeah.

Totally gross.

Now, if you look at the side of the slug,

do you see that hole right there?

Yeah.

That's called a pneumostome, and that is actually

where the slug's lung is.

So look into that hole, and you see in there?

Yeah.

You're looking at the slug's lung,

and that's how the slug is breathing.

That's pretty cool, huh?

This thing is wild.

Out of all the animals that we have here in the redwood

forest, I would definitely say that the banana slug has truly

earned its name, considering the fact that it

looks just like a banana.

Handling a single banana slug

is impressive, but I felt it was time to see just how

brave these kids really were.

All right, guys.

Now that we've learned a little bit about the California banana

slug, we're going to do something that I like

to call the slug challenge.

We're going to roll up our sleeves,

head down trail, and see if we can

get our arms absolutely covered in

these slimy little creatures.

Are you ready?

Oh, yeah.

Come on.

Let's go.

COYOTE PETERSON Nothing

beats a little friendly competition between brothers.

And as they began to collect slugs,

Gabe and Garrett were having a blast.

It was a complete slug pandemonium.

When I finally wrangled the boys back in,

it was clear that they took this challenge

seriously as their arms were literally crawling with slugs.

All right, come on in here.

Let's show them how many we got.

That is a lot of banana slugs right there.

You guys are absolutely covered.

I think you guys topped me on the slug

challenge, that's for sure.

Getting to spend the day hiking

the redwood forest with Gave and Garrett

was wet, muddy, and sticky.

And I can't wait until the next time

I head back to the West Coast so that we can do it all again.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.