Original subtitles

You guys hear that?

Yeah? Yeah.

OK.

So right now, we are on location in Texas

filming episodes of "Breaking Trail".

And last night, my wildlife biologist

Mario and I were walking up and down this pond

looking for reptiles and amphibians,

and we kept hearing the sound.

And I kept thinking, it's got to be a toad

or it's got to be a frog.

So we're using our flashlights and we're searching,

we're searching-- we could find absolutely nothing.

It was driving us crazy.

So today, we went and we did a little research.

As it turns out, that sound is a mole cricket.

Have you guys ever seen a mole cricket before?

Have you even heard of a mole cricket?

Well, check this out.

Come down here a little closer.

Got one! Oh, my gosh.

It's strong.

It's, like, pinching me.

She's going to come up right through my hand.

Look at this.

Look at this.

I'm sure most of you had never seen a mole cricket before.

And honestly, I haven't seen one either.

And down in that burrow is the male.

That noise is bringing in the females.

What we want to do right now is walk up and down

this embankment and see if we can find some of those females.

I could dig that guy up, and I don't want to disturb him.

So hopefully, we'll find one of these females.

And what I want to do is get up close for the cameras

to show you something really, really cool that they can do.

They're called mole crickets for a reason.

You guys ready to find a female?

Cool.

Let's see if we can get one.

Yeah.

Cool, look at that.

There's a normal cricket.

Now follow my finger, if you will.

Mm-hmm.

Just like this.

You see this raised area in the sand?

That is a mole cricket burrow.

So we are definitely on the right trail.

And watch, I can do this.

Yeah.

You see that?

How that's dug down right there?

Yeah.

That is how powerful these little animals are.

Just like a mole that you would see in your backyard.

Now they're constantly

making these tunnels, right? Like--

Oh, yeah.

No, this is something moving through here.

I'm not disturbing anything by playing in that burrow.

But this is a really good sign.

All we need to do now is find a female.

All right, let's keep moving around the side of the pond

and hopefully catch one.

Got one!

Do you?

No way.

Yep.

100%.

Oh, my gosh.

It's strong.

It's, like, pinching me.

That was too easy.

No, hold on.

They bury really quick.

She's going to come up right through my hand.

Look at this.

Look at this.

Oh, those little hands are powerful!

Look at that thing.

Doesn't it look like a mole?

It looks exactly like a little mole.

That is amazing.

How cool is that thing?

That's what's making all that noise?

That's what's making the noise.

Well, the males are making the noise.

This is most likely female because, yep, she

does have wings. All right.

I'm going to cup it back in my hand

and get the little capsule out of my pocket

so we can get it under control.

Ready?

Awesome.

Got it.

Perfect.

Excellent.

There you have it.

That is a mole cricket.

Wow.

And look at how much the front half of that little creature

looks like a mole, and the back half looks just like a cricket.

How bizarre.

Now, this is a subterranean animal.

And the only time they come out from underground

is when you have a big rain move through.

Now, they do not bite.

I did read that.

So I knew as soon as I grabbed it that I

wasn't actually being bitten.

But those front limbs are very spiky.

Definitely gave me a startle and I grabbed on to it.

It tried to burrow out of my hand.

All it takes is one.

And what I want to do now is actually get this

into a controlled situation.

So I can show you guys exactly why

they call them mole crickets.

Awesome.

Nice job. - Awesome.

High fives. Boom.

OK.

Let's get up here.

OK, and we are back with a mole cricket.

Look how cool that little creature is.

Now, I did a little research on these insects,

and as it turns out, mole crickets

can be found on every single continent

except for Antarctica.

I bet you didn't know this--

there are over 100 species of these insects worldwide.

I've never seen one before.

I've never caught them before.

And what we're going to do tonight

is show you how mole crickets burrow down into the sand.

You guys ready for this?

Let's see it.

Oh, they our feisty. Ooh, and strong.

Come here. Come here.

Come here. I got you.

OK. There we go.

Wow, look at how much this thing looks like a mole.

I'm just going to hold it like that.

Can you see it OK there?

Oh, wow.

Look at that.

So this little plastic container, here, it's a vanity.

And it was right there up in my bathroom.

I had my toothbrush, my toothpaste, and

some other toiletries in there.

And I said, let's empty that out, fill it with sand,

and show everybody at home how the mole cricket burrows

down into loose substrate.

So I filled it up with sand, and if you guys are ready,

we're going to place down this mole cricket,

and watch how quickly it disappears.

Are you ready? All right.

This is going to happen pretty quick?

This is going to happen super quick.

Yeah.

Mario, you try to get this shot too?

Yeah. I got it.

OK.

Because I'm going to have to dig it back up with--

see, I got a spoon right here.

So I got to dig her back up.

OK. Ready?

And go.

Oh.

Nope.

Didn't work.

OK.

Put her back in.

Oh.

Oh.

Fast.

Burrow, burrow!

Whoa. Let's see it.

Here we go.

One, two, three.

Oh, hands are already going.

Ahh.

Oh.

Ready and go.

Dig. Dig.

Dig. Dig.

Dig.

Wow, look at that!

Just like that.

And she stopped.

See if I just--

go.

Go.

Oh.

Look at that.

Totally disappeared.

And just like that, the mole cricket has disappeared.

That's pretty impressive.

Why?!

Oh, wow.

This is a lot tougher than you guys would think--

getting mole crickets to bury into the sand.

You know--

Well, now you know if you're out there at night

and you hear a high pitched sound

and you can't find where it's coming from,

it's probably because it's coming from underground

and it's most likely a mole cricket.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild!

We'll see you on the next location!

Here we go.

Are you ready?

I'm ready.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

And I'm about to take on the bullet and challenge.

Are you ready?

Let's do it.

One--

- two-- oh, my gosh.

This is it-- three.

Ooh!

It's stuck in my arm!

It's stuck in my arm!

The stinger's stuck in my arm!

Look at that!

OK, it's off. It's off.

It's off.

Oh, my gosh!

Oh, my gosh!

Oh, my gosh!

Oh! You all right?

Oh, my god.

It is really bad.

It is like--

it's hot!

Oh, I can feel the venom already right in my forearm.

It is-- it's number one.

Coyote? - Yeah.

How are you feeling, buddy?

Sweaty and out of it, actually.

We are about 2 and 1/2 hours in at this point.

And I'll tell you what, one of the toughest aspects

was hiking the 45 minutes back out of the rain forest.

I just keep sweating profusely.

My arm currently is very sore.

It's red, it is swollen.

Check this out.

That, right there, is the mark where the stinger went in.

It's like this permanent welt that just isn't going away.

And you'll notice all of the blotchiness

around the sting zone--

very, very similar to the velvet ant.

Now, when I was stung by the tarantula hawk,

my arm just swelled up like it was full of water.

Almost like a water balloon.

This is different.

Not as much swelling, but very, very tender.

All I have to do is touch the skin around the sting zone

and it feels like a bunch of little, tiny needles

going in and out.

And I'm having this aftereffect where

every 10 to 15 minutes, it feels as if I'm being stung again.

And then you have these waves of pain that are throbbing.

It's like, whoo, whoo.

There's a lot of venom in my arm right now.

And we know that because I probably took, mmm,

I'd say two to three times the amount of venom

because the stinger actually got stuck in my arm.

How crazy was that shot?

Can you believe that we got that?

Definitely was not an average sting.

No.

If you're just stung by a bullet ant out there walking--

one just, whap, tags you and then you

do everything you can to get it off, you're not getting,

you know, as much venom as would go in if the stinger was

actually stuck.

So, it's definitely fair to say that I've

taken more venom than the average sting would yield.

But that's good, because it's giving us

the full opportunity to see the effects

of this venom on my system.

Now, I know a lot of you at this point are thinking, OK, Coyote,

we're so glad that you're OK.

I know everybody's worried every time

I take one of these stings.

And as we always show you, we have an epinephrine pen with us

just in case I go into anaphylactic shock.

Now, the other thing that we often

have that we happen to share with you guys before is this.

That's a satellite phone.

All you need to do is press a single button on this

and a Life Flight helicopter will come pick

us up anywhere in the world.

So don't worry.

If anything tragic happens, we're

going to get me out of danger as quickly as possible.

Now, whenever we do one of these bite scene episodes,

I like to show you guys the basic first aid that you could

have right in your medicine cabinet

for that you would get from the pharmacy.

But today, we're going to do something

just a little bit different.

Are you going to pee in a bottle again?

Ooh! I didn't even--

The fire ants.

I didn't even think about that!

Does urine work on a bullet ant sting?

No, sorry guys.

Sorry, Mario.

No pee for this aftermath video.

Mario's dissapointed.

That's fine with me, man.

But what we do have is a product called Sting-Kill.

Now, this is a company that has been around for a long time,

and it's a basic remedy for any insect bite or sting.

Now, this one here is an actual sting wipe.

It's got Benzocaine and menthol.

Now menthol is going to be fantastic

because that's a cooling agent, and my arm

is on fire right now.

Don't believe me?

Mark, go ahead and touch the skin there on my forearm

and tell everybody is that warm to the touch?

Wow, that Is really hot.

You can even tell from, like, the side of your arm to right--

Yeah. Ah.

So what I'm going to do is open this up,

and let's see if the sting wipe helps, ah, to cool off my arm.

This is nice.

These are perfect.

This could fit right in any hiking backpack.

And this is for any basic bite or sting.

Could be a honeybee, could be a hornet.

In this case, it is going to be a bullet ant.

Ooh, whoa. That's strong.

Yeah.

Look at that.

OK, here we go.

I'm going to apply it to the skin.

That's pretty nice.

That is cooling, and I can actually feel it slightly

numbing the surface of my skin.

There's definitely a cooling factor going on here.

I can still feel burning deep within my arm, but the actual--

yeah, the surface level of my skin feels cool.

Yeah, that's actually really nice.

Wow.

OK.

Now, the other product that I have with us is that guy.

Here we go.

Oh, this looks like a magic remedy, right there.

Check that out.

Is that bullet ant kryptonite?

I'm about to find out.

Maximum strength Sting-Kill.

Now to use this, what you want to do

is just crack the glass tube that's inside there.

Ooh, look at that.

That's cool.

You see that?

All right, look at that.

Yeah, you can see it seeping right down into the tip, there.

Here we go.

First drop I'm going to just gently

apply that to the sting zone.

Ooh, cool.

It kind of looks like mutagen from "Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles."

Wow.

It is numb!

Is Sting-Kill the real deal?

Sting-Kill may have just taken away

the pain from the bullet ant.

Wow. That did.

That-- I can't believe that.

That actually just worked. Really?

It really did.

I was-- I won't lie.

I was expecting it to be like, oh, OK.

Kind of works.

Yeah, my arm is completely numb right there.

Wow. Yeah.

Look at that.

Just a minute ago, you couldn't even touch the skin.

When you just touched my arm, it felt like sharp little needles.

Nothing?

Nothing.

No.

Totally numb.

That is unbelievable.

I'll tell you this much, we will definitely

be using the sting wipes and the maximum Sting-Kill

in our first aid kits at all locations moving forward.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild!

We'll see you on the next location!

OK, don't look now, but right over my shoulder, there,

is a really good sized praying mantis.

We were just coming back to our room,

and I was about to relax in the hammock.

I looked up and there he is.

I'm going to catch him.

And he's probably going to pinch the heck out of me.

Oh, he spotted me.

Ooh!

Oh, man.

He got my camera.

Ooh! Oh, man.

He got my camera. No!

No, get him! - Got him.

You got him, Mark.

I got him. I got him.

Got him?

Ah, he's grabbing me.

Ah, ah, ah.

Come here, buddy. Yes.

Yeah, he's [inaudible].

There we go.

I couldn't reach him.

I had to leap.

Here, move around this way. Let's not film outside.

Good job. Way to nab him, Mark.

Look at that. Wow.

Well, how cool is this?

Another praying mantis.

Now in just a matter of three days,

I have caught two praying mantises.

And everyone has been asking to see a praying mantis.

And I've been looking nonstop in Ohio

and have not been able to find one.

Sure enough, Costa Rica has brought us two.

Now this is not a leaf mantis.

Ow, ow, ow, ow.

It's pinching me.

As you'll notice, this one doesn't have

that leaf design on his back.

This is kind of a more classic praying mantis that I'm

used to seeing in Ohio.

Let me see if I can get him to walk on my shirt.

Ready?

He's gonna fly away.

Stay there buddy.

Whew, OK.

So alien looking.

Oh, I see you.

He's flapping his wings at me.

He's looking right at me, right now.

Yep.

Showing that dominant wing.

Look at the little dots on his wings.

Almost look like eyeballs.

And that gives him-- come here.

That gives him the ability to ward off predators.

Another defensive pose that they will use

is, you see the two little--

let me get him, here.

He's got two little black spots on his arms, there.

You see that?

And they will rear up their arms like this.

You put your face in front of those arms-- watch this.

Ah. Ah.

Oh, yeah.

Ah.

He's got the pinch on my nose right now.

I mean, I don't know why I'd want to let myself get punched

in the nose by praying mantis.

It just seemed like the right thing to do at this moment.

Let's see it'll walk on my face.

It's like there's an alien on my face.

Man, his little legs have tiny hooks on them,

and I can feel all that going to the side of my face.

Where is he now? On your hat.

Oh, there he is.

He's on my hat or on my ear?

smooth thing.

I don't know what that is. - Like this?

Yeah.

You still see him? Yeah.

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on right there.

It's like a yoga pose right here.

Praying mantis yoga pose.

What's he doing?

Cleaning his little pinchers.

Yeah, he's probably like--

He touched a dirty coyote.

He just touched-- I'm all sweaty.

We just got done filming at the wildlife sanctuary.

And of course, it doesn't take me long to find a new creature.

Is that where he's looking?

Yeah.

Or it's just hanging out.

Should I leave him there or move him off.

Oh, he's gone.

Oh. Oh, there he is.

He's up there.

Hold on, I'll get him again.

Careful, Coyote.

This is a risky little game.

That's a big drop, right there.

Got you.

There he is.

And I love how they position their body.

Look at that, he has such incredible balance.

And this is an ambush predator.

And they will lie in wait on a leaf for an unsuspecting insect

to come along, reach out with those front arms,

and grab hold.

Look at the spikes in those front arms.

Whew, I'll tell you, it hurts because he just

pinched my nose.

But they will grab onto their prey,

hold it, crush it, and then begin to eat it.

Oh. Mario.

It's on Mario's hand now.

It's your turn. - What?

Ah!

No!

Don't take my nose!

He's so cool.

He's friendly. - Yeah.

He's very friendly.

He's the most friendly praying mantis

I have ever seen. - What's up, buddy?

Well, how about that?

Coming back to the room getting ready for a relaxing siesta,

and who we come across?

The praying mantis.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see on the next location!

I'm Coyote Peterson.

You guys have been asking for praying mantises,

and finally, we've got one.

The rain forests of Costa Rica

are literally crawling with insects and arachnids.

And while most people do their best to avoid bugs,

I'm not one of those people.

Hmm?

Is there's something on my face?

If bugs don't make your skin crawl,

spend some time exploring the Osa Peninsula,

and it won't take long before you realize

that the dense foliage keeps hidden within it

thousands of these creatures.

Wow.

Look at that.

He looks just like a stick.

You got two legs up front there, the antenna,

and I can feel all the little hooks on those feet just

clinging to my fingers.

That is wild looking.

Searching by the comforts of daylight,

you definitely stand a chance of having an animal encounter.

However, the best time to look is under the cover of darkness.

And if you're brave enough to venture out into the jungle,

you will quickly find that in the night,

the rainforest comes alive with creepy crawlies.

Well, you guys have written in so many times

asking for me to catch a praying mantis.

And finally, here in the rainforest of Costa Rica,

I come across a leaf mantis.

Now I've got a good hold on him.

Let me try to grab from the back, there,

and turn him around.

Ow, ow.

He's pinching me.

Look at those pictures up front, there.

He's got a good hold on my finger, which is good.

I've got him and he's got me.

Look at how much this insect looks

exactly like these leaves.

Isn't that crazy?

They're so unbelievably camouflaged it

almost looks like a little decaying part of the leaf.

Now as we know, praying mantises are ambush predators.

They will lay in wait for some unsuspecting creature

to come along.

They will reach out, grab it, squeeze on,

crush it, and then eat it with those front mandibles.

Now the praying mantis is an opportunistic feeder,

meaning that it will eat almost anything that it comes across.

But primarily, they're feeding on other insects.

And the big ones will feed on things even

as large as frogs and lizards.

And they are so alien looking.

Look at that face looking back at you

with those big buggy eyes.

And one thing that's unique about praying mantis

is that the females, once they have mated with the males,

they will then in turn kill the male and turn it into a meal.

Talk about that for a first date.

Ouch.

Ouch.

Ooh, oh.

And he is frisky.

He completely looks-- ow!

Oh, he's biting me.

Look at that.

He's pinching me and he's biting me.

All right, let me see if I just keep him right

there on the tip of my finger.

There he goes, look at that.

Reaching, reaching, reaching, trying to get to the next spot.

Are these rare?

Uh, no.

Praying mantis are extremely common.

They're just so incredibly hard to find because they're

so well camouflaged.

It's amazing how inquisitive these insects are-- the way

he tilts and turns his head.

And I imagine that they must have pretty good eyesight

with how big their eyes are.

And look at how he can just tuck his arms underneath his thorax

like that.

They have very interesting mannerisms.

You can almost see what they're thinking.

For an insect, you'd probably think to yourself, man,

that bug can't be that smart.

But praying mantises are pretty savvy.

Right now, it's just looking for a leaf

to get on to so that it can head back off into the rainforest

and hunt for the night.

And I have always loved praying mantises.

Ever since I was a little kid, this was my favorite insect

to catch in the backyard.

Well, how awesome was that?

You guys have been wanting to see a praying mantis for quite

some time, and finally, I come across one

here in the rainforests of Costa Rica.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure!

Keeping hidden

is one of the most important elements

of survival in the rainforest.

And without camouflage, even the stealthy

stealthiness the predators stand the chance of becoming prey.