Original subtitles

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Do you know what this adorable little creature is?

If not, stay tuned, because I'm about to tell ya.

I think it's safe to say that we all love baby animals.

Look at that!

That is a baby toucan.

And when the Brave Wilderness team and I recently

visited the Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary in Dominical, Costa

Rica, it didn't matter if they were

soft and fuzzy or feathered and squawking.

We simply couldn't get enough.

This incredible sanctuary and its dedicated staff

are helping animals almost every hour of the day,

seven days a week, and no matter what the species.

One of their permanent residents, Gonzo the Tamandua,

was absolutely fascinated by our cameras.

And while we could have filmed an episode with him,

we also had the unique opportunity to film

with Peru, the smallest Tamandua you have ever seen.

Get ready for your heart to melt.

This might be the cutest animal we have ever

featured on "Breaking Trail."

It is Baru, my little friend.

This little bizarre creature, that has me on the run,

It's a lesser anteater, better known here in Costa Rica

as the Tamandua.

And Baru was brought here to the sanctuary

after his mother was sadly killed by a stray dog.

And right now, he's in the process of rehabilitation,

being nourished, and fed well every single day,

so when he builds up his strength,

then he'll eventually be released back into the wild.

They do walk kind of awkward.

This is an arboreal species.

And they're usually found up in trees.

But when they come down on the ground,

you can see that they kind of just waddle along,

and that's because they have to tuck

their claws underneath their hands so that they can walk.

Very curious about this camera.

And he's only a few weeks old.

And look at how well he climbs.

Watch that.

Look at him get up the side of that log.

He's got me on the run.

And like all baby animals, Baru here is extremely curious.

Everything is new, including GoPro cameras.

This is some serious exercise.

I'm sweating bullets in here.

He's got me running around in circles.

So is this a large or a small tamandua?

Well, this is a small one right here,

but they do get to be about 30 pounds in weight when

full-grown, and about three feet in length,

and two-thirds of that length is usually in the tail.

And you see how long that tail is.

Oh, look at that.

That's a good natural instinct right there, exploring

little holes in the logs.

And what they feed on is primarily termites and ants,

but at this age, he's enjoying goat's milk and fruit.

And you'll notice this real distinct pattern.

Watch as he walks up here.

You see that?

It almost looks like this animal is wearing a vest.

You have the real dark coarse fur there.

And as he grows older, this lighter fur

will turn a yellowish tan.

They're very, very gorgeous animals.

And the tail only ever has real sparse fur on it.

It almost looks like the tail of an opossum.

Hey, Baru.

Come here, buddy.

Look at those claws.

Now, they look menacing on an animal just this size.

Imagine him being three feet in length and weighing 30 pounds.

Now, they use these claws to tear apart termite mounds,

but they're also used to defend them against predators.

Now, you see how he can stand up on his back legs like that?

In the event that a predator is to approach,

he'll do this, right there.

Rear up and show you those claws,

and then they will swing.

And like razor-sharp sickles, if you

try to attack this creature, you're going

to be in some serious trouble.

You see that?

Look at that nose.

Just slightly curved.

And their mouth is very tiny.

Just enough space for them to stick

out this very long tongue.

His tongue is about four inches long.

And they use that to lap up termites.

They can sink it down into little holes, and it's sticky.

And the termites will stick right to the tongue.

And then he sucks his food right back into his mouth.

And look at how cute he is.

Look, he's getting a little scratch right there,

a little butt scratch.

Here, I'll help you out.

Oh, gosh.

That's the spot.

My goodness.

Nothing's better than a good butt scratch, huh, Baru?

There you go, buddy.

All right.

And we're off to the races.

Where are you going, Baru?

Uh oh.

He found Mario.

There you go.

I got no ants in my pants.

Oh, how adorable is that face?

It's my turn.

Come on, Baru.

This direction.

Come on.

Let's go this way.

And what we ultimately want to happen

is for Baru to be released back out into the wild.

And as soon as he gets a little older and a little healthier,

he will be released.

Look at that.

Look at that balance.

Let's see.

Come here.

Let me look at you.

Goodness.

Oh, he likes the microphone.

He sees that and he thinks, hmm, is it possible

that that is a termite mound?

Baru is only a few weeks old.

And if he was still living in the wild with his mother,

he would spend the first year of his life

relying on her for survival.

With his mother gone, Baru's future

is now in the hands of humans.

He is fed several times a day, gets plenty of exercise,

and the staff at Alturas is confident that he will

one day return to the wild.

Well, how excellent was this, spending the morning palling

around with a baby Tamandua?

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

I know you guys are thinking right now, uh,

can we see the lion's teeth?

Yeah, we can see the lion's teeth.

You guys ready?

Yeah.

Sharp rays of sunlight crept up

from the horizon, casting a golden radiance

across the Savannah.

Morning has arrived in South Africa,

and with it, the beginning of a journey that was soon

to become one of the greatest animal

encounters I have ever had.

Today, we are venturing out into the world-renowned Kariega Game

Reserve.

This wild place spans over 10,000 hectares.

And the landscape is a splendor unlike anything you

have ever seen.

Endless rolling grasslands, the perfect habitat

to safely house and keep hidden one of our planet's

most iconic predators--

- the African lion.

All right, Coyote.

About ready to hop in the jeep?

Yeah.

Well, the plan today is to track down a pride of lions,

but trust me, it's much easier said than done.

We've got a lot of ground to cover.

You guys ready to track down the pride?

Let's find those big cats.

Here we go.

Tracking lions on foot could take days, if not weeks,

so the crew and I teamed up with a secondary team composed

of field veterinarians that have been

deployed through support of the Reserve Protection Agency.

Led by Dr. Waldo Dreyer, their collective goal

from a scientific perspective was to safely tranquilize

one of the larger resident males in an attempt

to collect biometric data.

This important research would help ensure the health

and well-being of the pride.

So with the plan in place, we parted ways

and headed toward opposite ends of the reserve

to begin our search for the pride.

I feel like luck is on our side today.

A lot of ground to explore, but we've got two teams out.

It's just a matter of tracking down the pride.

Since 2004, Kariega has been home

to a very healthy population of lions,

yet finding and getting these big cats

in front of the cameras would be no easy feat,

as they are constantly on the move

and in search of their next meal.

Yeah, come on down.

Check this out.

You know what that is?

Bones.

Bones, skin, fur.

That's a zebra's leg right there.

And zebras legs don't just fall off on their own.

That is absolute crystal clear evidence of a lion kill.

It's old, though.

This is not fresh.

So we do know that the pride has been through here,

but not recently.

All right.

Well, like I said, it can be tough to find

this pride of lions.

Stronger evidence of the pride and their whereabouts

was necessary if we hope to have an encounter.

So we loaded back into the Land Cruiser

and continued our search deeper into the interior

of the reserve.

Finding tracks is the most reliable sign of one's quest

for locating an animal, and you are always guaranteed to find

the freshest tracks near water.

Check this out, guys.

Completely fresh lion track right there.

Like most cats, they try to avoid walking in the water.

And the cat definitely moved up the side of the road here.

That means we are hot on the pride's trail.

So, Jill, what'd you hear?

There's literally lions on top of this hill.

So the other team's got eyes on the lions?

Yeah, yeah. And they're on a kill.

Really? - Yeah.

Coyote! Coyote!

Yeah?

The other team's got the lions over the hill.

What?

Yeah, the lions are just over the hill

and they're on a kill too.

On a kill?

Yep.

No way! OK!

Yeah, climb up in the Jeep!

Oh, man.

This is going to be crazy.

They're on a kill?

Yeah.

All right, guys.

Well, I'm out there picking up pieces of old kills,

and apparently, the Lions have a kill.

The other team has spotted them.

We're going to make our way over there now.

Here comes the lion episode.

Awesome!

With lions located on a fresh kill,

we quickly moved across the reserve

to meet up with the vet team.

Doctor Waldo joined our vehicle, which

would give us a clear view of the tranquilization process.

So with the darts locked and loaded, it was go-time.

This is exciting.

I have never seen a lion in the wild before.

I know you guys are amped.

Oh, man.

This is going to be one epic day.

Tranquilizing a lion is considered a routine checkup.

Once asleep, the biometric data would be collected,

and then a reversal serum will be administered

for the animal to wake up.

OK, they just radioed from up ahead.

The lions are just up over the top of this next hill here.

We have found them.

All right, guys, we are rolling up on the lions right now.

I can actually see one of the big males

right here, off the side of the vehicle.

Wow!

So impressive.

I'm trying to be really quiet right now.

We don't want to startle them.

Believe it or not, we don't want to scare the lions.

I'm the one that should be scared right now.

Oh, there it is, there it is!

As our Land Cruiser approached through the flowing

Savannah grasses, my heart began to race at an incredible speed.

This was an unprecedented level of danger, which

meant everything had to go right because if it

didn't, that meant everything had gone horribly wrong.

Never before had I seen a pride of lions in the wild.

And as they came into view, their primal strength and

beauty was a wonder to behold.

In total, four lions had been spotted on the fallen carcass.

Our primary target was the male, but the team

decided that they also wanted to check

the health of the females, so if the opportunity

presented itself, they would be darted as well.

And in that split second, that seemed to slow down in time,

we all clung to the edge of our seats

with focused anticipation.

Oh!

Got one, got one!

Nice shot!

Wow!

Did you see him spring into action like that?

OK.

We thought that maybe the lions would

move off if we darted one.

We've got four lions, three females, and a young male.

It's a young male, right? - Yeah.

Wow.

Still an enormous cat.

All right, getting ready for the second dart.

Here we go.

We got the male coming up around the backside here.

Tag the upper-- the forefront of her chest.

Go, go, go, go, go.

No, not yet, not yet.

OK.

The male is coming around front of the females.

Almost have a clear shot.

It's super windy, though.

It could throw off the dart.

We do not want to hit the animal in the face.

Here comes the shot.

Got him!

All right, the male has been darted.

One lion left.

Wow.

OK, we have three of the lions darted at this point, male

and two females.

One female still does not have a dart in her, though,

so we're trying to move the vehicle

to get in a better position.

This is intense.

Hold on, guys.

Be aware you got a lion.

Here we go. Look at this.

Get a shot.

Zoom in, zoom in.

Got it!

Nice.

All the lions have been darted.

And they are all staring at us now saying, OK, uh,

what are you guys doing out here?

Wow.

That's intimidating.

With all four cats successfully darted,

we watched from a safe distance as, one-by-one,

they succumb to the effects of the tranquilizer serum.

All right, now it's just going to take a few minutes

for the tranquilizer to set in.

When they tell us to get out of the vehicles,

we'll move in, get that biometric data.

Wow.

My heart's racing right now.

How about you?

This is crazy.

Time was of the essence, so the vet

team needed to move quickly.

This meant that, as a camera team,

we would have a very limited window of time

to capture an up-close presentation

with these sleeping carnivores.

Given his iconic stature, I was beyond

excited to showcase the male.

While in the background, the veterinarians

would be collecting the sought after biometric data

from the females.

In human terms, this procedure is comparable to a checkup

at the doctor.

When it comes to lions, this includes pulling a small hair

sample from the tail, checking body length,

paw length, overall health, and, lastly,

microchip identification.

That is a big cat right here.

Look at that.

We've got this other female down right here.

Yeah, just lions laying around everywhere.

Lions everywhere.

Keep in mind, guys, these lions are just asleep.

None of these animals are actually hurt.

Here it is.

Here's the male.

That is unbelievable right there.

This is the closest I have ever been to a wild apex

predator of this size.

You can feel it breathing.

Ah, beautiful animal.

Now, this creature is enormous.

And it is still a sub-adult male lion.

I want to come on this side just to show you this paw.

You've got the mane.

You can see his face is covered up there.

It is asleep.

Look at the size of this animal's paws!

It's bigger than my hand.

That is crazy.

And so heavy.

So much weight and so much muscle in the front section

of this cat.

You guys want to see those claws, don't you?

Oh, yeah.

Ready for this?

Hold on.

Let me kind of sit down here.

Get ready.

That is impressive right there.

And these claws are constantly growing throughout the course

of the animal's life.

Now, like all cats, they have four toes up front,

but also a dewclaw on the side.

You see that?

Wow.

That is the key piece of power right there because when

they lunge toward a water buffalo or a wildebeest

and they latch on, it's this claw that hooks in place

and makes sure that that prey does not get away.

And that's what they do, latch on and then go for the neck.

Now, the lion, believe it or not,

does not have that powerful of a bite

force as compared to other big cats.

Only somewhere between 600 and 900 pounds per square inch.

But what they want to do is go for the trachea.

You get the trachea, you're cutting off the windpipe

and that animal is going to suffocate.

Now, the males, while they can't hunt,

aren't the ones that are actually hunting.

So while when we came up on this pride,

you see that they've taken down an impala,

it's likely the females that killed the impala,

but then the males will come in and they will feast first.

Wow.

This cat is just the coolest creature

I have ever been around.

Let's take a look at its head real quick.

Look at the size of the ears.

Massive ears.

They're capable of moving these individually.

They have incredible sense of hearing.

Look at the mane of this animal.

It's so dense.

And, oh, it smells like South Africa.

It smells like the Savannah, a little bit of grass

and a little bit of sand.

Now, you look at this mane and you think, well,

what is the purpose of a mane on a lion other than to have

an epic hairdo?

And the purpose is actually to protect them

when they're fighting to protect territory.

All this dense fur, when another male is rearing up,

using its claws and its teeth, protects this lion's throat

and his face.

All right, you guys ready for the reveal?

Let's see it.

OK, I'm going to pull this back very slowly.

Let's see the lions face.

There you are, buddy.

Oh, my gosh.

That is incredible.

What a handsome animal right there.

Look at its whiskers.

Incredibly dense.

I know you guys are thinking right now, uh,

can we see lion's teeth?

Yeah, we can see lion's teeth.

You guys ready? Yep.

I'm going to slowly just kind of pull

the lip back here a little bit.

Wow.

Whoa.

Look at those canines.

Holy smokes.

Unbelievable.

Now, lions have three types of teeth.

Up front here, you have these incisors

which are used to carry things.

The females will carry their cubs around.

They're also used to pull meat away from the bones.

Of course, the canines are used to inflict a kill.

And then in the back here-- go ahead and zoom in.

You see that?

All these premolars are used like serrated shears

to saw through the meat.

And I can see the lion's tongue in there.

It's incredibly grippy, like sandpaper.

They can actually use that tongue

to lick meat away from bones.

They can lick fur off.

And, believe it or not, if a lion were to lick your skin,

it would take the skin right off.

Not exactly like your house cat.

Wow.

Hi, buddy. Let's see.

I'm just going to take a look at his eye there.

See if you can zoom in there.

See, the pupils are slightly dilated.

It's completely out right now.

See that?

Get a tight shot there.

Lions have incredible eyesight, not only during the day

but also at night.

Look how big its head is compared to you.

It's massive. It's as big as your body.

Can you imagine what it would be

like to get an appendage of your body

or your head stuck in the mouth of an animal like this?

And keep in mind, guys, this is still a sub-adult.

They get bigger than this.

I'm guessing this lion is probably somewhere

between 250 and 300 pounds.

They can tip the scales well over 500.

OK, I'm going to just flip this back up over its head

so that the sun stays out of his eyes.

Oh, man.

Is your adrenaline rushing as fast as mine is?

I'm just trying to stay calm, actually.

OK, are we ready to collect the biometric data?

All right, let's do it.

Got to get the measurements on this lion.

OK, I'm going to go all the way to the back side here.

OK.

So I've got 123 and a half.

OK.

Uh, 54.

All right.

Paw measurements.

Six.

And this is important data for us to know--

Eight.

- exactly the size of this lion's paws

so if they're out there-- - And five.

- looking for tracks, you'd know

exactly which lion this is.

And you see all these kind of markings on the face?

So over time, it will help you identify the individuals.

It's quite a striking one right there.

Yeah.

Close this up.

I think he's already too--

All right, guys.

What's really cool is that this lion doesn't actually

have a microchip in it, so we are going

to get to insert one today.

And that will allow us to keep a tight record of this animal

any time that they then tranquilize

in the future to be able to collect its biometric data.

Wow.

Cool.

All right, so where do you insert the microchip?

OK.

See the microchip-- a nice, thick needle.

It's about the size of a--

Ooh.

- like a grain of rice.

I don't like needles.

I don't do very well with needles.

So we insert it right in the middle between the soles

of shoulder blades. - OK.

So we just make a little dent on the skin.

- OK. - We put it underneath the skin.

Oh, just a little prick, right?

Just like that.

Wow.

All right, guys.

Well, it's time to apply the reversal

drug so that this male wakes up and heads

back off into the wild.

But this certainly was epic getting to explore here

at the Kariega Game Reserve, tranquilizing four lions,

and getting up close to collect biometric data.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right, time to wake up.