Original subtitles

I'm Coyote Peterson.

This is my friend, David.

It just rained here in South Florida,

and all the creatures are out, so we're

going to go looking for them.

He's not fond of you, Coyote.

No, he's not.

On this "Backyard" adventure, I'm

heading out into the wilds of South Florida

with animal enthusiast and photographer David Humphlett.

Before this adventure, I did not know David.

He was just like you, one of the Coyote Pack.

And he sent us this awesome video.

My name is David Humphlett.

I'm 16 years old, and I love animals.

I always have and I always will.

Coyote Peterson has inspired me to really push that part of me,

the part that loves animals.

I'd love to meet him in person and have an adventure with him.

Thanks so much.

We knew that we would be on location in Florida

filming, so he was selected to be

a part of "Coyote's Backyard."

And what an adventure we were about to have.

Just before we began filming, a rainstorm moved in.

And despite causing a slight delay in production,

this was actually great.

I find that the absolute best time

to come across any type of creature

is right after a rainstorm.

And as David and I began exploring

a private fruit grove, we were coming

across all kinds of animals.

We found crab spiders, cane toads, Cuban tree frogs,

and even geckos, who were all out on the move,

hunting under the darkness of night.

That was a possum. - Wildcat.

That was not a cat.

It was a possum?

Absolutely.

The on-and-off rainfall

made filming this episode incredibly difficult,

as we were forced to use mostly waterproof

cameras, hence the gritty feel to everything

that you're witnessing.

And while this moisture is bad for our cameras,

this is probably good for the creatures, right?

Oh, yeah.

The absolute best time to come out and look.

The first truly exciting discovery

was made by our wildlife biologist,

and it came in the form of one very common invasive lizard,

the Cuban knight anole.

Ready?

Yep.

Got him.

Ah!

All right, well, typical for me.

I got the lizard, and the lizard also has me.

Look at that.

So cool.

Can I have my finger back, please?

Ah.

Yeah, you know, whenever I catch lizards--

oh, there we go--

they usually tend to catch me as well.

If you're a little bug running around out here in the dark,

that is your worst nightmare.

Getting David up close with the Cuban knight anole

was a great start to the adventure.

And as we headed deeper into the darkness of the shadowy fruit

grove, the night was alive with animals, even

one curious screech owl, who sat and watched us watching

him for nearly 10 minutes.

David was spotting lizards left and right,

but I wasn't finding anything.

So how many anoles have you caught in your lifetime?

Oh, too many to count.

Too many to count?

Uh, lots of brown, lots of greens, one knight anole.

Nice.

Well, let him back on the tree.

Let's see what else we can find.

And once again, it was our wildlife biologist Mario

who called out from the distance with what was about to be

the creature of the night.

Where are you?

Over here! - All right.

This way, guys.

I can't see with the light.

Turn off the light a minute. OK, light.

There it is.

Oh, here it is. Holy cow.

Look at that. Yes!

Wow. Wow.

That-- Gorgeous.

- is a chameleon.

And what I'm going to do is climb up into the tree

because it's slippery.

I don't want you to slip out of the tree.

If I slip out of the tree, it'll be OK.

I'm going to gently capture the chameleon

and hand it down to you, OK?

Sounds good.

- Got a good handle? - I do.

Fantastic.

All right, I'm coming down.

Ready?

1, 2, 3, coming down.

Yes!

Have you ever held a chameleon before?

Never. This is exciting.

Have you ever even seen a chameleon before?

- Never. - Me neither.

I have never seen one out in the wild.

And, of course, this is an invasive species

here in South Florida.

Now, this is a veiled chameleon.

The way we can easily identify that--

Oh, OK.

I won't touch the crest on your head.

He clearly does not like that.

And look at all of those little teeth in there.

Well, if you're an insect or any other little creature running

around out here in this rainstorm,

you come across those set of teeth

and you are in some serious trouble.

He's not fond of you, Coyote.

No, he's not.

Now, you see the way that he's expanding his body?

He's giving us a defense post right now.

He's basically saying, you see all these teeth?

You see how big I am?

You better back off or you're going to take a bite.

Now, you will notice that the coloration of this chameleon

has gone from very light green, when he was up in the leaves,

to now dark green with light green stripes.

And chameleons will quickly change

their color when they feel stressed,

which obviously he does.

He belongs up in the leaves, but at the moment,

he's turning my arm into a tree branch.

All right.

Back on my hand there, buddy.

Now, David, what do you notice about the eyes of this lizard?

They're both independently moving.

That's right.

Each eye rotates in its own socket,

going different directions.

Very cross-eyed animal.

And do you know why that is?

I can't say do.

That's so it can help them hunt without actually

moving their bodies.

So if he's up in the trees, hunting for insects,

he can basically stay completely still.

Their bodies will actually sway in the wind like a leaf.

And they can just rotate those eyes about 180 degrees

until a bug gets close.

And then, of course, we know how chameleons

catch their food, right?

Super long tongue.

That's right.

A sticky tongue, about two-thirds

of the length of the body, shoots out of that mouth,

and then they get their meal.

Well, the rains are starting to come back down,

so I think that's going to end tonight's adventure.

But it couldn't have gone any better than

to find a veiled chameleon.

David, this was awesome.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Woo!

Look at that.

Whoa, man!

That is a long snake.

Let's crouch down here.

Now, this is a nocturnal and an arboreal species,

which means that they're out in the trees

at night, hunting for their prey.

Now, they special--

You've got a fer-de-lance right--

Oh, jeez.

Oh, man.

What's going on, Coyote Pack?

Right now, we are on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.

And for the past two weeks, we have

been staying at the Costa Rican Amphibian

Research Center Reserve.

Just across this bridge right here is the rainforest.

And every single night, we've been

out there looking for animals.

Now, the one thing I love to do when I'm on location

is to take an entire evening to see how many animals we

can get in front of the camera.

So we've got Mark there right behind the lens.

What's up, guys?

We've got Mario over here.

Hey, guys.

There he is.

And, of course, the rest of the crew

right there behind the scenes.

Now, it did rain today, so I must add--

Ugh.

- that it's going to be pretty muddy.

Yikes.

But if you guys are ready, let's

head out there and find some creatures.

What do you say, Mario? Let's do it, right?

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

Here we go!

Off into the rainforest!

Good news is I already hear frogs,

so we're going to find something.

You really have to take your time when you're

searching the rainforest because everything

is so incredibly camouflaged.

Nothing there.

And you move slow because you also

have to watch out for venomous snakes

everywhere that you step.

Oh, here we go.

There's our first animal. All right, Mark.

What do you got?

I'm going to lower my flashlight.

Just kind of frame your shot in this general area

and tell me if you can see what I just saw.

Let's see if the audience can recognize it.

I can't see any eye shine if I--

oh, I see it. Yeah.

There it is.

You know what that is?

That is a walking stick, right?

You're absolutely right.

Let me just grab onto it here.

Whoa.

Come here, buddy.

Oh, awesome!

These are usually pretty difficult to see

because look at it.

It looks just like a stick or a piece of straw.

That's awesome.

Do those things bite?

Uh, they do not, which is good news for me.

Now, watch this.

I'm going to let it walk on my face.

It's one of the few creatures that I'm completely

comfortable letting do this.

Ah, it might poke you in the eye.

Ah.

Now, the reason that I did that is to show you guys

just how good they can climb.

And look at that.

They're actually capable of hanging upside down.

They have these little hooks on the bottoms of their feet

which allow them to be completely mobile no matter

where they are climbing.

OK, I'm going to try to bring him back down,

put him on the tree.

Oh, come here, buddy.

Let's try to find something a little more dangerous

than the walking stick.

Very cool first animal, though.

Definitely watch where you're walking, Mark.

Yeah, I'm trying to keep an eye out.

It could be fer-de-lance.

It's crazy.

In the two weeks we've been here,

we have seen so many snakes.

It's like you just step and you're like, whoa,

there's a snake curled up right there.

Now, would a fer-de-lance be below the water

or do they stay on the surface?

Nope.

They would be standing right up on top,

but they would be curled up in a ball

and almost impossible to see.

Come on. Come on.

Come on.

Got it.

Where is he? - Right there.

Coming to the surface. Do you see it?

Yeah.

Mhm.

Got it!

Yes! - Woo!

Nice snag.

Ah!

The one-handed grab, my favorite way to catch mud turtles!

All right, let's track it back this way

and get up onto the embankment. OK, come on.

OK, cool.

Yes!

Ooh, look at you!

Snapping at me.

That is a white-lipped mud turtle.

And they can be pretty aggressive.

Let's see what that bite is like.

Ooh, I don't know. Should I do it?

I don't know. What do you think?

Is it going to hurt?

I think it's probably going to hurt.

Let's see.

Ah!

Yeah, that hurts!

Look at that.

Just like the neck of a snapping turtle.

Look at that.

Oh, it didn't break skin.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

The eyes almost look like the eyes of a snapping turtle.

And then they have that masked structure right

on the sides of the cheeks, and that very distinct white nose

and beak.

Well, cool.

Second animal of the night.

And you guys know I can never resist catching turtles.

Ready to put him back? Let's do it.

OK.

Whoa!

What is that?

Big tarantula.

That is a huge tarantula.

OK, well, we go after one tarantula that

is actually smaller than this.

This looks like it's a male.

Boy, I'm tempted to try to pick it up,

but I'm not 100% sure what species this is.

Now, I know my spiders that are in Arizona, but the ones here

in the rainforest of Costa Rica, it's

like I just don't know if it's worth the risk trying

to handle it.

It is very, very flighty.

I'm going to try to just pin it.

Ready?

This is risky.

Oh! - Oh, my god.

Mark, it's on your leg.

Mark, it's on you!

Don't move, don't move, don't move.

Oh, jeez!

It's on you, man.

Don't move, don't move.

OK, let me try that again.

It's very strong.

OK, you got him.

There we go.

OK.

Nice boy.

Oh, oh, OK!

Now we got it under control.

That's a big spider.

Now, I am going to go ahead and set it down on my hand.

Oh, it just jumped right off me.

OK.

It has no interest in just hanging out,

but there it is, back on the floor of the forest.

Well, if there's anything that can possibly give you

a nightmare out here in this rainforest,

it's definitely a giant fuzzy tarantula.

All right, let's keep moving and see what else we can find.

A lot of vine tangles.

Oh, no.

Looks like something's in there.

Oh, here we go.

Look at this.

Oh, you got a snake.

Yeah.

That is a blunt-headed snake.

Look at that.

Just all curled up in the vines.

Ooh, look at its eyes.

Is that venomous?

Uh, mildly venomous, but rear-fanged

and they are not prone to biting.

So keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Wait till you see how long and slender this snake is.

And they oftentimes do musk as a secondary defense.

Woo!

Look at that.

Whoa, man.

That is a long snake.

Let's crouch down here.

Wow!

Look at that snake!

Oh, no!

It is!

It's musking all over me!

Ugh!

Oh, no!

I knew it was going to happen.

I was trying to be as gentle as possible.

The most interesting aspect, look at those eyes.

Enormous eyes.

Its head is mostly eyeballs.

Now, this is a nocturnal and an arboreal species,

which means that they're out in the trees at night

hunting for their prey.

Now, they spec--

You've got a fer-de-lance right--

Oh, jeez.

Oh, man.

Dude. Keep rolling.

You rolling? Yeah, I'm rolling.

Oh, man.

Well, there is nothing more dangerous than that moment

right there.

Now, there is no question about it.

I just had my butt inches away from that fer-de-lance.

Whoa.

Why don't you hold on to that for us?

Mario, wildlife biologist, can wrangle that.

I am going to gently move this fer-de-lance out of the way,

OK? Sure.

Look at that.

The snake doesn't want to strike unless it is threatened.

So it felt as long as I stayed there

and I was perfectly camouflaged, maybe nobody would notice me

and we just keep our focus on that blunt-headed snake.

Thank you, little fer-de-lance, for not tagging me

because even a fer-de-lance of this size

would send me to the hospital.

OK, I'm going to place him over here in the leaves.

OK. - Set him down.

Let him take off.

Ready?

There we go.

Every once in a while, you just

say thank you to the universe for letting you escape

completely unscathed when you get that close

to a very dangerous snake.

Wow.

OK, back to the blunt-headed snake.

Woo!

That was a close one.

All right, Mario, let's bring that snake back in

and continue this intense snake segment.

Now, I was saying, look at those eyes.

They are so enormous.

This snake's head is all eyeballs.

That's because they're out here hunting at night.

This gives them good vision.

Now, what they focus on is small lizards.

So let's say it's an anole or a gecko,

this snake will sneak up on it.

You can see how it can stay completely still.

Look at that.

It looks just like a vine.

So if a little gecko's wandering around on a leaf,

right there, and then the snake strikes out

and is able to consume it.

Very, very cool.

Well, we've got a snake that is relatively safe,

and then a snake that was incredibly

dangerous right next to me.

Pretty good opportunity to give you guys

a good look at some of the reptiles

that are here in the rainforest.

All right, let's put this one back into the tree

and watch our step, where we're going.

We'll see you later.

Definitely looking here is a good spot

for insects and arachnids.

Here, let me get across here.

Oh, there's a scorpion right there.

Where? - Look at that.

Oh, jeez. - Oh, wow.

That's a good sized one for a rainforest.

That's a decent size. Yeah.

Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to pin it with my flashlight.

You got a shot on it?

I'm going to be as gentle as possible.

This isn't going to hurt the scorpion in any way.

It's probably going to get pretty angry, though.

OK, I'm ready.

Here we go.

It's mad.

Got it!

Woo!

Oh, ho, ho, ho!

I do believe this is the blue mountain

scorpion, a rather rare species that

is pretty newly discovered.

I wonder what would happen if I let go of its tail.

You think it would sting me?

Uh, no, I doubt it.

OK.

There you go.

You can see the stinger's completely

curled up underneath the tail.

Wow.

Get your heart racing a little bit when you

let the stinger go like that?

A little bit it's been an on-edge sort of night after

that fer-de-lance encounter, and now to free-handle a scorpion,

but always cool to come across any

sort of creepy crawly out here.

All right, let's let him back up onto these boards

and see what else we can come across here.

Ready?

Yep.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy.

No.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Let's do this.

Oh, no.

I do not want to agitate the scorpion.

Woo!

Ooh.

Scorpion, safe down into that crevice.

I'll tell you what, free-handling one

of those arachnids definitely gets your heart rate going.

OK, let's keep on going, guys.

Guys, let's move up this way.

OK.

Whoa, whoa! What you got?

Mark.

We got a venomous snake. Coyote!

Oh. What?

Yep. Where?

Right here. Watch your step.

I just walked past there.

Is that a bushmaster?

It's really camouflaged.

Ooh, is it another fer-de-lance?

No, no, it's actually a jumping pit viper.

Cool. Oh, my gosh.

Look at that pattern.

How did I miss that?

I literally just walked right over the top of this log

and I looked down where I was stepping,

but I did not look to the side.

All right, let's get it off the log.

This is definitely one worth getting

up close for the cameras.

They call him jumping pit vipers because they will lunge out.

Gently pick it up with the snake gear.

They tend to stay pretty docile.

There we go. Woo!

Look at that [inaudible] body.

OK, back it up slowly here.

All right, I've got the snake under control here.

I'm going to move down real slowly.

Now, like a water moccasin, they will

oftentimes just curl up into a ball

and display their white mouths.

Let's see.

Look at that.

Totally calm.

Very unlike the fer-de-lance, which is

a very skittish, snappy snake.

I'm going to get a little lower there.

Still out of the strike zone, but I want to be very careful.

And I'm looking this snake right in the eye.

And I can tell it's a pit viper, not only from the shape

of its head, but look at the distinct pits

right behind the nostrils.

Let's see if I can point that out.

Look right there.

That's how they sense heat, and not only their prey,

but also potential predators.

So right now, this snake is thinking,

ooh, got these big, bright lights,

got all these human bodies.

Way too big to consume, so I better just keep myself calm

and collected.

All right, Mark, I'm going to hold

it up just a little bit so you can get a better look at it.

Now, the bite from this snake is very powerful.

They're actually referred to as the pit

bull of the pit viper family.

And when they bite, they hold on,

scrunch up their face to protect their eyes,

and they do not let go.

So getting tagged by this snake would

be really, really bad for me.

Pretty cool, though, getting up close

with the jumping pit viper.

All right, back into the forest with this one.

Come on, little buddy.

Back up on your log.

This is so cool.

I just wanted to stop for a moment

and show this to you guys.

Look at this.

There is water just flowing through the forest right now.

We have had so much rain over the past couple of days.

The forest is alive with frog sounds,

and snakes moving about hunting.

But here, I'm going to kind of turn like this.

Look up that pathway.

This is just water flowing through the forest.

And this is not a stream.

No, this is not a stream.

This is just a path through the middle of the forest that

has water flowing through it, which is great for us

to be able to find animals.

So the environment is rich, and hopefully we're going to come

across some more great things.

Let's keep going.

There's a glass frog right there,

right there on that leaf.

Is that what's making that peep?

Yep.

I don't know if that one is making that exactly,

but that's a glass frog.

OK, they're pretty quick.

Got him. OK, cool.

Yes!

OK.

Double check for snakes.

I think we're good.

Ooh!

There he is.

Look at that little guy. Whoa!

Look at his eyes.

You know who it looks like?

Kermit the Frog.

And actually, Kermit was designed

off of this exact frog species.

Now, they call them glass frogs because their bodies

are semi-translucent, especially on the body.

Actually, some species-- I can't tell with this one.

Let me hold him up here for you.

No, that one has a white bottom.

Has a white bottom? OK.

Some of them have bellies that are completely clear

and you can actually see the organs moving inside.

That is one adorable frog.

Now, up against the light like that,

its body is semi-translucent.

I can actually see some of the organs and veins

in there pumping, working away, keeping this frog alive.

All right, let's let him go.

All right. Let's do this.

I'm going to try to just let him hop

right back up onto this leaf.

Light, light, light.

Got it.

Oh, that's a coral snake!

That is a coral snake.

Woo!

That's a very dangerous snake.

Yeah, that is a very dangerous snake.

Is it a coral? Yeah.

That is 100% a coral snake.

You do not want to be bitten by this snake.

Now, this does not have hinged fangs like a pit viper.

They have small, fixed fangs, but they

are extremely venomous.

That's the biggest coral snake I've ever seen.

Why don't I pin its head

and get it under control?

You sure you want to head that?

Oh, my goodness.

The best way for us to present the snake,

because it was moving so much, was

for me to actually just head it and get it under control.

That is an enormous coral snake.

Is it not the biggest one you've ever seen?

Yep.

They are incredibly fast, incredibly strong.

And the venom is incredibly potent.

Being bitten by this snake would be just as bad as being

bitten by a fer-de-lance.

I can't believe how many snakes are out here and on the move

tonight.

Unbelievable.

Now, it is musking a little bit.

It was very scared when we came up on it.

It moved very quickly.

And I was able to just gently grab a hold of it

with the snake tongs.

And I have a good fixed hold on the head,

gentle yet controlled, as you can see there.

And it is just-- wow.

Look at the iridescence to the scales.

Can your camera pick that up?

Yeah, it is a beautiful snake.

That is-- Wow.

- really impressive.

Now, the bright coloration of this snake

goes in line with the aposematic term

that I often use with the poison frogs.

Anything that has bright coloration

is a warning that "I am toxic."

And in this case, it's a venomous snake,

not a poisonous frog.

And again, a bite from this snake

would send me to the hospital.

Now, most of the snakes that we have come across so far

here in Costa Rica are pit vipers,

but this one is in an elapid.

They're actually related to cobras,

with a very, very potent venom.

Well, it certainly has been the night of serpents,

between my close call with the fer-de-lance,

and then, of course, that jumping pit

viper, and now the coral snake.

I'll just be happy when we get this one

back off into the rainforest.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.