Original subtitles

I cautiously slipped

from the boat and into the water.

My heart was racing.

As I found myself directly in the reptile's escape route,

this was unbelievably dangerous.

And if it charged, an attack was likely inevitable.

I took a deep breath, and with a steady hand,

I slowly fed the pole in between the reins.

For many years, people have asked, if I could catch

any animal, what would it be?

And my answer was always the same--

a spectacled caiman.

Got it, got it.

Nobody move.

I am lassoed together with a spectacle caiman.

COYOTE PETERSON Our journey

began in a small village along the Sierpe River.

We were about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime.

And one that I personally had been

dreaming about for many years.

All right.

Poor guy, cheap crew, out into the darkness to find caiman.

This is going to be epic.

Led by a team of local experts, we headed out with the mission

of finding and safely catching one of the most iconic

crocodilians in the world.

So right now, we are just scanning the embankments

for signs of caiman.

What we're looking for are any slides

where they came up during the day and were basking.

Normally, these creatures are pretty territorial,

especially the males.

So if we can find some slides that

means there's a good chance We'll

find these animals at night.

Oh, this is so cool.

Under the fading glow

of daylight.

We traveled several miles upriver meeting

into a remote area that our guides said

would be ideal for locating caiman I was excited.

Hopefully, we were going to have several chances at catching one

of these reptilian predators.

A common practice used by many crocodilian research teams

is to catch these reptiles with pole snares.

It's a method I have been taught in the past

and I'm now getting the chance to test myself.

Using a bamboo pole, rope, duct tape, and a simple wire snare,

we carefully constructed the catching device.

This is completely safe for the animal

and in no way will cause it any harm.

We got a caiman.

Perfect.

All right, Coyote.

So now, we wait.

Now we wait.

We wait for the sun go down.

I am pretty excited.

I've been to Costa Rica.

This is now my fourth time here.

And this is the first opportunity that we have had

to actually go after caiman.

This is my favorite crocodilian species.

And even catching a small one tonight,

I would be ecstatic about that.

But hopefully we can find when it's close to 6 feet.

Now at a maximum, they grow to about 8 feet in length.

Odds of finding one of those, we'll see.

I'm feeling pretty lucky.

So we're going to head down this main channel of the river,

look for some offshoots, head up in there,

and hopefully, managed to catch one of these guys.

Caiman are primarily nocturnal.

So it's the last glimmer of light faded into darkness,

the stage was set.

Our spotlights methodically drifted

along the muddy riverbanks.

We were in search of eyes shine, which

is the reflection of light in a crocodilians eyes.

And it wasn't long before we had a target in our sights.

Well, there's an American crocodile right there.

Not what we're looking for but we've seen a bunch of crocs

now.

Look at this, it's going to head toward the water.

There it goes.

It's a little guy.

Man, if we could just find a caiman of that size,

that would be perfect.

COYOTE PETERSON To come

across an American crocodile is certainly amazing.

However, it was simply the wrong reptile.

So we head to deeper into the night.

Time and time again, we saw eye shine in the distance,

yet as soon as we drew near, like a phantom,

the animal had disappeared.

Then finally, one of our guides spotted

eye shine deep in the reeds.

This could be our chance.

I held my breath as we slowly drifted in toward the shore.

And sure enough, it was a caiman.

Hold this.

Hold this.

what this is.

Mario, go get your camera.

Got it!

Got it.

I got the back of its body.

Hold.

On a second it's really slippery.

That is a big caiman.

I got the back of his body.

Nobody moved on.

I'm going to jump in.

Nobody move.

Got a shot at it?

Yeah.

OK.

No time.

I think the--

You got the rope? I got the rope.

I got the rope.

I've tangled up with the cable.

You got a shot?

Yep, I got the shot.

1, 2 3.

Got it!

Yes!

Holy mackerel.

OK.

I'm going to need your help, Mario.

I need you to wrap--

need you to wrap its snout.

OK.

Wow.

What a gorgeous caiman.

I'm going get his mouth close.

Hold on. Hold on.

Hold on.

Close your eyes.

You got it. OK.

There we go.

Tape snout.

This is definitely a caiman that needs to snap tape.

This could take off a hand.

Yes! There we go.

Whoa!

This is about as big as we could have hoped for tonight.

OK.

We're going to put it up front.

Careful.

Careful.

Careful.

Careful.

Don't get whacked. No!

Hold on.

We're losing it.

We're losing it.

Grab.

Grab.

You're all right? Yeah.

Everybody OK?

Incredible amount of power

tangled in this underbrush.

I am lassoed together with a spectacled caiman right now.

This is unbelievably exciting.

Wow.

There's nothing like getting covered in mud

to catch a reptile like this.

An absolute prized specimen.

Look at that tail.

This thing is a beast.

Oh, watch your face.

Wait. Wait.

Wait. Watch your face.

Oh.

Yeah. A little bit.

You all right?

He's still got a lot of fighting.

OK. There you go.

Just watch your face.

There you go.

There you go.

Here.

Yes!

There we go.

Oh!

Told you.

A lot of fights still.

Coming up.

Yes!

Yes!

OK.

The animal is up on the boat and under control.

We need to bring it into the center of the boat

so it doesn't throw us off of here.

Let's-- everybody back up, back up, back up, back up.

Oh, one

shot at snaring this reptile.

I was moving so slow and trying to be so quiet.

Great job, guys, keeping the lights right on its eyeballs,

kept it stunned in place.

This thing is beautiful.

It almost knocked out my tooth but we have it up on the boat.

It is very robust.

Wow.

So much more powerful than an American crocodile

of this size.

OK. Let's bring it some water.

We're going to actually clean the caiman off

so you guys can see it better.

Go ahead.

Come on in with the water.

Here we go.

I'll get you washed off you, buddy, get you all cleaned up.

Nice.

Oh, yes.

Now, the name spectacled caiman comes from these two ridges

right here in the center of the head.

And if I pointed straight at you,

it almost looks as if it is wearing spectacles or glasses.

Can you see that? Yeah.

You can see the bridge right between the eyes.

It's awesome. It's beautiful.

Now, scientists oftentimes say this kind

of looks like an Allosaurus.

Both Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus have these ridge bones,

these prehistoric creatures.

And an animal like this has been on the planet

since the time of the dinosaurs.

Now, we do have to keep tape on the jaws

because a crocodilian of this size could take off a hand.

But I love them because they almost have

these fangled-looking teeth.

Can you see that?

These front ones, and look, you even have one that's sticking

up there, right from the snout. Can you see two?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

That one's just a little bit smaller.

Now, as compared to a crocodile or an alligator,

the eyelids are much more bony.

Watch this.

It does have a nictitating membrane.

Check this out and close a tight.

Ready?

1, 2, 3.

There goes. You see that?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

That's the nictitating membrane.

Now, they use that when they're underwater to help block any

you know, residual debris from plants or anything

that they attack from scraping their eyeball.

Look at this.

This scutes right there.

You see that little spot?

That's its ear flap.

It has an ear right there.

They have-- believe it or not, pretty

good hearing and excellent eyesight, especially at night.

And let's look at this animal's back.

The osteoderms are incredible.

The spectacled came and has more armor plating

than an alligator or crocodile.

And right here specifically on the back of the neck,

it is solid muscle and solid bone right there.

Wow.

I'm in complete awe of this animal.

And look at how robust it is.

Solid muscle.

All right.

I can't give him too much space because at any second,

it could explode back in power.

And that's what crocodilians are famous for.

They rest up, they build up their energy,

and then they make a go for it.

So he's building up his energy right now?

He is.

That's where like, I can't get complacent at any second

because if he explodes into action,

he's going to launch right off the boat,

might take me with him.

We are tethered to the boat.

We do still have the noose wrapped around the lower

half of his body.

But we have to be extra careful.

Now, males tend to be bigger than the females.

And I would say this one is of about average size.

But this is a little trick that I learned from Mike and Chris

last year, working with American crocodiles.

I'm going to sex the caiman.

And now, what are you doing?

I am feeling for the cloaca.

There it is.

Oh, that would be a boy, ladies and gentlemen.

And one healthy boy at that.

And you can see how robust this animal

is which tells me that the ecosystem is

also incredibly healthy.

That means there are big fish, there are big frogs,

there are snakes.

This is an opportunistic predator.

Anything that it can get those massive jaws on is fair game.

Man, and you have some mud on your face.

Do I? Oh, yeah.

Oh, man.

This is about the muddiest that I've gotten since the Smokey

jungle frog, I think.

Yeah.

This may be the muddiest you've ever been.

Wait 'til you see this.

I committed everything

I had to catching this reptile.

If it had gotten away, I would have never forgiven myself.

I know that you guys are all watching right now,

thinking to yourselves. wow, I cannot

believe you pulled that off.

And to be honest with you, I can't believe I did either.

This is a full grown adult. Let me just

try to give you a look at the full body

there because I've been sitting on top.

Can you see that?

And the tail stretches all the way down the side of the boat.

This is a beast.

I could not have caught a more perfect caiman in my opinion.

Look at the hind limb here.

Look at that.

It's like holding the foot of a dinosaur.

And in a sense, I really am.

These reptiles have been on the planet

for well over 100 million years.

They are an evolutionary giant.

Let's get some basic biometrics.

We have already sex the reptile.

We do know that it is a male.

But for my own purposes, I would love to know

just exactly how long it is.

If somebody wants to just grab my backpack there,

I can get the measuring tape out.

OK.

Here we go.

We're going to go from the tip of the snout.

Right, Mario, that's how you guys do it with the crocs.

Oh, watch those teeth. I know.

I know. I know.

This is very risky.

OK. Good.

All right. OK.

Pull the tail.

Pull the tail.

OK.

I got the back haunches under control.

Mario, once you get the measurement once you bring it

back to the camera to show us. OK.

OK. You got?

We are at-- OK.

Go ahead.

Pull that out from between my leg.

Right at 59 inches.

Just about five feet.

Just about five feet.

Oh!

This is incredible.

This is-- this is a beast.

We could have searched for days and not come across a 5 foot

caiman, let alone one that was up on the embankment

that we were actually able to snare

and get up close for the cameras.

I'm absolutely, beside myself right now, covered in mud.

Lucky to still have my tooth.

But there you have it, ladies and gentlemen,

the spectacled caiman.

The one reptile that I have been [sighs] just so

eager to catch and get in front of the cameras

for so many years now.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Oh, that was awesome.

High fives, guys.

Muddy high fives.

Yes!

Oh, man!

Woo!

As we climb from the boat

and stepped onto the muddy bank, I

could feel my time with this beautiful creature

coming to an end.

I carefully peeled the tape from its toothy snout,

and then quickly jumped back out as it strikes out.

And now when people ask, what is the greatest

animal you have ever caught?

I smile and say, the spectacled caiman.

From high in the sky, the pine scrub forests of Southern

Florida appears to be calm and quiet,

yet hidden amidst the plants and rugged terrain,

reptilian invaders move with stealth amongst the shadows.

I am sure you have heard tales about the Burmese python,

and how this giant snake has not only

become established in the Everglades,

but how it has also become a serious threat

to local species.

However, there is a new threat that has recently crawled

into the spotlight, a lizard native

to South America that is notoriously famous for being

an aggressive predator--

the black and white tegu.

Today, the crew and I are headed out into the southern regions

of Homestead, Florida.

We will be exploring a forested expanse that

runs adjacent to an agricultural zone, where

we will try our luck at finding one of these elusive reptiles.

So right now, we are driving through an agricultural area,

which is considered disturbed habitat.

Right, Mario?

Yeah.

Why is disturbed habitat a good place

to look for invasive species?

Well oftentimes, in disturb habitat,

you don't have any species that have been established.

So non-native species come in and they

find kind of an area that's free of predators and other species.

For the Argentinian tegu, that means free food.

COYOTE PETERSON There

are known to be at least two established breeding

populations of tegu in this area,

and sightings are reported almost weekly.

These lizards are incredibly resilient to weather changes

and can adapt to nearly any tropical environment,

barring a plentiful food source is available.

Combined with the fact that during breeding season,

females can lay up to 35 eggs in a single nest,

and that they have very few natural predators.

You can see why their numbers have quickly increased

and the populations have established a stronghold.

OK.

Well, this looks pretty wild out here.

And I'll show you guys.

Check this out.

Right across the way here, that is agricultural area.

So this is exactly the spot where a lot of farmers

have been seeing tegus.

You could see on this side is agriculture

and on the opposite side is wilderness area.

COYOTE PETERSON No one

knows exactly how many of these lizards are roaming

amongst the underbrush but experts predict numbers

to run well into the thousands.

This is definitely way more wilderness see than agriculture

but it's dense.

This underbrush, it's really hard to spot anything in,

kind of feel like moving along this old trail

is probably the best way to go.

Check this out.

You have spots like this.

The ground is starting to warm up.

A spot like that is where one of these lizards

could come out and be basking.

And that's what we're hoping to find right now

is a lizard out basking in the sun, warming up for the day.

It's actually chilly out this morning.

So I don't know if that's going to hurt our chances

of actually finding one.

But I guess we just start hiking and hopefully, we get lucky.

We broke trail and headed off

into the wilderness.

Navigating this location was incredibly difficult which

forced us to move slowly as we searched

among the tangled plants and rocky terrain.

Tegu are masters of disguise and their black and white skin

allows them to perfectly camouflage

amidst the shadows, oftentimes making them difficult to find.

I'm going to pretty much say that trudging

through that for hours is not going to get us anywhere.

I think we just stick to this road.

I think we have just as good a chance

of finding something on this.

So head on this direction and hopefully, come across some.

All right. Let's go.

COYOTE PETERSON With hundreds

of acres to cover, defaulting to the trail

seemed like a smart play.

And it wasn't long before we stumbled upon the most

wanted lizard in South Florida.

What's that?

There's a tegu right there.

Where?

back.

It's just up in the edge, right on the edge of the road.

I don't see it. Right there.

Look at the edge of the road.

You see that dark thing, looks like a rock?

That's a lizard. That's not a rock?

That's a lizard.

Here. Here.

Take this camera.

Careful.

Got it? - Got it.

Got it. Got it.

Got it. Got it.

Got it. Nice.

Yes!

Wow.

That is a tegu.

Whoa!

And it is cold.

Wow.

Put your hand out there.

Feel how cold the lizard is?

That's why it didn't bolt. It's actually basking in the sun

right now.

Now, I can't get complacent because it could explode

in power at any point in time.

Let me get some of these grass out of its mouth there.

There we go.

Wow.

And sure enough, just like the farmer said,

there is the black and white tegu.

Look at how big that lizard is.

This thing must be what, almost 3 feet in length.

Now, these guys are omnivores, which

means the plants and animals.

And one of their favorite things to eat are eggs.

Look at that mouth right there, right?

Now, this can take down all sorts

of other little small mammals and lizards

but it's the eggs that we really worry about these lizards going

after.

Not only alligator eggs but also endangered American crocodiles.

OK.

Yeah.

You can see the lizard is now really

starting to warm up in the sun.

He just-- jeez.

Look at that.

Look at what just did to my arm just with one scrape.

My arm is shaking.

I'm so-- I cannot believe we've come across a tegu.

We haven't actually even been out here that long.

Only searching for about 20 minutes.

Now, I don't know if that's just luck, being in the right place

at the right time, or if there are actually that many tegu

out here in this environment.

But sure enough, just across from an agricultural area,

the farmer said they have been seeing tegus,

and this is proof right here.

Now, can a lizard like that give you a good chomp?

Oh, my gosh.

If my hand got stuck in the mouth of this lizard,

it would be a really bad situation.

Now, they are not venomous, however,

their jaws will lock in place.

Look at the muscle on the side of these jaws here,

incredibly powerful.

Oh, I hear you hissing.

I hear you hissing. Oh, hold on.

Hold on.

She hiss. She is strong.

Yeah.

I am-- I'm giving him exactly what he needs today, which is

some time in front of the sun.

And I can actually feel him getting stronger by the minute.

And if you get your hands stuck in the mouth of this lizard,

it's not only going to chomp down,

but if it shakes its body, those teeth are curved backwards.

Similar to the teeth of spiny tail iguana or something

like a Komodo dragon.

And those teeth will literally shred your appendages.

So if I'm bitten, there is a good chance we we'll

be on our way to the hospital.

So people at home might be wondering like,

is this a dangerous situation?

Like, do we have to respect the power of this lizard

because it seems to be pretty calm.

It does.

And even I find myself getting a little complacent.

Just a couple of seconds ago, you

saw that it lashed out with its hind legs,

and ripped open my arm.

These claws, look at the claws on the back foot there.

I mean, these are razor sharp, hooked claws.

And these lizards are incredibly intelligent.

Almost problem-solving intelligent.

It's one of the reasons they've become

so popular in the pet trade, not to mention,

they're absolutely gorgeous.

Look at that coloration, right?

Yeah.

Except you can see how large they get.

And it's a tough creature to take care because of the amount

of food that it eats.

And a lot of times, people get them when they're very small.

And then they think to themselves,

"oh, I can't take care of it anymore.

It's so big."

And they release them out into the wild.

Now, I'm guessing that this lizard is that probably

was born in the wild.

Just given its skinny nature and its demeanor.

So--

And this is not a pet.

This is not a pet.

That lizard seems pretty calm right now

but that's just because of the environment that it's in.

Yes.

That has to do with the fact that it's

cool out here this morning, and the fact

that it's just woken up from probation.

I mean, this is a very skinny lizard.

Honestly, this lizard needs some eggs.

It needs some meat.

It needs some vegetables.

It needs some food for sure.

And I guarantee that today, this lizard

was waking up, getting ready to go out there, and hunt.

Now, you look at this animal, you think to yourself,

wow, what a gorgeous reptile.

And it makes me sad to say that this is one of the few times

where I catch an animal and I cannot release

it back out into the wild.

This is an invasive species.

But the good news for this lizard

is that we have a research group that's going to take it in,

and it's now going to become an educational animal to teach

people why the tegu doesn't necessarily make a good pet,

and how they're becoming a problem now.

Here is an invasive species in South Florida.

But this was pretty awesome.

Spending our morning, searching around,

and then getting up close with the black and white tegu.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.