Original subtitles

Here, guys.

Right up here in this log.

Look at that.

They will hide inside of mailboxes,

and they will actually use that echoey sound

to help louden their call to draw on the females.

Uh oh, uh oh.

Under the lighted heat

of the scorching Australian sun, the Outback

looks nearly inhospitable for living creatures.

The parched landscape is dappled with sparse trees

and dense underbrush.

This is the type of environment where you'd

expect to find reptiles like snakes and lizards,

certainly not a menagerie of amphibians.

However, as the sun sets and darkness creeps in,

the nighttime temperatures begin to cool.

This atmospheric change creates a comfortable setting

that allows the more fragile animal species

to emerge from hiding without the threat of being scorched

by the intense daytime heat.

Tonight, we are out exploring the wild lands of Meandarra,

a remote town set far into the easternly stretches

of the Outback, nearly 250 miles from any bustling city.

This formula of time, temperature, and location

equates to the perfect conditions

for encountering a variety of Australian frog species.

But first, we have to find the last and most important

element, a permanent body of water.

All right, guys, we have made it to our target location.

And as you can see, it's pretty dark

out, which is the perfect time to search for amphibians.

And if you listen--

- there are a ton of frogs calling.

So I have a feeling we're going to be getting very species up

close for the cameras tonight.

So if you guys are ready, let's get into the water

and see what we can find.

Watch out for snakes in this tall grass.

Where there are frogs, there would

definitely be snakes hunting.

It's like grass all totally saturated with water.

It smells like cow dung.

I think I'm actually walking in cow poop right now.

All right, let's go around the outside of this tree

here and make our way of this direction.

Got to keep your, uh, eyes up as well, it turns out.

Yeah, that is a big spider, and one very elaborate web.

All right, let's just cleverly move

around the outside of that.

Oh! There's a frog right there!

Look at this!

What do you got?

I don't see [inaudible]. Oh, yeah.

Right here. It's tiny.

It's a spotted marsh frog.

Hold on.

I've got to be really delicate with this one.

Got it.

Oh!

Oh, no, no.

Oh, come here.

Hold on.

Got it.

Hey, guy.

That is a spotted marsh frog right there.

It's a little fella.

Oh, yeah, teeny tiny.

It actually is missing his front hand.

Look at that.

He's got a nub hand.

Poor little guy.

Probably lost that to a predator.

Yeah, possibly so.

Maybe even another frog.

All right, well, let's let him back down under the ground

and continue hunting.

All right, see you later, buddy.

Got to watch everywhere you step.

This place is covered in frogs.

Now, I notice that there's a lot of cow tracks.

Yes.

They seem to make really good

little burrows for these frogs.

They really do.

We're actually in a cow pasture right now.

And the frogs are able to hide down in those little crevices.

As you can hear, the frogs are everywhere.

It's just a matter of actually finding them.

Almost like needles in a haystack out here.

It's a lot tougher than you think.

Let's keep making our way this direction, around the pond.

What do you got?

Two different frog species.

And actually, I think I bumped into a turtle out there.

Something bounced off my legs, but I had my hands full.

And on my left here is the desert tree frog, Australia's

most widespread frog species.

And on my right is the emerald spotted tree frog.

And they get that name from all the emerald speckling that

is scattered across its back.

And I love this one's eyes.

Look at that.

They have a star-shape right in the middle.

Almost looks like the gray tree frogs

that we're used to seeing in Ohio.

Side-by-side.

All right, well, let's let these two go and see

if we can find something a little bigger.

Right here, guys.

Right on the end of this log.

Look at that.

That's a white tree frog.

Can you see it?

And my flashlight beam there?

Oh, yeah!

Oh, that's the big one we've been looking for!

Hold on. Let me catch it real quick.

You got a good shot on it?

Yeah.

All right, you're not going anywhere, buddy.

Oh, it's so cool. - Hold on.

Let me get my hands wet.

Get them wet first.

Ready? You got a shot on it?

Yeah.

Oh!

Look at that!

That is one of the largest frog species here in Australia.

That is the white tree frog, also

known as the Australian green tree frog,

or as some people call it, the dumpy frog.

Oh, my gosh!

He's so cool!

Look how chubby he is!

I've never seen this frog before.

Oh, look. It's just climbing.

There you go. Just sit on my wrist there.

And actually, you know what?

This is a female.

The way you can tell the difference between the females

and the males is that the females are a bit larger

and the underside of their chin is completely white.

The males have a pale gray underside to their chin.

Look how chubby that frog is.

That is a super chubby frog.

Now, what they will do and why they're sometimes so chubby--

they can actually be chubbier than this-- is they store

water underneath their skin.

That water reserve works in times of drought

to keep these frogs hydrated.

Wow!

How cool looking is that creature?

Looks like a big green booger.

Now, it's not real distinct on this frog,

but can you see all that white speckling

on the side of the body and across the back there?

Yeah.

That is one very distinct feature about these frogs.

And their individual little toe pads are so incredibly sticky.

Like most tree frog species, they're capable of hanging

onto almost anything.

And you see what it's doing right there?

That's sort of a defense pose.

It's curled itself up into a ball

and it's thinking, OK, if I don't move,

maybe I will stay completely camouflaged on Coyote's arm.

This is about as well behaved as you can get for a frog.

I thought I was going to be jumping all over the place.

And it is so squishy!

Look at how big that frog is.

Look how green it is.

You know, the cameras are facing that direction, buddy.

Can we turn you around here?

Let's see.

It's giving us the dumpy shot.

Let's see.

How about like that?

Does that work right there?

Well, it just wants to curl up on my elbow.

Oh, here we go.

Going up my arm.

Wow.

Look at that ability to crawl.

OK, you guys got a good shot there?

Now, it reminds me of the lemur leaf frog the way

that it's just walking along as opposed to hopping.

Where are you going?

All the way on my back?

We can't film you if you're on my back.

I think it's going back to the log.

Is it still there? You guys got an OK shot of it?

Yeah.

OK, well, let's just keep talking.

It seems to be comfortable.

It's clearly running the show here.

These frogs have an incredible call.

They're very, very loud.

And one thing they will actually do

is hide inside of hollow containers, like a mailbox,

for example.

They will hide inside of mailboxes

and they will actually use that echoey sound

to help louden their call to draw on the females.

Uh oh. No, no.

Uh oh.

Down in your backpack.

Uh oh.

OK, slowly take off your pack.

You've got a little [inaudible]...

Yeah, look.

Good place to hide.

It's very comfortable in there.

But careful, careful, careful.

Oh, I feel it, I feel it.

I got it.

- Got him? - Yup.

Here we go. - OK.

Pass the frog.

There we go, buddy.

I'm going to go ahead and dip my hands again,

make sure that we keep its body moist.

Any time that you handle an amphibian,

you want to make sure that your hands are

moist because our dry skin actually

draws a lot of the moisture from their skin out of their skin.

And while it is here in this body of water,

we do want to make sure the frog is kept moist at all times.

This may be one of the coolest tree frogs I have ever caught.

It's amazing how uniform and design its skin is.

Very smooth, very sleek, very shiny.

Look at those little tiny eardrums.

Can you see those?

Just under those folds of skin?

And these frogs can retain so much water

that, at points in time, those flaps of skin

will actually fold down over the ears

and sometimes over their eyes.

There you go.

Just get comfortable right there.

Perfect.

That's an awesome shot.

So, Coyote, what do these frogs?

Well, they are opportunistic, which

means they will eat pretty much anything

that can fit in their mouths, from insects to possibly even

other frogs and small snakes.

Now, is this one full grown?

Is that a large frog?

For a female, yeah, this is about full grown.

And the females do grow larger than the males.

This frog is pretty comfortable perched up on my finger there,

but I think it is time to let it back off into the pond.

Now, we came to Australia expecting to find reptiles.

And I was thinking to myself, well, it's so dry,

we probably won't come across any amphibians.

But lo and behold, tonight here by this body of water,

we've come across several frog species,

including the dumpy tree frog.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

The southern tip of Florida is blanketed by a seemingly

endless expanse of swamp land known as the Everglades.

This massive slow-moving river is a wild place

that spans over 1.5 million acres,

and is home to hundreds of animal species.

During the light of day, most of these creatures

stay hidden from the sun-scorching rays.

And as the sun sinks beyond the western horizon,

the hidden come out to hunt under the cover of darkness.

On this sweltering evening, the crew and I are also

on the hunt, only our goal isn't to eat what we catch,

but instead to educate you about the fascinating creatures that

call this thriving ecosystem home.

During the dry season, animals congregate

in the deeper flows of water.

And by following this consistent vein of hydration,

we happened to stumble upon one of the most

bizarre creatures in Florida.

Well, as you guys can tell the sun has officially disappeared,

and darkness has set in.

We are in the middle of the Everglades right now.

And I am standing in a waterway.

Check this out.

It's a little soupy down here.

Yeah, it is going to get soggy.

It is going to get muddy.

Now, this is an airboat trail, which is perfect for airboats

and also perfect for us to walk through because it

keeps us out of the sawgrass.

Now, I want to head in this direction,

and there are a number of different creatures

we can come across tonight.

I have this small net with me.

And as you can see, the water is very murky.

And it is also filled with gloppy mud.

It's going to make seeing animals really difficult.

So if there's any movement, I'm going to try

to scoop it up with the net.

And with any luck, we're going to get some cool creatures

up close for the cameras.

You guys ready to start the adventure?

Let's do it.

All right, here we go.

Into the darkness.

Temperatures are pretty nice.

Oh, what's that?

Oh, that's just mud.

Temperatures are pretty nice tonight.

Not too, too many mosquitoes.

I was afraid we're going to get totally eaten alive out here.

So far--

That makes me happy.

- so good.

Mario, are you getting bit?

Not too much.

And that is slow-moving through this environment.

We're actually right in the middle

of the dry season here in the Everglades, but even still--

point your camera down here.

You see all these plants that we're moving through?

This is thick, constantly grabbing your ankles.

So far, I've seen nothing.

Keep your eyes peeled, guys.

They're going to be creatures out here.

Look at that.

A walking stick just showed up on my shirt.

And the Everglades are definitely

alive with insects tonight.

Look at that guy.

Go ahead and zoom in.

Wow, how cool looking is that?

All right, buddy, let's get you back into the grass.

Oh, there you go.

Dropped him down there.

All right, let's keep heading through the grass here.

Wow, check this out.

This entire bush is covered in lubber grasshoppers.

And these are juveniles. Look at this.

Go ahead and zoom in on these ones up here.

Right next to a little tiny spider web.

No, buddy, those are too big for you to catch.

You know what?

Let me pick one off of there real quick

and let's take a good look at it.

Come here, buddy.

Got it.

Oh, another one jumped down there.

Check this out.

I'm just going to set it out on my hands,

see if it will stay there for a second.

Look at the beautiful coloration on this insect.

OK, look at that.

Wow.

Looks like he was painted with one of those machines--

oh-- that makes stripes down the middle

of the freeway with that yellow line

down the center of its back.

Yeah, get him again here.

That's a pretty cool little insect right there.

I wish it was-- oh.

Oh, he's spitting on me.

Oh, stinks.

All right, well, we'll let him back to his business.

Let's keep searching for bigger creatures.

Oh, guys, an eel!

Eel!

You got something?

I got it, I got it, I got it!

What do you got?

It's an eel, right in the bottom of the net!

I've got it.

Come up here, come up here.

Oh, oh, oh!

Its head's coming out right there!

Move.

Back, back, back, back, back!

Wow!

That is so cool.

All I could see is mud.

Point your camera-- no, no, no.

Look at-- there's the side of its body right there.

Whoa.

Ah, it's filling like the entire bottom of the net.

Wow!

All right, let's take it back up on to this dry spot.

Here, Mario, get that, uh--

Here, Mario, I'll [inaudible]...

Get that container.

Yeah, hand him that camera. Here.

Mark's still trying to get the shot.

Look at that.

Wow!

He's not being too, too crazy active.

Oh, it's starting to move.

Look at that.

Nice.

Actually, that's not an eel.

What? What is it?

A catfish?

No.

Dude, Mario!

Yeah?

I think this is an amphiuma.

Is that how you say it?

Am--

Amphiuma.

- Amphiuma, amphiuma. - Let me see.

Dude, I don't think this is an eel at all.

Look at this. - Oh, yeah.

Dude, that's totally an amphiuma!

- Is it really? - Yeah.

No way!

OK, guys, this is not an eel.

What is it?

It's actually a huge salamander!

Yeah!

I got this, uh, little bucket of water.

OK. Yeah, yeah, let's get in here.

Back up a little bit further.

Oh, oh, oh!

Oh! - Here, here, here.

Hold on, hold on.

Don't let it get out, don't let it get out.

Keep the net over the top of it.

That's an amphiuma.

Holy cow!

OK, we've caught a really good sized, huge salamander.

This is almost like a hellbender in a sense,

but you'll oftentimes find them in muddy ditches like this.

This is crazy.

OK, a little bit of chaos there.

Um, wow!

All right, let's back up a little bit further.

They're extremely quick.

I definitely don't want it to get back into the water.

Let's find a dry spot up here and get

it up close for the cameras. - Sweet!

Whoa!

That is so cool!

this down.

Man.

So basically, we're all standing on like a big sponge right now.

Oh yeah, we're going to be sunk up to our knees

before we know it.

But I wanted us to have a good flat platform to be

able to look at this amphibian.

OK, it's going to be really tough to handle.

Just like an eel or hellbender, it is a very fragile amphibian.

Again, an amphibian.

It's a big salamander.

It is not an eel at all.

But oftentimes, these are mistaken for eels.

Now, it's going to be almost impossible to hold on to,

so I'm going to see if I can get it

to just lay flat in my hands.

Come here, buddy.

I do want to be careful because they can

give you a pretty nasty bite.

Wow.

All right, Coyote, you're going to have to give me

the name of this one more time.

What is it called?

It is an amphiuma, amphiuma.

All right, let me see if I can.

Whoa, whoa!

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

OK, just let it hang out for a second.

That's actually good. We want it--

It's walking!

- to do just that.

It walks?

It does.

It has small vestigial legs.

And what it'll actually try to do is burrow down.

We don't want that to happen.

Come here, buddy.

Let me bring you back up.

OK, it is really, really hard to hold on to.

I want to sort of cradle it in my arms, if I can.

It's going to be really tough for you guys to get shots.

OK, I'm going to have to kind of hold it up close to my body

like this.

Let's see. Calm down.

Oh, it's sliming me.

You know what?

It's going to be impossible to hold on to, just like the eel.

I'm going to actually keep it in the bucket for a second.

Oh, look at that.

Now, all of that mucus that's on my gloves, Mark,

I'd say put your hands out there and touch that, but--

you hear that?

I'm good.

Yeah, that is a defensive tactic right there.

Makes it more slippery, impossible for a predator

to hold on to.

Actually, what I might be able to do

is place it on the underside--

Oh!

Look, he's coming up out of the thing here.

Let me see if I can actually place it on the flat

of my backpack here.

We have an escape artist.

It's OK. Let him out for a second.

And I'm going to place him right here

and see if we can get him to just stay put.

Oh, they're quick.

All right, let me see.

Real gentle, real gentle.

There we go, there we go.

All right, look at that.

Look at the pointy nature of its snout.

Now, these things are incredibly good at burrowing

down into the mud and the muck.

Now oftentimes, you will come across these

in, believe it or not, ditches.

They like to bury themselves under leaves.

They stay in shallow water, and they're hunting for crayfish.

Wow, an amphiuma.

This is a creature that I have never seen before.

I definitely thought it was an eel.

You can easily see how you would confuse it with an eel.

But like I said, this is indeed an amphibian,

a very large salamander, similar to the hellbender.

Actually, one of the largest salamander

species in the world.

They can grow to nearly 50 inches in length.

Look at that.

Look at the way that it slinks along the backpack.

They have an incredible ability to sense things

in their environment, because just like a fish,

they have a lateral line that runs down the entire length

of their body.

So right now, what he's feeling is this little groove

and he's saying, OK, this is a good spot to hide.

If I don't move, no one's going to eat me.

Don't worry, buddy.

We're not going to try to eat you.

Oh, there he goes.

Coming back down this way.

Here he comes, here he comes.

Right there, look at that.

So this is an amphibian.

So it can be out of the water then, I'm assuming.

Yes, not for too long.

Now, different from some salamander species,

these salamanders actually have fully developed lungs.

And they can stay out of the water for a considerable amount

of time.

Look at that.

You can actually see it taking breaths of air right there.

I'm going to get him back into the bucket of water here.

Here we go, buddy.

Here we go.

OK.

Here we go.

I'm going to keep the gloves on, and that's

not because I'm using them to handle the animal.

Honestly, it's just making it more slippery.

But they actually have teeth.

Imagine that, a salamander having a pretty powerful bite.

These have a double row of teeth on the top jaw

and a very sharp row of teeth on the lower jaw.

And they can give you quite a chomp.

Really?

That can bite you really badly?

Oh yeah.

And not only do they bite, but when they bite on to things,

they bite and they spin, almost like a death roll

that a crocodile would do, and actually

take a chunk out of your skin.

Woo!

There it is.

Here he is.

Now, I've actually read that if these things are eaten

by a predator, they will give off a death

cry, sort of like a rabbit.

You know when a rabbit gets eaten by something,

you hear that screaming?

I've actually heard that these things are capable of making

a pretty high-pitched noise.

Oh man, this is so cool looking.

And you may be looking at a creature like this

and saying to yourself, what does this salamander eat?

They actually specialize in eating crayfish,

but they will also take small fish, frogs, and occasionally

even little snakes.

All right, Mario, go ahead and zoom in on the eyes there.

Look at that. They're almost clouded.

Those are vestigial, which means that they hardly use them.

They can sense a little bit of light.

But it looks as if there's almost a scale

or a skin layer over the top of them that keeps them protected.

They do not have eyelids like some amphibian species.

Now, are these rare or are they common?

I mean, I would consider them rare,

but it's more that they're elusive.

I mean, they are out there.

It's just a matter of being in exactly the right place

at exactly the right time.

And what I saw in the water was just sort of movement

through the grasses, saw just the shape

of its body and immediately my instinct said, oh, it's an eel.

Scoop it up with the net.

Never in a million years did I think

that we were going to come across a creature like this.

But how cool was that?

Finding an amphiuma right here in the Florida Everglades.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see on the next adventure.

All right, let's get him back into the canal.

Come on, little buddy.

Throughout my years exploring the wild

and getting up close with animals,

nothing has been more alien-like in appearance

than the amphiuma.

And despite being one of the largest amphibians

in the world, they are seldom seen

and nearly impossible to catch.

So getting this aquatic oddity up close for the cameras

was truly an incredible encounter.