Original subtitles

Welcome to "Base Camp," a special Japanese

giant salamander edition.

That's right.

Hopefully this week, you've seen some of our segments

that we released on the Japanese giant salamander.

And today, we're going to discuss

a little bit of the behind-the-scenes aspects

of filming in Japan.

This was one of the most difficult episodes.

Well, I guess difficult's the right way

to put it because it took so long to produce this trip.

Getting to Japan was one of the most grand adventures

we've ever been on.

It was a challenge.

First of all, we don't speak the language, right?

No.

It's a bit tough.

Yeah, so we had to have an excellent guide

with us, Richard.

And he helped us navigate through the country.

Right, absolutely.

And I know a lot of you wanted to see me stung

by the Japanese giant hornet, which

we managed to get that episode.

But the real reason we went to Japan

was for the giant salamanders.

And it's all about seasonality.

We had to be in country at exactly

the right time when the salamanders are

active if we were to find them.

Right.

So we had to plan it based on when the animals are active

and how we're not going to interfere

with their life histories, like breeding, and hatching,

and so on.

And, of course, we also picked the time

when it was typhoon season.

Yeah, a lot a lot of rain, but that also

meant higher water levels, so the salamanders

were more active at that point.

Now, we got to work with Okada-sensei, who was amazing.

And I know upon first meeting him,

it's like he speaks a little bit of English.

Not a lot.

He understands more than he can speak.

But you have that language barrier when it comes

down to, OK, this is what we would like to do in the field,

and him trying to explain to us, all right,

well, it might take this much time.

It could be several days before we actually find a salamander.

Right.

And productions for the episodes took us almost a week.

Right.

And back to Dr. Okada, I mean, he

is the rock star of salamander biology and research.

He has dedicated 20 years of his life studying

the Japanese giant salamander.

I mean, he is actually the reason why these animals still

exist in Japan.

So it was quite the honor to work with him.

Well, a big threat that these salamanders face--

you may be asking yourself, so what sort of predators does

a salamander like that have?

And certainly, there are smaller mammals

that would feast on the younger ones, the juvenile sub-adults.

But it really is the encroachment

of humans that is destroying the environment for these animals

with the building of dams and barrier walls.

I know in the first episode, we really

made that point at the end to say it's

the addition of concrete to the environment that is preventing

the salamanders from traveling from breeding

spot to breeding spot.

Right, yeah.

Habitat destruction, degradation,

that is the biggest threat to these animals.

They require healthy ecosystems.

Their water needs to be clean.

Essentially, these animals breathe through their skin,

right?

Right.

So I have the little one here, which we gave away

in the Tokyo scavenger hunt.

And this is what would be considered a sub-adult.

And we did find some smaller ones like this in the field.

We'll get into that in a second.

But you can see-- and we showed in the episode--

these flaps of skin on the side of their bodies.

Just like hellbenders, they absorb

a lot of their environment through their skin.

As you guys know, most amphibians do, but salamanders

specifically are a great indicator species

for how healthy an environment.

Exactly.

Of course, it was probably unique for you guys

to see an episode where I wasn't actually

allowed to catch and handle the salamanders myself.

But again, there are very strict laws and regulations

that only licensed researchers are

allowed to make physical contact with the salamanders

in the wild.

Now, of course, the episode that came out about the Hanzaki

Research Institute, where the great Osanshouo lives,

the largest Japanese giant salamander on record in Japan,

which I was able to get hands-on with.

Right.

And what an incredible experience

for all of us to just interact with that creature.

I mean, it was massive.

It weighed, what, 14 kilograms, which is roughly 30 pounds.

That's like the size of a small dog, right?

That's like-- a lot of the snapping turtles

I catch are like 30 pounds.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it was quite amazing to see such a large amphibian.

Their structure is amazing.

So well adapted to their stream and water environment.

Well, it's that flat body structure

and those little hands with those nuptial

pads that can really just grip them in place, even

with a strong flowing current.

The family of salamanders, the genus that this group belongs

to thrives in cold water.

And that's actually why they live so long.

So everything is slow when you live in a cold environment,

your metabolism, how you move.

You basically grab a prey item.

That prey item will last for you a long time as a meal.

And as we know, the giant salamanders

can live a long time, right?

Mhm.

Well, the great Osanshouo is over 100 years of age.

That's pretty amazing.

Which is crazy to think

that a salamander of that size is over 100 years

old dwarfs us when it comes to age and may outlive us.

Nobody really knows.

And it's, like I said, the largest one that is currently

in captivity in Japan.

Now, the smaller salamander, something

that is this size or smaller, is considered

incredibly important to the science

that Okada-sensei is doing.

And, Mario, why don't you explain why

the juveniles are so important.

Right, so juveniles in a population

are really important because they're an indicator

that, number one, the population is growing,

they're reproducing.

That's good.

And especially for the salamanders,

another reason why it's a good indicator

is because they have these life stages or life cycles.

They start off as eggs, then they turn into larva,

then they metamorphosis into sub-adults, and then

into the adults themselves.

So the larva stage is really sensitive to the environment.

The little larva have actually gill slits.

And the water needs to be really clean and really healthy.

So if you find these juveniles, it

means that the larva have survived,

and that the ecosystem is probably healthy.

Right.

So when you have the bigger salamanders, the ones that

are between 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 years of age,

they've adapted.

And while they are susceptible to pollution,

they've at least allowed their bodies to become--

Exactly.

- in tune with the environment.

So introduction of pollution, sometimes they

can sustain a bit longer than the young ones.

Like you said, young ones with the gill slits and breathing

through their bodies become very much impacted by the addition

of something like a pollutant.

The small one that you found, which was--

I mean, it was tiny.

It was the smallest salamander we found on the trip.

Yeah, so I think the highlight of my Japan trip was

the fact that we found during actually

one of our b-roll days, right?

Mhm.

So we often go out into the environment and gather b-roll.

And we were out during the day.

And it's not likely to find them during the day

because they're primarily nocturnal.

But underneath a rock, Dr. Okada found a little salamander,

a little giant salamander.

Teeny, tiny giant pretty much.

Right.

And so we had to gather biometrics.

And I was helping them do that while you

guys were getting b-roll.

And we determined that it was roughly around five years old,

and it was not a marked individual,

so it was new to his study.

So after biometrics, we actually put

a pin tag in it, kind of like what we do with the crocodiles.

So it's got an identification number.

And in his notes, he actually named it Mario, after me.

So essentially, I have a salamander right

now in Japan that's swimming around, doing its thing.

And hopefully, it might actually outlive me.

It can live up to 100 years.

If it's lucky, it will definitely outlive you.

Yeah.

Even though you will stay incredibly healthy, just

like hopefully the salamander will,

it's definitely going to live longer than you are.

See you later, Mario.

You also had an experience like that as well, right?

I did.

Yeah, well, what's cool is that after we filmed the main scene,

and actually in total, we caught six

salamanders on the entire trip.

Yes.

But you really only saw the one largest

one we caught in the field.

Once the cameras had wrapped and we were breaking everything

down, I'm just looking around on the side of the river

and I shine my flashlight right into the water,

and here's a salamander about this size

just scurrying along the rocks.

I call out to Okada-sensei.

I'm like, small salamander!

I didn't know what to say, because if you say

"giant salamander," you just think big one,

but it was a small giant salamander.

With the rules and regulations, I was not allowed to actually

catch it myself, so Okada-sensei comes running down

and scoops it up with the net.

And then we filmed an entire scene.

It didn't make it into the actual episode.

So if you guys want to see it, should we show a deleted scene?

Absolutely, yeah.

OK, so if you guys are ready, let's

roll the footage of us tagging and collecting the biometrics

for a small giant salamander.

I was able to just corral it gently

until Dr. Okada got down there.

So look at how small this one is.

So this is incredibly important.

Finding a salamander of this size

means that reproduction is happening.

And it's not likely that this one even has a tag in yet,

so we're going to definitely need to collect its biometrics.

We had just wrapped on the scene.

I looked down off the side, and it's a baby salamander!

I mean, it looks big to you and me as compared to salamanders,

but this is tiny when we're talking

Japanese giant salamanders.

Now, it's actually more rare to find a salamander of this size

than it is a large one, so this is really exciting.

And there's a good chance that this salamander

does not have a tag in it yet.

Look at that little junior.

That's so cool.

A little bit easier to handle a small one

like this than it is a giant.

That looks just like a big one, only junior size.

Look at all that speckled patterning.

Perfect camouflage for this river ecosystem.

A little bit of water in there.

The water actually helps to keep the salamander calm.

See that?

It's wanting to get out of the tube.

And as soon as you get water in there,

it just goes, woop, and calms down.

32.5 centimeters is the total length.

Here's the moment of truth.

Does it have a tag in it?

No tag.

No tag!

Oh, ho!

That's great!

This is an undocumented animal.

That's so cool.

So this is really important for your research, right?

Yes.

All the time that Dr. Okada spends out here finding

these salamanders, catching them year after year,

finding out they have tags or not,

and this is a completely new animal not yet recorded.

Yeah, I spotted it.

Does that mean you get to name it?

Yeah, do I get to name it since I spotted it?

- Yeah. - Oh, all right.

Coyote.

Call it Coyote?

Coyote the Japanese Giant Salamander?

What's "Coyote" in Japanese?

- Koyote. - Koyote.

Koyote.

This salamander is officially going to be named Koyote.

All right, so you're going to get--

- 3.8. - ...

What was it?

And [inaudible].

7.8.

3.8.

Oh, 3.8.

OK.

Head width.

4.3.

4.3.

Tiny as compared to the adult that we caught.

Look at the belly.

Much lighter in color.

Much lighter.

This is male.

Oh, and it's a male.

Yeah.

How are you able to tell that?

His thing--

OK.

A swollen cloaca.

We've got ourselves a juvenile male here.

So how old would you guess that this salamander is?

Uh, 15.

OK.

So what Dr. Okada said is that he's guessing this salamander

is around 15 years of age.

Really?

It takes 15 years to get that big?

15 years to get this big.

That's pretty incredible.

All right, so this is important.

We're going to put a PIT tag into this juvenile male.

And like I said before, because it does not have a tag in it,

it needs one.

And this will allow Dr. Okada to continuously track this animal.

And this is not a tracking chip, so we

can't come out with a, you know, little wand

and detect where the animal is.

It's an ID chip.

So if it's caught again, he can scan it,

just like we did with the larger one,

and that will allow us to see the health and the growth

of this animal over time.

We're going to insert the tag here.

And it's just like a little pinprick.

Right there behind the arm.

Perfect.

All right.

Got it.

There we go.

All right, this baby giant is officially tagged.

Yeah.

That would be great.

That would be great.

So you're going to get

some updates on Coyote Jr. if he's captured in the future.

This is officially my son now.

My son, the Japanese giant salamander.

All right, so the last thing to do

is to let Koyote back into the river where hopefully he will

flourish and breed, and there will be

more salamanders here in Japan.

Oh, that was awesome, Dr. Okada.

Thank you so much.

Wow.

How cool was that, right, guys?

Awesome.

All right, let's load him back into the river.

How cool was that, right?

Koyote Jr.

Right.

And what a special moment for both of us.

And actually, one thing that we got is this.

See this little number tag down here?

You have one on the front of yours too.

Okada-sensei gave this to us.

And he wrote in Japanese scripting

there, "be brave, stay wild, from Okada-sensei to Coyote."

You've got one too.

Right.

And this little tag here is the official number

of Coyote Jr. and Mario Jr.

Right.

Yeah, this is definitely a highlight and a treasure

that I brought back from Japan.

It shows the date that we captured and tagged the animal.

So this is very special to us because once again,

these animals are going to be out there.

They're out there right now thriving.

Think about that, right?

That's pretty neat.

Well, and like we said, there's a good chance

that these salamanders, if they stay healthy and manage

to avoid human encroachment, they

will potentially outlive us.

Wow.

But what's so amazing, and certainly for Okada-sensei is

that on that trip, when you think about the areas that he

does research, he's been researching these areas

for over 20 years, and on this trip,

we magically find two new specimens that

had never been tagged before, which

is a pretty cool moment for us.

Yeah, definitely special.

I think Dr. Okada was very happy with us.

When we come and work with these researchers or groups,

sometimes they're nervous because they don't

want a camera crew, like, messing

up what they're doing and encroaching on the research.

But we always come in in a very respectful manner.

And, you know, we help out with the research.

A lot of times when you come in as a production company

and you're like, hey, we want to film an episode on this,

people might look at you and be like, uh, I don't know.

Cameras and lights.

Are you guys going to know what you're doing?

Are you going to tell the story that we want

to tell as an organization?

So I think we did a great job making sure to really

stick to the storyline of not turning

these things into monsters.

Nope.

Because there is a lot of myth and lore throughout time

that they were these river dragons, but it's

not something to be afraid of.

They're the most sentient docile creatures

you'll ever encounter.

And they rely on us as humans to protect their environments,

and, of course, with what Okada-sensei is doing

to promote that conservation so that they

can continue to thrive.

Right.

And probably one of the coolest aspects of this

is that the viewers can actually go

out and do exactly what we did.

Right.

This is not exclusive to film teams or research teams.

Now, that does not mean you can go out and look

for giant salamanders on your own,

but the group that we worked with,

if you search "bushidojapan.com," you'll get

connected with our amazing guide,

Richard, who actually leads eco-tourism

into these environments with the Hanzaki Institute

so that people can see these salamanders in the wild.

So you can go out and watch Okada-sensei

do his thing collecting data.

Right.

And you will contribute to the conservation because through

ecotourism, the money that is made goes into funding

Japanese salamander .

Conservation

Which actually, I just had a crazy idea.

I don't know if we'd be able to do this at some point,

but you know how we did the golden adventure

ticket for the "Brave Adventures," the first book?

Right.

We should do something, maybe,

where we take some members of the Coyote Pack back to Japan

for some ecotourism.

Oh wow.

Oh, it's got my gears grinding!

OK, got a couple of ideas.

We'll have to put a pause on that and see what happens.

Yeah.

But it would be pretty cool to take some of the audience

members out there into Japan.

It's a unique environment. - Yeah!

It's not an easy environment to get through.

But once you're there, just the history of that place

is-- oh, it's magical.

That would be quite the adventure.

That would be pretty cool.

All right, guys, well make sure you go back and watch the two

Japanese giant salamander episodes,

if you have not seen them at this point.

Write in the comment section below and tell us what you love

about the giant salamander.

And let us know, would you like to go on an ecotourism

trip with myself, Mark, and Mario

to look for giant salamanders?

Sounds pretty cool, right?

Yeah, I think so.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

I'm Mario Aldecoa.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next "Base Camp" adventure.

So I'm at one of my locations where I tend

to find a lot of amphibians.

And I've got this one spot where I

think we could find a really charismatic species

to photograph.

There it is, our target species, the spotted salamander.

Now, they're fairly common in this area.

And to find them, all we have to do is flip over some logs.

All right.

This looks like a good log.

It's big.

It looks like it's actually situated down into the soil

quite a bit.

And with any luck, we're going to find our target species.

Right there.

Check it out!

A spotted salamander!

This is a perfect spot for you, buddy.

There you go!

The next step is to find a location

where we can actually set this guy up

and get some really cool shots.

Ready?

I think this might be a good spot

to set up for a little photography session.

So first step is we're going to actually

set up a little spot here.

We're going to actually place this guy under.

We're going to keep this guy here for now, nice and hidden.

And this is why I really wanted to actually find this species.

It's such an easy species to handle.

It's safe.

And, of course, we want to be very gentle

and be very conscious of the stress levels of this animal.

So the fact that I could actually place it down

and cover it under some debris to make sure it feels secure

is really good, especially while we set up our cameras.

So I always go into the field and have my backpack.

So this backpack, my camera backpack,

has all these little compartments

that has my different photography equipment.

Of course, we've got the main body and the lens.

Today, we're going to be doing macro photography.

And macro photography requires a macro lens.

Now, what's special about a lens like this

is that you could actually get really close to the subject.

It's got a 1:1 magnification, and that

means that you can see the details really well and, once

again, get really close to subjects that are

small, like that salamander.

Now, of course, every situation is unique.

So the fact that our subject matter today

is not dangerous, it's not going to run fast,

it's not going to just hop away means that we could actually

be very deliberate with our setup

and try to get the best shots possible.

So when working with amphibians, it's

very important to make sure we keep them nice and moist.

Make sure they're out of direct sunlight.

And I always bring a water bottle with me.

And I use this to keep my hands nice and moist.

It's very important.

And I actually use it to help moisten the salamander.

There you go, buddy.

A wet salamander is a happy salamander.

So once you've got your subject in the right spot or position,

you've got to get creative with your angles.

To me, it's very important to get a nice low perspective

on the species.

It all depends on the species we're working with.

For the spotted salamander, it lives

in a terrestrial environment.

So I want to get nice and low to show that perspective.

So don't be afraid to get down and dirty.

The first shot I'm going to get is what I call my tight shot.

I want to make sure I get its face in a profile angle.

So when it comes to macro photography,

the goal is to basically almost eliminate the background.

You want to make sure subject is in focus

and that is the primary focus of the viewer.

Now, when it comes to any shot that you're

taking of an animal, the eyes are the focus.

If the eyes are not in focus, then unfortunately,

image is not as strong.

Let's go for the medium shot.

So I've got my tight shot.

I got a medium shot.

So now, I'm going to get the wider

shot, which is the entire body.

This is what I kind of call the "field book shot."

When you want to identify an animal,

you want to make sure you've got the entire body in view.

So that's what I'm going to do now.

Get my wider field book shot.

Macro photography, it's one of my favorite types

of photography out there.

It really gives us a close look into the world

of these small and bizarre creatures.

And I think that's really neat.

Hopefully, this little photo session

inspires you to go out and get your own photos of the wildlife

that you find in your area.

This spotted salamander definitely did a great job.

I think it's time to put him back underneath his log.

I'm Mario Aldecoa.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right.

Thanks, buddy.

You were an excellent model today.

Off you go.