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COYOTE PETERSON Over the years,

I have performed a number of seemingly crazy experiments.

Look at that.

Where I've put my body up against stings,

bites, puke fruits, spiky plants,

and even natural hot springs.

Today, I find myself in Ashland, Kentucky.

I would say it's one of the most beautiful locations

we have ever visited in the eastern half of the United

States.

And while I could go on with several poetic lines cut

with epic drone shots, let's get right down to business,

because you guys all showed up to see

a poisonous frog taste test.

In front of me, there are two containers.

Inside of one of them is a pickerel frog.

Inside the other is a leopard frog.

Now, to the naked eye these two frog species

are nearly identical.

There are a few distinct differences,

but the biggest one is that the pickerel frog is poisonous

and the leopard frog is not.

Now, I've caught these frog species before in the wild,

and I'll be honest, even myself, who's somebody that catches

a lot of frogs and is really good at identifying species,

has a really difficult time differentiating

between a leopard frog and a pickerel frog.

Their body design is almost exactly the same.

They have large eyes, the skin is green or brownish

in coloration, and they have black spots

all over their bodies, not to mention

the two gold ridges that run down the length of the back.

Now, the biggest difference visually

is that the pickerel frog has a rather

uniform pattern of spots that typically

tend to be squarish in design.

The leopard frog spots are much more circular

and completely randomly placed.

However, with frog species, the pattern oftentimes varies,

and unless you have the two frog side by side,

it is almost impossible to tell them apart.

And there's an old herpetologist trick

that when they're in the field, if they don't have these two

frogs side by side and they want to tell the difference,

they actually taste the frog.

Now, I've never licked either one of these frogs before,

and my goal today is to determine

whether or not this frog taste test actually works.

So if you guys are ready, I'm Coyote Peterson,

and this is the poisonous frog taste test.

Mario, are you ready?

Let's do it.

Warning, amphibians carry

toxins in their skin that can be dangerous and sometimes fatal

to humans.

Never lick or consume one of these animals.

OK, so what are we gonna do?

Are you gonna stick your tongue out, and then I'm gonna place

the frog next to your tongue?

Hold the frog by its back legs and then

turn its back toward me and essentially rub

the frog's back on my tongue.

So I will turn to the side like this for the frog that's

on this side and do this, and then just

wipe the frog on my tongue.

Wipe his butt on your tongue?

Like, his back, the back of the frog.

And then we will turn this direction for the other frog

and I'll do the same thing.

In between each frog, I'll swish out my mouth with water

to cleanse my palate.

I don't want to swallow any of that water.

I don't want to get those toxins down into my digestive tract.

You should actually just cleanse your palate

real quick with some water. - OK.

There you go.

OK.

Clean and ready to lick a frog.

Got one.

OK.

So I'm going to turn like this.

You let me know when you've got the frog in the right position.

Oh, buddy, you don't know what is in store for you.

All right, stick your tongue out.

All right, guys, here we go.

This is me tasting the first frog.

Will it be the pickerel frog?

Will it be the leopard frog?

And can I taste the difference between the two?

All right, ready?

Yep.

All right, 1, 2.

I'm sorry, buddy.

It just tastes like, slimy.

Wet and slimy.

I'm not being able to taste anything yet.

I do taste a little bit of something.

Let me get some-- some water.

I just want to get the frog slime out of my mouth.

There you go.

Oh.

Yep.

OK, so definitely cold, definitely slimy.

Tastes a little-- a little pondy, I guess.

Almost like a pond smells.

Just a little earthy, I would say.

All right, so I'm gonna turn this direction

for the next frog.

OK.

Let's see if I can determine the difference.

Now, if I had to guess at this point based on what I tasted,

I would say that was a leopard fraud just because I didn't--

I didn't experience anything that was like [yells] I

wanna spit it out.

I'm gonna attempt to grab the next frog.

OK. - Woah.

This one is jumping.

OK, here we go.

I am about to lick the second frog.

Will I taste anything different than the first frog?

And will I be able to determine whether or not

this is the pickerel or the leopard frog?

Here we go.

All right, Mario, are you ready?

Yep.

1, 2, 3.

OK?

I really don't--

let me have one more taste.

I'm sorry, frog.

I don't--

I don't taste anything bitter, to be honest with you.

So--

Oh, man.

Trying to feel if there's any like,

numbness in my tongue or my lips.

Maybe?

A little bit.

A little bit.

I would say that tastes a little flowery, almost like a flower

smells.

Not-- not sharp, not sour.

Let me get some water to wash out my mouth just in case.

I'm feeling a little tingling in my lips, I gotta say.

Wow.

I'm gonna be completely honest, it's hard to tell.

But given the fact that my lips do feel a little numb,

I'm gonna say that this is the pickerel fraud

and this is the leopard frog.

I taste what seems like almost chewing

on a flower with this frog, but I wouldn't say it's bitter.

And I wouldn't say it's sharp.

It's just a little bit of sweetness.

And this one just kind of tasted like moss.

So I'm gonna take-- take the blindfold off.

Oh, something might be happening to my lip.

Back to daylight.

That's 100% the pickerel frog right there.

My lip feels-- my lip feels weird.

My lip is definitely starting to feel weird.

I don't feel anything on my tongue,

but I definitely feel something on my lip.

So the pickerel frog and the toxins that are in its skin

to my taste buds do not taste bitter.

And I definitely feel like my lip

is numb, almost like it's not--

like when you get Novocaine, if you're going to the--

my lip is-- my lip is totally like, going numb right now.

That's so weird.

OK, there's definitely some toxins in the skin

of the pickerel frog.

That's so weird.

Not so much taste as much as is-- as a feeling.

Does my lip look any-- any different?

No, man.

It's the same.

That's so weird.

I definitely am having some numbness going

on in my-- my lower lip where--

not so much on my tongue, just down the front of my lip.

And I would definitely say that the toxins in the pickerel frog

are more apparent than the taste of a leopard frog.

That's-- that's actually really strange.

OK, well, there you have it.

The poisonous frog taste test, I would say,

has allowed me to determine that the pickerel frog

definitely has some sort of reaction

on the inside of my mouth.

The leopard frog, I felt absolutely nothing at all.

But it's probably important to note that the frog is going

to secrete more toxin when it really

feels as if it's in danger.

So if a predator comes in and attempts to bite that frog,

if it sustains any sort of an injury,

those toxins are likely to be secreted in more force.

So while we try to put as little stress on the frog as possible,

I'm sure it didn't want to get licked by Coyote Peterson,

so I may not have gotten the full effect

that you could get if you were to chomp on one of these frogs.

Which brings me back to my Warning

that I gave everyone earlier.

Never attempt to lick or eat any amphibian species.

Many of them do carry toxins in their skin, and some of them

can even be fatal.

So there you have it, the poisonous frog taste test

has determined that I'm able to tell the difference

between a pickerel frog and a leopard frog

based on taste and numbness, not sight at all.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Think I'm ready for an ice cream cone.

Those frogs did not taste pleasant.

COYOTE PETERSON I will always

be the first to admit that there's an absurdity to some

of the experiments I have performed on the Brave

Wilderness channel.

Licking a frog definitely falls into the categories

of absurd, ridiculous, and let's be honest, pretty hilarious.

Let me have one more taste.

COYOTE PETERSON But you

did learn some pretty cool things about two

very unique frogs, didn't you?

In reality, you can properly identify these frogs

by closely examining their field marks if you

have the species side by side.

And while there's clearly a taste test difference

between them, I think it's probably in the best interest

of frogs and humans if we simply admire

these amphibians without putting them in our mouths.

Dude, that is a blue frog.

Look at that frog.

Oh my gosh, we gotta catch this frog, guys.

I can't believe what I'm looking at.

This is insane.

I mean, we're talking about a literal unicorn right here.

This is crazy.

I think we need to come back at night.

You got it.

You got it.

Oh, whoa, whoa, no!

COYOTE PETERSON Over the years,

we have featured a plethora of frog species.

Some of them were tiny and poisonous.

Some of them jumped on my face.

Some of them were giant and screamy.

There it is!

The famous sound that they make.

Wow.

And some of them

were even semi-transparent.

The point is that I was able to safely catch and successfully

get them up close for the cameras

so we could learn about what makes them so unique.

But what if I told you that there

was a frog that was impossible to catch, and was also blue?

Hold up, a blue frog?

Yes.

You heard me right.

A blue frog.

This encounter happened on the island of Middle

Bass located in Lake Erie.

The following series of events will play

out in chronological order.

Prepare yourselves, because you are about to witness

the unbelievable.

Oh, my gosh.

What?

Dude, that is a blue frog.

Look at that frog. Where?

Right there.

Oh, my gosh, we gotta catch this frog, guys.

I can't believe what I'm looking at.

This is insane.

I've actually read about this before.

This is insanely rare.

Every once in a while, based on limitations

within genetic dynamics, a frog will sometimes

lose pigmentation through its genetic line

and will be blue in coloration.

I mean, we are talking about a literal unicorn right here.

This is crazy.

Oh, he moved.

There he is.

There he is.

I still see him.

Oh.

He can't-- he can't make it through there.

Oh.

Whoa.

Oh, oh, oh, yes.

Yes.

Maybe he'll come back this way.

You still see him?

Awe.

Dude, that was crazy.

That was crazy.

OK.

Hold on, I'm coming back to you.

I think we need to come back at night.

If we come back at night and we see that frog

I can spot it with a flashlight.

And I don't think it'll jump.

I couldn't even get close.

OK.

We can catch that frog.

Holy cow.

That will be insane.

A blue frog.

I cannot believe what I just saw.

If he comes back out at night, we're

definitely going to get him.

Let's do it.

So how do you catch the uncatchable frog?

I'm going to build a contraption.

When I chased after this frog, the first thing it did

was hop across all the duck weed,

and disappear back and into the swamp.

And I've got this long wooden beam.

I'm going to secure my net to the beam.

If I don't have to touch the water, even better.

Now bullfrogs have a tendency to be pretty territorial,

so I think even though the fact that I chased it back

into the marsh, it's still going to return

to that spot to defend its little claim right there.

That is good and secure and will give

me several more feet of reach.

All right guys, this is it.

We're going to catch ourselves a blue Bullfrog.

OK, guys, sun has set.

We're going to catch ourselves a blue Bullfrog.

OK it's just down the way here.

Let's sneak up and see if it's back in its spot.

There he is.

Right there.

He's way closer to me.

Oh.

Shoot.

OK, this frog is definitely tough to catch.

Definitely knows that we're onto him.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh

There he goes, right there,

right there, right there.

He's going--

Oh.

There he goes.

Still there.

Still there.

OK.

I think we're going to get him.

The length of the net is now actually hurting me.

Oh, oh, oh, oh.

No.

No.

Dang it.

Did we lose him?

I lost him.

Dang it.

It was literally inches from my hand, right here.

I should have gone for the hand catch, man.

I should have gone for the hand catch.

Dude, he's all the way back there in those reeds.

I can't get him.

Oh.

But.

But here's the thing.

We tried to catch him in daylight,

he went all the way back there and came all the way

right back to this spot.

There's a good chance this frog will be back.

I think I got to catch him by hand.

He's too smart for the net.

This frog knows exactly what is happening.

He's impossible to catch.

This is crazy.

Absolutely crazy.

OK.

This is day two.

We are back to the spot where the blue Bullfrog

was spotted yesterday.

And this morning it has returned to its territory.

Which, certainly proves my theory

that this frog is running this little pocket of water.

Now, I can see the frog.

I'm not going to try to catch it during daylight.

It is way too smart.

This may be the smartest frog I've ever encountered.

I mean, he was playing cat and mouse with me last night.

It was just a game.

It led me back into the reeds.

I got bitten up by mosquitoes.

It was rough.

I've never had a more difficult struggle catching a frog.

So what we're going to do is wait until the sun

gets low in the sky again.

Just at sunset, when this frog is back in this spot,

I'm going to come out and I'm going to take another attempt.

I will attempt with the net at first, but if it gets

close, got to use my hand.

Last night, the frog was literally

about a foot and a half away from me

and I defaulted to the net.

I should have gone with my gut and tried

to catch it with my hand and I might have had it.

But we're going to give it one more shot tonight.

OK.

Here we go.

The third attempt at catching the blue Bullfrog.

And what I've done tonight is brought a smaller

net plus the long extended net.

Gotta up our chances.

And if it's not with a net, it's going to be with my hand.

Yep.

Oh.

You got him.

You got him.

Oh, no.

No.

No.

No. What?

No.

Oh, my gosh.

Dude, you had him.

COYOTE PETERSON Hold on.

Let's rewind and slow it down.

Look at the evasive maneuver this frog pulls off

as it springs from inside the net

and does a full nosedive back into the water

and disappears beneath the duck weed.

Now look at this.

Freeze frame.

Zoom in.

My hand is less than an inch away

from making a swooping and unbelievable catch,

but I missed it.

Oh, it was so close.

Dude, I had him, in the net.

I know, I saw him.

Are you kidding me?

There's nothing more frustrating

than literally having the frog you've been trying to catch

for three days in your net and then

have it spring out just as I was trying to get my hand in there

to keep him locked in position.

Oh.

Don't got him yet.

We're going to keep trying.

Is it day three?

Day three, attempt number--

Four.

Four?

Official attempt number four.

The blue frog is back.

I'm going to walk over to the car and get the net.

Do you guys believe in miracles?

Is it possible to catch a blue frog?

We're about to find out.

This is it.

This is our last day.

OK.

Oh.

It's already on to us.

And that's it.

There he goes.

All the way back.

I don't think we even had a chance.

I literally wasn't even able to set foot in the water.

The legend of the blue frog.

Nope.

That's it.

The blue frog is officially uncatchable.

There is a frog that is not capable of being

caught by Coyote Peterson.

Well, maybe we'll have to return to Middle Bass Island

at some point to see if the blue frog

still manages to evade capture.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild, and impossible to catch.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

The legend of the blue frog persists.

Will we catch Bluey on our next adventure?

Stay tuned.

You're my boy Blue, you're my boy.