Original subtitles

COYOTE PETERSON Want

to see what will happen when Coyote Peterson

smooches a giant bullfrog?

So don't worry.

I fully intend to deliver on my promise.

But in order to kiss a frog, first, I've got to catch one.

It's a common phrase that everything is bigger in Texas.

And I can personally attest to the truth in this statement,

especially when it comes to their magnificent menagerie

of animals.

So tonight, we are setting out to explore a protected cypress

swamp in search of what may be the biggest

frog I have ever seen.

It's another sweltering night here in the swamps of Texas.

And the other day, we were out here

filming an episode about the bizarre creatures

that inhabit this swamp.

And in the process, I came across what may be the largest

bullfrog I have ever seen.

I attempted to make the catch after I broke my net

and had to use my hand.

And it was so big and so powerful,

it was able to outmuscle me, and it hopped

off into the swampy night.

We've returned this evening to see if I can find

that frog for a second time.

I've gotten a new net.

And with any luck, we're going to catch this gargantuan frog

and get it up close for the cameras.

So if you guys are ready, let's go frog searching.

I've caught some sizable frogs

in the past, including Costa Rica's smoky jungle frog which

is most famous for its ability to screech

like a cat that is starving for a big bowl of Meow Mix

There it is, the famous sound that they make!

Wow!

COYOTE PETERSON And I

did catch a pretty big Bullfrog during our visit

to Texas in 2016, but the frog I saw last night

and the frog you are about to witness with your own eyes

is on a whole new level of ginormous.

So what we're doing right now is slowly

moving in the direction of the frog

that I saw the other night, the big one.

They're rather territorial, so I have a feeling it's going to be

hanging out in the same area.

And what they'll do is go up against the base

of these cypress trees, tuck themselves in,

and wait in ambush for a prey item to come close.

So I'm scanning the bottom of the trees,

looking for that eye shine.

The eyes are very reflective.

So if I see the frog, we'll be able to slowly move in

and hopefully make the catch.

I've got some eye shine.

It could be a big frog. Tough to tell.

Hold on.

Mm!

That's a big frog right there.

Let's see what happens.

He's in a very difficult spot.

Got him!

Yes!

That is a monstrous bullfrog!

Look at the size of that amphibian!

It is huge!

Wow!

OK, let's back up a little bit here and take a look.

That is an absolute giant when it comes to Texas bullfrogs.

All right, let's head up here.

That right there is what I would consider one very,

very, very big Texas bullfrog.

Now, technically, this is the American bullfrog,

the same species that I'm used to seeing in Ohio.

But for some reason, in Texas, they are so much bigger.

The saying here in Texas always goes,

"everything is bigger in Texas," and

the bullfrogs are no exception.

Now, you typically think of a frog as being a prey item.

But when it comes to these bullfrogs,

they're actually apex predators here

within this swamp ecosystem.

Now, it's fair to say that something like an alligator,

an alligator or snapping turtle, maybe even

a great blue heron would take the advantage

of eating a frog like this.

But late at night, in these shallow waters,

this frog is the king of this swampland.

Now, they will eat things like other frogs, even something

as big as a swamp rat.

And a frog of this size is even capable of eating snakes.

Have you ever thought about a frog actually eating a snake?

That's crazy, right?

One thing that most people don't realize is that most

Frog species have teeth.

The bullfrog specifically is actually capable of giving

you a pretty painful bite.

However, they are extremely docile.

And if you're lucky enough to find one of these

in the environment and manage to catch it,

you're going to be completely safe interacting with the frog.

Now, you can see how big those eyes are set

high up on top of the skull.

They have excellent eyesight both during the day

and at night, and their bodies are

capable of sensing movement and vibrations

within the ecosystem.

So when I was sneaking up, I was trying to move

as slow as I possibly could.

That frog will stay frozen in place with a flashlight on it.

It's thinking, well, I'm exceptionally well-camouflaged.

I hear something coming.

As long as I don't move, hopefully nothing will see me.

I know exactly what I was looking for,

and it allowed me to get close enough to make the catch.

Now, is this the exact same giant bullfrog

that I saw the other night?

Tough to tell.

The patterning is very similar, and this

is the exact same location.

But I know one thing's for certain.

I'm excited to have gotten an amphibian of this size

up close for the cameras.

And when it's fully stretched out,

you can see this frog is about the length of my arm.

Look at how big that frog is.

Unbelievable.

And when I hold it out like that,

you can really see that distinct speckled patterning

that runs all along the length of its body.

The frogs here in Texas have such unique design

as compared to the bullfrogs I'm used to catching in Ohio.

Let's just kind of hold the frog up

and take a look at its belly.

Whoa!

Look at that.

Almost zebra patterning in effect.

Now, let me show you guys this.

Look at the back legs of that frog.

Look at all of the muscle in those thighs.

You can take a look at the webbed feet.

Absolutely massive.

They are fast, powerful swimmers.

And their jump will propel them forward with significant power.

As soon as this frog feels as if it's disturbed,

it will launch itself forward, back and forth, back and forth,

until it can dive down into the water and hide beneath the mud.

That is exactly how I missed this frog the first time

around a couple of nights ago.

And you'll notice that I'm holding

the frog right here between its stomach and its legs.

That is the best place to handle one of these amphibians.

You don't want to squeeze the frog

too much because in the middle here is

where all the organs are kept.

You want to get right at the back of the legs.

This muscle is completely safe to hold onto,

and it's definitely the best place to be able to catch

one of these frogs.

Well, I would say coming back out into the swamps at night

was definitely worth the effort because this

is, without question, the biggest

bullfrog I have ever caught.

Now, we know what the fairy tales say.

If you kiss a frog, it will turn into a prince.

In my case, I wonder if I kiss this frog,

will it turn into the princess of my dreams?

I'm so excited to have caught this frog,

I think I've got to give it a smooch.

All right, ready?

Here we go.

1, 2.

Nope.

Still a frog.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Today, we are visiting the Hanzaki

Research Institute of Japan.

For over a decade, their mission has

been to research and help to ensure

the survival of the Japanese giant salamander.

In the field, I did my best to learn

all I could from Okada sensei.

My diligence toward being a good student in the art

of giant salamander research ultimately earned my teacher's

trust, and I was given the invitation

to assist in the yearly data collection for the institute's

oldest, largest, and most cherished salamander,

the great Osanshouo.

All right, so Okada sensei said wait right here.

He's going up there, into the enclosure,

to check on the salamander.

Now, this is one of the largest Japanese giant salamanders

ever found that is currently on record.

He tells me it is absolutely enormous.

It's going to dwarf anything that we saw in the field.

I'm super excited.

I can barely contain myself right now because I'm

going to be able to get hands on with this animal

to help with the measurement.

So the role is going to sort of be reversed here.

I'm going to be collecting the measurements.

Okada sensei is going to be writing them down.

Are you guys ready for this?

We are going to see one of the largest

Japanese giant salamanders ever seen.

Let's do it!

Let's go!

Following in the footsteps

of my teacher, we ascended a flight of stairs

and entered the paddock of this ancient creature.

It's fenced and fortified containment area

wasn't necessarily designed to keep the salamander in.

But instead, was designed to keep

any potential predators out.

Now, Okada sensei has quarantined the biggest one

down in one enclosure for us so it's

easier to find, easier for us to catch

and collect biometric data.

So it's in this one?

Do you see it?

Oh!

Right there.

Look at that! Look!

That his nose sticking out.

Whoa! Hold on.

Get a shot.

Get a shot.

That is a giant salamander!

All right, so what we're going to do

is actually enter into the enclosure.

We'll peel back these boards, gently get the salamander out

into the open water.

We're going to have to get it into a net

and then up here to collect the biometric data.

But we'll spend a couple of minutes

there inside the enclosure to sort of look

at some of its features and just be in awe

of what this creature is.

Come around like this.

Ooh! All right.

Trying to take-- I'll let you.

- all that weight?

I'll you go in first.

I'm going to leave my pack up here, guys.

All right.

All right, guys.

I'm going in.

OK.

Be careful.

Getting into the water.

Whoo!

That is cold.

That is some cold water.

All right.

Here, hand me your camera.

Oh, boy.

Here we go, Mario.

Ah.

Whoo!

Before we get the salamander out of there,

let me see if I can get a shot of it with the GoPro.

Just hunker down here.

So it's right under here, right?

Here.

OK.

Let's try to move really, really slowly so

that we don't muddy the water.

We want to try to keep it as clear as possible.

I'm going to have to just go--

sort of just go blind on this here.

Yeah, hopefully the camera is picking up the salamander.

You can see--

See that thing moving backwards?

More of the tail's coming out the back.

A lot of debris in there.

Oh, oh, oh, I see it.

You're right.

It is starting to come off the back.

Well, maybe we're getting a shot.

Tough to tell. Oh, man.

It is big. - There it is.

It's right there.

It's actually backing up there.

Oh, my goodness.

That is huge.

That is just its tail.

Its tail is like the size of a canoe paddle.

This is the largest amphibian I have ever seen in my life.

It's time to reveal the beast.

You ready?

I do.

You do the rocks?

Yeah, and then you do--

I'll get the boards.

OK.

Guys, this is something that is done once a year, removing

the salamander from the breeding paddock

to collect its biometric data.

This is a very special day, an incredible honor for all of us

to be a part of this process.

This is it. Are you ready?

This is it.

Yeah.

I'm trying not disturb to disturb this silt. Whoa!

Look at that.

Are you kidding me?

Look at the size of that thing.

There's the head.

There's the head.

Look at it!

It's the size of a cantaloupe.

Whoa.

My goodness, that is a monstrous sound it's so much bigger

than I thought, wait there's two Yeah

there's a smaller one in here.

A smaller one in here.

There's another one over here, but that is the big guy.

Okada sensei, so what's the best plan from here?

Is it OK for me to go in and bring the

Salamander, around to the side?

Yeah.

OK.

OK, got it.

Thank you.

Now, here's a question.

Before we get it in the net, can we bring it up here?

And tonight I slightly lift it to reveal it for the camera?

- Yeah. - Yeah?

OK. Before we put it in the net.

Because once it's in the net, it'll be really hard to see.

I'm going to actually move this smaller one into the next tube

here.

Come here, buddy.

Ooh, it is so neat feeling.

Here you go.

You go in here.

Oh, wow!

This is the first contact I have made

with one of these salamanders.

It is incredible.

Come on big, guy.

Here we go.

Yeah.

Just slowly coax him down through here.

Here we go.

Wow, look at that, the absolute giant.

What an ancient creature.

A living fossil.

This animal is well over 100 years of age.

Look at how cool that thing is.

Can you believe that?

Look at it.

Oh.

Oh, he's so slimy!

Impossible to hold onto.

That's why we have to use a dip net

to actually get it out of here.

Not only is it strong, but it's also incredibly slippery.

All right, so we're going to gently--

there we go.

Slide down into that net.

OK, the salamander is safely inside of the dip net.

So I'm going to go up and Okada sensai is going

to pass the giant up to me.

Oh, heavy!

Got it?

You OK?

Yeah.

Whoa!

Got him, got him, got him, got him, got him.

Yep. Good, good, good.

Whoa, it is strong.

It is heavy.

Wow!

All right, that is me cradling a Japanese giant salamander.

Tail first?

Head first.

OK, so this does it-- oh, this end opens up.

Yeah.

OK.

Set him here. there we go.

OK.

And I do have to be careful that I'm not bitten.

They do have extremely sharp teeth,

and this is a very large animal.

So I have to gently get this opened up,

and he will slide out this hand.

All right, and go.

Look at that. Whoa!

Look at that giant.

Hi, buddy.

OK.

Wow!

OK, get my hand underneath! the jaw.

There we go.

OK, I'm going to gently slide it down here without our sensei

so that we can fully reveal the salamander.

There we go.

So slippery.

The layer of mucus that coats their bodies is--

it's just like-- you see that?

It's like snot.

And we want to put as little stress

on the creature as possible.

We're going to quickly collect the biometric data,

get a couple of cool shots, and then release it

right back into the enclosure.

Now, let's just take one second to admire the design

of this animal's body.

Look at how wide it is.

Look at the head.

And you know what?

I'm looking.

I can't even see the eyes.

The eyes are right up front here.

They have such teeny-tiny, little eyes.

Get a little water on there.

Oh, that's good.

Yes, yes, yes.

Wow. - Wow!

Its head is bigger than your head.

It is!

I feel like my entire head could fit inside of its mouth,

but that's not a place that you want to find yourself.

Look at the tail.

Enormous.

Absolutely enormous.

So much power in this animal.

And when I was cradling it, as it came up

out of the enclosure, you could feel

just how strong it truly was.

OK, so the first thing we're going to end up getting

is the total length of the animal.

Oh, you hear that noise that it's making?

Yeah, we did.

It's like a grumbling.

Sh, sh, sh, sh, sh, sh!

Oh, he's going to push that rock.

He's pushing rocks down.

OK. OK, cool.

We've kind of got him in a good position

to get the total length here.

Right there?

OK.

We're just going to go with this here.

We are at 49 and 1/2.

49 and 1/2 is what it appears.

And in centimeters, that is 126 centimeters.

Wow.

That is a giant.

OK, so we're not going to do the snout to vent length.

It's too much to put this animal on its back

to get that measurement.

So the next thing we're going to do

is get the head width and also, the tail height.

And finally, its body weight.

And we've got some rain rolling in, so we're going to have

to do this quickly, guys.

All right, I'm going to get the tail height first.

I want to do that at the highest point, if possible.

It is right at 14.

14 centimeters.

OK.

21?

21.

21.

All right, head width, 21 centimeters.

It absolutely dwarfs the giant that we caught in the field.

All right, so the next thing to do?

The body weight.

OK, so how do we get the body weight?

We have to put it in--

Oh, OK.

Put it inside the blue container and then put

that on top of this?

Yeah.

OK, great.

So we're putting a little bit of water inside of the container

just to keep the salamander hydrated.

You don't want its skin to stick to the basin.

OK.

All right, so we're saying that the weight of the container

with the water is 16 kilograms.

We will put the salamander inside and then

subtract that weight from 16.

Can I have you lie down next to it real quick?

Yeah, it's almost impossible to comprehend how big this

thing is-- you're right-- unless we get something like

a human next to it for scale.

Look at that!

All right, now, listen.

We have to do this quickly and very gently because it's

very, very slippery.

So we have as little chance for error as possible.

Come here, big guy.

Oh, OK.

Head goes first.

Yeah, OK.

Real gentle.

All right.

Ah, man.

So big.

Look at that.

Yeah, for the main episode the other night,

when we were in the field, we had a small container.

This is as big as it gets.

So why is this giant salamander

in captivity?

Great question.

Many years ago, during the building of a bridge system,

its home was destroyed, and the animal was accidentally injured

by a piece of heavy machinery.

The construction team quickly realized what they had found

and immediately alerted the Hanzaki Institute.

The good news is that the salamander survived.

The bad news is that its home was destroyed.

And as a displaced animal of this size and stature,

it was decided that the great Osanshouo

should be kept in captivity.

So that just goes to show you guys

that even if an animal like this loses an appendage, something

like it's its foot or its toes, it still has the ability

to survive against all odds.

I mean, this is considered a national treasure right here.

And when you look at an animal like this

and you think to yourself, wow, this

has been on the planet longer than most of us,

it is certainly something that needs to be preserved,

that needs to be cherished and honored.

And it's really cool that the salamander

is now a part of the breeding program

here at the Hanzaki Institute.

All right, you guys ready to get the weight?

Yep, let's get the weight.

OK, so hands off of the container.

We've got a perfectly balanced salamander on the scale,

and we are at just about 30 kilograms.

Remember, we need to take 16 away from that,

so 14 kilograms is the weight of this amphibian,

an absolute giant.

Cannot believe it.

Never thought that I would see a salamander of this size.

Man, so cool!

All right, cool.

Do we want to look at some of its

interesting characteristics? Sure.

Yeah, let's take it back down off of the scale.

We've only got a couple more minutes with it,

and then we've got to get it back into its enclosure.

OK.

All right.

All right, guys.

Now, the last thing we need to do

is sort of just examine the salamander's features,

make sure its feet and all the aspects of its body

are in really good shape.

So the first thing we're going to look at

are the four feet here.

The hands.

Look at that.

Look at how big that hand is.

The salamander is incredibly healthy.

When you get down to here, you'll notice

all of the muscle in this tail.

It is just a solid mass of power.

Look at that, a large rudder that helps this animal

move through the environment and also,

to quickly maneuver itself if it needs

to escape from a predator.

Now, look at these flaps of skin that run along

the sides of the body here.

They're actually able to absorb oxygen

through those flaps, which helps them to breathe underwater.

As we know, they also have lungs.

Actually, it was just blowing some bubbles up front there.

So this animal breathes through its skin?

It can.

They, of course, have lungs.

They do come to the surface to get a big gulp of air,

but they can stay submerged for hours

at a time, especially when the males are defending the den.

As we know, the males are oftentimes called den masters.

They protect the eggs.

They protect the larva.

So, Coyote, what does it feel like?

Like a big, wet, muscular slinky.

Go ahead, Mark. Reach down in there.

Get some water on your hands first.

OK, let's see.

And just give it a little pet.

Feel the skin.

Very dense, right?

Oh, wow.

A lot different than actually I--

I imagined it being a lot slimier.

It's not that slimy.

Yeah.

No, but they do secrete more mucus if they're feeling

stressed, so it's really good.

You can see the animal's completely calm at this point.

Just keeping it a little bit of water helps keep it hydrated.

All right, well, I think we have collected

all the necessary data, which means

it is time for us to safely get this salamander back

into its enclosure.

All right!

Ooh!

That never gets any easier.

Salamander coming in.

I got him.

Good, good, good.

OK.

Get this.

All right.

All right, got him.

There he is.

All right.

Oh.

Oh, he's so slippery.

OK, you ready? Yeah.

OK.

All right, here he goes.

Wow.

That was cool!

Okada sensei, thank you so much for giving

us the chance to get up close with this national treasure.

What an incredible day for the "Brave Wilderness"

crew and a true honor to work with this salamander

here in Japan.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

Yeah!

High-five.