Original subtitles

COYOTE PETERSON OK, today

is a solo expedition where I'm going to attempt

to be eaten alive by chiggers.

Now, we'll learn more about chiggers as we

embark upon this expedition.

But I will be kayaking from Middle Bass

to North Bass Island in the hopes of finding a swarm

of these microscopic creatures.

This is going to be an epic adventure.

It will take me roughly an hour

and 15 minutes to kayak from Middle Bass

to North Bass Island.

And then once we make it to North Bass,

I will enter the island through Manila Bay.

It gives me the entry point to the large marsh.

Beautiful morning to be on the water, that's for sure.

So what exactly is a chigger?

Well, to keep it simple, they are the larva stage of something

called a harvest mite.

Technically considered arachnids,

they belong to the same class as ticks and spiders.

But unlike their larger cousins, while in the larva stage,

they're so tiny, they can't be seen with the human eye

and measure 1/50 of an inch or less.

OK, we have made it to the Western edge

of North Bass Island.

I got to say, this solo expedition filming

is not super simple so I got to give a big shout

out to my main man, Les Stroud, who filmed all those seasons

of Survivorman by himself.

Holy cow.

Actually going through all this underbrush

might help me get chiggers.

Don't treat it falling down right

in the middle of this place.

There we go.

Whoa.

Whoo.

Almost lost the GoPro there.

What a mess.

Geez.

OK, status update.

In the middle of the marsh.

The moving has gotten a little bit easier

through these big lily pads.

They're taller, which allows me to glide through the environment

just a touch better.

But when it comes to finding any animals, I mean,

they can hear me coming from a mile away, so.

Oh, I see an eagle's nest and two

eagles inside the eagle's nest.

Holy cow.

All right, first animal of the expedition

is officially a juvenile bald eagle.

You can see there's another one a little bit

higher up on the tree.

Very cool.

This place is just swallowing me alive.

There's only so many shots you can possibly

get while being stuck in a prehistoric swamp

or prehistoric-looking, rather.

The only thing missing from this is maybe some Brachiosaurus

grazing on all this plant life.

That'd make it a little bit more interesting.

While there is a chance I could

encounter a species of chigger in the marsh,

it is much more likely that I will become a buffet line

if I venture to the other side of the island

to explore on foot.

Interesting little forest area here.

Look at this rock structure.

Now, I'm barefoot, which I would never recommend

entering a forest barefoot.

But considering the fact that I am trying to get myself bitten

by chiggers, this seems like an interesting way

to possibly accomplish that feat.

Old dilapidated structure here.

Every once in a while, when you stop at a random spot

on an island and start exploring lost areas,

you come across some pretty cool stuff.

The harvest mite

life cycle can vary and depends heavily

on species and environment.

But what's crazy is that these alien looking arachnids

can live for nearly a year.

Most eggs hatch within a week.

This is known as the prelarva stage.

And after developing for several days,

they evolve into hungry parasites.

This is the six legged chigger phase.

And boy, are they ravenous.

They target a host, engorge on skin, and eventually fall off.

Plump and happy, they are now in the nymph stage

where they develop another pair of legs

and mature into the adult phase.

As adults, they feed on tiny arthropods

and their eggs, live in the soil,

eventually breed, and the cycle repeats.

Oh, check out the shoe I just found.

That is a Nike Air Foamposite.

Worn by Penny Hardaway, my favorite basketball

player of all time.

That is insane.

Any sneaker head out there knows that this is actually

a very expensive shoe to find on the side of an abandoned island.

This is the all black edition.

I have the blue and the black tiger stripe ones.

I'm going to definitely keep that.

We're docking.

OK, I have landed at my final destination

on North Bass Island.

Now, we're going to take to foot and see what

sort of things we can find.

Now, the goal is to find some tall grasses that I can walk

through, eventually really sit down and have a drink of water

and see if I collect any chiggers.

So tall grasses like this are an absolute perfect place

for chiggers to--

almost like ticks-- quest and get themselves

on their host species.

Pretty much any terrestrial species

has the potential of taking up chiggers.

Pretty much got to the end of this run of the field.

I'm going to cut over and go down another track.

It is unbearably hot.

It feels a lot better on the water.

This looks like another great place to get chiggers.

Look at that.

Let's walk in here and see what happens.

And to the underbrush.

Whoa, this is very disorienting.

OK, I've completely been swallowed by grasses

that are taller than.

I am covered in mayflies.

Let's go sit here for a few minutes,

give any little bugs the opportunity to get on me.

And trust me, the chiggers will know that I am here

if they are present in these grasses

because they can sense all of the sweat and carbon

dioxide coming off of my body.

A chigger bite is painless.

But the way it happens will make your skin crawl.

These parasites attach to a host,

pierce the skin with their chelicerae,

inject enzymes into the bite wound that break down

cell content into a digestible meal,

and then suck up the liquefied tissue

through a tube formed by hardened

skin cells called a stylostome.

Ugh, gross.

The aftermath arrives in 24 to 48 hours

in the form of unsightly red welts

that seem to itch unstoppably.

This is your body's natural histamine reaction

to the invasive saliva.

Contrary to popular belief, they do not suck blood.

And they do not burrow into your skin to lay eggs.

However, chiggers can stay with, explore,

and feast on a host for several days before falling off.

And because of the delay in bite reaction,

that is why welts can show up day after day after day.

You definitely will not be able to see

them with the naked eye.

But they're here.

Trust me, they are here.

Now, the worst part about chiggers

is that most of the time, they try to burrow down into areas

that are hard to get at.

So like your belt/underwear line, around your ankles.

They like tight, compact, warm areas that have

soft skin and good blood flow.

So right now, there's the chance that they are getting on me.

Now, a bite you will not feel.

But if I am bitten, the reaction will present

itself within 24 to 48 hours.

And I can guarantee you that on North Bass Island,

there are gazillions of chiggers, probably more

than there are stars in the sky because I have gotten

chiggers on this island before.

And without a doubt, I have a feeling

that right now, with my legs down in the grasses

Just like this, I am probably getting

them on me at the moment.

Well, I'm on my way back from North Bass island.

I kayaked all the way around it.

I went into the marsh, rescouted the swamp,

I found all sorts of treasures including a Nike Air Foamposite.

With any luck, I am now covered in chiggers.

I did my best to find the tallest grass as possible,

went into them, sat down.

And hopefully, they are on my body at this point.

All right, guys, stay tuned.

We'll see you in the aftermath.

OK.

Well, it has been 48 hours since I returned

from North Bass Island.

And I've got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I was successfully

eaten alive by chiggers.

The bad news is that all the bites

are in areas I can't really show you if we want

to keep this episode rated PG.

Now, I find that the bites become inflamed every time

I get out of the shower.

And you want to itch and itch and itch

them, which is actually the worst thing you can do.

If you open up the bites, you can get bacteria inside of them.

And ultimately, an infection may form.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

COYOTE PETERSON Quick.

Do you know what the world's fastest animal is?

OK, time's up.

It's the peregrine falcon.

And when in a predatory dive, this bird

is capable of reaching speeds of over 250 miles per hour.

Today, I'm going to become a bird by jumping out

of an airplane to see how fast my body can

drop in a 60-second freefall.

My heart's racing now.

While attempting to accurately

hit a prey target.

All right.

Are you ready to go?

I'm ready to go.

But before we get extreme, first,

I'm teaming up with the Ohio School of Falconry

to get a speed course in the art of training falcons.

Well, if I am to become a peregrine falcon,

it starts with learning about these incredible birds.

Joe, thank you for this incredible opportunity.

Let's talk falcons.

Sounds great.

What can I tell you about falcons?

Well, first of all,

what I want to sort of explain to the audience

is that this bird is so much lighter weight than I

could have ever imagined.

It is sitting on my hand, but I can barely

notice that it is here except for when

it does that flapping thing.

How much do these birds weigh?

Well, her flight weight

is right in the 800-gram range.

Correct me if I'm wrong,

but this is the fastest animal on the planet.

It is.

They utilize certain aspects of physics, if you will,

to be able to achieve speeds of up to 270 miles an hour

in a stoop.

OK.

Now, weighing as little as she does,

how is something this lightweight capable

of moving that quickly?

That's a great question, Coyote.

Shelly here has been blessed by nature to have

a perfect aerodynamic shape.

So she has wings that are perfectly

wing swept and pulled back.

Also, each of those bones inside of her body is actually hollow.

Except for down here, the ankle all the way down towards the end

of her metatarsals, those are the only

solid bones in her body.

Now, when it comes to taking down

prey species, does she actually make contact with her talons

or does she like sort of clip the wings off?

In some cases, they're

snatching birds out of the air.

So if the bird is smaller and they

are actually flying down to catch it, they might grab it.

If it's a larger bird, they might actually

make a fist with that foot and actually break a wing

and then follow that bird down to the ground

and utilize those very, very long,

slender toes to grasp onto it.

So it's taking the victim out in the air,

following it down to the ground. Correct.

And then finishing it off.

Correct.

Wow, that's amazing.

So Joe, when it comes to being one of our planet's top birds

of prey, what makes the peregrine falcon so lethal?

Well, Coyote, you have to understand

that in the world of raptors, there's

really two main pieces that go into actually catching prey.

There's power.

So when you think of like eagles and red tailed hawks,

those are birds that are not particularly fast.

But they overwhelm what they're hunting with pure power.

Whereas the falcons themselves, much faster.

It's about speed.

It's about precision.

They're the ultimate winged assassin.

Gotcha.

All right.

Well, now that we've learned a little bit about these birds,

I think it's time to see them in action if I'm hoping to learn

from their style when it comes to myself turning into a falcon

jumping out of an airplane.

After a quick demonstration

on how to master the art of pole luring, which is basically

a mix between fly fishing and Donatello's bo staff

skills from the Ninja Turtles, it was

time to see a falcon in action.

OK, I've done some testing with the flight pole.

Now, I originally thought that I was

going to watch Joe have the birds dive at the lure first.

But I'm getting thrown right into it.

So hopefully, it'll knock the bird out of the sky.

A little nervous about that.

But they have a lot of faith in me.

Trained falcons target the lure.

And to catch it is a big deal.

Think of it like a bird playing a video game.

Get the lure, win the game.

And if you win, a meaty treat is your coveted reward.

There you go.

There you go.

Good.

There you go.

Taking the wind there.

All right.

This is what we want.

Whoa, that's cool.

Here she comes.

All right, you got it.

That was awesome.

Now, that we've seen the amazing skill

and cunning abilities of falcons,

it's time to become the bird myself.

I'm going to be jumping out of an airplane at 13,000 feet

while holding this peregrine falcon puppet to see

not only what it feels like to be moving at speeds of well

over 100 miles an hour, but also whether or not I can hit

my prey target on the ground.

Time to suit up head, up into the air,

and jump out of an airplane.

I'm ready to call in the plane.

Let's go outside.

My heart's racing now.

All right.

Are you ready to go?

I'm ready to go.

Falcon, are you ready to go?

Falcon is ready to go.

Woo.

Whoa, it's cold.

Holy mackerel. - Grab on.

All right.

Oh, man.

My breakfast is in my lungs right now.

Boom, target hit.

Mouse down.

All right, we did it.

Peregrine falcon hit its target.

Wow, that was so fast.

120 miles an hour was blasting my face backwards.

I opened my mouth at one point.

And it basically sucked my cheeks back.

That was about as close as I think

you're ever going to get to feeling the perspective

of a peregrine falcon.

Wow, that was intense.

Woo.

We hit 14,500 feet and Andrew said speeds

of close to 130 miles an hour.

I. Have to say this is one of the most

extreme experiences I've had when it

comes to embodying an animal.

Today, I became the bird.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.