Original subtitles

So check this out.

We've got our first frog of the night, just a little one.

I believe it is a stream frog.

Let's see if I can catch it you see it

right there in the leaves.

Look how well camouflaged that tiny hopper is.

Got it.

That

Is a stream frog, a female stream frog.

And the females with this species

get significantly bigger than the males.

Typically, it's the males that are found in the streams.

But females are more commonly found in forested areas.

And one of the coolest things about this frog

is the coloration on the underside of its belly.

Look at all of that yellow and orangish red speckling

and then those bright red legs.

And if you look at the design of the frog's head,

it's almost matte in coloration.

Not so vibrant on top, but the underside

is absolutely beautiful.

All right, let's let her go.

and carry on.

Here we go.

So it's not technically a frog yet, but right there

is a little egg cluster of frog eggs.

And inside, every once in a while, you

can see the teeny tiny tadpoles moving

within that gelatinous structure.

That is some variety of tree frogs.

And they are beginning to take on life.

Very cool.

All right, guys.

We got another little frog here.

Got him.

OK.

Wow.

That is a very strong, thick fingered dirt frog.

Now, the females do grow larger than the males,

so I'm thinking this is definitely a female.

What's unique about these frogs is that they go through what's

called direct development.

So these frogs actually lay eggs that turn

right into little froglets.

There are no tadpoles in the life cycle of this frog.

No-- got him again.

Wow.

It is unbelievably strong.

It's like on par in strength with the smoky jungle frog.

And they call them thick fingered

dirt frogs because look how big and robust

those front fingers are.

Very cool.

Well, that is another frog to check off

on our list in tonight's frog scavenger hunt.

Not the most brilliantly colored one,

but the life cycle certainly is interesting.

All right, let's keep searching.

When looking for frogs, you're scanning down.

You're scanning up and then back up and then back down,

back and forth back and forth.

Oh, got a frog right here.

Look at this.

Red eyed-- no.

That is a splendid leaf frog right there.

Holy cow, look at this.

Yes.

This is, without question, probably

the most beautiful frog we could have come across tonight.

Unbelievable.

OK, let's see. Don't want this guy to get away.

If he's going to go anywhere, he's going

to jump right out onto my hand.

Got him.

All right, let me see if we can get you to just--

there we go-- climb right up onto my hand.

That is a frog that just jumped onto the light.

Hold on a second.

And I was just about to explain how like all frogs,

they can hop if they need to.

But they're much more prone to actually walking

up and over the branches.

You can see they have these really long, spindly legs.

And each one of those toes is armed with a very

sticky little suction cup pad.

And in fact, their fingers can spread out

so much that when they jump from leaf to leaf,

they practically glide and can move themselves

through the rainforest.

When it comes to beauty, look at that orange coloration.

And you can't miss that tiger striping that runs

down the sides of the body.

And look at those eyes.

They have a vertical pupil, which

gives them the ability to see incredibly well at night.

And that pupil expands and contracts to allow

light to come into the eyes.

This frog is up in the tree tops right now

hunting for primarily insects.

This frog very rarely, if ever, comes down from the tree tops.

So for us to see one at this level, this height

within the rainforest, was practically

being in the right place at the right time.

I'm just so blown away, so awestruck

at the beauty of this frog.

All right, we're going to place this frog back up into its tree

and see what other species we can find.

I don't know that we're going to find anything

more beautiful than this.

But we certainly could find something a little bit bigger.

There it goes right back onto the light.

So we've got another frog.

I can't tell what species it is, very difficult to see.

I can just see its little butt hanging down on the underside

of a leaf right there.

And there's no telling whether or not this is solid ground

or very stinky mud.

But I'm going to go out there and see if we can get that guy.

What I'm going to actually do is just pick the leaf

and bring the leaf and the frog with me.

Gives you a really good look at just how

camouflage these frogs can be.

Legs all completely tucked in, eyes closed.

It just looks like a bump on a leaf.

That is the red eyed leaf frog.

Quintessential Costa Rica right there.

This is the most famous frog that you can

come across here in Costa Rica.

And even despite the fact that I've

got him perched on the edge of my thumb there,

the frog is still half asleep.

And look at that.

There's a little nictitating membrane

that comes over the eye that even has camouflage on it--

looks like the veins of a leaf.

This frog is an absolute master when it comes to camouflage.

Now, one of the coolest things about these frogs

is they are insectivores, which means they

primarily feast on insects.

And they have teeny tiny little teeth in those jaws,

but they actually use their eyeballs to help push their food

down and into their throat.

So if they catch a fly or a beetle or a moth

and begin to chomp on it, those eyes

will help force that insect down their throat

and eventually into the digestive tract.

I put in quite a bit of effort to go

out there in the mud to get you, but you're a little camera shy.

That's OK.

You still count as another frog in our frog scavenger hunt.

The most famous frog we could have

come across tonight, the one and only red eyed leaf frog.

All right, I'm going to go back out into the mud,

find a new leaf for this frog, and we're

going to continue searching.

All right, got some good water here.

Let's check this out.

Oh, careful-- slippery.

Oh, here we go.

Look at this, a glass frog.

Yes.

Very, very slowly-- right on the edge of that leaf.

That right there is a dwarf glass frog.

Now, here in Costa Rica, there are 14 species of glass frog.

All of them are very unique.

Some of them actually have completely clear undersides.

And you can see the organs and the structure

of their underbelly right through their skin.

Now, I don't need to physically get hands on with this frog.

But what I will do is bend the leaf just forward

for you a little bit there.

Now, it's on to us.

And what's really unique about the glass frog

is that this frog's head structure

is what actually gave inspiration for the design

of Kermit the Frog.

How cool is that?

Kermit is, in fact, a glass frog.

Well, of all the frog species we were

going to come across tonight, I was actually really hoping

that we would see a glass frog.

This is cool.

The dwarf glass frog, the smallest

of the glass frog group.

We have to be really, really stealthy.

Moving in on him.

His burrow is right behind him.

Got him, got him.

Holy mackerel.

Look at the size of that smoky jungle frog.

Those forearms are absolutely massive.

Without question, a male.

He is like Popeye.

It's like this frog has been eating spinach.

Look at those forearms.

They are so muscular.

And that is the quintessential call of the smoky jungle frog.

Now, they will make that noise if they

feel as if they're in danger.

Am I going to be eaten right now?

If I make this screaming noise, perhaps whoever

it is that's holding on to me will let me go

and I'll be able to escape.

Now, if the sound doesn't drive you off,

these frogs secrete a very potent toxin from their skin.

It smells very pungent.

And if you have any scrapes or cuts on your fingers

and it gets in there, it is going to burn like crazy.

And actually, if that mucus is on your skin for too long,

it will just start to burn on its own.

It smells absolutely terrible.

Now, the way I can tell this is a male

is the males grow larger than the females.

And they have these very distinct secondary thumbs,

which actually allows them to grip onto the females

during breeding season.

And the bigger and more dominant the forelimbs, the more powerful

this frog is when it comes to battling for the rights

to a breeding territory.

I know, you've got so much to say.

We heard you the first time.

We really appreciate you hanging out with us tonight.

Now just so it's clear, me holding on to this frog

right now is not causing it any pain.

I'm holding on to the big thick muscles in the hind legs.

This distress call is essentially

a way for this frog to escape any potential predator.

You can imagine if you were an ocelot

and you came into the environment

and you bit onto this frog and it started screaming like that,

it would startle you, giving this frog the chance to escape.

But when it comes to frog scavenger hunts here

in Costa Rica, I don't think we could have

ended the night better than with the enormous smoky jungle frog.

I'm Coyote Peterson.

Be brave, stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.

All right, let's get big boy back down into his burrow.

Right now, we are searching these tide pools

off the coast of Eastern Australia for the most

toxic fish on the planet.

The stonefish is notorious for having the most

painful sting in all of nature.

And today, I'm going to get stung by a stonefish.

But first, we've got to find one.

Let's get looking.

It's going

to be very hard to find the stonefish

because in addition to their legendary sting,

they are masters of hiding.

The key to this is going

to be to move slow, methodically,

and to not step on the stonefish.

You could be looking right at stonefish

and not even realize it.

And that's why so many people step on them by accident.

But stonefish aren't all we have to look out for.

This isn't the only animal that could

do you harm here in the tidepools off of Australia.

We also have cone snails and the blue ringed octopus,

one of the most lethal creatures in the world.

And not only is it risky just being out here,

but we also have to beat the clock.

The tide is coming in fast.

And this whole area is about to be completely underwater.

So if we want to catch a stonefish,

we need to do that before it happens.

Everything looks exactly the same.

This is going to be tough.

Oh, right there.

You see it moving?

That is the stonefish.

And I never would have seen that fish if it didn't

give itself away by moving.

Holy smokes.

Now, these fish are so toxic, they don't

really have a flight response.

I'm going to attempt to catch the most toxic fish in the world

with my bare hands.

All right, here we go.

Oh, wow.

There it is.

That is the stonefish.

Look at that tide pool monster.

I can't believe we found one.

I mean, it looks like a living rock.

I never would have spotted this fish if it didn't move.

The fact that it swam a little bit

there is the only reason I was able to catch this fish.

And you can see how docile this fish is.

It knows just how toxic it can be.

Wow.

But the table is set for what will be likely

the worst thing I ever take.

Placing the stonefish in the tank

hit my nerves hard.

I'm about to get stung by a stonefish.

Stonefish stings are said to be one of the most painful

experiences a human can endure.

And I've already experienced my fair share of fish stings, one

from the most common fish sting, which is the lionfish.

And the other from the scorpion fish, which is the most toxic

fish sting in North America.

Yeah, it got me.

Ow.

Each sting was painful,

but I was certainly able to tough

it out with basic treatment.

However, each of those fish fall far short of the danger

from the stonefish.

Not every day you get to carry around the world's

most toxic fish in a tank.

This fish might just have the worst sting

in the entire animal kingdom.

Man, my nerves are firing right now.

Just looking at this fish is so incredibly cool.

Look at all the growths all over its body.

Definitely earns its name the stonefish,

a master of camouflage.

All right.

Let's go hands on once again with the stonefish.

The reason

I can handle this fish is because it can only

sting from the spines on top.

Wow.

This fish has developed the most potent fish toxin in the world.

The toxin is only to defend itself.

Unfortunately, as you can see, it

is so docile, that it's very easy for people

to step on these fish.

And that is the most common way people

are stung by the stonefish.

The toxin of this fish not only induces extraordinary pain,

it can actually cause muscle spasms and eventual paralysis.

And there have even been reported

deaths from stonefish stings.

But now, I think it's time to see how

this fish injects its venom.

I'm going to just pour out this water.

I'm going to use this little tank here as a platform.

This fish is perfectly fine being

out of the water for extended periods of time

because they've adapted the ability to actually

hold water in their gills.

It's not uncommon to see stonefish

just laying on the rocks in these tide pools.

So the little bit of time that we have it here in front

of the cameras, totally fine.

All right.

So I brought with me a piece of neoprene.

I'm going to use this piece of neoprene to simulate skin,

so I can show you what would happen if you

stepped on the stonefish.

This animal has the ability to fire its venom into the wound

created by its spine.

That's why people who are envenomated

and step on these stonefish end up in such a bad situation.

It's not only that it's the most toxic venom,

it's that you also get the most volume.

Look at how sharp that spine is.

OK, in order to do this properly,

I do need to get out some eye protection.

So I'm going to do that quickly.

This venom it has enough toxin in it to cause vision problems

and perhaps, even blindness.

All right, let's see in slow motion

how these spines inject venom.

Look at this top.

You guys ready? Here we go.

1.

2.

3.

Oh, wow.

Look at that.

And it's like blue.

Holy cow, look at how much venom just came out of that fish.

Let's do another one do that one more time.

Oh, my gosh, guys.

The spines are blue.

And what's those spines are out, they stay out.

There ready to defend.

All right, let me try these spines on the back here.

1.

2.

3.

Wow.

That is what would be inside of your foot

if you were to step on a stonefish.

Now, it will regenerate its venom.

It doesn't hurt the fish at all.

And you can see these sheaths will just slide right back up.

But holy cow.

I got to take a minute and process what I just saw.

Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

That is bad.

I won't lie.

I'm getting pretty nervous right now.

This is something you should never do.

I've consulted experts, people who have been stung.

I've done my research.

I've done my homework.

But even still, I'm extremely nervous about what

is about to happen.

It's said that this is the most painful sting in the world.

Wish me luck.

The moment has come.

It's time to be stung by the world's most toxic fish.

I am borderline terrified.

I have thought long and hard about whether or not

to even go through with this.

But I'm doing this today because through my research

on the stonefish, I have found a lot of misinformation out there.

There is a lot of stories that pretty

much describe certain death if you're stung by a stonefish.

And that's just simply not the case.

While this toxin in the base of its spines is extremely potent,

it is thermoliable.

So if treated properly and if needed, with medical attention,

you will survive the sting of a stonefish.

Most of the victims that end up dying from stonefish

stings but has more to do with the pain and shock

that leads to cardiac arrest.

This venom is meant to cause you pain.

But I have brought the antidote with me

today, a thermos filled with hot water that's around 114 degrees

Fahrenheit, a compress to hold over the wound.

And then, of course, if I do go into any state

of anaphylactic shock, I always carry with me an epipen.

We are about three minutes drive from an emergency room.

So even if the worst case scenario does unfold today,

I should have plenty of time to be able to get

to emergency medical attention.

All right, my plan today is to take a micro dose

of stonefish venom.

The venom from that neoprene trial

is already coating the spikes.

So they are locked and loaded, ready to go when it's all said

and done.

This should be just extraordinarily

painful for me and hopefully, very educational for you.

This is going to likely be the worst thing that I ever take.

I'm Mark Vins, and I'm about to enter

the sting zone with the stonefish, the most

toxic fish in the world.

All right, I'm going to go with this front spine here.

Ready?

This spine, on three.

1.

2.

3.

Yep.

I already feel a burn.

I could feel it spreading up my finger right now.

And it does not feel good.

Wow, the tide is coming in.

All right.

Here, let's-- [pained noises].

Hang on, let's move out of here.

The tide's rolling in.

Yeah, hang on.

I'm going to come over here.

Andrew, put the fish back in the tank, man.

Right there is where the spine went in.

Gah, immediate fire spreading up my fingers.

I can already feel it in these three.

Yeah, I'm OK.

I'm OK right now.

It's like a different magnitude of pain.

It is like throbby, achy.

Hang on, I got to walk it off.

I'm going to try to tough it out for a little bit.

I want to see how far the venom spreads before I

start applying the first aid.

This is borderline unbearable.

Oh, my gosh.

Ooh.

I'm just like, it's making me nervous.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, definitely drew a little bit of blood.

And it is hot.

It's like, closing my hand is becoming hard.

Yeah, it's spreading.

It's like all up the back of my hand now.

I think I need to go for the hot water, guys.

I don't want this to spread anymore.

Going to the hot water.

There we go.

Stone fish is good.

Now, I need to fix myself.

So this hot water will actually stop the venom from working

and should help my pain.

Every bit is painful as advertised.

I never want to do that again.

And I need to get more hot water on this sting.

And hopefully, the pain subsides.

But it's still increasing for me.

Tingling pain continued to build

and spread up through my shoulder all the way to my neck.

Even a month after the sting, I still have numbness

and tingles in my fingers.

The immediate pain wasn't enough to send me to the hospital.

But as we released the stonefish,

I could imagine what would happen

if a full load of its venom were to go on my foot.

That instance would send you directly to the hospital.

And if you're ever stung, please,

you should seek medical attention as soon as possible.

Needless to say, the stonefish certainly

lives up to the legend of being the most

painful fish on the planet.