Original subtitles

Nature is riddled with dangers.

And to the untrained eye, if you don't recognize

one of its many biological landmines,

it's possible that your next step could be your last.

Spiders, scorpions, centipedes, and even spiky plants

can be considered explosively perilous

if they catch you off guard.

But nothing is more serious than stepping on a venomous snake.

On this adventure, we're going to take a look at Central

and South America's most notorious pit viper, a snake

that I am all too familiar with and a reptile that you should

definitely be aware of lest you accidentally encounter it

while hiking in the rainforest.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

What do we got?

We got a fer-de-lance right in front

of us right under this leaf.

Look at this right in front of me, right in front of me.

Look at that camouflage.

Holy cow, his head's coming right up past that leaf.

Oh my gosh, that is the camouflage

that you hope you recognize before you step too close.

The snake literally just crawled up underneath the leaf.

Its nose is just poking up right in the middle of the path

that we are walking down.

I don't see it.

Right, right-- look at this bright leaf

in front of me. You see this?

Its nose is just sticking up on the top of it.

You see that? Got it.

Keep your light there.

Completely hidden, the fer-de-lance,

arguably the most dangerous snake in Central

and South America.

Yes, I was hoping we'd see one of these tonight.

One thing we've never done before

is tube one of these vipers and take a closer

look from that position.

So I'm going to slowly lift back this leaf.

I have no idea how big the snake is.

This is sometimes the funnest part, what's

the leaf going to reveal?

How big is this snake?

It looks sizable.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah, that's a good-sized snake.

Oh, buddy, look at you.

OK.

Right now, it is still saying to itself, I'm hidden.

Nobody sees me.

If I don't move, maybe you guys will just pass right by,

and I'll continue about my night hunting for prey items.

But we definitely want to get a better look.

All right, Mario, the snake is actually in a absolutely perfect

position for us to try to get it safely inside of a snake tube.

It's the safest situation for the snake,

and it will put the least amount of stress on it as possible.

Get your camera to too much closer than that.

What's amazing about these snakes

is that they can go from completely gargoyle statue

still into explosive action.

And these snakes can launch themselves 2/3 the length

of their body forward, which is why they are incredibly

dangerous to work with.

Oh, oh.

And just like that, I dropped my snake tongs,

and the snake is on the move.

OK.

We need a light.

It's just kind of slithering slowly, which is good.

It's not being too explosive.

Like I said, they can move incredibly quick

when they need to.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, careful.

All right, Coyote.

Can I step in?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll tell you what, why don't you take the snake hook.

Yeah.

I'll take the tube.

You got the right gauge?

- You're going to pick it up. - I'll pick it up.

OK.

Go ahead, switch.

This never gets any easier.

This is definitely the most dangerous part.

Angled down.

Like, yeah, angled.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Now.

Now.

We got it.

Here we go.

oh, look at the fangs inside there.

OK.

Be very, very gentle now.

OK.

You just have to take a deep breath after successfully

getting control of a snake like that

because the bite from this species is extremely toxic.

Hemotoxic and cytotoxic, it will break down red blood cells.

This is one of the most potent bites

of any venomous snake on the Western half of the world.

And if you're bitten by a snake like this

and you do not get the proper care, it could take your life.

Now when I turn the snake like this,

you can see the scalation is very, very defined.

It's very rigid, very bumpy.

It's got incredible texture to it.

And that texture also helps to keep these snakes camouflaged.

One of the names that this snake is commonly known by

is the lancehead.

And that's because of the triangular

nature of the head almost looks like the tip

of a lance or a spear.

And like all pit vipers, they have

a heat sensing pit, which, of course, helps

them to detect their prey.

And while they will take advantage of mammals,

certain times of year, these snakes

primarily feast on amphibians.

And with all the rain that just recently moved through earlier,

I'm guessing this snake is on the hunt

for any sort of creature that can possibly come across.

Whether it's a mammal or an amphibian,

it is fair game if you are a snake like this

out and on the hunt.

Now one of the reasons I was so excited to have come

across a fer-de-lance tonight is that I've always

wanted to show you guys what happens

when you mix this pit viper venom with blood, human blood.

But to safely do that, we're going to need to head

back to DeLand, Florida.

If we connect with our friends at the Reptile Discovery Center,

we can actually get hands on with one of these snakes

in captivity and safely show you guys

what it takes to not only milk this species

but also to mix its venom with human blood.

Interacting with the fer-de-lance ants

is like handling a loaded gun, and just

a single mistake could quickly turn into a medical emergency

or worse.

This species is responsible for 90% of the snake

bites in Central America, making them the most

dangerous snake in their range.

Sounds horrific, but here's the good news.

If a bite victim is taken to the hospital in a timely manner

and antivenom is administered, the survival rate

is extremely high.

We have returned to the Reptile Discovery Center

in DeLand, Florida.

Millions of you enjoyed the previous episodes

we filmed here.

So it's an absolute honor for us to return and once again

work alongside Carl and Mara.

This serpentarium is not only home

to dozens of the world's most dangerous snakes,

it is also the first step in the production

of life-saving antivenoms.

Yet in order for antivenom to be created, first

you need the snake's venom.

And to get the venom, you need to milk the snakes.

Behind us is a room filled with snakes, and in one of those

boxes is the fer-de-lance, Central and South

America's most notorious snake.

And today, we're going to milk it.

Are you guys ready for this? - We're ready.

I think so.

Are you nervous?

Never.

- Let's bring out the snake. - Beautiful.

OK. She's coming up.

All right.

Now remember, Carl and Mara are professionals.

They do this on a weekly basis working with these snakes.

But it's going to be really interesting to see

the fer-de-lance not in its natural environment.

I don't know what the snake's are going to look

like, how big it's going to be.

So I'm ready to be surprised.

This is going to get intense.

Boy, here we go.

Wow.

Yeah, that's-- that's about the size we're used

to seeing in Costa Rica.

Look at that.

They are big, well-adapted pit vipers.

They have highly developed venoms.

Toxic venoms tend to be tremendously hemolytic,

in other words, do lots of destruction to blood cells.

And so they account for a lot of bites

in South America, as you know, or Central and South America.

And so it's a really a formidable pit viper.

So a bite from this snake without antivenom

is almost guaranteed to kill you?

I'm not going to say always lethal because, again,

sometimes a bite from that snake will

result in a minor envenomation.

He won't give you anything.

But a severe or a significant envenomation

by that snake without treatment would

probably result in fatality or perhaps the loss of a limb.

OK.

So, Carl, at this point, the snake is looking right at us.

I feel like it's probably a good point to milk this snake.

What's this process going to look like?

So the catch here is going to be a little bit different.

If you start to really look at that snake's body

language, Coyote, he's starting to kind

of get act up a little bit.

He's starting to get nervous.

And fer-de-lance can be really flighty snakes.

Now, have you ever had one jump off

of the table?

We have just not quite as far as you.

I keep wanting to look off at the camera,

but then I keep my eye on the snake.

It looks like it's in launch mode.

OK. Absolutely.

I think this is probably the moment.

What do you guys need me to do?

Just step off to the right a little bit.

We're going to give Mara little room to kind of work her magic.

I'm going to secure him, and then I'll hand him over to you.

Nice.

Look right--

The pressure's coming down.

All wound up.

Oh, that's a strike.

- And there's full pressure on-- - Oh, perfect.

Good. Don't change anything.

Perfect.

That's a strong snake.

Good.

So, Carl, this is the most important part right here,

right? - Yep.

And you'll see, normally fer-de-lance

are good solid venom producers.

And went light today.

OK.

Sometimes, the snake's going to give us only a small amount

of venom or his venom.

And the big difference here is you've

heard the term milking snakes.

Yes.

In the old days, they used to press on those venom glands.

They'd squeeze that snake's head.

We don't do that.

We just allow the snake to bite and give us what he's

going to give us voluntarily.

And sometimes they don't give us a lot of venom.

Remember, venom to the snake is precious.

These are defensive bites, and he really

has venom to obtain his food.

Mm-hmm.

Great job on the body. OK.

So I'm going to go back into the cage now.

But even that little bit, you're looking at about 100 milligrams

of dry weight there.

That's absolutely probably multiple lethal doses of venom.

- Wow. - Good.

Beautiful job, Coyote. - You got him?

Yep. OK.

Perfect job.

Thank you.

Did you hear that?

So just that amount of venom, not even a full venom

yield capable of killing multiple people

when it's at dry weight.

Now, Carl, question for you.

Yes.

What is this venom going to do to your body?

So the little thing in your bloodstream

that allows platelets to stick to it and clot

is actually being broken apart by some of these venoms that's

being sliced into pieces.

And so that net there, that clotting net

that's going to allow the platelets to stick to it

is being destroyed.

And so all of a sudden, you're beginning to hemorrhage,

you're beginning to bleed.

You go into shock.

You've got all kinds of fluid problems.

Your kidneys are beginning to fail because you've

got all these things floating around in your bloodstream that

shouldn't be there.

And of course, like all pit viper bites, lance has swell

and they destroy tissue, something

they call metalloproteinases.

So it's a messy snake bite.

It's a painful snake bite.

They often result in amputations because of a delay

in treatment or no treatment.

So you'll see people missing fingers or even bigger parts

of their body with these guys.

So it's a dangerous snake.

It is serious business if you're bitten,

so you have to admire the snake from a safe distance.

Now the next thing that we want to do is take this venom

and mix it together with blood, of course,

my blood and this time in less of a rudimentary situation.

And we're going to put it underneath the microscope

and see if we can see some of those blood cells breaking down.

That sounds excellent.

You're stepping up your experiment a little bit.

We really applaud that.

And as you said, maybe we'll get lucky,

and we'll be able to see some of these toxins

at work under a microscope.

Today, we are at the Reptile Discovery Center

located in DeLand, Florida.

This serpentarium is home to several of the world's

most dangerous snakes.

And earlier today, I assisted in milking the venom of three pit

vipers that are frequently encountered

in the Eastern United States.

The copperhead--

Oh, that was fantastic.

- the water moccasin--

I'm going to get my stuff.

- and the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

Whoa!

That was a serious venom yield right there.

Normally this venom is sent to their Medtoxin Venom Laboratory

where it is turned into life-saving anti-venom.

But today, we're going to perform

an experiment unlike anything you have ever seen.

OK.

Crew is all set up.

All right, guys, so today's experiment

is going to show us what happens when snake venom mixes

together with human blood.

I've always been curious what happens when a snake bites you

and that venom enters into the bloodstream.

So today, what we're going to do is take eight vials of my blood.

We're going to create a control.

And then we're going to mix venom into three different vials

and show you exactly what happens.

I know, it seems like, Coyote, get to the point already.

I'm only prolonging this because I'm so squeamish around needles.

You guys have no idea how nervous I am right now.

I could take bullet ant stings.

I could take bites from giant desert centipedes.

But when it comes to sticking a needle into my arm,

nothing makes my skin crawl more than that.

We've got a medic on set with us.

And she is going to safely draw out my blood.

I need you to just keep your arm very still.

Very still.

Don't jerk it back.

And if you feel like you're going to pass out, tell me--

OK.

- if you get lightheaded, or you start to feel really hot.

OK. I'm already hot.

I'm sweating bullets right now, like,

more nervous than I was for ants, centipedes, like,

worst day ever.

Even hotter than you are right now.

- OK, yeah. - OK.

Are you ready?

Yes, I can be ready.

1, 2, and 3.

Find a happy place.

Find a happy place.

Is this considered a lot of blood for one sitting?

This is an OK amount.

Just an OK amount.

It's certainly not going to harm you.

OK.

I'm going to put the GoPro down at what this

is to see what's happening.

I can't look with my own eyes.

I can't bear.

I can't feel my arm, like, should I

be doing anything with my arm?

No.

OK.

Are you ready? - For what?

I'm going to take out the needle.

Are you ready? - Yeah.

Is it out? - No.

Yeah, I'm ready.

Oh my gosh, this is going

to like squirt blood if you-- oh my god,

look at all those tubes of blood.

Holy mackerel.

But what we're going to do now is head down the hallway,

meet up with Carl, and move to step two

of this experiment Holy cow.

Look at all of these vials of blood.

That is so much Coyote that is spilled

out in the name of science.

OK, Carl, I am back with eight vials of my blood.

Now we're only going to need four for this experiment.

So I'll put these other four over here as a backup.

And we've got the entire experiment set up.

We've got three vials that contain

copperhead, water moccasin, and eastern diamondback venom.

Eventually that blood is going to trickle down

this board that we've created.

But before we get there, let's talk about these venoms

and why they're so potentially dangerous.

OK.

So, Coyote, all three of these snakes cause you to bleed,

cause you to hemorrhage.

And hemorrhaging is dangerous for a host of reasons.

Your blood doesn't clot.

You're losing blood from your blood vessels.

Your blood corpuscles are being broken apart.

Your red blood cells are being lysed.

They're not carrying oxygen to your tissues.

They all cause you to hemorrhage.

They do it a little differently.

The mechanisms that work do it a little differently,

but they all cause that significant bleeding

coagulopathy problem.

OK.

Man, that is complex, but sounds very painful at the same time.

Obviously, a lot of pain is experienced with a bite

from any one of these snake species.

OK.

So I'm definitely going to put on my safety goggles

for this part.

I am going to open up this vial and expose the venom.

Now I have this one labeled copperhead.

And you'll see I also have a blunt-tipped needle.

The reason for that is if this was sharp

and I were to accidentally prick myself,

that's just like a snake fang.

What you don't want to do is envenomate yourself

while working with venom.

So I'm going to just-- oh, man, makes

your hand nervous just to pick up and hold what that is.

Right there, that is some very potent venom.

Now, Carl, I'm going to need your assistance,

if you can just tilt that a tiny bit

until I'm able to get some venom.

I think that's enough.

Yep.

That's probably more than a full snake bite right there.

- No question. - OK.

So there is our copperhead venom.

Oh, one down.

Our next one is going to be the water moccasin.

Wow, look at that venom yield.

It gives you a sense of how dangerous cottonmouths can be.

And part of that equation, again, is yield.

That's three snakes, of course, but even still--

There we go.

Whoa!

That is a toxic little mix right there.

Oh, I got a little drip coming.

It's OK.

We'll just put that there.

And now we are going to bring up the most potent of them

all, the Eastern diamondback.

Woo, this is the big one right here.

All right.

There we go.

And that right there would be enough venom to kill you,

wouldn't it?

Probably.

OK.

So we've got our three syringes of venom lined up.

Thank you, Carl.

Whoa!

This is keeping your hands steady.

It's not an easy thing.

OK.

So the first one, our green, is going to be the copperhead.

OK.

There we go.

Dangerous little tube right there.

OK.

Moving on to the water moccasin labeled yellow.

Caution, water moccasins can be deadly,

definitely not a snake you ever want to trifle with in the wild.

Admire these guys from a very safe distance.

OK.

There we go.

All right, that is moccasin venom going into my blood.

And last, but certainly not least will be the Eastern

diamondback rattlesnake.

It's still a very, very dangerous syringe right there.

There's still some venom residue.

OK.

There we go.

That is Eastern diamondback venom going into my blood.

OK.

Well, let's take 15 minutes.

We will return, and step three of this experiment

will tell us exactly what happens

from a visual perspective when you

add snake venom to human blood.

But I know a lot of you out there

have said before, Coyote, you've been

bitten stung by so many things.

Get bitten by a venomous snake.

Now, Carl, I want to open up this conversation to you

to say to everybody out there watching, how crazy

is that notion of intentionally being

bitten by a venomous snake?

And just so we're clear guys, I'm

never going to intentionally take on a bite like something

from a copperhead or water moccasin or rattlesnake.

And tell us why this is so damaging.

Because insect stings and snake bites

are very different things.

And so insect venoms to a large degree evolved to cause pain.

And they-- and basically what they're trying to do

is get you away from perhaps their nest

or something of that nature.

Snake venoms evolved to immobilize and kill

the food that they eat.

And so snake venoms are destructive on a whole host

of different levels.

So you're-- you're just-- you've got blood chemistry problems.

You've got neurological issues happening.

You've got cardiac issues happening,

a depolarization of the muscle cells in your heart.

You've got maybe all of these things

nephrotoxicity, myotoxicity, cytotoxicity,

cardiotoxicity, neurotoxicity.

A snake bite can be a very dangerous event, in fact,

it can be a lethal event.

And on a cellular level, it's catastrophic.

It's nothing to be fooled with or taken lightly.

There's no question about that.

OK.

It has been roughly 15 minutes that the venom has been

percolating inside of my blood.

And now's the big moment.

What I'm curious about, what I know you guys are all curious

about, what exactly happened to my blood with that venom inside?

So the first thing that we're going to do

is put on my safety glasses.

Good idea.

Always important to have on safety

glasses when you're doing science experiments.

So we've got another blunt-tip needle that is the control.

That's the blood that's in here.

And when I hold it up and look at it,

yeah, that still looks super liquidy.

So what we're going to do is pull blood

from each one of these vials, and I'm

going to make a little streak just like that on the top

of this Plexiglas board.

We're going to see what happens.

Does it run down?

Does it turn into jelly?

We don't know, right?

It can be interesting.

I guess we'll see.

And I'm just going to try to make a nice little streak

across here just like that.

Whoa!

What?

That is some coagulation right there, isn't it, Carl?

Oh, I see that. Yeah.

That's great.

Wow.

That looks like a zombie film right there.

So, Carl, tell us what happened because there was

no venom in there yet you've got these chunks of blood that

just looked like they vomited themselves

down this Plexiglas plate.

When you expose blood to oxygen,

it's going to begin to clot.

And so that's what we're seeing there.

And that's-- that's healthy blood then.

Absolutely.

Healthy blood exposed to oxygen

is going to coagulate.

So for the most part, it looks like I'm healthy.

So now we're moving on to the copperhead.

That is our green vial here.

And I'm just going to give that a tilt left and right.

Now, like you were saying, Carl, that anticoagulant

makes this look like it's a whole lot--

Very hard to say if we're going to see

anything to the naked eye.

But I assure you what's going on in that tube right now

cellularly is as we talked about earlier, catastrophic.

OK.

So let's see if we can see anything with the naked eye.

Here we go.

Copperhead blood coming up.

Wow.

Look at all those bubbles.

I did not really see that on the control.

OK.

Here we go. Oh, wow.

Look at that.

It's just dripping right out of--

I'm not even applying any pressure yet.

And look at that, it's just dripping

right out of the syringe.

Whoa!

Look at that.

Boy, it's certainly the naked eye

looks like it's less coagulation going on there, right?

I mean, to the naked eye, I mean, that just ran down now.

I saw a couple of little micro maybe clots in there.

But to the naked eye, I don't know about what you saw but--

Yeah.

- anyway interesting.

That was blood running down that incredibly fast.

I mean, just the pace at which it slid down and off

the Plexiglas, you can see that a lot of the blood

here is still left streaking.

This was, yeah.

Look a lot-- you can almost see the more

watery consistency of it.

So that's-- that's the blood cells

breaking down and not being able to hold on to each other.

Again, to the naked eye,

that's what it would look like.

Again, guys, we can't stress enough how the internal aspects

of what's happening on a micro level

that if we had a super powerful microscope we'd be able to see

are happening.

I mean, this is just explosions of blood cells and everything

breaking down apart inside.

All those little cell walls are being affected.

OK.

Here we go, water moccasin.

You can see there the blood definitely

looks very thin as well.

Again, a whole cocktail of proteins and toxins that

are just turning this blood into who knows what.

Again, wow, so that's-- that's having trouble

actually sucking the blood.

There we go.

A little more clotting in this sample.

Here we go.

OK.

Now my glasses are fogging up.

I'm going to do my best to keep my hand steady.

But even interacting with venom and blood

definitely gets your heart rate going, that's for sure.

That is my blood mixed together with water moccasin venom.

And again, you can see that that blood just

wants to come out of the tip of the needle

without me applying any pressure.

It's just dripping out on its own.

So I'm going to very slowly apply a little bit of pressure.

There we go.

Wow.

Look at that.

There's certainly some clots

visible on that sample--

Oh, yeah.

- more so than the copperhead.

That is true.

Look at that.

You can still see all of that.

It looks like a worm going down the side of the Plexiglas.

But certainly the copperhead venom

appeared thinner.

And the cottonmouth venom in relationship to the control,

tough to say, but maybe we're seeing

some anticoagulant activity there, maybe.

So here we go.

I've got the Eastern diamondback venom in my blood there.

The top coming back off.

There we go.

Syringe going in.

Again, guys flat tip needles, even if I were to prick myself

with a needle with venom, that is just

like suffering envenomation.

Oh, yeah, look at that.

Look how thin that blood is.

That pulls up way easier than the copperhead or the moccasin.

Wow.

Look how-- look how watery that is.

That's crazy.

What does human blood look like once it's

been envenomated with Eastern diamondback rattlesnake venom?

Here we go.

1, 2, 3.

There is a little bit of coagulation there.

Wow. Look at that.

That's some significant clotting.

And remember on this one, Coyote, Eastern diamondback

venom we think there are both anticoagulant

and pro-coagulant activity happening.

But that's interesting.

OK.

Well, there we have it.

Between the control, the copperhead, the moccasin,

and the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake visually

across the board, it looks like there's quite

a bit of difference, right?

Even with the control, I don't see any speckling in the blood

as compared to these three.

But from your expert perspective,

Carl, what is it that we're really seeing here?

I mean, it looks like a horror film,

but it's tough to tell with the naked eye.

Yeah.

So, Coyote, you know, I think, we

need to point out that this experiment

is a really crude experiment.

You know, what we're seeing, we're

kind of speculating a little bit and

based a little bit on what we know about these given snake

venoms.

But this really needs to be done under a microscope in a really

controlled setting where we don't have this time difference

going on, and we're not sure, you know,

the amount of venom being used is exact to get

a real sense of this.

But I think it's safe to say that what's happening here,

whether or not we can see it with the naked eye

is serious and catastrophic damage on a cellular level.

And I think for everybody out there watching,

the big takeaway is the pit vipers in the United States

have the potential to be very dangerous.

This is not a species you would ever want

to interact with in the wild.

And for everybody out there that's asked, Coyote,

will you get bitten by a venomous snake?

The answer is no.

You guys can see that this is, again, catastrophic.

We want to encourage the viewers to admire these animals

from a safe distance.

Don't try to kill them.

Don't try to catch them.

Don't ever experiment with yourself happen If you take--

No questions.

I think that's an excellent synopsis.

And hey, man, are you going to clean this up?

I will, yes.

I will clean up all of the mess that I

have made here in the lab.

But for everybody out there watching who's

wanted happen if Coyote Peterson was bitten by a venomous snake,

there you have it guys, my blood tangling with venom.

I'm coyote Peterson.

Be brave.

Stay wild.

We'll see you on the next adventure.