Original subtitles

[Josh] On this episode of "Expedition X"--

- [Heather] Oh my gosh. - [Phil] [indistinct]-- let's go get it.

[Josh] My team chases horrifying reports

of the blood-sucking chupacabra...

These chickens had no blood.

This animal sucked all of the blood out of them.

[Josh] This infamous demon dog is said to be terrorizing Texas.

These animals may be mutations.

- Well, I have the real thing. - Oh, my goodness!

What the hell am I looking at?

[Josh]...with help from their own cutting-edge

canine companion.

All right, Robodog, you got my back?

[Josh] Heather and Phil will search for proof

of the vampiric beast.

If you have blood running through your veins,

there's cause for alarm. - [Phil] Oh, my god.

[Phil] It's running.

[Josh] But they'll find that catching a horrifying hellhound

is not as simple as just saying, "Fetch."

Holy [bleep].

It just got knocked over.

[theme music plays]

All right, Gates. I got a story to pitch,

but I know what you're gonna say.

What am I gonna say?

- He's gonna say, "Oh my word." - He says that a lot.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with a catchphrase, Phil.

You should try it sometime. Come on, pitch me, what is it?

The chupacabra.

Oh, I do love the chupacabra,

legendary blood-sucking creature,

but we investigated this in Puerto Rico,

where the story started, and it just didn't stand up.

It felt like a combination of recent folklore

and some wild dogs. - I knew you were

gonna say that, but would it change

your mind if I said there was a specimen?

A specimen?

Someone has a physical chupacabra?

Yes. A doctor in Texas says

she found a dead chupacabra,

had it taxidermied, and checked this sucker out.

- [Josh] Oh my word. - See?

It's good. That is seriously creepy.

Look at that. OK.

It does still kind of look like a dog.

- [Josh] Kind of. - [Phil] Yeah.

[Phil] But the fur, or lack thereof,

is definitely unusual.

And here's the thing, she says that this chupacabra

broke into her chicken coop, killed her chickens,

leaving puncture wounds and no blood.

OK, a literal bloodsucker.

- Mm-hmm. - OK, so could it be

that this legendary, blood-sucking beast

is on the loose in Texas?

[camera shutter snaps]

[Josh] The chupacabra legend begins on the island

of Puerto Rico in 1995.

The territory is shocked by a series of disturbing attacks

on livestock. - [ominous chord strike]

Hundreds of goats are killed in the dead of night.

The goats are found with two massive puncture wounds

to the neck and their blood completely drained.

As rumors of this blood-sucking beast spreads across

the island, the locals name the monster Chupacabra,

or, "Goat-sucker."

In 2019, I went to Puerto Rico to investigate

the mysterious murders.

Oh my word, look at this!

- One, two, three, four chickens. - [man] Si.

- And they were in these pens. - This was ripped open here.

So whatever did this not only ripped back all this wire,

but actually bent back the corrugated metal.

But since then, suspected chupacabra attacks

have not only continued, they've spread

to mainland America.

Thousands of chickens, goats, and cattle have been

found dead in Texas with puncture wounds

and their blood drained, just like in Puerto Rico.

There have been possible sightings, too.

Texans from San Antonio to Houston report terrifying,

hairless, vicious, four-legged beasts that are

unlike any known canine. - [sinister strings play]

In 2010, a woman in Texoma claims she is savagely bitten

after discovering a chupacabra lurking inside her camper.

Years later, a family near the town of Victoria

allegedly shoots and kills one of the animals...

[gunshot blasts]

...after hearing its terrifying howl near their livestock.

Experts believe the epicenter of this activity is near

the small town of Cuero, Texas, where ranchers report seeing

the elusive creature more frequently than anywhere else

in the state.

But what exactly is the mysterious chupacabra?

Some believe it's a lab experiment that

escaped and bred.

Others say it's the accelerated evolution of a common predator,

like a wolf or coyote.

And one wild theory states this could even be some kind of

vampiric extraterrestrial somehow living on Earth.

Is the chupacabra really stalking the Texas Badlands?

And is it still thirsty for blood?

[ominous chord strike]

Guys, this is a really compelling case.

It's not Puerto Rico, it's an all-new location in Texas.

And we might have a real specimen on our hands.

And not only that, this is not some ancient legend.

These sightings are happening right now.

- Yeah. - And this Texas part

may be key to what I think could really be happening there.

There are wolves, coyotes, feral dogs, all found

in this region, and canids can be afflicted by conditions like

mange and rabies that not only drastically alter

their appearance, but also can make them behave

in very disturbing ways. - So, the big question--

is it something known or something unknown?

That's what we have to figure out.

And to do that, there's a new piece of technology I think

would be perfect for this case.

Here, boy!

[orchestral music plays]

- [chuckling] - What?

Come on up.

Come on up.

Phil, what the hell am I looking at?

- What is this? - This is a robotic quadruped.

- And Josh, say, "Shake." - Shake?

- [beeping] - [gasps]

- [Phil] Right? - [Josh] Oh my word.

What are you gonna do with this thing?

I mean, maybe it takes a dog to catch a dog.

This thing has 360-degree laser scanning, 3D mapping LiDAR.

It has autonomous AI.

And because it's a robot, it has no scent.

So it can go places that we can't go and do it

relatively undetected. - OK, so Robodog.

- Yeah. - No... no.

- What? - It needs a way cuter name than that.

- And can I teach him tricks? - Heather, this is not a toy.

This is a scientific, investigatory tool.

- This is a dystopian nightmare. - Don't listen to them.

You're not a tool and you're not a dystopian nightmare.

All right, you two. Time to go walk the dog.

See if you can catch a real-life chupacabra.

And you, down boy.

- [beeping] - [thump]

[Josh] The flight from New York to Austin

is four and a half hours.

Then it's another two-hour drive southeast to the quiet

Texas town of Cuero, where Heather's witness claims

to have found a chupacabra corpse on her property.

- [ominous music plays] - [bleating]

- [Phil] It's real Texas ranch land. - [Heather] I'm so excited.

We got the chupacabra, and we got Robodog.

Hey, you know what would make a good doggy treat

for the chupacabra? - [Heather] What?

- Blood sausage. - Oh, god.

[Heather] Hey, you know what would make a good treat for Robodog?

- What? - AA batteries.

- Ha. - [laughing]

You're rubbing off on me, these stupid dad jokes.

That wasn't stupid. That was pretty good, Heather.

That's how I know it was bad.

[Phil] This is it.

[Heather] Dr. Canion.

- Hi, how are you? - Hi, so nice to meet you.

[Heather] Rancher Dr. Phylis Canion has hunted animals

all over the world,

but says the strangest creature she's ever encountered was

terrorizing her own backyard.

So tell me, what happened the first time you saw it?

It was nighttime. I'm driving into the ranch.

This animal stands up on all fours and looks at me.

I stopped and got out of my car.

Never have I seen anything as bizarre as this animal.

It just stood there looking back at me.

That's what scared me

because this thing did not look friendly.

And then eventually, it just trotted off into the pasture.

- Could it have been a coyote? - Absolutely no.

This was definitely not a coyote.

I've lived on a ranch all of my life, and I've never seen

anything that looked like this, ever.

Were you concerned at all?

Well, yes, I was concerned, because we have so many animals

on the ranch.

I went down to my chicken coop, and sure enough,

the chickens had been killed, but what made it so strange was

how they were killed.

These chickens had no blood pooled on the ground,

in the chicken, nothing, and the carcass was left whole.

It's almost like this animal sucked all of the blood

out of them. - Weird.

And then it escalated.

One day I'm gone for 30 minutes, came back, not only

did this animal kill another chicken, it put it

on my back porch

with no blood. - That's a threat.

This was a threat, because to lose one was one thing,

but all total, I lost 29 chickens.

- 29 chickens. - 29.

So, at this point, you wanted to get this thing.

I said, "You [bleep]. You're gonna be hanging

on my wall at some point."

So, I have the real thing,

and if you want to see it, let's go--

I'll show it to you. - Let's take a look.

- [mysterious music plays] - [door creaks]

- Oh my goodness. - What?

[Phil] Look at that thing.

This is the animal that I had been seeing on the ranch.

[Phil] And then you decide to have it taxidermied?

I did. I had to preserve it.

But this, we don't know what it is.

All canines have four nipples on each side, male or female.

This one only has two.

It does not have hair on it, but it's covered in fuzz.

And we did skin-punch biopsies to determine if it had any kind

of skin infection. It was all negative.

- Come on. - Yeah.

Everything about this is strange.

It looks like it has extra skin over the ears.

Blue eyes? Did it actually have blue eyes?

[Dr. Canion] It did.

- Are these the original teeth, too? - [Dr. Canion] Yes.

- There is the Mexican hairless dog, the Xoloitzcuitli. - [Dr. Canion] Yes.

And that same gene that causes them to be hairless

also causes them to lose teeth.

But it seems like it has all of its teeth, yeah?

This is one of the weirdest animals I've ever...

seen.

And I'm assuming this is not the only one.

Absolutely, because we see them with frequency.

When was the last time you saw one?

- About a month ago, so very recent. - [Phil] OK.

So if we're gonna try to find this thing on your ranch,

where should we look? - The first place that

I would send you definitely would be

to the pond. - [Heather] OK.

Because we're the only pond in this area,

so it's the calling card for all animals.

Do you mind if we take a DNA sample ourselves,

do a quick examination of it? - No problem.

And one more thing-- we know it likes chicken.

Can we borrow a chicken?

I promise to return it safe and sound,

with all of its blood intact. - No problem.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

- Thank you. - Thank you so much, Dr. Canion.

[Phil] After collecting a skin sample, it's time to hopefully

track down a living specimen for ourselves.

First, we need to lure it in, and I want to put poultry

on tonight's menu.

So, when we were in France, we had pretty good luck using

Mr. Clucky to lure in the beast of Gévaudan.

[Heather] The chicken that you took about, what, 30 minutes

to catch? - It was not that long.

[Heather] My watch said otherwise.

[frantic clucking]

- [laughing] - [clucking]

Heather, this time it's your turn to catch it.

OK.

I'll show you how it's actually done.

Listen, I got chickens at home.

When you get in there, they're gonna be

running all around. You're gonna have to

scramble to get one. - Mm-hmm.

- See what you got. - OK.

Oh, that's cheap. Mealworms?

Is it? Or is it just knowledge?

Hello, girls.

Hello.

[ba-gawk]

- [bawking] - [clucking]

- Oh. - [Heather] Oh my goodness.

Wasn't that easy?

OK, when I did it, it was nighttime, I didn't have

mealworms, and there were roosters.

- Sure. - [clucking]

- All right. - [Heather] Whatever you say.

- Stop showing off. - [Heather] Let's go, Miss Henny.

[Heather] With our fair-feathered decoys safely secured, we set out

for the pond on the far side of Dr. Canion's property,

where she had her alleged chupacabra encounter.

- Ooh-hoo-hoo-hoo. - [motor purring]

[Phil] Wow.

- This is some thick brush. - [Phil] Yeah.

Clearly, there's a lot of shelter around.

We're heading to the water, and we're bringing the food.

We got everything a chupacabra needs.

- GPS says just a little bit farther up. - [Phil] OK.

- [motor purring] - [dramatic music plays]

[Phil] OK, we made it.

This is it. Chupacabra country.

[Heather] Activating autonomous patrol.

Be careful out there, Robodog.

[suspenseful music builds]

[Phil] The only water for miles.

Look, animals already coming in for a drink.

If we're gonna find this thing, this is the spot.

- You know what that means. - Time to bust out Robodog?

- [Phil] Let's do it! - Yes!

[Phil] The Unitree Go2 Pro, aka Robodog,

isn't just a good boy, he's a smart boy.

With an onboard 4k camera, a LiDAR sensor to avoid

obstacles, and an AI-powered surveillance mode,

allowing this high-tech hound to patrol a perimeter

with the push of a button.

All right, gonna get it cleaned off.

Before deploying Robodog on his first mission, I wipe him down

to remove any human scent that might alert wildlife.

I also attach a thermal cam to help detect any creatures

lurking in the brush to try to up our chances of catching

a so-called chupacabra.

Then Heather and I get to work setting up a perimeter of

cameras and sensors along the pond

and its surrounding brush,

signaling us if anything approaches for a drink.

I'll be starting at the north end of the thicket and working

my way south, hoping to flush out anything hiding

in the trees, right towards Heather and Robodog.

Meanwhile, Heather will monitor the pond from the south end,

with Miss Henny as our brave, feathery decoy and Robodog

on duty, too, our unlikely team is as ready as we can be for

whatever's prowling the night. - Give me the remote.

- I'll make sure Robodog and Miss Henny are set. - [Phil] OK.

Before we split up, let's remember,

something killed 29 of Dr. Canion's chickens.

By all accounts, there is a mysterious predator out here,

so be careful tonight, OK? - OK.

Good luck. Stay on walkie.

[Heather] Copy that.

[Heather] First things first, we gotta make sure Miss Henny

is taken care of.

Hello, girl.

There's some water and a nice little snack for you,

just in case you want some.

You're set. All right, come on, Robodog.

I got a pretty sweet setup here.

I am looking at what Robodog is looking at.

So I've got a LiDAR scan of everything around him.

I have a live feed from his video camera, and then

on this screen, I actually have a thermal feed.

And not only that, I've got the remote sensors, so that

if anything is heading from the pasture, I'm gonna know.

All right, Robodog you got my back?

[whirring]

OK, activating autonomous patrol.

Be careful out there, Robodog.

[suspenseful music plays]

[Phil] OK, we've made it to the far north end of the thicket,

which means Heather and the pond and Robodog

are far to the south. Look down, check this out.

This is a heavily used game trail going straight into it,

so I figured if I move in kind of a zigzag pattern,

I might be able to flush anything towards Heather.

I'm gonna get out the FLIR, which would help us see

through the dense brush much further.

[whispering] So far, in front of us looks clear.

Let's keep moving.

Robodog has a great view of the pond right now

and a lot of the shore.

So far, no animals.

He's moving, though.

He's definitely watching my back.

[Phil] OK, found a clearing.

This would be a good place to ambush prey.

There's not a lot of cover.

Did you hear that?

Can't tell if it was the wind, but it seemed like there was

something moving back here. Let's move slow.

Let's get closer. I don't want to disturb it.

[ominous tones plays]

Come here, come here.

Look at that, right there.

There's a hot spot.

Right there.

[bleep]. Just moved off.

Oh, there.

Look at that shape.

It has a strong arch in its back.

We're just gonna move quick and see

if we can get eyes on it.

- [footsteps] - [crunching]

Oh-- [grunting]

I don't see it on the FLIR anymore.

[bleep]

It was right here.

Let me just check this whole perimeter.

Oh, holy [bleep], look at this.

Look at that.

That looks almost like little claw marks.

Let me get the 3D scanner out.

As you can see, the edge of the pad, that looks like one,

two, three, maybe four little claw marks.

Looks like it's heading in that direction, which is...

south.

That's where Heather is, right now.

[Phil, on walkie] Heather, you copy?

Yeah, what's going on?

[Phil] There was an animal that we just got on the FLIR that

had a hunched back. - It had a hunched back?

Yes. It is heading due south.

- Wait, towards me? - [Phil] Yes, towards you.

I'm getting closer to your position.

Let me know if you see anything out there--

I'll meet you there. - Copy that.

[gasps]

Phil, we got activity on the motion sensors.

I think you're right. It's heading my way.

Let's move. Let's go.

Let's go.

[suspenseful music plays]

- [Heather] Did you see anything? - No.

[Heather] The motion sensor just went off.

- [Phil] Right back there? - [Heather] Yeah.

[Heather] I think we got to send Robodog over there and see

if he can pick up anything. - [Phil] OK, let's do it.

[Phil] All right. Let's go get it.

Switching to manual mode.

Let's check it out.

How far are these motion sensors?

Maybe 200, 300 yards.

[Phil] All right, Robodog, let's see what you got.

He's getting closer to the trees.

[Heather] OK.

Over there. Over there.

Go to the right. Go to the right a little bit.

[Heather] Whoa.

- [Phil] That. - [Heather] What is that?

[Phil] Oh my gosh, it's just right in front of the Robodog.

Look at that shape.

It has that hunchback, just like I saw before.

I think it might be the same thing.

Look at the feet down here.

- [Phil] There's nothing there. - [Heather] It must be behind the trees.

OK, let me get closer, slowly.

- [gasping] - [Heather] Oh my god.

- [Phil] Hold it, hold it. - [Heather] OK.

- [Heather] [bleep]. - [Phil] What's going on?

[Heather] The brush is too dense.

It is really thick over there.

[Heather] But we know that thing is right in front of it.

- Let's get out there. - OK, let's move.

[suspsenseful music plays]

[Phil] OK, there he is.

- [Phil] Let me scan with the FLIR. - [Heather] Anything?

[Phil] Not seeing any signatures right now.

Doesn't mean it's not close.

So it was facing this direction, meaning whatever

animal it saw would have been right here, heading through

that clearing. - OK.

Let's go in.

- See it? - [Heather] I don't see anything.

[Heather] No eyeshine.

[Phil] Where did you go?

[gasps]

[Phil] That sounded big.

[Heather] It sounded like it came from right over here.

[Phil] Oh, look at that. Look at that.

[Heather] What's that?

[Phil] There's a hot spot on that tree.

[Heather] What do you mean a hot spot on a tree?

[Phil] I don't know what it is.

Oh my god, look.

Do you see that?

[Heather] Am I looking at what I think I'm looking at?

[Phil] Yes. Looks like pee.

Some dirt was kicked up here, too.

And look, the glow is basically gone.

- [Phil] It's already cooled off. - [Heather] So that's fresh.

[Phil] Very, very fresh.

The way the dirt is kicked up and that pee on the side

of the tree, this is a territorial marking.

Let's get a sample of it.

You think maybe Robodog made something assert its dominance?

[Phil] Whoa.

That's kind of a wild theory. Maybe.

Maybe it was intimidated.

I want to check on Miss Henny, but whatever did this,

it's got to still be close. Let's keep looking for it.

[Phil] OK.

[Phil] Knowing that this could have been left by our potential

chupacabra heat signature, I collect a urine sample

and place a game camera at the tree.

We retrieve Robodog and continue the search.

But as the hours roll by and the sun begins to rise,

our leads have dried up.

[Heather] The next morning, I head out to meet up with an old buddy

of mine who has an interesting theory on the origins

of this blood-sucking beast.

- Ken. - [Ken] Hi there.

- Good to see you. - So good to see you.

Thank you so much for coming down to help us out.

Absolutely. Always happy to help a friend.

[Heather] Chupacabra expert Ken Gerhard has compiled a wealth

of evidence and eyewitness accounts across Texas,

dating back to the creature's earliest reported sightings.

I know you've been researching the chupacabra for years.

Walk me through what you think it is.

Well, they seem to be grotesque-looking canids,

or dog-like animals.

And of course, the great mystery at the root

of it all is, are these animals actually drinking blood?

That is an adaptation that we only see in very specific

higher vertebrates, vampire bats.

- Yeah. - So if suddenly we're seeing

a strange type of evolution happening

right before our very eyes-- that's pretty miraculous.

So why here? Why would there be

this large population of strange animals

in southeastern Texas?

Well, one interesting theory that I've explored, Heather,

is that these animals may be mutations.

Clusters of these animals seem to be appearing

near coal-burning power plants. - Hmm.

Sulfur dioxide is one of the main emissions that these

power plants put out.

It's actually been proven that sulfur dioxide is a mutagen,

which means it will alter the DNA or change

the cellular structure of an animal, of a species.

I know this sounds like the plot from a bad

science fiction movie... - Yeah, it's wild.

...but I think there's actually a chance that these toxins that

are being put into the groundwater are genetically

altering wild canids like coyotes and things like that

that could actually explain the grotesque appearance

and the strange behaviors of these animals.

If we do want to get close to this chupacabra,

where should we look?

I would say you need to be around water and stay near

the power plants.

I've actually heard there have been some very recent sightings

around Coleto Creek. - OK.

How do you suggest we go about it?

Well, forgive me for stating the obvious, but we're trying

to lure in something that drinks blood.

And so it's all about using the right type of bait.

But, you know, remember, these animals seem to be

very brazen around people,

and they're very hyperaggressive.

If you have blood running through your veins, I think

that there's cause for alarm. So, watch your back.

[Heather] OK. Thank you so much.

So good seeing you.

- Good luck, Heather. - [Heather] Thank you. I'll need it.

Take care.

[Phil] While Heather meets with her contact...

- Hey, Michael. - Hey, Phil.

[Phil] Hey, good meeting you.

I travel to a nearby ranch and meet the owner,

Michael Demel, who shares a photo

of a mysterious creature a trail cam caught at the edge

of his property.

[Michael] Take a look at that.

You ever seen anything like that before?

- What is that? - I have no idea.

[Michael] There was something I'd never seen before.

[Phil] That is so bizarre.

It's definitely not a coyote or a mangy dog.

And I'd like to know what it really is.

Yeah, we'll let you know if we find anything.

The wilderness around this ranch is another potential

chupacabra hotspot.

So I tell Heather to meet me here to plan our next steps.

Heather, check this out.

This is the photo I was telling you about.

- Look at that thing. - That's weird.

Isn't that so bizarre?

[Heather] Where was this taken?

[Phil] You see these long posts right there?

This is underneath a deer feeder, which you can see

right there.

Seems like this thing was heading through the woods

to the water. - That is key.

Ken mentioned water as well. And bear with me on this one.

- Uh-oh. - Ken has a hypothesis that the coal plants that are near

water are actually polluting the waterways and potentially

causing a mutation in what would otherwise

be normal wildlife.

I mean, typically those types of pollutants would cause

things like cancer, which I guess could make something like

a coyote go bald.

But I would have to see a lot of evidence to back that up.

Agreed.

Regardless, it does seem like all signs point

towards the water.

So I think we should actually get on the water tonight.

That'll give us the best vantage point.

I think that's a great idea. Just one more thing.

- [Phil] Yeah? - This was Ken's idea.

- Is that blood? - [Heather] Yep.

You should be so thankful that I actually went to the butcher

and got us some. I figure we'll use it as bait.

- I mean, let's give it a shot. - All right.

[suspenseful strings play]

[Phil] There it is. It's the deer feeder.

[Heather] So this deer feeder will let out food at regular intervals

throughout the day. - Which will bring in all the deer,

the hogs, and probably the things that

want to eat them. - [Heather] Exactly.

So this is where a predator

would be waiting to come get prey.

- And potentially-- oh [bleep]. - [gasp]

- [Phil] There it goes. - See?

You weren't lying.

[Heather] That's the sound of the dinner bell.

[exhales heavily]

My dinner bell sounds a little different.

Never been scared by corn before.

There it is.

In case Michael's unusual creature returns for another

midnight snack, we set up trail cams at the edge of the woods

by the deer feeder...

- [Phil] There we go. - [Heather] Camera traps set?

- [Phil] Yeah, is that it? - [Heather] All right.

[Phil]...and start heading for the river.

- [Phil] Right through here, see that? - [Heather] Yeah.

Tonight, we're paddling Coleto Creek to an area

downstream from a power plant where several recent

alleged chupacabra sightings have been reported.

[suspenseful music plays]

- [Phil] Oh, right here. - [Heather] All right.

[Phil] Using a canoe Michael has provided for us, we load up

Robodog's kennel, AKA a gear case,

and prepare to set out.

OK, timing-wise, it couldn't be more perfect because it is

about to be dusk.

That is when the majority of animals will come to

the river's edge to take a drink.

We have incredibly good chances tonight of seeing

something interesting.

Before we head out, I'm gonna pop the thermal drone

in the air, set it in follow mode so it can actually track us

as we go and show us if there's any thermal hits

on shore. - Good idea, something will

have our back in the air. - Yeah.

[whirring]

[Phil] Let's hit the water.

All right.

- [sloshing] - [Phil] There we go.

- Drone is tracking us. - [Heather] You see anything yet?

[Phil] No, not yet.

But it's gonna keep following us as we go.

[sloshing]

[ominous tones play]

[Heather] It's very quiet.

Nothing on the thermal drone yet.

I don't see anything either.

Oh, something on the thermal drone.

Oh my god, it's running.

- Which direction? - [Phil] Should be right up there.

- [Phil] Let's move quick. - [Heather] OK, let's go

Should be right up there. Should be right up there.

- [Heather] Oh, oh. - [Phil] What, what, what?

[Heather] What is that? What is that?

[Phil] Where'd it go?

[Heather] I don't see it.

[Phil] Where are you?

Could be underneath us right now.

- [Phil] Do you see any swimming? - [Heather] No.

[Phil] Nothing showing up on the thermal drone.

I think probably because it went underwater.

[Heather] That thing looked gray or darker.

It didn't look like it had any fur.

[Phil] I know it sounds insane, but I kind of agree.

Have you heard anything about these chupacabras swimming

or being able to go underwater like that?

Can canines swim?

Shh, shh, shh. I still hear it moving.

[twigs snapping]

There is something back there.

[cracking, snapping]

Do you see it?

[Heather] I don't see it, but it sounds [bleep] huge.

[twigs snapping]

[Phil] It's moving.

I'm not seeing it on the thermal drone.

The brush is too thick.

I think it's gone up the ridge.

Just too steep for us to get off here.

Let's try to find a place down there.

[Heather] Copy that. We gotta get up there.

[Phil] You see a spot for us to land?

[Heather] I think right here, up on the right.

[Phil] OK.

[Phil] OK.

- All right, I'm off. - [Heather] OK.

Whatever the hell we're hearing back there,

it should be still right above that ridge.

I think we need to get up there before we deploy Robodog.

All right, Heather, let's find a place to land this drone.

[buzzing]

[grunting]

[Phil] Got it.

With the brush too thick for our thermal drone, an eye

in the sky isn't as helpful as eyes on the ground.

Once again, it's time to let Robodog off his leash.

Last night, we didn't want any scent on Robodog so he wouldn't

scare any animals, vampire dogs included.

But tonight, I think we'll try the opposite.

You still have that jar of blood?

Yeah.

All right. What are you thinking?

[Phil] So I want to take a rag, dip it in this fresh blood,

and tie it around our little friend here.

So when we send it out into the world, hopefully some

predator will smell that blood and come running straight at it

to investigate. Time to be prey, Robodog.

Send him out.

[Heather] He's switching over to live feed now.

Good luck, Robodog.

[Phil] To a predator, the way it's stomping around

and pushing through the grass,

that sounds more like the desperate moves of

an injured animal. Plus, it smells like blood.

But a lot of animals around here

may become very curious.

- [gasps] - Ooh.

- [Phil] What? - [Heather] That was eyeshine right there.

[Heather] There was eyeshine.

It was crouched down low.

There is something watching it.

- [gasps] - Holy [bleep].

- He just got knocked over. - By what?

As we've heard, one popular origin story for the chupacabra

is that it's some kind of mutant dog.

Disturbingly, there is evidence that this could be possible.

Scientists say otherwise peaceful animals can transform

when exposed to toxins,

becoming dangerously aggressive.

Perhaps the best example of this comes in the aftermath

of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

When the nuclear power plant exploded,

humans were evacuated from ground zero,

but thousands of animals remained.

Analyzing these animals' genes decades later,

scientists discovered that radioactivity had

permanently altered their DNA.

Hundreds of boars still roam Chernobyl feeding on

irradiated fauna.

They have mutated and, according to returning locals,

have become much more aggressive as a result.

If these reports are true, then who knows?

The chupacabra really might have gone from

man's best friend to man's worst enemy.

I can't move it. You can see its light way up there.

- Let's go find it. - [Heather] OK.

[suspenseful music plays]

OK, there it is.

[Heather] Oh my god.

Careful.

[Phil] Let's see if there's anything around on the FLIR.

I'm not seeing anything around us right now.

Look at this, Heather.

It got completely knocked over.

Stand him up.

[whirring]

- Know what I'm wondering? - What?

How hard is it to knock this thing over?

I think pretty hard.

[Phil] What? It catches its balance.

- [Heather] Yeah. - [Phil] That is impressive.

Whatever hit this must have hit it with a lot of force.

That's not an accidental blow, that is an attack.

Yeah, and if this thing was coming after the blood

and thought it was gonna eat, it's probably

still prowling around. - Yeah.

Let's keep looking around.

[Phil] I see new tracks.

[Heather] There's a [bleep] bone right there.

[Phil] Oh my god, there is. Look at that.

It's a vertabrae. Holy [bleep].

Oh my god, look.

Bones are all over the place.

Oh my god.

I think this was the horse.

[Heather] Are we in a chupacabra feeding ground?

[Phil] We just might be.

Now, scattered bones doesn't exactly match this chupacabra's

MO because there's not a whole dead animal

lacking blood here.

Doesn't mean something couldn't have been

picked apart afterwards.

Look, and whatever ate that could have been

whatever attacked Robodog.

[Phil] Obviously, I can't say that's a chupacabra,

but we know that something up here is carnivorous.

All right, I'm gonna collect some of these bones.

Maybe they'll give us a better idea of what

we've been chasing.

OK, let's keep watching our backs here.

OK.

[Josh] Is the chupacabra stalking the Texas Badlands?

Heather and Phil found no further evidence

of it that night.

Holy [bleep].

[Josh] Robodog's attacker remains a mystery.

[Phil] Bones are all over the place.

We were able to definitively identify the attacker

of the dead horse we found.

Toothpit analysis revealed it was devoured by

a mountain lion, not a vampire dog.

But some evidence we captured was harder to explain.

[Phil] Oh my god, look. Looks like pee.

[Josh] The urine sample Phil gathered after chasing

a creature through Dr. Canion's ranch was confirmed

as canine, but the species could not be determined.

Could it be another of Dr. Canion's chupacabras?

That should do.

[Josh] We sent the tissue sample Phil scraped from

her taxidermied specimen to a genetics lab, and the results

were fascinating.

The animal's mother was a coyote,

but its father was a Mexican wolf.

[Phil] That shape has a strong arch in its back.

[Josh] But this creature looks nothing like either animal.

So could the expert Heather spoke to be correct?

These animals may be mutations.

[Josh] Is an environmental factor somehow mutating wild dogs

into hairless, blood-sucking beasts?

If this bold claim really is the case, we should all be

very concerned.

While our many trail cams did not capture definitive footage

of a vampire dog, they captured plenty of coyotes

that, if you believe the theory, could one day

become chupacabras.

The existence of the chupacabra remains far from certain,

but at least we can have canine confidence in one thing--

Robodog is a very good boy.

[Heather] I've been working on something real important.

- Yeah? - I taught Robodog some new tricks.

- [whizz] - Whoa, he can do a handstand?

Isn't that cool? That's not all...

I renamed him. - Let's hear it.

- Spot. - Spot?

[Heather] Scientific and Paranormal Observation Tracker.

Spot, welcome to the team, buddy.

Oh, that's the spot. That's the spot.