- got 'im. got 'im. - [coyote] pull himback, pull him back. we need everybody on this one. just keep going. oh my gosh, this islike a super tug-of-war. this is a big animal. - [chris] there wego, one, two, three. (percussive, tribal music)
- [coyote] all storieshave a beginning. this one begins with water. and as we drove across the parched terraintowards the mountains, the one thing on our minds was whether or notwe would find any. if you were to guess,i bet you would say the landscape looks like africa. but believe it or not, this is
the dry season innorth-western costa rica. and on this adventure,the team and i are heading out into thepalo verde national park to search foramerican crocodiles. leading the expeditionis doctor chris murray. a biologist by degree, he'sspent the past four years capturing and recording thegiant reptiles of this region to better understand and mediate the human-crocodile conflict.
researching crocodilesis a dangerous job. so chris always has withhis life-long friend and reptile wrangler,mike easter. mike is the snare man. and i'd wager a betthat he's snared more crocodiles inthe past five years than almost anyoneelse in this field. trust me, he's that good. together these two make up
one of the finest crocodilecatch teams in the world. and today, they'rebringing me into the fray. alright chris, sowe've been walking for quite some time nowsearching for water. no water in sight, but justa lot of extremely dry earth. so much so, that i'm able tojust break it apart in chunks. at one point in time,this was a wetland, right? - that's right. - so where've allthe crocodiles gone.
- well a lot of 'emactually walk about a mile all the way to theriver that's over there. but a lot of 'em,we've actually found, are right underneathus, right here. - buried down in the mud? - yup, in the mud. so as the waters will recede, they just sit and let themud harden overtop of them. and they're aestivatingunderneath this mud.
- [coyote] okay, now explainto us what aestivation is. - so aestivationis when the animals actually situndergound, slow down everything that'shappening internally, and wait out the aridenvironment untilthe rains return. - [coyote] so rightnow we could be sitting on top of crocodiles. - we're standing on topof a whole bunch of crocs, all through this landscape.
- and they're waiting forthe rains to come back so that they can emergeup out of the mud. - in about a month or two. - [coyote] in order toproperly conduct your research, you have to find the crocodiles and i don't imagine you're gonna dig down into thedirt after 'em. - [chris] nope. - so how do we find 'em?
- we're gonna have to findwhat water still remains. - [coyote] okay. so the search forwater continues. the best way to cover groundat palo verde is by suv. and while the goal wasto find crocodiles, the odds were definitelystacked against us, as after threehours of searching, we found nothing but asmall stagnant puddle, and the sun-baked remainsof a fallen giant.
- it's windy, there's no water. it's really hot. finding crocodiles isgonna be a big challenge. - [cameraman] so you, whatdo you think of our chances? - to be honest, i think we, i think we cameat the wrong time. yeah, this is, this, there'slike an extended drought, so, we may have missedour opportunity for a croc here in costa rica.
- [coyote] so with thesun high in the sky, and the heat literallycooking us alive, we decided it was best thatwe returned to base camp. taking an alternate rout back, we came upon a pairof drainage pipes in a low spot thatstill held some water. - oh, there's some water. - ooh, look at that. that's a tiny puddle, butwould that work chris?
maybe something in that? not exactly a wetland sanctuary,but it was worth a stop. there's a tiny bit of water. - yeah, there's crocs in there. - no way. - yeah look down in there mike. - let me look. - way down therei can see scales. - oh you're right i see a tail.
wow. okay. so wehave been searching and searching and searching. finally, i mean look atthis pocket of water. i mean this is nothing morethan a couple inches deep. can you tell how bigthe crocodiles are? - the scoots look big, ithink we need a better look. - wow, okay, sothere are definitely crocodiles inside ofthis drainage pipe. now it's just a matter ofgettin' them out of there.
that's gonna be a challenge. - that's the challenge. - [coyote] alright,let's do this. - [mike] what do they looklike over there, guys? if you look in the pipe, i think they're probably seven feet in. how long is thispipe, you think? 40 feet? - [cameraman] you're gonnahave to crawl in there.
- yeah i am. - [coyote] both pipeshad crocodiles in them. so chris and mike carefullyanalyzed the situation and began to prep their gear. - test the snare. how's that? - [mike] that's good. - good? that'll go aroundits top jaw. perfect. - alright mike, duct tape,we're gonna use these needles. those are heparinized andwe'll stick em right in here.
all the blood will goin these vacuu-tainers. alright, so we'll keepthose out with us. measuring tape's here. bagged rescutes are here, and all the writingimplements are up in the top. - [chris] got the book? - yeah, the book'sright here in orange, all the writingstuff's right here. - [cameraman] you guys ready?
- yeah man, let's do this. - [coyote] ultimately,it was determined that the croc onthe right would be the easiest to catch first. - alright so rightnow we're just trying to scare these animalsto the other end of the pipe wheremike can snare 'em. we're having trouble 'cause they know it's obviouslyreally nice in there
and we're not in there, so. - [coyote] using asimple scare tactic, chris was able toclump was able to clump togethersoft balls of mud, which he tossed into the pipe, creating splashes that scaredthe crocodile out the far end and right into mike's snare. - got 'im! - [coyote] look atthat. nice snare mike.
look at that, that is theamerican crocodile right there. what an effort to gethim out of that pipe. - good job, good job. - [coyote] we work quickly torecord the animal's length. - [chris] 121 centimeters. - [coyote] and chrispulled a blood sample. just like gettin' a little booster shot atthe doctor, right? - [chris] exactly right.
- [coyote] it wasimportant to put as little stress on thecrocodile as possible, and in a matter of minutes, it was releasedback into the wild. now onto the other one. however, this croc wassignificantly larger, and tucked in the drain pipe that wasn't nearlyas accessible. - is there any way youcan see in the pipe
what's moving right now? - [cameraman] i'll try. - [chris] any movement at all? - i would probably normally go right into this drainage pipe, but chris says thatis way too dangerous because if i do, - [chris] mike? - those crocodilesmay ambush me.
- [chris] we havea lot of crocodilesdown near you already. - okay, so that means he'sonly gonna go your way. - yeah and he'sbitin' the stick. - okay. as long as thestick and not your hand. - okay, so whatwe're gonna do is completely reverse our scenario. chris is gonnacome on this side, we're gonna try to flush thecrocodiles out the other end. the biggest one, obviously,can't turn around in the pipe,
so we're gonna cry to coaxhim in the other direction and snare his snoutfrom the other end. we're not givin' up. if you thoughtsnaring a crocodile out in the open was dangerous, imagine doing it frominside a drain pipe. - [cameraman] alright mike,tell me what you're doing. - alright, so i'mgonna head in there and my hope is that...
- [cameraman] wait,you're going in there? - yeah. - [cameraman] okay. - i'm going in thereand my hope is that the crocodile continuesto face forward and i can slip thisright over the snout. we're just tryingto get these crocs by any means necessaryat this point, keeping the crocs andourselves safe, so.
can't stop trying. - with that said, mike easter lookeddanger in the face and climbed head-firstinto the pipe. this is like thatgame of operation, only, big teethand a lot of power. my role was toshine the crocodile with a flashlight somike could see it, which chris splashedwater on the far end
to coax it toward the snare. alright, so if mike doessnare the largest crocodile, it's gonna take bothof us to be able to pull it out of the pipe. so i'll have torun back to there, grab the rope, andhelp him pull it out. alright, mike is nowmoving even further. - [cameraman] mike is allthe way in the pipe now. - we're all the way in the pipe.
- we all held in silence as the master snaresmanworked his magic. okay, so mike is gettin'further into the pipe. the largestcrocodile is actually coming towards us right now, which exactly what we want. and then, it happened. oh my gosh this is likea super tug-of-war.
back up, back up. one, two, three. - that is how you catchan american crocodile out of a drainage pipe. wow. - we need more rolls. - i know. holy cow. - [mike] i'm not hungryanymore, i just ate some dirt.
- yeah, you got a littlemud on your face, mike. this crocodile still has alot of energy left in it. mike's covered in mud. alright, so what chrisis doin' right now, is we gotta get a towel overthe eyes of the crocodile so we can keep it calmed down. then we're both gonnajump right on its back. - one, two, three. - [mike] perfect.
just be cool, itmight have some fight. get the back legs up. - get those legs up coyote. get 'em up over your calves. - alright, both backlegs are secure. this is the croc thatwe have been after all day in that drainage pipe. it is the biggest onethat was in there. look on the scutes onthe back of this tail.
alright, so rightnow, chris is using all of his body weight to keepthe animal locked in place. mike is now secured thejaws with electrical tape. i've got the back legs andpart of the tail under control, but this animal could eruptin power at any second. still a lot of fightleft in this beast. - alright i'm gonna sit up. - okay. good? wow. - [cameraman] greatwork guys. wow.
- that's a big crocodile. following protocol,we worked as a team to record the crocodile'slength from snout to tail tip. - alright, we are threemeters on the dot. - nice. i verified the animal's gender. that is a female. and then chriscarefully extracted the always importantblood sample
which, when takenback to the lab, will provide him withvital hormone data for his ongoing research. definitely intimidating tosin on an animal of this size. and right now she'sbeing completely calm, but i can't losefocus at any point because she's actuallybuilding her energy back up. so, you know, itdoesn't look like it, but i am holding on astight as i can right now
to make sure that she doesn'tthrash her body around and throw me off. we have searched allday for any water that may possiblyhave crocodiles in it, and lo and behold, right here, in these drainage pipes, is where we found theamericarn crocodile. i'm coyote peterson.be brave. stay wild. we'll see you onthe next adventure.
with the data collected, we carefully movedthis ancient reptile back toward the deeper water. removed the tape from its snout and watched as sheburst into the water and disappearedback into the pipe. alright. - we did it. ultimately, missionaccomplished.
- mission accomplished. alright, now it's time to go, get washed up andget some dinner. the american crocodile hailsas one of the greatest relics to call this planet home. and to this day, they havesurvived even the dinosaurs. their struggle for survival is battled withincredible instinct. and whether buriedbeneath the cracked earth,
or hidden in a drain pipe, these reptiles continueto defy the odds. when it comes to chris and mike, their work is never done. because eventuallythe rains will return, and when they do, there will always be anext crocodile to catch. if you thought thisadventure was epic, make sure to go backand watch our expedition
deep into the heartof the rainforest. where i managed to find andcapture the elusive water nole. and don't forget to subscribeto join me and the crew on this season ofbreaking trail. he's being completelylimp in my hand, because he wants me tothink that he's dead. he's not. trust me. at any second, he could go blop.
just like that, andlaunch off of my hand.
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