- I do unfortunately know firsthand
what a monitor bite is like.
And, their teeth are serrated so it basically
just sliced open my hand.
♪ Fire ♪
♪ A fire on the mountain ♪
There it is. - All right Mario,
there it is, there it is.
All right, I got him in my sights,
distract him from that side
I'm gonna go ahead, make the catch.
- Ready, go for it. - One, two, three go.
- Oh nice.
You got it.
- That could be the scenario coming up in Australia.
- That's right. - What's going on Coyote Pack?
And, welcome to a special episode of Base Camp,
because today we are talking about Australia
and monitor lizards.
- [Mario] That's right.
Monitors are one of our favorite species to encounter.
We've had some epic encounters in the past.
- [Coyote] Um hm.
- [Mario] And, now we're going back
to Australia to revisit them.
- A lot of people watched the documentary special
on Animal Planet, Return to the Wilderness.
And, thank you guys, first of all,
so much for checking out Animal Planet.
Such great positive reviews from everybody.
- Yeah.
- I feel like the excitement we have
is definitely transcending to the Coyote Pack.
- Yeah. - And, everybody's
ready for us to head out on this adventure.
- Yeah, it's wonderful to have the support of you guys
watching it, posting your pictures as you're watching
the documentary, right. - That's my favorite part.
- Yeah.
- Seeing you guys take pictures of your TV screens
and then tagging us is--
- Yeah, awesome.
- Now, I know in Return to the Wilderness
everybody was like, well, where are you guys going?
Well, this is our announcement that
the first location is officially Australia.
We will be there for seven weeks.
- Wow. - Crazy right?
- [Mario] We're gonna become Australian.
- Pretty much at this point Mate,
I am an Australian.
- Right on, Mate.
- Working on our accents.
We're not that good, we're from Ohio.
Anyways, so when you think of Australia,
your mind probably goes straight to the most dominant
reptilian predatory, the saltwater crocodile.
And yes, we will feature salties,
but our primary target, at least the biggest challenge
for us, is catching a perentie monitor.
- [Mario] That's right.
- [Coyote] The largest lizard species in Australia.
- That's right, and believe it or not,
sometimes a monitor lizard will pose more of a challenge
than capturing a crocodile or an alligator, right?
- Right.
- Because basically, these animals are terrestrial,
and they're really fast, they have extreme stamina
compared to other reptiles.
And, of course, they're also smart.
- Right.
Problem solving intelligent, is what I like to say.
- Yeah. - In many instances.
'Cause they remind me of velociraptors.
But, the perentie specifically, and we're talking
about the largest lizard in Australia.
To give you guys an idea of scale,
the perentie can be as much as eight feet in length.
So, imagine something two, if not three times
the size of an animal like this.
- That's right.
- Armed with razor sharp teeth, claws,
and incredible strength and agility.
- [Mario] That's right.
The bite of a monitor lizard is intense.
- Right.
Which you know, Mario has been bitten by a monitor.
I have not.
Tell them your story, real quick.
- I do unfortunately know, first hand,
what a monitor bite is like.
To this day, it's my worst animal bite ever.
And, I've worked with crocodiles,
and alligators, and snakes.
But, I basically was capturing an escaped invasive species
in Florida, a water monitor, about that size,
maybe a little bigger.
And, I captured it, kinda dove down.
With my left hand I came to get a better grip,
and then it basically just grabbed me,
I pulled away, and their teeth are serrated,
so it basically just sliced open my hand.
And, the result was 30 stitches.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- Yeah, a monitor is serious bite guys.
I know in the episodes of the past,
with the sand monitor or lace monitor,
everybody always writes, Coyote,
aren't you gonna get bitten by it?
- [Mario] No.
- Absolutely not, there are some animals
that the bite is just so potentially damaging.
You get bitten by a perentie, you better be calling
for the life flight helicopter,
because it is going to open you up,
and it's gonna be a really bad situation.
- Right, and I mean, worst case scenario,
is basically, they could like puncture like arteries.
- Right.
- And, you're gonna bleed a lot.
So, it's something that we want to avoid at all costs.
And, it's gonna be hard.
I mean, a perentie that's like eight foot in length
has a really long neck.
When you're capturing one of those animals
you have to be really precise in grabbing the right spot.
- Right.
- If you grab a little bit too far behind, what happens?
- Turns around. - Turn around.
- And they got you. - Right.
- [Coyote] And, once they got you, they don't let go.
- Since we're talking about the monitor lizards,
yeah, we're targeting some of the species
that we didn't target before.
'Cause, of course, as you may know,
we have captured some monitors in Australia.
- That's right. - What species did we
encounter last time?
- So, what was one of my greatest catches of all time,
definitely had to be when I climbed up that tree.
- [Mario] Yes.
- To catch the sand monitor.
And, that lizard was about this big in size.
It's crazy, they're so strong, and so muscular.
- Yeah.
- An animal of this size, I mean,
that'll open you up pretty quick with its teeth.
- That's right.
- [Coyote] So, it was a dangerous catch.
- [Mario] I think that was probably one of
your most epic captures.
- It was a pretty awesome episode.
But then, it was a couple days later
that we encountered a lace monitor.
Which, if we had not caught the sand monitor,
the lace monitor would've been, I think,
our most exciting catch of the trip.
- [Mario] Right.
- [Coyote] I think a they're a little more unique looking
with the black and white patterning
in their scales and skin.
But again, same scenario, lizard goes up a tree,
I go up the tree after the lizard.
Bada bing, bada boom, we make a catch, we get an episode.
- Yeah, quite impressive seeing you
climb up the tree, I will say.
'Cause once you captured the lizard,
then you have to go down one handed.
- Yes. - Right?
That's pretty tough, yeah.
- [Coyote] Yeah, and nerve wracking too.
- Yeah. - What you don't wanna do
is fall outta of a tree from those heights.
or if you were to fall and catch your arm,
you could break your arm.
You don't wanna get bitten by the lizard on the way down.
- Yeah.
- So, lotta hazards.
- That's right.
There's only two scenarios, either you're gonna
go up the tree and the lizard's gonna get spooked.
- Yeah. - And jump down.
Which, I'm always ready at that point.
- Right.
- Like to capture it.
- Yeah, like a football catch if the lizard
jumps outta the tree. - Yeah.
Or, you're gonna capture it and then someone's gonna
capture you when you when you fall?
- Is that, you guys gonna put
the cameras down and catch me.
I should probably try to fall in a way that like
I could cradle the lizard, and everybody would be fine.
But, aside from the sand monitor,
aside from the lace monitor,
the target that we didn't manage to hit
the first time to Australia, was the perentie.
So, let's back up to that.
- [Mario] It's considered, potentially, the third largest
monitor lizard in the world.
Of course, Komodo dragon being number one.
- [Coyote] Right.
- These animals will be found in more
classic outback habitat.
Whereas we were in the Brigalow Belt region, right.
And, that's where all those trees were at.
So, the situation to encounter a perentie monitor
is gonna be different, there's gonna be
potentially some rock outcrops, and I think we're gonna
encounter this species out in the open.
So, you might have to actually run it down
instead of climb up a tree.
- Right.
So, if you guys are wondering, well Coyote,
how are you gonna prepare for an encounter with perentie?
To honest with you, I don't know how I'm gonna catch it.
That scenario, once it presents itself,
will determine exactly what we do.
Of course, in the past,
we have used snare mechanisms, right?
- Yes.
- Actually building a snare.
We did this to catch the spinytail iguana.
- Yup. - In Costa Rica.
And, we also did it for what, I think,
was probably our greatest monitor catch in South Africa.
- [Mario] Yeah, the Nile monitor.
- The Nile monitor, which, I think,
enough people have seen that,
but we should revisit that scene.
- Yeah.
- Let's revisit the scene of the Nile monitor, real quick.
Look at how we accomplished that catch.
And then, we'll come back and talk about
the scenarios for catching a perentie.
- Sure.
- You guys wanna watch that scene?
Yeah. - Sound like a good idea.
- All right, let's roll the footage.
The rope is around the lizard.
I've got it.
- You got it? - Got it.
Got a good hold on him.
Hold it still, hold it still.
- [Mario] Bring him onboard.
- [Mark] Bring him on the boat.
- Bringing him up, bringing him up.
Hold on, I don't have him under control yet.
Okay, up on top of the boat.
Hold on, nobody move.
All right, I got him by his tail now.
Whoa, look out, look out, look out.
He's ran around.
Hold on, I'm gonna make for a grab.
Here we go, hold on, one second.
Got a good shot?
(hissing)
One, two, three, got him.
Yes!
There you have it folks, this is a powerful lizard.
All right guys, let's kinda just
coast across the side there,
and get this reptile up close for the cameras.
Look at that, a modern day dragon for you, right there.
Wow, one shot at it, and we got our lizard.
Man, that is epic.
- Speechless.
- Did you ever think that that was
just gonna work out like that?
And that's, right, oftentimes something you'll see.
- Yeah.
- Is monitors will give you this dominance display.
Where they will raise up their body,
puff up their chest, and essentially say, are you crazy?
I'm a monitor lizard, you don't wanna mess with me.
- I have to admit, I had low expectations
of us capturing a monitor,
from a boat nonetheless, in Africa.
And, the fact that we just pulled that off,
so perfectly, was quite amazing.
You're right, you know, once the snare came in,
that monitor lizard was like, hey,
get outta my territory. - Yeah.
- [Mario] Raised up, and pretty much put his head
right in the snare. - Right.
Well, one scenario that people don't realize,
and for anybody out there wanting to try
to catch safe, small lizards in their backyard,
if you live in the southwest.
I used to use this method as a kid, all the time
to catch like whiptails, and collared lizards.
Is you take a fishing pole, and with no hook on it,
you just have a little noose, little snare at the end.
- Yup.
- And, the lizard actually will pay attention to that
thinking it's something to eat.
And, oftentimes, you can snare them real quickly.
You don't wanna try to lift the lizard up.
- No.
- You essentially just wanna snare it,
and then pin it to the ground,
so you can run up and grab it.
- Right.
- And, it's a method I've used again, and again.
And, it might be how we have to catch a perentie.
- I agree.
I think we're gonna have to pull all stops for the perentie,
and it's gonna be very situational based.
But, creating that kind of snare pull
is probably our best bet.
- Um hm.
You know, when I'm thinking about preparing
to catch the perentie, there's a million scenarios
going through my mind.
And, like we said, until we find ourselves in that scenario,
we won't know exactly what happens.
- Right.
- And, you guys won't know what happens either,
until the first season comes out on Animal Planet.
- All right. - So.
And, that's gonna be announced soon, I know.
Everybody's asking, well is
Return to the Wilderness the show?
No, Return to the Wilderness was a documentary special
giving everyone the background of Brave Wilderness.
People in the Animal Planet audience
that had never heard of the Brave Wilderness Channel before.
- [Mario] Right.
- We do have a title for the series.
We can't announce it yet.
We can not announce the release date.
But, I promise guys, it is coming soon.
We're very excited for that day.
I'm sure we'll do a Base Camp to announce
exactly when it's gonna be. - Yeah, yeah.
- And, it'll probably come just after we get
a few episodes in the can in Australia.
- That's right.
We're really excited to start off production in Australia
because we know that there's so many epic species.
And, along the way, maybe we'll give some teases, you know.
But, certainly that perentie, that's gonna be
something to look forward to.
- Well, certainly if you guys follow on all of our
social media accounts, @bravewilderness,
@coyotepeterson, @marioaldecoa, @therealmarkvins,
you guys will see all of our updates from the road.
And, I know, everybody's waiting in heated anticipation
for what comes out of Australia.
And, I think after that, then we'll announce
the next locations, which are in pre-production right now.
I can't believe it.
We are just two weeks away from leaving.
- Yeah. - For seven weeks.
It is gonna be the most epic trip we have ever taken.
Now, before we sign off, what is one animal
that you hope we encounter while in Australia?
- There's so many.
Do I really have to pick?
- Yeah, just pick one. - Okay.
- For the sake of this video.
- How about the thorny devil.
- Ooh, the thorny devil, that's a good one.
You guys know what that is?
Kinda looks like a horned lizard,
only it's Australia's version, right?
- Right, yeah. - Is that a fair comparison?
- It's a good comparison. - Okay.
Now, there are many animals that I would love to see.
But, I'm gonna go out on a limb, and say perentie.
- Fair enough.
- I wanna see a perentie more than anything.
I just wanna be put into that scenario
where I have the opportunity to catch
one of these dragons of the outback.
So, let's do this guys.
Write in the comments section below,
and tell us what are some animal species
that you want us to feature from Australia?
We'll read the comments before we leave,
and some of those animals will
likely show up in the first season.
- Sounds good.
- All right, sounds like a plan to me.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
- I'm Mario Aldecoa.
- Be brave.
- Stay wild.
- We'll see ya on the next Base Camp Adventure.
- All right, let's practice.
- All right. - Go for it.
- Right, and, go for it.
No, it bit me, that wasn't supposed to happen.
Fail.
Hey Coyote Pack, if you love lizards,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I caught South Africa's living dragon,
the Nile monitor.
And, don't forget, subscribe,
and click the notification bell, so you can join
me and the crew on our next wild adventure.
(roaring)