- [Man] Coyote, we got something big.
In front of the black lights,
it's about to go over the top.
Get it, get it, get it.
(screams)
Hmm, Coyote?
Why is there a car battery on our porch?
- Well guys, today we're gonna do something
a little different.
It is around six o' clock and it gets dark early
in the rainforest.
When it gets dark, the bugs come out.
So what we're gonna do tonight
with all these things you see on the porch
is build a bug theater.
- [Cameraman] A bug theater,
like is there gonna be a performance
of acrobatic insects or what's happening.
- Well there's certainly gonna be a performance
of insects.
What we're gonna do is run a stretch of cord
between these two poles and then hang from it
a white sheet.
The past couple nights, we've been filming episodes
out here on our jungle basecamp porch.
And with the lights, in come the bugs.
This may be a little hunt going on right here,
let's have you get out of there, praying mantis,
this is the glass rod segment.
So we thought to ourselves why not bring the bugs in
intentionally, and film the bugs that wanna hang out with us
in the first place.
- [Cameraman] That sounds awesome,
so we actually don't have to go anywhere,
they're coming right to us.
- No, and then we're gonna light up
this enormous 250 watt bulb.
Mario, bring that monster over here.
250 watts.
- And it gives off these UVB rays
that the insects are attracted to.
- Right, there are all sorts of bugs
that are gonna come to our theater tonight.
I guarantee you we're gonna see cicadas.
There will also be moths, some sort of wasp
and hornet type creatures.
And if it lives out here in the rainforest,
there's a good chance they're gonna wanna show up
to share popcorn with us tonight.
So Mario is gonna help me get everything set
and then we're gonna sit back, relax,
and wait for the bugs to come to us.
- [Cameraman] So you know, Coyote, that theater screen
looks an awful lot like a bed sheet.
- You know, Mark, as a matter of fact,
it is a bed sheet.
Ut it's extremely high thread count
so it'll be extra comfortable for our insect friends.
- [Mark] Really, Mario, I heard you got this,
the bed sheet from Walmart,
that's not my sheet, is it?
- No.
All right, so we got this modified black lamp,
which is going to soothe the insects
into landing on this sheet.
- [Mark] Kind of looks like a red lamp.
- Kind of, this is just for protection.
We were traveling with this.
All right, Coyote, why don't you go ahead
and put that over that beam right there.
And we could hang it down on top of the lamp.
- [Mark] So Mario, explain the theory
behind having a black lamp with the mercury vapor lamp.
- So it's pretty complicated.
Both these types of lamps will actually
emit UV rays in different frequencies.
And insects are attracted to them.
Different species like different frequencies
of UVB or UVA.
So this black lamp is actually going to help soothe
the insects into landing.
Whereas this big boy here is going to attract them
from the distance.
- [Mark] Right, so this is like the bat symbol
and then this is like the spa mood lighting.
- Exactly, it's gonna give them the mood
to be like hey, let's land on this sheet.
- [Mark] I got you, I got you.
- [Coyote] All right, let's clamp this down.
- [Mario] Yep, right there, secure.
- [Coyote] Let's run that stuff behind the sheet here.
- [Mario] Yep, there you go.
- [Coyote] All right, we'll get this set up
on the car battery.
- [Mark] Here is the fun part, guys.
Mario, start the lights.
- Let's see if it works. - Light it up.
- [Mario] Here is one, and there's two.
- Boom! - Yeah!
(cheers)
- Okay, you guys ready for the big one?
- [Coyote] Let's see it.
- All right, here we go.
- [Both] Whoa!
- [Mark] Oh man, that is bright,
I'm gonna go down to the other side
and see what that looks like.
- [Mario] Hey, we already got a beetle.
- [Mark] I think it's working already.
- [Mario] First bug of the night, came right in.
- Wow, look at that, we've already got our first bugs
coming to the lights.
That means the show is about to start.
- [Mark] But you know what wer;e missing, right?
- Oh yes, you can't watch a show without some snacks.
You guys hungry?
- [Mark] I'm ready, let's get popping.
- All right, get the popcorn in the microwave.
I got butter popcorn too. - Nice.
- I have been known to make a pretty good bag of popcorn
in my day.
First step is get those kernels nice and loosened up.
Now, it does have palomitas, is that popcorn?
- I think so. - Yep.
- Looks like popcorn.
Let's give it a shot.
Bueno. - All right.
- Now, there is a trick to popcorn.
You don't want till they're all popped,
you wait till the frequency slows down,
so it's getting there, hold on, not yet.
(microwave beeps)
The microwave nailed it.
I was just about to say that was it, okay.
There we go.
- [Mario] Oh, that smells good, Act II.
- Get the steam coming out of that, nice.
- [Mario] Oh yeah, popcorn in the jungle.
- I always like to have a hot piece.
Get a hot piece out of there.
Hot!
- [Cameraman] It's so hot, your safety glasses
are fogging up.
- [Coyote] It's good?
- Oh, it's good, here, try some.
- Oh, that is hot. - Perfect pop.
Mario?
- [Mario] Oh yeah, all right, guys,
let's head out to the theater
and wait for the bugs to show up.
- [Coyote] All right.
- [Mario] Coyote, how is that popcorn?
- Popcorn is great, but you may notice
that we are missing our enormous light bulb.
That's because we blew the bulb.
And then we had a backup bulb
and we also blew that one.
So we have replaced it with a metal halite bulb
and we still have the UV bulb.
Now, you see that some insects have shown up.
We've got a little sweat wasp here.
We've got a beetle, we've gpt a cicada,
and several different species of moths.
Now, the lights have only been on for about 10 minutes.
So what we wanna do now is simply sit back, relax,
and wait for the insects to show up to the show.
Oh man, these glasses really work,
it totally looks 3D.
Now I'm just waiting for something huge to fly in.
Some sort of big katydid or praying mantis.
We're kind of waiting for some larger bugs
to end up on the screen before we
really get the cameras up close.
Check out this field guide.
Insects and other arthropods of tropical America.
Pretty much anything you can think of is in here.
Actually, let's look at this little critter right here.
Mario, bring your camera in close for a second.
Let's see if I can identify it.
Now, that appears to be some variety of tiger moth.
It's really interesting because its wings are clear
except for the black outer edges.
And then the abdomen is brightly colored,
which I'm guessing is aposematic
to warn any potential predator that hey, I may be toxic,
or because I kind of look like a wasp,
I may sting you,
however, the antennae look exactly like the antennae
of a moth, so there you Have it,
our first identification of the night.
Some variety of tiger moth.
That's pretty cool.
A lot of little bugs, tiny bugs.
Look at these little itty bitty moths.
And whatever these little tree hoppers are.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this?
Look at that thing. - What is that?
- [Coyote] I don't know, but it looks like it might sting.
- [Mario] Definitely looks like it might sting.
- [Mark] Grab it.
- [Coyote] No, I'm not gonna just grab it, who knows.
Whoa, here it comes.
That's definitely some sort of wasp,
let's see if it'll come back down.
[Mario] Where'd it go?
- [Coyote] It's up there in the rafters.
You see it up there?
- [Mario] I think it's some kind of night wasp.
- [Coyote] There's a wasp right there.
- [Mario] Great, poke the wasp.
- Well, I want it to come down here on the theater.
We do have some things up in the rafters here,
it's actually because we got some light reflecting up
onto this silver area.
So far, so good.
Oh, look at that little, whoa.
- [Mario] What was that?
- It's a little click beetle of some sort.
Hold on a second, I scared it,
and it came right down here in the dirt somewhere.
All right, well, oh, here it is.
This is awesome, a little click beetle.
I've never seen one this kind before, watch this.
You ready?
All right, Mario, you're gonna have to zoom in on my hand.
The thing that I love about click beetles
is they jump like little Mexican jumping beans,
you ready?
Okay.
Oh no, now it's on my hand, my thumb.
Oh, you see that?
That's how they get away.
They click with their thorax and their abdomen.
They have a very rigid outer exoskeleton
and their wings are also very rigid.
Look at that, very pretty, I've never seen one
that color before.
Hi, buddy, I see you.
- [Mario] It's gonna fly, whoo.
- Cool, did you get that? - I got that.
- Where did it go, right back on the theater?
- [Mario] Yeah.
- Neat, that was one very colorful little click bug.
All right, well, got more visitors showing up.
- Oh, here is one that we definitely
can easily identify.
Come here, buddy.
(cicada makes noise)
That's a noisy one.
That right there-- - It is not happy.
- Is a cicada.
- [Mario] Whoa, it's like an alarm clock.
- Yeah, a really annoying alarm clock.
And these are out in force right now.
I'm trying to hold onto you gently.
There we go, you see that?
What I love about the cicadas here in Costa Rica
is they're really brightly colored, green and blue.
Look how gorgeous that insect is.
Now, here is the really interesting thing
about the life cycle of the cicada.
Now, the adults, and this is an adult right here,
will lay its eggs on the side of a tree.
And when those eggs start to hatch,
the nymphs fall to the ground and bury themselves
beneath the surface.
And what they turn into is this.
But that's actually just a shell right there.
Because once they become large enough,
they crawl up from the ground
and then metamorphosize into an adult.
And that cycle just repeats itself over and over
and over again.
Now, some summers, you will have major hatch outs
of these nymphs
and you'll have hundreds of thousands of these cicadas
up in the trees, which is what we're experiencing
right now here in Costa Rica.
What would you say, Mark, literally thousands of them
have been kind of orchestrating the background
of every episode since we've been here.
- [Mark] I would say tens of thousands, it's deafening.
- Yeah, and you can hear that sound right now.
Are you gonna not make the sound?
- [Mark] Where is the sound coming from?
- The sound is actually a vibration in the abdomen.
You can see, let me kind of fold the wings back there,
you see that little hole behind the wings there.
- [Mark] Oh, it's like a little speaker.
- [Coyote] Yep, that is where all that loud sound
is coming from.
- [Mark] And it's interesting how they can
make the calls in unison.
There's definitely like a chorus rhythm to it.
- Yeah, for such a simple creature,
they certainly do have an elaborate form of communication.
There you go, now you're getting More comfortable.
See, I wasn't gonna eat you.
This is a great food source for,
oh, there it goes, this is a great food source
for a lot of the other animals out here in the rainforest.
And as far as the little shells go from the nymph stage,
no, it's not exactly a potato chip.
All right, let's see what other sort of bugs
are showing up to the theater.
- [Mark] Coyote, we got something big.
(yells)
In front of the black light,
you'll have to go over the top, get it, get it, get it.
- It is an enormous katydid, hold on.
Wow, the hooks on its legs are strong,
let me get it off here.
Ow, ow, ow, its legs are incredibly spiky,
hold on, I don't wanna let it go.
I didn't even see this fly in,
I turned around for a second.
These can actually give you a pretty good chomp.
- Really, they bite? - Oh yeah, they will.
Okay, there we go.
It is just latched onto my arm, let me hold it like that.
Oh, it's biting my bracelet.
It's, like, pierced through my skin.
All right, I'm gonna actually just
have to hold it right there for a second,
I think maybe if I let it walk up my arm,
I can get it off, I'm afraid it's gonna bite me.
- [Mark] It might bite you.
It's getting over the edge of your...
- There we go.
Whoo, wow, those legs have incredibly sharp
little grappling hooks on them.
Now, that is some variety of katydid.
Oh, it's trying to bite me.
Let me turn it like this,
I'm trying to get a good hold on it.
Wow, it's actually really aggressive.
And it's actually really good at spinning its body around.
And what's gonna happen, if it grapples onto me,
is it's gonna be locked in place
and then I'm gonna take a pretty nasty little bite.
All right, that's kind of an awkward hold right there,
but I think for the moment,
that's gonna have to suffice.
Let me put it on my leg.
All right, let me see if I can just--
- [Mark] I can see it.
(screams)
Did it bite you?
- Yeah.
Jeez.
Okay, now its on the ground,
let me pick it up with something else.
Man, that whalloped my hand.
Jeez.
- [Mark] Saw that coming.
Gosh.
Let me get him off the ground here.
Wow.
Man.
Oh yeah, it broke skin.
- [Mark] Let me see.
- [Coyote] Wow, right there.
It dug into my thumb.
- [Mark] Oh, let me see it.
- [Coyote] You see it's starting to bleed.
- [Mark] Oh yeah, two little bite marks there.
Wow.
Who would've thought.
- [Coyote] And look what it's doing,
it is actually, it is turning its body.
I can't hold onto it properly.
It's biting into my pants now.
Let me just hold it there.
Oh, he's one angry little insect.
Okay.
Okay, stay.
Stay.
- [Mark] Do you know anything about this insect, Coyote?
- Well, I'm used to catching katydids in Ohio
that are not capable of giving you a really painful chomp,
but this variety here is far different.
And it put a whallop on my thumb.
Now, this is the largest bug that we have seen
show up to the theater tonight.
And of course, it's just fitting
that it would chomp into me.
I'm not sure exactly what variety this is,
but it is the largest katydid I have ever come across.
It's much more comfortable now.
And that's what it wants to do,
just stay completely up on top of its legs.
And look at how long its antennae are.
Okay look, there you go.
It is cleaning its legs.
And its legs are like little grappling hooks.
Look at those wings, what an impressive insect.
Okay, I'm gonna let go of him, there we go.
You gonna stay on knee there, that could be good.
Yeah, oh, look at that display.
Well how cool was this?
We set up a bug theater and came across all sorts
of interesting and bizarre insects.
But I would definitely say that this enormous katydid
topped off the night.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave.
Stay wild, we'll see you on the next location.
If you thought building a bug theater was entertaining,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I got up close and personal
with another Costa Rican creepy crawly,
the golden silk orb weaver.
And don't forget, subscribe, so you join me and the crew
on our next location.
I never recommend that you go out in the wild
and ever try to free handle a spider on your own.
You never know how your body would react
to the venom if you get bit.