- Look at that.
Watch out Mario, it's coming straight for ya.
This is a display of
territorial dominance right here.
Wow, that is so cool, like a big, slimy booger!
It is just waiting to inflict a sting.
I think we've got a new king here, folks.
♪ Fire ♪
♪ Fire on the mountain ♪
(upbeat bluegrass music)
What's going on Coyote Pack?
This past year had some pretty unforgettable moments,
and we got to work with some of the world's
most iconic animal species.
So let's take a look back at the five most
iconic moments of 2018.
I've always dreamed of feeding
a prehistoric-looking behemoth,
and while feeding a T-Rex is definitely impossible,
this past year I did get feed a salt-water crocodile.
Boy, was it intimidating.
(whimsical classical music)
All right, here we go.
It's breakfast time, buddy.
(suspenseful orchestra music)
In literally one chomp,
ripped the rooster right from the pole.
(laughing)
Well good job bully, I think he knew that I was a rookie.
In all fairness though, I think the rope
got pretty saturated. - Yeah, yeah.
It was the rope guys, it was the rope.
I think we've got another rooster, don't we?
- [Man] We do, we do, yep.
- Let's reload.
Here we go, rooster number two
is about to go down into the danger zone.
Woo!
There he is.
Okay, he's got the rooster, not gonna pull though.
- [Mark] Got you fully extended right now.
- He's trying to take it back into his corner.
Just wanna slowly work it
in this direction, okay he's coming back here.
Whoa.
- [Man] Whoa, bit of a head shake, nice.
- Yep. (grunting)
Come on bully, you can do it.
Believe it or not, I'm actually.
(groaning) He got the rooster.
He was either gonna get the rooster,
or he was gonna get the whole pole.
Man, that was crazy.
To be honest, I think my croc-feeding skills need some work,
but we did manage to capture some pretty amazing shots.
We have always wanted to feature elephants
on the Brave Wilderness Channel,
and finally in 2018,
we made our way to the renowned Carike Game Reserve.
They are known for having an incredible group of elephants.
Now, their most iconic elephant is known
as the Big Tusker,
so we set off in the wild hoping to capture
this animal on camera.
But as we headed up into the mountains,
what we found ourselves in
was an incredible elephant battle.
We watched two of these titans go tusk to trunk.
Trust me, it was an intimating situation
for myself, Mark, and Mario.
But as we came back down off the mountain,
we did manage to locate the iconic Big Tusker.
Let's take a look at what it was like
for me to get up close with this enormous elephant.
(upbeat orchestra music)
Guys, we have found the Big Tusker,
he's right here off the side of the road.
This is him right here, look at him coming out.
Wow, look at the size of that elephant!
If you thought the elephants we saw earlier were big,
they don't even compare to this giant,
look at him coming right toward the vehicle.
- [Mark] Look at those tusks.
- You just have to sit back and absorb
how intimidating the size of that animal is.
That was cool to see the three sub-adults
up there in the underbrush fighting,
but this, oh man, it doesn't get any bigger
than the Big Tusker.
I wish I could get into the frame a little bit better
for scale, here let's see if I step down
off the vehicle like this.
(suspenseful trumpet music)
- [Woman] Coyote come back, come back, come back,
come back, come back.
Okay, big boy.
Okay.
- Oh boy. - Stay.
- Stay. - Okay, big boy.
- [Woman] Come on.
Okay.
- How's that for a grand finale?
Traversing through the grasslands,
and finally getting the Big Tusker
up close for the cameras.
Looking back on those shots,
it's hard to believe how big that elephant truly was.
When it came around the side of that tree,
man talk about a heart-racing moment.
It's a good thing that I was close to that vehicle,
and managed to get back inside
before the Big Tusker decided to run me over.
One of our greatest accomplishments this past year
was the launch of Mark's new series, Blue Wilderness.
I got to be a part of the first episode
where we dove with tiger sharks.
Now, this certainly wasn't intended to be a bite episode,
if you guys saw that one,
you know how close it got.
Let's roll the footage and see what it was like
for me to get up close with the infamous tiger shark.
(whimsical classical music)
- [Mark] When we first arrived at the bottom,
the sharks were still very cautious,
circling us at a distance of 15 feet or more.
But with every lap,
they became more and more confidence.
Especially when the dive master began to introduce food.
Seeing the sharks chow down giant chunks of fish
was a quick reminder of the seriousness of those teeth.
The way they could just devour fish
after fish, after fish, was extremely impressive.
Then, just as their curiosity and comfort levels
hit their peak,
came the contacts.
To no fault of his own,
Coyote,
well let's just watch.
(suspenseful orchestra music)
Yikes.
That was close.
So, so close.
Good thing Coyote got lucky,
and was able to quickly avoid that chomp,
or this would've turned into a horrific bite episode.
- So what happened there was
I accidentally provoked a feeding response.
Now the good news for me, is that my hand
did not end up in the mouth of the shark.
But if it had,
well let's just say that that episode
would've ended in a pretty catastrophic disaster.
Getting bitten by a tiger shark
is not something you want to happen.
Okay, coming in our number two
most iconic moment of the year,
we return to South Africa
where the team and I produced
a two-part African lion episode.
Again, we were working with the Carike Game Reserve
and their veterinarian team.
Our goal was to successfully tranquilize the lions
so that we could collect biometric data.
Then, I got hands on with the King of the Savannah.
(whimsical classical music)
Keep in mind guys, these lions are just asleep,
none of these animals are actually hurt.
Here is the male.
(suspenseful orchestra music)
That is unbelievable right there.
This is the closest I have ever been
to a wild apex predator of this size.
You can feel him breathing.
(sighs)
Beautiful animal.
Wow this creature
is enormous and it is still a sub-adult male lion.
I wanna come on this side just to show you this paw,
you've got the mane.
You can see his face is covered up there,
it is asleep, look at the size of this animal's paws.
It is bigger than my hand.
That is crazy.
Look at the mane of this animal.
It's so dense,
and it smells like South Africa.
It smells like the Savannah.
A little bit of grass and a little bit of sand.
I'm gonna slowly just kinda pull
the lip back here a little bit.
Wow. - Whoa.
Look at those canines.
Unbelievable. - Holy smokes.
Guys,
I smelled a lion.
How crazy was that?
Putting my face into the mane of a lion,
and it was certainly, at least for myself,
and certainly the Brave Wildness team,
an unforgettable experience.
Those were, without question, some of the coolest episodes
we produced this past year.
Okay, so we weren't going to get out of this epic moments
episode without talking about the stings.
This past year, I took the two most painful stings
of my career.
The Japanese giant hornet,
and of course, the executioner wasp.
This completed my climb up the insect sting pain index.
So tied for the number one spot,
let's revisit these two gnarly stings.
(angelic singing)
That is a big hornet.
That is a huge hornet.
The biggest hornet on the face of the planet,
and I have a feeling that the sting
is going to be intense.
Wow.
All right, everyone just take a moment
to soak this in.
That is in an enormous hornet.
Look at it's abdomen pulsating.
If you look at the mandibles, those are used for chomping.
I think I may also take a bite during this video as well,
which I'm kind of afraid of.
I can't stop my hand from shaking.
I haven't been this nervous since the tarantula hawk.
- [Mark] You sure you wanna do this?
- Yeah, there's no turning back now.
All right, you guys ready?
- [Mark] Ready if you are.
- I'm Coyote Peterson,
and I'm about to enter the sting zone with
the Japanese giant hornet.
One.
(sighs) Two.
Here we go, three.
(screaming)
Oh, the stinger's stuck in my arm!
(groaning)
(hissing)
Oh.
- [Mark] How bad is it?
- Oh man, wave of dizziness really quick.
(screaming)
Searing pain!
Absolute searing pain!
So, here we go.
Mark has given me the signal,
it is time to get stung by the executioner.
Here we go.
Okay, are you ready?
Oh boy.
- [Mark] Yep, I'm ready.
- I'm Coyote Peterson,
and I'm about to enter the sting zone with
the executioner wasp, here we go.
One.
(sighs) Two.
Three.
(light suspenseful orchestra music)
(screaming)
Oh my gosh!
Oh, that's really bad really quick!
(groaning)
Man.
The executioner wasp
packs an unbelievable wallop.
Man, the initial impact is definitely just as sharp,
if not worse, than the tarantula hawk.
Look, you can see the blood underneath the skin,
right now my arm is throbbing.
It is on fire.
So there they are, the five most epic moments of 2018.
It was definitely quite the year,
and I for one, cannot wait to see what the future holds
for the Brave Wilderness team and I in 2019.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
If you missed the painfully entertaining conclusion
to my climb up the insect sting pain index,
make sure to go back and watch
stung by an executioner wasp.
Don't forget subscribe,
and click the notification bell
so you can join me and the crew
on our next wild adventure.
(animals roaring)