(water splashing)
- Whoa, whoa, Mark check this out.
Oh, look at that!
Ah, there it is, ah.
- [Mark] What is this, what is that?
- [Coyote] Oh, gross.
Nice, actually,
that's not an eel.
(upbeat drum music)
Our planet is teaming with life.
Whether on land, deep in the water or above us in the air.
Many of the creatures that we have come across
on our adventures, often feel like long lost friends.
But there are some encounters that are so slimy,
so bizarre and so strange that I just can't help but wonder
if these animals are actually aliens.
Today we are going to count down
the top five most alien looking creatures
we have featured on the Brave Wilderness channel.
But before we begin, let's take a look
at some of the other worldly moments
that didn't quite make the cut.
- [Mark] I don't even know what to say about this.
It's like a combination of a sea urchin,
a sea star, an octopus.
- [Coyote] It's like many things all at once.
But on the underside, look at that,
looks just like a scorpion or a spider.
- [Mark] it's camouflage is incredible.
- [Coyote] That is amazing, okay, look at
how he can almost morph the shape of his body
to fit all of these little plants.
And these guys have an incredible defensive posture.
Look at that, they will not back down, that is for sure.
It kinda looks like a caterpillar
that has a bunch of spikes on it.
Now on the underside, right there in the middle,
that's its mouth but it's also its butt.
Many of the animals we seek are quite elusive.
And one order in particular, the Urodela,
is always a challenge to get up close for the cameras.
These creatures are better known as salamanders.
We've even entered dark, spider-ridden caves
just to get a glimpse of them.
- [Mark] I got a glipse, right here beside of those rocks.
That is a cave salamander, you see it?
- [Coyote] Other species have required us to travel
around the world to find and feature.
There he goes.
But one salamander specifically
was so strange and so unlike
any salamander I had seen before
that I actually misidentified it as an eel.
Coming in at number five
is the slimy crayfish hunting amphibian
known as the amphiuma.
(upbeat music)
Amphiuma, (water splashing) oh guys an eel, eel!
(suspenseful music)
- [Mark] Got something?
- I got it, I got it, I got it!
- [Mark] What do you got?
- It's an eel, right in the bottom of the net.
Wow, that is so cool.
- [Mark] All I can see is his butt.
- Watch your camera, no, no, no, look it.
There's some spots right there.
- [Mark] Whoa.
- Ah, it's fillin' like the entire bottom of the net.
Look at that, wow.
He's not being too, too crazy acting,
woo, there, it's startin' to move.
Look at that, nice, actually,
that's not an eel.
- [Mark] What is it a catfish?
- No, dude Mario.
- [Mario] Yeah.
- I think this is an amphino, is that how you say it?
- [Mario] Amphiuma.
- Amphiuma, amphiuma. - Let me see.
- Dude, I don't think this is an eel at all, look at this.
- Oh yeah, dude, that's totally an amphiuma.
- Is it really?
- [Mario] Yeah.
- No way, okay guys this is not an eel.
- [Mark] What is it?
- It's actually a huge salamander.
- [Mario] Yeah, look, I got this little bucket of water.
- Yeah, yeah, let's get it in here.
Back up a little bit further.
- [Mark] Oh, oh, oh.
- [Mario] Oh, that's amaphiuma.
- [Coyote] Holy cow.
Hey there buddy, I do what to be careful
because they can give you a pretty nasty bite.
- [Mark] All right, you're gonna have to give me the name
of this one more time, what is it called?
- It is an amphiuma, amphiuma.
All right, let me see if I can, whoa, hold on, move.
Okay, just let it hang out for a second.
That's actually good we want it to do just that.
- [Mark] It's walking.
- [Coyote] It is.
- [Mark] It walks?
- [Coyote] It does, it has small vestigial legs
and what it will actually try to do is burrow down.
We don't want that to happen, come here buddy.
Let me bring you back up.
All right, look at that, look at
the pointy nature of its snout.
Now these things are incredibly good at burrowing down
into the mud and the muck.
Now different from some salamanders species
these salamanders actually have fully developed lungs
and they can stay out of the water
for a considerable amount of time.
Look at that, you can actually see it
taking breaths of air right there.
Up next on our list is an animal
that we just couldn't skip over.
An alien looking master of camouflage the frog fish.
(upbeat music)
wow, I hope you guys are ready for this.
Here comes the frog fish, wow.
Have you ever seen a fish this bizarre?
Now this animal is a veracious carnivore
which means that they will eat anything
that comes across their path.
They're ambush hunters, right?
So they will sit there,
lie in wait for an unsuspecting prey item
to come across their mouth.
Their mouths can actually open 12 times the size
of what you see on the front of their face
and they can swallow food almost as large as they are.
Now if waiting for your food to come alone doesn't work,
they have three distinct spines on their dorsal ridge.
And the one up front is actually used as lure
to draw in fish or small shrimp.
Anything that comes in front of the animal is fair game.
- [Mark] Oh, what did I see on it's fin there?
- [Coyote] Where?
- [Mark] I see like a, it's like a,
like an octopus jet behind its fin.
- Yeah, you see that?
That's located on the back of the pelvic fins there
and they can actually force water through those openings
to give themselves a jet propulsion of speed
if they need to quickly get away.
Believe it or not we caught a more bizarre looking
and even bigger frog fish.
Are you guys ready to see that?
- [Mark] I think we're ready.
- Now the reason we really wanted to get this one
up close for the cameras is look how much
this animal looks like a head of coral.
It even has little tubulars growing off of its skin.
It's crazy, it's perfectly camouflaged,
almost impossible to see when this is beneath
the ocean's surface.
- [Mark] So it's safe to say this fish
isn't trying to stand out.
- [Coyote] No, this fish is tryin' to blend in at all costs.
His entire life relies on being camouflaged.
So many of our ocean's creatures appear alien
because their adapted to spending their lives
in aqueous environments.
Next on our countdown is something
a little more nightmarish.
It's smelly, it looks like a combination
between a scorpion, centipede, and a water bug
and it almost crawled into my ear.
Slinking in as our number three alien
get ready to meet the hellgrammite.
(upbeat music)
(water splashing)
No, nothin'.
Oh!
- [Mark] What is it?
- [Coyote] There's one right here.
- [Mark] What?
- [Coyote] Ah!
- [Mark] What is this?
- [Coyote] There it is!
- [Mark] What is that?
- [Coyote] Ah, woo gross!
Ah, I got it, ah, ah, ah, oh it's tryin' to bit me!
Oh, there it is!
- [Mark] What is that?
- It's a hellgrammite!
Holy mackerel, that's a big one too!
Wow, all right guys, well,
if you remember an Instagram post I made a few weeks ago
of a creature that looks, ah!
Oh he's biting me!
Okay, they do bite!
There you have it!
Everybody wanted to know do they bite,
yes they do bite and it is latched on
to my finger right now.
Oh, that hurts but it's not breaking skin.
That's ah, oh, ah, ooh, it's got a hold of me.
Now the hellgrammite is actually
the larva stage of the dobsonfly.
It's about as wicked looking as this thing is
only with big wings and enormous front mandibles.
However, those mandibles aren't strong enough
to pinch and bite onto anything.
Now, if the bite isn't enough,
what they will also do to deter a predator
is squirt a nasty smelling musk from their rear end
and it actually smells just like human feces and--
- [Mark] Ewe, what?
- Ooh.
- [Mark] Smells like--
- Ooh, like poop, exactly like poop.
- [Mark] Ewe.
- And it has already squirted musk all over my finger.
Ooh, it absolutely stinks.
There look at that, oh wow, that is so bizarre.
- [Mark] I don't know how you're letting this guy--
- Ah, it's like an alien!
What did I tell you, it's like a living nightmare,
look at that!
Can you image what it would be like
to have one of these things crawl into your ear?
It's gonna eat your brain.
- [Mark] No, no, no, no, no, no, no!
- Ow, ah, hoo, that actually really hurts.
Oh, hoo, hoo, hoo.
- [Mark] Looks pretty good dude.
- I think it's actually poked a hole in my ear.
- [Mark] Ah.
- Ow, what do you guys think?
Hellgrammite earrings?
Could this be the new look?
- [Crew] No!
- Is it dangling down from my ear?
- [Mark] Oh yeah!
- [Coyote] Ah.
I found one hellgrammite and then I kept flippin' over rocks
and I found 25 hellgrammites.
- [Mark] Dude.
(laughing)
That is so gross.
- So, what I challenge you to do right now
is put your hand into this bowl
and see if you get bitten by a hellgrammite.
- I'm director Mark and I'm about to enter the bite zone.
25 hellgrammites.
All right, I can't watch this.
- Put your hand in there, come on.
- One, two, three.
- [Coyote] And let it lay in there.
- [Mark] Oh, it's so creepy.
- [Coyote] Put some on ya there.
- Oh they're poopin' on me.
- [Mark] Ah, its got me!
Oh, nope, oh, there's another one, ah!
- Imagine yourself falling into a swimming pool
filled with hellgrammites.
If you think 25 of them are creepy
try to picture 25 thousand.
Okay, maybe that's not such a good idea.
In at number two and even stranger than its cousin
the black sea hare, let's give an ink-spewing
standing ovation for the brown sea hare.
(upbeat music)
oh, oh Mark, check this out!
Ho, if you thought the banana slug was big
look at that!
- [Mark] Whoa, what is that?
- That is a sea hare also known as a sea slug.
Boy, is this thing slimy.
Oh, there's another one!
Look at that!
Two right next to each other!
- [Mark] Whoa.
- Handful of sea slugs.
Here, give me the container.
- [Mark] Hey, here, hold this.
- It's gonna be much easier for us to see 'em like this.
It's like a big organ!
Look at that!
Wow!
This is the California Brown Sea Hare
and the reason that they're called sea hares is
can you see these tentacles up front there?
Kinda looks like the ears of a rabbit.
These slugs don't really have many predators at all.
One defense that they do have though,
just in case something does try to eat it,
is the ability to ink just like an octopus.
If it gets agitated it will excrete this
nasty lookin' purple substance allowing them to then
slink down into the rocks and disappear.
And I want to show that to you guys real quick
before we let them go.
Now this isn't gonna injure the animal
in any way whatsoever.
Now the ink is actually a byproduct of the kelp
that they are eating.
That's what gives it this purple pigmentation.
Look at that!
Oh, I'm gettin' totally stained right now.
Okay, I'm gonna put the slug back in the container
and let's see what that looks like.
There ya go, now that is what they will do
to create confusion for any potential predator
that's tryin' to eat it.
And as you can see the slug is just fine.
Still have ink comin' out of the back parapodia,
look at that, woo, woo, there it goes again.
See that?
Wow, that is crazy, look, little bubbles floatin' up?
Look at all this slime.
That's not water, that is slime.
Look at it running down my hand, can you see that?
Oh, it is all slimy, that is crazy, wow.
Well, if our number two animal wasn't alien enough
with its perfectly designed camouflage,
gooey slime, and purple ink, our number one creature
might just be enough to make you believe
that our planet is crawling with aliens.
(angelical music)
- [Mark] Mario!
- [Mario] Yeah.
- [Mark] Come look at what I found!
- [Mario] What?
What'd you get?
- [Mark] I've got a giant onychophora, the rare one.
- [Mario] On man.
- [Mark] Right here on this rock, what do we do?
- [Mario] Wow.
Coyote's not even here, what do we do just film it?
- Well certainly we have to film it.
I've got a container in my backpack.
We could contain it, take it back to the lodge,
have Coyote check it out
and we get some great phora shots.
- We'll bring it back.
- Yeah, we'll bring it right back after
and it'll be awesome.
- Dude.
- [Mario] Great find dude.
(suspenseful music)
- [Mark] Coyote!
- [Mario] Coyote!
- [Coyote] You guys callin' me?
- [Mario] Yeah, maybe.
- [Coyote] Maybe?
- [Mark] Show him.
- Check out what mark found.
- Oh, get outta here!
- [Mark] We found--
- You are kidding me!
- [Mark] We found it on the rock
like four paces where we found the brown one.
- [Coyote] Get outta here, I cannot believe that.
- [Mario] Yeah.
- Oh my gosh, I can't believe you found,
oh my God bro!
This is insane!
(excited laughter and cheers)
Whoa, this is crazy!
Whoa, you are looking at the velvet worm.
Quite possibly the rarest creature you can come across
in the Costa Rican Rain Forest.
This creature's ancestors date back
500 million years to the Cambrian Period.
That is before the time of the dinosaurs.
They are actually capable of shedding the outer layer
of skin around once a month just like a snake.
And when they do shed that they basically
walk out of the skin, similar to the way a snake
slithers out of its skin, and then
they're even softer and more brilliantly bright.
Now despite the fact that this creature
is actually kinda cute, believe it or not,
it is a veracious predator.
And the way that they hunt is they slowly move through
the Rain Forest floor, forging amongst leaves
and dead logs and they'll use those two front sensory organs
to kinda tap on their prey.
And as soon as they sense something to eat
they shoot out a sticky slime
and it is so incredibly strong
that it can immediately pin the prey down.
And they have a little mouth up front.
Inside that mouth is a single tooth
that is like a razor blade.
They insert that tooth into their victim
and then they leak in saliva
and it slowly breaks down the insides of their prey
and they drink it up just like a milkshake, wow.
The funny thing about the velvet worm,
which actually isn't a worm at all,
is that it is one of the first
terrestrial species to walk the planet.
So in a sense, I guess we could
consider it an ancient alien.
I hope you all enjoyed this look back
at some of our favorite alien encounters
and we can't wait to discover more creatures like these
on our upcoming adventures.
Revisiting our creepy earth-bound aliens was a blast
but if you're in the mood for
something a little more cuddly,
make sure to go back and watch our
top cutest creatures episode
and don't forget, subscribe and click the notification bell
so you can join me and the crew on our next wild adventure.
(wings flapping and coyote howling)