- Ooh a caecilian a caecilian!
Right there Mario a caecilian! - Oh yeah!
It looks like one but there's actually
none native to Japan so. - That's not a caecilian?
(growl) (intense music)
(growl)
- [Coyote] Previously on Breaking Trail,
we managed to come across one of
the most elusive reptiles in all of Japan.
The Japanese ground snake.
This fossorial animal is almost never seen by humans.
And we uncovered it by gently flipping a decomposing log,
in one of the countries most ancient forests.
- Ooh snake snake snake right here!
Sweet wow, it almost looks like a rubber boa look at that.
We're exploring in The Tottori Prefecture,
a remote stretch of wilderness in southwestern Japan.
Our goal is to share with you some of the animals
that call this forest home.
While also admiring the breathtaking beauty
of it's timeless landscape.
After releasing the ground snake back to it's shadowy refuge
we soon after stumbled upon a creature,
that could be considered candidate
for a science-fiction narrative.
- Alright this log is actually flip-able,
see how long a lot of these are?
- Oh yeah. - I thought they'd be easier
to move, they're not.
Alright this one is busted in half let's see what we got.
Ooh a caecilian a caecilian!
Look look look look!
Right there Mario a caecilian! - Oh yeah.
Hang on a second. - Look look look look!
Right there! - It looks like one but,
there's actually none native to Japan,
so that's gotta be something else.
- That's not a caecilian? - No.
- Here let's bring it back down here on this log.
Dude that's gotta be a caecilian.
Check this out.
So there are no caecilians in Japan,
but my immediate instinct was (gasp) "a caecilian!".
It looks exactly like one, now my hands are not real moist
so what I actually wanna do, Ima set it down there
and get some water on my hands.
It's gotta be some kind of a worm.
- [Mark] Oh yeah.
- Just run a little bit of water onto it.
- [Mark] Oh, it liked that.
- Okay here we go, lemme just sort of analyze it first.
I don't think there are any like venomous or poisonous worm
species at least not to my knowledge but
look at the head, yeah it's definitely a worm now that I'm
seeing it out on this log an it's moving about.
Whoa whoa whoa it's got a proboscis look at that!
It's got a little mouth part that comes out.
It is extremely rigid, very muscular feeling.
I guess we should find out if it bites or not.
Lets see,
no it's tasting me,
definitely no biting mouth parts like the bloodworm.
- Whoa. - This is crazy!
The most bizarre looking worm,
I ever thought we would have come across.
Look at the top of it, it's blue and iridescent.
Can you see that if I just slightly angle it in the light?
- [ Mark] I mean if you held the caecilian we found
in Costa Rica next to that, it'd be tough to tell.
- Well the reason that I thought it was is,
look at the belly, the underside is very light in coloration
and the top is dark very indicative
of something that is fossorial.
Keeps the camouflage from up above but from underneath,
it doesn't need to be dark in color.
Now unlike the earthworms that we see in the United States,
there's no distinct middle section to this worm,
which is another reason that I thought it was a caecilian.
Look how far it's capable of stretching out,
look at the length of that worm.
- [Mark] Whoa.
- You can actually see inside it's belly.
You can see whatever it's been eating is inside there.
- [Mark] There's a chance this is a predatory worm.
- A good chance yeah I mean with that proboscis up front,
I assume they could be eating small little microorganisms
mites and small ants.
It's actually really cool when I place it down on the moss,
and you can see it, contrasting against that green.
As we know worms have no proper skeleton,
it's just like one big muscular slinky.
Look at that, when I place it in the moss,
it curiously moves from spot to spot.
And it's using it's mouth to investigate all of this moss,
I imagine sensing for chemicals to help it find direction
because from what I can see it does not have any eyeballs.
Now that is definitely the front-end,
and this is definitely the back-end.
- [Mark] Wow look how long it stretched out now.
- Crazy I bet this thing is close to
a foot in length when fully extended.
Well Japan is certainly full of
all kinds of interesting surprises,
and this dense forest ecosystem is so rich with wildlife.
And a lot of animals that must stay out of the sun.
We've got the sun directly overhead right now and even with
it cascading through some of those top branches,
everything in here stays completely shaded,
everything is moist look at this environment.
All the pine needles are completely saturated, the ground is
sopping wet, you have all of this moss, it's the perfect
place for an alien looking creature like this to live.
Alright, when I pick it back up here
let's get one more close look,
come here buddy.
- And I notice there's not a whole lot of slime
coming off this one. - No, I mean
I've definitely been getting my hands wet with water
just to make sure that I don't suck any of the hydration
from it's skin but it is not slimy like the earthworms
that we have in the states.
Go head Mark put you hand out there,
and just feel that worm.
- Whoa. - How bout that,
doesn't feel like the earthworms at home does it?
- Whoa! - Very strong too,
very muscular. - It almost feels like it
has a bit of skeleton. - Right right, it does but
as we know worms do not have proper skeletons.
They also don't have exoskeletons,
they're essentially just lengths of internal muscle.
And when I laid it down on the log earlier you could see how
it was able to just slink from spot to spot.
That segmentation moving just like a slinky.
Well, I would definitely say that exploring these
deep dark forests here in Japan have certainly paid off
with a number of very cool and bizarre species.
I'm Coyote Peterson be brave, stay wild,
and we'll see ya on the next adventure.
On the exterior of our planet, we often see animals that we
recognize from the pages of books.
Images on television or even in person at our local parks.
A whole society of creatures are living and thriving
beneath our feet.
They're bizarre, alien-like,
and often considered living nightmares
but the truth is that these animals
which appear to be from another planet,
are more likely to be quiet, skittish,
and completely harmless despite their outward appearance.
The true oddities of the natural world,
always seem to captivate us and it brings
the Brave Wilderness team great excitement
to share them with all of you.
- [Presenter] Coming this holiday season,
to a neighborhood mailbox near you,
the Brave Wilderness Chance elves will be delivering,
the one and only Brave Wilderness Adventure kit,
so if you've been staring out your front window,
with eyes wide and full of wonder,
waiting for the day when something would show up for you
and not your parents,
this holiday season all your wildest dreams
are about to come true.
The Brave Wilderness Adventure kit is now available,
and this subscription box is cooler than any other
subscription box in the history of subscription boxes.
For all the important details
that your parents probably wanna know,
and to learn what's inside the box that makes it so cool,
click on the link in the video description below.
And happy holidays from our pack to your pack.
- [Coyote] If you missed part one of this expedition
into the remote forest of Japan,
make sure to go back and watch,
as we got the Japanese ground snake,
one of the countries rarest reptiles,
up close for the cameras.
And don't forget, subscribe so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail!