(adventurous music) - [Coyote] Wow.
Yep, that's about the size
we're used to seeing in Costa Rica.
Look at that.
- [Carl] Perfect, good.
Don't change anything.
- [Coyote] Oh this is gonna be wicked.
Oh!
Wowzers!
(rocks cracking)
(epic music)
Nature is riddled with dangers
and to the untrained eye,
if you don't recognize
one of it's many biological landmines,
it's possible that your next step could be your last.
Spiders,
scorpions,
centipedes,
and even spiky plants can be considered explosively perilous
if they catch you off guard. (man screaming)
But nothing is more serious
than stepping on a venomous snake.
On this adventure,
we're going to take a look at Central and South America's
most notorious pit viper.
A snake that I am all too familiar with
and a reptile you should definitely be aware of,
lest you accidentally encounter it
while hiking in the rain forest.
(tense music)
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
- [Mario] What do we got?
- We got a fer-de-lance right in front of us,
right under this leaf.
Look at this right in front of me,
right in front of me.
Look at that camouflage.
Holy cow!
His head's coming right up past that leaf.
Oh my gosh.
That is the camouflage that you hope you recognize
before you step too close.
The snake literally just curled up underneath the leaf.
It's nose is just poking up right in the middle
of the path that we're walking down.
- [Mario] I don't see it.
- [Coyote] Right, right,
look at this bright leaf in front of me.
See this?
It's nose is just sticking up on the top of it.
You see that?
- [Mario] Got it.
Keep your light there.
- [Coyote] Completely hidden, the fer-de-lance.
Arguably the most dangerous snake
in Central and South America.
Yes!
I was hoping we'd see one of these tonight.
One thing we've never done before
is tube one of these vipers
and take a closer look from that position.
So I'm gonna slowly lift back this leaf.
I have no idea how big this snake is.
This is sometimes the funnest part.
What's the leaf going to reveal?
How big is this snake?
It looks sizable.
(tense music)
- [Mario] Oh yeah.
- [Coyote] Oh yeah, that's a good sized snake.
Oh buddy, look at you!
Okay.
Right now it is still saying to itself, "I'm hidden.
"Nobody sees me.
"If I don't move,
"maybe you guys will just pass right by and I'll continue
"about my night hunting for prey items."
But we definitely want to get a better look.
All right Mario, the snake is actually
in a absolutely perfect position
for us to try to get it safely inside of a snake tube.
It's the safest situation for the snake
and it will put the least amount
of stress on it as possible.
Don't get your camera too, too much closer than that.
What's amazing about these snakes
is that they can go from completely gargoyle statue still
into explosive action
and these snakes can launch themselves two thirds
the length of their body forward
which is why they are incredibly dangerous to work with.
(suspenseful music)
Oh, oh!
And just like that
I dropped my snake tongs and the snake is on the move.
Okay.
- [Mario] Yeah we need light.
- It's just kind of slithering slowly which is good.
It's not being too explosive.
Like I said, they can move incredibly quick
when they need to.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, careful.
- [Mario] All right Coyote, I'm gonna step in?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Here I'll tell you what.
Why don't you take the snake hook?
- [Mario] Okay.
- [Coyote] I'll take the tube.
You got the right gauge?
- [Mario] Yeah I can pick it up.
- [Coyote] Okay go and switch.
- This never gets any easier.
This is definitely the most dangerous part.
- [Mario] Angled down, like yeah, angled.
Not yet, not yet.
Now!
- Okay, there we go.
Oh look at the fangs inside there, okay.
Be very, very gentle now.
Okay.
(exhales)
You just have to take a deep breath
after successfully getting control of a snake like that
because the bite from this species is extremely toxic.
Hemotoxic and myotoxic.
It will break down red blood cells.
This is one of the most potent bites of any venomous snake
on the Western half of the world.
And if you're bit by a snake like this
and you do not get the proper care,
it could take your life.
Now when I turn the snake like this
you can see the scalation is very, very defined.
It's very rigid, very bumpy.
It's got incredible texture to it and that texture
also helps to keep these snakes camouflaged.
One of the names that this snake is commonly known by
is the lancehead
and that's because of the triangular nature of the head.
Almost looks like the tip of a lance or a spear.
And like all pit vipers, they have a heat-sensing pit
which of course helps them to detect their prey.
And while they will take advantage of mammals,
certain times of year
these snakes primarily feast on amphibians
and with all the rain
that just recently moved through earlier,
I'm guessing this snake is on the hunt
for any sort of creature that it can possibly come across
whether it's a mammal or an amphibian,
it is fair game
if you are a snake like this out and on the hunt.
Now one of the reasons I was so excited
to have come across a fer-de-lance tonight
is that I've always wanted to show you guys
what happens when you mix this pit viper's venom with blood.
Human blood.
But to safely do that,
we're gonna need to head back to DeLand, Florida
and connect with our friends
at the Reptile Discovery Center.
We can actually get hands-on with one of these snakes
in captivity and safely show you guys what it takes
to not only milk this species
but also to mix its venom with human blood.
Stay tuned guys.
I promise the second part of this episode
is going to be wildly entertaining.
Interacting with the fer-de-lance
is like handling a loaded gun
and just a single mistake
could quickly turn into a medical emergency or worse.
This species is responsible
for 90% of the snake bites in Central America
making them the most dangerous snake in their range.
Sounds horrific, but here's the good news.
If a bite victim is taken to the hospital in a timely manner
and antivenom is administered,
the survival rate is extremely high.
We have returned to the Reptile Discovery Center
in DeLand, Florida.
Millions of you enjoyed the previous episodes we filmed here
so it's an absolute honor for us to return
and once again work alongside Carl and Mara.
This serpentarium is not only home
to dozens of the world's most dangerous snakes,
it is also the first step
in the production of life-saving antivenoms
yet in order for antivenom to be created,
first you need the snake's venom
and to get the venom you need to milk the snakes.
Behind us is a room filled with snakes
and in one of those boxes is the fer-de-lance,
Central and South America's most notorious snake
and today we're going to milk it.
Are you guys ready for this?
- We're ready.
- [Maura] I think so.
- [Coyote] Are you nervous?
- Never.
- Let's bring out the snake.
- Beautiful, okay Coyote.
She's coming up.
- Alright.
Now remember Carl and Mara are professionals.
They do this on a weekly basis working with these snakes
but it's going to be really interesting
to see the fer-de-lance not in it's natural environment.
I don't know what the snake's gonna look like,
how big it's going to be,
so I'm ready to be surprised
and this is gonna get intense.
Oh boy here we go, okay.
Wow, yep.
That's about the size we're used to seeing in Costa Rica.
Look at that.
- [Carl] They are big, well-adapted pit vipers.
They have highly developed venoms.
Toxic venoms tend to be tremendously hemolytic,
in other words, do lots of destruction to blood cells
and so they account for a lot of bites in South America,
as you know, or Central and South America,
and so it's a really formidable pit viper.
- [Coyote] So a bite from the snake
without anti-venom is almost guaranteed to kill you?
- I'm not gonna say always lethal because again,
sometimes a bite from that snake
will result in a minor envenomation.
He won't give you anything
but a severe or a significant envenomation
by that snake without treatment
would probably be result in fatality
or perhaps the loss of a limb.
- [Coyote] Okay so Carl, at this point,
the snake is looking right at us.
I feel like it's probably a good point to milk this snake.
What's this process gonna look like?
- So the catch here is going to be a little bit different.
If you start to really look
at that snake's body language Coyote,
he's starting to kind of act up a little bit.
He starting to get nervous
and fer-de-lance can be really flighty snakes.
- [Coyote] Now have you ever had one jump off of the table?
- We have.
Just not quite as far as you.
- I keep wanting to look off at the camera,
but then I'm keeping my eye on the snake.
- [Carl] Very much.
- [Coyote] It looks like it's in launch mode, okay.
- [Carl] Absolutely.
- [Coyote] I think this is probably the moment.
What do you guys need me to do?
- Just step off to the right a little bit.
We're gonna give Mara a little room
to kind of work her magic. - [Coyote] Okay.
- [Maura] Get him secured
and then I'll hand him over to you.
- [Carl] Nice.
- [Maura] Okay pressure's coming down.
- [Carl] All wound up.
Oh, nice strike.
- [Maura] And there's full pressure on him now.
- [Carl] Perfect, good.
Don't change anything.
Perfect.
- [Coyote] Wow that's a strong snake.
So Carl, this is the most important part right here, right?
- Yep. And you'll see.
Normally fer-de-lance are good solid venom producers.
Went light today, okay.
Sometimes the snake's gonna give us
only a small amount of her venom, or his venom.
The big difference here
is you've heard the term milking snakes.
- Yes.
- In the old days they used to press on those venom glands.
They'd squeeze that snake's head.
We don't do that.
We just allow the snake to bite
and give us what he's gonna give us voluntarily
and sometimes they don't give us a lot of venom.
Remember venom to the snake is precious.
These are defensive bites
and he really has venom to obtain his food.
Great job on the body.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- So I'm gonna go back into the cage now
but even that little bit,
you're looking at about a hundred milligrams
of dry weight there.
That's absolutely probably multiple lethal doses of it.
- Wow.
- Good, beautiful job Coyote.
- Good if I let go?
- Yep, perfect job.
Thank you.
(Coyote exhales)
- Did you hear that?
So just that amount of venom,
not even a full venom yield,
capable of killing multiple people when it's at dry weight.
Now Carl, question for you.
- [Carl] Yes?
- [Coyote] What is this venom going to do to your body?
- So the little thing in your bloodstream
that allows platelets to stick to it and clot
is actually being broken apart
by some of these venoms.
It's being lysed into pieces.
And so that net there, that clotting net,
that's going to allow the platelets to stick to it
is being destroyed.
And so all of a sudden
you're beginning to hemorrhage.
You're beginning to bleed.
You go into shock, you've got all kinds of fluid problems.
Your kidneys are beginning to fail because you've got all
these things floating around in your bloodstream
that shouldn't be there.
And of course like all pit viper bites,
lanceheads swell and they destroy tissues,
something they call metalloproteinases.
So it's a messy snake bite.
It's a painful snake bite.
They often result in amputations
because of a delay in treatment or no treatment.
So you'll see people missing fingers
or even bigger parts of their body with these guys.
So it's a dangerous snake.
- It is serious business if you're a bitten
so you have to admire this snake from a safe distance.
Now the next thing - - Yes.
- that we want to do is take this venom
and mix it together with blood.
Of course, my blood.
And this time in less of a rudimentary situation
and we're going to put it underneath the microscope
and see if we can see
some of those blood cells breaking down.
- That sounds excellent.
You're stepping up your experiment a little bit.
We really applaud that
and as you said,
maybe we'll get lucky
and we'll be able to see some of these toxins
at work under a microscope.
- Okay stay tuned guys.
The next part of this episode