- Behind me, we've got a bunch of alligators,
what looks like a giant swimming pool,
and the crew and I are going to get in
and see if we can get some up-close underwater shots.
Get ready guys.
The Brave crew and I are going swimming with gators.
(tribal music)
(alligator hissing)
The endless expanse of swampy sawgrass fields
stretch on for miles,
making the South Florida Everglades
one of the most unique habitats on our planet.
If you choose to set out on foot,
it is likely that in very little time at all,
you will become lost in this maze of chaos
that is home to one of the most feared reptilian predators,
the American alligator.
These prehistoric-looking creatures
have been on our planet since the days
when dinosaurs ruled the earth.
Yet they managed to survive beyond the mass extinction
of their ancient relatives.
I have worked with alligators in the past.
From catching a 10-foot, 300-pound specimen
with my bare hands
to intentionally placing my arm inside upon its mouth,
it's safe to say that I have had my close encounters.
However, one style of encounter is yet to be had.
I'm going to submerge in to a pool filled with alligators
and swim alongside them.
Today, we are working at the Everglades Outpost,
a wildlife sanctuary that is home
to a number of intimidating alligators.
In order to capture this episode on camera,
we will be working under the guidance
and expertise of Chris Gillette.
For well over a decade,
Chris has been working with animals of all shapes and sizes,
yet he specializes in crocodilians.
He also happens to be close friends
with Brave Wilderness wildlife biologist, Mario Aldecoa.
And together, they have spent years working
to educate the public about
these oftentimes misunderstood reptiles.
Okay, now for me and of course for you Mark,
this is the first time we will ever swim with alligators.
But Mario and Chris have an incredible amount of experience.
They've been swimming with alligators
and crocodiles for several years.
Now, Mario and Chris go way back together.
They've been working together since what?
Pretty much childhood right? - Yep.
- Best buddies? - Yep.
Best buddies in reptiles.
And you guys are just surveying the pond or swimming pool,
I guess is you would call it at the moment.
What do we know, is it safe to get in the water?
- Safe enough.
- Safe enough says Chris who swims
with alligators all the time.
Now, I'm gonna admit guys, I'm a little nervous.
Being on land and catching an alligator,
I feel like I'm in control but actually getting in
to their realm beneath the surface is definitely new.
So I'm gonna trade in the cowboy hat today
for a dive mask and some flippers.
We're gonna see if we can get some epic up-close shots.
I am always the first to admit
when filming an episode makes me nervous.
And in my mind, all I could see were flashes
of the alligator feeding frenzy
that we also recently captured on camera.
So I'm sure that you can understand
why I felt that swimming in a pool of them
was borderline crazy.
Yet despite my hesitation,
I fully trust Chris and Mario.
So we geared up in our wetsuits, powered on our GoPros,
and prepared to enter into the realm of gators.
(suspenseful music)
- All right.
We're good to go.
- How you guys doing?
- [Mark] Good.
- Good so far, right?
- [Coyote] Yes.
So now the play is to get some more
of the alligators in to the water right?
- That's right.
So once the alligators disperse throughout the pond,
you now have to be aware of where you're stepping.
You might be focused on an alligator that's in front of you
but accidentally back in to an alligator
that's right next to you.
Just be aware of your surrounding, slow, calm movements.
- Yeah you don't want to be looking at Casper on the surface
and accidentally put your foot
in the mouth of the one on the bottom.
- You guys ready?
- [Coyote] Let's do it.
Let's get the gators in the water.
The American alligator is widely considered
to be the most dangerous, nonvenomous reptile
in the United States.
And while attacks do occasionally happen on humans,
they are rarely fatal and are often a result
of mistaken identity.
Their primary and preferred prey includes fish,
other reptiles, amphibians, birds, and small mammals.
- So this is Casper, he is very nice, very calm
but like we were saying before,
even a little bit of a splash
can get him to pop up and bite.
And then if I'm nice and calm and gentle,
get my leg a little bit,
but I could still hold him up, hang out with him.
And he's looking for food right now,
that's not defensively trying to bite.
He's hoping to bump in to something edible.
You see if I hold him up,
he's actually nice, calm, relaxed
but again, if you
(sputters)
make a splash, he goes right for the splash.
That's why it's so important,
see we got this one's attention, too.
You gotta be nice and calm in here.
- So now am I able to touch him?
What would happen
if I come in and sorta-- - Yeah, yeah,
you could totally touching him.
You just don't want to be splashing.
And when you look at the side of the face,
those little black dots, the integumentary sensory organs,
that's what's super sensitive to movement, to sensation.
So if you touch those little black dots.
- [Mario] You better watch it Coyote.
- Big snout swinging around at you,
yeah, he said, yeah, all right,
you made contact, back off a little bit.
Wow, so cool being able to just touch an alligator
in a calm setting like this.
You need to see how laid-back this creature's demeanor is.
Now obviously in the wild,
nobody would ever want to get in to a pond or a lake
with an alligator and get this close.
- I've known Casper here for over 10 years.
Him and I have worked personally together,
so I understand his behavior really well,
but he's still a wild animal.
That time spent does not mean he's tame,
he's not my friend, and I mean, as you can see,
if I accidentally swing my arm the wrong way,
he's gonna try to bite me,
just like any other wild alligator would.
- I'm gonna get some cool shots
right under his mouth like that.
That's cool, now Chris do you think
if you do that slapping motion,
we can get him sort of bite towards the camera?
- Oh, absolutely.
- All right, let's see if we can get that to happen.
- You ready? - Yep.
(water splashing)
Alligators rely on their ability
to feel vibrations in the water
and also their keen sense of hearing
to detect that a possible food source is nearby.
So as we move through the water,
it was important to glide quietly
so as to not mimic their typical prey.
In clear water, alligators can see rather well,
allowing them to distinguish
that we were humans and not prey.
So as a result, their behavior was rather skittish.
All right, so we're gonna try
something pretty interesting here.
Chris, you said you can actually call in one
of these alligators, right?
- Yeah, so I've done some name training with them
and having them associate their name with getting fed
and so there's a smaller one,
you met Casper he's the big guy,
there's a smaller one named Saw, I'm gonna call over.
We name this one Saw
'cause his face kinda looks like a saw blade,
the teeth kinda stick out, so.
- That's fitting.
Okay, here we go guys.
We're gonna actually bring an alligator
right up to the cameras.
Whenever you're ready. - Saw.
Saw.
Here she comes.
- Look at that.
- Right through us. - Speeding straight toward us.
- [Chris] It's a good girl.
Watch out Mario, it's coming straight for you.
(suspenseful music)
- [Coyote] Wow, look at that Chris.
That is cool.
So is that her expecting to be fed?
- [Chris] Yes.
- [Coyote] And then coming in to the situation,
obviously didn't feed her, so she said,
oh, nothing for me, I'm gonna move on.
She's still curious, you can see she's still coming back
in to the shot, diving beneath the surface.
Do they ever get agitated if you call them in
to eat something and there's nothing there to be had?
- I don't like to do that.
Watch your back, Mark.
He was coming over to give you a little nibble there.
- Hey, well, that's why we have a team, right?
- That's when the attack comes,
not from the front but from the sides.
- [Mario] Never the one you're looking at.
- [Chris] Yep.
- By this point, I had certainly grown comfortable
being in a pool of gators.
And while we certainly had to stay on guard,
we all took the opportunity
to get some epic underwater shots.
The grace of a gator is truly something to admire
as in the water these massive reptiles
almost appear to be weightless.
With their short stout legs pressed close
against their scaly bodies,
they propel themselves forward with strong muscular tails.
From beneath the surface,
it's easy to see how these apex predators
are capable of silently moving in
on any unsuspecting prey item.
All right guys, well that was pretty epic.
We spent the afternoon swimming with the American alligator
and the good news is none of us were eaten.
- That's right, yeah. - It's actually pretty safe.
- Fun.
Well Chris, thank you so much for leading this expedition.
Mario, amazing work as always.
Mark, you got some good shots?
- [Mark] Sure did, that was amazing.
- Yeah, this episode is gonna definitely turn
in to something pretty cool.
I'm coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
All right guys, time to dry off.
Getting the chance to enter
and fully submerge in a body of water
that was teeming with alligators
is not exactly the kind of reptilian encounter
you would ever imagine possible.
Yet under watchful eyes and with expert guidance,
this episode helped us prove
that alligators are not bloodthirsty man killers.
For generations, humans have feared these massive reptiles
but the good news is that crocodilian experts,
like Chris and Mario are constantly working
to educate the public about these animals
so that they are viewed with respect and understanding
as opposed to fear.
The American alligator is truly King of the Everglades.
And unless you are working with an expert, never approach,
and certainly never enter a body of water
with one of these formidable predators.
The safest encounter you can have
is to simply admire them from a safe distance.
If you thought swimming with alligators was intense,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where we took a bucket of rotting meat
and created an alligator feeding frenzy.
And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
(water splashing)
(animals howling and chirping)