- [Coyote] Oh, snake, snake, snake right here!
(wildcat growls)
(intense music)
- [Narrator] Animal oddities have
always captured our attention,
and it seems that the more bizarre a species appears,
the more we as humans take time to stop and admire
those creatures that rarely find the spotlight.
The Brave Wilderness Channel has always taken pride
in its ability to get the Coyote Pack excited about animals
like giant ink spewing slugs,
alien-looking slimy salamanders
and nightmarish tooth-wielding worms.
If it looks like a creature from the Upside Down,
you guys absolutely love it.
Today we are exploring an ancient forest of towering trees
located in the Tottori Prefecture of Japan.
Considered the least human populated area in the country,
this environment is rich with animal bio-diversity.
From amphibians such as tree frogs.
- Look at the black mask running down
both sides of the face.
It's so cute.
- [Narrator] To slithering predators like rat snakes.
- [Man] I have a four line rat snake, a very bitey one.
- [Narrator] The reason this location has such an
abundance of animal activity, aside from its lack of human
encroachment, is largely due to its
life-giving levels of saturation.
Not only does crystal clear mountain water
flow completely unobstructed by man,
but the forests are also dense with vegetation
like ferns and mosses.
Ultimately, this yields the perfect combination of
environmental factors to support and keep hidden creatures
you wouldn't normally find anywhere else in the world.
And sometimes the best way to discover the unseen
is to simply look in the places that keep such creatures
hidden from sight.
- Oh, snake, snake, snake, right here.
Oh, look at that.
Mario, what is that?
What is that?
- [Mario] Let me see.
- What kind of snake is that?
- [Mario] Oh, that's a ground snake.
- A ground snake? - [Mario] Yeah.
- A Japanese ground snake.
- [Mario] It's pretty rare.
- Really? - [Mario] Yeah.
- Wow, okay.
Let's film something with this for sure.
Mark, we got a little ground snake.
Check that out, just underneath this log.
Flipped up the log.
Wow, non-venomous, right?
- [Mario] No, non-venomous.
- Sweet.
Wow, it almost looks like a rubber boa.
Look at that.
- [Mario] Nice.
- Okay, cool, let's bring it up here
off the side of this hill
and get it up close for the cameras.
Wow, what a fantastic find.
Now, this is the Japanese ground snake,
a species that is very seldom seen
because they're primarily fossorial.
As you guys know, fossorial means that
they live underground.
Now, when I flipped over that log and saw the snake,
at first I was like,
"Ah, it almost looks like a rubber boa."
It has a face that looks just like the head
of a rubber boa, and this is a very fragile species
so I don't wanna move it around a whole lot.
I want to try to keep it in one position.
This is a snake that needs to completely
stay out of sunlight.
In fact, if this snake were to find itself
out in the sunlight, it could die within
just a matter of hours.
Now, deep within the forest, this is the perfect location
to find a species like this.
You've got a lot of moisture.
You have a lot of leaf cover.
The perfect spot for a reptile like this to hide.
I know as I was walking around, I was saying,
"Man, I wish the sunlight was out
"so that it would bring out the snakes."
This is a snake that actually tries to avoid the sunlight.
Now, what's really cool is they have keeled scales,
and those scales are separated.
They don't overlap which gives it a beaded appearance.
And if you look at it from just the right angle,
it almost appears to be iridescent.
Watch this.
If I hold it up into the light,
Mario see if you can zoom in.
The snake is also semi-translucent.
Look at that.
You can see there's actually something
in its belly right there.
Looks like it's about the size of a small cricket
or maybe one of those little tree frogs that we've seen
jumping around.
Oh, that's cool.
We can see right inside of the snake.
Now, one way to easily identify this species,
let me turn it up in the air there.
Take a look at the black stripe
running down the dorsal side of the animal.
Wow, what a unique species.
Very tiny little eyes.
They probably have pretty poor eyesight,
only able to sense light and movement
because they rely on mainly on their tongue
to pick up chemicals within the environment.
Of course, they use that tongue to not only
detect predators but also to search for their prey.
Now, you may be asking yourself:
"Well, what does a tiny snake like this feast upon?"
Small amphibians and likely small insects.
Nothing very big would be able to fit
into the mouth of this snake.
Well, this is pretty special.
Coming here to the snake temple,
we managed to find one of the rarest snake species
we could have possibly come across:
the one and only Japanese ground snake.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
- [Narrator] The Japanese ground snake is
arguably one of the rarest snake species
you can encounter in Japan,
and we were unbelievably lucky to have
found this forest treasure.
We gently placed the reptile back in the exact place
where we found it
and continued our exploration of this ancient land.
It appeared that flipping decomposing logs
was yielding fantastic results,
and it was only moments later
that we unveiled one of the strangest things
we have ever come across.
Stay tuned for the bizarre conclusion
as we get an alien-like creature up close for the cameras.
And don't forget: subscribe so you can join
me and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail.
(howling)