few places on our planet are as alive as
the country of ecuador
from its towering cloud forest
down to the amazon basin and all the way
out to the islands of the galapagos
this country stands as a pillar of hope
for the entire natural world
and as part of the non-fungible planet
campaign to celebrate earth day youtube
is sponsoring this video for an
expedition into this pristine
environment where we will get up close
with some of its most magnificent and
unusual wildlife
joining us on this adventure will be dr
lena valencia a renowned conservation
scientist and wildlife expert
lena has spent years conducting field
research throughout latin america on
many animal species ranging from
primates all the way down to amphibians
lena knows this environment well and
with any luck together we will uncover
brand new species never before seen on
video
after crossing the ridges of the andes
and navigating down the slopes of the
amazon we set out on foot to venture
deep into the heart of the rainforest
right away i was struck by the immense
beauty and diversity of this place
but right about the same time we were
also struck with the challenges in front
of us
we trekked miles through the jungle
crossing rivers and braving rainstorms
and mud to get to the edge of the
primary forest
here we waited for darkness because
while some creatures do make themselves
present by day
the best and most interesting only rome
under the cover of night
during the day there are diurnal animals
that means daytime wildlife but the best
time to find all the cool creatures that
call this rainforest home is at night
well you cannot come to the amazon and
not go night herping night hurting what
is night herpes so we're gonna turn our
head lumps on and then we're gonna start
walking through the forest to discover
all the cool creatures that we're gonna
see tonight frogs snakes really cool
insects awesome well i know i'm excited
this is our first trip to ecuador for
brave wilderness you've been here a few
times so i'm gonna let you lead the way
let's turn our flashlights on and head
off into the rainforest
[Music]
what the guys oh
lee
cow
look
at the size of that katie did
that's the biggest one
i have ever seen lina it is strong it is
like taking all my finger strength just
to hold on to it look at those legs kick
away now i would attempt to let it rest
on my hand if it weren't for
those massive
mandibles in the front
it will absolutely
slice your skin open like a razor sharp
knife
make no mistake about it these katydids
are fierce
and if you've seen all the leaves around
here that have holes in them see all
these holes
that's due
to these creatures just munching away
eating the plant leaves
hole by hole leaf by leaf
wow
with over 6 400 species katie did come
in a variety of shapes and sizes and
while they are called the longhorn
grasshopper they are actually more
closely related to crickets including
this giant leaf katie did and you can
see the camouflage here let's hold it up
to a leaf right here
look at how well
it blends in
with the leaves here
absolutely superior camouflage
i mean
lina
that that's a leaf
like it has even the veins that i
believe you normally have yeah
so it is so incredibly strong
for an insect look at it's just ripping
holes in the leaf
as we're trying to take it off look at
the abdomen pulsate underneath there and
this can fly you want to hold it lena no
that's fine
okay well
let's get a couple more shots and then
we're going to put this
monstrous katie did right back on the
leaf which i found it
wow
as exciting as it is to explore these
environments there are many potential
hazards
like venomous snakes lurking on the
ground and spiny plants all the way up
to the canopy
so proceeding with extreme caution is a
must
all right let's get the cameras in close
you see this
lena just spotted this stick insect and
it is super spiky
here you go lina
oh man
that is so cool
oh yeah
it's almost like a stick insect version
of the thorny devil that we saw in
australia
besides its incredible appearance i'm
already amazed
by its three
unique defense mechanisms the first
one's pretty obvious stick insect master
of camouflage
defense mechanism number two lina why
don't you tell us how spiky this stick
insect is pretty pretty spiky over here
that's right i'm gonna try it ah
yeah
if you were to try to forcefully grab it
you would get a handful of spines and it
would not feel good
let's move on to the third defense
mechanism
look at how much
that rear abdomen looks like the head of
a snake
almost like a dragon look how it curls
almost like a scorpion
that is a false head and is another
defense mechanism so a would-be predator
would actually go after the wrong side
of the insect giving it one last chance
of escape
more than 3 000 species of stick insect
inhabit our planet and to add a fourth
defense to its arsenal this spiny stick
insect actually has the ability to
produce a noxious odor that is
impossible to ignore you guys can't
smell it but there's a very strong smell
yeah it smells
almost like bug spray i think that's the
best way i could describe it a very
unique smell not a smell i've ever
encountered before
wow you never know what you're going to
see when you come out night herping in
ecuador but i certainly
never in my wildest dreams
expected a creature like this
all right lena great spot why don't you
do the honors
and put this one back on its leaf oh man
that's so cool
[Music]
oh look there's a monkey tree frog here
oh yeah can you see it
it blends so well with the leaf yeah
they're called monkey tree because
right now they're not moving but when
they move they look like a monkey moving
through through the forest are they
nocturnal yeah they're nocturnal and
right now you think it's sleeping but
it's not it's actually because it sensor
presence so they get still and they're
like that defensive mechanism and if i
was to grab it like they would like curl
into and play dead and that's how they
defend from predators wow yeah you can
actually see
even since we walked up here it's gotten
a lot darker
so is there any way to show everyone
what this defense yeah yeah cause i i've
heard about i've actually never seen one
of these so can you see how it's
crawling that's like a defense mechanism
when it's disturbed
wow do you see when it was in the tree
it was like not as cold as it is right
now so it's plain possum it's playing
dead yeah and actually some of these
frogs when you touch them they change
color and release some toxins oh really
as well that if they're like they won't
be poisonous in my hand but if like i
put it on my eye i will be struggling
after we placed the frog back on its
leaf we spotted another one on a nearby
branch so here's a much livelier
perspective nice little leaf frog nice
job lean a good spot all right let's
keep moving
among the maze of vines and other
vegetation we search slowly and
carefully because many things in this
jungle are not as obvious as they might
appear
whoa what is this
is that a toad yeah that's actually a
leaf toad can you tell why
oh yeah oh my goodness see if i can pick
it up right on its leaf look how it
camouflages so well with the leaf yeah
you can definitely make out the paratoy
glands and see the uh
the bumps all over the surface of the
skin
definitely a toad
i'm speechless
this is an unbelievable find have you
seen one of these before lena i have
seen leaf toads before but not
particularly this one i i'm in awe look
at how beautiful the eye is
while many species of amphibians utilize
superior camouflage here in ecuador some
of them are actually very toxic and
display brilliant colorations as is seen
in poison dart frogs and the world's
rarest and most colorful jewel of the
rainforest the harlequin toad
hi
thanks for hanging out with us and you
know i noticed that a lot of species out
here in latin america they're not really
flighty they do rely on their defense
mechanisms
for better for worse that's what they're
going with yep
not afraid of you because he will attack
so there you have it that is one
super
camouflaged but cool amphibian and lena
i think this is a great way to call to
wrap here of our exploration of ecuador
thank you so much for having us welcome
you've shown us so many cool animals i
hope everybody at home has appreciated
this look into this beautiful ecosystem
i'm mark vins i'm lena valencia be brave
rewild we'll see you on the next
adventure all right ready to go back out
see you later
we'd like to extend a special thank you
to dr lena valencia and ngos like
rewild.org who make the conservation and
sustainability of places like this their
primary mission
and thank you again to youtube for
making this adventure possible and
sponsoring this exciting exploration to
celebrate the beauty and wonder of our
planet
exploring ecuador was an absolute dream
come true
youtube is supporting rewild to protect
our planet's most vital ecosystems and
save endangered wildlife and you can
help too by embracing the wild where you
live
check out rewild's handy toolkit in the
link in the description below and start
taking action right at home