- Things don't always go according to plan,
and when it comes to catching lizards
this is often the case.
Now, it's fair to say that these reptiles are
considerably faster than I am.
However, I'd argue that they definitely are not smarter
than this Coyote.
Dang it, well, we know where he is.
It was time to call in Plan B, the man made monsoon.
Now in the desert, when huge monsoon rains pour down,
all these burrows flood which drives animals
up out of the ground.
We're going to pour gallons of water into this burrow
hopefully get the desert iguana to shoot out of there
and I'll be able to catch it.
It's gonna be tough, but we're not going to give up yet.
We sent our wildlife biologist, Mario, huffing across
the desert and back to our vehicle where he would retrieve
our emergency five gallon reserve of water.
I gotta sit here under this creosote bush
and watch the hole in case the lizard comes out.
This is literally a stakeout now.
Anything could be living in that hole,
so it makes me a little nervous just laying here.
But, that's my move, I guess I could sit here and practice.
Cause we're gonna get one shot, if we get these
gallons of water here and that lizard does pop
back up out of the burrow, if I don't get it
on the first try, we're not going
to have another shot at it.
45 minutes later and Mario returned with the water.
All right, we're back, bring it on in, Mario.
Mario has huffed across the desert and has
brought back with him, what is that, five gallons of water?
Five gallons.
If that doesn't get this iguana out of that burrow
you guys will have seen your first official miss
on Breaking Trail.
See, everybody's always asking, Coyote, do you always
catch the animals?
This is truly one of those instances where I think
we're release this episode even if I don't catch it.
Just because of how much work
we've gone through to try to get it.
Okay, you guys ready?
I'm gonna tip it and just kinda start to funnel it in there.
Ready, 1, 2, 3.
The method I am using to draw the iguana
up from this burrow simulates a completely
natural occurrence in the desert during monsoon season.
So this is in no way hurting the animal or the environment.
That's a lot of water.
Come on.
Something's moving.
Something's definitely coming up.
I can hear it.
Got him.
(whooping)
Did you guys see that?
Could you see his little head sticking up?
- [Mario] Oh man, your hand's dirty.
- Oh my gosh, my hand is shaking.
I didn't know when I should actually reach for him,
and we actually got it.
Can you guys believe that that just happened?
- [Mario] Oh my God, yeah.
- That may be the most impressive catch
I have ever pulled off in my life.
- [Mario] Did you think you were
actually going to catch him?
- I did not, I thought it was pretty hopeless.
As we sent Mario back to get that giant jug of water
literally sitting here for what, a good 45 minutes,
staring at the burrow nothing coming out
I figured it was connected to one of these other holes
and he was long gone.
But, sometimes, if you wait it out,
you can catch the desert iguana.
Now this is a lizard species that is very active
during the day, as you can see incredibly quick
as it jumped out of the creosote bush
and darted into a burrow.
And they're pretty docile, if you can manage to catch
one of these lizards, as you can see it's not trying
to bite me, it's really just hanging out at this point.
All right bring your camera in a little bit closer.
Look at the eyes of that lizard.
Now this is primarily a diurnal species,
which means that they're up during the day.
That's why they're so in tuned to everything
that's moving around in their environments.
The cryptic color pattern on this lizard
allows it to perfectly blend into these sandy environments.
And their bellies are incredibly smooth
which allows them to quickly scurry
across hot sand surfaces.
Now the desert iguana is related to the green iguana
which is native to Central and South America,
but here in the Southwest, this is the only iguana
that you're going to bump into.
Let's talk about this lizard's tail for a second.
Look at how long that is,
about twice the length of the body.
Now they use these tails to help them balance
in the trees when they're trying to eat the flowers
of the creosote bush but also when they're
on the ground and they're running.
They can almost lift their body just slightly
up off the sand and the tail works like a rudder
as it helps them navigate across the desert terrain.
And one of the coolest and grossest facts
about this lizard is that they don't only eat those
delicious little creosote bush flowers
they also eat the fecal pellets of other desert iguanas.
Do you guys know what a fecal pellet it?
That's a poop, you eat other desert iguana's poop.
The reason that they eat these fecal pellets
is to balance out the amount of cellulose
that is in their gut.
So gross, let me smell your breath.
It doesn't smell like he's been
eating any turds this morning.
Smells like he's been eating some creosote bush flowers.
Kinda gross, but also kinda neat at the same time.
Well, it certainly wasn't easy, but a little bit
of patience and five gallons of water and we managed
to catch ourselves one awesome desert iguana.
Time to get this little guy back into the wild
and see what else we can find out here
in the Sonoran Desert.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild,
we'll see you on the next adventure.
After the first miss, we definitely considered
throwing in the towel.
But with a little teamwork, we pulled it off.
And in the end, getting up close with the desert iguana
was totally worth the effort.
If you thought that was one wild adventure
check out the time I was captured by the collared lizard.
And don't forget, subscribe to join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.
Holy cow, all right, well those teeth are super sharp.
(coyote howls)