- Hold this, hold this, hold this, hold this.
I cautiously slipped from the boat and into the water.
My heart was racing
as I found myself directly in the reptile's escape route.
This was unbelievably dangerous
and if it charged, an attack was likely inevitable.
I took a deep breath and with a steady hand,
I slowly fed the pole in between the reeds.
For many years, people have asked,
if I could catch any animal, what would it be?
And my answer was always the same,
a Spectacled Caiman.
Got it, got it!
Nobody move!
I am lassoed together with a Spectacled Caiman.
(intense jungle music)
Our journey began in a small village
along the Sierpe River.
We were about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime,
and one that I personally have been dreaming about
for many years.
Alright, four guys, two crew,
out into the darkness to find caiman.
This is gonna be epic.
Led by a team of local experts,
we headed out with the mission of finding
and safely catching, one of the most iconic crocodilians
in the world.
So right now we are just scanning the embankments
for signs of caiman.
What we're looking for are any slides
where they came up during the day and were basking.
Normally these creatures are pretty territorial,
especially the males.
So if we can find some slides,
that means there's a good chance
we'll find these animals at night.
This is so cool.
Under the fading glow of daylight,
we traveled several miles up river,
leading into a remote area that our guide said
would be ideal for locating caiman.
I was excited.
Hopefully we were going to have several chances
at catching one of these reptilian predators.
A common practice used by many crocodilian research teams,
is to catch these reptiles with pole snares.
It's a method I have been taught in the past,
and am now getting a chance to test myself.
Using a bamboo pole, rope, duct tape,
and a simple wire snare,
we carefully constructed the catching device.
This is completely safe for the animal
and in no way will cause it any harm.
- We got a caiman.
- [Coyote] Perfect.
- [Cameraman] Alright Coyote, so now we wait.
- Now we wait.
We wait for the sun to go down.
I am pretty excited.
I have been to Costa Rica,
this is now my fourth time here
and this is the first opportunity that we have had
to actually go after caiman.
This is my favorite crocodilian species
and even catching a small one tonight,
I would be ecstatic about that,
but hopefully we can find one that's close to six feet.
Now at a maximum, they grow to about eight feet in length.
Odds of finding one of those, we'll see,
I'm feeling pretty lucky.
So we're gonna head down this main channel of the river,
look for some off-shoots, head up in there
and hopefully manage to catch one of these guys.
Caiman are primarily nocturnal.
So as the last glimmer of light faded into darkness,
the stage was set.
Our spotlights methodically drifted
along the muddy river banks.
We were in search of eye shine,
which is the reflection of light in a crocodilian's eyes.
And it wasn't long before we had a target in our sights.
Well, there's an American crocodile right there.
Not what we're looking for, but we've seen
a bunch of crocs now.
Look at this, he's gonna head toward the water.
There it goes, it's a little guy.
Man if we could just find a caiman of that size,
that'd be perfect.
To come across an American Crocodile
is certainly amazing,
however, it was simply the wrong reptile.
So we headed deeper into the night.
Time and time again we saw eye shine in the distance,
yet as soon as we drew near, like a phantom,
the animal had disappeared.
Then finally, one of our guides spotted eye shine
deep in the reeds.
This could be our chance.
I held my breath as we slowly drifted in toward the shore
and sure enough, it was a caiman.
Hold this, hold this, hold this, hold this.
- [Man] Just a second.
- [Cameraman] Mario, go get your camera.
- [Coyote] Got it, got it!
- [Man] Nice! - [Coyote] I got the back
of its body.
Hold on a second, it's really slippery.
- [Man] That is a big caiman. - [Coyote] It's slippery
I got the back of it's body.
Nobody move, I'm gonna jump it.
Nobody move.
Got a shot at it?
- [Man] Yep.
- [Coyote] Hold tight, hold tight.
- [Man] Got the rope?
- [Coyote] I got the rope, I got the rope.
I am tangled up with the caiman, you got a shot?
- [Man] Yep, I got a shot.
- [Coyote] Hold on.
One, two, three.
Got it, yes!
- [Man] That is a huge caiman!
- [Coyote] Holy mackerel, okay.
I'm gonna need your help Mario.
I need you to wrap, I need you to wrap its snout.
- [Man] Wow, what a gorgeous caiman.
- [Coyote] Alright, I'm going to
get his mouth closed, hold on, hold on, hold on.
Close the eyes?
Got him.
Okay, there we go.
Tape the snout.
This is definitely a caiman that needs its snout taped.
This could take off a hand.
Yes, there we go.
Whoa, this is about as big
as we could have hoped for tonight.
- [Man] Okay, we're gonna put it up front.
- [Cameraman] Careful, careful, careful, careful.
Don't get whacked.
- [Coyote] Hold on, we're losing it,
we're losing it, we're losing it.
- [Man] Grab, grab.
- [Cameraman] You alright?
- [Coyote] Yep.
- [Cameraman] Everybody okay?
- [Coyote] Incredible amount of power.
Tangled in this underbrush,
I am lassoed together with
a Spectacled Caiman right now.
This is unbelievably exciting.
Wow, there's nothing like getting covered in mud
to catch a reptile like this.
An absolute prized specimen,
look at that tail.
This thing is a beast.
- [Man] Oh watch your face.
Watch your face. - [Cameraman] Wait, wait, wait
- [Man] Smacked you?
- [Coyote] Yeah, little bit.
- [Cameraman] You alright?
- [Coyote] He's still got a lot of fight in him.
- [Man] Okay, there you go.
Watch your face, there you go.
There you go.
- [Coyote] Yes, there we go.
Told ya, a lot of fight still.
Coming up.
Yes, yes!
Okay, the animal is up on the boat and under control.
We need to bring it into the center of the boat
so it doesn't throw us off of here.
- [Man] So everybody back up, back up, back up, back up.
- [Coyote] (laughs)
One shot at snaring this reptile,
I was moving so slow and trying to be so quiet.
Great job, guys, keeping the lights right on its eyeballs,
kept it stunned, in place.
This thing is beautiful.
It almost knocked out my tooth,
but we have it up on the boat.
It is very robust, wow.
So much more powerful than an American Crocodile
of this size.
Okay let's bring in some water,
we're gonna actually clean the caiman off
so you guys can see it better.
Go ahead, come on in with the water.
There we go, I'll get you washed off here buddy.
Get you all cleaned up nice, oh yes.
Now the name Spectacled Caiman comes
from these two ridges right here in the center of the head.
And if I point him straight at you,
it almost looks as if it is wearing spectacles or glasses.
Can you see that?
- [Cameraman] Yeah, you can see the bridge
right between the eyes, it's awesome.
- [Coyote] It's beautiful.
Now scientists oftentimes say,
this kind of looks like an Allosaur,
both Allosaurs and Ceratosaurs have these ridge bones,
these prehistoric creatures.
And an animal like this has been on the planet
since the time of the dinosaurs.
Now we do have to keep tape on the jaws
'cause a crocodilian of this size could take off a hand,
but I love them because they almost have
these fangled looking teeth.
Can you see that?
These front ones and look, you even have one
- [Coyote] that's sticking up there right from the snout.
[Cameraman] Two.
- [Coyote] Can you see two?
Oh yeah, that one's just a little bit smaller.
Now as compared to a crocodile or an alligator,
the eyelids are much more bony.
Watch this, it does have a nictitating membrane.
Check this out, I'll close it's eye.
Ready, one, two, three.
There it goes.
You see that?
- [Cameraman] I did.
- Yeah that's the nictitating membrane.
Now they use that when they're underwater
to help block any residual debris from plants
or anything that they attack from scraping their eyeball.
Look at this, this is cool, right there.
You see that little spot?
That's its ear flap.
It has an ear right there.
They have, believe it or not, pretty good hearing
and excellent eyesight, especially at night.
And lets look at this animal's back.
The osteoderms are incredible.
The Spectacled Caiman has more armor plating
than an alligator or a crocodile.
And right here specifically on the back of the neck,
it is solid muscle and solid bone right there.
Wow, I am in complete awe of this animal.
And look at how robust it is, solid muscle.
Alright, I can't give him too much space
because at any second it could explode back in power.
And that's what crocodilians are famous for,
they rest up, they build up their energy,
and they make a go for it.
- [Cameraman] So he's filling up his energy right now.
- He is and that's why I'm like,
I can't get complacent at any second
because if he explodes into action,
he's gonna launch right off the boat,
might take me with him.
We are tethered to the boat,
we do still have the noose wrapped around
the lower half of his body,
but we have to be extra careful.
Now males tend to be bigger than the females
and I would say this one is of about average size.
But this is a little trick that I learned
from Mike and Chris.
Last year working with American Crocodiles,
I'm going to sex the caiman.
- [Cameraman] Now what are you doing?
- I'm feeling for the cloaca.
There it is.
That would be a boy ladies and gentlemen,
and one healthy boy at that.
You can see how robust this animal is,
which tells me that the ecosystem
is also incredibly healthy.
That means there are big fish, there are big frogs,
there are snakes.
This is an opportunistic predator.
Anything that it can get those massive jaws on,
is fair game.
- [Cameraman] Man you have some mud on your face.
- Do I?
- [Cameraman] Oh yeah.
- Oh man, this is about the muddiest I've gotten
since the Smokey Jungle Frog I think.
- [Cameraman] Yeah.
This may be the muddiest you've ever been.
- It may be--
- [Cameraman] Wait 'til you see this.
- Oh I committed everything I had
to catching this reptile.
If it had gotten away, I would have never forgiven myself.
I know that you guys are watching right now
thinking to yourselves, wow, I cannot believe
you pulled that off.
And to be honest with you, I can't believe I did either.
This is a full-grown adult.
Let me just try to give you a look at the full body there,
because I've been sitting on top of it.
Do you see that?
And the tail stretches all the way down
the side of the boat.
This is a beast.
I could not have caught a more perfect caiman
in my opinion.
Look at the hind limb here, look at that.
It's like holding the foot of a dinosaur
and in a sense I really am.
These reptiles have been on the planet
for well over a hundred million years.
They're an evolutionary giant.
Let's get some basic biometrics,
we have already sexed the reptile,
we do know that it is a male,
but for my own purposes I would love to know,
just exactly how long it is.
If somebody wants to just grab my backpack there,
I can get the measuring tape out.
Okay, here we go.
We're gonna go from the tip of the snout, right Mario?
That's how you guys do it with the crocs?
- [Man] Watch those teeth.
- [Coyote] I know, I know, this is very risky.
- [Mario] Go right down the ridge line.
- [Coyote] Okay, good.
Okay, hold the tail, hold the tail.
Okay, I got the back haunches under control.
- [Cameraman] Mario, once you get the measurement,
I want you to bring it back to the camera to show us.
- [Coyote] Okay, got it?
Go ahead and pull that out from between my legs.
- [Mario] Right at 59 inches.
- [Cameraman] So just about five feet.
- Wow, just about five feet.
This is incredible, this is a beast.
We could have searched for days
and not come across a five foot caiman.
Let alone one that was up on the embankment
that we were actually able to snare
and get up close for the cameras.
I'm absolutely beside myself right now.
Covered in mud, lucky to still have my tooth,
but there you have it ladies and gentlemen,
the Spectacled Caiman.
The one reptile that I have been just so eager
to catch and get in front of the cameras
for so many years now.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave,
stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
Oh that was awesome!
High fives, guys.
Mighty high fives, yes, oh man!
As we climbed from the boat
and stepped onto the muddy bank,
I could feel my time with this beautiful creature
coming to an end.
I carefully peeled the tape from its toothy snout
and then quickly jumped back
out of its strike zone.
And now when people ask,
what is the greatest animal you have ever caught,
I smile and say the Spectacled Caiman.
If you thought catching a caiman was intense,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where we pulled an enormous American Crocodile
from a drainpipe.
Yeah, he's biting the stick.
- [Cameraman] Okay, as long as it's the stick
and not your hand.
- [Coyote] And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew
on this season of Breaking Trail.