(dramatic music)
- [Coyote] Mario, you sift around these two containers.
Again, I'm not even sure which frog is inside
of which container.
- All right, I'm going to attempt to grab
one of these frogs right now.
Oh buddy, you don't know what it is in store for you.
- [Coyote] All right, you ready?
- [Mario] Yep.
(man groaning)
(dramatic music)
(lion roars)
- Over the years, I have performed
a number of seemingly-crazy experiments.
Look at that!
Where I've put my body up against stings,
bites, puke fruits, spiky plants,
and even natural hot springs.
Today I find myself in Ashland, Kentucky.
I would say it's one of the most beautiful locations
we have ever visited in the eastern half
of the United States.
And while I could go on with several poetic lines,
cut with epic drone shots,
let's get right down to business.
Because you guys all showed up
to see a poisonous frog taste test.
In front of me, there are two containers.
Inside of one of them is a pickerel frog.
Inside the other is a leopard frog.
Now, to the naked eye, these two frog species
are nearly identical.
There are a few distinct differences
but the biggest one is that the pickerel frog
is poisonous and the leopard frog is not.
Now, I've caught these frog species before
in the wild and I'll be honest, even myself,
who's somebody that catches a lotta frogs
and is really good at identifying species
has a real difficult time differentiating
between a leopard frog and a pickerel frog.
Their body design is almost exactly the same.
They have large eyes, the skin is green
or brownish in coloration
and they have black spots all over their bodies,
not to mention the two gold ridges
that run down the length of the back.
Now, the biggest difference visually
is that the pickerel frog has a rather uniform pattern
of spots that typically tend to be squarish in design.
The leopard frog's spots are much more circular
and completely randomly placed.
However, with frog species,
the pattern often times varies
and unless you have the two frogs side by side,
it is almost impossible to tell them apart.
Now, there's an old herpetologists' trick
that when they're in the field,
if they don't have these two frogs side by side
and they wanna tell the difference,
they actually taste the frog.
Now, I've never licked either one of these frogs before
and my goal today is to determine whether or not
this frog taste test actually works.
So if you guys are ready, I'm Coyote Peterson
and this is the poisonous frog taste test.
Mario, are you ready?
- [Mario] Let's do it.
- [Coyote] Warning, amphibians carry toxins in their skin
that can be dangerous and sometimes fatal to humans.
Never lick or consume one of these animals.
- Okay, so what are we gonna do?
You're gonna stick your tongue out
and then I'm gonna place the frog next to your tongue?
- Hold the frog by its back legs
and then turn its back toward me
and essentially rub the frog's back on my tongue.
So I will turn to the side like this
for the frog that's on this side.
And do this and then you'll just wipe the frog
on my tongue.
- Wipe his butt on your tongue?
- Like his back, the back of the frog,
and then we will turn this direction
for the other frog and I'll do the same thing.
In between each frog,
I'll swish out my mouth with water
to cleanse my palate.
I don't wanna swallow any of that water.
I don't wanna get those toxins down
into my digestive tract.
- You should actually just cleanse your palate real quick
with some water.
- Okay.
- [Mario] There you go.
Okay.
- Clean and ready to lick a frog.
(suspenseful music)
- [Mario] Oh, okay, okay.
Got one.
- Okay.
So I'm going to turn like this.
You lemme know when you've got the frog
in the right position.
- Oh buddy, you don't know what is in store for you.
All right, stick your tongue out.
- All right guys, here we go.
This is me tasting the first frog.
Will it be the pickerel frog,
will it be the leopard frog
and can I taste the difference between the two?
All right, you ready?
- [Mario] Yep.
- All right, one, two...
(man groaning)
- I'm sorry, buddy. (peaceful music)
- It just tastes like slimy.
Wet and slimy, I'm not bein' able to taste anything yet.
I do taste a little bit of something.
Lemme get some water.
'Cause I just wanna get the frog slime outta my mouth.
- [Mario] Here you go.
Oh, yep.
- Okay, so, definitely cold, definitely slimy.
Tastes a little pond-y, I guess,
almost like a pond smells.
Just a little earthy, I would say.
All right, so I'm gonna turn this direction
for the next frog.
- Okay.
- Let's see if I can determine the difference.
Now, if I had to guess at this point
based on what I tasted, I would say
that was a leopard frog
just because I didn't experience anything
just like (groans) I wanna spit it out.
- I'm gonna attempt to grab the next frog.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- Whoa.
This one is jumpy.
- Okay, here we go.
I am about to lick the second frog.
Will I taste anything different than the first frog
and will I be able to determine whether or not
this is the pickerel or the leopard frog?
Here we go.
All right Mario, are you ready?
- Yep.
- One, two, three.
(man groans)
- Okay?
(suspenseful music)
- I really don't, lemme have one more taste.
- Oh God.
I'm sorry, froggy.
- I don't taste anything bitter to be honest with you so.
- Oh man.
- Tryin' to feel if there's any like numbness
in my tongue or my lips.
Maybe...
A little bit.
A little bit, I would say that tastes a little flowery.
Almost like a flower smells.
Not sharp, not sour.
I'm gonna get some water
to wash out my mouth, just in case.
I feel a little tingling in my lips, I gotta say.
Wow, I'm gonna be completely honest, it's hard to tell
but given the fact that my lips do feel
a little numb, I'm gonna say that this is the pickerel frog
and this is the leopard frog.
I taste what seems like almost chewing on a flower
with this frog but I wouldn't say it's bitter
and I wouldn't say it's sharp.
It's just a little bit of sweetness
and this one just kinda tasted like moss.
So, I'm gonna take the blindfold off.
Oh, somethin' might be happenin' to my lip.
Back to daylight.
That's 100% the pickerel frog right there.
My lip feels weird.
My lip is definitely startin' to feel weird.
I don't feel anything on my tongue
but I definitely feel something on my lip
so the pickerel frog
and the toxins that are in its skin,
to my taste buds, do not taste bitter.
And I definitely feel like my lip is numb,
almost like it's not.
Like when you get Novocaine if you're going
to the, my lip is totally like going numb right now.
That's so weird.
Okay, there's definitely some toxins in the skin
of the pickerel frog.
That's so weird.
Not so much taste as much as it is a feeling.
Does my lip look any different?
- [Mario] No man, looks the same.
- That's so weird.
I definitely am having some numbness going on
in my lower lip where, not so much on my tongue,
just on the front of my lip
and I would definitely say that the toxins
in the pickerel frog are more apparent
than the taste of a leopard frog.
That's actually really strange.
Okay, well there you have it.
The poisonous frog taste test,
I would say has allowed me to determine
that the pickerel frog definitely has some sort
of reaction on the inside of my mouth.
The leopard frog, I felt absolutely nothing at all
but it's probably important to note
that the frog is going to secrete more toxin
when it really feels as if it's in danger
so if a predator comes in and attempts
to bite that frog, if it sustains any sort of an injury,
those toxins are likely to be secreted in more force.
So, while we try to put as little stress
on the frog as possible, I'm sure it didn't wanna get licked
by Coyote Peterson so I may not have gotten the full effect
that you could get if you were
to chomp on one of these frogs
which brings me back to my warning
that I gave everyone earlier.
Never attempt to lick or eat any amphibian species.
Many of them do carry toxins in their skin
and some of them can even be fatal.
So there you have it, the poisonous frog taste test
has determined that I am able
to tell the difference between a pickerel frog
and a leopard frog based on taste and numbness,
not sight at all.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild.
We'll see ya on the next adventure.
I think I'm ready for an ice cream cone.
Those frogs did not taste pleasant.
I will always be the first to admit
that there is an absurdity to some
of the experiments I have performed
on the Brave Wilderness channel.
Licking a frog definitely falls
into the categories of absurd, ridiculous, and,
let's be honest, pretty hilarious.
Lemme have one more taste.
But you did learn some pretty cool things
about two very unique frogs, didn't you?
In reality, you can properly identify these frogs
by closely examining their field marks
if you have the species side by side.
While there's clearly a taste test difference between them,
I think it's probably in the best interest of frogs
and humans if we simply admire these amphibians
without putting them in our mouths.
Hey Coyote Pack, if you enjoyed this amphibious experiment,
make sure to go back and watch the episode
where I milk the poison from an invasive cane toad.
(Coyote groans)
Gross!
And don't forget to join memberships
so you can access a world of behind-the-scenes content
from me and the crew.
That sticky white substance,
that is the poison that you need to watch out for.
(coyote howls) (birds tweeting)