- I know you guys are
thinking right now, uh, can we see the lion's teeth? Yeah, we can see
the lion's teeth. You guys ready? (growling) (intense music) Since sunrise, the crew and
I have been on the search for Kariega Game
Reserve's pride of lions. Working in tandem with the
reserve protection agency, and a team of field
veterinarians, today's goal is to
safely tranquilize and collect biometric data
from these predatory cats. - Coyote, the other teams
got the lions over the hill. - A radio call from the
opposite side of the reserve delivered confirmation that
the lions had been located on a fresh kill. For the safety of the lions and the veterinarians
collecting data, the field team decided that all four of the cats
would be darted. So with everyone in position,
the final moment was upon us. And the only thing left for
Doctor Waldo Dreyer to do was hit his targets. Wow, those are some big cats. Let's get ready to dart. Here we go. Target right on
that female's rump. Ooh! Got one, got one. Nice shot. Wow, did you see them spring
into action like that? Okay, we thought that
maybe the lions would move off when we darted one
but you've got four lions. Three females and a young male? A young male, right? Wow, still an enormous cat. Alright, getting ready
for the second dart. Here we go, we've got the male coming up around
the backside here. (gun fires)
(growling) The upper forefront
of her chest. Go, go, go, go! No, not yet, not yet. Can't miss the females,
I must have a clear shot. It's super windy, though.
Could throw off the dart. Do not want to hit the
animal in the face. Here comes the shot. (growling)
Got 'em. Alright, the male
as been darted. One lion left. Wow, okay, we have three of
the lions darted at this point. Male and two females. One female still does not
have a dart in her, though. So we're trying to
move the vehicle to get in a better position. This is intense. Hold on guys. Be aware you've got a lion. Here we go, look at this
good shot, zoom in, zoom in. Got it! All lions have been darted. And they are all staring
at us now saying, "Okay, uh, what are you
guys doing out here?" Wow, that's intimidating. With all four cats
successfully darted, we watched from a safe distance. As one by one, they
succumb to the effects of the tranquilizer serum. Alright, now it's just
going to take a few minutes for the tranquilizer to set in. They'll tell us to get
out of the vehicles, we'll move in, get
that biometric data. Wow, my heart's
racing right now. How 'bout you? This is crazy. Time was of the essence, so the vet team needed
to move quickly. This meant that
as a camera team, we would have a very
limited window of time to capture an
up-close presentation with these sleeping carnivores. Given his iconic stature, I was beyond excited
to showcase the male. While in the background,
the veterinarians would be collecting the sought-after
biometric data from the females. In human terms, this procedure is comparable
to a check-up a the doctor. When it comes to lions, this includes pulling a small
hair sample from the tail, checking body length, paw
length, overall health, and lastly, microchip
identification. That is a big cat right
there, look at that. This other female
down right here. - [Cameraman] Hey, just lions
laying around everywhere. - Yeah, lions everywhere. Come on guys, these
lions are just asleep. None of these animals
are actually hurt. Here it is, here's the male. (powerful music) That is unbelievable
right there. This is the closest I have ever
been to a wild apex predator of this size. Oh, You can feel him breathing. Ah, beautiful animal. Now this creature is enormous and it is still a
sub-adult male lion. I wanna come on this side
just to show you this paw. You've got the mane. You can see his face is
covered up there, it is asleep. Look at the size of
this animal's paws. It's bigger than my
hand, that is crazy. And so heavy, so much
weight and so much muscle in the front
section of this cat. You guys wanna see
those claws, don't you? - [Cameraman] Oh yeah. - Ready for this? Hold on, let me
kinda sit down here. Get ready. That is impressive, right there. And these claws are
constantly growing throughout the course
of the animal's life. Now like all cats, they
have four toes up front. But also, a dew
claw on the side. You see that? - [Cameraman] Wow. - That is the key piece
of power right there. Because when they lunge
toward a water buffalo or a wildebeest
and they latch on, it's this claw
that hooks in place and makes sure that that
prey does not get away. And that's what they do, latch
on, and they go for the neck. Now the lion, believe it or not, does not have that
powerful of a bite force as compared to other big cats. Only somewhere between 600 and
900 pounds per square inch. But what they wanna do
is go for the trachea. You get the trachea, you're
cuttin' off the windpipe and that animal's
gonna suffocate. Now the males,
while they can hunt, aren't the ones that
are actually hunting. So while when we came
up on this pride, you see that they'd
taken down an impala. It's likely the females
that killed the impala but then the males will come
in and they will feast first. Wow, this cat is just
the coolest creature I have ever been around. Let's take a look at
its' head real quick. Look at the size of
the ears, massive ears. They're capable of moving
these individually. They have incredible
sense of hearing. Look at the mane of this
animal, it's so dense. And, oh, it smells
like South Africa. It smells like the Savannah. A little bit of grass,
and a little bit of sand. Now you look at this
mane and you think, well what is the purpose
of a mane on a lion, other than to have
an epic hairdo? And the purpose is
actually to protect them when they're fighting
to protect territory. All this dense fur, when
another male's rearing up, using its' claws and its' teeth, protects this lion's
throat and his face. Alright, you guys
ready for the reveal? - [Cameraman] Let's see it. - Okay, I'm gonna pull
this back very slowly. Let's see the lion's face. (gasps) There you are buddy. Oh my gosh, that is incredible. What a handsome
animal right there. Look at its' whiskers,
incredibly dense. I know you guys are
thinking right now, "Uh, can we see
the lion's teeth?" Yeah, we can see
the lion's teeth. You guys ready? - [Cameraman] Yeah. - [Coyote] I'm slowly
just gonna pull the lid back here a little bit. Wow!
- Whoa. - [Coyote] Look
at those canines. - Holy smokes.
- Unbelievable. Now lions have three
types of teeth. Up front here, you
have these incisors. Which you use to carry things, the females will carry
their cubs around. They're also used to pull
meat away from the bones. Of course the canines are
used to inflict a kill. And then in the back here,
go ahead and zoom in. You see that? All these pre-molars
are used like serrated shears to
saw through the meat. I can see the lion's
tongue in there. It's incredibly
grippy, like sandpaper. They can actually
use that tongue to lick meat away from bones,
they can lick fur off, and believe it or not, if a
lion were to lick your skin it would take the
skin right off. Not exactly like your house cat. Wow, how ya feeling? Let's see can I take a
look at his eye, there. See, zoom in there. See, pupils are
slightly dilated. He's completely out right now. See that, get a
tight shot there. Lions have incredible eyesight, not only during the
day but also at night. - [Cameraman] Look how big
its head is compared to you. - Massive. - [Cameraman] It's
as big as your body. - Can you imagine
what it would be like to get an appendage of
your body or your head stuck in the mouth of
an animal like this? And keep in mind guys,
this is still a sub-adult. They get bigger than this. I'm guess this lion is somewhere
between 250 and 300 pounds. They can tip the
scales well over 500. Okay, I'm gonna just flip
this back up over its' head so that the sun stays
out of his eyes. Oh man is your adrenaline
rushin' as fast as mine is? - [Cameraman] I'm just trying
to stay calm, actually. - [Coyote] Okay, we ready
to collect biometric data? Alright, let's do it. Gotta get he measurements
on this lion. - [Staff Member] Okay,
we go all the way to the backside here, say
I've got 123 and a half. - 54.
- 54. - [Coyote] Paw measurements. - [Staff Member] Six. - [Coyote] And this is
important data for us to know. - [Staff Member] Eight. - Exactly the size
of this lion's paws so if they're out there, Looking for tracks, they'll
know exactly which lion this is. - All these kind of
markings on the face also, over time will help
you identify individuals. It's quite a striking
one right here. - [Coyote] Yeah. - [Staff Member] Alright,
we'll stick that up. I think he's (mumbles). - Alright guys, what's
really cool is that this lion doesn't actually have
a micro-chip in it. So, we are gonna get
to insert one today, and that will allow us
to keep a tight record of this animal, anytime they
then tranquilize in the future to be able to collect
its' biometric data. Wow cool, alright, so where
do you insert the micro-chip? - The way I insert a
micro-chip is basically, a big needle, it's about
the size of a grain of rice. - [Coyote] I don't like needles, I don't do very
well with needles. - So we insert it
right in the middle between the soft
shoulder blades. So we just make a
little dent in the skin, put it underneath the skin. - Just a little prick right? Boom, just like that, wow. Alright guys well it's time to apply the reversal drugs
so that this male wakes up and heads back
off into the wild. But this certainly was epic,
getting to explore here at the Kariega Game Reserve,
tranquilizing four lions, getting up close to
collect biometric data. I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild. We'll see ya on
the next adventure. Alright, time to wake up. - [Man] Just get it in the
muscle, push the prongs back a bit as soon as you're in. There you go. Yes. - Alright guys, lion's
about to wake up. Let's head back to the trucks. Whoo! Man!
- That was amazing. - [Coyote] That was
cool, that was cool. - [Cameraman] Alright Coyote,
what's happening right now? - We have administered
the reversal drug and now we are just
safely back in the vehicle waiting for the
lions to wake up. I've got a GoPro positioned
just in front of this female. We've got zoom
lenses on the male. The ones up here
underneath the bush, we're gonna also
keep an eye on them. In just a few minutes here,
they're gonna pop back up and disappear into the underbrush. (peaceful music) You can see the lions
are beginning to wake up. This lioness right here in
front of us is starting to move. It's been 'bout 15 minutes.
Sounds about right. Since the dawn of
mankind, we have feared that which is capable
of hunting us. So much so that we in turn
chose to hunt many of these natural predators to
the brink of extinction. The lion is no exception. Today our mindset has changed. And fear has been replaced
with love and protection for these incredible beasts. Several hours after the vet
procedure had concluded, we returned to the hilltop
and checked in on the pride. Our hope was that they
would still be in the area, allowing us to get a final
glimpse of these beautiful cats. (lion growling) That's a lion. Then suddenly, in what seemed
like a moment slowed in time, the king of the
Savannah materialized
from the underbrush. (growling) He stepped into the golden
glow of the setting sun, and moved with an
elegance that defined him as the ruler of this land. And as we watched, our
camera all fighting to capture the moments as
they played out before us, it was not difficult to pull
my eye away from the viewfinder so that I could appreciate all
of the beauty in this animal with my own two eyes. I know that I will never forget my time spent alongside
that sleeping giant. My fingers placed upon
its' massive teeth, the moment it woke
back from its slumber, and the sight as
it strolled along through the flowing grasses, staking claim as
King of the Savannah. If you missed part
one of our incredible African lion adventure, make
sure to go back and watch from the beginning. As we embarked upon
an epic journey that brought us up-close
with a pride of lions. And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew on this season of
Breaking Trail.
Great episode overall honestly. Im really excited about these youtube stars that ive been following since their early days like coyote peterson and sean evans become so popular. Even ethan and hila became huge. Very proud.
Everything about this video just establishes for me how great it is that we keep nature on reservations away from our throats.
I want to cuddle with a tranquilized lion. No Cosby.
And no one else in the pride believed what had happened to them that day.
When he put his ear on the lion's chest to hear it breathing all I could think about is Jurassic Park, like a real-life Dr. Grant
WHY does this guy TALK like THIS?
That is a job I never want to have.