- What you see here on the table, are pair of HexArmor bite-proof gloves. Supposedly, these can withstand the bite of a venomous snake. What I'm gonna do is slowly move my hand in towards the snake's nose. Let's just see what
the aggression level is as I moved my hand in towards his face. (intense dramatic muusic) Okay. It's a beautiful night in Costa Rica, and I'm sitting next to one of
the most iconic snake species in this country. That is an Eyelash Viper. that we've worked with this species in the past. In fact, I found the
yellow phase of the snake out in the wild several years ago. But this one here is actually
ambassador for its species. It was born and raised in captivity. This snake specifically is
used to help educate people about the snakes that live
here in Central America, and why you want to safely
avoid them at all costs. Now, this snake is not
necessarily as toxic as something like a Fer-de-lance which makes it the perfect
subject matter for tonight. What you see here on the table are a pair of HexArmor, bite-proof gloves. Supposedly these can withstand
the bite of a venomous snake. Now obviously I wouldn't try this with something as large as
like a Western Diamondback, an Eastern diamond back or Fer-de-lance, but the Eyelash Viper has smaller fangs and I feel a little bit safer free-handling that
snake with these gloves. We'll get to that risky
entertainment in just a few moments. But first, what I wanna do is take an educational look
at this incredible reptile. And the Eyelash Viper,
is an arboreal species which means they're
primarily found up in trees. And as you see the snake right here gently clutched on this branch, it almost looks as if it's a gargoyle staying completely still. And this is usually
exactly how you will see these snakes out in the wild, waiting in ambush. They're ambush predators. And all they need to do
is hang from a tree branch and wait for something to come close. They primarily feast upon animals that are gonna be up in the tree tops. Lizards, frogs, bats, even birds fall victim to snakes like this. And you see that position
that snake's in right now, that S-curled shape, head pointing down. Something gets close it strikes out and with those hinged fangs injects a hematoxic venom. Now what's unique about the Eyelash Vipers as compared to many
other Pit Viper species, is that when they bite,
they actually lock on. When you think of something
like a Fer-de-lance, it's gonna strike out, inflict the bite, let go and then track its prey, once it is succumb to the venom. But with a snake like this
that lives up in the trees, it needs to bite and hold on. If this guy bites a bat and
that bat falls out of the tree the snake's gotta go all
the way down to the ground to get it. So this snake wants to bite, hold on, and then it's got its chance for a meal. And the name "Eyelash Viper." Where does that name come from? If you take a real close look
at the face of this snake, you'll see two little modified scales growing just above the eyes. So it makes it look like horns or in this case, a pair of eyelashes. Now scientists believe
that these modified scales perhaps help them navigate
through the arboreal environment. Maybe pushing away plant matter or possibly to help keep them camouflaged. These snakes are incredibly
good at keeping themselves hidden within the environment. Now, if you're to go out into the Costa Rican Rainforest at night the thing that's actually dangerous is that if somebody grabs onto a branch let's say you're moving
through the environment, you grip onto something,
helping yourself navigate. If one of these snakes is in the tree, that's how you're accidentally bitten. These snakes are not necessarily
going to ever be aggressive towards humans unless threatened. However, if you were to
unfortunately be bitten, it is a hematoxic venom and that means medical emergency. Now, you guys clicked on this video because the thumbnail
likely has this snake close to my hand, it's like, "Oh my gosh is coyote going to get bitten
by a venomous snake tonight?" I'm not attempting to provoke
a bite from this snake. The reason that I'm going
to try to handle this snake with bite-proof gloves is because it's a fragile species, right? A snake of this size is rather delicate. It's not something that you
wanna squeeze and hold on. You don't wanna pin its head, you don't wanna have complete
control of the snake. The idea is that if I can hold
it gently with these gloves, it may be a tactic that
we use in the future to handle small venomous snakes. Coral snakes, Sidewinders, Eyelash Vipers, these are perfect subject matters for using these bite-proof gloves. I also have to be aware of how close this snake gets to my face. So keeping it out in front of me like this is extremely important. Remember, they've got a rather far reach and a snake like this can lunge forward nearly two thirds the length of its body. I'm bitten in the face
by a snake like this, It's going to be a very bad end to my day. (exhales) It takes a little bit of nerves when you start thinking about
handling a venomous snake. And while in the past, I've interacted with many
different venomous species to actually be hands on with one without controlling its head, is something that I have
not attempted before. So if you're ready, it's time to free handle
the Eyelash Viper. (dramatic intense music) What I'm hoping is that I will be able to get it, to just kinda
come right out onto my hands. So you see that? The snake is backing its
head up ever so slightly. Now that position right there, definitely could warrant a bite. But you'll notice the
snake is not aggressive in any way whatsoever. It's sensing my hand, I see the tongue flicking out. It's investigating me saying, "Okay. This is something
new in my environment, but it doesn't look like something that I would necessarily want to eat." So I'm going to gently, see if I can bring it up. Oh, there we go. Let's see if I can get
you to come up to my hand. There we go. There we go. Okay. This is going really well so far. Really really well. There we go. And I just wanna make sure that I'm not constraining
the snake too too much. There we go. Oh, I'm gonna keep you right there. That's perfect. I'm very happy about that position. If I just keep my hand like this you see how it's causing
the snake to balance itself into a curl position. That is absolutely perfect. Now on camera, it's tough to tell exactly how close that snake is to my face. It probably looks closer
than it really is. So I don't want any of you to think, "Coyote, you've got that Pit
Viper way too close to you." Trust me guys. It would take a huge jump
for it to be able to leap out and get me in the face. At this point it's also why I'm keeping my hand slightly here blocked just in case something crazy happens. But if I turn it like this, you can really get a great
look at that snake's profile. They are just so incredibly beautiful. And like all Pit Vipers, they have a heat seeking pit and this snake is capable of sensing all sorts of different heat registers. So if this snake spots
something like a lizard, this snake is using
its incredible eyesight to be able to identify animals
that do not have warm blood. Notice the vertical pupil
that expands and contracts based on the amount of
light in the environment which helps them to see
incredibly well at night. And for anybody that's afraid of snakes, the fear which is called Ophidiophobia, you can see that this is not something that is aggressive toward humans. And you may be saying to yourselves, "Well, Coyote, you said that this snake was born and raised in captivity." Doesn't make a difference guys. It's behaving the exact same way that one of these snakes
would in the wild. If you're not swinging
your hand in front of it, if you're not poking out with a stick, if you're simply admiring
it from a safe distance, it will be a great experience. That's probably also a great
spot for me to give you guys that stereotypical warning where I say, "Never go out into the environment and try to handle a snake." Now, the people that use
these HexArmor gloves are typically professionals. Anything could happen here. I could be bitten while
I do trust the gloves. I would never want you
guys to be in a position where you could
accidentally receive a bite from a snake like this. And like I said earlier, the reason that I'm using these
bite-proof gloves tonight, is to test out whether
or not free handling smaller venomous snakes like this is a good tactic for us moving forward. So if I were to physically
grab onto the snake or pin its head down with a snake hook or hold it with snake tongs, puts a lot of stress on the animal. You can see how calm it's being right now. And this is an awesome
way for us to be able to get these animals up
close for the cameras, without putting a lot of stress on them. I'm gonna try a little experiment here. What I'm gonna do is slowly move my hand in towards the snake's nose, not to necessarily provoke a strike but let's just see what
the aggression level is as I move my hand in towards its face. (suspenseful music) Very slowly, (suspenseful music continues) look at that. The snake just basically
stays in gargoyle mode. Yep. I bumped you on the
nose just a tiny bit there. You can see it's kinda
curled his head back in a little bit of a strike pose saying, "Okay. You got close let's not push
it too much further than that." And I won't, but that's exactly what I
wanted to try to determine. Is this snake feeling completely calm because it's not restrained? It has no reason to strike
out and try to bite me. Wow. What a cool experiment this was tonight. Determining that using bite-proof gloves is a great way to interact
with smaller venomous snakes. It's allowed me to stay calm. The snake has stayed calm and we've gotten a really
cool Central American species up close for the cameras. The one and only Eyelash Viper. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see on the next adventure. All right, I'm gonna place you
back behind your tree branch. Sound good? (lion roaring)
(birds chirping) (bear woofing)
