- [Mark] That is a big venomous snake. Easy, Mario. Easy, Mario, easy, easy.
- Watch out. - [Mario] He's fast, guys, he's fast. - [Mark] Oh, oh, Trent. (menacing thud) (cat growls) (threatening music) - Hey guys, Mario Aldecoa, here. - And I'm Mark Vins and welcome
to a very special adventure, sponsored by our friends at B&H Photo. Mario, what are we doing out here in the middle of the jungle at night? - Well, we're gonna do one
of our favorite hobbies, called night herping. - Night herping. Well, I know what that means, but I think some people at home might need a little explanation. - [Mario] Night herping, very simply, is searching for reptiles and amphibians. Actually, we're here at the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center, one of our favorite locations to search for species in the tropics. - That's right, in fact,
we've filmed over 40 of our most famous YouTube videos right here at this location,
so needless to say, this place is jam packed with wildlife and we thought, hey, let's
see just how many animals we can find on a single adventure. And along the way, we might talk about some of the tips and tricks of the trade and how we film animals at night. I'm ready if you're ready. - I'm ready. - Let's get out there. Starting the adventure, Mario, is this kinda the point of the evening where you start to get, I don't know, a little excited about
what you're gonna see? - Yeah, as soon as I put the headlamp on and I've got my trusty
snake hook in my hand, I am excited and ready to go. - [Mark] What are you looking for, Mario? Like, what's an indicator of an animal? - I just kinda scan slowly as I'm walking and what you're trying to do is find any difference in texture, color and contrast and, of course, movement. If something moves,
it's probably an animal and that's your biggest indication that you've found something. All right, so we have our first amphibian. It's actually called a dirt frog, probably because of its coloration. Check this little guy out.
(frog squeaks) - [Unison] Oh! (laughs) (frog squeaks)
(laughs) He's talking to me. And I'm gonna let you go. You're cute. (frog squeaks)
Oh! All right, check this guy out. That is a stick insect or a stick bug. If I didn't actually see it move, I would have probably thought it was... - [Mark] Uh oh, it's a runaway. Oh, you almost got him, here. - I don't know where he's at. - [Mark] You got him, you got him. - I love these. These are one of my favorites. Let's release him right here. (insects buzz) When you're out searching at night, usually you expect to
find nocturnal species but sometimes, you actually
will find some diurnal species and of course, when they're out at night, they're usually sleeping. A very common species you
encounter, are anoles. That's clearly sleeping. He's kinda splayed out on the vegetation. All right, let's continue. - [Mark] Oh, there's a giant cockroach. - [Mario] What? - [Mark] Let's see if I can get it. Oh, I don't know man. (threatening crescendo) Oh, oh no, I missed it. Oh, here it is, got it, got it, got it. Oh man, dude, do you wanna
see what was on your necK? Ready, put out your hand. (whimsical music) - Oh. (laughs) - [Mark] That is a really big roach. Do you know what kind of roach that is? - No, a big roach. - [Mark] A papa roach. - Papa roach. (laughs) This is the papa roach of roaches. And that, is a leaf frog. Oh, look at that little guy. The leaf frogs have the
distinct, really large eyes. All right, moving on. (soothing electronic music) Check this out. It may not look like much, or actually, it may look like a giant
booger attached to this leaf. This gelatinous goo is
the developing embryos of a frog species. They actually attach the
eggs to the bottom of leaves and the leaves are overhanging on streams. As the embryos develop, little tadpoles will
fall down into the stream and continue their metamorphosis
into an adult frog. It's amazing because you can actually see the little embryos moving around. All right, look what we have here. Our first snake of the night. The very elegant cat-eyed snake. This is a juvenile. It is an arboreal
species, long and slender. So a cat-eyed snake has elliptical pupils, as a lot of the nocturnal
species out here have. During the day, if you
were to look at its eye, it would be that nice, kind
of cat-eyed feature or look. That was our first snake of the night. We're gonna continue and see if we can find something bigger. Even the scorpions are arboreal here. Oh, cool, check this out. - [Mark] What'd you find? - [Mario] Katydid. - [Mark] Oh, yeah! - [Mario] Kinda looks
like it's covered in moss. Now, there's a lot of
variations of the katydids and a lot of species and
depending on their environment they can blend in very
well, super cryptic. Look at this. This is a really unique
lizard species to the tropics. It's called a casque-headed lizard. The name casque implies that right there, so this family of lizards
has this big crest on their head and neck area. The tactic that this lizard
is employing right now is basically, using it's cryptic
color and lying motionless. It's just pretending to
be part of this branch and hoping that we don't
actually touch it or catch it, which we won't. We're gonna leave it be so it can rest and have a good night. All right, we've got a fer-de-lance. (threatening music) Oh, yes! Look at this snake! - [Mark] That is a good one. - That is a good sized fer-de-lance. All right, let's approach very slow. See, oh, no, it's moving. - [Mark] That is a big,
big venomous snake. (threatening music) Easy, Mario. Take your time, buddy. - [Mario] You just wanna
actually get it under control. - [Mark] Easy, Mario, easy, easy back, back, back.
- Relax, relax. He's fast, guys, he's fast. - [Mark] Oh, oh, Trent! We almost lost Trent. - [Mark] You all right, buddy? - [Trent] I'm good. - [Mark] Trent almost fell
down this ravine, guys. Hey, Mario, so why are
we bagging this snake? - All right, we're
basically, bagging the snake because we have to take it to
a more controlled situation. It's an extremely dangerous snake, so we don't want to be handling this snake in a tight trail, like the one we're on, where basically, one missed step and you're either off
or the snake gets you because you have no where to go. What we wanna do is safely
take this to a location where we can present
it in a more open area. - All right, let's go.
- You guys ready? - Yeah, nice.
(Mario laughs) Let's go ahead and fire
up our light kit here. These lights by Light in
Motion are absolutely awesome. These are the Stella Pro's. I'm gonna boost them up
to full power to start, 8,000 lumens a piece. The way I know that, is they have this nice little LED panel in the back, tells you the power and the estimated time remaining for the charge of the battery. We're gonna go down to 5,000. Lights are really important
for obviously reasons when you're filming at night. Not only does it expose
the scene for your cameras, but it also keeps us safe. Whenever you're working
with a dangerous animal, like a fer-de-lance, you wanna
know what your footings like, you wanna know if there's
any other animals around or anything that could
distract the presenter or the camera operators. We're gonna do a cross pattern tonight. We're gonna start with one light out here on the right hand side and then we're gonna put another light out here on the left hand side. These are awesome because they're small,
compact, lightweight. We've got these Manfrotto tripods. This whole kit can break down, fit right in the backpack
that I'm wearing with ease. Got a quick release even, like right here, if I wanna take the light off and move it for a different shot. If you're gonna be shooting at night, definitely invest in a good,
rugged mobile light kit. Yeah, buddy. - That was a little bit intense. Or a lot intense, actually. We were in a very precarious situation. A venomous snake in a
very tight, narrow pathway with basically, a steep hill on one side and a ravine on the other. And one false step, you're going down, just like Trent did. - [Mark] We almost lost Trent. - We almost lost Trent. We decided to bag the snake safely and find an area that was open. The key is to have an area you feel comfortable handling
this dangerous animal so that the animal is
safe and that we are safe. And I think this is
gonna be our best spot. Believe it or not, when
the snake is in a bag, it is still just as dangerous. In fact, many people are
bitten through snake bags. The thought is, well, the snake is in there, it can't see you and you're gonna place
your hands somewhere, well, the snake does
have heat seeking pits and they also respond to movement, so anything that touches the bag, they might actually strike out and envenomate you right through the bag. (threatening music) - [Mark] So, Mario, I don't wanna add any pressure to this situation but I think it's important
for everyone at home to know, just how dangerous is this snake? - The fer-de-lance is one of the most dangerous snakes here in the tropics. It is responsible for actually 90% of all venomous snake bites. Now, the reason for this, is because these are very common species and because these snakes are common, people encounter them on a regular basis. Now, the reason why they
bite so many people, it's not because they're
super aggressive snakes going out of their way to
actually attack a person... Whoa, he just bit the snake stick. - [Mark] He just bit the snake hook. Did you see that? - Yeah, I did. - [Mark] What does that mean, Mario? - Well, that means the
snake's a little upset. So, what you just saw there,
was the snake bit the hook and that was a very deliberate bite. Let's actually just let
it, kinda, calm down. This venom is a cocktail
of some really nasty stuff and the properties of that venom are basically, mild toxins and cytotoxins that are going to destroy tissue. We are talking about necrosis. Often, the bite of a fer-de-lance will require amputation of the limb for the area where the snake bit. Now, the snake is very
cryptic in coloration. In fact, the name in
Costa Rica for this snake is (speaks foreign language), which actually means velvety skin. And that sheen that you see on
the snake, looks like velvet, when in fact, the snakes
scales are keeled. It's pattern and coloration allows it to cryptically camouflage
against the leaf litter very well and unfortunately, an unsuspecting person might walk and step on the animal. The animal will bite in defense. Now, the one thing to notice about the fer-de-lance
is, it is a pit viper, so right between the
eyes and the nostrils, there is an opening on the snake's head that are actually heat sensing pits that pick up on warm-blooded animals. So, if a snake like this
were to bite one of us, the only thing to do is to
get to medical attention as fast as possible. You do not want to put a tourniquet on a snake bite like this because it will actually
restrict the venom and cause more necrosis, potentially. Now, the fer-de-lance is a snake you do not want to encounter
and pick up like we are doing but it is not necessarily a
snake that's gonna go after you. Like all snakes, it's main goal is to get away and leave you alone. Well, how about that? The infamous fer-de-lance. The next step is to secure the animal and release it back where we found it. - Well, here we are. This is the spot. - That's the spot, definitely. - Man, what an epic evening out here at the Costa Rican
Amphibian Research Center. Once again, found all kinds of animals. We found everything from frogs to lizards to insects like that giant roach. - [Mario] That was creepy. - [Mark] And of course, the
superstar, the fer-de-lance. - [Mario] That fer-de-lance
was pretty intense. A very dangerous snake, but
a beautiful snake, as well. - [Mark] So, before we go, we do wanna say a special thanks, one more time, to our friends at B&H Photo
for sponsoring this adventure and here's some more good news, for everybody at home right now, if you go to www.bhphoto.com/brave they have all kinds of
exclusive gear packages and deals just for our fans. So, go check that out guys. Grab your own gear so you can
start making your own videos, just like the stuff that we
use out here in the field. - And don't forget, subscribe
and hit the notification bell so you can join us on our next adventure. I'm Mario Aldecoa. - And I'm Mark Vins. - Be brave. - Stay wild. - We'll see you on the next adventure. All right, let's let go of that snake. - That's all you, bud. (relaxing music) - [Mark] If you enjoyed this adventure, make sure to go back
and check out the time that Mario and I discovered
one of the rarest and most bizarre
creatures we've ever seen, the red velvet worm. And don't forget, check out the link in the description below
for those special gear deals from our friends at B&H Photo. (loud thud) (animal howls)
