- 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? (lion growling) (dramatic music) (lion roaring) Sharp rays of sunlight
crept up from the horizon casing a golden radiance
across the savanna. Morning has arrived
in South Africa and with it the
beginning of a journey that was soon to become one of the greatest animal
encounters I have ever had. Today we are venturing out into the world renowned
Kariega Game Reserve. This wild place spans
over 10,000 hectares and the landscape is a splendor unlike anything
you have ever seen. Endless rolling grasslands, the perfect habitat to
safely house and keep in one of our planet's
most iconic predators, the African lion. (lion roaring) - [Cameraman] Alright, Coyote, about ready to hop in the jeep? - Yeah, well the plan
today is to track down a pride of lions, but trust me, it's much easier said than done. We've got a lot of
ground to cover. You guys ready to
track down the pride? - [Cameraman] Let's
find those big cats. - Here we go. Tracking lions on foot can
take days, if not weeks, so the crew and I teamed
up with a secondary team composed of field veterinarians that had been deployed
through support of the Reserve
Protection Agency. Led by Dr. Waldo Dreyer,
their collective goal from a scientific perspective was to safely tranquilize one
of the larger resident males in an attempt to
collect biometric data. This important research
would help ensure the health and
wellbeing of the pride. So with the plan in
place we parted ways and headed towards opposite
ends of the reserve to begin our search
for the pride. I feel like luck in
on our side today. A lot of ground to explore,
but we got two teams out and it's just a matter of
tracking down the pride. Since 2004, Kariega
has been home to a very healthy
population of lions, yet finding and
getting these big cats in front of the cameras
would be no easy feat, as they are
constantly on the move and in search of
their next meal. An ostrich way off in
the distance there. So much open space, and
with that open space the pride could
wander out of any one of these clumps of bushes. Really gonna be tough
to find these cats. We've got some zebras over here, that looks like good prey. If I was a lion, a zebra
steak would sound pretty good. Wait, what's this? (dramatic music) I got something cool, follow me. (dramatic music) Look at this. That is a perfect
wildebeest skull, and if ever I have seen
evidence of a lion kill, this would be it. Look at that, right at
the back of the neck where the head connects
to the neck right there is all snapped off. Wow, well this is obviously
ancient at this point, no skin or flesh on it, but yup, likely fell victim to a lion. Alright guys, let's
keep searching. (slow music) Yeah, hop out, check this out. You know what that is? - [Cameraman] Bones. - Bones, skin, fur, that's
a zebra's leg right there. And zebra's legs don't
just fall off on their own. That is absolute, crystal
clear evidence of a lion kill. It's old though,
this is not fresh, so we do know that the
pride has been through here, but not recently. Alright, well this
is, like I said, it's gonna be tough to
find this pride of lions. (dramatic music) Stronger evidence of the
pride and their whereabouts was necessary if we hoped
to have an encounter, so we loaded back
into the Land Cruiser and continued our search deeper into the interior
of the reserve. Finding tracks is the
most reliable sign in one's quest for
locating an animal and you are always
guaranteed to find the freshest tracks near water. Check this out, guys. Completely fresh lion
track right there. Like most cats, they try to
avoid walking in the water, and a cat definitely moved up
this side of the road here, that means we are hot
on the pride's trail. - [Cameraman] So,
Joe, what'd you hear? - There's literally lions
on top of this hill. - [Cameraman] The other
team's got eyes on the lions? - Yeah, yeah, and
they're on a kill. - [Cameraman] Really? - Yeah. - [Cameraman] Coyote,
the other team's got the lions over the hill. - [Coyote] What? - [Cameraman] Yeah, the
lions are just over the hill and they're on a kill too. - [Coyote] On a kill? - [Cameraman] Yup. - No way! Okay yeah, hop up, in the jeep! (dramatic music) Aw, man, this is gonna be
crazy, they're on a kill? - [Cameraman] Yeah. - Alright, guys,
well I'm out there picking up pieces of old kills, and apparently the
lions have a kill, the other team has spotted them, we're gonna make our
way over there now, here comes a lion episode. Awesome! With lions located
on a fresh kill, we quickly move to
cross the reserve to meet up with the vet team. Dr. Waldo joined our
vehicle which would give us a clear view of the
tranquilization process. So with the darts locked
and loaded, it was go time. This is exciting, I've never
seen a lion in the wild before, I know you guys are amped. Oh, man, this is
gonna be one epic day. Tranquilizing a lion is
considered a routine check-up. Once asleep the biometric
data will be collected, and then a reversal serum
will be administered for the animal to wake up. Okay, they just
radioed from up ahead, the lions are just up over the
top of this next hill here. We have found them. Alright guys, we are rolling
up on the lions right now, I can actually see
one of the big males right here off the
side of the vehicle. Wow, so impressive. Trying to be really
quiet right now, we don't wanna startle them. Believe it or not, we don't
wanna scare the lions, I'm the one that should
be scared right now. Oh, there it is, there it is. (dramatic music) (lion growling) As our Land Cruiser
approached through the flowing savanna grasses my heart began to race
at an incredible speed. This was an unprecedented
level of danger, which meant everything had to
go right because if it didn't, that meant everything
had gone horrible wrong. (dramatic music) Never before had I seen a
pride of lions in the wild and as they came into view, their primal strength and
beauty was a wonder to behold. In total, four lions
have been spotted on the fallen carcass. Our primary target was the male, but the team decided
that they also wanted to check the
health of females. So if the opportunity
presented itself, they would be darted as well. And in that split second that
seemed to slow down in time, we all clung to the
edge of our seats with focused anticipation. (tranquilizer gun firing) 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 on when
we darted one. We've got four lions, three
females and a young male, it's a young male, right? - Yup. - Wow, still an enormous cat. Alright, getting
ready for second dart. Here we go, we got
the male coming up around the back side here. (tranquilizer gun firing) Got the upper, her
forefront of her chest. (dramatic music) Go, go, go, go. No, not yet, not yet. Almost have a clear shot. Super windy though,
could throw off the dart. Do not want to hit the
animal in the face. Here comes the shot. (tranquilizer gun firing) Got 'im! (dramatic music) Alright, the male
has been darted. One lion left. Wow, okay we have three of the
lions darted at this point, a 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 got lion. Here we go, look at this,
good shot, zoom in, zoom in. (tranquilizer gun firing) Got it! All lions have been darted and they are all staring
at us now saying, okay, what're 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 affects
of the tranquilizer serum. Alright, now it's just
gonna 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 about 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 at 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. Got this other female
down right here. - [Cameraman] Yeah,
it's just lions laying around everywhere. - Yeah, lions everywhere. Keep in mind, guys, these
lions are just asleep, none of these animals
are actually hurt. Here it is, here's the male. (dramatic music) That it unbelievable
right there. This is the closest
I have ever been to a wild apex
predator of this size. Oh, you can feel it breathing. Ah, beautiful animal. Wow, 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 is 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 kind
of 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. Do 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 for the neck. Now the lion, believe it or not, does not have that
powerful of a bite force as compared to other bit 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 it 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 it smells like South Africa,
it smells like the savanna, 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 is 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. 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] Yup. - [Coyote] I'm gonna
slowly just kind of pull the lip back
here a little bit. Wow. - [Cameraman] Whoa. - [Coyote] Look
at those canines. - [Cameraman] Holy smokes. - Unbelievable. Now, lions have
three types of teeth. Up front here you
have these incisors, which are used 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 premolars 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 froth,
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. Hi, buddy. Let's see, can I take a
look at his eye there? See, the pupils are
slightly dilated, he's completely out right now. See that? Get a tight shot there. Lions have incredible eyesight,
not only during that day, but also at night. You're okay, you're a
good boy, you're okay. - [Cameraman] Look how bit
its head is compared to you. - It is 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 guessing 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. Ah, man, is your adrenaline
rushing as fast as mine is? - [Cameraman] I'm just
trying to stay calm actually. - [Coyote] Okay, are we ready
to collect biometric data? Alright, let's do it, gotta get the
measurements on this lion. - [Dr. Waldo] Okay, I'm
gonna go all the way to the backside here. - [Coyote] Okay. - [Dr. Waldo] So we've
got 123 and a half. Okay, what do we have here? 54. - [Coyote] Left
paw measurements. - [Dr. Waldo] Six. - [Coyote] And this
is important data, for us to know exactly the
size of this lion's paw, so if they are out
there looking for tracks you'd know exactly
which lion this is. - All these kind of
markings on the face also over time will help
you identify individuals. He's got quite a
striking one right here. - [Coyote] Yeah. - They're gonna wake this guy
up, I think they are ready. - Alright, guys, what's
really cool is that this lion doesn't actually have
a microchip in it, so we are gonna get
to insert one today and that will allow us
to keep a tight record of this animal
any time that they then tranquilize in the future to be able to collect
its biometric data. Wow, cool, alright so where
do you insert the microchip? - Yeah, so the microchips
are like a big needle, about the size of a-- - Ooh. - A grain of rice. - I don't like needles, I don't
do very well with needles. - So we can sit it
right in the middle, between the shoulder blades. - [Coyote] Okay. - [Dr. Waldo] So we just make
a little tent of the skin. - [Coyote] Okay. - [Dr. Waldo] Put it
underneath the skin. - [Coyote] Ooh, just
a little prick, right? - [Dr. Waldo] In it goes. - Boom, just like that, wow. Alright, guys, well it's time
to apply the reversal drug 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, and 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. - [Dr. Waldo] Just
give it in the muscle, and push the plunger back a bit as soon as you're
in with the needle. - Alright, guys, lion's
about to wake up, let's head back to the trucks. Whew! Man! - That was amazing. - [Coyote] Whew, 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
in one the male, the ones up here
underneath the bush, we can also keep an eye on them and in just a few minutes
here they're gonna pop back up and disappear into
the underbrush. - [Cameraman] I
think this is it. (slow 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 about 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 not 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. (upbeat music) (lion roaring) Then suddenly, in what seemed
like a moment slowed in time, the king of the
savanna materialized
from the underbrush. (slow music) 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
cameras 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 savanna. If you enjoyed this encounter, make sure to go back and watch as we get the cameras up close with some of the planet's
most fascinating animals. And don't forget, subscribe
and click the Notification bell so you can join me and the crew
on our next wild adventure. (coyote howling)
