- i'm coyote peterson andtoday we're going to talk about the worst animal bite of mylife, and it happened yesterday. oh he bit me. yeah he got me good, he got my thumb. - [offscreen crew member] do you want me to keep going? (adventure music) - [coyote] since beginning this journey of bringing wild animal adventures to the world i have found myself in many dangerous situations.
some of them planned. man, that was intense, getting swatted at by a grizzly bear. okay so now we want to get you guys up close with some of adam's incredible features. some of them by chance. this turtle just bitthe top of my thumb off. big time. and all of them, which i hope serve as both educational entertainment but also as a lesson into why you should
never approach wild animals on your own. and that's just going to keep bleeding, and bleeding. my job is dangerous, i think we can all agree on that, and sometimes i do pushthings to the extreme. one, two, three, (coyote yelling in pain) however, anytime we visit a location like arizona's sonoran desert, we try to be as calculated and safety conscious as we can.
priority number one, guys, is safety. this environment is incredibly hostile and if the heat doesn'tget you, watch your step because the biological land mines just might. that is so cool, this isthe second gila monster that we've encountered in the sonoran desert. it's a big one! he doesn't want anythingto do with us right now,
he's just laying low to the sand saying "okay, don't get any closer." and while i have encountered, handled, filmed, and released many dangerous creatures even i make mistakes. (camera banging against the ground) (coyote hollering in pain) yeah, he got me, he bit me. - [ocm] are you sure? - [coyote] yeah, he definitely bit me.
- [ocm] do you want me to keep filming? - yep, he got the whole top of my thumb. he ran right past the gopro and he got the whole top of my thumb. just stop, stop filming, stop filming. well, yesterday i took the worst animal bite i've ever received. it happened right here and i was bitten by the only venomous lizard in the united states
the gila monster. and it was bad. here's what happened, we were out here filming b roll, walking up this wash that's on the backside here and i spotted a gila monster. he was just laying right here along this log and i said, "well, we don't need an episode with a gila monster, "we've already done that" but we wanted to get close and at least get some b roll shots.
didn't need to catch the lizard,didn't need to handle it. we got some great shotswith the c100 camera and then i said "you know what, let me get a couple "shots with the gopro. he's super calm, he's just "chilling out." got close, started doing some sweeping shots over him, i think he felt cornered, i got a little too close and literally, in aflash he jerked his body and latched on to my thumb.
immediately my natural reaction was to pull my thumb back extremely quickly, which i did, and that's why i have all theserazor blade looking slices on my thumb, i literally yanked myfinger out of his mouth. i grabbed on to my finger the moment that i was bitten and almost immediatelythe pain from the venom started surging through my hand. - [ocm] is it bad? - [coyote] oh my god, it burns already.
it's burning really bad already. (coyote grunting in pain) - [ocm] what happened? - [coyote] he turned and just spun and got right past thegopro and bit my thumb. i was extremely fortunate in this situation. after the bite we consulted with reptile experts and venom experts. there's no anti-venom you can take for a gila monster bite we monitored my body for hours at a time.
we made sure that my heart rate was low, we monitored the swelling, we took photographs as you'll see some of the photographs here. as the hours went by thepain was so excrutiating i really had to just go into a mental state where i told myself "you can make it through this pain." it was the worst paini had ever experienced, the throbbing, the squirming of my body, and of course the constant fear that,
"is this only going to get worse?" because as the venom started traveling up my arm into my shoulder i didn't know at what point it was going to stop and that's when i really started to get nervous. it was really mind overmatter at that point. the fact that i didn't go into any sort of anaphylactic shock, i knew that i was going to be okay, it was just a matter of toughing through the pain, which was
kind of like they explain, hot lava coursing through your veins. it's been 24 hours and i feel extremely fortunate to only have a swollen andsore thumb right now. anytime you're bitten byan animal, venomous or non-venomous, make sure that you seek medical attention. this was not the gila monster'sfault in any way whatsoever. i got too close. hopefully there's a good lessonthat comes away from this,
gila monsters are not ananimal that you should ever go out and try to handle. if you see one in thewild, take a photograph from a safe distance. give it five feet, zoom in with your lens and take a photograph like that. i learned the hard way and i know from here on out i'm certainly going to give gila monsters the space that they deserve.
i'm coyote peterson, be brave, stay wild, we'll see you on the next adventure. if you thought that was one wild adventure check out the time i waschomped by an alligator lizard. and, don't forget, subscribe to join me and the crew on this season of breaking trail. they're called alligatorlizards for a reason. ow, ow, ow, ow! (animal sounds)
