(dramatic orchestral music)
- 65 million years ago,
dinosaurs vanished from
the face of our planet.
25 years ago,
a revolutionary vision from
the mind of Steve Spielberg
magically brought
them back to life.
Anyone who has ever loved
dinosaurs certainly remembers
the first time they
watched Jurassic Park.
Eyes wide and filled
with childlike wonder,
as this masterpiece of cinema
not only ignited the
imaginations of millions,
but also influenced
generations of filmmakers
to pursue their seemingly
impossible dreams.
Myself and the Brave Wilderness
crew are no exception,
so it is with an unprecedented
level of excitement
that we proudly present
Jurassic World Explorers.
(majestic orchestral music)
The Florida Everglades.
This breathtaking expanse
of iconic wilderness
spans over one million acres,
and its watery ecosystem
provides the perfect refuge
for one of our planet's
top reptilian predators:
the American alligator.
These prehistoric-looking
creatures have
been on our planet
since the days when
dinosaurs ruled the Earth,
yet they managed to survive
beyond the mass extinction
of their ancient relatives.
(intense orchestral music)
I have always considered
the American alligator
to be king of the Everglades,
and in this episode,
our goal is to compare
this living fossil
to the ultimate king of the
dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex.
To achieve this
ambitious comparison,
we will be working at the
Everglades Alligator Farm.
In its own right, this
location is quite similar
to a real live version
of Jurassic World.
Considered an educational
wildlife sanctuary,
they're home to many rescued
or rehabilitated animal species,
and every year thousands
of visitors attend the park
to marvel at their
centerpiece attraction:
the alligator breeding pond.
This body of water is home to
over 200 predatory reptiles,
armed with bone-crushing jaws
and an insatiable appetite
for the next meal.
I've been asked to construct
a team of crocodilian experts
that will help me catch,
collect biometric data,
and microchip one of the
largest alligators in the pond.
The reason behind this request
is so that the park
can gauge the health
of this breeding population,
but before we embark
upon our mission,
first let's meet
the capture team.
Mike Easter is a master
snaresman, and for over a decade
he's been working with
various conservation groups
to catch, tag, and
promote the preservation
of large crocodilians.
Chris Gillette is a
crocodilian behavioral expert
who has an unprecedented
level of knowledge
when it comes to recognizing
and reading the moods
of these highly
intelligent reptiles.
And last, but
certainly not least,
is Brave Wilderness's
very own Mario Aldecoa,
a seasoned wildlife biologist
who specializes
in crocodilian breeding,
health, and wellness.
In their particular fields,
these three are considered
to be some of the top minds,
and if there was
ever a perfect team
to help me accomplish the
task at hand, it was them.
(thunderous orchestral music)
As the sun sank low in the sky,
we carefully prepared the snares
and double-checked our
data collection kit.
The team was now ready,
and with our plan in place,
it was time to head
out into the park.
In ominous Jurassic fashion,
a large tropical storm
loomed on the horizon,
and it was neither dissipating
or changing course,
which meant that we would
need to work quickly
to accomplish our objectives.
Catch team to camera team.
We are coming down
the perimeter fence,
moving through sector five,
approaching paddock nine.
Are you guys ready?
- [Man On Radio]
This is camera team,
we're locked and loaded.
Ready here at paddock nine.
- Copy that.
- Our flashlight beams
illuminated the breeding
pond's perimeter,
and I felt a surge of adrenaline
rush into my bloodstream.
As my mind danced with
nostalgic memories
of the Tyrannosaurus rex
crashing through the
electrified fence.
With a rugged crunch of gravel,
we halted to a stop just
before a series of gates.
This was the restricted entryway
into the alligator paddock.
All right guys, this is it.
We have reached sector
five, paddock nine,
and just on the other
side of these gates
is the alligator breeding pond.
Now, our goal tonight is to
extract one of the largest males
so that we can pull
biometric data,
but we wanna be as
covert as possible.
So Mark, if you're ready,
switch on the infrared.
- [Mark] All right, here we go.
Everybody, lights out.
Going dark.
- Okay, good.
All right, guys.
What we need to do is go
through both of these gates,
stay quiet, try not to
spook the alligators,
and then we're gonna
catch one of the big boys.
Here we go.
(ominous music)
(gate clanks)
- Cautiously, we stalked
along the pond's rocky edge
until we made our
way to the waterline.
We had arrived, and as we peered
out across the dark water,
our lights reflected off
the eerie glowing eyes
of countless alligators,
an intimidating congregation
of hungry reptiles,
all watching and
waiting for their chance
to savor a fresh meal.
That is a lot of eyeballs.
The team was in place,
and there was no
turning back now.
It was time to catch a
modern-day Tyrannosaurus rex.
All right, Chris,
let's start introducing
meat into the equation
and see if we can get some
of the animals to come in.
(meat splashes)
All right, camera
team, you can move up.
Wow, that was a big
gator just went--
- [Man] That's a big boy, whoo!
- [Man] Bring them
in, here they come.
- [Man] Watch out.
(alligator splashing)
- [Man] That's the one, I think.
- [Man] Maybe, but we
got plenty coming in.
- [Man] I say go for it, guys.
- [Man] Chris, bring him up.
- [Man] Animal's
on, animal's on.
- [Man] Hit the light.
- [Man] Light!
- [Man] Hold, hold,
hold, hold, hold.
Give him a little
slack, little slack.
- With the snare secured
around the giant reptile
a battle of
prehistoric proportions
broke out between
behemoth and man.
(suspenseful orchestral music)
The ultimate tug-of-war
game was under way,
and the stakes could not
have been any higher.
For us, a win meant safely
getting the animal on land
to collect our data.
A loss meant getting
pulled into a watery fate
filled with hungry alligators.
So, we have one of
the largest animals
on the end of the rope,
but the problem is there
are alligators everywhere.
We need to try to back off
some of the other animals
before we bring this one up.
Look at that.
We're starting to
evoke feeding spots,
and the last thing we want
is for any of us to fall
down there into the pit.
The alligator fought us
with an unmatched level
of reptilian power,
and when possible we wrestled
it back toward the shore
with all of our might.
The process repeated itself
for nearly 45 minutes,
and it was exhausting.
What the goal is here
is to let the animal
actually tire itself out.
Once it gets up on land, it
is going to explode in power.
The less of an
explosion we face,
the better chance we
have of not being bitten,
and we certainly don't wanna
cause any injury to the animal,
so it's best to
just let it tire out
while it's in the water.
In exhaustion, I gasped for air
as streams of sweat
poured down my face.
My muscles were
screaming for relief,
but it was time to pull
the giant from the water.
- [Man] Here we go, pull,
pull, pull, pull, pull, pull.
- [Coyote] The
safest plan of action
was for Mike and I to
stay focused on the rope,
keeping it taught
so the alligator couldn't
run out more slack.
Chris would carefully
move behind the animal,
steering clear of the jaws,
and to hoist its tail
up and out of the water
and onto the embankment.
Finally, with an
incredible burst
of adrenaline-fueled might,
we hauled the
prehistoric-looking reptile
from the watery
confines of the pond.
- [Man] Mike, you got him?
- [Mike] I got him.
Yeah, watch the jaws, Mario.
There we go.
Pull him back, pull him
back, hold, hold, hold, hold.
- [Coyote] The
alligator was massive.
With its mouth gaped open,
the animal swung its head
straight into fight mode.
Just a single bite
from the Tyrannosaurus-like
jaws of this reptile
can pack enough power to
crush and kill a human.
- [Man] Mark, I'm
switching to regular.
- All right, guys,
what we need to do now
is actually secure
the alligator's jaws,
and that is arguably
the most dangerous thing
that we're gonna
do in this episode.
Now, to do that,
I'm gonna actually get on
the back of the alligator,
hold it in place, Mike's
gonna follow behind me,
and then Mario and I
are gonna work together
to make sure that we
can snare them shut
so that we can start
collecting biometric data.
Whoo, all right,
guys, this is perfect.
You guys set?
- [Man] Yep, we're ready.
- Bring the tail straight?
- Yup.
- Okay.
All right, this guy
doesn't like this.
Hold on.
- [Man] We're not securing
the jaws before we go?
- No, I'm moving back like this.
- [Man] Watch the tail, Mario.
- [Man] Watch yourself,
watch yourself.
- [Man] There we
go, there we go.
There we go, ready.
Ready?
- Yep.
- Guys got a good shot?
- Yep.
- One, two, three.
(alligator hissing)
- There we go, whoa!
Whoo, listen to that holler.
Okay, I've got my weight
right behind his legs here
and on his neck.
Now, the most important
thing we need to do
is secure those jaws,
but before we do, go ahead
and zoom in on those teeth,
and that is impressive
right there.
Look at that skull structure.
That is a massive animal,
and the American alligator
has one of the most powerful
bite forces in the world,
and when it comes to reptiles,
nothing tops this as king
in the United States.
Now try to imagine
what the bite of a
T. rex would be like.
- [Man] No, no!
(T. rex roaring)
(bones crunching)
(man screaming)
- [Coyote] With more
than 50 serrated teeth,
and extra-powerful
muscles in their necks,
they were capable of biting
with over 7,000 pounds of force,
allowing them to rip and throw
a hundred-pound chunk of meat
in the air,
using a terrifying behavior
called inertial feeding.
- [Coyote] All right,
bring the snare in.
There we go.
Careful, careful.
Watch your fingers.
Mike, you got a good hold?
- [Mike] I got it.
- [Coyote] Okay.
- [Mike] Works good.
- [Coyote] He's got power,
guys, he's got power.
- [Mike] Coyote, give a little
downward push on the top jaw,
downward push,
downward push, good.
- [Man] You good, Chris?
- [Chris] Yeah,
his head's so big
I can barely get
my hands around it.
- [Man] All right, going
in the danger zone.
- [Man] There's no such
thing as too much here.
- [Man] Yep.
- Less power opening the
mouth than closing it,
but still, that head
becomes a battering ram
if this alligator
decides to shift.
Be careful Mario.
I'm actually gonna close
the animal's eyes down
a little bit.
Keep it calm.
Now, one really cool thing
that I wanna show you guys,
a feature that exists in
crocodilians and some birds,
is the fact that they have
a nictitating membrane.
That's a little protective
lens over the eyeball
that defends that eye.
So, watch this, go ahead and
zoom in tight on its eyeball.
- Ran out of tape.
- Watch, watch, watch, watch.
- [Man] Okay.
- [Coyote] All right,
here we go, guys, ready?
I'm gonna gently
close down the eye.
Ready?
One, two, three, open.
(gasps) Did you see that?
- [Man] Oh yeah.
- Now, that clear goggle
helps protect the eye.
You may also recognize that
in Jurassic World: Falling
Kingdom from the indoraptor.
That hybrid dinosaur
was created with a
nictitating membrane,
and when these alligators
completely get out of the water
and walk on all four limbs,
they really do look like
a prehistoric creature.
Now, as we know, crocodilians
have been on the planet
for 240 million years.
These animals were around
during the time of the dinosaur,
they competed with dinosaurs,
they even ate dinosaurs,
and as we know, because we're
filming this episode today,
they have survived
beyond the dinosaurs.
Tyrannosaurus rex roamed
the Cretaceous period,
between 68 and 66
million years ago.
(T. rex roaring)
A significant amount of time
after the first crocodilians,
yet what's fascinating
is that at one point
they both shared
a common ancestor
with a lineage of ruling
reptiles known as archosaurs.
(T. rex roaring)
All right, guys, he's
building up power.
Hold, hold, hold.
Just let him
let him do what he's gonna do.
- [Man] Oh man.
- Look at that.
Even with the two of us
on top of this reptile,
it is capable of standing
up and moving us,
and I think it's
probably warranted
that now we collect
the biometric data.
- [Man] Let's put
this blindfold on him.
- Yep.
- Ready.
- That will just keep the
reptile calm while we do this.
I'm gonna gently
push the snout down.
Using a flexible tape measure,
we accurately collected the
length of the animal's skull.
- [Man] 50.8.
- [Coyote] And its full
body from snout to tail tip.
- [Man] 348.5.
- (gasps) That's a big animal.
What is that in feet?
- [Man] 11 1/2 feet.
- Wow, that is a massive
reptile right there.
11 1/2 feet,
and I would guess somewhere
between 600 and 700 pounds.
Next, Mario needed to gently
extract a blood sample
from the alligator's tail.
- Honestly, I don't know
if this needle's
gonna be big enough.
- Okay.
- The skin
and the thickness of the
scales on this animal is huge.
We're gonna try,
and the goal is just to
get a little bit of blood
so we can send it
off to analysis.
- Okay, great.
Now, this blood sample,
what it will do is
help us determine
the health of this alligator
population as a whole,
and you know what
this reminds me of,
that scene in Jurassic
World: Falling Kingdom,
when Owen and Claire have
to do the blood transfusion
between the Tyrannosaurus
rex and Blue.
How we doing back there, Mario?
- [Mario] Oh, there we go.
I got a flash.
Got some blood.
- Yes, to an alligator, that's
just like a little pinprick.
We wanna put as little stress
on the animal as we can.
With a viable blood
sample secure,
it was time for the
last, crucial step:
implanting an Avid microchip.
This Avid chip is a unique
identifier for the animal.
You guys have actually
seen us do this before
with other crocodilians
and, of course, the
lions in South Africa.
Now, this is not a
tracking mechanism,
like we saw with
the Indominus rex,
but it will help us uniquely
identify this animal
if it's captured
again in the future.
- All right, guys.
We're gonna start it right here
on the right side of the tail,
in between this scale fold.
Ready?
Going in.
Check it out, Chris.
(chip reader beeps)
- [Chris] There it is.
- Excellent.
So from now on,
this animal is gonna be
identified with that number.
If we catch it back in
the future, we'll scan it,
and if it's this animal,
we can compare data,
see if it's grown, and
assess its health again.
- All right, guys, this
was incredibly successful.
We have garnered all of the
biometric data that we need.
Chris, if you wanna remove
the towel, I've got the neck.
- All right, ready?
- Yeah.
(gasps) Reveal the beast.
All right, guys, well, we
are pretty much winding down,
and it is time to
get the alligator
back into the breeding pond.
Now, what we're gonna do is
take the tape off of its snout,
we're gonna remove
the neck snare,
I'm gonna give you guys an
outro, and then it's a wrap.
All right, Chris, you ready?
- [Chris] Yes.
- Okay, I'm gonna gently close
the alligator's eyes down
to keep it calm.
There you go, big guy.
Good, good, good, good.
All right, snout coming up.
Mike, hold position.
- [Mike] Good.
- Okay, jaws are hot.
I'm removing my
hand from the eyes.
There we go.
Okay, guys, I'm gonna
loosen up the neck snare.
Here we go, ready?
- [Chris] You could
pass me that slack
right here.
- Yep, there you go.
All right, I got a
hold on the neck.
Feed it through a
little bit more.
Good, good.
Ooh, that's a delicate
little balance right there.
Nicely done, Chris.
Perfect, whoo!
There we have it.
- [Man] Ooh, Coyote.
You feel that cold breeze?
- That wind is coming in, guys.
- That storm's about to hit.
- We're gonna have to
wrap this scene up.
- [Man] All right, good stuff.
Under tarp, under tarp.
- All right, guys, we
have a massive storm
that is about to push through,
but this has been
incredibly successful,
safely capturing the
king of the Everglades,
the American alligator.
I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on the next
Jurassic World Adventure.
All right, Mike,
you hop off first.
Here we go, guys, I'm
rolling off the gator.
Here we go.
In admiration, we watched
as the massive alligator
rose up on all four legs
and slowly sauntered
back into the sanctuary
of its watery realm.
(menacing orchestral music)
From its bone-crushing jaws
to its long, muscular tail,
when you witness
a prehistoric-looking
creature like this in action,
it's not hard to recognize
the similarities it shares
with something like
Tyrannosaurus rex,
and while the tyrant
king may be long gone,
the king of the Everglades
still proudly rules
in the age of
modern-day dinosaurs.
Whoo!
All right, guys,
well, that is a wrap on the
Tyrannosaurus rex episode
for Jurassic World Explorers,
and it couldn't have ended
in a more epic fashion.
A Jurassic-sized storm
just pushed through,
and pushed us into cover.
Man, that was incredible getting
the king of the Everglades,
a modern-day dinosaur,
the American alligator,
up close for the cameras.
As the storm rumbled through,
it carried within its
walls of wind and water
an unbelievable similarity
to the tropical storm
in Jurassic Park.
(T. rex thudding)
(T. rex roaring)
Maybe it was just a coincidence,
but for myself and the
Jurassic World Explorers,
the ending of this episode
strangely felt like a scene
from one of the greatest
movies of all time.
(T. rex roaring)
(dramatic orchestral music)
If you love the Jurassic
franchise as much as we do,
then make sure to go
back and watch the films
from Universal
Home Entertainment
that sparked an adventure 65
million years in the making.
This collection is now available
on Blu-ray, DVD, and
digital download.
Hey, Coyote Pack,
if you're excited for
Jurassic World Explorers,
make sure to tune in next week
to the Jurassic World
YouTube channel,
as we enter an enclosure with
a modern-day velociraptor,
and don't forget,
subscribe to their channel,
then click the notification bell
so you can join me and the crew
on our next Jurassic
World adventure.
(logo thudding)
(animal roaring)
(distant bird calling)
