(playful music)
- Yes, look at that!
That is a monkey-tail lizard.
Holy cow!
I just caught it moving
out of the side of my eye.
- [Voiceover] Whoa,
look at its tail!
- Holy mackerel,
that is awesome!
I have never caught
one of these before.
(theme music)
Well folks, Breaking Trail
is officially international.
And our first location abroad
is the beautiful
country of Costa Rica.
We found and filmed
many amazing animals.
But to kick off the adventures,
let's start with
something unexpected.
- [Voiceover] Whoa,
look at his tail!
Holy mackerel, that is awesome!
I have never caught
one of these before!
- [Voiceover] Here let's
move into the light.
Kinda dark.
- He's getting a
little aggravated.
- [Voiceover]
Right here is good.
- Where right here?
- [Voiceover] Yup!
- Okay, is that enough light?
- [Voiceover] Yeah, Yeah, great.
Wow, look at that tail!
- You know who
this reminds me of?
- [Voiceover] Oh yeah.
- The Cuban Knight Anole.
We all remember what
happened in that episode.
I took a chomp.
And he's not too keen on biting.
Oh, no, yes, he is.
Hopefully I don't
get bit by this guy.
Now, this is the
monkey-tail lizard.
And they are called
the monkey-tail lizard
because look at the
tail on this guy.
- [Voiceover] Really
could fit it in the sink.
- That thing is probably
almost two-thirds
the length of this
lizard's body.
And it's actually prehensile.
And they use this tail
when up in the tree canopy
to help themselves
balance on tree limbs.
You can see that right there.
He's got his tail
wrapped around my thumb.
And that's what they'll do,
they will use their tail to
actually hang from branches.
Watch this, I can
hold him by his tail,
he won't drop his tail.
They can hold up the
weight of their body
just like that, use their
legs to hold onto tree bark,
and lay and wait
for prey to come by.
Now, this is an ambush predator.
And look at that, look at that,
it's almost like an
upside-down yoga pose.
And they will lay and
wait for their prey.
Now, this is an
arboreal species.
Meaning they live up
in the tree canopy.
And they're feeding on
pretty much anything
they can come across,
but mainly small
bugs and arachnids.
Hey there buddy, how are you?
Getting ready for your nap, huh?
These are actually
diurnal lizards
who are probably catching
him just as he is headed
up into the trees for the night.
And it appears that
this is a male.
Check this out, watch,
let's look at this dewlap.
May I?
Thank you sir.
(playful music)
Just a little dewlap.
Not much color on that.
As you can see,
they are completely matte
green all the way around.
This is such a cool lizard.
Now they do get quite
a bit bigger than this,
and the females actually
grow larger than the males.
- [Voiceover] It's like a whip.
- And this is a male, yeah,
and they can use
that tail as defense
to whip it at a
potential predator.
But, as an arboreal species,
they don't come in
contact with predators
all that often, unless
of course it is a bird.
These will be taken
by hawks, or eagles.
But, they are voracious
predators themselves,
eating any small invertebrate
that they can find
up there in the tree canopy,
but occasionally, they will
come down to the ground
when big rains move through.
And earlier today, we had a
massive storm push its way
through the rainforest here,
and I imagine that is
what pushed this guy down
to the level where I
am able to capture him.
Look at the head of that lizard.
It resembles the
Cuban Knight Anole,
and also kinda looks
like a chameleon.
However, this species
is in the Anole family.
But, they really kinda
look like iguanas.
And you'll notice, unlike
the Cuban Knight Anole,
he does not have
a ridge of spines
that runs down the
length of his body.
Look at those eyeballs.
Let's take a good look at those.
Very similar to the
eyeballs of a chameleon,
but what's interesting
is that they can move
independently of one another.
Meaning that they can lay
in wait for their prey
and just look around
with one single eye.
And I can't do it very good,
but let's see if
we can get him to.
Over here, over here.
Can't tell, is his
eye moving at all?
- [Voiceover] Yeah it is.
- Look at that.
Well, how cool is that?
Getting to monkey around
with the monkey-tail lizard.
I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave.
Stay wild.
We'll see you on
the next adventure.
There he goes.
(playful music)
If you thought this
lizard was cool,
make sure to go back
and check out the time
I was chomped by the
Cuban Knight Anole.
And don't forget,
subscribe to join me and
the crew on this season
of Breaking Trail.
Look at you.
You are all tail buddy.
Look at that.
And now he's up on my hat.
They have incredible balance.
Oh boy, I am looking
right at his butt.
Hopefully he doesn't
poop in my face.
(nature sounds)
