3:02
We've been invited onto a military range by the United States Air Force to help fill in the gap in our quest to show you the world's greatest reptiles. Good day. Arizona, in the desert, in the dry. And this is the Barry M. Goldwater Range. Right behind me is the Mohawk Mountain Range. For obvious reasons. And up there, that's Luke Air Force Base. I'm here looking at the diversity of the wildlife, but particularly at a heat-seeking reptile. And a very important heat-seeking missile for the Air Force. There's 2.7 million acres in the range.
A lot of territory for the unique wildlife of Arizona. We're being guided through the range by Bob Berry and Bill Millard, a two-man team of US Air Force biologists. They'll put us in the right places so we can use our skills to track down our very first sidewinder in the wild. They're taking us to some real hot spots as they make their regular rounds. Hot in more ways than one. The temperature's been hitting 130°. Fantastic conditions for reptiles and great terrain for rattlesnakes. We're about to show you one of the most amazing scenes of reptile handling I've ever seen. A deadly snake and a situation I can still hardly believe.
Listen to that. HERE WE GO. WOO! IT'S A TIGER. They've only got a small amount of venom, but it's highly toxic. And apparently, they're one of the more laid-back rattles species. Oh, you've got a little hit. Hey. Woah hey settle down, mate. Settle down. Settle down, buddy. Settle down. He'll settle down in a minute. All I got to do is avoid getting bitten for the first 20 seconds and then he'll settle down. Here he goes. Come on now. Hey. You're supposed to be non-aggressive. Have a look at that coloration. He virtually matches his environment perfectly. And those bands, you can see why they call them tiger rattlesnakes. He's got a relatively small head for the size of
his body. Big, fat body. And they've got great pits. Look at the pits in his head there. Looks like he's got a third set of eyes. What a score. You can imagine he's got to eat smaller prey sizes cuz he's got that smaller head. Woah. Okay, he's starting to settle down now. Now it doesn't look like it, but I'm a firm believer in body posture. Woah. He's settling down. Yeah, he stopped rattling.
I think now I can take the liberty moving in a little closer. You got to imagine I'm a professional. I've been dealing with highly venomous snakes all my life. And I'm just staring straight at his head. Checking out his demeanor. He's settled down. He's stopped rattling. And now and only now I can demonstrate how beautiful he is and how uninclined he is to strike. Look at that. My hands, my nose, my face, my eyes are all within strike range. He's a pit viper. He could strike back over his own body at least 2/3 his body length, which means he could get me right on the eyebrow. Isn't this magnificent? Notice the snake, how it's jiggling up and down? That's my nerves.
I am really nervous. But, I'm a professional. I've never been envenomated by a venomous snake. I take great pride in that. But, you can see I'm shaking like a leaf. And this snake is totally unfazed by Look at his little rattle there. Beautiful rattle. Perfectly formed. Look at that. There's another species of rattler here, the speckled. They're very hard to tell apart from these tiger rattlers. The only way to tell is those bands and the tail. The speckled's got that tail, black and white before the buttons. I just really appreciate you letting me do this.
Free handle, something no one should ever do. And you can just go back up there. I tell you what, you'll never see anybody else in the entire world able to do this. This whole area is under military administration. A small part is used for target practice, but 94% is clear for the wildlife. The Air Force controls who comes into the environment, and that means the animals of the desert have a huge range of protected habitat.
The range is an important military training center. Here he comes. Come down 5 or 600 ft. Oh, DID YOU SEE THAT? OH, HE GOT ANOTHER ONE RIGHT, HERE WE GO. BOOM! Have a look at the target. It's right there. Good hit. So, as you can see, absolute minimal impact on the environment with the bombing and the strafing. It's all condensed into one very small area. And even right here, in close at the target markers, there's good healthy wildlife. Have a look at this little beauty. This is a coachwhip. It's a colubrid. Non-venomous.
They got a great set of teeth. And he's hunting around in the heat of the day chasing lizards. This is exceptional. Absolutely exceptional. They got a mission happening over here like right now, strafing, hitting the targets, and this guy's running across this graded patch here hunting for lizards. They're designed to camouflage into their environment. And boy, they bite like crazy. Woo! How's this? WE GOT F-16S GOING OFF BEHIND US. BOMBS GOING OFF. This is incredible. A great demonstration of how this mission doesn't affect the wildlife. This mission's in such a concentrated area that this guy and the other species
around here are in no danger. Well, mate, just let you go over here. Away from the target zone, we could be in any untouched part of the Arizona desert. Just a rough track through wide open spaces, and Steve's about to find some double trouble. He spots a bit of off-road movement and races into another display of incredible skill with two American rattlesnakes at once. Two! there's two in here. I don't know if It's a pair. It'll be a breeding pair of western diamondbacks. He's in grumpy mode. And I do not want to get tagged. Okay, here's the little female.
I'm just going to take her out here into the open. Okay, wait there, girl. Wait there. Wait You're all right. No, no, you can't get away. Just I'll just settle her down. Settle down. Okay. Wait there, sweety. Come on, buddy. Come on, mate. Here he comes. Boy, oh, you're a bit exasperated. You're all right. Okay, hold your ground, mate. Hold your ground. Have a look at this. WE GOT THE BIG FULL-HEADED ADULT MALE and this absolutely gorgeous female. They're in breeding mode. They just want to do what comes natural, curl up, mate, and make little babies.
This little female, she's probably in her first year of maternal mode. This male, he's he's a lot bigger than her, but I reckon he's only in his second year of sexual maturity. It's pretty hot out here, so I'm just going to put them back where they came from. Come on. And I'm going to let them go in unison right where I found them. You're all right. There you go, big bloke. There you go. THERE YOU GO, SWEETY.
