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- All right guys, the crew and I are headed off into the Amazon at night to try to find and catch one of the most prehistoric creatures that calls this rainforest home, the miniature crocodile, the dwarf Caiman. Guys, this is like a living dragon. And if we can find one of these, let's just say it's going to be a brave wilderness episode for the books. But first things first, we got to hike deep into this jungle and find some water. Let's get it. The Amazon is home to over two million different species of wildlife. So finding a dwarf Cayman is like searching for a needle in a country-sized haystack. But we have a plan.
All Caymans are opportunistic predators eating almost anything they can overpower, from toads and fish to lizards and other small mammals. And the more prey we come across, the better our chances for finding our reptile target. Look at this beefcake. I'm going to name him Rocky. What a giant toad. This is actually one of the biggest toads I have ever caught in the wild. Holy moly. Its skin feels like leather. That is so cool. Look at how big its feet are. Wow. Oh, hey buddy, don't worry. I'll let you go. Look at that.
It's got like elephant hide. Seriously, look at the size of the eyes. There are very few animals that would actually consider this toad for a meal, and that's because they are super toxic. See those giant bulges behind the eyes? Those are actually poison glands. If you were to eat this toad, you would be very, very sick and most likely you would not survive fewer species out here in the Amazon. And that's why this toad is such a cool customer. This toad knows it's going to be all good. Look at that. Start to talk to me. All right buddy, I'll put you down now. Wow, that is cool. All right, I got to get a photo of this toad. That's awesome. Toad selfie, check. All right, bye buddy.
Despite their smaller size, Caymans belong to the same crocodilian family as alligators, crocodiles, and garials. Over the years, I've encountered my fair share of these prehistoric looking reptiles, from alligators in the Florida Everglades to the spectacle Caymans of Central America, to even coming face to face with the massive saltwater crocodiles in Australia. But none of those encounters can compare to what we're searching for here. Of the four Cayman species that inhabit the Amazon, only three have been extensively documented. The fourth has remained remarkably elusive. Hidden deep within the rainforest, this smooth fronted dwarf Cayman is one of the least studied crocodilians on earth. And if we're lucky, we may be able to capture some
of the most detailed 4K footage ever filmed of this secretive species. Wow. Look at that big tree. Did not want to been on this trail and that fell. All right guys, well it's starting to rain here in the rainforest, but look at this. We found a sleeping lizard. This is a blue lip tree lizard and it thinks it's completely camouflaged and it's right except for the fact that our artificial lights completely give it away. This is actually the first lizard we've been able to film on this trip, so it's really cool to get up close and take a look at this little guy.
See he's got some nice scoots on the back all the way down to that cryptic tail, almost blends in perfectly with that branch. We're just going to leave this lizard alone. The rain is picking up and we need to stow the cameras, but we wanted to get a quick shot of this cool lizard out here in the rainforest. All right, let's hunker down, let this rain pass and keep looking for Caymans. Having already found its prey, we finally spotted our second major clue in our search for this mini jungle croc.
This is the first water that we've come across and this is exactly the habitat that we've been searching for because this is where the Caymans like to hang out. I'm just going to look up and down this stream to see if I can catch some eye shine. That's going to be the prime giveaway. If there's any Cayman, best way to capture eye shine is with a flashlight. Put it right up to my nose and I look for two big red glowing eyes staring back at me. So far, I don't see any. Let me look this way.
All right, there's no Cayman that I can see here. Let's work our way over this ridge. There's actually another creek system on the other side. See if we have better luck there. All right, you got your camera up? Look at this guys. I have here an armored millipede. This is one of my favorite species of millipede because look at that armor plating all over the exoskeleton, all of those flanges.
They look so prehistoric, almost like a trilobite. When they crawl across your skin, it is just the most unique sensation, all of those legs moving together in concert to get this prehistoric little creature across the forest floor. Now of course up there is the face. You have the two little antenna. It's sensory appendages allowing it to navigate its way through this dense jungle. Another unique thing about millipedes is they are detritivores. You may not have heard of that word before. Usually you hear about something being a carnivore or an omnivore or an herbivore, but a detritivore is something
that eats decaying matter in the forest. This is like the cleanup crew here in this Amazon rainforest. They're going to eat all the dead matter like rotting logs, decaying leaves, anything that's pretty much forest litter on the floor, this miliped would call a meal. And probably the coolest fact about this armored millipede is its unique defense mechanism. The first part of its defense mechanism is to use that armor plating to roll up in a ball when threatened. Let me demonstrate. Ready? One, two, three.
There we go. Didn't take much jostling and we're already curled up into a ball. And you can see how well that armor plating really works to the miliped's advantage. A predator comes in to try to make a meal out of it like a bird or a lizard, boom, it's going to show its armored plates and they are tough. I mean, that is like keratin. That is super tough plating. It'd be very hard for something to crunch through to get to the soft side of the miliped.
Now the second part of their defense mechanism is they can emit a defense odor. In this case, it's actually a cyanide and it smells a whole lot like cherries. Now, don't worry, it's not enough cyanide to do me harm, but it has a unique cherry-like aroma. That is pretty wild that something this bizarre can smell like one of my favorite flavors. All right buddy. Thanks for hanging out. Bye. Running out of options. We decided to trek as deep as we could into this foggy river.
I got eye shine. I think I got a Cayman. All right. I think we got to go for it guys. Let's go. Oh geez. Oh, I got it. I got Cayman right here. All right, I'm going headlamp on. See it? It's right there. Got it. Oh buddy, we got a Cayman. How cool is that? A little dinosaur. Look at that. Look at those teeth. Look at that face.
This has got to be one of the most prehistoric crocodilians on our planet. Its face looks just like a T-Rex. This is called the smooth fronted dwarf cayman and this one just over a year old. So this is still just beyond a hatchling in size. Now these crocodilians can grow up to about five feet in length and they are specialized predators for these small creek ecosystems out here in the Amazon rainforest. They're out here eating fish, small invertebrates, and really anything big enough to fit in that mouth. Now don't confuse this crocodilian size for lack of might.
These are some of the toughest crocodilians pound for pound on our planet. They are extremely tough and extremely aggressive when they need to be. That's why even with a small individual like this, I cannot let my guard down. I don't want to get my finger stuck in that bear trap of a mouth because once they bite, they do not let go. They are like the pit bulls of crocodilians. And look at how cool those eyes are. Oh my gosh. Now this is one of the smallest species of crocodilian on our planet. In fact, it is the second smallest species. There's another species of dwarf cayman that gets even smaller than this, and they are related to crocodiles and alligators,
but they are specialized to live in these stream ecosystems here in the rainforest of the Amazon. Now, one of the most defining characteristics about the dwarf cayman besides its size is the armor that it possesses. Look at all of the skuts and that neck has all these armored skewtes up and down the body and that's because these animals need to be tough out here. There's no deep water for it to retreat to, so it needs to fight it out. And what might prey upon this species would be your jungle cats.
You have your pumas and your jaguars that would consider this dwarf cayman a great midnight snack. So it needs this tough armor to fend off its predators to give itself a fighting chance. I truly feel like I'm in a lost world with this prehistoric little crocodilian. The dwarf cayman in all its glory guys. This was awesome. I hope you enjoyed this video as much as I did. I'm Mark Vins. Be brave. Stay wild and we'll see you guys on the next adventure.
Gonna let it go right here. Here we go. See you later. If you enjoyed that episode, make sure to search for the Brave Wilderness Channel on YouTube so you can join me and the crew on our upcoming adventures.
