Guy Plays With Highly Venomous Snake for Our Education

Coyote Peterson is a braver person than you or I. When he’s not cuddling with wild ocelot kittens, he’s going searching for wild animals of all stripes to document for the popular Brave Wilderness YouTube channel. His latest animal encounter, though, might be his most dangerous yet.

Peterson has been the host of the show Breaking Trail on Brave Wilderness for almost two years. His new show, Beyond the Tide, just launched its first episode, and it’s a doozy. The show is dedicated to tracking down and educating viewers about aquatic life. What better way to start than by showing us all what he calls the “deadliest reptile [he’s] ever handled”?

After a quick tease, the video starts with a few smaller creatures Peterson and his crew found off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. There’s a cute little octopus (actually the second-cutest cephalopod we’ve seen this week), a hermit crab, and a baby pufferfish. Then Peterson gets down to business.

He finds a highly venomous sea snake stranded in a tide pool, and wastes no time picking it up with his bare hands. Peterson gives the viewer some fast facts about the snake, including how deadly it is and how unusual it is to find it so close to the shore… all while holding the snake in his unprotected hand. If you can make it through this video without grinding your teeth in anxiety, you might want to quit popping Valium so often.

All kidding aside, Peterson’s video is both entertaining and informative. He’s got the right mix of childlike wonder and legit knowledge to make wildlife even more interesting than it naturally is. We look forward to seeing more from him soon. (We just hope he wears gloves next time. Thick ones.)

What do you think? Would you watch a TV show starring Coyote Peterson? Let us know in the comments below or @WhatsTrending on Twitter!