0:00:03 > 0:00:08On Deadly 60, I've had loads of incredible animal encounters.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Here's just one of my many favourites.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16This is Deadly 60 Bites.
0:00:19 > 0:00:20We're here, in Louisiana, USA,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24looking for the swamp beasts with the biggest bite.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28This is Black Bayou wetlands.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31All of these cypress trees, turning autumn gold
0:00:31 > 0:00:35reflected perfectly in this glassy-smooth water.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38It's about as beautiful as a swamp could ever be.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40But somewhere beneath these dark waters
0:00:40 > 0:00:45is a monster with one of the most powerful scalpel-sharp jaws
0:00:45 > 0:00:47in the whole of the animal kingdom
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and that's what we're hoping to find.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55The monster in question is called an alligator snapping turtle.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57They spend a lot of their time sitting still,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00looking a bit like a log.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03And the clever thing is they get their lunch to come to them.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09On the inside of their open mouth, a fleshy growth wiggles invitingly
0:01:09 > 0:01:10to passing fish.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Any who take the bait find themselves grabbed
0:01:13 > 0:01:15by some of the most powerful jaws in the world.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37To help find one, I've enlisted the help of an expert.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40This is Mitch. He's studying the turtles.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45The Black Bayou is pretty vast.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47And the water is, as you can see, it's pretty murky.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50So our chances of actually just happening across the animal
0:01:50 > 0:01:53we're looking for, are pretty slender.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57We put out these hoop net traps...
0:01:59 > 0:02:01And there's fresh fish bait inside.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I'm really hoping...
0:02:05 > 0:02:07..that we've caught something special.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13OK, our first trap's empty. We've still got six more to try.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15I'm still confident that we're going to find something.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18I should never, ever say that on camera!
0:02:18 > 0:02:20STEVE LAUGHS
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Next trap's just in front of us here
0:02:37 > 0:02:39and it's a good deal lower in the water than the others,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43which could mean that something heavy inside is keeping it down.
0:02:45 > 0:02:46Oh, wow!
0:02:52 > 0:02:53Yes!
0:02:55 > 0:02:57Oh, my goodness. Look at the size of it!
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Two! There's two in there!
0:02:59 > 0:03:01Oh, my God!
0:03:01 > 0:03:02Look at the size of it!
0:03:02 > 0:03:05STEVE LAUGHS
0:03:09 > 0:03:12We actually have three.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I cannot tell you how heavy this is.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26I was just starting to feel that, er, the day
0:03:26 > 0:03:28was going to have no results.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31We checked all our traps. This was the last one that was left.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33And, um, well...
0:03:33 > 0:03:35absolutely unreal.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39Three giant alligator snapping turtles.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42We're just going to be real careful, real gentle,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45try to ease them out.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48You'll notice, as we're moving into the turtle,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52we'll keep our hands a lot further away from the head
0:03:52 > 0:03:54than you would expect.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56That's because it, actually... When it strikes,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00the head really extends forward from the front of the shell...
0:04:00 > 0:04:02a good distance.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06And, where as with the small one here, I guess I'd be in danger
0:04:06 > 0:04:07of losing a finger,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I think it's pretty safe to say that if my hand or even my arm
0:04:11 > 0:04:15were to get too close to the jaws of this big fella
0:04:15 > 0:04:16then I'd probably lose it.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Wow!
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Well done, Mitch.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25OK.
0:04:25 > 0:04:26Steve, if you hold what you've got
0:04:26 > 0:04:31- then just do your best to keep your fingers clear.- Yeah.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Just make sure your right hand doesn't stray from that spot.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38OK.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39Right...
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Good job, man. Good job. You've got him.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43Woo-hoo!
0:04:43 > 0:04:47That is a big turtle.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Probably the largest freshwater turtle in the world.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54But that isn't really what's so impressive about him.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Look at the size of that head!
0:04:56 > 0:05:00It's totally out of proportion to the whole of the rest of the body
0:05:00 > 0:05:04and most of that is just pure muscle power
0:05:04 > 0:05:06driving that jaw.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11At the edge of it is, well, it's incredibly sharp.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14It doesn't have teeth cos it doesn't need to have, really.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17It's almost like a great big curved kitchen knife.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19You can see the hooked snout at the end
0:05:19 > 0:05:22and... Actually, I'm not going to be able to hold him like this for long
0:05:22 > 0:05:24cos he's just too heavy.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26They can get to be heavier than I am.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28What do you reckon, Mitch, how heavy is this turtle?
0:05:28 > 0:05:30About 110 pounds, Steve.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34- 110 pounds.- Pound for pound, probably a lot stronger than you or I!
0:05:34 > 0:05:36That's for sure!
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Absolutely sure. I'm having so much difficulty holding him.
0:05:40 > 0:05:41Oh, look at that!
0:05:41 > 0:05:45You can see how I'm really straining to hold him
0:05:45 > 0:05:47but you can see how far the neck extends.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50And that's how he hunts.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54I mean, looking at the shape of the head and the body,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56it's very irregular.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00The colour's quite dark and he blends in really, really well
0:06:00 > 0:06:03with all the vegetation at the bottom of the water here.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07And then as soon as a fish gets too close,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09the head snaps out like that.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12The jaws clamp shut incredibly quickly,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14and the fish is history.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19There's a lot of animals in this series that people say to me,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22"What on Earth are you doing putting that on the Deadly 60?"
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I don't think anyone's going to say that
0:06:24 > 0:06:27about the alligator snapping turtle.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29He really is a living dinosaur.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33I'm going to put him back cos I just can't hold him any more.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35All right, big fella!
0:06:35 > 0:06:36In you go.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It's not only going in the Deadly 60,
0:06:40 > 0:06:42but also on my personal list
0:06:42 > 0:06:46of creatures that I never want to get bitten by.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Monster-sized, monster-looking
0:06:48 > 0:06:50with monster jaws -
0:06:50 > 0:06:53it's a living monster.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:07:03 > 0:07:06E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk