Belize Temple Naomi's Nightmares of Nature


Belize Temple

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Welcome to my nightmares of nature.

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I'm Naomi Wilkinson

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and I'm coming face to face with the nightmares of the animal world.

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The ones that make your spine tingle,

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your heart beat faster and your blood run cold.

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Are they truly terrifying? Or is there a twist in the tail?

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Come with me as I shine a light on wildlife's deepest, darkest

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secrets and see if you can guess which will be my worst nightmare.

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Welcome to Belize!

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This tiny tropical paradise is bursting at the seams with ancient

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temples, mysterious jungles and I'm guessing a few nightmares of nature!

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Tucked away on the shores of the Caribbean Sea,

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the Central American nation of Belize is a wildlife treasure trove.

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I'll meet a mini but mighty mammal... Oh!

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Investigate some startlingly scary jungle screams...

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I'm not sure I want to meet the animal that's making this sound!

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And descend into the depths on the trail of a creepy cave dweller.

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Ohhh! Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!

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But I'm kicking off this quest at my very own temple of doom!

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This spectacular pyramid is the Jaguar temple, built over 1,000

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years ago by the Maya people here in the jungles of Belize.

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The Maya have moved on, but plenty of animals still make their home

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in these ruins, including one that really puts the creep

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into creepy crawly.

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The cockroach is generally considered a real bad boy

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of the natural world.

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The classic image of these formidable insects,

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is a scurrying pest, overrunning our houses, spreading dirt, disease

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and dismay wherever they go.

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So, will the roaches here confirm their ruinous reputation?

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Unlike the vultures soaring above, the cockroaches around here

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are most active at night, so we need to wait for the sun to go down.

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As if searching in the dark, surrounded by these ancient

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ruins isn't spooky enough, I've heard that cockroaches

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here in the tropics, tend to be much larger than ones in cold countries!

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Marvellous!

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Leading our bug hunt is local guide, Reuben.

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And it turns out cockroaches aren't the only creepy

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crawlies around here!

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Oh! Look at that spider! Is that a...? Is that a tarantula?

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Mexican Red Rum tarantula!

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Oh, good! There's tarantulas everywhere too! Uh!

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Sometimes you'll find them in the bark of the trees,

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they like to hide in there.

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If you start, like, ripping a little bit of the bark, they make

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like a hissing sound, so that's how you can find them as well.

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So, an insect is big enough to make a sound that you can hear!

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They sure do. They're noisy!

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How big are they!

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Well, I'm about to find out.

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Look.

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Urrrggh! That is a very big cockroach! How big do they get?

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I have seen them about, probably about twice the size of this one,

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so I would say this is like a medium sized one.

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-So it could be as big as my hand?

-About, yeah.

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-Are they dangerous?

-No, they're not, you can, you know, pick them up,

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you can... You have to be quick, though.

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So can I try and hold him? Will it really scuttle away quickly?

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There you go. You have a roach.

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See what happens. It's just going to run all over me. Oh!

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Hang on, let's catch it. Oh, look at it!

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-You have to be quick.

-Ohhhh! Flew away!

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Right, come on, Naomi, be brave.

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Oh, it's too scuttly.

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It gives me the shivers.

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Right, come on, toughen up. Oh, I think this is really funny. Look.

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-It's hiding.

-It's hiding its head, thinks we can't see it any more.

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Kind of can, mate, you're really big. So what would these eat?

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Almost anything, like, you know, fungi and plants and insects.

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-So pretty much anything?

-Yes.

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It's this unfussy appetite that makes our homes such an attractive

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prospect to the cockroach, because they'll eat any old rubbish

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we leave lying around, including soap, glue, even hair... Yuck!

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But is that the whole story?

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A lot of people think of cockroaches as living in your house,

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or being in kitchens and places, is that true?

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No. Most species live in the jungle like this one here.

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They live in the trees here.

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They'd much prefer to be here in the wild?

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Yes. Much better to live out here, than around your house.

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The truth is, that of around 4,500 species of cockroach,

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only about 30 of them like to live in our homes.

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The rest prefer the great outdoors.

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-Another one up there.

-Oh, yeah.

-Got another one up there.

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Yeah. You can see that's a lot bigger than this one.

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So, cockroaches have a pretty bad reputation.

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Do you think that's deserved?

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No, I don't think so.

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These creatures basically help a lot of the environment by eating

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a lot of the fungus, you know a lot of the pests, bugs.

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So they're just getting rid of all of those and doing us a favour.

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Yes, they are.

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So the roaches of the ruins seem to be painting a very different

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picture of these much-maligned insects.

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It turns out that the cockroach is the cleaner of the natural world,

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gobbling up bugs, leaves and rubbish wherever it goes.

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Now, if that happens to be in your house, then yes,

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you might consider this a pest, but out in the wild,

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this industrious insect is actually providing a very

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useful recycling service, so can I really make it my worst nightmare?

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I'll be returning to the temple ruins later on, for more

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nocturnal nightmares.

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But first, I've got an appointment at Belize Zoo.

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Some animals seem scarier than others.

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Snapping crocs or giant spiders always have plenty of fear factor,

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but I'm here to meet a small furry animal that looks like a pig.

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What's that doing on Nightmares Of Nature?

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The peccary certainly is a curious creature.

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With its flat, pig-like snout, it looks harmless enough,

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but I have a feeling these diminutive forest dwellers

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have a few surprises in store for me.

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Making the introductions is zoo director, Sharon.

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So, Sharon, who do we have here?

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Naomi, you're going to meet one special fellow.

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-This is Chanel, our beloved collared peccary.

-Ha! Chanel's a boy?

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-Yes, he is.

-Look at your nose, it's fantastic.

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-They look like they're pigs but they are...

-I was going to say,

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-is it a pig?

-It's very distantly related to pigs.

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In evolutionary senses, they split off from the pigs

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-40 million years ago.

-Really?

-I know, they're in their own family.

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And the interesting thing, the reason Chanel is named Chanel,

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take a guess?

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I don't know quite how to put it, but he's got a pretty unusual pong.

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He does have an aroma that's unique.

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Yeah, nasty!

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Did you hear that, she didn't mean it!

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No, I didn't, I didn't mean that, Chanel,

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you're lovely but you do smell very funny.

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He's forgiven you already.

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That's because I've got food. Here you go.

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What's that funny smell all about?

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If you look at his back, the coat where it's a little bit darker,

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that's where a scent gland is.

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-These animals communicate through smell.

-OK.

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And what they do, is they'll rub that thing on rocks and trees

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and leaves in their territory and that's how the mums

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know where the babies are, the babies know where their mothers are.

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Now, I've heard that peccary can be dangerous

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but looking at Chanel here, it's very hard to figure out how.

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Well, you have to focus on his choppers, his teeth.

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His canines are sharp and they're long. See that? Look at that.

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So they could cause a serious injury.

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Definitely cause a serious injury.

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If you're walking through the jungle

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and you run into a pack of peccaries, there could be a problem.

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And if they have their youngsters, the mums are very, very protective.

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First, they'll try to scare you with the teeth and if

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you do not get out of the way,

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they could possibly come right at you.

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As if to illustrate Sharon's point, our the cameras seem to be

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making Chanel a little bad-tempered.

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All right.

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OK, he's getting a bit cross with us.

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Chanel has suddenly changed attitude completely.

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That was quite alarming all of a sudden, though, wasn't it?

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Wow, no uncertain terms. Leave me alone.

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He seems to have taken a particular dislike to cameraman, Steve.

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Don't get too close. Your foot is close.

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He's going to bite your toe. Back a bit, Steve, back a bit.

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Did you hear those teeth gnash?

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-He's really shown you, he doesn't... like the cameras.

-It's OK, Chanel.

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If one peccary on its own can be this ferocious...

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OK, guys.

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Then what's a whole herd of them going to be like?

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I'm glad I'm behind this fence.

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They're not the kind of animal that you would dash in there

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and give them a pet now, would you?

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No, it wouldn't be safe to go in there, would it?

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No, it probably wouldn't be a good thing to do.

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Oh, scrap!

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Oh, so there's all sorts of squabbles happening.

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This is pretty much what peccaries do in the wild.

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What you're seeing now is mirrored out there in the jungle.

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I know it looks horrendous, but it's all under control.

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-Chanel is letting them all know...

-That he's boss.

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That he's the boss. He keeps the herd in order.

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He is what we call the alpha male.

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It's OK, Chanel.

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Sorry, Chanel, I'm not coming in your territory.

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Don't worry, I would not want to wander in there for toffee.

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That is quite a dangerous place to be, I should think, in that pen.

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Steve, you need to go and stand over there, I think, on a long lens,

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otherwise he's going to bite your legs off. Bye, stay safe.

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It seems the peculiar peccary does have some nightmare pedigree.

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After all, yes, they may be small, even cute, but when they team up,

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they are a formidable force armed with seriously sharp tusks.

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But is that enough to make them my worst nightmare?

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I think they could be Steve's.

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It's four o'clock in the morning and I'm back at the Jaguar temple,

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to try and solve a nightmare riddle.

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We're waiting for the sun to rise, because rumour has it that at

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dawn, the jungle around these ruins is alive with the blood-curdling

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cries of mysterious creatures and this being nature's nightmares,

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little old me is off to investigate. Sounds like a total scream!

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Wandering in the pitch black of the jungle certainly

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qualifies as creepy.

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But it's about to get a whole lot creepier.

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GROWLING SOUNDS

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There, there, there. Can you hear that?

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GROWLING SOUNDS

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What is that? What is making that sound?

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It's up there somewhere, but it's so dark, I can't see it.

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Sounds like it'll be absolutely enormous.

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It's breaking branches, whatever it is.

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There's some over there and some right behind me in this tree.

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GROWLING SOUND

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Are we sure that dinosaurs are extinct?

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Because it sounds like there is a Tyrannosaurus Rex in that tree.

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I'm not sure I want to meet the animal that's making this sound!

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I'm very glad when dawn breaks and the sun starts to shed

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a little light on the riddle of the roaring ruins.

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ROARING

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So, I don't know if you can see, but up in the trees is the animal

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responsible for all of that racket - it's a monkey.

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The rather appropriately named howler monkey.

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And I think it's fair to say that this animal has a big gob.

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The calls of this monkey are so loud,

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they can be heard across the jungle from a distance of around

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two miles, and I think you can believe that,

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listening to this racket!

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ROARING

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They have a large pouch in their throat and a specially modified

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voice box that allows them

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to AMPLIFY THEIR VOICE...

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VOICE ECHOES

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Ahem! Not even sure how I did that.

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ROARING

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The level of the sound coming from just about five animals

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up there is unbelievable.

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So, what about the animal itself?

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Is it as big and as terrible as its call?

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Well, from this distance it's pretty hard to tell

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and if I was even able to climb up that tree, the monkeys would all

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just scatter, but there is a way that I can get a closer look.

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'I've come to Wildtracks in Northern Belize,

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'a primate rehab centre run by Paul Walker.

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'Paul and his team are currently caring for over 20 howler monkeys

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'and I've been granted a special audience with

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'three of the youngest residents.'

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What's the main reason you have these monkeys here?

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Our main function is to rehabilitate monkeys,

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usually ex-pet monkeys, they are an endangered species, their place

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is in the forest, not in people's homes, so our job is to get them

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back into good health and get them back to living back in the wild.

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-That's fantastic.

-The ones we've released to date

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are doing extremely well back in the forest.

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Now, I've heard the call of the howler monkey out in the wild

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and it's pretty terrifying, but they don't seem to be very scary animals.

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Not at all, not at all.

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Are they, eh? They're not an aggressive monkey,

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at this age especially so,

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but even the adults that we have ready for release are

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very placid, calm, quiet animals.

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So what do their calls mean?

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ROARING AND HOWLING

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The calls are how they defend their territories, rather than

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getting involved in physical fights,

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they actually stand in the trees, call and sound big

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and scary to stop the others coming into their territory.

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And they'll call at different times of the day,

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typically early in the morning and

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that's the time when a lot of people who haven't heard a howler monkey

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call will get most scared because it sounds like a huge cat or something.

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Yes, a very creepy sound.

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HOWLING AND BARKING

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It's the males that call loudest, but the females do a pretty

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respectable call as well. So when the males are calling,

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the females and even the babies will join in.

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-Will they?

-When the older ones start calling,

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-these little ones will start calling.

-Is it a higher call?

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It's kind of "Whaaarr!" these little croaks,

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-a froglike croak as they're trying...

-A bit pathetic?

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It's also very entertaining, watching little guys like this

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trying to be big monkeys and standing up -

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-Raah! Raah!

-Making a rubbish little noise.

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Instead of the full roar.

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Oh, fantastic. You just want to be on camera.

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I think you need to clean your lens.

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Yeah, we might need to clean the camera.

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We've just got a bit of monkey spit on there.

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You can see where the term cheeky monkey comes from.

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Yeah, no monkeying around, please.

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She says, "Oh, there's got to be a button here somewhere..."

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"There's got to be something here I can bite off."

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But also, you see this kind of interaction

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-and you start getting an insight into the level of intelligence.

-Yes.

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Yeah, I'm going to be completely out of focus now,

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because we've got a new operator.

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Hey!

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I think this is a classic case of the bark being worse than

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the bite - while their calls may sound like something

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straight from a horror story,

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they are ultimately social, intelligent

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and as babies, very, very sweet!

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So, it's going to be very hard to call them my worst nightmare!

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'For the final leg of our adventure, we're hitching a ride into the wilds

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'of Central Belize.

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'And when the road runs out, we just keep on going.'

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Sometimes, to discover the very worst nightmares that nature has

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to offer, you have to get a little off the beaten track.

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And this particular track leads... straight down.

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'This part of Belize is littered with spectacular caves and they're

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'home to one of the creepiest creatures you're ever likely

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'to lay your eyes on.

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'It's fair to say the whip spider isn't going to be winning

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'any top model contests. These carnivorous cave dwellers

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'look like they've scuttled straight out of a Hollywood horror film.

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'So when it comes to the race for worst nightmare, surely these

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'barbed, multi-legged monstrosities are going to run away with it?'

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'There's going to be nothing easy about this outing,

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'including getting into the cave.'

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Whoo!

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Caves can be dangerous places, there can be little if any light,

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and the terrain can be very difficult, sometimes vertical!

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So I reckon the animals that live in them

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need to be tough and resourceful.

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'Waiting to introduce me to the cave's creepiest resident

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'is local guide Abel.'

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-Ready to go.

-This way.

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Ready as I'll ever be.

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Right, Abel, we are looking for an animal called a whip spider,

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but it isn't actually a spider, is it?

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It's not a spider, uh, the whip spider is actually

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its own species, it's not a spider or a scorpion.

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But it's closely related to a spider and a scorpion, is it?

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It's closely related.

0:22:340:22:35

Whereabouts should I be looking to find them?

0:22:350:22:37

You'll find them up on the ceiling of the cave

0:22:370:22:39

-and also along the wall of the cave.

-All right, so, keep my eyes up.

0:22:390:22:43

Keep your eyes open, I would say, right?

0:22:430:22:45

Hope it doesn't fall on my back.

0:22:450:22:47

You can see a few crickets, a few of the cave crickets.

0:22:530:22:56

Oh, right, do the whip spiders eat them?

0:22:560:23:00

-That's what they eat, yeah.

-Oh, that's their main food.

0:23:000:23:02

So where there's lots of crickets, that's a good sign,

0:23:020:23:04

because the whip spiders like to eat them.

0:23:040:23:07

Oh, this is creeping me out!

0:23:070:23:10

So, they're all over the place here, hopefully we'll see one...

0:23:130:23:16

-Ohh!

-There's one, right there, see?

0:23:160:23:19

-That's really big!

-But look how high it is!

0:23:210:23:23

I didn't think it was going to be quite as big as that.

0:23:230:23:26

We'll find more up ahead,

0:23:260:23:28

that one is really high to get a good view of it.

0:23:280:23:30

That's all right, we could just leave it alone, couldn't we?

0:23:300:23:34

I don't mind if we don't find one we can reach. Ohh!

0:23:340:23:37

'Unfortunately, I don't have to wait long until our second find.'

0:23:390:23:43

Right here.

0:23:440:23:46

-Oh, you've got another one.

-Right there.

0:23:460:23:48

Ohhhh!

0:23:480:23:50

There it goes. Look at those long legs.

0:23:520:23:54

So this, this...these are legs at the front, are they?

0:23:540:23:58

They are legs, yes, but they're so long because they use them

0:23:580:24:01

as feelers as well.

0:24:010:24:03

So, that's how it's finding food?

0:24:030:24:05

That's the way they find food, yes, since it's so dark in here,

0:24:050:24:08

they don't use their eyes, they use their long legs.

0:24:080:24:12

'Just watching this mini monster sets my heartbeat racing.

0:24:140:24:17

'But Abel thinks I can get an even closer look!'

0:24:180:24:23

Shall I try and hold it?

0:24:250:24:27

He won't...he won't do anything.

0:24:290:24:30

Oh! Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Compose myself.

0:24:300:24:36

'Let's give that another try.'

0:24:360:24:38

I'll put it in your hand.

0:24:380:24:40

Oh, I don't like it!

0:24:400:24:42

I do like you, I like spiders...

0:24:420:24:44

Oh, no, don't let it go up to my face!

0:24:440:24:48

Come on, Naomi, woman up!

0:24:480:24:51

Ohhh...it's creepy!

0:24:510:24:54

I mean, it's not a good-looking creature.

0:24:540:24:56

It looks menacing and like it should be dangerous.

0:24:560:25:00

-It looks very dangerous, but...

-Is it?

0:25:000:25:02

-They're not dangerous at all.

-No venom?

0:25:020:25:04

-No venom in them.

-Wow!

0:25:040:25:07

How does it hunt?

0:25:070:25:08

As you can see, they have little pinchers in front,

0:25:080:25:11

that's what they use to grab.

0:25:110:25:13

And crickets are quite fast, so they have to be fast too?

0:25:130:25:15

Very fast, that's the reason this spider is so fast,

0:25:150:25:18

when it's ready to grab, it just makes a fast move.

0:25:180:25:21

'Rather than venom, the whip spider relies

0:25:240:25:27

'on stealth and speed when hunting.

0:25:270:25:29

'Their wicked extendable claws are lined with gruesome barbs

0:25:290:25:34

'and when those front legs detect prey, the claws spring out,

0:25:340:25:38

'grab it and draw it back to a set of fearsome fangs.

0:25:380:25:43

'A grim way to go!'

0:25:430:25:45

Shall I give it back to you?

0:25:470:25:50

Ohhh!

0:25:500:25:51

Put him back, see if he wants to go back.

0:25:540:25:56

'Time to let this king of the cave creepers crawl away.'

0:25:590:26:04

And relax!

0:26:040:26:05

I have to say I'm in two minds about the whip spider -

0:26:110:26:14

on one hand, they pose no threat to us, it really doesn't bite,

0:26:140:26:17

sting or inject lethal venom. On the other hand,

0:26:170:26:21

if things that scurry and scuttle around in the dark make you nervous,

0:26:210:26:25

then this is going to give you a serious case of the heebie-jeebies!

0:26:250:26:29

So, what do you think, should the whip spider be my worst nightmare?

0:26:290:26:33

My nightmare quest is at an end

0:26:350:26:38

and the jungles and caves of Belize have delivered

0:26:380:26:40

a colourful cast of nightmare characters.

0:26:400:26:43

But which, for me, was the worst?

0:26:430:26:45

Was it the spooky ruins, crawling with cockroaches?

0:26:450:26:49

Oh! It's too scuttly, gives me the shivers!

0:26:500:26:54

Was it the shocking shriek of the howler monkey?

0:26:540:26:57

ROARING

0:26:570:26:59

Are we sure that dinosaurs are extinct?

0:27:010:27:04

Or was it the evil look of the wicked whip spider?

0:27:040:27:07

Oh, no, don't let it go up to my face!

0:27:090:27:13

Well, it may surprise you, but BELIZE it or not,

0:27:130:27:16

I think the peculiar peccary with its terrible tusks

0:27:160:27:20

and sheer strength in numbers is the biggest nightmare around here!

0:27:200:27:24

It's a bit of a bumpy road, this one.

0:27:340:27:36

You lot all right in the back?

0:27:360:27:37

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