-Funding for "Coastal Kingdom" is provided by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina, which proudly supports this program.

Through the generosity of our members and donors, the ETV Endowment has funded educational and entertaining programming like "Coastal Kingdom" for more than 40 years.

-So, there are animals that you just have to know if you live in the Lowcountry.

Now, some of these are pretty conspicuous and others are much, much harder to find.

But they're all important members of the animal community here, and they're ambassadors for our local habitats.

In this episode, we're going to look at some more signature species from right here in the Lowcountry.

♪♪ So, look at that little guy.

Okay, we got something big on.

There we go.

We've got the bird.

And there's already a chick in there.

♪♪ ♪♪ You guys hear that?

You know what that is?

That's baby alligators.

So, we just walked up.

There's a whole bunch of baby alligators that are right on the edge right down here.

I'm not going to be able to catch them by hand.

So what I'm going to do is run to the truck and grab a dip net.

Okay.

There's one right...

Right... Oh, man, I missed him.

I absolutely missed him.

Let's see if he comes back up.

There he is right...

Right there.

Man, I missed him again.

Oh, I got him, I got him!

So, look at that little guy.

So, this is an absolute youngster.

In fact I can -- Yeah.

This is a really new baby for sure.

This one's vocalizing too.

[ Alligator grunts softly ] So, that's a call for Mom.

So, Mom is nearby.

And so we need to kind of keep an eye out for her.

You know what's kind of interesting about that?

You know, most reptiles do not really take care of young.

So it's interesting that alligators not only guard the nest, but they will also look after babies for up to a year and a half after they they hatch out.

In fact, I'm sure she's somewhere nearby.

But some of the mother alligators are not nearly as attentive.

Now, you notice the coloration on this one.

I mean, it looks fairly bright here, but if you blend it in in this kind of environment, it's really cryptic.

I mean, they're hard to see, especially with dappled sunlight and vegetation and things like that, so they hide pretty well.

Now, they are vulnerable.

A lot of things eat these -- wading birds.

And I would say the overwhelming majority of baby alligators get eaten by predators.

So very, very few of them survive to adult size.

Now, we're going to hold on to a few of these because we work very closely on an alligator study, and we want to get just a little bit of data from these guys.

Let's see if we can catch a few more.

But any that we catch, we'll get data from them.

And then we're going to let them go exactly where we caught them.

♪♪ ♪♪ So, I'm going to let these guys go right here.

We've moved down just 100 feet or so because I can hear the rest of the group vocalizing... [ Alligator grunting softly ] ...in the background.

So I want to make sure these guys get back with their -- with their brothers and sisters.

So I'm going to let them go right here.

[ Alligators grunting softly ] So, that was fun seeing some little guys.

But now we want to see if we can find a big alligator and talk a little bit about adult alligators.

So, we're out here looking for alligators.

But I want to show you something that's right here that I think you'll get a real kick out of.

These are -- I bet you've never seen one of these.

These are freshwater bryozoans.

And look at this thing.

Freshwater bryozoans.

Now, most of our bryozoans are marine, so you find them in saltwater.

But this is one that we see in freshwater.

This is one called Pectinatella magnifica.

I think it's the magnificent bryozoan.

And it's -- it's kind of the -- it kind of feels like holding a brain or something.

But what it is, is one of the moss animals.

It's a colonial, a group of animals, and they're made up of zooids.

And each of these zooids is in kind of a matrix, kind of a gooey matrix.

What's going to happen is it's going to start breaking down in these structures called statoblasts, just spread out into the pond.

And think of these as little escape pods.

And these statoblasts can handle really rough conditions.

They can take drying up.

They can take being very hot or very cold.

But eventually when conditions are right, they'll hook on to something and they'll start another bryozoan like this.

I've seen these as big -- I've seen them almost as big as a basketball, although that's pretty impressive.

This has some weight to it, but, you know, not really a signature species, but one of those animals that it's pretty cool.

Okay, I want to get this one back in the water.

♪♪ Today we're going to get a chance to work with Dr. Thomas Rainwater.

And Thomas is a biologist with Yawkey Wildlife Center and Clemson University.

And I'll tell you what's really neat about Dr. Rainwater.

Not only does he work with American alligators, but he's worked with Nile crocodiles and Morelet's crocodiles and American crocodiles.

But today the goal is to work with alligators, right?

-Absolutely, absolutely.

-And we're in a great spot right here, aren't we?

-Perfect spot, perfect spot.

So what we're doing today, I guess -- I guess one of the main points we want to make here is that we're on a dike between a freshwater pond and a saltwater marsh, and here in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, they spend a lot of time in that salt marsh.

In fact, there's more food for them in the salt marsh.

So if they can do it, they'll hydrate in the fresh and then go to the salt to feed.

And what you'll see on these dikes are these trails that go from the salt to the fresh, from the fresh to the salt.

And sometimes they wear these dikes down so much, traveling back and forth, that landowners have to come in here with bulldozers and tractors to fix this damage, because there's so much travel between the salt and the fresh.

-And so I look over my shoulder and there's a bunch of alligators right there, but we're going to use the sort of the fishing rod technique, right?

-Right.

There's lots of ways to catch crocodilians, alligators being one.

One of the most common is using what they call a snatch hook.

You can attach these hooks to a fishing to a long rope.

But the idea is you have this treble hook with the barbs ground off and all you do is you throw the hook over the alligator, slowly reel it in, and these points catch in the thick, tough skin of the alligator, lets them hang on so you can pull them close to the bank.

And then with a snare, we reach down over the neck, pull the snare tight, and then we have an alligator on a rope, and you play it much like you would a fish, Tony.

You're used to that.

Today we're lucky enough to have Randeep Singh, who is a biologist at Clemson, to help us catch our alligators.

He's been out here many times before, so we should be in good hands.

-Yeah.

So this will be like the ultimate fishing, won't it?

If you get a big alligator on the end of this.

-You know it.

Super, super heavy.

-Alright, let's get started.

-Alright.

♪♪ -That was close.

♪♪ Okay, here's a little guy.

Oh!

Came off.

[ Laughs ] This is all that came back.

-There you go.

That's a catch right there.

That's a great shot.

Alright.

-Okay.

Got him.

-Good cast, Tony.

♪♪ -Wow.

You can see this thing is really pulling now.

So I think it just realized we've got it -- we've got it hooked.

♪♪ Okay.

There you go.

Okay.

Perfect.

Perfect.

-Slowly.

Come up.

There we go.

Try to get the jaws closed.

Okay.

Very good.

Tony, if you can put a towel over the eyes just to kind of reduce stress.

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Go for it.

Alright, so Tony's got the head.

Perfect.

Let me pull that just a little bit.

And that's it.

Perfect.

-Yeah.

This -- Boy, this animal's in good shape.

-Now, the first thing we do is get some biological samples from these guys to measure contaminants and look at DNA and different things, and then we'll go from that to measurements.

-Okay.

-And then finally, we'll tag the animal.

♪♪ -I mean, it's fun to catch alligators, but you've got some really important reasons to do this.

So why -- why are we catching these guys?

-Right.

So yeah, this project, Tony, is actually the continuation of a long-term project, almost 45 years of research that was started back in the late '70s by Mark Bara, Tom Murphy and Phil Wilkinson, who were the DNR state biologists and they're kind of the pioneers of alligator research in South Carolina.

Because these animals are around human developments and cities and communities, they're considered to be kind of sentinels of environmental health.

So because alligators are top-level predators, they feed on a variety of prey items.

They have a very long life-span.

And they also don't move around a lot.

Like, you know, some birds will migrate intercontinentally.

Well, these animals pretty much stay in the same spot.

So if you find an alligator that's exposed to mercury or exposed to pesticides or some other chemical, chances are it was exposed kind of where you found that animal, so it tells you a little bit about the environmental integrity of the area.

And so we want to know if they're exposed to these chemicals.

We also want to know just their general biology.

How long do they live?

How fast do they grow?

And to do that you've got to capture the animal, get a blood sample and get measurements over time.

We keep doing this over years and years and years.

So that's why we have to capture them.

Also to mark them for those same reasons.

One of the primary things to look at in alligators in terms of their body condition is the girth of the tail just behind the legs.

And this one seems to be really, really, really thick, which indicates really good body condition.

-God, they're just remarkable animals.

You can see these -- I love these osteoderms, these bony plates in the back.

I mean, they're sharp and really hard.

-Yeah, if you're not careful, these can cause more damage than the tail.

If you get rubbed against these, they're pretty sharp.

They provide armor for the juveniles and the hatchlings when they're young from predators coming down from above, like you said, osteoderms.

These are actually bones with keeled scales on them.

-Thomas is about to put a PIT tag in.

And this is used in pets, you know, dogs and cats and things.

And we actually use it in snakes as well.

It's a really good way to -- So it's a Passive Induced Transponder?

-An Integrated Transponder.

-[ Chuckles ] I had it close.

And the skin is so tough.

Man, it's tough.

-If you can try to try to insert the needle between the scales because you're right.

It's super tough.

Pull it out and it should be in there.

Okay.

So I'm going to -- Searching.

See the beeps.

[ Beep ] Boom.

There it is.

And if I could see.

-What's the number?

-Nine -- the last four digits are 9, 9, 3, 9.

-So let's just take a guess.

How old do you think this animal is?

-It's a male.

So, this is a male.

But I'd guess the animal of this size, seven foot, this could be, you know, eight or nine years old, give or take three or four years.

So it's a little tough to tell.

-And this is a species that legitimately can live 50, 60 years.

-Absolutely.

What we've been doing in the Lowcountry for the last 45 years -- I'm just coming on the end of it -- it indicates that these animals can live up to even, you know, 80 years or more.

-God, that is incredible.

-And we have some females that are still nesting in their late 70s successfully.

So it's pretty amazing.

-So I guess it's about time to get this one back in, isn't it?

-It is, definitely.

I think we'll put it right back where we found it.

-We've got to pick it up and carry it.

-Randeep, when you're ready, you hop up.

-Okay.

-Alright.

You ready?

-Yep.

-Go ahead, jump up.

Okay, I'm gonna stand up and just slowly... ♪♪ -And down it goes.

-Perfect.

♪♪ -I'm still going to try.

Yeah.

-Good cast.

I believe you got something, man.

[ Line reeling ] -Alright.

-So, we got a -- we got a good one on.

I'm going to move down the bank a little bit.

This is a nice-sized animal.

Oh, God, this is tiring doing this.

Okay.

Here's another.

There's another one.

So I've got this drag set.

This is -- This is really good for, you know, good-sized fish.

Sharks and things like that.

I want to make sure I don't lose too much line.

♪♪ Now he's really taking off.

♪♪ ♪♪ Let me get around you.

♪♪ Alright, pull that off, Randeep.

Alright, there he goes.

Alright.

Watch that line.

Let him roll, let him roll, let him roll.

Let him roll, let him roll.

Oh, here we go.

-Good.

Right there.

[ Indistinct conversation ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Alright.

-You want to get the feet up, Thomas?

-Yeah.

You just -- Yeah, put those up, and then sit and you're perfect.

That was textbook because it was a big gator.

You just let them go.

You know, very patient.

Let them sit on the bottom.

They try to go away for a while, then pull them back in a little bit finally.

You saw when he came up on land, he was pretty tired, so he was easier to handle than normally he would be.

-[ Chuckles ] You call that... -Easier.

I said easier.

-No, I understand That was really something.

This is an impressive animal.

It looks like it's in pretty good shape.

♪♪ -Alright, Randeep, last four digits -- 6, 6, 9, 5.

-Hey, guys, this one's kind of getting away from me a little bit.

You know, they're really strong.

And so obviously you got to keep as much weight on it as you can.

♪♪ -One.

Two.

Three.

-Oh, perfect.

Now, hopefully he's going to turn and go right in.

♪♪ ♪♪ Guys, that was awesome.

Randeep, well done.

So we got some good information from that animal and hopefully the conditioning stuff will work.

-Absolutely.

-But I'm just curious, did you ever -- I mean, I've got this amazing job, but did you ever think you would end up doing this for a living?

-[ Laughs ] Well, I think as a kid, you know, you always dream about doing something like this as a kid, but, you know, many years went by, but finally, I was able to parlay that childhood love of reptiles into a career, and I'm loving it every day.

-Yeah, well, we appreciate the work you're doing.

-Thanks for letting us be part of this project here.

Thank you.

♪♪ -Today we're on the hunt for a corn snake, arguably one of the most beautiful snakes in the world, and they're actually quite common if you know how to find them.

So let's get out and see what we can catch.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Guys, this is the whole deal for corn snakes.

I mean, the habitat is absolutely perfect.

So there's lots of vegetation.

It's open, so sunlight can get in.

Also, it creates a great environment for insects.

Insects, of course, attract things like tree frogs and lizards, which are food for small corn snakes.

And also a lot of these grasses, they attract cotton rats and cotton mice, two principal foods for adult corn snakes.

So this is everything you need if you're a corn snake.

There we go.

Here's one.

Wow.

It's really -- You know, it's kind of cool out.

Whoa.

I just got a little slight bite.

Now, any non-venomous snake may bite you, and you can't blame them.

I mean, but the bite, I mean, barely even broke the skin.

You can see he's trying again.

Now, unfortunately, this animal is a little bit opaque.

It's in shed, so it's not quite as pretty as they often are.

Looks like it's a male.

And I'm looking at the length and the width of the tail.

And that tells me whether or not it's a male or a female.

So they have that nice checkered belly.

This is an adult.

It's not a big adult because sometimes they'll get, you know, 4 1/2 feet long or so.

Let me -- Okay.

No point in getting bit.

So snakes, sometimes when they bite you, they have what are called palatine teeth.

So teeth on the roof of the mouth.

And it seems like those are the ones that hurt the most, I guess.

Seriously, this is one of the prettiest snakes in the world, and the ones in coastal South Carolina are the prettiest of all the corn snakes.

So, we got a good look at this one, and we want to let it go.

So I'm going to put this piece of tin back down and let it crawl right back underneath.

One of the things that I always like to do, if I catch a snake, I like to let it go exactly where I found it.

Because you don't want to risk a predator seeing it and, you know, attacking it after you're gone.

♪♪ If you look right here, a really cool spider.

This is one called Gasteracantha cancriformis, which is a mouthful for sure.

Spiny orb weaver.

And it's a fabulous spider, and the body is covered with spines, so very spiky spines.

So what I imagine is this would keep a bird from grabbing it and swallowing it effectively.

You can see the webbing.

It's very hard to see.

So you can imagine how, you know a flying insect might fly in, get stuck, and then of course, the spider can kind of move in and deliver a bite to paralyze it or kill it.

Oh, here's a snake.

Not a corn snake, but a relative of a corn snake.

In fact, it's the same genus.

And this is a rat snake.

So, this is a small adult.

Looks like a female.

But males get, you know, five, six feet long sometimes.

And they're generally striped as adults around here.

But as youngsters, they're heavily patterned.

But I want to show you something really cool rat snakes can do.

They are terrific climbers, and they can stick to sort of rough parts of the bark and go straight up the trunk of a pine tree.

And, you know, I'm not going to leave this one there because we need to put it back where we found it.

But this is the way these animals can get up and catch birds and squirrels and all kinds of other, you know, all kinds of small mammals that would go up into the tree.

So terrific climber.

[ Laughs ] So, their scales on the belly are kind of curved on the edges.

And that allows them to kind of grip the bark with their body almost like Velcro.

I'm going to carefully... [ Laughs ] Be a little bit careful, and I'm going to bring this animal right back over here and let it go right underneath.