All language subtitles for Mysterious.Creatures.With.Forrest.Galante.S01E02.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[Terry] This is a vast
wilderness.

[Forrest] Yeah.

[Terry] A lot of folks
have lived in hills
for a long time,

and there were a lot of
things roaming around

-when they first got here...
-Mmm-hmm.

That sometimes were
unexplained.

[Forrest] There's a mystery
in the wilds of Missouri

that dates back
to the settlers.

[Terry] One accounting
was that Daniel Boone

shot an Ozark howler.

-And you believe that?
-I believe that.

[Forrest] The Ozark howler,
a mysterious beast

that has defied capture
and inspired legends.

[Terry] It's described
as tail of a cat,

body of a dog, long-legged,
nine feet when it stood
on its hind legs

and very threatening.

[Forrest] And its namesake,
a unique
and unforgettable howl.

[Terry]
Some say it's a combination
of a wolf howl...

and an elk bugle.

Toward the end, it sounds
like a woman screaming.

[unexplained howl]

[Forrest] My wife, Jess, and I
have come to the Ozarks

to figure out,
once and for all,

what these deadly mountain
predators could be.

[Terry] You need to talk
to a man named Andy,

and he works down at
the 4J Campground.

-[Forrest] Okay.
-[Terry] And
he's encountered this beast

He's got some stories
you'd really like to hear,

but I can't
tell you enough times
be very careful out there.

Because in every culture,
in every tale,

every folklore, there's some
amount of truth.

[Forrest] I'm Forrest Galante.

As a wildlife biologist,

tracking
and rediscovering animals
on the verge of extinction...

Oh, my God!

[Forrest] I've noticed
a pattern of
mysterious sightings

and human-wildlife
conflicts...

Look, there's an elephant,
there's an elephant
right there.

[Forrest] Which often
turned deadly.

Now my team and I
are scouring the globe

to shed light on the myths
and misconceptions

surrounding our
planet's most...

mysterious creatures.

So this is Missouri.
It is beautiful.

I was not expecting
such a lush green

sort of tropical environment.

Yeah. It really looks
like a jungle.

There's a ton of
caves here, too.

[Forrest]
It is the cave state,
and if there is anywhere

where an unknown
creature could hide,

it's in a state
that's basically
hollow under the Earth.

[Forrest] Jess and I had both
heard the stories,

but the Ozark howler

always seemed
about as believable
as the Abominable Snowman.

[Terry]
I'm not real superstitious,

but I believe in
a lot of things.

[Forrest]
A retired Missouri game
warden named Terry

changed all of that when
he reached out to us.

-I don't know what they saw.
-Sure.

[Forrest] He spoke of a long
history of sightings
and unexplained events,

and while he never
spotted one himself,

he put us in contact
with a man

who claims to have had
three encounters
with an Ozark howler.

Hey, Forrest, how are you?

[Forrest]
Yeah, good to meet you, man.

-Likewise.
-Pleasure.
This is my wife, Jessica.

Come to a great place.
Hi, Jessica.

We heard that you've had some
interesting experiences
out in the woods here.

[Andy]
I'm not superstitious at all.
I'm a firm science believer.

I've spent a lot of time
in the hills.

-Okay.
-[Andy] But I've had
three encounters

I can't explain.

Three of them?

I don't know what it was.

First encounter happened
when I was out hunting,

and I was standing
on a riverbank
most of the afternoon.

Uh-huh.

And as I was getting up
to leave, I heard something

crashing
in the brush behind me,
made a bunch of noise.

No big deal, I thought,
"Well, there was a deer
looking at me."

-Sure.
-[Andy] And...

then I heard this sound.

I heard something howl.

[Forrest] Only canines howl.

That family includes jackals,
foxes, wolves, dogs
and coyotes.

Tell me about this howl.

Was it, was it like
a guttural howl?

Like, really deep?
What was that howl--

It was a real throaty howl,

but at a high pitch,
a high pitch. And it wasn't
anything small.

This wasn't a small predator.
This was something large.

-I'm armed.
-[Forrest] Yeah.

But I'm a bit scared,

and I wound up getting
into the clearing,
which felt good.

Except there was this smell
left over.

-Hmm.
-[Andy] And I never smelled it
before in my life.

It was real musky,
real just bad smell.

[Forrest] Musky smells
are common
in the animal kingdom.

Everything from beavers
to sperm whales

produce these odors
from special glands.

But every species
odor is unique,

and they're often released
in times of stress.

So you think
there's some weight
to this Ozark howler thing?

I certainly can't explain it.

-[Andy] It's changed
how I operate in the outdoors.
-Wow.

-You want to see the place?
I'll take you out there.
-[Forrest] Yeah.

We'd love to see it.

It's a good ride from here.

[Forrest] And by ride,
Andy did not mean in a truck.

We're taking
the settlers' route,

trekking deep into the Ozarks
on a horseback.

We got a long ways to go,
so let's mount up.

[Jessica] Our mission
is just to figure out
a real biological,

zoological answer for
what's out there.

However, that howl,

I would just love to hear it

because, man, it seems to
be the one common thread
that everyone has.

[Forrest]
The easiest places for
animals to go unnoticed

or where it's most difficult
for humans to reach.

[Forrest] Already, this lush,
thick brush around us

would restrict almost any
vehicle from passing through.

It's amazing how limited
the visibility is.

I mean, you can't see 50 feet.

[Andy] It gets worse.

Just what you're
looking for, Forrest?

[Forrest] It is rough country,
yeah, and steep.

[Jessica] Can you imagine
being one of the first
settlers out here?

There's no landmarks.
There's no way to get
your bearings.

[Forrest] Completely unmapped,
unknown wild animals,
huge caverns and caves.

It's... it is like
a mythical place.

[Andy] All right.

Nervous again.

[Forrest] Horses don't like it
down here, Andy.

Whoo! This is it, Forrest.

[Forrest] This is the region
that you had in mind, huh?

[Andy] This is the place.

Where did you see it?

[Andy] It was right here
behind us,

sitting right there
on that bank.

[Forrest] Perfect.

Well, let's let the horses
get some water

and make camp for the night
and see what we can find.

[Andy] All right.

[Forrest]
Now that Andy's brought us
to the exact location,

our first step is setting up
a network of traps
and surveillance

to capture any trace
of the howler.

[Forrest] From all
the reported accounts,

the howler is a mountain lion,
coyote-sized animal,

so we brought mountain lion,
coyote-sized trap.

I'm just going to plant this,
bait it.

If there's anything coming in,
check us out,
check out our campfire.

Hopefully, it'll be a howler.

[Andy] This is real, real
close to the place.

I don't... really don't like
being back in here by myself.

It's been a few years.

This is, this is where
I came out of

when I heard that thing
on the riverbank.

Now...

get the camera.

[Forrest] I'm still skeptical

Andy had an experience
with an unknown creature,

but whatever he saw
clearly spooked him.

[Forrest] So, Andy, you know,
you told us that you heard it,

but you also mentioned that
you had multiple encounters.

I did.

I was deer hunting,
and one morning I was
walking in early

and I was a couple of hundred
yards from my stand

and I smelled
that smell again,

right in front of me.

And I had a little
headlight on,

pulled it down off my forehead
and I'm looking,

and there it was, right...

right there in the brush.

So you could see the eyes?

-I could see the eyes.
-[Forrest] Yeah.

This isn't Bigfoot.

It's not six to eight
feet off the ground.

I'm no fool.

-Right.
-[Andy] I'm hoping
it's a bear.

-Yeah.
-You know, it's something
I know about.

-But...
-[Andy] It didn't move,

and I'm not about to turn
my back on this thing
and walk back to the truck.

But...

just the smell
is overpowering.
It's right there.

-Yeah.
-And that audio of that

howl that I had heard
some years prior,

it just echoed in my
head right there.

[Forrest] Two experiences
and two of the howler's
signature traits.

Its distinctive musk
and of course,
the unique howl.

-[Forrest]
You didn't like it, huh?
-[Andy] No

-absolutely not.
-Huh.

That's pretty bad.

These two experiences already.

-[Forrest] Yeah.
-[Andy] But I have another.

-Yeah.
-[Andy] Believe it or not,
it happened to me again.

I really don't tell many
people about it,

but especially some of
my close friends even.

I'm going to take
you there tomorrow.

We're not going tonight.
I won't do it.

[Forrest]
Andy made it clear
that he's done for the night.

So Jess and I are going
out on our own.

[Forrest] Wow!
Look at the bugs out there.

Holy [bleep].

Look at them, it's like snow.

[Jessica] It is like snow.

[Forrest]
Our goal is to achieve
blanket surveillance

over each encounter location.

[Forrest] And these streams
in the east are incredible.

You can have like 30 species
of animal in one
little river system.

[Forrest] Snake, snake,
snake, snake.

Right there, big,
big, cottonmouth.

Here we go.

Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.

Look at this guy.
What a beauty.

[Jessica] Please don't get
bitten by a venomous snake.

[Forrest] Wow,
this is a big cottonmouth.

Woo-hoo-hoo! Oh, no biting.

Look at that.
That is a monster.

[Forrest]
The cottonmouth is the world's
only semi-aquatic viper,

and an adult of this size

packs more than enough
venom to kill you.

[Forrest]
Easy there, fella. Easy.

Look at that.
He's even starting to
feel a little defensive.

Coming towards you guys.
I got him.

Don't worry. Don't worry.

Ooh, heads up.

Easy. Easy.

That is an incredible
creature, look at him.

[Forrest] Also known
as the water moccasin,

the cottonmouth spends
most of its life on the water.

They live off fish, amphibians
and small mammals.

Killing their prey
with a single bite,

injecting their venom
and swallowing it whole.

Horses don't like them.

You could tell,
we're not far from camp

and the horses
are freaking out.

[Forrest] Not unlike
the alleged howler,

cottonmouths
put out a distinctive stench.

I can smell him.
You smell that horrible,

musty smell?
That's their musk.

[Forrest]
Turns out, the horses

maybe my most
valuable detectives.

They'll detect any howlers
long before we do.

-[Forrest] Beautiful animal.
-Gorgeous.

If it was up to Forrest,
we would stay out here
literally all night.

So I'm going to end
tonight on a high note.

We're going to head
on back to camp,

get some sleep,
so we have energy
in the morning

to go check out
Andy's last spot.

[Forrest] Well, that was fun.

[Forrest] Before we move on,

I need to check the traps
we set last night.

[Forrest]
Oh, trap's triggered, guys.
Trap's triggered.

It's no howler,
that's for sure.

Maybe a screecher.

Got a beautiful little
North American opossum here.

Hey, buddy. Oh, you had
a rough night, huh?

They have short,
short lifespans.

They only live
for a year and a half.

But while they are alive,
they're just super
voracious predators.

They've got more teeth
than any other mammal
on the continent.

[Forrest]
Those teeth allow the opossum

to chew through
almost anything,

and they're not picky.

Dead animals, bugs, trash.

These little omnivores
are like the sanitation
crew for the forest.

Oh, man, he's strong.

Come on. There you go.

Look at that.

I think
he's just absolutely adorable.

He's missing his tail.
See that?

Who knows what could
have done that?

That could be from a fight.

Could be from a big
predator like our howler.

I mean,
you have no idea, really,

but beautiful as he is,
we're gonna let him go.

So go, off you go.

[Forrest] Not the predator
I was hoping to capture.

[Forrest] Look at that.
Look how fast they take off
up into these trees.

[Forrest] So I'm breaking down
the trap and we're back
in the saddle.

[Forrest] We've got another
long ride ahead of us

through nearly
untouched country.

[Andy] Let's...
let's tie up here.

-[Forrest] Tie up here?
-[Andy] Yeah.

[Forrest] The odds of Andy
spotting an impossibly rare

alleged animal three
times are improbable,

but he's one of very few
people who trek out this deep.

And the third sighting
is in a spot so remote,

not even the horses
can reach it.

-[Forrest] You all right?
-[Jessica] Yep.

[Andy] So you asked me about
my third story,

and this is where it happened.

[Jessica] Whoa.

[Forrest] Look at that mist
hanging above.

-[Andy] This is it, Forrest.
-[Forrest] Yeah.

So what's the story
then, Andy?

[Andy] This cave
I was in by myself

a long ways back

and there it was, that smell.

[Forrest] The smell,
it's the one detail

that's consistent
in three completely
different sightings.

-From when I heard the howl...
-Yep.

From when I saw
the eyes in the dark,

I instantly got chills
to the bone.

-And then, what?
-Very same, I left.

You just got out of there?

-I got out of there.
-Have you been back since?

I've not.

That's it.
I was not coming back.

You just decided
you weren't coming back?

-Done.
-[Forrest] Understood.

Had enough experience already.

Are you willing to go
in it now?

If you'll take the lead.

-I'll go.
-Okay.

-All right, let's do it.
-All right, let's go.
Gear up, guys.

[Forrest] This is just
one of the over 7,400
caves and caverns

that lie hidden beneath
the surface of Missouri.

These hollowed-out cavities
crisscross beneath the Ozarks
in nearly every direction.

Many have never been explored,

increasing
the possibilities of new
and undiscovered organisms,

and according to Andy,

maybe even an Ozark howler.

[Forrest]
Oh, look at this, Jess.

-[Jessica] Oh, wow.
-[Forrest] Beautiful
little cave salamander.

These guys
are just so beautiful.

They hang out in these caves
and they're out of that
oppressive heat.

There's another one here,
right here.

And it's just such a perfect
environment for them in here.

It's a good sign that
there's life in here,

even by the mouth
of the cave, so.

Super cool.

Ooh, this water's freezing.

[Jessica] Definitely
a bit cooler back here.

[Andy]
Hey, come, look at this.

-It's a bed site.
-[Andy] This is a bear bed...

-Oh, cool.
-[Andy] Right here.

[Andy speaking]

-[Forrest] So this is millions
of years old?
-[Andy] Thousands.

-[Forrest] That's incredible.
-[Andy] They mined out this
clay to...

[Forrest]
This was likely the bed
of a giant short-faced bear.

The last one died
over 15,000 years ago.

But it tells us larger mammals
like the howler could
survive here.

[Forrest] Mitch, come here.

So we're half an hour
into the cave already.

You'd think, you know,
that's the end of the life.

But look here,

there's tracks right here.

Scratch marks on
the side of the cave.

This is showing me,
it's large mammals.

In this case, raccoons
come this far into the cave.

So that's an indication
that this is not
a one-way cave,

it's a two-way cave.

So if we just keep going,

we might be able to
get to the end of it.

[Andy] It was really
close to here,

like one more turn,

and that's where I smelled
the smell.

[Andy] Hey, Forrest,

look at the size of these
claw marks here.

-[Forrest] Oh, yeah,
look at that.
-[Andy] Huge.

[Forrest] Huge claw marks.

Look at the diameter
of the nail on that animal.

Those are huge.

[Forrest] Both bears
and big cats
have claws that size,

and possibly the Ozark howler.

[Forrest] So that's about
as far as you've been?

[Andy] This is it.

[Forrest] We've reached
the third sighting.

Andy is feeling uneasy
but willing to push on.

[Forrest] Stop, stop, stop,
stop, stop.

Jessica, come up here.

Look here,

small pieces of vertebrae
and the jawbone.

Look at that.

[Jessica] There's more
up here.

[Forrest] Where?

[Forrest] Oh, my goodness,
this is a midden site.

[Forrest] A midden site refers
to collected garbage.

You can tell a lot
about a creature
by what it's discarded.

[Forrest] But a deer wouldn't
come in here
on its own accord,

it's way too far.
There's nothing to eat.

It's far too cold.

So what that means
is something is actually...

dragged a kill
all the way in here.

[Forrest] This is not
just from one animal.

-[Jessica] Yeah.
-[Forrest] This was
something's den area.

Whatever brought
those in here was

-fairly large.
-[Forrest] Absolutely.

Let's push on
just a little bit.

I'm sure that this cave
goes through.

There wouldn't be all these
mammal tracks in here

if it didn't go
all the way through.

[Forrest] But pushing
any further

means crawling through
the most narrow pass yet.

We don't know exactly
what Andy saw,

but whatever it is...

[Forrest] Let me get my
backpack on.

[Forrest] It may be
waiting for us on
the other end of this cave.

[Duster] All right,
Forrest, it's tight, man.

[Forrest] Okay, I'm coming.

[Jessica] Hand me the camera.

[Duster] Yeah.
Can you grab the camera?

[indistinct chattering]

-[Duster] Can you get that?
-[Jessica] Yeah.

[Forrest] It's super tight,
but I can already feel
the temperature rising.

We're getting close
to an exit.

[Jessica] Do you smell that?

[Jessica] Whoo.

-Do you smell that?
-Shh.

[Forrest] The odor is strong,
but that's no musk.

We're walking right into
the stench of death.

Look at this, guys.
Guys, you can come in.
It's all right.

A little dead deer.

It's a little male
and he has died,

I don't know,
either from falling
off the cliff or disease.

I thought maybe something
had made a kill,

but it is perfectly intact.

There's no gash wounds.
There's no...

-[Forrest] Nothing. Look.
-[Andy] Nothing's...
nothing's been here.

[Forrest] Nature's cleanup
crew isn't even here.

There's no big predator

that's come to eat
and scavenge off
of this carcass.

It's a sign of really
unbalanced ecosystem.

It is, yeah. It's missing
an alpha predator

or something that would
pick off the weak,

the wounded and the diseased.

[Forrest] The cave didn't
reveal any clues leading
to a howler,

but it did reveal
a significant weakness
in this ecosystem,

the lack of apex predators.

I'm thinking there could
be a connection.

Now that Andy's heading home,

Jess and I are going
to expand our search
and take to the water.

[Forrest] All right.

What we need to do is
cover more ground
on the water.

From little fold up bags
to origami canoes.

[Forrest]
While the revolutionary
fold up design

was inspired
by Japanese origami,

these are not made of paper.

However, these marine-grade
materials

are almost as light,

making travel easy

and can be constructed
in just a few minutes.

-Ready to go?
-[Jessica] Yeah.

Being on the water
just gives you

an entirely different
perspective.

[Forrest] Large predators
need to drink,

and thankfully the soft
riverbed is covered in clues,

telling us exactly
who's been here.

What we're looking
for is a predator,
a big carnivore.

That's definitely a game
trail coming down.

[Forrest]
A game trail for sure.

Raccoon, deer, possum, skunk.

[Forrest] Unfortunately,
we're not seeing any tracks
we don't recognize.

[Jessica]
These are the perfect...

My guess would be
the raccoons actually
come down to hunt for turtles.

Look at this guy right here.

This is a stinkpot,

also known as a musk turtle.

This is one of North America's
smallest turtles.

See, they're very cheeky.

[Jessica] This is actually
a big one.

[Forrest] Yeah,
he's a monster.

And this is a big, stinky one.
You smell that?

I could smell him from here,
yeah.

Yeah, that's where the name
musk turtle comes from,

and they put off that
terrible stink

as a predator-deterrent.

[Jessica] Look at that head.

It's so prehistoric.
Looks like a dinosaur.

It is a little dinosaur.

[Forrest] We've now covered
a significant amount of ground
with no clues.

It's not just the Ozark howler
we're not finding,

we're not finding
any large predators,

that's extremely unusual
with so much prey available.

It's starting to feel like
we're chasing our own tail.

Right now, we're heading
back to camp
to check our trail cams.

We need a better plan.

[Forrest] Whoa, whoa.

Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Shh.

It's all right.
It's all right.
It's all right.

All right. Settle down,
settle down, settle down.
Settle down.

-Are you okay?
-[Jessica] Something's
freaking them out, For.

They didn't want to go
that way any further.

[Jessica] I wonder
what's upwind of us.

Yeah. Okay,
let's just go on foot.

[Forrest] Guys, everybody
else hang back.

So we're following this game
trail right here.

You can kind of see
as it curves

through this open wooded area.

We got it now.

[bleep]. Back up, back up,
back up, back up.
Back up, back up.

Keep going back,
keep moving back.

[Mitch] Okay. Okay.
I'm rolling. I'm rolling.

-[indistinct chattering]
-[bleep]

Stop, stop, stop.

Okay. [bleep]. [bleep].

Back up, back up, back up.
Back up, back up, back up.

Keep backing up, keep
backing up, keep backing up.

A big North American
black bear.

Hey there. Hey there.

He knows we're here.

Back up, back up, back up.

This way, this way.
Into the ravine,

into the ravine,
into the ravine.

Okay. Let's go.
Leave it. Leave it.

All right. Let him go.
He's trying to come this way.

He's trying to come this way.
Keep going. He's on us.

[Forrest] Yep.

Just stay there, stay there.

[Mitch] Oh, she's coming
at me. Forrest.

[Forrest] All right. Yep.
He's on us. [bleep].
He's on us. Let's bail out.

[Mitch] Forrest, he's coming
at me. Forrest.

[Forrest] Just stay there,
stay there, stay there.

Stay there. Stay there.
There he goes.

[Forrest] Whoo!

Just took off.

[Forrest] You okay?

[Mitch speaking]

[Forrest] What happened?

Well, just walking
through the woods

-and came up about a bear.
-[Forrest] That was
really close.

[Forrest] American black bears
are more likely to attack
than a brown bear.

And while their diet is mostly
made up of berries and nuts,

their powerful claws
and vicious teeth

are perfect for
tearing off flesh.

Attacks on humans are
often over territory

rather than a meal,

but some have
resulted in death.

I always tell people how like,

don't be afraid of bears,
they're not interested in you.

That bear was definitely
interested in us.

We are not going that way.

-[Jessica] What did you see?
-There's a huge
black bear bull

-running around down there.
-[Jessica] Wow.

He came right up
on Mitch and I.

-Really?
-Yeah, like... like 15 feet
away at one point.

That's crazy.

[Forrest] Jess and I
managed to collect

all the trail camera
memory cards

just as some rain
started rolling in.

[Forrest] All right.
Let's take a look.

-Oh,
there's the little possum.
-[Jessica] Yeah.

[Forrest] It's probably
the same one that we caught
in the trap.

[Jessica] Oh, deer.

[Forrest] See, look at him
coming right up to the camera.

[Jessica] Yeah. Definitely,
thought that was an armadillo
at first,

oscillated feathers
tipped over like that.

-[Forrest] It's indeed
a turkey.
-Turkey.

I think it's fogging
up in here.

[Jessica] Can I say
we're steamy?

[Forrest] Oh, wow.
Look at all those
turkey vultures.

[Jessica] Why do you think
there are so many vultures?

There's just tons of animals

in this area that are sick
and weakly and dying,

and no big apex predators
to take out the weak
and the wounded.

And that's a problem because
that's how disease spreads.

Lots of mid food chain,
just no alpha predators
at all.

[Jessica] We know
there's bears here,

but bears aren't
really like...

-It's not a predator.
-[Jessica] Yeah.

I mean, this opossum is
just going to chow town

and it is, like, completely
oblivious to his surroundings.

It's like he's never
even seen a predator
before in his life.

What that's telling
me is this habitat

is missing its apex creature,
its top predator

that should scare away
all of these other creatures.

And that predator
is likely what people

are used to seeing scarcely

and considering to be
the Ozark howler.

[Forrest] We spotted a home
or what looks like a home

on the other side
of the valley.

I would love to ask
a year-round local about
the howler, and at this point,

I'm going for broke.

[Forrest] It doesn't look like
anyone's here.

Hello.

[Sutt speaking]

[bleep].

[Forrest] We're just walking
through this area,
just saw the cabin--

want to say hello.
Guys, turn the cameras off.

Turn them off.

I know it sounds ridiculous,
we're making a TV show.

[Sutt speaking]

[Forrest] Yes, sir.

[Sutt speaking]

[Forrest] All right,
thank you.

Jessica, come.

It just seems so sketchy.

-I'm Forrest.
-I'm Sutt Tudersal.

-Sutt?
-Yeah.

-Nice to meet you.
-Glad to meet you.

Thanks for not shooting me.

Well, thanks for not
calling the cops.

[Forrest] Yeah. You got it.

Yeah, no, no cops here.
I promise. I promise.

-This is my wife, Jessica.
-Hello.

I'm not really sure about
having the cameras in here,

you know, with all
the distilling stuff
and everything.

-Oh, I... you're making
moonshine?
-[Sutt] Yeah.

-I gotcha.
-That's kind of a family
business from way back.

-Uh-huh.
-And we don't like
people catching us.

Okay.

[Forrest] Sutt is not just
off the grid.

He's a moonshiner straight out
of the Ozark history books.

Moonshining has deep roots
in these mountains

and reach peak production
during prohibition.

But making moonshine for sale
without a license remains
illegal to this day.

[Sutt] As long as you don't
give away my position,
I'm good.

-Secret's safe with us.
-Secret's safe with us.

Let's talk. You might
as well sample a little
bit of the product here.

This is cran-apple.

-Cranberry, apple moonshine?
-[Sutt] Right.

Ooh, smells strong.

-You make this right here?
-Yes, sir.

-[Sutt] It'll sneak up on you.
-Yeah.

Oh, wow.
Yeah, that's like candy.

This is just regular
apple pie.

Ooh, this one smells stronger.

Just the cinnamon, I think.

Try this one here.
This is lemonade.

Lemonade.

[Forrest] Yeah! I'm sorry.

I wasn't expecting that. Yeah.

Here, guys. Try this.
Taste this.

It's delicious.

Just try. You'll be fine.
Yeah, we've been--

-[Jessica] He's working.
-He's fine.

-[Jessica] He's on the clock.
-He's fine.
Just try it. It's delicious.

Yeah. Like, five days
we've been living in
a tent down by the river.

It's his first time.
I'm sorry.

He's...he's not familiar
with how bottle's work.

[Sutt speaking]

Are you ever out here
and you hear things
you can't explain...

-Oh, yeah.
-That are, like,
kind of give you the creeps?

Yeah, there's stuff makes
noises that just, you know,

large noises that
I don't know what they are.

You know, this is a TV show,
but I'm a biologist.

-Okay.
-And what I'm trying
to investigate,

Jess and I,
is to try and figure out
if there's any sort of truth

behind
this Ozark howler thing.

Oh, there's truth behind it.

There really
is an Ozark howler,
but we used to kind of

build on it a little bit
to keep people away.

-What do you mean?
-Well, when people come
poking around

and wasn't supposed to
be here, you could
go out in the woods,

make the noise,
squall a little bit and howl,

and they'd go back town
and tell everybody else

-and then nobody
would come out.
-[Forrest] No kidding.

So you'd hide in the woods
and make noise
to scare people away?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

A lot of [bleep], lot of
moonshiners used to do that.

My grandpa,
he used to go out there
and he'd squall and howl

'cause he just enjoyed
scaring people off.

So he would just howl
with his voice or use--

Oh, he had growlers he made.

I got a couple of the
old ones here. Yeah.

-No way.
-Oh, this is great.

This is a growler.

-Oh, wow.
-Oh.

You guys getting this?

That's amazing.

That's literally, like, making
that hair on my arms stand up.

It's just a bucket
and a piece of string.

[Stutt] Yeah. He also used to
howl along with that.

He started out like
a cat squall and end up
with a wolf howl.

-Can you do it?
-Oh, not as good as
he did, but--

[Forrest]
Oh, come on, give it a whirl.

[howling]

It's fantastic. We should...
Do you have your phone on you?

-Oh, I do.
-Can we record that?

I want to play that
for Andy and see
if that's what he heard,

but you said you
haven't done it lately.

No, not lately.

Okay.

There you go.

[howling]

Before we started howling
and looking at the tools

and the growling bucket
and all of that,

you said
something interesting.

You said it's real.

Right.

I know because my
granddaddy shot one.

[Forrest] Oh, wow.

[Jessica] Look at that view.

Whoa.

[Forrest]
That is quite a valley.

Guys, grab your
climbing stuff.

[Jessica]
All right, I'm ready.

[Forrest] You ready to start
going backwards?

-[Jessica] Yes.
-[Forrest] You sure?

Let's do this.

[Forrest] Jess, you just never
let go of that rope.
Okay, love?

[Jessica] We're gonna
do this together?

[Forrest] On three, you ready?

-[Jessica] Okay.
One, two, three.
-[Forrest] Two, three.

[howling]

[Forrest] You said
something interesting.

You said it's real.

Right.

I know because my
granddaddy shot one.

-No, he didn't.
-Yeah, he did.

-What do you mean?
-I've got the fur.

-You've got the fur?
-Correct.

-Here?
-Actual pelt?

-Right here.
-No way.

And the skull.

-May I please see it?
-Yes, go ahead.

-[Forrest] It's a canine.
-[Jessica] Definitely
a canine.

[Forrest] Yeah.

That's the pelt from a howler?

[Sutt] That's it.

You're kidding me?

That's what my grandpa,
that's what he took off of it.

He killed a howler,
this is it?

-Yeah.
-Wow. How old is this, Sutt?

Oh, gosh,

that was in mid-'20s.
So that'd have to be...

Yeah, 100 years old.

He's kept it
rolled up in the trunk
for all this time.

[Forrest]
We literally stumbled
upon a moonshiner,

and an hour later,

Jess and I are holding
bone and tissue samples

of a 90-year-old creature
that was believed
to be a howler.

Sorry, this is, this is...

We have been going
dead end after dead end here

and you're showing me
something, and I know what
I'm looking at here.

My opinion, and I think
Jessica's too,

is that this isn't a howler,
so to speak,

but it is a creature.

-It does howl.
-I believe this could be from

an extinct species
from the area,

the North American red wolf.

[Forrest] American red wolves

once ran wild across
the southeastern US
and as far west as Texas.

They look almost like a gray
wolf crossed with a coyote,

but with a distinctive
reddish coat.

Unfortunately, aggressive
hunting and habitat
destruction

over the past hundred years
have virtually eliminated
them in the wild.

[Jessica] You've obviously
had this pelt for a long time,

but would you mind
if we took just a little tiny
bit of it and...

-Yeah.
-Get some DNA?

Just a sample to test it.

[Jessica] I'm just going to
tweeze a little bit

and I'm just going to cut
a tiny bit off of it.

[Forrest] Jessica
is a fantastic zoologist,

so we'll...
we'll really be able to
take a close look at this

and understand what
we're looking at here.

There we go.

Well, cheers to you, Sutt.
Thank you very much
for having us.

This is, this is hilarious.

Guys, have some manners here,
for God's sake. Come on now.

You get the strong ones.

Cheers, guys.

[Forrest]
Running into Sutt was
an incredible stroke of luck

and more than
worthy of celebration.

[Sutt speaking]

[Forrest] There are fewer
than 20 red wolves
remaining in the wild,

none of which are
known to live in the Ozarks.

Something that rare
could easily be mistaken
for a mystery animal.

We've arranged to meet
some red wolves up close

here at
the Endangered Wolf Center.

This is one of our
American red wolf habitats.

-[Forrest] Oh,
they're so pretty.
-[Jessica] Wow.

[Regina] You guys now
are looking

at the most endangered wolf
in the entire world.

[Forrest] This is the first
facility in the world

to successfully
breed red wolves.

It's like emotion-provoking
to stand here
and see these animals.

[Forrest] As beautiful
as your enclosures are,
they shouldn't be in them.

They should be running
around Missouri.

You know, we went through
this beautiful country,

this habitat that looks
so pristine and wild,

but it's missing something so
important, an apex predator.

It's just terrible
on the ecosystem.

Yep. And that's why
we're working so hard

to bring back
this national treasure.

[Forrest] Jess and I are lucky
enough to be out here

at feeding time, and we're
taking cover in a blind.

[Jessica] There's this really
common misconception that

if you have wolves,
then there's going to be
no more deer.

But it's actually the opposite

because wolves are so good at
managing the population that

deer that are suffering from,
for example, wasting disease.

[Forrest] Well,
we found that deer carcass,

it was gross,
it was gangrenous.

There was no cleanup crew.

Look at these guys.

You could see the critically
important service

that they perform
to the wild world.

They're out there
getting rid of the sick
and the weak

and keep
everything in balance.

-[Forrest]
Thanks for coming in.
-[Andy] Hi.

[Andy] Good morning, Forrest.

-Yeah. How are you today?
-Good to see you, man.
Glad you survived.

[Forrest] Now that we've seen
the red wolves for ourselves,

I invited Andy to join us.

Jess and I want to see
how he responds

when he gets
a whiff of the red wolf's
distinctive musk.

[Andy] Yeah, that's the smell.

-That smells the same?
-That's the same.

No kidding?

[Andy] Real musty
but not dead.

Almost skunk like.

-Are you getting
that heavy, thick...
-[Andy] It's heavy.

It's that canine smell,
that's amazing.

So exciting, man.
How cool is that?

So what I want to try to do is

I'm going to play
a locator howl

from a different
wolf recording

and see if we can
get them to talk back.

[Forrest] This is our chance
to hear what Jess
and I believe

is likely the legendary call
of the Ozark howler.

[Forrest] Nothing.
No response.

I want to try
something different,

I'm going to play
the recording Jess made

of the moonshiner
doing the Ozark howl.

[Sutt's howl]

That's it.

-Sounds the same?
-That's that sound.

-Yeah, it is.
-This is it, right here.
This is it.

And you potentially had
an encounter with a wild one.

-Yes.
-You might be the luckiest
guy in North America.

-I'd like to think so.
-That is amazing.

[Andy] It's something
I never had experience with,
and now I could say I do.

I know what it was.

[Forrest] Well,
I'm so glad we could put
a button on this, man.

I mean, that is
absolutely amazing.

-Thank you so much.
-Thank you so much.

Thanks for having me up here.
This... this fixes it.

[Forrest] Andy's confirmed
our suspicions,

and Regina has a
very special treat for us.

[Forrest] One, two, three.

Oh, look at them.

Look at that.
How precious is this guy?

[Forrest] Jess and I
are helping out on
a wellness check

with some of
their wolf puppies.

-Can I have him?
-No.

[Forrest] Along with weight
and measurements,

Regina and her team
previously tagged each pup

with a microchip
so they can confirm
their identity.

These are
critically endangered,

federally protected animals,

and so we want to make sure
that that we're giving them
the best leg up possible

to help make sure
that they can stay
as healthy as possible.

So these are the same vaccines

that typically your dog
would be getting
at your veterinarian's office.

All right, Forrest,
he's all yours.

Open up. Open up.

Come on. There he is.

Yucky.

Wolves don't like banana.

Oh.

I mean, it's amazing
to have this kind of
heavy, musty smell.

It's sort of,
you know, that smell
of the den and the litter,

it's got that kind of thick
air dog smell, if you will.

Yeah, it's very unique,
and that's one of the ways
that the puppies can identify

where mom is and mom can
identify where the puppies is.

So smell is really
really important for
wolf communication.

[Jessica] Pretty amazing
to be holding

a critically endangered
wolf puppy right now.

[Forrest] It's just such
an amazing experience

to get to work with such rare,

stunning, beautiful animals.

Really, really special.

[Forrest] Just one more
test to run, and Regina's
offered her lab

for Jess and I to test
the hair and tissue samples
from Sutt.

Now we can confirm
if the fur of the Ozark howler

that his grandfather
shot in the 1920s

matches up with an
American red wolf.

[Jessica]
Canine hairs have almost

like a living center to them,
a medulla.

So it's pretty easy to
tell right off the bat,

these are both canine hairs.

[Forrest]
The hairs are a match,
just as we suspected.

The sounds align
with the howls.

The smell, according
to Andy, aligns perfectly.

The hairs match
very similarly.

More or less,
everything is aligning

to say that the Ozark howler
is a real creature.

[Forrest]
The Ozarks are incredible,
wild, rugged habitat,

filled with amazing,
colorful characters
and incredible creatures,

but one creature is missing
from this ecosystem,

the apex predator,
the real Ozark howler.

And while those stories
may be embellished

by people like
Sutt's grandfather,

we confirmed from the hair
sample that we collected

that the "Ozark howler"

is actually the
North American red wolf,

an amazing apex predator
that's population is down
to only 245 individuals.

But with the help
of committed organizations

like
the Endangered Wolf Center,

the long, hard work of
repopulation can proceed.

And one day,

these woods may be
filled with the howls

of that incredible
creature again,

at home,
in an intact ecosystem.