Return to the Snake Cave
Cave ins, flash floods, bats and noxious levels of carbon dioxide couldnt keep National Geographic Herpetologist Dr Brady Barr from his quest for a twenty-foot python. Not even the memory of the traumatic bite from a 12-foot python could keep him away. nnThis time he prepares himself for the dangers that lie in the cave with a visit to Bracken Cave in Texas home to 20 million bats that raise the carbon dioxide levels treacherously high with every exhale, not to mention their guano. nnThen Bradys back in Indonesia, dodging deadly vipers, trudging through waist deep guano and heading into the cave where he was bitten a year ago in search of a monster python. nnHes going deeper, braving the dangers of the cave and using new techniques to try to capture one of the biggest snakes he has ever captured in his career.
Bite Force 2 , Wolf Bite Force , Brady Barr measures a wolf's bite.
Blind Croc Mystery , Giant Blind Croc , Despite a broken finger, Brady is determined to examine this giant croc to see what is causing a blindness epidemic.
![Blind Croc Mystery , Brady Searches for Crocs , Brady Barr searches for the cause of crocodile blindness.]()
Blind Croc Mystery , Brady Searches for Crocs , Brady Barr searches for the cause of crocodile blindness.
![Clash of the Giant Salamanders , Catching a Siren , Don't know what to do with your new-found siren salamander? Take a cue from Brady and put it in your shirt.]()
Clash of the Giant Salamanders , Catching a Siren , Don't know what to do with your new-found siren salamander? Take a cue from Brady and put it in your shirt.
Clash of the Giant Salamanders , Giant Japanese Salamander , Brady is skeptical of his guide's technique for catching salamander, but the proof is in the results. Giant results.
![Clash of the Giant Salamanders , Kissing a Hellbender , Is Brady kissing this hellbender salamander to turn it into a lovely princess?]()
Clash of the Giant Salamanders , Kissing a Hellbender , Is Brady kissing this hellbender salamander to turn it into a lovely princess?
Croc Crisis , Hippos & Crocs, Oh My! , What do you get when you mix angry hippos, sneaky crocs, rising rapids and Brady Barr?
Croc Crisis , Lady Troubles , Brady is tagging Nile crocs in the Kruger River -- but this little lady would rather chase the cameraman.
Dangerous Encounters: A Life Captured , Lucky Snake , A lucky day in for Brady Barr means a long snake.
Dangerous Encounters: A Life Captured , Mugger Croc , Dr. Brady Barr inspects croc burrows in Sri Lanka.
Dangerous Encounters: A Life Captured , Croc's Future , It takes education to preserve crocodile futures.
Deadliest Snakes , Deadly Snakes , A large king cobra needs to be relocated.
Deadly Australia , Blue Ring Octopus , Tiny and beautiful, the blue ring octopus is also one of the most deadly creatures in Australia.
Deadly Australia , Deadly Stone Fish , A misplaced foot in Australia can lead to a terrible venomous injection from the dangerous stone fish.
Deadly Australia , Killer Spider , A pink beanbag becomes the seat of danger when a funnel spider decides to call it home.
Dens of Danger , Danger Den , An alligator's den turns out not to be empty.
Dragon Hunt , Dragon vs. Car , A Komodo dragon chases a remote control car.
Dragon Hunt , Komodo Race , Dr. Brady Barr tests the speed of a dragon.
Dragon Hunt , Komodo Catch , Dr. Brady Barr straddles a Komodo dragon.
Jurassic Shark , Shark Bites Submarine , Brady goes 1700 feet down to find a giant shark, but these descendents of Jurassic-era sharks don't seem to appreciate his effort.
Monster Crocs , Laser Cam a Croc , The new technology of a laser camera is tested.
Return to the Snake Cave , Giant Wild Python , Brady finds the biggest wild python he's ever seen, but if he wants to measure it, he'll have to get a hold of it first.
Return to the Snake Cave , The Scene of the Bite , The screams of pain still echo through the walls of Snake Palace cave, from Brady's last fateful adventure.
![Snake Bite , Brady Talks about Python Bite , Brady Barr talks about getting bit by a huge python in a hellish cave in Indonesia.]()
Snake Bite , Brady Talks about Python Bite , Brady Barr talks about getting bit by a huge python in a hellish cave in Indonesia.
![Snake Bite , Brady gets a Snake Bite! , While in a cave in Indonesia, Brady Barr gets a bad bite from a massive python.]()
Snake Bite , Brady gets a Snake Bite! , While in a cave in Indonesia, Brady Barr gets a bad bite from a massive python.
Undercover Croc , Kevlar Croc Suit , A kevlar shell is used for Brady Barr's croc suit.
Undercover Hippo , Hippo Suit , The disguise gets Dr. Brady Barr close to the hippos.
Undercover Hippo , Hippo Stakeout , Dr. Brady Barr gets personal with hippos.
Undercover Hippo , Hippo Stakeout , Dr. Brady Barr gets personal with hippos.
Wild Hog Invasion , Opossum Surprise , Behind the Scenes: Brady is on the prowl for snakes and hogs but finds a different rascally animal.
Wild Hog Invasion , Trappin' Hogs , Wild hogs are an invasive species that wreak havoc everywhere they go - and catching them is not easy.
Wild Hog Invasion , Brady vs. Wild Hog , Brady wants to test the danger of wild hog tusks, but first he has to get the nerve to get close to one.
Bite Force 2,Measuring the Bite Force of an American Crocodile, Costa Rica.
Bite Force 2,A frontal view of a hippo opening its mouth wide.
Blind Croc Mystery,Brady Barr's hands on top of a croc's head behind the eyes.
Blind Croc Mystery,Crocodile with mouth taped shut and held by a rope on a riverside in Costa Rica.
Clash of the Giant Salamanders,Brady Barr holding a Japanese giant salamander.
Clash of the Giant Salamanders,Brady Barr and colleague holding a captured Japanese giant salamander.
Croc Crisis,An elephant walking through tall grass.
Croc Crisis,Scenic shot of a river from above.
Deadliest Snakes,Brady Barr holds a snake in a burrow.
Deadliest Snakes,Brady Barr using a stick to catch a snake.
Deadly Australia,Host Brady Barr and Dr. Bryan Fry on boat.
Deadly Australia,Close-up view of a deadly sea wasp.
Dens of Danger,Dr. Brady Barr holds up a Black Bear sub right before he measures the length of its hair.
Dragon Hunt,An adult komodo dragon with a transmitter and camera attached on a harness on it's back stands on a background of grass and leaves.
Dragon Hunt,Dr. Brady Barr and an adult Komodo Dragon are side by side looking at the camera while kneeling near the trunk of a tree.
Jurassic Shark,Brady Barr catching a sixgill shark from the boat.
Jurassic Shark,Brady Barr swimming with a tiger shark underwater.
Monster Crocs,Brady Barr holds down a crocodile in Costa Rica.
Monster Crocs,Rhino in South Africa.
Return to the Snake Cave,National Geographic herpetologist Dr Brady Barr visits an Indonesian tannery that dry out and stretch out snakeskin.
Return to the Snake Cave,National Geographic herpetologist Dr Brady Barr visits an Indonesian tannery that dry out and stretch out snakeskin.
Super Snake,Brady holding up a Gabon viper.
Super Snake,Brady holds a rock python.
Undercover Croc,Brady Barr makes a snake discvery in a burrow.
Undercover Croc,An American crocodile stands out of the water in Costa Rica.
Undercover Hippo,Behind-the-scenes shot of Dr. Brady Barr standing next to the hippo suit discussing the next scene to film. In the foreground of the photo left to right: Dr. Brady Barr; Eric Cochran, cameraman; Boston, the ZAWA park guide.
Undercover Hippo,Dr. Brady Barr shakes hands with ZAWA park guide Boston after Boston helps Brady get unstuck from the hippo suit in the mud. Hippo suit faces camera.
Wild Hog Invasion,Michael Sturek, James Byrd, Mouhamad Alloosh, and Herpetologist Brady Barr observe as a hog undergoes surgery to help researchers further understand similarities between a hog's heart and a human's heart.
Wild Hog Invasion,Herpetologist Brady Barr surrounded by swine while holding a piglet.
HOW TO BE LIKE A GECKO
Take the Dangerous Encounters challenge and prove your gecko skills such as eye licking and wall climbing. How gecko are you?
Test Your Skills »
More About Geckos
DAY GECKO - Most day geckos are found in habitats with humidity levels of 50-85% like Madagascar and areas surrounding the Indian Ocean. They grow to be 10 to 15 cm, and almost half of their length is tail. The day gecko eats insects, nectar, pollen, and other invertebrates.
Unique to the day gecko, they have setae (long hair like structures) which allow them to crawl across ceilings and up glass walls, making them great escape artists. Day geckos are green with patterns of red spots on their backs.
GARGOYLE GECKO - Gargoyle geckos are relatively large geckos found near the territory of New Caledonia. Most of them grow to be 8 to 10 in. in length and usually weigh between 40 and 60 grams. They are unique in such a way that they are only semi-arboreal. Like any other gecko, the gargoyle is nocturnal and spends most of his time hiding in tree hollows. Their diet consists of non citrus soft fruit, crickets, locusts and wax worms.
TOKAY GECKO - Tokay geckos are one of the largest geckos that exist, at about 14 inches. They are found from Northeast India to the Indo-Australian Archipelago, and they typically live in tropical rain forests, cliffs or trees. These types of geckos are cylindrical and flat on their upper side with a large head and large eyes. The tokay gecko is gray with red spots, and tends to lighten and darken in order to be less noticeable to other animals. One thing that separates the tokay gecko from other geckos is that fact that they have the ability to cast off its tail in defense and regenerate another one.
Brady Barr Bio
Brady's Biography
National Geographic Channel reptile expert Dr. Brady Barr is the first scientist ever to capture and study all 23 species of crocodilians in the wild. For more than 15 years and through 50 countries, his goal has been to get hands-on experience with crocs in their natural habitats in order to understand how best to preserve them in the wild. Approximately one-third of all croc species are endangered and Barr’s extraordinary achievement brings worldwide attention to their plight. His latest scientific expedition takes him to Indonesia, where he attempts to answer questions surrounding a cave-dwelling population of reticulated pythons.
Dr. Barr has also participated in other research projects with leading scientists throughout the world including his ongoing research, supported by the National Geographic Society, into conservation of the American crocodile in Costa Rica, and his dietary study of alligators in the Florida Everglades.
In 2002, Dr. Barr’s expeditions took him to Cambodia, French Guiana, Brazil, Africa, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. In Cambodia, he made history in the scientific community by capturing a rare, wild Siamese crocodile, a species once thought to be functionally extinct in the wild.
In 2001, Dr. Barr assisted renowned paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr. Paul Sereno, in his effort to recreate “SuperCroc,” a prehistoric fossil discovery that at ten tons (9,000 kilograms) and 40 feet (12 meters) was among the largest crocodiles to ever roam the planet. Working together, they traveled the globe to study the anatomy and behavior of modern crocodilian species, looking for clues to put flesh on bone and create a life-size reconstruction of this ancient beast.
In 1997, Dr. Barr signed on with National Geographic as a field specialist for the Explorer series, becoming National Geographic’s resident herpetologist, and has since appeared in more than 60 National Geographic films and television shows, including National Geographic Channel’s popular series Dangerous Encounters with Brady Barr.
From 2001–2002, he hosted the National Geographic Channel series Reptile Wild with Dr. Brady Barr, and survived a myriad of adventures: a plane crash in the Brazilian Pantanal; getting bit in the face by a large boa constrictor; and getting pulled overboard by an angry crocodile.
Dr. Barr was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in Bloomington, Indiana. He received a bachelor of science in science education from Indiana University in 1987 and, shortly thereafter, began his teaching career at Indianapolis’ North Central High School. Dr. Barr taught such subjects as zoology, biology, and earth and life sciences, championing an interactive classroom style by encouraging his students to “touch, see, and feel the animals firsthand.”
Moving to Florida to pursue graduate degrees at the University of Miami, Dr. Barr began extensive diet studies on alligators in Everglades National Park. The results of his ambitious research project have helped preserve the unique ecosystem. Barr received a master of science (1994) and a Ph.D. (1997) in biology from the University of Miami. Currently, Dr. Barr is a member of the Endangered Species Coalition of the Council of State Governments.
Python Encounter
Brady's Bad Bite: In His Own Words
It was day three for our team in a snake cave on an island in Indonesia. On the previous two days we had seen many pythons, but all small, so we weren't expecting to see anything unexpected on day three. We were only going in to get some pick-up shots and move to the next filming location.
The cave was literally a chamber of horrors, probably the worst place I have worked in the ten years I have been at Geographic. The cave was filled with the usual customers (scorpions, roaches, maggots, spiders, millions of bats, lizards, and snakes), but it was the unbelievable amount of bat guano that made it unbearable. There were places where you had to wade through chest-deep liquefied bat guano. The stuff was like quicksand, almost sucking you down and making progress very slow and cautious. This bat guano soup along with low oxygen levels eventually prevented our expedition from going deeper into the cave.
RETICULATED PYTHON
“The World’s Longest Reptile”
Constrictor, Not Poisonous
Scientific Name: Python Reticulatus
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Boidae
Genus: Python
Length: Average 10-20 feet (3-6 meters), longest documented is 31.5 feet (9.5 meters)
Lifespan: Approximately 20 years
Prey: Warm-blooded prey from birds to human (size of prey depends on size of snake)
Range: Throughout Southeast Asia and nearby islands
On day three, about 200 feet (60 meters) into the cave, walking along the right-side wall where the fecal soup was the shallowest, I spied a large python partially exposed in a crack in the left wall, on the opposite side of the cave across the deepest part of the fecal river.
[With cameras rolling] I frantically waded across the middle deepest portion of the fecal river (waist deep on me) and to the other side of the cave, where I was successful in grabbing the last few feet of the snake’s tail before it escaped into the wall.
By this time Dr. Mark Auliya, a python expert working with me on this project, arrived to assist me in pulling this large snake out of the wall. I handed over the tail to Mark while I attempted to free more of the large snake’s body from the crevice as Mark pulled.
After a brief power struggle, the python popped out of the crack in a blur of coils and quickly started to wrap us up. In the waist-deep fecal soup, the darkness of the cave and myriad of coils, it was difficult to locate the head, which was our major concern. With Mark still holding the tail, the big snake wrapped its powerful coils around Mark's body once and around both of my legs down low at least once, and maybe two coils. The snake’s head was horrifyingly all over the place, popping in and out of the fecal soup and making securing it almost impossible. Before we could formulate a plan to get out of the quicksand-like fecal soup, where drowning was a serious issue while trying to subdue a giant snake, it bit me.
I felt the snake attach to my leg right below my left buttock, which sent me literally through the roof with pain. These guys are armed with dozens of strongly recurved razor-sharp teeth. After securing its hold, it threw the weight and power of its muscular body into the bite and started ripping downward. The power of these snakes is beyond comprehension ... remember, they are constrictors, and power is the name of their game.
Since the bite was occurring underwater, no one but me really knew what was occurring, and I was in such indescribable pain I couldn't convey much information, other than guttural screams. I was so completely incapacitated by the pain I couldn't even attempt to remove the snake from my leg. I was terrified that the snake was going to pull me off my feet with its coils around my legs and drag me underwater, yet after what seemed like an eternity the snake released its bite yet continued to hold me with its coils. It most likely needed to get a breath of air, since the bite occurred under the water. After letting the team know that it released its bite, we still could not locate the head after frantic searching.
This was the time I was most concerned, and without doubt one of the scariest moments I have ever been a part of, because the horror of taking another bite was simply overwhelming. I really did not think that I could remain conscious if I took another bad bite, and I knew that another bite was coming for someone if we didn't secure the head.
Prayers answered—the snake relinquished some of its coils, and I finally spotted the head at the surface of the water a long way away. Mark quickly dragged the snake to the opposite side of the cave, the shallow side, and I threw a bag over its eyes and quickly secured the head. We immediately placed the large snake into a capture bag, and then Mark inspected my wounds. They were bad; it was a horrific bite.
They have so many teeth that produce these deep ripping wounds, it's excruciating if you are on the receiving end. When the team discovered how severe the injuries were, we immediately exited the cave and cleaned the wound. Infection was really the biggest concern. Snake bites are always bad because they have such unclean mouths, but to receive a bite in a cave environment in a liquefied slurry of bat feces simply has to be the absolute worst of all septic situations. We were in a very remote area, so I had to hike out many kilometers to our truck.
The entire sequence was filmed. It is chilling footage to watch. It was an epic snake capture, one to go down in the history books.
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