Last of the Giants (2022-…): Season 1, Episode 1 - Monster Sturgeon - full transcript

Yeah, here we go.

Here we go. We're on, guys.

Oh, man, it's huge.

I don't know how I'm going to land
this fish, it's in the grass already.

Oh, my God.

It's pulling me in. Oh.

You guys stay back,
there are piranhas and caimans here.

Yeah, just let me get the shot.

It's a giant.

Cyril Chauquet spends
his life traveling the world...

Easy, big guy.



...in search of massive fish.

Look at the size of that thing!

No matter the danger...

Look at the amount of venom on that bark.

Careful!

...he'll do whatever it takes
to see these giants up close.

He could almost swallow me whole.

But many of these
animals are also in danger...

They're facing a lot of challenges,
those fish.

...from habitat destruction,
pollution, and commercial overfishing.

Now, Cyril and his team
of adventure filmmakers

are on a grueling mission
across the globe...

- Look out!
- Unbelievable.

Whoa! Oh, yeah!



...to help scientists study

these fantastic creatures
and protect them.

We have the choice,

whether we preserve these fish
or we let them go extinct.

This time, the team
is in the Brazilian Amazon.

Watch out, deep here.

The planet's largest rainforest,

known for its mysterious
beauty and lurking dangers.

Electric eel, get out of the water.

To help conserve
two of the planet's threatened giants.

Oh, my God, did you see that?

The armor-plated pirarucu

and the Goliath catfish
known here as the paraiba.

They're getting scarce.

Practically
unchanged for millennia,

these prehistoric fish
are now fighting for survival.

In order to help these animals...

Looks like a good spot,
but we're gonna have to get to it.

...the team
will have to venture deep

into uncharted and hostile territory.

Get out, get out.

And come face
to face with real giants.

- Ah!
- Yeah, this is not good.

And real dangers.

Okay, we're going down, guys.

Together, they'll fight
to save the Last of the Giants.

The team begins their new journey
in the city of Manaus,

the capital of the Brazilian
state of Amazonas.

To achieve their mission,

they must venture out
into the most remote corner

of Brazil's rainforest

in the northwestern
section of the country.

Out there, it's a real no man's land
where anything could happen.

So Cyril is traveling with
his fearless cinematographer, Chris,

who is no stranger to danger
having filmed in Afghanistan,

been chased by elephants.

Run!

And even been
shocked by an electric eel.

They're followed
by the rest of the crew.

Geoff, the director,
throws himself into his work.

That's one way to study a shark.

And likes to keep things fun.

Aw, I want to see your face.

Oh!

- Come on, feel it.
- Ow! Damn!

Even when it hurts.

Manu, the unflappable sound recordist,

never lets a little danger
keep him from doing his job.

I heard something in the forest,
I think it's getting closer.

And Jesse,
the team's jungle expert

and second cameraman on this trip,

has explored and survived
the jungles on four continents.

Guys, remember, watch where you step,
watch what you touch.

The team is here working
with a local biologist to collect

non-intrusive DNA samples from
two of the country's largest fish.

The Goliath catfish known here
as the piraiba will take the team far up

the jungle rivers into unknown territory.

But first, they have to find and sample
the prehistoric pirarucu.

The pirarucu can grow to
over 400 pounds, breathe air,

and has scales so tough that
piranhas can't bite through them.

Humans have almost brought
the species to extinction

in just the last century

due to commercial
overfishing and poaching.

Yesterday, the team
met with Lorenzo Barroco,

a scientist studying
these prehistoric giants

in order to better protect them.

Lorenzo wants
the team to collect pirarucu DNA

from deep in a rugged jungle region
of swamps, lakes, and rivers.

With so few wild pirarucu left,
he hopes the team can find

and help him identify
remaining wild populations,

which desperately need protecting.

Imagine that this area
that we're going to,

there's no information
whatsoever on these fish.

They've never been studied.

We could be dealing with
a separate population altogether,

a different, distinct population,
we don't know.

That's what's crazy.

And for this
new study, size matters.

The DNA of a pirarucu

that has succeeded in growing to full size

in this hostile environment holds
precious genetic information

that scientists can use in the future
to propagate the species.

It's harmless for the fish.

We'll take a small piece
of the pectoral fin,

and that way we'll have its DNA.

They will have to do this
with live fish in the jungle.

But before they head out on their mission,

the guys have an important stop to make,

which takes them through
some rough parts of town.

So the police have assigned them
a bodyguard for the drive.

They want to see for themselves
one of the worst obstacles facing

the fish they're trying to help.

And for that, they're joining a raid
led by Brazil's military police.

The Amazon covers a huge area.

Unfortunately, a lot
of it is still untouched,

but every giant fish that lives here

is under a lot of pressure
for multiple reasons.

And one of the main ones
is poaching or illegal killing.

Cyril and the team
will be joining these elite forces

on their mission to stop poachers.

Poaching in Brazil
has grown into such a big business

that police need powerful military
operations to take on the industry.

- Wait!
- Pretty serious.

They told me to cover my face
and they did the same thing,

but they removed their name tags
to remain as anonymous as possible.

But today, their most
important task is the protection

of Brazil's fragile ecosystem.

Getting to the harbor there,

they want to control
some boats in the harbor.

The police must go through all the fish

to make sure none are illegally caught.

What are you looking for?

Either contraband fish or drugs.

Poachers will not leave
illegal fish in plain sight,

so the police must be extremely
thorough in their search.

Oh, I think they found something.

Surubi, red tail.

Those are all catfish,
just like the paraiba.

But these are small ones.

They just intercepted
a shipment of the, uh, illegal fish.

These catfish here, they're surubi,

tiger shovelnose catfish in English.

But it can't be harvested.

The surubi aren't
the only fish being caught illegally.

But for some of these fishermen,

catching illegal fish is a necessary risk.

You know, I don't take any
pleasure busting people, you know,

because they're people,
they got to make a living, but...

These are protected species,

that's the only way
that you can help the fish.

A few of these
guys are going to have to face

charges of illegal fishing,

but the severity of their
punishment is up to the courts.

What's great
is that he just told me

that the fish is not going to go to waste,

it's going to be donated
to charity, which is great.

Suddenly, the captain gets a call.

Poachers were sighted a few miles away.

The poachers are located on shore

near where the waters of the Rio Negro
meet the Amazon River.

Be careful, just stay behind me

and stay behind the guys,
don't go, don't go forward.

I know you want to get
the shots, but be careful, okay?

Because Cyril will be
out front with the police,

he was the only one on his team
given a bulletproof vest.

Geoff, stay down.
Geoff, stay down, man.

Come on, stay down.

With no visuals on the poachers,

the military police
need to be on full alert

and make sure not to get
ambushed by a surprise attack.

They got him.
Over there, over there.

They got weapons man, be careful.

Okay, they got him.

Diego...

With both suspects now
in custody, the police interrogate them.

The fact that
those guys ran clearly says that

there was something suspicious going
on here and they knew about it.

I think the main sentence would be...
Will be for the weapons

'cause there is no registration
for the weapons,

but they couldn't find the fish, so,

I think they're going to get, uh,
in trouble for the weapons.

The police force
takes poaching very seriously

as it is wiping out many
of Brazil's large fish species.

Having gained a greater understanding
of the poaching problem,

Cyril and his crew are heading deep
into the heart of the jungle.

They need to find massive pirarucu
to get samples for Lorenzo to analyze.

The information stored
in their DNA will help

scientists protect these ancient giants.

This is good. Go right here.

- Right?
- Right.

I like how
you put your seatbelt on,

but Geoff has absolutely
nothing and he's in the back.

You all right, Geoff?
Hanging in there?

Hanging in.

Geoff guides the team by GPS.

We're still going in the right direction.

That's good to know.

But as they
get deeper into the jungle,

the road becomes less reliable.

It isn't long before they encounter
their first roadblock.

Well, looks like
we're going to need machetes here.

Guys, I'll need, uh,
I'll need some help here.

Yep.

Man, we have barely
even started this trip, and, uh,

already we got a major obstacle.

I'm wondering what's coming up next?

So we're going to get stuck.

- Ah, there you go.
- All right.

Fine down here, we're good.

Good job, buddy, good job.

Now they need to get
the truck through the mud hole

without getting stuck.

Whoo!

Yes, sir.

Almost hit the tree, you see that?

-Good job, man.
-Yeah, man.

It came this close to the tree.

Oh, man.

Geoff tries to steer the team
towards the lakes they're looking for,

but the tree canopy
is making that difficult.

The signal's terrible.

Yeah, I know, but we got the lakes.

So I think we're getting to the lake area.

Yeah, it looks like it.

Well, I think that's
as far as we can go, guys.

Yeah, I think we should
stop here and keep, uh,

trekking through the woods, right?

They just passed a small lake,

but there are better
lakes for pirarucu up ahead.

How was it? Not too rough?

Sorry, man.

It was all right, actually.

- You have the cell phone?
- I have one.

Geoff, you have the... The GPS?

Yep.

Good.

- You got a signal?
- Yep.

Yeah, I find it's a little
bit of an opening here.

Into straight down here.

Yeah, straight.

As straight
as you can possibly make it.

All right, let's just
pick a tree and head for it.

They leave
the safety of the forest path

and hike deeper into the jungle.

Guys, remember rule number one:

watch where you step,
watch what you touch.

Rule number two: see rule number one.

Pretty much.

See, what I'm telling you that everything
here is meant to hurt you.

Look at this, look at the spikes
on this palm tree.

It's actually the tree's
natural way to defend itself,

just like a cactus.

Along with hostile vegetation,

the crew needs to also watch out for
other jungle perils such as snakes,

venomous ants, spiders, and even jaguars.

Yeah, we're heading
in the right direction

to some water down there.

Yeah.

These fish are obligate air breathers.

That means that they have to come up
to the surface every once in a while

to breathe air.

But when they come up
to the surface to breathe,

usually they make a big
splash with their tail.

And it's very loud, you can hear it.

Because those fish, they're the apex
predator around here, they're huge.

They don't care about being noticed.

You know, it looks
like a good spot though,

and it's a quiet lake,

like a flooded forest,
maybe some pirarucus.

But we should hear 'em.

Well, yeah,
if we're going to hear them,

we need to stop talking.

Telling me to shut up?

I'm talking too much?

Kind of.

- Ooh, ooh. You heard that?
- Yeah.

Pirarucu.

Yeah, looks like somebody's home.

Yeah, we hit it right,
this is the lake.

See some open water there,

but from the shore here
it's impossible to fish.

It's just... It's just too thick.

Down this bank to the right here,
if you go aways it gets more open.

Cyril and his team follow
the lake's natural drainage

into a more accessible spot to fish.

Yeah, looks like a good place here.

Whoa, that was a big one.

A giant pirarucu
just broke the surface.

I'm dying to put a bait
in the water, I'm telling you,

but I've got to show you how this works.

It's a circle hook,
it's a special type of hook.

Basically, fish takes
bait and as it swims away,

I just put some tension
on the line slow but sure,

what happens here is that
the hook lodges itself right here

in the corner of the mouth.

So, uh, this hook is designed
to avoid hurting the fish.

I'd rather have fresher bait,

but I'm pretty sure
this will do the trick.

Better start fishing.

Man, monsters and giants in there.

Wow, a big one surfaced right there.

I won't cast too close,
so I don't spook it.

I just saw a fish come up
to the surface over there,

that's why I cast right in that area.

But the problem is that if I...
If I get this fish,

I don't know how I'm going to land it
because you see there's a lot of grass.

Hmm.

Feel like going over there but,

looks like a perfect environment
for anaconda and caimans.

The grass looks thinner
at the back of the lake,

which might give Cyril a better
chance at landing a giant.

Here goes nothing.

Oh, there's a little guy here.
Guys, be careful.

There's a caiman here.

Oh, perfect.

Caimans are an ever present
danger lurking on the banks,

waiting until they're close
enough to their prey to attack.

So the team moves very carefully.

♪ ♪

Don't quite know what I'm getting
myself into here, but...

Oh, my God, did you see that?
Did you hear that?

Cyril quickly
gets a line in the water

just in front of where the fish surfaced.

Guys, just so you know,
we can't stay here for too long.

You know, we'll try to
get this fish and get, uh,

get out of here.

- Why?
- Guess why.

- Anacondas?
- Yeah.

- Caimans?
- Yeah.

Piranhas?

- Exactly, all of the above.
- All of them.

I think we need fresher bait, guys.

But this one should do for now.

Oh.

Here we go.

A fish has picked up
Cyril's bait.

But he can't set the hook until he feels
that the fish is fully committed to it.

Yeah, here we go, here we go.

We're on, guys.

Oh, man, it's huge.

I don't know how I'm gonna land this fish,
it's in the grass already.

It's pulling me in.

Oh, my God.

Guys, stay back, just...

I don't want you to get in this mess here.

Just let me get the shot.

Oh, my God. It's a giant.

It's the fish we need.

Cyril and the team
are in the Amazon to catch

and sample giant pirarucu.

And there's one on the line.

At close range, pirarucu
are dangerous when they thrash.

He needs to grab it before someone
gets smashed by its bony head.

Watch out, guys.

Don't get knocked out by this fish's head.
It's pure bone.

And it's very much alive right now,
look, it's right here.

In order to get a DNA
sample from this pirarucu,

Cyril would have to drag it
through the floating grass.

I don't think there's any way
we can sample this fish.

Which might
injure or even kill it.

He has no choice,
he has to release the fish.

We got to get out of here, guys,
we got to get out of here.

I just want to put it over the grass
here so he can swim freely.

He's good.

You want to sample that guy?

Can't, I had to let it go, man,

it's too complicated
for you to make it here.

And it's not the giant
that we need for Lorenzo.

That was a sizable fish,
but not, not a giant.

Let's get out of here.

Get out. Come on, move.
You can't stay here too long.

All right, everybody out of the water,
because now we made a big mess,

and that's going to get some attention,
predator's attention.

No, it was too risky for us to be
standing in the water there

and not only that, but at one point

I was thinking of maybe
bringing the fish to shore,

but it's not good for the fish.

I don't want to be dragging
the fish over the grass,

and here would have been the ideal
spot to actually sample it, but...

It would have been the perfect spot.

I'm trying to think...

That's what I'm thinking right now,
how we can do this.

You made the right call
but, uh, I mean,

it looks like there's
more fish out there, so,

how are we going to sample them?

- That's the question.
- Yeah.

With the grass along
the bank making it impossible to bring

an adult pirarucu near shore,

the guys have to find another solution.

But there's grass everywhere.

Hey, guys,
there are fishermen over there.

They got a big fish,
they're holding a big fish.

Cyril thinks these fishermen
might have a pirarucu in their net.

But it's far from it.

Ah!

It's an anaconda.

And the fishermen
are planning on killing it.

This snake doesn't need to die.

Getting too
close can result in serious injury.

It's a constrictor,
but we still don't want to get bit.

Cyril must secure
the head to avoid getting bitten.

Biggest snake
in the world right here.

Anaconda, and I'm hold...

I'm securing the head right
now because I'm telling you,

you don't want to
get bit by an anaconda,

especially an anaconda this size.

They have, like... He's ready to go,

and they have teeth
that have pointed backwards.

It's not so much the bite
itself that is dangerous,

it's the infection
that comes after the bite

because most times
they don't want to let you go.

The way they kill their prey
is that they latch onto their prey

with their mouth and then they wrap around
and they choke the life out of him.

If you happen to be in the water
and you get caught by one of those,

I'm telling you it's going
to pull you under water.

It's going to wrap you
and pull you underwater.

And a snake this size,

it's definitely, definitely
capable of killing a person.

Oh, yeah.

Guys, we, uh,
we're lucky we showed up just in time.

Otherwise this snake was going
to get chopped up in pieces.

Did you see that?

- He was going to go for the machete.
- Yeah.

- Yeah.
- I saw it.

Have a bit of a little
conflict in my head right now

because I just told them that, okay,
let's release it.

And they're like, "No, let's kill it."

'Cause it can be... It can be dangerous

for the, uh, the people
of the village, even the kids.

Why don't we move it
to a different place?

A different spot?

- Relocate it?
- Yeah, relocate it.

Look, they have a boat.

Yeah, that's not
a bad idea, actually.

Cool. Good idea, man.

Moving a big
snake must be done carefully

to avoid hurting the snake
or getting attacked by it.

But the snake
seems tired from struggling, otherwise,

it wouldn't be this docile.

Cyril's on high alert, though,

because the animal
still could bite him,

resulting in a bad infection.

Get onboard.

The snake is tired.

And there they go,
relocating a freakin' anaconda.

Yeah, that's really cool.

Man, this snake
smells really strong.

This typical musk, you know?
Very strong smell.

This guy is definitely one
of the giants in the Amazon.

Running some water on it.

Cool it down, I don't know,

maybe it's too hot on the boat,
I don't know.

After about ten miles...

They find a good spot...

To let the predator go.

Okay, buddy.
You're one lucky snake.

Wow.

Now I can tell how
big this snake is, you know?

It was hard to tell
with the guys holding it...

And when it was coiled up.

But now, whew,
when it's all stretched out, it's huge.

It's way, way, yeah,
it's definitely over 15 feet long.

That's a big snake, yes.

With the snake
safely away from the village,

Cyril and the team can get back

to their mission of catching
a giant pirarucu.

And the first thing they need to do
is catch some fresh bait.

But not just any bait.

One of the planet's
most feared predator fish:

the piranha.

And some tasty beef should
definitely get their attention.

Yeah, it's probably not the best
idea to be fishing for piranha

with our feet in the water
right now, but...

I've been around piranhas quite a bit
and they have a bad rep

because they're very aggressive predators.

But, you know, there's certain conditions
where they get especially dangerous.

Because the water level
in the Amazon fluctuates.

It goes up and down a lot.

And when it goes up, it floods areas
of the forest that are not flooded,

usually creating lakes that...
And those lakes remain when

the water level goes down and piranhas,

they breed in those lakes until
they deplete all the food that's around

and then they get really aggressive.

They can start even eating each other,
they can be cannibals.

And that's in those conditions
that they get really dangerous.

I know we're not
going to get attacked here.

Normally.

Making some noise on the surface
to get the piranha's attention.

To them, it mimics the sound of prey
on the surface, in distress.

Oh, oh, oh,
something's picking at it.

The bait keeps getting attacked.

- But no big piranhas, yet.
- Oh, oh, oh.

Oh, yeah, here we go.

Here we go. Here we go.
Here we go. Right away.

Oh, that's a nice red belly right here.

Check this out, that's a big one.

See that, how red the belly is?

This is probably the most
common species of piranha,

the red belly piranha.

These fish have a very strong bite,
really powerful jaws.

So you don't want to get near this mouth.

What makes the piranha bite so devastating
is a combination of two elements.

Number one is this, look at those teeth,
serrated triangular shark-like teeth

and the fact that
they perfectly interlock,

resulting in a typical cookie-cutter bite,

semi-circular, flesh gone.

Piranhas hunt in schools.

So it's a safe bet
there are others nearby.

Chris, you're not too far from the action.

There's a bunch of them there,
so be careful.

After Afghanistan,
there's nothing here to scare you.

It's not an old piranha
you're going to be afraid of, right?

Not one.

There's about 50 of 'em
for sure there, swimming around.

Oh, got a bite.

Yeah, here we go.

Ooh.

- And that's a good one.
- Yeah.

Yes, there's another one.

Yeah, here we go. Oh! Yep.

I think we've got enough, guys.

With fresh bait in hand,
the team is ready to find

and sample a giant pirarucu,
but they have to get away

from the grass and all these piranhas,

which will eat the bait
even if it's another piranha.

Oh, yeah, looks good here.

Predator, and it's going to get
eaten by another predator.

This piranha
will make a delicious meal

for a giant pirarucu.

Oh, here we go, here we go.

We got a good bite here,
that's a good bite.

Here we go, fish, good fish, big fish.

That might be a catfish,
or a big tambaqui.

I don't think it's a pirarucu
'cause it's not jumping.

I'm going to try to work
my way down the shoreline here.

It looks like there's a good spot
to land it there.

What is this fish?

Oh, no, it's...
Yeah, it's a tambaqui, big tambaqui.

Wait till you see this fish.

You got to see the teeth on this fish.
This fish is the...

The cousin of the piranha.

The teeth of a human that would
have a pretty, uh, bad, uh,

oral hygiene, let's say.

This fish are known for
eating mainly seeds and fruit,

but obviously this fish
took a piece of fish,

so that I think they're omnivores.

They can eat anything they find.

But look, what a beautiful creature.

Like the pirarucu...

Tambaqui.

...these fish are exploited
for their meat in Brazil.

And if nothing is done
to stop overfishing,

they will also need protection.

There may be a school of Tambaqui
here that will take all of Cyril's

fresh piranha bait before
he ever catches a pirarucu.

The team can't risk it,
so they trek to another part of the lake.

A slow river connects
a series of still water lakes,

an ideal environment for pirarucu.

But to find a true giant for Lorenzo,

they need to access areas so remote
even poachers won't go there.

Here's the lake.

I don't know how
we're going to fish here though.

From the shore?

It's going to be really tough.

Yeah, we can't
do anything from here.

It looks like, uh,
prime anaconda water.

And the banks
are steep, really steep.

Vegetation is really dense, too.

So thick.

Look over there, I think we can fish
from there, on that spot.

Yeah, maybe
we can fish from the far bank.

Looks like a good spot,
but we're going to have to get to it.

I think that
requires a little swim.

Well, yeah.

Now the question is, uh,

who goes first?

Let's get the rope
and get down there, and, um,

I'll make the first cross and, uh,

if I make it alive over there
without any...

Too many piranha bites on my legs

and then go ahead and follow.

I can come with you.

- You, uh, you'd swim with me?
- Yeah, sure.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea,
actually. Yeah.

Yeah.

In case one of you guys has a problem,
a cramp or something?

Uh, yeah, and I think also, you know,
the fact that we're bigger,

it's more intimidating for a predator.

Right.

Thinking of caimans and anacondas.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.

Oh, yeah.

I didn't forget about them,
they're here.

So gonna repel down first and, uh...

I'll follow you.

Geoff anchors a rope around
the tree for Cyril and Manu to climb down.

- Rope's secured?
- Yeah.

Everyone's a little tense
because they don't know what creatures

could be possibly lurking along the ledge.

I'm making sure,
might go slow because

there could be a lot of things here.

Or in the water.

They have to be careful on their descent.

If they slip and fall...

Good job, Manu.

The splash could
provoke a bite or draw the attention

of a nearby predator.

Keep going, we're close.

- Manu, you follow real close, okay?
- Yeah.

They all need to hurry
across to avoid predators

that may be attracted by the splashing.

You guys, you're gonna pass me my bag
and my camera and everything, okay?

Yeah. Okay, exactly.

You all right?

Good job Manu, you did it.

Cyril and Manu
arrive safely onshore,

but the rest of the crew
still needs to cross.

Geoff and Jesse are the last in line.

And now that the others
have stirred up the water...

Yeah.

...they'll have to make it fast.

- Ready?
- Yeah, one, two...

Well, I guess Jesse
didn't wait for Geoff's count.

Good job.

Good job, guys.

- Good job, buddy.
- All right, man.

Now let's do some fishing.

With everyone safely across,
it's time to catch the largest pirarucu

in the region and get
a sample for Lorenzo.

Collecting DNA to learn more
about these fantastic creatures

is imperative for ensuring their survival.

All right, piranha, there you go.

Pull, pull, here we go, here we go,
here we go. Fish, fish, fish.

Something
found the bait very quickly.

My God.

I think this fish is tired.

Swam around a snag,
and the line is cut.

That's why sometimes
you want to use very heavy line.

You know, you got a lot of abrasion
going on and the line rubs.

So you want to have heavy line
that can withstand the abrasion

and the friction long enough
that you can land this fish.

I'm going to do something careless,
which is that I'm gonna

open the bail to try
to let the fish swim freely,

and maybe it'll go...
It'll go back around the snag.

Cyril hopes that by giving
the fish enough line to swim,

it will head back out into open water.

Slowly.

Okay, he's swimming. Look at the line.

Look at the line,
look at the line on the water.

Boom, boom, boom.
Yeah, this fish is still on there.

I'm gonna let him swim real free.

No.

Cyril's plan worked.

The fish is free of the snag
and fighting to get away.

If it's a pirarucu, it's a big one.

Oh!

He's coming, he's coming,
he's right here, he's right here.

Oh, my God! It's a big pirarucu.

Oh, look at that.

Oh.

Ah!

Jesse, I'm gonna need
your help holding the rod.

To land this giant,
Cyril needs Jesse to hold the rod,

while he secures the line.

Okay, I think I got it,
but I'll never know with this fish.

They're super powerful,
so I gotta be careful.

The true Amazon warrior.
This fish... Look at the scales,

look at the construction of this fish.

It's armor-plated,

it's basically the equivalent
of a bullet-proof jacket for us.

The scales are so powerful
they can withstand swarms

of piranhas attacking them.

The pirarucu, the, "pira," for fish.
In indigenous language,

"pira," means fish
and, "urucu," means red,

hence the red scales on the tail.

It's perfectly adapted to its environment.

I can barely lift him, and yet
it's a small fish for pirarucu.

Let's get the fish.

He's good, as you can see he's breathing.

That's a beautiful fish, man.

Yeah. He's in good shape right now.

Geoff needs to take a small
sample of the fish's pectoral fin

so Lorenzo can catalog its DNA.

- Oh, yeah.
- Good job.

- Got it.
- You got it. Good to go.

One second.

Getting samples
from a large pirarucu

is the first step in helping scientists
protect these prehistoric fish.

Okay, from the snout to the tail.

Uh, 178 centimeters.

178 centimeters?

And the fish is not even straight.

70 inches.

Matching the fish's size
with its DNA will help Lorenzo

accurately catalog
the pirarucu in this region.

28 inches, 71 centimeters.

20, yeah. So yeah, it's not a...

It's not a fat fish.

It's not a fat fish, but it's a long fish.

No. Yeah, yep.

This guy's ready to go,
beautiful creature.

But I think we'll have
to get an even bigger one.

A true giant.

There are even
bigger pirarucu out here.

And since Lorenzo needs
samples from a true giant,

the pirarucu mission isn't over yet.

Hear that?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Are you prepping for them?

Yeah, I can hear it coming.

Yeah, it's coming, that's the wind.

But bad weather rolls in.

Guys, it is a big
storm that's about to happen.

And the crew packs up
to seek shelter in the jungle.

They don't want to risk all their
camera gear in a thunderstorm.

Okay, let's move, guys.

Hey, look at all this water.

Oh, man.

Flood, flood, flood, guys, flood.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Flash flood.

Floods in this
region can be disastrous.

When rivers overflow from heavy rain,

the rising water can quickly reach
over ten feet in some areas.

Ah!.

The crew needs
to get to higher ground

before they're swallowed by the water.

- Watch out, deep here.
- Guys, I'm stuck.

- You all right, Geoff?
- Yeah, I'm okay.

Let's keep walking this way,
we don't want to go upstream

because we don't know
what's coming next.

We're gonna try
to protect the equipment.

Get the samples!

- Get the samples!
- Ah!