Local Columbus native, Coyote Peterson earned his Animal Planet show from his very successful and highly produced YouTube shows, where he hosts four extremely popular outdoor expedition series which garner over 4.7 million views per day on YouTube and almost 3 billion total views.
But he got his start at Blendon Woods Metro Park, catching snapping turtles in Thoreau Lake.
People looking to learn about animals and what they might do to Coyote Peterson, love watching him on Youtube, sometimes getting bit or stung.
Coyote will soon catch the curiosity of even more viewers on Animal Planet when his show premieres Sunday.
To shoot those episodes, he traveled the world, from Australia to South America to Texas.
"The premier episode features me catching the largest alligator snapping turtle ever captured on camera," Peterson explains, "I swam with Anacondas, we filmed jaguars, I wore a 13,000 bee beard, I did it once before and was stung in the face."
He got his start here in Central Ohio at the Metro parks, specifically Blendon Woods.
Coyote has special permission to pull the snapping turtles out of the water to do research.
"The common snapping turtle is one of the coolest prehistoric creatures we have. We're thrilled to say the snapping turtles in the metro parks are the largest on record," he said.
And yes, he's been bitten.
"Those jaws are razor sharp and those claws are something you need to look out for," he says describing the snapping turtle.
But for now, he's taking more risks in faraway places, with big plans for his viewers.
"Filming Komodo dragons has always been a dream of mine and the concept we have for that, we'll show you Komodo dragons like you've never seen before," he says about future episodes.
His show, Brave the Wild, premiers on Animal Planet February 9 at 9 p.m.