♪ Wild Kratts ♪ - [Martin] We're here in the northern hemisphere.

- [Chris] And much of the northern hemisphere is covered in woodlands.

- [Martin] And this is where we are creature adventuring today!

- It's us, the Kratt brothers!

I'm Chris.

- I'm Martin.

And we're here in this mature forest.

It's dark and cool down here because the canopy of leaves blocks out the sun.

- Down here is the perfect home for lots of animals, including salamanders.

- But even this isn't cool, wet, or dark enough for salamanders.

- That's why they live underground.

Under dead trees.

Under rocks.

- Let's try this one.

- Oh yes!

Over here!

Oh wow!

These are spotted salamanders.

See?

They're black, with yellow spots.

- Oh yeah, and that's how they got their name, spotted salamanders.

Now these salamanders are members of the Ambystoma genus, which includes spotted salamanders, and marble salamanders, and tiger salamanders!

These young salamanders, just recently transformed into th eir adult salamander form.

The life cycle of the salamander is really cool.

Most salamanders start out with the adults laying eggs in temporary pools in the forest.

And then, those eggs hatch into larval salamanders.

- Those larval salamanders have gi lls and live in the water, until the gills disappear, and they grow legs.

And then, those salamanders crawl out of the water, and start life underground.

Imagine if we could crawl into the world of the salamanders.

- Imagine if we had salamander powers.

- What if?!

(jungle music) (theme music) ♪ On adventure with the coolest creatures ♪ From the oceans to the trees ♪ The brothers Kratt are going places ♪ You never get to see ♪ Hanging with their creature friends ♪ Get ready ♪ It's the hour ♪ We're gonna save some animals today ♪ With creature power ♪ Gonna go wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild wild Kratts ♪ Cheetah speed and lizard glide ♪ Falcon flight and lion pride ♪ Gonna go wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild Kratts ♪ Gonna go wild wild wild Kratts ♪ Go wild wild wild Kratts - Fire salamander.

Oh oh I can see why in Germany, they call it the Black Forest.

It's dark.

- And it's cool!

Delightfully creepy.

And I can't wait to find some cool animals tomorrow.

- Yeah, what kind of cool animals live in the Black Forest?

- I don't know, but speaking of cool, I'm gettin' cold.

Time to light a fire and set up camp.

- Okay.

I'll set up camp, and why don't you collect wood for the fire?

- Sure!

Really?

(laughing) - Hey!

So what are you waiting for?

Weren't you gonna get some wood?

(laughing) (whip cracking) (log cracking) - There.

- Great!

So let's get this fire started.

(upbeat music) (fire crackling) - Ah, that's better.

- Whoa!

And so is the Black Forest!

- Yeah, look at all those shadows.

- It's like there's strange cr eatures dancing in the trees.

- Yeah, this place is really (gulps) cool.

- Yeah, this is fun.

(spooky music) (gasps) - Something's crawling out of the fire!

(screams) - Whoa!

- What is it?

- Crawling out of the fire?

- Yeah, go look.

- No, you go look.

- No, you look first.

- Uh, let's look together.

- Okay.

One, two, three, look!

- Huh?

A salamander?

- [Chris] From out of the fire?

- Must be a fire salamander!

I read about them in an ancient text, that I think I have in my backpack.

Here.

- What?

You carry around ancient texts?

- Yeah!

Doesn't everybody?

Where is it?

A ha!

The fire salamander.

Born in the fire, the salamander is created from burning wood, and it's skin is unharmed by the hottest flame.

- He looks all right to me.

He's not burned, but he came out of the fire.

- Yeah.

Well, that makes namin' this guy easy.

I'll call you, Flame.

Oh.

This guy, hi.

Your name is Sparker.

- This is incredible!

Okay.

The scientific name for this species is salamandra salamandra, aka the fire salamander.

- (gasps) Can you imagine a creature power suit that made us immune to fire?

- Whoa.

- Hey Aviva, I know it sounds too weird to be true, - but there is the fire salamander, - that appears out of burning logs!

- And is immune to fire.

- Huh?

- Wow!

- I'm getting started on this unbelievable fire proof creature power, like now!

Now, what's your secret?

- Dabio, I'm feeling creatively blocked.

- Oh, I hear something good Donita.

Martin and Chris have found a black and yellow salamander that walks through fire.

(gasps) It doesn't burn!

- What does it look like?

- Like this.

- Striking patterns!

Yes!

Yes!

Yes!

It's coming to me!

- What Donita?

- I, Donita Donata, in a black and yellow bodysuit, enter the runway, walking through a wall of fire, unburned, unharmed!

What an entrance that would be!

- Oh.

Yes!

- Yes.

That's my entrance.

Now all we have to do is collect 1,000 fire salamander skins, and sew them together into my fireproof salamander bodysuit.

I'll be dazzling!

Dabio, drop everything.

We need to get to Germany and collect fire salamanders.

And Martino and Cristobal have led us right to them.

(laughing) They led us right to them!

(laughing) - Yeah (laughing).

(both laughing) - Wow.

A salamander that can walk through fire.

- Wait a second, hold it.

This goes against everything we know about salamanders.

Salamanders need water to survive.

- Oh, thanks for the reminder bro.

And you're right.

Salamanders are amphibians.

Like most amphibians, a salamander's skin always has to stay wet.

Whether it's a spotted salamander, a marbled salamander, or a tiger salamander.

The one thing that all salamanders have in common, is that their skin has to stay cool and wet.

- Yeah.

- Feel his skin.

Moist and cool.

- Very cool.

How could they be born out of fire?

Salamanders are very sensitive to heat.

I mean, how could these salamanders possibly be fireproof?

- We've gotta find out about this salamander's life cycle, and crack the mystery of the fire salamander.

- Hm.

Well I think we're gonna discover what fire salamanders eat.

He's hunting.

- Whoa!

- Salamanders have predatory powers.

They have special teeth that hold, but don't chew.

- Grab and gulp.

That's the salamander hunting style.

What's this other guy goin' after?

- [Chris] Let's see.

- [Martin] Oh, it's a spider!

Whoa!

Did you see that?

- Oh yeah.

He ate a spider!

- Yeah!

And did you see how he used his eyes to swallow?

- Eyes to swallow?

- A salamander uses his eyeballs to swallow.

- His eyeballs?

- Yeah, watch the eyeballs.

- Wow.

I need to record this!

- [Martin] See?

Pushing the worm down with his eyeballs.

- Got it!

Let's go to the x-ray instant replay, to see if we're right.

- Nice.

- [Chris] The salamander shoots out his tongue, which is sticky, and grabs the worm.

- [Martin] Whoa, in a half a second.

We needed instant replay to even see that!

Then, he holds the worm with vomerine teeth.

- Vomerine teeth?

- You know, those bony teeth on the roof of the mouth.

- [Chris] Yeah, vomerine teeth hold the worm, but no chewing.

Then the eye muscles pull the eyes into the head, and the eyeballs push the worm do wn the salamander's throat.

- Eye-mazing!

- You mean, amazing.

- No.

Eye-mazing!

That is one eye-mazing ability.

- Oh, I get it.

(laughing) - Okay, it wasn't that funny.

- No!

Something is tickling me.

(laughing) - The European hedgehog!

(laughing) - Hey buddy!

Oh.

- She's got her eye on the fire salamander.

- Uh oh.

Hedgehogs are cute, but they're little predators.

- Does a fire salamander have any defenses?

Recording.

(gasps) That salamander did something!

- Oh, what happened?

- Let's go to the instant replay.

Okay look.

The salamander's flexing his skin and glands behind his neck.

- [Chris] There's a substance coming out.

Spraying into the hedgehog's face!

- Must be a poison!

Because the hedgehog doesn't like it.

The hedgehog got outta there.

- [Chris] And the salamander is safe.

- That's an awesome chemical defense!

- Great observation guys.

And I'm putting that power into the fire salamander power suit.

How about the fireproof power?

- Nothing yet.

- Yeah, still don't know.

How can they be born out of fire?

- Good question.

Okay, let's review what we know about salamanders.

The standard cycle of salamanders.

Eggs are laid in the water.

- [Martin] Larvae hatch in the water, and breathe through external gills.

See those fan like things on their heads?

- [Chris] Then, they morph into adults, and come out on land.

Some salamanders have variations to this, but there's one thing they all have in common.

- I'm thinkin' what you're thinkin'.

- You think?

- Yeah, the eggs have to stay cool and wet.

The larvae have to stay cool and wet.

And the adult salamanders have to stay cool and wet!

- That's what I was thinking.

- They're from water.

It just doesn't make sense that these fire salamanders supposedly generated from fire.

What is goin' on?

- Hm.

Yeah, and I'm having trouble finding any fire resistance in animals.

Trees, yes.

But I'm definitely not finding it for amphibians.

- You guys can't figure it out?

Now you know how I feel!

- It really is a mystery!

(rock music) - Is the fire beam installed and working?

- Uh, I think so.

(explosion) - (gasps) What are you doing?

- Uh, testing?

- Not in the plane!

Uh!

You are so lucky those were last year's fashions.

Are we in Germany yet?

- (gasps) Oh!

Hey!

I see the Black Forest!

(mysterious music) - Well, let's back it up.

One, we took logs that we found on the forest floor.

And two, we put them in the fire.

And then three, a fire salamander crawled out of the fire.

- Hey, let's take a closer look at the logs.

- Hm.

Hey!

Some of the wood here is rotten, and moist!

- Of course!

The fire salamanders were hiding in the cool, wet wood!

- When the wood was put in the fire, they crawled out of the fire to get away from the heat!

- These salamanders don't like fire at all!

- Aviva.

Cancel the fireproof fire salamander power suit.

- Why?

- Well, these salamanders are cool, but they just don't have fireproof creature powers.

- I'm sure they have other cool creature powers, though.

- Yeah.

I mean, look how he protected himself from the hedgehog.

- Clear out, Kratts!

(both yell) - Both: Donita!

What are you doin' here?

- All you have to know, is if you get in my way, you'll get burned.

(laughing) - Does any animal have fire resistant powers?

- I wish!

We could really use that power now!

(screams) (laughing) - Donita, stop!

You're going to burn the forest down!

- Who cares about the forest?

What I want, are those fire salamander's skins.

- What?

- Why?

- I will sew those fire resistant salamander skins into a fireproof suit, and make my entrance at the Fantastic Frogs fashion show, walking through a wall of fire.

- Okay, okay, I think the heat is getting to you.

These are living creatures.

- These salamanders need their skin to survive!

- I don't care about that.

Fashion first!

And this year, (yell) fire's in!

(exciting music) - Sparker!

- Flame!

Donita stop!

- Never!

Aim the fire beam there, Dabio.

Those fire salamanders are mine!

(laughing) (exciting music) - Oh no.

We've gotta save them!

To the creature rescue!

(yell) - What?

The creatures are running away from the fire!

- Yeah.

All the other animals are in danger, too!

They know they've gotta get outta here.

- If the wind blows, the embers will hit the trees and start a fire.

(wind blowing) - Fire!

- We've gotta put it out!

- I'll go after Donita!

- I'll put out the fire!

- To the creature rescue!

- Where's that water blaster?

A ha!

All right!

Yeah!

Yes, I did it!

(explosion) Whoa!

Oh no!

I'm empty!

Help!

(yells) Aviva.

Koki, Jimmy, come in!

I need more water!

- Water?

- Donita's starting fires, and I need a lot of water, and fast!

(gasps) - Donita!

Koki, engage firefighting protocol.

- On it!

(exciting music) (water splashing) (exciting music) Convert legs into water blasters!

(exciting music) Engage!

Deploy water blasters!

(water spraying) - (chuckles) Thanks guys.

Fire's out.

- [Aviva] Awesome Martin!

- And I got a shower, too!

Now we gotta find Chris.

He went after Donita.

- I'll scan the treetops.

Hm, I don't see him.

- Gotta get higher!

(grunting) Nothin'.

See anything, Aviva?

- Not yet.

(gasps) There!

He's hanging on to Donita's scooter!

Uh oh!

Donita spotted him!

- [Martin] What's goin' on?

- [Aviva] He's been pose beamed!

They're taking him to her plane!

(plane flies off) We've gotta catch them!

- Hey Aviva, do you have your creature power vest handy?

- Right here.

- Feel like activating a fast flying power?

Cause here's a nest of peregrine falcons.

- You don't have to ask me twice.

(rock music) -Both: Insert peregrine falcon disk.

Touch peregrine falcon!

Activate peregrine falcon powers!

(exciting music) - To the -- - Oh!

I wanna say it!

- All yours.

- To the creature rescue!

- And the Chris rescue!

(laughing) - [Aviva] I love flying fast with falcon powers!

- Put him over there Dabio.

(laughing, grunting) (humming) (cackling) - I like this Cristobal much better.

Quiet, and he doesn't interfere.

Dabio, get the skins off those salamanders.

- Uh, that sounds kinda mean, Donita.

- Mean?

What do you mean by that?

- Uh, nothing Donita.

- Good.

Then get me the skins.

I'm starting up the sewing machine.

And soon, I will be styling in my new fireproof fire salamander bodysuit (laughing).

It's gonna look so good.

(laughing) - How do I do it?

How do I do it?

(mumbling) (Dabio clears throat) 'Scuse me, do you know how to get the salamander skins off?

(mumbling) Oh, uh, okay.

I'll unpose beam you for a minute, but no funny business.

(button beeping) - Thanks Dabio, you're a good guy.

- How do I get their skins off?

- Uh, easy.

Just put them in water!

- Oh!

Okay.

(goofy music) (water splashing) Okay, now what?

- Uh, just watch and wait.

Yeah, see how their front legs swing by their side, and their back legs hang back?

Then they use their tails like a paddle to swim.

- Oh, they swim!

But when do their skins fall off?

(giggling) - Uh, just keep watching.

Soon, they'll swim right out of their skins.

We just have to wait a little.

- Oh!

(rock music) - [Aviva] Donita's plane is fast!

- Our peregrine falcon powers are faster!

Okay Aviva, get ready to stoop!

- Stoop?

How do you do that?

- Oh stoop?

To stoop, you just tuck in your wings, and dive, like this!

This is how a falcon hits top speed of 200 miles per hour!

- Okay.

Stoop!

- Oh, they're pretty swimmers.

- I know.

Aren't they cool to look at?

- Yeah (giggling).

- Dabio, why is Chris free?

And, what are you doing?

Why are those salamanders swimming?

Why do they still have their skins!

- Because they need them, more than you do!

- Salamander skins belong to salamanders!

- Living free and in the wild!

- You always say that when you beat us.

- Dabio, watch Chris.

We're not beaten yet.

(exciting music) Mannequins, attack!

(exciting music) - [Martin] Whoo!

Missed me!

- [Aviva] Too slow!

- I'm falcon fast!

Whoo!

- Your mannequins can't catch them, Donita!

- Don't distract me!

Mannequin, bag him!

(exciting music) - I'm not groceries.

Hey, you can't bag me!

Let me go!

(grunting) (mumbling) - It's dark in here!

Hello?

(yelling) - Let's get you guys home!

- [Martin] These mannequins don't give up!

- [Aviva] I know!

Any ideas?

- You missed again!

(exciting music) - When we swing past, you take out my mannequin, and I'll take out yours!

(exciting music) - Okay!

- [Martin] We'll have to help Chris, too.

- Give up yet?

- Don't think so.

(exciting music) (grunting and groaning) - Ready, Aviva?

- Ready!

- [Both] One!

Two!

Three!

(mannequins crash) - [Martin] Yeah!

Whoo!

(screams) - Huh?

(mannequins crash) - Dabio!

- Yes, Donita?

- Put the mannequins back together.

The Wild Kratts are getting away!

- Martin!

Aviva!

I've got the salamanders!

Take them back to the Black Forest!

- Got 'em!

- Got 'em!

- Yeah!

Hey!

What about me?

- (giggles) Sorry bro!

Hop on!

- Thanks!

- Uh, Dabio!

- That goes here.

No no.

That goes there.

- What are you doing?

- Huh?

- That doesn't look right.

(gasps) - No!

My salamanders are gone!

- Savin' the planet with creature power!

One species at a time!

- There you go, little guys.

- Time to go home.

- Back to the safety of the forest.

- [All] Living free and in the wild!

- Oh yeah, there are a lot of amazing salamanders around the world.

About 686 species.

Most of them living in the northern hemisphere.

- Like, check out this member of the salamander family.

It's a fully aquatic one.

This is a Spanish ribbed newt, and it has a really cool creature power.

When a predator grabs them, they expand their ribs, and they can push them right through their skin, delivering a poison into the predator.

(laughing) And check out his face.

That is one cute face.

- Hey, and you wanna see another salamander with a cool creature power?

Check this out.

Under this wet moss is, (gasps) a fire salamander.

Wow (laughing).

Look at those bright yellow markings, huh?

They're advertising the poison of the fire salamander, because right behind the salamander's eyes, there are these glands above this cheek, and they have poison in them.

If a predator tries to grab the fire salamander, the poison releases.

The fire salamander can even shoot the poison at the predator!

No doubt about it.

Salamanders are amazing animals with super creature powers.

And these examples just scratch the surface of the salamander world.

All right.

Now let's get our two young spotted salamanders back home.

- Living free, and in the wild.

So here's how you do it.

What you don't wanna do, is put the salamanders down first.

- And then put the log down, because you could accidentally crush them.

What you need to do is first put the log back in place.

- And then, put your salamanders down near the log, and let 'em crawl in themselves.

That's the way they safely return to their underground home.

- There are so many awesome kinds of salamanders!

- And so many secrets in the salamander world.

- I love salamanders!

(laughing) - Keep on creature adventuring!

- We'll see ya on the creature trail!

(upbeat music) (theme music) - To find out more about cool animals.

- And collect your own Wild Kratts creature powers.

- Go to the Wild Kratts website.

- At pbskids.org.

- We'll see you there!

(upbeat music)