Beast Hunter on Netflix

All five episodes of Beast Hunter on currently airing on Netflix, as well as pay per episode on other services Google Play and Amazon. Check out biologist Pat Spain as he travels the world to investigate reports of cryptid sightings, including a dinosaur-like creature in the Congo.

What happened to Beast Hunter on Nat Geo?

Check out this post on Bigfoot Evidence of what happened to Pat Spain after shooting the show. http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-happened-to-nat-geos-beast-hunter.html

Don't forget to watch tonight at 9/8c, Caddy the Sea Serpent

Sea Serpent of the North

For generations, fishermen have told tales of sea monsters. One of the world's most legendary monsters is a sea serpent known as Cadborosaurus, or "Caddy," which has been reported off the coast of British Columbia for more than a century. But to science, it doesn't officially exist. Now Pat travels to Vancouver Island to track it down. He questions eyewitnesses, explores the myths of the coastal people who have occupied the area for more than 5,000 years and confers with top oceanographers.

Caddy the Sea Serpent

This weeks episode of Beast Hunter will include a creature called Caddy the Sea Serpent. Here is some information on the creature.

Facts Behind the Cadborosaurus
Sightings and tales of an alleged sea serpent off the coast of British Columbia have dated back to over a century ago, before the arrival of the Europeans. Depictions of sea serpents are common in native petro glyphs seen along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The Cadborosaurus, or, as it's been nicknamed, Caddy, has been described by witnesses as more or less fifty feet in length with a large snake-like body. Beast Hunter Pat Spain travels to Vancouver Island, British Columbia to seek out the truth behind this legendary creature. Below are some interesting facts related to his hunt.

The name for the alleged local sea serpent Cadborosaurus, Caddy for short, was coined in the Victoria Daily Times on October 11th 1933 in honor of Cadboro Bay in Victoria, Vancouver Island where the creature was allegedly first sighted.

Despite being called "killer whales," Orcas (Orcinus orca) are in fact the largest members of the dolphin family, and are highly sociable creatures, living in pods and clans ranging from 5 to 40 individuals. Sizes range according to different geographical locations, and researchers often divided them into resident and transient pods as well. Active and opportunistic, killer whales are without a doubt one of the top predators in the ocean. In fact, they are one of the largest warm-blooded predators ever known.

There are four species of oarfish, but it is the Regalecus glesne or "King of Herrings" that is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest bony fish alive; the maximum reported length of the oarfish is 36 feet, though there have been unconfirmed reports of ones 56 feet long. They are very rarely sighted as they live at depths of around 600 to 3,000 feet, and are only found at the surface when sick or dying.

The oarfish swims by undulating its long dorsal fin while its body remains straight — referred to as an amiiform mode of swimming. It was also recently filmed by an ROV in the Gulf of Mexico swimming in a vertical position, in what is believed to be a method that the oarfish uses when searching for its prey.

The Census of Marine Life is a ten year study across the globe deploying a network of researchers in more than 80 nations in a definitive effort to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans.

Since the Census of Marine Life began in 2000, researchers have added more than 5,600 species to the lists. The census already includes a total of more than 16 million records. Census officials estimate there may be over a million more sea plant and animal species yet to be discovered. By contrast, biologists have described only about 1.5 million terrestrial plants and animals in total.

The Lion's Mane jellyfish, Cyanea capillata, is described as the largest jellyfish in the world, sometimes reaching eight feet in diameter.

Despite its size and reputation, a sting from the Lion's Mane jellyfish can not kill a human (unlike certain species of box jellyfish) but merely causes a painful rash and a burning sensation. In fact the best treatment for the stings from a Lion's Mane jellyfish is simply an application of vinegar.

The coastal waters around British Columbia are famous for their abundant marine wildlife. Seals and sea lions are a familiar sight including the stellar sea lion — the world’s largest — which can grow to nearly 10 feet long. Orcas, porpoises, dolphins and many species of whale, including the blue whale, can also be found in the North Pacific.

The Basilosaurus (Basilosaurus cetoides) belonged to an extinct group of whales that lived 40 to 34 million years ago. It grew 40 to 65 feet in length, and was the largest known animal of its day. With an elongated body and sharp teeth, it's been described as the closest a whale ever came to a snake, and its bones were first mistaken for a sea serpent's.

Just over 70% of our planet is covered in water, but we've only explored about five percent of our oceans. Oceans cover 140,000,000 square miles out of a total surface area of just under 200,000,000 square miles. The average depth of the ocean is about 12,000 feet. It is at these depths that many new species remain undiscovered.

The deep sea is the Earth's largest continuous ecosystem and largest habitat for life — it is also the least studied.

Next weeks episode of Beast Hunter

Next weeks episode is called "Sea Serpent of the North". This episode features a creature called Caddy the Sea Serpent in Vancouver, British Columbia. Heres the official description.

For generations, fishermen have told tales of sea monsters. One of the world's most legendary monsters is a sea serpent known as Cadborosaurus, or "Caddy," which has been reported off the coast of British Columbia for more than a century. But to science, it doesn't officially exist. Now Pat travels to Vancouver Island to track it down. He questions eyewitnesses, explores the myths of the coastal people who have occupied the area for more than 5,000 years and confers with top oceanographers.

'Beast Hunter' Pat Spain credits TV show with saving his life

Click here for the original source.

It sounds overly dramatic, particularly for a scientist, but Pat Spain of National Geographic's "The Beast Hunter," says, "I have been saying that show saved my life."

He called Zap2it first to explain what happened and urged people to be advocates for their own health.

"The Beast Hunter" which launched last week, had Spain searching for the ape man in Sumatra. Turns out he found much more in the remote Indonesian island, where he climbed mountains, hiked through jungles and rowed across a murky lake, in a volcano.

"I was soaking wet for almost two weeks," Spain says. "I started getting trench foot and was covered in leeches."

He's not complaining as much as explaining. Then he got really sick with a stomach bug and was in violent pain -- in the middle of nowhere.

"Because of that, when I got back figured I would go to the doctor to get checked out," he says.

Spain, 30, eats organic, locally grown food, works out daily and neither smokes nor drinks. He was diagnosed with colon cancer, and has since had complications because of the surgery.

Unaware that March is Color Cancer Awareness, Spain urges people to talk to their doctors and get tested.

His message: "Absolutely early prevention. It is such a preventable cancer. You can have it removed as a polyp before it ever develops into a cancer. So if anybody is experiencing anything GI -- anything -- don't ignore it, and be your own advocate when you go to the doctor."

The first two episodes aired last Friday and tonight the third is scheduled.

Spain has more surgery, due to complications from the first, but is anxious to get back to his adventures.

"This show was obviously one of the greatest things that ever happened to me," he says. "I never imagined it would actually, in reality, save my life."

Loren Coleman reviews "Beast Hunter"

Look, Pat Spain is no Josh Gates, and “Beast Hunter” is not “Destination Truth.” Frankly, I find that encouraging.

Gates is an entertainer, a likable actor with a good personality, who has been turned into the host of a program that deals with topics ranging from cryptids to ghosts, from spirit animals to haunts. There is nothing routinely cryptozoological about “Destination Truth,” actually, although I don’t hold that against it or Gates. But one should not fool yourself into thinking that DT is pure cryptozoology.

On the other hand, “Beast Hunter” is exactly that. It is hosted by a biologist and cryptozoologist, Pat Spain, who is an everyman, an ordinary cryptozoologist who has been thrust into the limelight on this program because of his interest in tracking unknown animals. There’s a lot to like about Spain and the approach this program has taken.

Read his full review here.