Coyote Peterson

Not to be confused with Peter Coyote.
Coyote Peterson
Peterson in 2020
Personal information
Born
Nathaniel Peterson

September 1, 1981 (1981-09) (age 43)
Newbury Center, Ohio, U.S.
EducationOhio State University (BA)
Occupation(s)YouTube personality, wildlife educator, producer, author
Websitebravewilderness.com
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2014–present
Subscribers21.1 million
Total views5.04 billion
100,000 subscribers2015
1,000,000 subscribers2016
10,000,000 subscribers2018
Last updated: January 15, 2024

Nathaniel "Coyote" Peterson (born September 1, 1981) is an American YouTuber, wildlife educator, and host of Animal Planet's series Coyote Peterson: Brave the Wild. He is best known for his YouTube channel Brave Wilderness, which focuses on documenting and educating about animals. Peterson has also become known for videos in which he allows himself to be stung or bitten by various animals, many of them venomous, such as the bullet ant and the executioner wasp.[1][2]

He hosts several others of his YouTube channel series including Breaking Trail, Beyond the Tide, Dragon Tails, Base Camp, Brave Wilderness, On Location and Coyote's Backyard. These series span many tropical and temperate locations, including much of the United States, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, the Bahamas, and Costa Rica.

His team includes cameramen Mark Vins and Mario Aldecoa, trained wildlife experts who occasionally present episodes themselves.

Background

[edit]

Nathaniel Peterson was born on September 1, 1981.[3] He grew up in rural Newbury, Ohio, about 20 miles east of Cleveland.[4] At a very young age, Coyote took an interest in animals, which was inspired by his mother.[5] He loved exploring the outdoors and catching different animals. He is of German and Hungarian descent.[6] In his youth he spent a lot of time in and around the Tohono Oʼodham Nation learning from their culture, which he got a tattoo to symbolise in 2024[7]

As he grew older, he attended Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin High School, a college-prep school. He then studied film at Ohio State University, from which he graduated in 2004.[8] Though a self-described animal expert, he is not formally educated in any biological science and does not have any animal training and as such has warned viewers not to imitate his methods of handling.[9] Peterson has a daughter, Olivia, who is often featured in his videos.[4]

YouTube career

[edit]

Peterson began posting videos on his YouTube channel, Brave Wilderness, in 2014. On the channel, he hosts several series including: Breaking Trail, which won a 2015 Emmy Award for youth/teen programs, Dragon Tails, Coyote's Backyard, Beyond the Tide, and On Location.[4][10] Peterson made his first "bug attack" video unintentionally in 2016. His most popular videos are ones where he intentionally lets venomous insects sting him, working his way up the "Schmidt sting pain index" created by entomologist Justin Schmidt. Early videos featured harvester ants before moving on to fire ants, the velvet ant, the tarantula hawk, and then the bullet ant, which has the most painful sting on the sting pain index. He was later stung by a warrior wasp, an Asian giant hornet, and the executioner wasp. In the executioner wasp video, he declares its sting worse than that of the bullet ant, stating "the executioner is king."[11][12]

He started his dangerous experiments because of the enthusiastic response of his audience.[5] In 2019, Peterson's channel set Guinness World Records for the most-subscribed YouTube channel dedicated to animals and for the most-viewed animal channel.[13] In 2020, Peterson said that he was probably done making "sting and bite" videos.[5] Peterson was featured on Conan, along with Jeff Goldblum, where he brought many animals.[14] In May 2021, Peterson and his teammate Mark Vins participated in a video call with president Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci to promote COVID-19 vaccinations.[15]

On July 7, 2022, Peterson released a Facebook post in which he claimed to have excavated a large primate skull in British Columbia and smuggled it into the United States, further claiming to have initially hidden the discovery due to concerns of government intervention. The post went viral, garnering the attention of multiple scientists who dismissed the finding as a likely replica gorilla skull. Darren Naish, a vertebrate paleontologist, stated, "I'm told that Coyote Peterson does this sort of thing fairly often as clickbait, and that this is a stunt done to promote an upcoming video. Maybe this is meant to be taken as harmless fun. But in an age where anti-scientific feelings and conspiracy culture are a serious problem it - again - really isn't a good look. I think this stunt has backfired".[16] In the follow-up video posted by Peterson, it was revealed that the situation was staged as a hypothetical example of what not to do in response to such a discovery.[17]

In 2022, his Youtube show Coyote Peterson's Wild Field Trip was nominated for Outstanding Host at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards.[18]

Animal Planet series

[edit]

On November 16, 2018 it was announced that the Brave Wilderness crew would be creating a TV program on Animal Planet titled Coyote Peterson: Brave the Wild.[19] A contract-signing episode was posted on their YouTube channel.[20] The television special Coyote Peterson: Return to the Wilderness debuted on February 3, 2019.[21] The series Coyote Peterson: Brave the Wild premiered on Animal Planet on February 9, 2020.

Books

[edit]
  • Coyote Peterson’s Brave Adventures: Wild Animals in a Wild World! (2017) Mango ISBN 1-6335-3577-0
  • Coyote Peterson: The King of Sting! (2018) Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ISBN 0-3164-5238-6
  • Coyote Peterson's Brave Adventures: Epic Encounters in the Animal Kingdom (2019) Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ISBN 0-3164-5240-8
  • Coyote Peterson's Wildlife Adventure: An Interactive Guide With Facts, Photos, and More! (2019) Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ISBN 0-3164-5804-X
  • Coyote Peterson: The Beast of Bites (2020) Little, Brown Books for Young Readers ISBN 0-3164-6110-5

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Reeve, Elspeth (January 11, 2017). "Click Bait - This YouTube star lets bugs and snakes bite him for clicks". VICE News. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Heisler, Yoni (October 20, 2016). "Man lets a tarantula hawk sting him and the video is absolutely crazy". BGR. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  3. ^ "Peterson, Coyote, 1981-". Library of Congress. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Gabbatt, Adam (November 16, 2016). "Coyote Peterson's 'Brave Wilderness': a one-man quest to be attacked by insects". The Guardian. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Greenspan, Rachel E. "The YouTuber who let a murder hornet sting him says it caused 'searing pain.' Now he says he's done with sting videos". Insider. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  6. ^ "STUNG by the GIANT Silk Caterpillar!". WWW.YouTube.Com. Brave Wilderness. 9 July 2024. Retrieved July 10, 2024.
  7. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-S-aXLkZkE
  8. ^ Horansky, Andrew (February 23, 2017). "Animal adventurer gains global following but stays true to northeast Ohio roots". wkyc3. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  9. ^ Gates, Christopher (March 3, 2020) The truth about how Coyote Peterson became an animal expert - Exclusive Looper
  10. ^ Sun, Rebecca (March 20, 2017). "Rep Sheet Roundup: CAA Signs YouTube Wildlife Expert". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  11. ^ Harris, Margot (2020-05-05). "A YouTuber shot a video of a sting from the 'Executioner Wasp,' which he says tops the 'Murder Hornet'". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2024-03-09.
  12. ^ "Brave Wilderness". YouTube.
  13. ^ "Coyote Peterson: getting to know the man behind YouTube's biggest wildlife channel". Guinness World Records. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  14. ^ Team Coco (2017-01-12), Coyote Peterson Introduces Conan And Jeff Goldblum To Some Creatures - CONAN on TBS, retrieved 2017-12-07
  15. ^ Johnson, Ted (2021-05-24). "Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci Team With YouTube Stars To Promote Vaccinations". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-07-01.
  16. ^ Lanese, Nicoletta (July 8, 2022). "Scientists dismiss Coyote Peterson's 'large primate skull' discovery as fake". livescience.com. Live Science. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  17. ^ Brave Wilderness (16 Jul 2022), Bigfoot Skull Revealed and WHAT NOT to Do!, retrieved 2023-12-12
  18. ^ "Children's & Family Emmys: Netflix Leads Nominations for First Awards Ceremony". hollywoodreporter.com. November 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  19. ^ The Hollywood Reporter (2018-11-16), Animal Planet Developing Series With YouTube Star Coyote Peterson (Exclusive)
  20. ^ YouTube (2018-11-16), WILL HE LEAVE... for Animal Planet?!
  21. ^ "Coyote Peterson to make TV debut Sunday", The Columbus Dispatch, 2019-02-03, archived from the original on 2020-07-29, retrieved 2019-02-03
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Coyote Peterson.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Coyote_Peterson&oldid=1250740350"