00:00When the sun rises, Nick is already walking on the island.
00:12He wakes up early to visit the small cave.
00:18But he is not alone, because he is accompanied by a group of big sea snakes.
00:27At any time, they are ready to attack.
00:37But this is not a problem for Nick, because he considers them as his friends.
00:45In this picture, you can see a sea snake on a man's neck.
00:57He is not afraid to hold the snake.
01:01I met Nick, the man in the picture.
01:05Nick brought us to the heart of Crocodile Island.
01:10That's a crocodile head.
01:13Do you see the hole?
01:15That's the eyes of the crocodile.
01:22Let's see how many banded sea krait there are and their size.
01:29Let's take a look.
01:33In the middle of the night, a small head appeared in the rock.
01:41It looks like he woke up from his sleep.
01:51A few moments later, he slowly took out his whole body.
02:00This is one of the banded sea krait or tugasi in the island.
02:07Here, the banded sea krait is resting.
02:11It's size is medium.
02:14It's big.
02:16When people see it, they avoid it.
02:20It's so big!
02:25It's a yellow-lipped banded sea krait.
02:28The design of this cave is beautiful.
02:32They have mini pools.
02:34The tugasi is swimming in its small pool.
02:40It's fast in water.
02:42But when it's in the air, it moves slowly.
02:47It's fast in water, but it's slow on land.
02:52Do you see its tail?
02:53This is the difference of a land snake.
02:56Their tail is like a paddle.
02:59Their tail is like a paddle.
03:02It will propel them to move underwater.
03:08Sea snakes are one of the most dangerous species in the world.
03:14If a sea snake bites you,
03:16within three hours,
03:19you may experience blurred vision,
03:22dizziness, nausea,
03:24difficulty speaking, and muscle pain.
03:28In 2018,
03:30a fisherman in Australia died because of a sea snake bite.
03:36But for Nick,
03:38these are his friends.
03:40Why do you consider them your friends?
03:42They don't bite, sir.
03:45I'm also used to this place.
03:48There used to be a lot of sea snakes in Libra Island.
03:52If the tugasi doesn't get hurt,
03:55it will stay quiet away from people.
04:03Nick is the owner of this island.
04:06He has been its caretaker for three years.
04:11That's why whenever there are tourists in the area,
04:15he will immediately move the snakes away
04:18so that the visitors won't get hurt or bitten.
04:21Whenever there are no visitors,
04:24I will move them away.
04:26In Crocodile Island in Pangasinan,
04:28the tugasi or banded sea krait live.
04:34This is the sanctuary for the ancient sea snakes.
04:37Under the sea,
04:39a tugasi is busy looking for food.
04:54When it's full,
04:56it will immediately return to the rocks
04:59to rest and digest its food.
05:01Some of its companions sleep soundly.
05:06They are just in a relaxed mode on the rocks.
05:11This is the male tugasi.
05:15It's ready to look for a mate.
05:18In the world of sea snakes,
05:21the female tugasi is not bigger
05:24than the male tugasi.
05:26That's why it's harder for them to mate.
05:31After a few moments,
05:33the sea snakes have gathered in one corner.
05:43The tugasi's body is carefully examined.
05:49The male tugasi is the only male.
05:52This is the female tugasi.
05:56This is a sign that they are ready to mate.
06:02This is good news
06:04because they are still mating.
06:11Like the sea snakes,
06:13they have a so-called philopatry.
06:16This means
06:18that they go back to the place
06:20where they were born to lay their eggs.
06:28In the salt pan,
06:30the tugasi sleep soundly.
06:33I measured their sleep.
06:36I'm not going to measure it,
06:39but I'm examining it.
06:41Most of the big ones are the females.
06:43Nick said
06:45that there's a bigger one here.
06:48If I measure my finger here,
06:51it's two fingers wide.
06:54Please do not do this
06:56because we are experts in this behavior.
06:59We're the experts in wildlife.
07:02So don't do this
07:04because it's dangerous.
07:08Even if they lay their eggs,
07:11even if they lay their dead defense,
07:15they are still not safe from the threats.
07:20Next to the island of Crocodile Island,
07:23there used to be a lot of tugasi.
07:26But all of a sudden,
07:28they disappeared because of humans.
07:31This is what you're saying
07:33that there are more turtles here.
07:35Then what happened?
07:37Why did they disappear?
07:38I think the traders
07:41took them.
07:43They made wallets,
07:45belts,
07:47and golf bags.
07:49In a study conducted by Australia,
07:524,000 to 5,000 kilos of dried sea snakes
07:56were fed to poultry
07:59in the Philippines in 1970.
08:03In the same year,
08:04180,000 to 200,000 skins of sea snakes
08:08were exported every year
08:10to make leather.
08:12But now,
08:14it's prohibited to catch them.
08:16Because of hunting,
08:18other sea snakes were forced to move
08:21to a safer place.
08:23Before, you can see
08:25sea snakes climbing here.
08:28But now,
08:30we can't see any of them
08:31but they're in Crocodile Island.
08:38Nick
08:40has a deep understanding
08:42of why he made sea snakes his friends.
08:45Not just for trending on social media,
08:48but also
08:50so that they won't disappear again.
08:53Because no matter how old they are,
08:56they have an important role in the environment.
08:58And we should never forget that.
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