Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan

- Season 1

(2012)

Dominic journeys into the wilds of Venezuela in search of a remote cave rumoured to house the world's largest centipede: scolopendra gigantica is an aggressive, venomous carnivore that is rumoured to snatch bats right out of the air. To get to his prey, Dom first runs the gamut of Caracas traffic and army checkpoints, then finds himself abseiling into a toxic cave and hiking through a snake-infested jungle. Along the way he encounters an array of fascinating animals, including a false chameleon, a sloth, a deadly neotropical rattlesnake and a tarantula.

Dom travels deep into the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest to face-off with a four million strong colony of flesh-eating, venom injecting army ants - a terrifying mass of insects that may be the largest ant colony ever discovered in the "new world."

In an attempt to locate one of the most rare animals on the planet - the giant white Goliath beetle - Dom must infiltrate the black market insect trade in Cameroon. Travelling around the country, Dom gradually works his way down the network of middlemen and hunters, until he finally discovers the man who will lead him to the beetle.

Dom braves the remote wilderness of Namibia while on the hunt for Africa's largest, deadliest scorpion - parabuthus villosus, commonly known as the black hairy thick-tailed scorpion. This beast can not only kill a human but also spray its venom up to a metre. Dom's journey to find the scorpion takes him into spectacular desert scenery.

Dom journeys to Laos in search of a remote underground river that is home to a venomous, massive-fanged creature the size of a dinner plate - the Giant Huntsmen Spider - an arachnid so rare that only a few humans have ever interacted with it in the wild.

Dom travels to Vietnam to track down a toxic terror called the giant water bug. This venomous predatory insect measures only a few centimetres, but it can take down prey 10 times its size. Its mouth is a needle-like straw, which it uses to inject a toxin that liquefies the insides of its victims.

Dom faces his greatest fear when he must get up close and personal with hundreds of thousands of giant Malaysian honey bees - a formidable insect that lives in hives hundreds of feet above the jungle floor.

Dom travels to Guatemala and immerses himself in the rich world of Mayan legend and lore as he seeks out one of the most endangered and venomous reptiles on the planet - the Guatemalan beaded lizard.