TYB: which stands for “That’s YOUR boyfriend”

Brady Barr is hardcore. I say this because the man slathered himself in hippo dung and sported a prosthetic Nile crocodile head to get closer to his study subjects.

The best part about his get up, which he recently and successfully sported in Tanzania, is that he got the idea from a kid (as explained on the Nat Geo Channel’s blog):

Not long ago I was speaking to a group of children and explaining to them what I do and one small boy raised his hand and said, “Dr. Brady why don’t you dress up as a crocodile and just join their club?” I laughed and continued my lecture, yet couldn’t shake this crazy idea form the back of my mind.

Lo and behold, Barr got the creative engineers at National Geographic to build him a croc suit all fortified with a protective metal cage covered by a Kevlar shield, all cloaked in a life like latex cape.  And it worked. He managed to sidle up the to the crocs, which reach 20 feet in length, and stick data loggers on them. The data loggers will upload data on the temperatures in their dens for example.

If the idea of deadly animal suits tickles your fancy, then let me introduce you to Troy Hurtubise, who dedicated a large portion of his life to making a grizzly proof suit. Here’s a clip of some of the beta versions running the gauntlet.