Snakes, sharks, sneaky hippos... wildlife is my safe space

WILDLIFE PRESENTER AND ADVENTURER STEVE BACKSHALL TELLS MARION MCMULLEN ABOUT WALKING WITH DINOSAURS FOR HIS NEW ARENA TOUR

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Have you ever had any close calls doing Deadly Live! for CBBC? I have, but nothing like as many as people would expect. We started in 2007 and are still going now and I could count on one hand the times I've genuinely been frightened or been in any risk from animals. Usually it’s kind of the big animals - it’s charging elephants, sneaky hippos, polar bears and big crocodiles - but there are very few other animals that would risk a negative encounter with a human being and most will do anything they can to avoid us.

What about poisonous snakes and insects?

Herpetology, the study of reptiles and amphibians, is my academic background and the thing about working with snakes is that they are super, super predictable.

Your worst case scenario in the natural world is working with something like a chimpanzee, which is highly intelligent and you have no idea what they are going to do next.

Working with even the most venomous snake in the world I can see how far it is able to strike and if I stand a foot further away from that I am 100% safe ... that is not true for even a domestic dog. Snakes for me are the perfect animal to work with.

What fascinates you about sharks?