♪ ♪ NICKI: We are currently at Old Ferry Landing in Assateague Island National Seashore.

It's called Old Ferry Landing because before, we had a bridge, this is where the ferry would bring the vehicles and the visitors to and drop them off.

So I grew up camping here with my family.

I wanted to keep coming back, and so this is my dream job to get to come back to Assateague Island.

Assateague Island National Seashore is unique in that there's so many different things to see.

We've got four different main habitats; marsh, forest, dunes, and the beach.

And especially the marsh here is pretty rare to find them untouched from human development and city sprawl.

So this is one of the last longest undeveloped stretches of coastline on the east coast.

That's pretty special.

This park is well known for the wild horses that live here, been here for over 300 years.

I like to point out to people that that's not all that's here.

There's fishing, crabbing, kayaking, bicycling, camping.

Lauren and Laurita are crabbing with us today.

That's one of our ranger-guided programs for visitors to the island.

It is a historic use of the island as well, which is why we encourage people to learn about it and engage in it.

LAURITA: Hey.

Hi Nicki.

NICKI: Hi.

LAURITA: Hi, I'm Laurita.

NICKI: Hi, nice to meet you.

LAURITA: Nice to meet you.

LAUREN: I'm Lauren.

NICKI: Nice to meet you, too.

Are you ready to try crabbing?

LAURITA: Yes!

LAUREN: Yes.

I'm so excited.

NICKI: So these are decomposers in our ecosystem.

They are scurrying around on the bottom of the bay in the marsh, looking for dead plants, dead animals.

And in doing that, they're actually cleaning up our marsh.

So they are a very important part... LAURITA: Important job to do.

LAUREN: Yes.

NICKI: This bait will sink down to the marsh floor.

Once you feel the tugging, you wanna lift the bait towards the surface of the water.

You're more than welcome to try holding it.

LAURITA: No, thank you.

LAUREN: I've, I've, I've had my fair share of snips from a crab before.

LAURITA: Yeah.

First introduction to crabs was like, crr!

NICKI: In that case, we do have these.

LAUREN: Perfect!

LAURITA: Ah, yeah.

NICKI: If you need help, call me over.

I have not been bit by a crab yet, but hopefully, that streak continues.

LAUREN: Today won't be the day.

LAURITA: It's not the day.

NICKI: So if you catch one today, we would like to keep it and put it in our aquarium at the visitor center.

LAURITA: Aww!

LAUREN: I love that.

We can come back and visit our crab.

LAURITA: I know.

NICKI: So, who would like the bait?

LAUREN: I will take the bait.

NICKI: And the net to you.

LAURITA: Net to me.

LAUREN: I'm ready.

I'm ready for my crabbies.

NICKI: Does this look good?

LAUREN: Yeah.

LAURITA: Yes.

LAUREN: Is this a lucky spot?

NICKI: I hope so.

We'll find out.

LAUREN: Now we wait.

LAURITA: And now we wait.

LAUREN: Okay.

Should we sing some songs?

LAURITA: We could sing songs.

Oh, look at those pretty birds over there, too.

Do you feel anything yet?

LAUREN: No.

LAURITA: I feel like it's been six hours.

But it's been what?

Six minutes?

LAUREN: It's been three minutes.

LAURITA: Oh, come on.

LAUREN: Here, crabby, crabby.

LAURITA: Feel nothing, huh?

LAUREN: I can't tell.

She said the tugging is very faint.

(screaming).

LAURITA: Hello there.

LAUREN: Hello, Crabby crab.

LAURITA: No, I don't want to take him out.

I'll hold this.

Oh, do we wanna call Nicki over?

LAUREN: Nicki, can you help?

NICKI: See the swimmer fins right here?

LAUREN: Yes.

LAURITA: Now, where you are... LAUREN: Okay.

Wait, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

LAURITA: Little more.

NICKI: Couple of fingers.

There you go.

LAUREN: Is he gonna... NICKI: Okay.

LAURITA: Oh no!

NICKI: I'm letting go.

LAURITA: Oh wow.

One, two, and three.

(camera shutter).

LAUREN: We got a crab!

LAURITA: Whoa!

LAUREN: Mr. Crabs, you can see he's a male.

He has a monument on his underside.

LAURITA: Yes.

LAUREN: We've had him out of the water for a while, so... LAURITA: It's gotta go back down.

LAUREN: But that was so cool.

LAURITA: Bye, Mr. Crab!

NICKI: Good job guys.

BOTH: Thank you so much, Nicki.

LAURITA: Hi.

LAUREN: Hi.

SARAH: Hi.

LAURITA: Kyle and Sarah, right?

SARAH: Yeah.

LAURITA: Oh, I'm Laurita.

LAUREN: I'm Lauren.

SARAH: Welcome.

Welcome to Assateague.

LAUREN: Thank you for having us.

LAURITA: So, are we on the way to see a bunch of horses now?

KYLE: Yeah, we're gonna go see if we can find any.

We've already had a few that we've seen today, and so we're heading to a location that we've heard that they might be at this time.

LAUREN: Okay.

KYLE: Alright, so it looks like we might have some horses out here on this trail.

So if you guys wanna go ahead and get out, we'll go ahead take a look and see if we can find 'em.

LAURITA: Alright.

LAUREN: Let's go.

LAURITA: Awesome.

KYLE: It looks like you guys might be in for a treat.

Looks like we might have some horses here on the beach.

LAUREN: Oh my goodness!

LAURITA: Oh my Gosh!

Wow.

LAUREN: Is it possible to get a little closer?

KYLE: Yeah, let's head up just a little bit closer.

LAUREN: Okay.

KYLE: But when we still wanna keep that distance.

LAUREN: Okay.

KYLE: This is one of the few places that you can see wild horses on the East Coast.

They have been on this island for upwards of 300 years.

And so we are trying to keep those natural characteristics that we'd expect to see in wild horses.

And we have to do that by keeping our distance.

And they can harm you, or it can harm themselves when you're getting too close to them.

There are two main theories about how they ended up here on the island.

One of these is the more famous story that it was a Spanish galleon that sunk off the coast of Assateague, and that the horses that were on board swam to shore.

And we're now looking at the descendants of those horses.

The National Park Service chooses to go with the theory that these horses are the remnants of horses that were put on the island as well as other livestock in the 1700s to avoid taxation.

And so the easiest way to get around that is to put them on a naturally fenced-in area, a barrier island.

We see upwards of 2 million visitors a year in the Maryland district.

So we can't guarantee that you're gonna see horses when you visit Assateague Island, but your chances are pretty high if you're visiting in the summer months.

And the more you drive around and explore, the better your chances of seeing them are.

LAURITA: Ohh.

Aw.

They're so pretty.

LAUREN: They're beautiful.

LAURITA: And they're so unbothered.

That's what kills me.

KYLE: So if you see that white on them, that means they're a pinto.

That's the coloration.

So, looking at what we know that she's a female and that she's a pinto, we can kind of start looking at the different designs that we have.

So, we are looking at her right side here.

LAUREN: It is this one!

KYLE: Yes.

This is Little Acorn.

LAUREN: Acorn!

KYLE: So she was born last year in April.

This group, in particular, tends to stay in between the Marsh Trail and our Bayside campground, but with most of our horses, they do move around quite a bit.

LAUREN: Okay.

KYLE: They've kind of learned to take advantage of human behavior.

BOTH: Oh.

KYLE: Um, and so one of the things that we're really trying to preach here is that we want to keep these horses out of non-native foods.

Stuff that they aren't grazing on.

LAURITA: Yes.

LAUREN: Right.

LAURITA: Well, Kyle, thank you so much.

We've learned a lot.

LAUREN: We have.

KYLE: Thank you guys.

Assateague Island provides a unique experience to see what's normally not considered a wildlife species in a wildlife scenario.

LAUREN: Okay.

So we just learned a lot about these horses.

I don't think I've ever been this close to a wild horse, but that was a cool experience as well.

(camera shutter).

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