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Courtesy Animal Planet

If you watched closely during last night's premiere of Wild Recon, you'd have noticed that host Donald Schultz's right hand was a bit on the swollen side. "The day before we filmed the first episode, I was bitten by a snake that wasn't supposed to be toxic," he tells PEOPLEPets.com. "Turns out, it was, and it was a pretty nasty bite." But that didn't stop the newly minted Animal Planet star from skydiving out of a plane to catch a platypus the next day. "They tried to cancel the shoot, but I refused," he says.

And so goes Schultz's extreme life.

Born in South Africa, Schultz caught his first snake when he was 6, and his first venomous snake when he was 9. "That eagerness to grab and hold onto animals — I think it's a gene," he says. "I love handling them. It's a very tactile sort of thing."

Wild Recon is a 10-part series that follows 31-year-old Schultz, an adventurous venom expert, as he tracks animals around the world and collects data to study. "About a year and a half ago, I was working at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in San Diego, and decided to take my savings and spend three months in Africa," he explains. "I went across the continent twice, hitting eight countries, gathering venom and other DNA." His work came to the attention of Animal Planet, and within months they were filming the series.

"It's a human-animal show," Schultz shares. "It shows their impact on us, and ours on them." The host and his team never approach an animal "unless there's scientific value, like getting venom, or studying them for conservation." They also treat their work as an extreme sport, doing whatever it takes to reach remote creatures — whether it's jumping out of a plane or trekking through the desert on an ATV. Schultz tracks all sorts of beings — from snakes and scorpions to giraffes and lions — in hopes that he can gather information that will save human and animal lives down the line.

Though he's had his share of close calls — a near-trampling by elephants in Sri Lanka, a broken wrist from an angry shark — Schultz claims he's never really been scared by his work. "I think the scary part is when I step back and look at what I've done," he says. "Like after I skydive, I'll watch the video, and wonder if at the time, I remembered everything I needed to do. I'm not good with details!"

But despite his outward fearlessness, Schultz does have a grave concern for the world itself. "What we found on the show is that we're messing up as humans," he says. "The world is spiraling somewhat out of control. But rather than trying to be depressing, I try to get people to be upset and take action."

And that's what gets him excited about his series. But he's not the only one looking forward to it. "I received an e-mail from a boss I had about five years ago at the animal hospital in San Diego," he recalls. "Apparently I'd told him that within five years, I'd have a show of my own on Animal Planet. And here I am."

Meet other Animal Planet stars on PEOPLEPets.com:
Animal Planet's Dave Salmoni Risks His Life to Tame Ferocious Lions
Ex-Cons and Pit Bulls Help Turn Each Others' Lives Around on New Show

Kate Hogan