we're back with more of "today" on a wednesday morning, 23rd day of may, 2012. we've got blue sky above us here, after some rainy weather over the last couple of days here in new york city. and from what al is telling us, going to be a little off and on between now and even maybe through the memorial day weeken >> exactly. it's not going to be bright blue skies. but it will be a fairly decent weekend. >> we like that. i'm matt lauer along with ann curry, al roker and tamron hall joining us, as well. coming up, okay, this is not what you do with a little child. >> that's right. because we have some video that shows a father putting his son inside of a washing machine, as a joke, and then closing the

door, and then obviously reacting strongly when the washing machine starts to spin. he can't get the door open to stop it. another man rushed over to help, and the child has been freed. but now police are looking for the father, so we have more on this story coming up. >> the child was in that washing machine for 67 seconds. >> which had to seem like an eternity. >> for both the parents and also the child. >> absolutely. >> and then we're going to check in with our financial experts in "today's money 911." we're going to be checking everything from settling a family estate to reasons why your credit score may be low. all that and more coming up on "today's money 911." >> and then we're talking celebrity diets. we've seen people like jennifer lopez, even matthew mcconaughey, scarlett johansson all slim down. but do you really need a celebrity trainer? when you see the celebrities you often think trainer. we've got some slimming secrets and the workout from hollywood stars to your homes without a whole lot of money shelling it out for celebrities. >> i wonder when matthew

mcconaughey was fat? >> no, no, no, but he's got buff. >> he's got an amazing ab situation going on. not that i've seen it personally but i've seen it in the movies. i would take some secrets from him if he has some. on ab situation. >> my thought is, natalie is standing by at the news desk, and she's got a check of all the headlines. natalie? >> all right. good morning to you guys once again. in the news this morning, regulators looking closely at last week's facebook initial public offering and whether morgan stanley selectively told some clients that one of its analysts cut revenue estimates for facebook prior to the start of trading. morgan stanley says it followed the same procedures for facebook that it uses for all other ipos. a woman from cameroon is in custody after some anxious moments on board a paris to charlotte us airways flight tuesday. the plane was diverted to bangor, maine, escorted by f-15s after the woman passed flight attendants a note saying she had a device surgically implanted

inside her. the woman was taken off the plane in bangor. officials have warned airlines that terrorists are considering hiding bombs inside humans, but they do not believe this woman posed a threat. authorities in new jersey are trying to track down the parents of a little boy who was put in a washing machine by his father as a joke but the little boy became trapped. the boy is now fine, but the video, which already has millions of hits on the web, is sure to get the heart racing of any parent. it shows how within seconds, a simple prank can turn into a terrifying ordeal. this disturbing surveillance video captures the moment that a game of peekaboo apparently between father and soon quickly turned to terror at a new jersey laundromat. with the boy's mother looking on, the man picked up the boy and placed him inside the washing machine, shutting the door. but the man soon realized that this was no laughing matter when he tried to open the door and it wouldn't budge. frantic, the woman screamed for help, as the little boy was

tossed around in the machine. the laundromat's owner told the fox tv station in philadelphia she couldn't believe what was happening. >> playing peekaboo with the child in a dryer and in a washer? that's ridiculous! >> reporter: a quick-thinking store employee raced to the machine, shoved away the tables, and shut off its circuit breaker. but with the power off, even he couldn't open the washer's doors, overcome with anxiety the father jumped impatiently and the mother pounded the nearby tables. finally, after 67 heart-wrenching seconds, the employee was able to pry open the door and return the little boy to his parents. >> he's a hero, you know. he saved the child's life. >> reporter: workers at the laundromat called the police when the incident happened but the family had already left for the hospital. they say the father returned about an hour later to pick up their clothes and told employees his son was okay. but authorities are now looking for that family, and the case has been referred to child welfare authorities.

casey anthony has reportedly been subpoenaed to appear at her defamation trial. a woman named zenaida gonzalez is suing anthony, who once told detectives that a fix tigsal baby-sitter by the same name had kidnapped her 2-year-old daughter caylee. anthony was acquitted of murder charges last july. and some kansas newly teds have a wedding photo to remember. they didn't let a stormy start put a dumper on their special day. the photographer caught this remarkable photo of the two with the tornadoes touching down in the background. that's amazing. some phony bar codes could put a california man behind bars. the silicon valley software engineer is facing four fell fly burglary counts. he's accused of putting fake bar codes on lego sets at target stores, buying them at a steep discount, then selling them online for thousands of dollars. if convicted he could get up to five years in prison. too smart for his own good.

five minutes past the hour right now. let's turn it over to al for a check of your weather. >> never heard of that one before. >> that's unbelievable. >> thanks so much. let's see what we've got for you. first of all, it has been raining like crazy down in florida. they picked up 9.7 inches ed, a new record. they're going to probably pick up another 1 to 3 inches today. in southern california -- make that southern florida. anywhere from 1 to 3 inches locally in the keys could even see up to 5 inches of rain. out west the heat will continue out there we're going to talk about more heat, slight risk of strong storms. a slight risk of severe weather today along the mid-atlantic coast. showers in the pafb northwest. windy through southern california with temperatures 76 in l.a. today. >> good morning. scattered showers and thunderstorms will move back into the area this morning and this afternoon. some could drop locally heavily

time now for today's money 911 where we take on your biggest financial questions. your exerts jean skat ski, "today's" financial editor and the author of "money rules." sharon epperson, cnbc's personal finance correspondent. and farnoosh torabi the host of financially fit on yahoo! finance. good morning. >> good morning. >> our good buddy david isn't here. >> he got married over the weekend. so we want to say congratulations to him. >> all right. congratulations to them. all right. let's start off we're going to go to skype. frank is on the line. he's from baldwinsville, new york. good morning, frank. what's your question? >> good morning, guys. thank you.

i'm in the process of setting my wife's parents will estate. we're financially okay but would like to use the money for a college fund for our 13 and 12-year-old kids. want to get letters from a life insurance settlement and we're not sure where to invest, where the money -- majority -- >> jean, what do you think? >> let me just make sure. you say you're financially comfortable. does that mean you're set as far as retirement is concerned, you've got enough money set aside from retirement? >> 401(k) retirement fund. and a couple more years till retirement. >> okay. in that case you want to look at opening 529 accounts for your kids. the proceeds should typically not be taxable unless they're coming from a life insurance policy that was associated with a group policy at an employer. so you can take the money, put it into a 529. you're in new york, has a very good new york state college savings plan. $5,000 for each you and your wife each year you'll receive a tax deduction on that. that's a great of going and the money can grow tax deer iffed

until your kids -- or tax free until they go to college. >> to the phones now. sue calling in from connecticut. good morning, sue. >> good morning. thank you. >> what's the question? >> yes, last week it was mentioned that debt over six years old isn't collectible, and i just had my bank account garnished for a debt that i'm sure is over six years old. so how do i find out more? and when is that rule applicable. >> sharon what should we do. >> what we were talking about last week, sue, was time barred debts. the issue that you have varies from state to state. there's a statute of limitations and when a collector can actually sue you. it's not that you don't owe this debt. it's that the collector can't sue you. what sounds like you is a judgment has already been made and already been decided that they're going to garnish this debt and you're going to have to pay it. so you may be out of luck here. what you need to do is find out what your rights are in terms of time barred debt. go to ftc.gov find out what your rights are. also get a lawyer, find out if

you really do have to pay this money. i assume that you will. but you can find a legal aid attorney and go to the american bar association, find legal help dot org, find an attorney in your iryeah. that statute of limitations varies from state to state. in connecticut it may be six years but you do need to check with an attorney and make sure you understand what the statute of limitations are. >> good luck. thanks for calling in. now amelia calling in from california. good morning -- i should say angela. what's your question? >> hi. i'm trying to open a small business using sba loans as a start-up and in the process i found my credit score was about 635. we had a really high debt ratio and so we paid down everything, and we also had some late pays over the last two years but once we paid off everything, including a second mortgage, my score didn't budge. it didn't move. i was just wondering how i can fix that. >> farnoosh, what's going on there? >> a couple questions for you.

when did you pay off those debts? and did you check your score from all three of the reporting agencies? >> yeah, we paid off everything in late january. and we've been checking -- we checked all three agencies, and then we actually had somebody who is trying to help us try and deal with it. and she checked everything last week. we checked everything. >> okay. so i checked in with the folks at myfico.com which is the overseer of fico scores and what they think could be the problem here is that those late payments that you have had, and i think you said something like four in the last two years, that can have a very significant impact on your score. the more frequent and the more recent your late payments are, unfortunately, that's going to weigh very heavily on your score. you did the right thing, you paid off your debt. the reason you're not seeing an immediate bump is probably because those recent debts -- those late payments, rather, are still bogging you down. but you know, just keep at it. time will heal. and you know, check your credit score, you know, once a year at least.

>> all right. >> -- pay on time, but it's such a big part of your score. can be up to 30% so you really want to make sure that you do that. >> okay well good luck angela. thank you. and now we'll go to skype one last question, we've got susannah from texas. susannah, how you doing? >> good. you? >> what's your question? >> i'm a student at a community college and planning to transfer to public university. i'd like to know what are some useful sites to apply for scholarships? i already applied for financial aid. >> quick answer, fastweb.com. the college board also has a very good scholarship locator. and there's a new site that i want you to check out, they actually have some matching dollars, a small pool of matching dollars that they'll give to people who get scholarships so if you're early to the game. >> why do they make up this names? >> 12k679 i-n-c 4679.

>> sharon epperson, jean chatzky, farnoosh torabi thanks so much. later on, preventing the summer brain drain. some fun games and apps to keep your kids learning. right after these messages. i w♪ ♪ every little thing has meaning ♪ ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch of philadelphia cream cheese to our kraft natural cheese to make it creamier. so whatever you make isn't just good, it's amazing. ♪ life is amazing with the love that i've found ♪ [ female announcer ] and to make a creamier sandwich, try new kraft touch of philadelphia slices. actually it can. neutrogena® ultra sheer provides unbeatable uva uvb protection and while other sunscreens can feel greasy ultra sheer® is clean and dry. it's the best for your skin. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®.

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we can. it's a small change that can make a big difference. and try glad odor shield with febreze freshness... strong bags that neutralize strong odors. we're back with celebrity diets that actually work. if you want to slim down for summer we have the secrets of some a-list celebrities that helped them shed the pounds. joy bauer is "today" contributor and nutritionist and jill martin is "today" and "us weekly" contributor. good morning. >> good morning. >> let's get right to them. men and women in hollywood. jennifer hudson. she obviously has changed dramatically, lost a lot of weight on weight watchers.

and jill, tell me how she did it and how much she actually lost. >> it's been so much fun watching her transformation from idol back in 2004. she lost 80 pounds. size 16 to a size 6. and she's not a jim buddy. her trainer will be the first person to tell you that. she likes to work out and say i want to do this again tomorrow. she does sit-ups, push-ups, squats and she jumps rope which is an underrated exercise. burns a lot of calories and builds upper and lower body. >> and she still has amazing curves, which i love. >> what about eating, because we did say weight watchers. having sort of a planned diet has worked for her. >> one of the smartest strategies is that she powers up with protein at each and every meal. protein helps to squelch hunger and ramps up your energy. so that's a tip that every man and woman on the planet could take from jennifer. she has white egg omelettes for breakfast, huge tossed salads with grilled chicken or turkey sandwiches on light bread for lunch and stir fries for dinner.

she does not miss all the carbs but does put a cap on them. at dinner broccoli and shrimp stir fry, half to one cup of rice. >> and it's working. she's maintaining that weight loss, too. >> yeah. >> she looks amazing. >> okay. let's move on to scarlett johansson, plays the black widow in "the avengers." boy does she look unbelievably amazing. but probably hotter than ever. >> right. >> and jill, how does she keep those curves in check? >> she's 27 years old. so it's obviously a little easier for her. you saw her in that black cat suit. va-va-voom. everyone wants the black costume. >> i don't know -- >> >> but she only had six weeks to get into that tip top shape, and she worked with a trainer and also her stunt double, which is interesting. because that really helps her. >> how do you know she has a stunt double? >> she uses dumb bells, resistance bands, medicine balls. 30 reps for each exercise. multiple times a week.

so circuit training. really big. and that's how you get a cat suit body. >> and from the diet perspective she follows mostly a vegan diet. that means no animal products at all. no meat, no dairy, no eggs. every once in awhile she'll have turkey chili, though. and she likes to splurge. she makes great oatmeal cookies. even when she's indulging, she wiggles in a little nutrition along with all the sugar. i think that's pretty cool. >> okay jennifer lopez. j. lo, she also looks unbelievable. and what's her hidden secret? >> i think best ever she's 42 years old. she'll say the first thing is running around chasing her twins, max and emme, they're four years old. they're singing and dancing and adorable. she's going on tour with enrique iglesias. of course she's dancing a lot which obviously helps. i once interviewed her and there was a little girl standing next to me and she said how do i get your legs? and she said do not drink soda.

no soda. >> but she has to keep up with that young boyfriend. just saying. >> and her whole mantra is always have a goal in place, and that's what helps her stay on the straight and narrow when it comes to her eating and fitness regimen. whether it's an upcoming video that she's shooting or the tour that she has coming up. from the foods perspective, nothing is off limits. she eats everything, but she's got this incredible resolve, because she's able to stop at small portions. and in fact, every dressing room that she's ever in must have chocolate chip cookies. those are her favorites. and she can stop at one or two, even with the plate staring her in the face. >> good for her. >> major resolve. >> let's go to the guys now. we've got matthew mcconaughey who is known for his abs, right, jill? >> let's just stare for a moment at this shot. because in this new movie "magic mike" he plays a former stripper. he's always in shape, but i love him because he says i like to break a sweat every day. he doesn't love to go to the

gym. he likes to be outdoors. no equipment needed. running, cycling, surfing. he uses things like a kid's swingset to do pull-ups. he hold a 45 pound rock for 15 minutes. but that's how -- he does. he says anything around he'll work out with. that's how you get abs like matthew. >> he is so cute. and you've got to love a guy that also loves to cook. he's a total pro with his spice rack in the house. he makes family dinners every single night, and even though he consistently makes fish and chicken, he's creative with the seasonings. so you could take that same piece of chicken and from italian, greek, indian and continually mix it up. >> he likes his drinks but he's doing locale. >> but he chooses light beer. you can trim off calories from the regular to the low cal. >> he's a superstar. >> i love guys that cook. >> we all do. >> jill martin, joy bauer, thank you so much. for more tips on how to get into

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. >> we have been mostly dry as we head through the morning. there are areas of fog. there will be dissipating over the next few hours. as we go through the afternoon, we will probably see thunderstorms develop. some of those will produce locally heavy amounts of rain. still a chance for a few thunderstorm

♪ ♪ black suit white shirt ♪ >> that is party animal pitbull doing his signature thing. he's going to be bringing his party to the plaza this friday on "today." just in time to kick off your memorial day weekend. he is so much fun. >> mr. worldwide. >> but we're going to cap mr. worldwide off with a special monday concert from bobby brown. and then, a week from friday, we're going to have a visit from the band perry. friday for pitbull only on "today" and then monday bobby brown. >> mm-hmm. >> you can just camp out on the plaza all weekend long. >> meanwhile just ahead,

school's almost out for summer. ♪ out for summer but if you want to learn to sing or just continue we've got cool new apps and games that are a lot of fun for your kids so that they don't have that sort of brain drain. >> then we head into the kitchen and learn how to make an easy roasted fish using seasonal spring ingredients that you can wrip up any time. >> and then, a rabbit a fox and a prairie dog walk into our studio. who wins? >> big rabbit. >> we are hitting all the corners -- >> oh, look at that. he's eating the set! >> we've got a look at some of the exotic animals in our "call of the wild" and the exotic al roker, too. >> that's right. >> -- senior. >> eventually. we are looking for friday as we

head toward your weekend. rain through the western plains. sizzling through the south. hit or miss showers interior northeast and the ohio river valley. on saturday we're expecting rain across the pacific northwest into the northern plains. showers in northern new england. record highs in the ohio and mississippi river valley. sunny and warm out west, sunday sunday record highs in the great lakes, more rain in the pacific northwest. northern plains sunny and hot from the southwest gulf coast on into the mid-atlantic states. >> good morning. it will be a warm and humid kind of day. we will see some scattered showers and thunderstorms redevelop this afternoon. >> and that's your latest weather.

>> all right, al, coming up next. skipping the summer slump with fun learning tools. people keep asking me if that lady in the viva commercial is really my mother. they keep asking me if the dirty guy is really my son. huh -- what do you tell 'um? holy smokes, these viva towels really are tough, even when wet! [ mike ] for the record, that's my real father, cleaning up a real mess on a real grill. see? very impressive! you're a natural. oh that's much better... dad's got his tough mess, i've got mine. [ female announcer ] grab a roll and try it on your toughest mess. i think you got it. never beat around the bush. you'll just squash the berries. new triple berry newtons. ♪ made with real fruit, 100% whole grain, and fiber. it's one unique cookie. sweetened with honey, made from real tea leaves and real fruit flavors... ♪ it's never felt so real

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toss these little scent boosters in before you wash. and the fresh scent will last until you're ready to wash again. [ buzzer ] [ laughs ] [ both sniff ] and this fresh scent will last? it's like you shoved a rainbow up your nose. i should go. downy unstopables. the fresh too feisty to quit. "today" is brought to you by kellogg's trusted mini wheats cereals. >> this morning on "today's" classroom, tech tools for summer learning gaps. heather cabot is helping to prevent the summer brain drain

with new sites, apps and games that will make learning so much fun. good morning. >> good morning. >> this is pretty awesome because we know brain drain when kids go back in fall they've lost a lot of information. >> the good thing is there's so much technology out there and there are tons of really wonderful educational tools that are available online. i think the first stop for parents is commonsensemedia.org. >> why do you like that? >> it is a nonprofit that assesses the educational value of all those sites, apps and video games that parents are interested in. if you want to know, is this really effective? i think for parents it's a great resource. they also rate all kinds of media like movies. for summer they've come out with a looklet that you can print out. it also lists age appropriate -- >> you have a lot of bad things out there. >> exactly. and also for parents concerned about safety. >> i was going to ask you about. other than learning you want them to be safe. >> yeah.

as parents we're concerned when we hand over our devices. we want to make sure we're helping them navigate it. >> let's get to some of these ideas. there's an app to teach you how to explore the world. >> i love this app. we were playing around with it just in the studio. this is the barefoot atlas. >> all right, already love it. >> it's based on the barefoot books, it's a group invented this and did all the technology on this. what this allows you to do is you literally spin around the world and it talks to you. so we can zoom in on any country. >> okay. >> if you go in tight you can pick a landmark. >> the castle. >> it talks to you. >> what age child would this be appropriate for? >> my kids are 6 and they love this. the thing is because of the narration you don't have to necessarily be a reader. and it's a great thing, stick it in the back of the car when you're on a road trip rather than have your child just watching a movie. >> a dvd they've seen a thousand times. >> exactly. $7.99, by the way. it is not cheap. >> but it seems like it really

does a lot there. building reading skills. what do you recommend there? >> so the next app i want to show you also for the ipad is also the ruckus reader. and you know there are a lot of ebooks out there. what's unique about this, first of all, the number of titles. they have a deal with six different publishers and this for example is a sea world book. they have a lot of content that really interests kids. what's new about it, is that within the book are games. and so -- >> okay. >> as your child reads a book, they can also have it narrated to them. different activities. that measures their reading progress. as they read the parent will get an e-mail saying so and so is having trouble with, you know, his consonants but he's doing really well with sight words. you get a sense of how your child is doing. >> that is amazing. >> this really is the future of education. >> i love it because they're having fun with these gadgets, and they don't know. >> they don't even know.

>> that they're really being tested. this one is $24.99 for a six-month membership. >> that's right. or for $5.99 you can get the whole collection. for example with this sea world collection the first book is free then you get the two others you pay $5.99. >> that is cool. >> the other thing that's great with this is you can add up to four adults. so you can add your child's teacher. you can add a parent who maybe lives in another state. you could add grandma who's helping your child. >> the next one. school house rock 3.0. i remember the old school house rock. >> okay. me, too. so this is two guys who've come up with their own version of school house rock. it's school house rock. >> oh, my gosh. >> this is cell city. this teaches you, well biology 101 right? now who wouldn't have wanted to have this. if your child is struggling with algebra or grammar or anything and you just want to have fun over the summer, you can check out really hundreds of videos on all different topics. and the best part is there is a

template that allows them to make their own songs. >> awesome. >> they can upload to the site. they're having a contest where they're awards the child that gets the most vote for their song can win $10,000 for their school. >> we still remember that, i'm just a bill. i'm only a bill, sitting on capitol hill. >> this is the same thing. >> last one. >> for younger kids ages 3 to 7 this is a great subscription called sea weed crate. every month they send you a box with cool science and arts and crafts project. it's $59 for a three-month subscription. this is the medieval. >> there you have it. from high tech to just getting your hands into it. >> and orders online. >> heather, great pleasure meeting you. up next, easy and healthy dinner you can make tonight. allie's spelling bee is monday...

sounds like a mini-wheats day to me! and becka's science fair is on the 8th. she's presenting the solar system. hey i've got just the whole grain fiber to help keep her full so she can stay focused. um...you rock. she'll be ready to rock. right here! [ female announcer ] make your kids big days, mini-wheats days. packed with fiber and nearly a day's worth of whole grains kellogg's frosted mini-wheats cereal helps keep your kids full and focused. now available in cinnamon roll flavor. keeps 'em full... keeps 'em focused. [ male announcer ] new best prices are on their way. march in, before the goods are gone. this friday is just the beginning of prices that can't be beat.

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david myers is a chef at a cosmopolitan hotel in las vegas. >> great to be back. >> it's great having you. you're making a great spring dish using fish, which intimidates a lot of people. but this is pretty easy. >> fish is always tricky for people. this is an alaskan halibut that we're roasting. a little bit of butter. we like the skin on, it gets nice and crispy. we're going to do this -- >> could you use any other fish? >> snapper, a little bit of tuna is good. i like the beauty of the alaskan halibut. i like the color of it, it's white. we're going to do one of my favorite dishes at comstock cosmopolitan hotel. a little bit of artichoke. it's beautiful. people are always nervous about artichokes. you have the leaves. >> it takes a lot of work here. >> i'm already going to town with this. you want to take off all of that this'll and leaves. i just do a really quick trim, take out all of the artichoke heart right there and here's the trick most people don't know, i

like to use a spoon and you can take that out like that. just get in there, and there you go. makes it nice and easy. and then you can get a really nice cut around to making this barigoule which is a fancy name for an artichoke vinaigrette. we like to braise it. cut it up like this into nice pieces just like that. and then you can saute that with some olive oil. get some nice olive oil going, which i think is fantastic. by the way, i have some more recipes on my twitte twitter @chefdavidmyers. i'm going to show you some of the classics we have. add a little bit of lemon zest. coriander, and i think it's really one of the secrets to this. smell that aroma. is that beautiful? >> that is good. >> and a little bit of crushed garlic. i like to crush it because it releases the aroma and flavor a little bit more. finish with a little bit of butter, a tad bit more olive oil, and then some white wine, and get this cooking down. you can add a little bit of carrots if you like.

i like to finish, as well with some kalamata olives to give it the brianiness. >> how long are you going to cook this for? >> for about six to seven minutes. you can even cover it like this if you'd like. but this is the beauty of after it's cooked it's got this glorious color to it. you don't have to worry about the thistles or anything. >> i know when you got the artichokes you've got like stems here. what's the difference? >> what i did was, i cut the stem off. you can either have the stem on or have it off. i like for having presentation, at the restaurant or at home i like to leave the stem on. i think it looks beautiful. it's a little bit more challenging when you're cutting it. but if you have the time, do it up like this. i like to finish it with a little bit of fresh herbs and you see that the sauce, if you want to reduce it down a little bit it works beautifully. and then just plate it up, finish with a little bit of smoked paprika. and then you of course have your beautiful roasted halibut, or snapper or whatever else you'd like. >> right. >> and put it over and for me,

this sings of spring. this is a beautiful, beautiful dish. look at this going on. that i think is healthy, easy to make and actually looks very, very nice on the plate. >> and it's just got a terrific presentation. >> squeeze of lemon at the end. i think that's a secret to a good cooked fish. give it a try, al. >> we're out of forks. >> oh, my gosh. >> where are the forks scl vr? >> a spoon! you know what, this meal -- >> chefs are very prepared here. >> a little bit more lemon. >> there you go. >> tell me what you think. nice vinaigrette in the barigoule. you could see having this in the afternoon or early evening, right? >> very nice. >> al, great to see you. >> all right, david, thanks so much. and we've got a real fox in the studio. no we're not talking tamron. we're talking a real fox. but this is "today" on nbc.

this morning on "today's" call of the wild, from the arctic to the tropics to right here in north america, there's a variety of exotic wildlife and here with some friends is national wildlife federation naturalist, david. good morning. >> hey, guys. >> you're starting off with a croc. >> we are. this is a nile crocodile. >> hmm. >> very, very small. these guys can get to be 15 to 20 feet. obviously lives in africa. this is sort of representing the african continent. amazing predators. one of the top predators in africa. supremely adapted to live in the water. you can see the eyes and the nostrils at the top of the heed. that allows this animal to sit under the water with just the barest part of it showing so their prey like zebras or antelope can't even see it. then they flash. this animal will zip out of the water and grab it. which is why we're not putting our fingers anywhere near there. >> how old is this?

>> this one is only a couple years old. again, you can imagine, when they get full grown, much, much bigger. three times as long as this table. >> what does it eat? not anchors? >> if you got too close to it. we've got a bunch more animals that i will show you. the next animal is a little bit cuter. >> yeah. >> oh, so cute. this is a little prairie dog. >> this guy -- >> if you want to gently touch her back there. >> this little guy lives in north america. this is an animal that is representing north american continent. these guys live out west. she wants to bury her head here. >> we used to see them everywhere tunnelling around. >> their tunnels are so important because many, many dozens of other species from snakes to frogs, to even burrowing owls will actually live in prairie dog burrows. there's unfortunately been a campaign to wipe these guys out. some of them are endangered. so when we do that we hurt all of the other species that rely on their habitat.

>> all right. we've got a bird up next. >> this is a -- >> this is a collared alicari. i'm going to see if she's going to eat. she got my finger here. this is -- they're actually kind of toucan. or toucanette. she's not -- >> she's having a hard time -- >> let's see if we can do that. she has that long bill. this is a south american bird. they're fruit eaters. and what's really neat is that they will build their nets in a hole in a tree. just like a lot of birds that live here in north america. we can't attract this guy in north america but you can get blue birds or chick adees if you put up a bird house in your back with yard. >> sold your hand out flat and see if she'll take it. >> nice. good job. so this next thing i'm going to ask you to take a quick step back. we're going to let him wonder the table here. he's a little bit -- he's a little freaked out. this is an arctic fox. you can see the white fur there.

he's in the process of molting his white winter coat and getting that gray/brown summer coat. so an amazing adaptation that he's guys have. even up in the arctic, summer only lasts for a month or so, but in order to, you know, sort of be camouflaged in the non-snowy environment they get this gray fur. these guys are eating birds and small mammals. in the wintertime they follow the polar bears out onto the sea ice. so with things like climate change with the sea ice going away, not only are animals like polar bears being seriously threatened, even those these guys are doing well, who knows what will happen to them as that sea ice continues to decline. >> are they pack hunters? >> they're not pack hunters. >> why are you behind me? >> well, totally gorgeous animal, you know, really, really beautiful. just sort of a great representative. >> is this the normal size? >> this is as big as they get. >> really? >> and we've got a little rabbit over here. >> we actually have a big rabbit. >> the rabbit is bigger than the fox.

>> a giant rabbit. >> you can see why it's called a giant. this isn't a wild animal. i always bring wild animals because i'm from the national wildlife federation. he's a little bit nibbley. >> okay. >> she got me, you know, before. >> big pointy teeth! >> but this is very stressful with all the lights. but yeah, these guys are a domestic animal. normally i bring wildlife but it's just so cool that this rabbit is so big. it's one of the biggest rabbit breeds. 15 pounds. people don't believe that rabbits get this big. but there you go. >> like a little dog. >> that's right. >> he just ate the arctic fox. >> no, no! for more from david go to our website today.com. >> last-minute memorial day getaways. every day, an average of 5,000 people

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