An anaconda swallowed a man in Discovery's Eaten Alive. Is the anaconda dangerous to human life? How anacondas eat people

Do anacondas eat people? Interesting question isn't it? How to find the answer to it? Well... there is one way - to face it face to face and wait... And there are only 2 options, which depend on whether you end up inside the snake or not.

Researcher Paul Rosolie volunteered for a, to put it mildly, unusual Discovery Channel experiment called Eaten Alive, during which he was swallowed by an anaconda.

Rosoli, who spent about an hour inside the anaconda, explained that the main purpose of his experiment was to draw attention to the problem of extinction tropical forests Amazonia.

“The last thing I remember is the wide open mouth of the snake, which hangs over my face. After that, everything went dark,” the researcher said.

IN total Rosolie spent about an hour inside the snake. The researcher did not specify how he got out of the snake.

After the publication of the announcement of the experiment, activists from the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) condemned the actions of the authors of the program. Commenting on PETA's statements, Rosoli said he appreciates the organization's concern for the snake's health. He clarified that the anaconda survived the experiment and feels well.

We bring to your attention an interview with the fearless scientist.

— Paul, tell us about the design of the protective suit. He looks quite impressive.

“We needed a very strong structure to protect my body from the anaconda’s suffocating embrace. So we made the suit out of carbon fiber. To test its durability, we tested the suit using... trucks. Or rather, with the help of winches that are installed on them. We pressed on the shell with a force of up to 300 pounds per square inch (about 21 atmospheres, with such force a bulldog's jaws hold their prey - author), but it remained intact. We said, okay, let's try to break his bones. And they turned on the winch at full power. But we couldn’t crush the suit. This made me feel confident that I would be safe. To protect my hands from the anaconda's teeth, I used very durable shark scales. The body suit was coated with a special chemical layer that would protect me from the anaconda's stomach acid in case I ended up in its stomach. And before the experiment, I swallowed a pill that transmitted the parameters of my pulse and temperature to the doctors. Incredibly high technology was used to create the suit.

- How were you going to breathe inside the anaconda?

— I was wearing a diving mask built into the helmet. The breathing tube was attached to my body. It went through the back, then the leg, and in the heel area it was connected to a shock-resistant hose. So I knew the air supply would be fine.

There are many myths and legends about the giant anaconda, and sometimes it is difficult to determine where truth ends and fiction begins. And this is all due to the enormous size of this snake, as well as the inaccessibility of its habitats and the hidden way of life of the animal.

The giant anaconda has a number of other names: green or common anaconda, as well as water boa.

Description, vernal appearance of anaconda

This is interesting! The first official mention of the anaconda in work of art found in the story “Chronicles of Peru” by Pedro Cieza de Leon, which was written in 1553. The author claims that this information is reliable and describes the anaconda as a huge snake 20 feet long with a reddish head and angry green eyes. She was subsequently killed and a whole fawn was found in her stomach.

The anaconda is a world fauna, with females growing much larger than males. According to the most reliable and verified information, the usual length of this snake does not exceed 4–5 meters. Swedish zoologist G. Dahl in his diaries describes an animal more than 8 meters long that he caught in Colombia, and his compatriot Ralph Bloomberg describes anacondas 8.5 meters long. But such sizes are rather an exception to the rule, and stories about caught 11-meter anacondas are nothing more than hunting tales. Modern scientists also classify the case of the capture of a giant anaconda 11 m 40 cm long, described in 1944, as a myth and believe that the size of the snake was greatly exaggerated.

The anaconda's body is pale greenish in color, covered over its entire surface with light brown oval-shaped spots; on the sides they alternate with a number of round grayish-yellow markings with dark edging. This color is ideal camouflage in dense tropical thickets among fallen leaves and snags. IN aquatic environment This coloring also helps the anaconda track prey and hide from enemies among algae and stones.

The anaconda's body consists of a spine and a tail, and the snake's ribs are very flexible and elastic and can bend and straighten strongly when swallowing large prey. The bones of the skull are also elastic, connected to each other by soft ligaments that allow the head to stretch and allow the anaconda to swallow a large animal. The tongue, like that of all snakes, is incredibly sensitive and mobile, it plays important role for studying environment and communication. Hard and dry scales cover the body like armor, protecting it from enemies. The scales are smooth and slippery to the touch, which makes catching an anaconda very challenging task . The anaconda sheds its skin at one time in a continuous “stocking”; for this, it actively rubs against stones and snags.

Habitat

Anaconda lives in humid tropics and reservoirs South America. Its largest numbers are in Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia and Paraguay. Also, the anaconda can often be found in the jungles of Guiana, Guyana and Peru, but due to the fact that the reptile leads a very secretive and inconspicuous lifestyle, its number until now has only an approximate value. Therefore, it is still a problem for scientists to accurately count the number of anacondas in a particular region. The population dynamics are accordingly also poorly monitored and the Red Book states that there is no threat of extinction of the species. According to a number of scientists, the anaconda is not an animal that is in danger of extermination. Anaconda lives in many public and private zoos around the world, but to create comfortable conditions It is very difficult for reproduction and therefore snakes rarely live up to 20 years in captivity, and the average life expectancy in zoos is short: 7–10 years.

Anaconda is aquatic and lives in quiet and warm waters creeks, rivers and channels. It can also often be found in small lakes in the Amazon basin. Anacondas spend most of their lives in or near water, lying on rocks or in dense tropical thickets, tracking their prey among leaves and snags. Sometimes it likes to bask in the sun's rays on a hill, and occasionally climbs trees. In case of danger, it hides in the nearest body of water and can remain underwater for very long. for a long time. During the dry season, when rivers and canals dry up, anacondas are able to burrow into silt and coastal soil, remaining motionless until the onset of the rainy season.

This is interesting! The structure of the head of this giant snake, its nostrils and eyes are located not on the sides, but on top, and when tracking down prey, the anaconda hides under water, leaving them on the surface. This same property helps to escape from enemies. When diving into the depths, this snake closes its nostrils with special valves.

Despite gigantic size, an anaconda often falls prey to a jaguar or caiman, and a wounded snake can attract the attention of a school of piranhas, which can also attack the weakened animal.

Compared to the boa constrictors we are used to, anacondas are much stronger and more aggressive. They can bite or attack a person, but more often they still prefer not to get involved in a conflict. Left alone with a giant reptile, you need to be very careful and do not provoke the anaconda with loud sounds or sudden movements.

It is important! An adult man can single-handedly cope with an anaconda, the length of which does not exceed 2–3 meters. The strength and musculature of this snake far exceeds the strength of a boa constrictor; it is generally accepted that one coil of the anaconda’s body is several times stronger than one coil of a boa constrictor. There is a widespread myth that these snakes can put a person into a state of hypnosis, this is not true. Like most pythons, the anaconda is not poisonous, but nevertheless its bite can be very painful and dangerous to humans.

Since time immemorial, there have been many myths and legends that describe the anaconda as a predator that often attacks humans. The only officially recorded case of an attack on a person was an attack on a child from an Indian tribe, which can be considered an accident. When a person is in the water, the snake does not see him fully and can easily mistake him for a capybara or a baby deer. Anacondas do not hunt humans, and local Indian tribes often catch anacondas for their tender and tasty meat, and use the skin to make various souvenirs and crafts for tourists.

The famous English zoologist Gerald Durrell describes his hunt for an anaconda and describes it not as a formidable predator, but as an animal that weakly defended itself and did not show aggression. The zoologist caught her by simply grabbing her by the tail and throwing a bag over the head of the “fierce anaconda.” Once in captivity, the snake behaved quite quietly, moved weakly in the bag and hissed quietly. Perhaps she was small and very scared, which easily explains such “peaceful” behavior.

Nutrition

Anaconda hunts in the water or on the shore, suddenly attacking its prey. As a rule, it feeds on small mammals and reptiles. Agouti rodents, large waterfowl and fish often fall prey to the giant python. Larger anacondas can easily swallow a caiman or capybara, but this does not happen often. A hungry anaconda may in rare cases hunt turtles and other snakes. There is a known case when an anaconda attacked a two-meter python in a zoo.

This huge snake is capable of sitting in ambush for long hours, waiting for the right moment. When the victim approaches a minimum distance, the anaconda makes a lightning-fast throw, grabs the victim and wraps it in the steel grip of its muscular body. Despite popular belief, these snakes, like pythons, do not break the bones of their prey, but strangle it, gradually squeezing it chest and lungs. Often the anaconda crawls into villages and attacks small livestock, even domestic dogs and cats can become its victims. There are known cases of cannibalism among anacondas, when adults attack young animals.

Reproduction

Anacondas lead a solitary lifestyle and gather in groups of several individuals only for the breeding season.. This time usually falls during the wet rainy season, which in the Amazon Valley begins at the end of April. The female marks her tracks with a special substance that contains pheromones and attracts mature males. Several adult animals gather around the female in a huge heap, hiss and start fighting. When mating, like other anaconda snakes, they curl into a tight ball, and the male embraces and holds the female with special rudiments, making specific creaking sounds. Since several males participate in mating at once, it still remains unexplored which of them she prefers, the largest, the youngest, or the one who came first on the “date.”

This is interesting! The fact that before mating the female feeds heavily, since after pregnancy she will not be able to hunt for more than six months. The period of drought can last for a very long time and the pregnant female actively seeks shelter protected from the sun with the remnants of life-giving moisture.

Typically, pregnancy lasts 7 months, after which the female gives birth to up to 40 cubs. The anaconda is a viviparous snake and, after giving birth, throws out undeveloped embryos along with the living offspring and eats them along with the dead cubs, thereby providing itself with some energy until the time when it can go hunting again. After birth, small anacondas are already completely independent and soon crawl away in search of small prey. Most of the babies die, becoming victims of small predators and crocodiles, but up to half of the offspring can reach adulthood.

Anaconda's enemies

The anaconda has many enemies, and the main ones among them are caimans, who also live in rivers and channels and lead a similar lifestyle. Also, anacondas are often hunted by pumas and jaguars; young or weakened animals often fall prey to predators during periods of drought, as well as males who have lost strength after mating. But the main enemy of the anaconda remains the man who hunts giant snakes for fun and entertainment. Anaconda skin is also highly prized among tourists, making it attractive to poachers.

This is interesting! A small Paraguayan anaconda can be bought from private sellers; its price depends on the size and ranges from 10–20 thousand rubles.

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I kept thinking that a boa constrictor (or some other snake) CANNOT SWALLOW a person for purely physiological reasons. All films about this are fiction and horror films. But what does it turn out to be? Here's yesterday's news.

In Russia, a drunk can freeze, but it turned out that in hot India it is also dangerous to get completely drunk. A man lying in the cold on the street near a store in Indian state Keral, devoured by a huge man-eating python.

A snake that swallowed a man. Photo: India, Kerala state.

The incident happened in the Indian state of Kerala, which, like Goa, attracts a large number of tourists.

In India, a careless man decided to have a pleasant evening, but did not bring any alcohol home and drank the purchased drinks right next to a liquor store. The drunkard settled down there for the night.

And in the morning local residents They found a bloated snake on the threshold of a shop. It turned out that the python was crawling past the liquor store and saw the “food”. He strangled the man and then swallowed his victim. After such a hearty “lunch,” the reptile was unable to crawl away and lay down at the scene of the emergency.

The bloated snake was subsequently discovered by local residents, LOTD reports.

This example can serve as an edification to numerous tourists who go to India on vacation and often forget about moderation in relation to alcohol and other relaxing substances.

Here's a case like this:

A huge python, according to the children's stories, suddenly grabbed their friend when they were collecting fallen mangoes in the garden. The snake quickly wrapped itself around the child, tightly squeezing his arms and legs. The boy was so scared that he didn’t even scream or cry.

“The python squeezed him more and more until the boy closed his eyes and threw his head back,” said 11-year-old Cave, an eyewitness to the tragedy. - I realized that he was dead or unconscious. Then the snake opened its mouth wide and began to swallow him all at once, starting with the head.” For three hours, the children silently watched what was happening, afraid to move or call for help.

Later, police and snake experts found no traces of the tragedy - the child and his clothes disappeared along with the snake. On the rumpled grass there was only a trail leading to the spring. Herpentologists explained that the African python needed water to better digest its prey.

According to experts, this is the first case of cannibalism for this species of snake. Python apparently woke up after hibernation and was very hungry.

The reptile, swollen with a human body, was found nearby in the jungle; it could not crawl far. The snake was killed and immediately cut up, but the boy could not be saved - he died of suffocation.

Another case:

It turns out that the plot of the film “Anaconda” has a real basis and in our sinful world there are giant reptiles that can swallow a person whole.

Typically, snakes prefer to attack smaller creatures that they can easily swallow, but despite this, there are many documented cases of these reptiles swallowing livestock, dogs and even baby hippos.

Unfortunately, the diet of these predators is not limited to such a meager set of dishes, and creeping reptiles are not averse to tasting human flesh if possible. It’s hard to believe, but there really are giant giants on Earth for whom humans are just prey.

Four friends: Jose Ronaldo. Fernando Contaro, Miguel Orvaro and Sebastian Forte went to Mato Grosso, Brazil for camping and fishing. The fishing went well, and the alcohol flowed freely. Returning from the river, the friends noticed the absence of the fourth member of their fun company– dentist Jose Ronaldo. The tipsy fishermen looked for their drinking buddy before dark, but Jose seemed to have disappeared into the ground.

The next day, in a cheerful and high spirits, they went in search, hoping to find their friend lying drunk in some ditch. Towards evening they discovered his torn clothes.

“At first we decided that it was a robbery: the ground around was dug up, as if someone had been fighting on it,” says one of the fishermen, Fernando Contaro. “My heart was relieved, because if he was attacked by a person, and not a wild animal, then he could survive!”

After examining the scene of the struggle, they discovered a deep footprint in the ground leading into the forest. Experienced hunter Sebastian Forte immediately said that the snake had left him... very big snake, at least 10 meters long. The sun was already setting and the men decided to return to camp.

The next morning the men followed the snake's trail. What they discovered at the end of their journey shocked them: lying in front of them was a giant anaconda with an incredibly bloated body. Miguel pressed the python's head to the ground with a stick, and Fernando shot the reptile twice in the head with a revolver. The anaconda was towed to the camp, where they cut open its stomach and removed the dentist’s body, which had already begun to digest.

If a snake swallows a person, which happens relatively rarely, then it is certainly only for the purpose of “eating a little.” Here we could quote lengthy instructions recently published on the Internet on what to do if you are swallowed by a python or anaconda. The basic idea is that you need to let the snake swallow more of its legs, and then, with a sharp movement of a sharp knife, cut its head from the side from the inside. Where to get a sharp knife and what to do if you start to be swallowed from the head - this instruction does not tell you.

The only difficulty when swallowing a person should be caused by the shoulders. An adult, broad-shouldered man can hardly be swallowed...

The snake's jaw can, of course, move apart, but only to a certain limit. Only possible way- if the snake manages to swallow a person lying on its side (or it itself turns its head in such a way so that the victim enters it sideways).

So an anaconda may well swallow a child, a woman, a small, narrow-shouldered man...

Case three. Why shouldn't snakes eat hippos?
The answer is simple, hippos have too thick skin that more than one snake simply cannot digest.

(It's an unpleasant sight, think twice before watching)

Video: a stupid python that ate a baby hippopotamus, crawled with this carcass for a week, became terribly hungry and was forced to vomit this delicacy out of itself.

And now just some interesting information about snakes on this topic.

Bernard Grzimek.
From the book “Animals are my life.”
Can a snake swallow a person?

“There is no doubt that the ancients meant by their dragons our modern giant snakes. The amazing size of these animals, their considerable strength and the general fear of snakes in general make the exaggerations of which the ancients were guilty very clear.<…>Over time, human imagination endowed dragons even richer, and from the incomprehensible tales of Eastern people, images gradually grew for which man of sense I searched in vain for the originals, because information about the giant snakes themselves was almost lost. The more stubbornly uneducated people stuck to the favorite description of a large dragon or a gorynych serpent, spewed onto the earth for the destruction of the whole world "(A. E. Bram)

A giant twenty-meter or even thirty-meter snake, hiding on a branch, lies in wait for its prey. From a blow to the crown of her head, hard as a stone, a man taken by surprise falls almost unconscious to the ground, and the snake, with a lightning-fast throw, rushes at him and wraps him in its coils, breaking all his bones in an iron embrace. This happens in cases where brave liberators who cut the snake into pieces with knives do not arrive in time to help...
Descriptions of such heartbreaking scenes can be found in many adventure novels and even in other reports of expeditions to the unexplored tropics.

Do giant snakes really attack humans? Are they capable of swallowing us? There are hardly any other animals that are fantasized about as much as pythons, anacondas or boa constrictors. And therefore, it is precisely with regard to these animals that even a specialist finds it very difficult in every special case decide what is fact and what is fiction.

This starts with determining the length. Even serious travelers have claimed that anacondas 30 or even 40 meters long are found in the Amazon forests. But they, as a rule, kept silent about whether they measured these snakes themselves or know this from eyewitness accounts.

Anaconda is the same boa constrictor, only South American. It is she who is considered the largest and strongest among all the giant snakes in the world. Another South American snake, also no less famous and also a boa constrictor (Constrictor), reaches a length of “only” five to six meters.

It must be said that measuring a snake is not so easy. It is most convenient to do this, of course, when it stretches to its full length. But for a large snake such a position is completely unnatural; some of them are simply not able to accept it - they need to bend at least the very end of their tail to the side in order to have support. Such a strong animal will not voluntarily allow itself to be straightened for measurement. In a dead snake, the body usually becomes so ossified that it is even more difficult to measure. If you judge the length of snakes by their skins that go on sale, then it is very easy to fall into a mistake: after all, this skin is sold by the meter, and therefore, while it is fresh, it can be stretched in length by 20 percent, and some say even by all 50. Snake hunters often use this.
It is interesting that live snakes are also sold by the meter. Snake traders charge zoos for small and medium-sized pythons from 80 pfennig to one mark for every centimeter. The New York Zoological Society announced many years ago that it would pay 20 thousand marks to anyone who brought a live anaconda over ten meters long; however, no one has yet been able to earn this tempting amount.

And yet it is quite possible that such giants exist or existed until very recently. The weight of such an animal should be quite impressive; Thus, the Asian reticulated python measures 8.8 meters and weighs 115 kilograms. It’s no wonder that such a colossus, living in the thicket of a virgin forest, is not so easy to defeat without a whole horde of helpers. And then you still need to be able to deliver it unharmed to the airfield or port.

The record length of the hieroglyphic python (Python sebae), widespread in Africa, is 9.8 meters. The Indian or tiger python (Python molurus) reaches 6.6 meters, the East Asian reticulated python (Python reticulatus) - either 8.4 meters or 10 meters, depending on which source you believe. A little smaller than the amethyst python.
So, in fact, we have already listed all six giants of the snake world: four oviparous pythons - natives of the Old World and two viviparous boas - of the New. Among the 2,500 species of snakes that inhabit Earth, there are a number of other species of boas and pythons, but they are much smaller.

Giant snakes are not poisonous. Unlike the fat giants of the snake kingdom Poisonous snakes(For example, African mamba, sometimes reaching four meters, and even longer - King Cobra) thinner and slimmer.

It takes a snake a lot of time to reach its enormous size. The eight-meter reticulated python living at the Pittsburgh Zoo grew by only 25 centimeters in a year. The older a snake gets, the slower it grows.

By appearance It is completely impossible to determine whether a snake is a female or a male. A pair of hieroglyphic pythons, which arrived at the New York Zoo at the age of one, grew at the same rate for the first six to seven years, but then the female began to noticeably lag in growth. The fact is that during this time she began to fast every year for six months: during the maturation of the eggs and when she warmed them, curled up around them.

We don’t know to what age giant snakes can live in the wild. No one has ever ringed them in their habitats, as has been done for decades, for example, with migratory birds. We can judge their age only from data obtained from zoos. The anaconda lived the longest at the Washington Zoo - 28 years (from 1899 to 1927). One of the boas lived in England at the Bristol Zoo for 23 years and 3 months, and the hieroglyphic python reached the age of eighteen there. A tiger python at the San Diego Zoo (California) lived to be 22 years and 9 months, and two East Asian reticulated pythons - one in London and the other in Paris - died at the age of 21.

The giants of the snake kingdom are the only large animals on Earth that do not have a voice, like, in fact, all other snakes. At best they can hiss. Snakes are not only mute, but also deaf. They do not perceive sound vibrations in the air - they do not have ears for this, like other animals. But they perfectly perceive any, even the most insignificant, shaking of the soil or litter on which they rest.

In addition, these deaf-mute giants also have poor vision. Their eyes are devoid of movable eyelids, and the transparent leathery film that protects the eye during each molt is separated along with all the skin and removed, like glass from a watch. The snake eye lacks the muscles of the iris, therefore the pupil cannot contract in bright light and dilate in dim light. The snake barely reacts to changes in the lighting of the eyes: the lens in it cannot bend, like ours, which deprives snakes of the opportunity to carefully examine objects located at close or far distances at will. To look at anything, the snake has to move its entire head first and then back. Perhaps all these are very useful properties (necessary, for example, for swimming and especially for looking at various objects under water), but, by God, much more improved eyes are found in the animal world.

Since the python, like other snakes, does not close its eyes during sleep, it is always very difficult to determine whether it is sleeping or awake. Some snake researchers argue that a sleeping snake faces downwards, meaning its pupil is at the bottom edge of the eye; others dispute this claim.
The immobility of snake eyes gave rise to the widely repeated fairy tale that snakes supposedly hypnotize, as if paralyzing their prey with their gaze. Frogs, lizards or small rodents do sometimes sit completely still in the presence of a giant boa constrictor, but this is explained for various reasons: sometimes they simply do not notice the danger, and sometimes they freeze with fear; such freezing brings them a certain benefit, since the snake does not distinguish a motionless victim. After all, it is only when the frog runs away that the snake overtakes it.

How, after all, do these deaf-mute and, moreover, short-sighted giants find food for themselves? It turns out that they have developed sensory organs that we do not possess. For example, they unmistakably sense heat from a long distance. The snake senses a human hand already at a distance of thirty centimeters. Therefore, it is quite easy for silently crawling snakes to find even those warm-blooded animals that are carefully hidden in shelters. So that their own breathing does not interfere with their breathing, some of them (for example, pythons) have nostrils facing upward and backward.

But the sense of smell is most developed in snakes. Quite surprisingly, the organ of smell is located in their mouth, on the palate, and necessary information it is delivered by a tongue that extracts various small particles from the air. So the snakes daylight is not needed, they can crawl in the footsteps of their prey with equal success both day and night.

Once, not far from the Serengeti, my son Michael and I came across a huge hieroglyphic python, reaching three to four meters in length. We decided to take him with us. By the way, giant snakes, if they are not holding on to a tree or tangled in bushes, are not that difficult to catch. In an hour they can travel no more than one and a half kilometers - if they suddenly have the desire to crawl for an hour. Giant snakes move completely differently than their small relatives. They move forward, wriggling with their whole body, while in a giant snake the abdominal scales are used for this purpose. The scales are set in motion by muscles extending from the ribs (the ribs themselves remain motionless), causing it to move forward and backward like the small scoops of an excavator.

At that time we did not yet have much experience in handling snakes and therefore at first we showed extreme caution when guiding the python with spears. But in the end, we still decided to grab the snake by the tail, and it didn’t even try to attack us. We managed to stuff her into a bag, which we tied and put under a cot in our tent for the night. Unfortunately, the next morning the bag was empty. Huge snake Still managed to free myself. However, from the trail she left, it was easy to find out where she crawled. This trail was straight, distinct and wide, as if someone had rolled a car tire.
Not a single snake, including poisonous ones, is able to catch up with a running person. But giant snakes can swim well, much better than other land animals. As for the anaconda, it can be classified as an aquatic rather than a terrestrial animal.
Snakes and the sea don't care. Thus, one boa constrictor (Constriktor) was carried by the current 320 kilometers from the South American coast and washed up on the island of St. Vincent, where he arrived in good spirits.

When the Krakatoa volcano erupted in 1888, all life on the island of the same name was destroyed. Biologists observed how, over the subsequent years and decades, various lichens, plants and animals gradually reappeared here. So, the first reptiles to appear there were rock pythons, which by 1908 again took possession of the island.

The giant snakes have not yet completely turned into round ropes, as happened with other representatives of the snake tribe. Boas and pythons, like us, still have a pair of lungs, while in most other snakes the left lung has disappeared, and the right has greatly elongated and expanded noticeably. The giant snakes have small remains of pelvic and hip bones. But only two pitiful claws remained from the outside of the hind legs - to the right and to the left of the anus.

How do such slow giants manage to catch their prey? It should be said from the very beginning that the statement that they knock a person or any animal unconscious with a blow to their head is absolutely false. The heads of these giant monsters are not particularly hard, and in any case softer than ours. The snake itself would not be too pleased to use it for boxing. In addition, the attack of a giant snake is by no means as lightning fast as it is imagined. The force with which a snake weighing 125 kilograms attacks a victim is no greater than the force with which a dog weighing 20 kilograms attacks. Of course, some frail, unathletic European might fall from such a push. But a more or less dexterous man is quite capable of handling a four-meter boa constrictor alone, at least if he manages to stay on his feet; he can pull down the snake coils entwined around him with a few energetic jerks.

For a snake, it is much more important not to hit its head, but to grab the victim with its teeth. To do this, she opens her mouth to the limit. The reticulated python has a hundred back-curved teeth arranged in six rows in its mouth. Therefore, if he managed to grab at least a finger, it is not so easy to pull it back. To do this, you need to try to unclench the snake’s jaws and first stick your hand even further into the mouth, and then pull it out.
Only when the snake has firmly grabbed the victim with its teeth does it begin to wrap its coils around it. Therefore, those who have to deal with giant snakes should always remember that they need to be grabbed only by the “scruff” - behind the head, so that they cannot bite.

Please take a closer look at the film footage or photographs that capture the “struggle” of a person with giant snake who allegedly strangles her victim. You will almost certainly notice that the “victim” has grabbed the snake by the throat. In such cases, the person himself wraps the snake around himself and then plays out the whole scene of a frantic struggle.

But even if the snake managed to grab its victim with its teeth and wrap it in several rings, this does not mean that it can “crush all its bones.” Giant snakes, even if they weigh more than a hundred kilograms, do not at all have the remarkable strength that is attributed to them. After all, the larger and heavier the animal, the less strength it has per kilogram of body weight. Thus, a louse, taking into account its weight, is 10 thousand times stronger than an elephant. And smaller snakes can squeeze and strangle a suitable victim much more strongly than giant snakes can squeeze their own.

Giant snakes kill not by crushing bones, but by strangulation. They squeeze the chest of their victim so much that she is unable to breathe air into her lungs. It is possible that prolonged compression may paralyze the heart. Snake rings, coiled around the victim's torso, act more like a rubber gut or rubber bandage than a strong<анат. Раздавить таким способом твердый костяк абсолютно невозможно. Поэтому когда в некоторых сообщениях о нападении змей фигурируют раздавленные человеческие черепа, то заранее можно твердо сказать, что это досужий вымысел. Человеческий череп достаточно твердый орешек, и мягкими, эластичными предметами его не расколешь!

My colleague Dr. Gustav Lederer, who directed our exotarium for forty years, carefully examined three pigs, three rabbits and three rats that had been killed but not yet swallowed by giant snakes. No broken bones were found in the victims. But in the already swallowed prey there were broken bones.

Giant snakes are kept in many zoos around the world and generally do not show any aggression as long as they are left alone. They are even quite easy to tame. Pythons living in the wild, when they are attacked or want to be grabbed, defend themselves only by trying to bite, and almost never try to throw their rings at the enemy; they do this only with prey that they are going to swallow.

In zoos, there are sometimes circumstances in which force must be used against a snake (for example, when moving a newly arrived resident into a terrarium or when veterinary intervention is necessary). To hold the snake, people are placed in this way: for every linear meter of the snake there is one person who must hold his part tightly, under no circumstances letting go of it.

I've been asking everywhere about any case where a snake in a zoo killed someone, but until now I had never heard of it. True, I was told that in a Russian animal sales company several decades ago, a seven- or eight-meter reticulated python wrapped itself around the senior servant Siegfried and “broke several of his ribs.”
One former dancer, who once performed dances with snakes, told the servants of our Frankfurt Zoo that one of the snakes once squeezed her so hard that she broke two ribs. But in order for a slender girl to break two ribs, no supernatural forces are required. For example, one day one of my sons, in a fit, hugged his bride so tenderly that something crunched inside her. It turned out that he broke her rib...

Although giant boas, as already mentioned, can rarely be tamed, nevertheless, the snakes with which dancers perform in various variety shows and circuses do not necessarily have to be tame. In order to wrap snakes around your shoulders and waist during a dance without any risk, it is enough to cool them down before the performance, then you can do almost anything with them. These cold-blooded animals become active only after they have warmed up thoroughly.

Of course, dragging snakes around on tour, especially in winter, or keeping them in poorly heated stage restrooms or hotel rooms does not do them any good.

They do not survive such a life for long and die. Therefore, dancers have to frequently renew their supply of pythons.

It is not true that giant snakes have the habit of hanging from a tree by holding the end of their tail to a branch and thus catching their prey. The statement that they pre-wet the dead animal with their saliva to facilitate swallowing is also incorrect. This misconception is based on the fact that snakes are often forced to regurgitate swallowed prey. This happens for various reasons: either the prey turns out to be prohibitively large, or when swallowed it takes an awkward position, or it has horns that prevent it from moving along the esophagus, and sometimes someone simply scared the snake, and this prevented it from calmly coping with the prey. Of course, a burped animal is abundantly moistened with saliva, which led people who accidentally saw it to misinterpret it.

Even very large and heavy snakes are able to crawl into relatively small loopholes, narrow windows or cracks in a fence. In this way, they usually sneak into chicken coops, pigsties or barns where goats are kept. And so, when they, having swallowed their victim whole, try to crawl back into the same hole from which they came, a huge thickening on the body does not allow them to get out, and they find themselves trapped. Here, it would seem, use your ability to regurgitate swallowed prey to free yourself from captivity! But snakes, as it turned out, “don’t have enough intelligence” for this.
Similar cases have been described quite often.

An anaconda versus a python in a fight will most likely win, unless, of course, it faces the longest snake in the world, the reticulated python. But here, too, her chances of winning are much higher, since she, although slightly inferior to him in length, is significantly superior in weight.

A large anaconda can also cope with a young crocodile. Of course, she cannot survive against an adult, massive, large specimen; in a fight with him, she will find herself in the role of prey. But she can handle a small crocodile without much difficulty, and therefore is quite capable of feasting on it.

The anaconda is a vertebrate animal from the class of reptiles, belongs to the genus of snakes from the subfamily of boas and lives in the tropical latitudes of South America. This snake feels great in fresh water, and therefore prefers to spend as much time as possible in the aquatic environment, for which it received the name water boa. Since it belongs to the subfamily of boas, the snake is not poisonous: it strangles its prey.

Currently, the following types of anacondas have been discovered:

• Giant - the largest snake in the world, more than five meters long, lives in tropical latitudes and settles in swamps and large rivers;
• Paraguayan - length no more than three meters, lives in closed low-current reservoirs. In addition to Paraguay, it lives in Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil;
• Deshauersea - lives in the northwestern part of Brazil;
• Eunectes beniensis is a snake about four meters long, representatives of this species are similar to the Paraguayan anaconda and there is a high probability that in the future it will become its subspecies. It was discovered in Bolivia in 2002 and is currently under study.

Description

The anaconda is considered one of the largest representatives of the genus of snakes in the world: the length of the longest measured anaconda is 5.2 meters, and the weight is 97.5 kg (females are larger than males). There is a lot of information about larger specimens, whose size exceeds ten meters, but this data is not confirmed by anything, and is very doubtful. It is worth noting that the anaconda versus the reticulated python is inferior in length (according to the Guinness Book, the maximum length of a python is 9.75 meters), but still wins in terms of weight.

The anaconda has a greenish-grayish color with large brown spots of a rounded or oblong shape, which alternate in a checkerboard pattern (this color hides a hunting snake very well). Speaking about the anaconda, it is not without interest that it, like other snakes, sheds its old skin, but does this without leaving the reservoir: it rubs against its bottom.

Although anacondas practically cannot hear sounds, they have a very well developed nervous system, so they feel various vibrations in the environment with their whole body.

But as for vision, the snake periodically goes blind: instead of eyelids, there are motionless transparent scales on its eyes, which, when the snake begins to shed, become cloudy, blocking the view. Speaking about the anaconda, it should be borne in mind that, being a snake, it does not blink, so there is an opinion that it hypnotizes its prey.

Lifestyle

One of the interesting facts about the anaconda is that it is almost always in the water, and tries to go to the coast as little as possible: it swims excellently and is capable of staying under water for a long time, and in order not to suffocate, its nostrils are blocked during a dive valves She prefers to swim in bodies of water either with a very calm current or without it at all.

The boa constrictor comes to the shore mainly to bask in the sun, and sometimes even climbs trees to do this. Speaking about the anaconda, it should be borne in mind that it moves like all snakes: the main role in this process is played by the tenacious scales located on the stomach, as well as the muscles of the body.

Once on land, the snake does not move far from the water, and if the reservoir dries up, it either moves to another, or goes down the river. If during a drought it is not possible to change the reservoir, the boa constrictor buries itself in the silt located at the bottom of the reservoir, after which it falls into torpor until the rainy season begins.

Nutrition

Like all boa constrictors, the anaconda is not poisonous: having attacked the victim, it embraces it, from which the animal rarely manages to free itself. Her grip is so strong that even one of the most formidable predators in the world, a crocodile, is capable of becoming her victim (although an adult large crocodile will get rid of the grip and, most likely, will eat her himself).

The largest snake in the world eats various reptiles and small mammals that come to drink. Usually these are rodents, turtles, waterfowl, and lizards. Larger individuals can eat capybaras, peccaries, medium-sized crocodiles (up to two meters); there is even a known case when a large anaconda managed to eat a 2.5-meter python. They may well eat representatives of their own species.

Having smelled prey, the snake freezes in the water and becomes motionless. After the victim approaches, the boa constrictor pounces on it with lightning speed and strangles it, completely cutting off oxygen by immobilizing the chest, so the victim dies from suffocation.

After this, the snake eats it whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat. Like all snakes, its mouth stretches very well with the help of an elastic ligament connecting the right and left sides of the lower jaw, which are connected to the skull by bones, the ends of which provide them with rotational movement. Thanks to this, the largest snake in the world is able to swallow an animal significantly larger than itself (for example, a young crocodile).

Reproduction

When talking about anacondas, it should be borne in mind that they are solitary animals, but when the mating period begins, they gather in flocks (this happens during the beginning of the rainy season). At this time, there are usually several males near one female and, just like other snakes, when mating they intertwine into a ball of several individuals.

The anaconda is ovoviviparous: it bears eggs inside the body, while the cubs mainly receive nutrition not from the snake’s body, but from the egg. Before being born, baby snakes leave the egg shell while still in the mother’s body. The female carries the cubs for about six to seven months and during this time she loses weight by almost half.

The female gives birth to from 28 to 42 cubs with a length of 50 to 80 cm, sometimes their number can reach up to a hundred. Immediately after birth, molting begins, so the baby snake does not eat anything at this time. When the molting ends, the baby is already able to swim, hunt, and feed on its own. At this time, small anacondas are extremely vulnerable and are eaten by birds, crocodiles and other predators.

Enemies of anacondas

If we talk about the anaconda, it is necessary to keep in mind that this boa constrictor is so strong that it has practically no rivals among snakes (an anaconda can easily withstand a fight against a python). Sometimes she may be attacked by a jaguar or a large crocodile. A large individual is rarely attacked: the crocodile usually attacks and eats baby snakes or males weakened after mating. There were two recorded cases where an adult male crocodile managed to cope with female anacondas (such situations are the exception rather than the rule).

Despite the fact that the boa constrictor eats many mammals, rumors about the anaconda as a snake that feeds on humans are greatly exaggerated. A boa constrictor of this species rarely attacks a person (despite the fact that the boa constrictor is longer, the person is vertical in relation to the surface, and therefore she may consider him too large prey for herself).

There have been isolated cases of attacks on humans, caused by the fact that the snake sees only a part of the body that it can handle, or believes that they want to take food away from it. And then, she will attack a person sluggishly, reluctantly, rather trying to intimidate in the hope that he will leave. The only case where it is known for sure that an anaconda managed to eat a person is the death of an Indian teenager.

Since the snake lives in hard-to-reach, impassable places, even if there were cases of death, there was usually no one to record them.

It is man who is the most serious enemy for an adult anaconda: Indians hunt it for its skin, which is used for textiles and haberdashery, as well as meat. Hunting anacondas in the countries where they live is not prohibited, since it is believed that there are quite a lot of them and they give rise to numerous offspring. It is difficult to say exactly how many anacondas there are in the world, since they prefer to live in difficult places where the human foot steps as little as possible.

Currently, several million snakes live on Earth. They live on every continent except Antarctica and generally within most bodies of water on the planet. They all have varying levels of aggression, gluttony and hostility towards people.

Although some of these deadly reptiles can kill a person in a matter of seconds, the most painful attacks occur when the snakes do not have any venom at all, killing their prey by strangulation. By digging their sharp, inwardly curved teeth into the victim's body, and then writhing and wrapping their massive bodies around them, they undoubtedly achieve a slow and painful death.

Over the decades, countless attacks on humans have been reported from anacondas, pythons, and common boa constrictors. Many have come face to face with these dangerous reptiles in the jungle, in cities, and sometimes even in their own homes.

Video. Crazy man among huge pythons.
This is expert Jay Brewer, who climbed up to three large pythons ahead of New Year's Eve 2015 to share a video about the animals he raised himself. But he also noted that it is truly unsafe.

Below are ten of the most shocking large snake attacks on people around the world.

1. Canadian boys killed while sleeping
In 2013, in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick, there was a terrifying attack by a hieroglyphic python or rock python (lat. Python sebae). This special breed of snake can weigh up to 80 kg, reach lengths of up to 6 meters and easily kill its prey by strangulation.

This tragic incident involved two little boys who were clearly in the wrong place at the wrong time. They stayed overnight in the apartment of a family friend, who in the same apartment had a peculiar complex in the form of an exotic pet store.

Photo. Boys strangled by a snake

The report said the boys' cause of death was strangulation and an escaped python was identified as their killer.

On the night of this incident, a large snake remained in an enclosure not too far from where the four- and six-year-old victims were sleeping. It was clear how the uncovered python escaped from its cage, since there was a gap at the top due to the fact that the owner had not tightly closed the snake in the cage.

The python was able to slide up the ventilation system, which soon collapsed under the weight of the reptile. Nothing prevented Python from reaching the living room, where he came across two defenseless sleeping boys.

Photo. The same python

As a result, the reason why the python killed the children was never determined, leaving many perplexed. Because of this event, many questions and some skepticism arose.

A snake expert who owned at least 20 similar snakes in his shop said the incident was highly unusual for the python species as they are generally docile and timid. He argued that it was not impossible, but simply very unexpected and peculiar.

This was one of the most tragic attacks of this breed of snake. The python, which lived in the complex for almost ten years, was immediately killed due to this incident.

2. Snake owner charged with murder
Surprisingly, many cases of people being killed by large snakes actually happen in their own homes. Snakes that are escape artists can often be found outside of cages. These reptiles, which are kept as pets for many years, are usually unnoticed by their owners when they are not in the wild.

In Oxford, Florida, the owner of an albino Burmese python was sentenced to prison after his pet escaped from its confinement to kill his daughter Shanianna ( Shanianna) in her crib.

Photo. Law enforcement officers remove a 2.5-meter albino Burmese python from the house where it killed a 2-year-old girl.

On the morning of the incident, July 1, 2009, a python named Gypsy was found tightly wrapped around the two-year-old victim, its mouth beginning to swallow the victim's head.

While isolated incidents in the past have not resulted in any criminal charges, in this case, the incident involved 21-year-old owner and mother Jaren Hair ( Jaren Hare), is different. The 2.5-meter predator escaped from its aquarium with such ease that it once again showed the complete lack of care and concern for the defenseless daughter.

The aquarium where the python was kept was covered with a duvet on top of the cage. To make matters worse, the medical examiner testified that the snake was significantly underweight and malnourished, which was likely the cause of this incident.

Jaren Hare and her partner were found guilty of manslaughter of a child, third-degree murder, due to the snake attack.

3. Anaconda attacks TV show host
In an incident, a TV show host in the Amazon rainforest in Colombia was attacked by an angry anaconda. Hoping to get footage for his popular Brazilian television program, the famous Toninho Negreiro ( Toninho Negreiro), decided to catch an anaconda in the forest.

On this walk, Toninho was accompanied by El Diablo, a jungle legend who was said to have a mysterious power over snakes.

El Diablo reveals that he can smell snakes and leads Toninho and his team to the beautiful and equally dangerous Amazon. Soon, while walking, El Diablo freezes and throws himself into the grass; a second later he takes out an anaconda, which was almost three times longer than himself.

The anaconda was disturbed and began to wrap itself around El Diablo. He gave the reptile to Toninho, then took it back and released it into the wild.

Video. Anaconda grabs the TV presenter's hand

After this incident, Toninho left the team alone. Soon he began to call for help and people came running to him, seeing him in the arms of the anaconda. He was already in an extremely excited state, the snake instantly attacked him, squeezing his forearm with its jaws and coiling itself around his body.

In the end, five adult men with difficulty freed him from the suffocating embrace, but he still had to free himself from the jaws that the snake was not going to unclench. El Diablo helped free himself from the anaconda's teeth.

Although only his forearm was damaged by the attack, he recovered quickly and was back in the Amazon within two months to resume filming.

4. A boa constrictor almost kills a woman in Texas.
Even when a snake is trained and unfailingly calm, this does not change the fact that it is still a cold-blooded predator.

A Texas woman with years of experience handling large snakes was attacked by a 2.5-meter boa constrictor on July 26, 2011. Victim, Debi Grudzinski ( Debi Grudzinski) tried to give a snake named Aisnia ( Icenia) a little water, then everything happened.

Photo. Boa constrictor attacks a woman

This was a common practice she did daily as she had been taking care of Aisnia for almost eight years. In a shocking moment, the boa constrictor grabbed Debi's hand and began to wrap itself around her. By that time, Icenia had at least half her length wrapped around Debi's arm, the woman began to panic and her daughter immediately dialed 911.

Within minutes, help arrived. Debi began to feel weak and the snake had already squeezed the woman’s hand very tightly. The 911 rescuers had to quickly try to free Debi's hand from the reptile's jaws.

They were able to quickly free Debi without killing Aisnia. Debi signed all the necessary paperwork and her pet was sent to an animal shelter for recovery.

5. Python kills a careless student in Venezuela
In the summer of 2008, working the night shift alone at the zoo among numerous deadly predators, it is clear that he did not consider it potentially dangerous. Sooner or later, such carelessness could lead to sad consequences. At least zookeeper Eric Arrieta ( Eric Arrieta) violated the rules of the establishment and entered the cage alone.

A 3-meter Burmese python, which had recently been donated to the Caracas Zoo in Venezuela, caused the sudden death of a 29-year-old student.

Photo. Python attacks a student

The snake was quite new to its new habitat and was not even on public display at the zoo. Eric foolishly broke one of the most important rules of behavior at the zoo when he entered the snake's cage, a mistake that ultimately cost him his life.

Since he was the only one on duty, no one heard his moans or cries for help when the snake attacked him. Only in the morning his colleagues discovered him in a cage. By this time, the python had already strangled Eric to death and began to consume him. When the snake was actively swallowing the head of the murdered Eric, his colleagues intervened and freed his lifeless body.

While the attack itself was unusual as Eric was well outside the ideal size to serve as prey for a 10-foot snake, it was not a shock as Burmese pythons are the most aggressive of the large boa constrictor snakes.

6Pet Python Attacks Owner in New York
Burmese pythons are the most aggressive of the boa constrictors, but that doesn't stop people from taking them into their homes. There are dozens of python attacks on their owners every year, and this species is responsible for the largest number of injuries and deaths. Owners of these reptiles should always be aware that they must exercise extreme caution when handling them.

Photo. Python will attack its owner

19 year old Grant Williams ( Grant Williams) who failed to heed proper warnings and safe python handling practices met his death as a result. One day in 1996, he was found in the hallway of his apartment building, blood dripping from him, a 4-meter snake wrapped tightly around him.

Contact with a hungry python is a very foolish thing to do and certain procedures must always be followed. Grant was not careful in his latest attempt to feed the python. The snake was outside its cage, and the live chicken that Grant planned to feed the python was hidden in a box nearby. Creating such a situation was a fatal mistake for Grant.

Because pythons have a very keen sense of smell, the victim's family and friends believe the hungry snake smelled the chicken he regularly fed, but it only saw a moving target for its dinner, and that was Grant.

Although the snake did not even begin to swallow him as an alternative meal, unfortunately Grant did not survive the attack. Paramedics tried exhaustively to resuscitate Williams en route to the hospital, but unfortunately they were unable to do so. Grant was pronounced dead an hour later after he was taken to a nearby hospital.

7. 6-meter python against an angry mother with a knife
In Las Vegas, Nevada, a family of three temporarily shared their home with a 6-meter reticulated python. For several weeks, the parents of a 3-year-old boy, 25-year-old Melissa Melendez ( Melendrez Melendrez) and 26-year-old Anthony Melendez ( Anthony Melendrez) decided to take care of their friend's reptile.

Photo. Python that tried to swallow a 3-year-old boy

The house remained unexplored for the large snake until one day on January 20, 2009, the parents were unable to properly care for the python. After just a few weeks at the new place of residence, the reptile was able to move freely around the house.

Soon after gaining freedom, the snake came across something that satisfied its interest. Melissa and Anthony's 3-year-old son was in one of the home's bedrooms.

Without much hesitation, the snake bit and began to swallow the baby. By the time Melissa discovered this, her son was already slipping into unconsciousness.

She immediately called for help. It took six police officers, an animal control officer and Melissa with her handy kitchen knife to finally free her child from the aggressive snake.

The blue-faced child was rushed to hospital where he remained overnight. During this time, he recovered perfectly; the future of the injured snake was not so rosy. The snake was killed shortly after the incident, and the boy's parents were criminally charged for child abuse.

8. Horny python gets over a woman
Reticulated pythons are the strongest and longest reptiles on the planet. It is strongly recommended that at least one other adult be present when handling this large and powerful snake.

25-year-old Amanda Black ( Amanda Black), owner of a 4-meter reticulated python named Diablo ( Diablo), thought that she could cope with the reptile on her own.

Photo. Python managed to kill a woman

The pet was sick and appropriate medications were prescribed. Amanda took it upon herself to treat the snake, she needed to give medicine to the snake. According to Amanda's husband, Diablo did not like medical procedures or the process of receiving them.

Getting a python's large, strong and flexible mouth to open must certainly be approached with great care. Since Amanda tried to give the medicine, the snake naturally didn't like it and became aggressive. Ultimately, this was enough to attack and overpower her. During the attack, Diablo wrapped himself around Amanda and began to intensely squeeze her neck, which led to death from suffocation.

The python did not kill her in a predatory manner, as usually happens during most snake attacks on people. Diablo did not even try to swallow her after death, but immediately fled the scene of the crime. Snake expert Bowen Lagess says pythons larger than 2 meters should be handled by at least two people and especially if they are treated with medication.

9. Australian mother finds a snake in bed with her daughter
While it may seem that in many cases pythons attack people in their own homes when they adopt them as pets, there are some horrific reports of people finding these large reptiles having entered their homes uninvited. Most of these cases occur in regions where pythons are commonly found, such as Australia.

Photo. Mom and her daughter escaped from a python

In one such case, a woman went to bed on the night of January 5, 2013 with her 2-year-old daughter. She was soon awakened by the hissing of her cat and noticed strange squirming movements on her bed. Since Tess Guthrie's suspicion ( Tess Guthrie) forced her to take out her mobile phone to shine a light on what was moving; what she saw left her speechless. What was actually moving was a two-meter python sharing the bed with her and her daughter.

When she saw the python, it was already wrapped around the hand of Guthrie's little helpless daughter. Tess knew she had to act quickly, but when the python felt that the woman had caught him in the act, he began to fight back. Fearing that the python might kill her daughter, Tess immediately grabbed the long reptile. As the snake bit her daughter, Tess quickly grabbed the snake's head, forced the child to let go, and threw it across the room.

Frightened, they ran away from the room and waited until they took the snake from the house. Soon after, they were taken to hospital, where they spent the entire night being treated for wounds inflicted by the python.

10. A man saved his grandson from an anaconda
If we evaluate snakes by weight, then, undoubtedly, the anaconda, the largest species of snake on the planet, comes first. They can reach an astounding 8 meters in length and weigh up to 100 kg!

Some of these heavyweights live in South America, and sometimes people in this region have had bad experiences with these large snakes.

In one terrifying incident, a small Brazilian boy who lived in an area about 250 km northwest of Sao Paulo was killed by an anaconda.

Photo. Grandfather who saved his grandson from an anaconda

One afternoon on February 8, 2007, as he and a friend were playing near a stream, they would never have guessed that a 5-meter anaconda was watching them below the surface of the water.

As soon as Matheus ( Mateus) approached the water, the hidden anaconda decided to pounce on him. Using its 5-meter muscles, large jaws and teeth, the reptile easily pinned the boy down.

As she began to sink her teeth into Matheus's neck and shoulders, his friend ran for help. But not so soon he returned with Matheus's grandfather, who was ready to fight.

Photo. Scars on the body of a grandson saved from an anaconda

With a small machete and a grin, 60-year-old grandfather Mateus was able to finally free his defenseless grandson from the predatory beast that had been fighting him for almost thirty minutes.

After the savage attack, Matheus was immediately rushed to hospital. After the incident, the 8-year-old boy looked quite well. After placing the 21st stitch on his chest where he was bitten, he quickly recovered. He was very lucky to survive the attack and did not even have any broken bones.