Can a snake swallow a person (Don't watch for the impressionable!). An anaconda swallowed a man as part of the Discovery program “Eat Alive What snakes can eat a person”

Scientist Paul Rosolie recently announced his determination to become prey for giant anaconda. On Discovery Channel's Eaten Alive, a 27-year-old naturalist dressed in...

Scientist Paul Rosolie recently announced his determination to become prey for the giant anaconda.

On the Discovery Channel's "Eat Alive" program, a 27-year-old naturalist dressed in a special suit was supposed to be swallowed by a 6-meter anaconda.

Anacondas this size can easily eat large mammals such as jaguars, deer and pigs.

Experts have developed a special suit that would protect a person from the teeth of a snake, as well as pressure and stomach acid. In addition, he was equipped with a camera and microphone to communicate with the team, and the scientist swallowed a capsule that monitored his vital signs.

The only thing that experts could not predict was that the anaconda would not be at all interested in eating a person dressed in such a costume. Moreover, when Rosolie tried to approach the anaconda for the first time, it got scared and tried to crawl away.

Only when the naturalist decided to provoke the animal, the snake attacked, squeezing its victim.

The snake coiled itself around a man covered in pig blood to make himself more appetizing to the predator. The anaconda began to swallow his head and as it squeezed, Rosolie began to feel his arm breaking.

The naturalist was not prepared for such a turn and immediately called for help.

In the film, Rosolie compares the strength of an anaconda to the strength of an entire team of horses. “The last thing I remembered was her mouth being open, and then everything went black,” he said.

Many viewers were disappointed by the long-awaited filming, and environmentalists expressed their outrage, considering the experiment cruel.

However, as the naturalist himself explained, the purpose of the stunt was to raise funds to save anaconda habitats in South America and the animal was not harmed.

· Anaconda is considered the heaviest snake in the world. Its weight can reach 250 kg, which is almost 3 times more than the average human weight.

· The largest anaconda can reach about 9 meters in length, and average length is 6 meters.

· Anacondas are not poisonous, but they are skilled predators. They hunt their prey (pigs, tapirs, caimans and fish, sometimes jaguars) using vision and heat sensors.

· Anacondas attack in a matter of seconds, and once the animal is in the grip, they wrap themselves in rings around it, suffocating or crushing the victim.

· Anacondas typically live in wetlands and rivers, and they are excellent swimmers.

· There are 4 species of anacondas: green anaconda, yellow anaconda, spotted anaconda and the newly discovered Bolivian anaconda. They all live in South America.

Incredible facts

Scientist Paul Rosolie(Paul Rosolie) recently announced his determination to become prey for the giant anaconda.

On the air of the program " Eaten alive"Discovery TV channel, a 27-year-old naturalist, dressed in a special suit, was supposed to swallow a 6-meter anaconda.

Anacondas of this size can easily eat large mammals such as jaguars, deer and pigs.

Experts have developed special suit, which would protect a person from the teeth of a snake, as well as pressure and stomach acid. In addition, he was equipped with a camera and microphone to communicate with the team, and the scientist swallowed a capsule that monitored his vital signs.

Anaconda ate a man (video)

The only thing that experts could not predict was that the anaconda would not be at all interested in eating a person dressed in such a costume. Moreover, when Rosolie tried to approach the anaconda for the first time, it got scared and tried to crawl away.

Only, when the naturalist decided to provoke the animal, the snake attacked, squeezing its victim.

The snake coiled itself around a man covered in pig blood to make himself more appetizing to the predator. The anaconda began to swallow his head and as it squeezed, Rosolie began to feel his arm breaking.

The naturalist was not ready for such a turn and immediately called for help.

In the film, Rosolie compares the strength of an anaconda to the strength of an entire team of horses. " The last thing I remembered was her mouth open, and then everything went black", he said.

Many the audience was disappointed long-awaited filming, and environmentalists expressed their outrage, considering the experiment cruel.

However, as the naturalist himself explained, the purpose of the stunt was to raise funds to save anaconda habitats in South America, and the animal was not harmed.

The biggest anaconda

· Anaconda is considered the heaviest snake in the world. Its weight can reach 250 kg, which is almost 3 times the average weight of a person.

· The largest anaconda can reach about 9 meters, and the average length is 6 meters.

· Anacondas are not poisonous, but they are skilled predators. They hunt their prey (pigs, tapirs, caimans and fish, sometimes jaguars) using vision and heat sensors.

· Anacondas attack in a matter of seconds, and as soon as the animal is in the grip, they wrap themselves in rings around it, suffocating or crushing the victim.

· Anacondas typically live in wetlands and rivers, and they are excellent swimmers.

· Exists 4 types of anacondas: Green anaconda, yellow anaconda, spotted anaconda and the newly discovered Bolivian anaconda. They all live in South America.

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 has endowed dragons even richer and from incomprehensible fairy tales oriental 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 each individual case to decide what is true 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 big snake such a pose 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 virgin forest, without a whole horde of assistants it is not so easy to defeat. 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. The amethyst python is a little smaller. 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, the African mamba, sometimes reaching four meters, and the even longer king cobra) are 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.

It is completely impossible to determine from the appearance of a snake whether it 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 items under water), but, by God, much more advanced 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 motionless in the presence of a giant boa constrictor, but this is explained by different reasons: sometimes they simply do not notice the danger, and sometimes they become numb 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. It is quite surprising that the organ of smell is located in their mouth, on the palate, and the necessary information is delivered to it by the tongue, which 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 open 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 rings 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, given 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

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 attendant Siegfried and “broke several of his ribs.” One former dancer who once performed the snake dance told the attendants of our Frankfurt Zoo, that one of the snakes once squeezed her so hard - ~: 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 tours, especially in winter, 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 with the end of their tail holding 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.

Of course, the most striking thing is the snake with a huge thickening on its body, which means that it has only recently swallowed some large animal. They always willingly photograph it from all sides, and this is quite easy to do, because in this position the snake becomes clumsy and helpless. When an anaconda has several swallowed fish in its stomach, or a young python has several frogs, rodents or birds in its stomach, then no one pays attention to them.

This is what led to the misconception that giant snakes exist due to much more large production than in reality. To be honest, they are surprisingly modest eaters, these snakes, and, oddly enough, they can “fast” for a long time.
The largest victims of snakes include antelopes the size of an average roe deer or pigs, and not our large European pigs, but wild boars or small domestic pigs of hot countries. So, when it comes to the fact that large antelopes such as kudu, topi, waterbuck and eland can become victims of snakes, we must always keep in mind that these can only be young animals, and not adult animals.
In Uganda, in the Toro reserve in the Semliki Valley, approximately 12 thousand Ugandan swamp goats live. These goats appear to be the main prey of hieroglyphic pythons. In any case, during the year we came across swamp goats killed by pythons at least five times. And each time the devils turned out to be not sexually mature females. A more thorough examination revealed that their bones were not broken, and death, most likely, occurred from strangulation.

Sometimes vultures try to grab some of the snake's prey for themselves. In such cases, the python hisses loudly and makes throws towards the impudent people, trying to drive them away. However, the python never manages to grab the vulture, but the vultures, as a rule, manage to tear out large pieces of meat from the snake’s victim.

Such a case has been reported. A python 4.5 meters long and weighing 54 kilograms caught a small female Ugandan swamp goat weighing 30 kilograms and began to swallow her: the victim’s head and neck had already disappeared into the snake’s mouth. The snake's body was wrapped in rings around its prey. When keepers P. Hay and P. Martin approached the python, at first it did not even move. When one of those who approached began to pull out the bushes around the snake’s head to make it easier to photograph, the python hissed and immediately released the victim from its mouth. But he did not make the slightest attempt to drive away the people and did not even loosen the rings around the prey.

And in Zambia, at the Kariba reservoir, they observed how one hieroglyphic python grabbed the neck of an adult Nile monitor lizard with its teeth and wrapped itself three times around the lizard’s body. This monitor lizard was 1 meter 53 centimeters long, while the python was 2 meters 40 centimeters long. Varan died shortly after his release, and no damage was noticeable on Eton’s body after the struggle.

Another time, a python 2 meters 10 centimeters long was seen lying on a tree, tightly wrapping its rings around the monitor lizard it had killed (messages by X. Roth).

It is known that one snake can swallow another, even one of equal size, because the swallowed individual is strongly compressed. Thus, in the Transvaal (South Africa) they observed how a small python strangled a large black mamba. At first the Mamba resisted furiously, but after a two-hour struggle it calmed down and remained lying on the grass like a lifeless rope.

By the way, many species of snakes “specialized” in feeding on their own kind—other species of snakes. However, we have never encountered “cannibals” among them: they do not kill relatives of their own species.
But somehow even a leopard was found in the stomach of a five-meter python! In the fight against a snake, this dexterous and strong predator was able to inflict only the most minor injuries on her. True, the report on this case did not indicate whether it was an adult leopard or not. For example, in our Frankfurt Zoo, a seven-eight meter Indian reticulated python is not able to swallow a victim weighing more than 55 kilograms. An Indian python measuring 7.5 meters once swallowed a domestic pig weighing 54 kilograms, and another time an Indian long-eared goat weighing 47.5 kilograms.

In both cases, the greatest difficulty was caused to the snake not by killing the victim, but by swallowing it. Two days later, after the snake swallowed the pig, it was still so swollen that it resembled a rubber hose inflated with air, swollen in one place. We even feared that the animal might suffer greatly as a result.

The remaining large reticulated pythons kept in the Frankfurt Zoo over the past decades, as a rule, refused large prey. True, it happened that they grabbed a victim weighing 30 kilograms or more and killed it, but in most cases they were unable to swallow it.
Dr. Lederer recorded that the seven-meter, extremely voracious python, after a whole hour of intense effort, failed to swallow a goat weighing 34 kilograms. Another python, measuring 7.7 meters, suffered in vain with a pig weighing 43 kilograms and was never able to swallow it.

In short, no expert has ever claimed that a giant snake is able to swallow a victim whose weight exceeds 60 kilograms.
If the snake takes a little time to grab and kill the victim, then the predator is in no hurry to swallow the killed animal. She lowers the victim to the ground, sniffs it carefully, and only after that begins to pull herself over it, like a stocking. Most often she starts from the head. At the same time, she pauses, sometimes for a full quarter of an hour, and rests. It is known that snakes are able to release both the upper and lower jaws from the joint, and then they are held on only by ligaments. This method allows you to open your mouth extremely wide. The snake bites into its prey with several rows of backward-curved teeth, and then its jaws (alternately lower and upper) move forward some distance. The larynx also protrudes forward so that the snake can breathe and not suffocate. The snake is so elastic only up to the stomach; all other insides are no longer stretchable. Therefore, the food that enters there must already be completely dissolved by gastric juice.

Many species of snakes feed on their own kind. However, they do not devour relatives of their own species. But no one in this matter except king cobra, cannot be compared with the clelia, the false snake of America. Its local name is moussu rana. “A strong and large snake (up to two and a half meters). As soon as she senses the trail of any snake, the mussurana rushes in pursuit. It crawls quickly and soon overtakes the “game” (I. I. Akimushkin)

Despite the fact that pythons and boas can swallow huge pieces in one go, they still cannot be considered voracious. In one meal they receive 400 times more energy than they need per day. But then (sometimes out of necessity, or even out of mood) they may not eat for quite a long time.
So, in Frankfurt, one reticulated python fasted for 570 days, then ate for a while, and then “fasted” again for 415 days. And the Gaboon viper (a venomous and smaller snake from Africa) refused food for 679 days, that is, for almost two years. An Indian tiger python went 149 days without eating anything and lost only 10 percent of its weight.

From all of the above, we can already conclude that pythons are not able to kill, much less swallow, a person. In zoos, over time, even a kind of friendly or at least trusting relationship is established between the giant snakes and the servants of the terrarium. The giant gets used to the fact that the attendant walks back and forth past him while cleaning his premises, and he does not make any aggressive attacks. However, some snakes (with a bad “character”) remain biters until the end of their days. Every sudden gesture, even a quick movement of a person's eyes, can prompt them< нападению. Если змее удается схватить зубами живое тело, она непременно старается обвиться вокруг него. Если же она схватила свободно висящую материю — подол пальто или край свитера, — она не делает таких попыток. Это нам удалось наблюдать в доброй полдюжине случаев. Опытный в таких делах человек свободно может справиться со здоровым питоном дли--ой от 3 до 4,5 метра. Однако змеи, достигающие шести метров и солее, могут быть для человека весьма опасными. Тем не менее -о сих пор не известны сколько-нибудь достоверные случаи, когда бы живущая на свободе гигантская змея умертвила, а тем солее проглотила взрослого человека. При этом следует учесть, *то в отдельных районах земного шара, в особенности в East Asia, snakes often live very close to human habitation. As rat exterminators, they even enjoy a certain sympathy from village residents. While such a snake is young, it does not pose the slightest danger to either people or domestic animals.

Recently, in an African scientific journal, a farmer reported about a four-year-old child who went down to the river every day, carrying a bowl of milk or porridge, explaining that he was going to play with Nana. One day the father decided to see who his son was going to feed, and, to his horror, he saw that it was a huge python. He immediately killed the snake. But since pythons do not eat either porridge or milk, everything in this story seems very implausible to me. The fact that snakes supposedly drink milk and even milk cows is an absurd, but completely ineradicable belief.

On the Napo River in Ecuador, a huge anaconda grabbed one diver, pulled him under the water and drowned him, but did not swallow him, they say about a thirteen-year-old boy who was also drowned by a snake: it swallowed him, but then regurgitated him again. The child’s father found the snake a day and a half later and killed it. This incident also occurred in one of the tributaries of the Napo River.

Another reliable story describes how a reticulated python swallowed a fourteen-year-old Malay boy from the island of Salebabu. One veterinarian from India, who visited the Frankfurt Zoo in the twenties, told us something similar. He even showed photographs confirming the documentation of his story.
But how truly rare these cases are can only be understood when you imagine how many such large snakes live on the globe (or lived at least until very recently). This can be judged at least by the number of snake skins produced. By the way, the skin of a snake is by no means slippery and sticky, as many people imagine who have an irresistible disgust for snakes; it feels pleasantly cool and completely dry, as if you were holding a wallet in your hands. Swimming through the water and crawling through the mud, the snake always remains dry and clean. She crawls on her stomach along the rocks, but does not damage her skin at all.

Since tanners learned to process even the most unusual leathers, the demand for snakes on the world market has greatly increased. A variety of fashionable toiletries and haberdashery items are made from snakeskin. True, no one has yet managed to preserve the beautiful colored pattern of the skin of a living snake on these products.

In trade catalogs of most countries, “reptile skins” are usually indicated, which includes, in addition to snake skins, alligator, crocodiles, large lizards and other similar animals. The United States purchased no less than 8 million such reptile skins in 1951, and even 12 million from Great Britain. About half of these skins are snake skins, and they belong to the largest and, therefore, almost exclusively harmless, and not poisonous, snakes.

In total, at least 12 million snakeskins are sold annually. If all of them were sewn into a belt, it could encircle the entire globe along the equator.

Considering that there are an incredible number of snakes in the warm regions of our planet, there is every reason to consider the rarest deaths associated with attacks by these reptiles, as an exception. In any case, we people can rest assured: we are not on the snake menu.

But the opposite, by the way, cannot be said: many people eat snakes with pleasure. For example, Madame de Sevigny wrote in her notes at the end of the 17th century that it was eating vipers that so amazingly refreshes and cleanses her blood and miraculously rejuvenates the body.

Most snakes are eaten in China. However, in the United States they can also rattlesnakes, and their fresh meat is sold as a special delicacy. Henry Raven, who was hunting in Kalimantan, told how the Dayaks accompanying him during the hunt with great delight grabbed a python that was about to escape into the water. They found two swallowed pigs in the snake’s stomach, so “the hunters threw a feast, during which they even served pork.”
In Africa, snake meat is also eaten, mainly from the hieroglyphic python.

A 5.3-meter-long female anaconda gave birth to 34 cubs, each 70 centimeters long, in the zoological garden.

Pythons lay eggs - sometimes 20 pieces, or even up to 70; At Frankfurt Zoo, our pythons have an average of 46 eggs. Freshly laid, they are white, soft, shiny and sticky. But after a few minutes, the shine of the eggs disappears, and they stick together, which, of course, significantly reduces their total surface and helps slow down evaporation. After a few hours, the egg skin hardens and becomes parchment-like. Eggs require heat and moisture to mature; if they even at the most a short time fell into the water - everything was lost.

Pythons incubate their eggs in a very real way. They arrange themselves in rings around the masonry, as if wrapping it, and place their heads on top as if on a pillow.

Already in 1841, at the Paris Zoo, it was noticed that these cold-blooded animals still managed to warm their eggs. At the Washington Zoo, very recently, using very accurate thermometers, it was possible to establish that the body temperature of a brooding female hieroglyphic python rises by three to four degrees - exactly the same number of degrees that males are colder than females. If you insert a thermometer between the tightly pressed rings of a brooding snake, you will often find that the difference in temperature between the snake’s body and the surrounding air exceeds seven degrees. In this position - wrapped around her clutch - the female remains lying for about 80 days, while she does not eat at all.
Young pythons molt in our zoo from five to nine times a year, adults - from three to seven times. The snake's skin begins to peel off its head. Thin and transparent, it can be pulled off the snake's body like a stocking.

If our skin did not come off gradually, in the form of tiny scales and dandruff, but completely, as happens with snakes, we would certainly arrange this process as solemnly as possible, surrounding it with all sorts of ritual sacraments and beliefs. And, of course, on radio and television every night they would listen to dozens of tips on what ointments and ointments can be used to speed up shedding and make the newly born young skin brighter and more beautiful.
However, snakes are sometimes not averse to using outside help during molting. Thus, in the Transvaal, a certain J. Marais noticed how several grazing cows were diligently licking something on the ground. As he got closer, he saw that it was a huge molting python. The snake lay stretched out, and the cows licked its skin. Noticing the approach of a person, the python immediately crawled into hiding.

Having reached the age of five or six, male giant snakes go in search of brides. Moreover, they crawl in the footsteps of females. They, in all likelihood, determine that these are traces of females by the smell secreted by special odorous glands located in their anus. When such a couple meets, they raise their heads towards each other, feel the partner with their tongue, and only then mate. Mating in the zoo usually lasts up to two and a half hours.

Not a single fact suggests that in the past, prehistoric time there were larger and more powerful snakes than now. In contrast to the various “saurs” and other reptiles, whose “golden age” has long passed, the suborder of snakes, on the contrary, has reached its magnificent flowering, apparently only in very recent times.

We humans first encountered giant snakes, most likely in Africa, where, judging by the latest research, the cradle of humanity should be located. At first, man apparently did not find them so repulsive and disgusting; in any case, he does not have an innate fear of snakes. Both human and monkey babies under the age of two do not show the slightest fear at the sight of snakes, they even play with them. By the age of five, children's curiosity, as well as their interest in these strange crawling creatures, increases, but fear appears later (probably under the influence of the example of their elders).

People in their imagination turned snakes not only into devils, as stated in the story of the origin of man in the Bible, but also into deities. Moreover, giant snakes were almost always deified.
In Dahomey, clergywomen deified the python god and carried him in their arms during church processions. The one who killed the python was locked in a hut and set on fire. If the unfortunate person managed to escape from the burning building without outside help, he was forgiven.

When the kings of Nigeria entered into treaties with the British, they invariably stipulated the sanctity of pythons. One European, who killed a python in his house, was tied by the Africans by the hands, stripped naked and spat on from head to toe.

It is from places where hieroglyphic pythons are considered sacred and never persecuted that reports come of them killing and swallowing small children. We are talking about one of the islands on Lake Victoria.
IN West Africa, in Dahomey, there are snake worshipers who follow the precepts of one king, who declared pythons sacred back in the 19th century. Even in the southern part of the country, strongly influenced Christianity, local residents They collect tribute for pythons crushed on the roads.

Quida, a place 30 kilometers east of Cotonou, is a real Mecca for snake worshipers throughout Africa. This area is home to the largest number of pythons.
One American, who in 1967 caught 1,265 royal and hieroglyphic pythons here for sale, had a big problem. Residents of neighboring houses threatened to set fire to his house, where he kept the captured snakes, so he had to urgently build himself a new home. But the neighbors came there too; they covered all the walls of his house with posters, threw stones at the windows and staged real demonstrations. Excited demonstrators even tried to overturn the car in which the American's wife was sitting, and threatened his African assistants with violence.

There are many fairy tales and beliefs associated with the deification of snakes. They claim, for example, that pythons only kill bulls and spare cows. This is because they allegedly love to wrap themselves in rings around the cow and squeeze milk out of her udder. They allegedly do the same thing in Nepal with nursing mothers.
They say that a giant snake, which accidentally fell on some ship, squeezed a barrel of water so much that the iron hoops fell onto the deck.

It is also said that in case of danger, pythons swallow their own young for a while to save them from their enemies, and then, when the threat has passed, they regurgitate them.

One missionary newspaper recommended that if a snake attacks you, lie down on the ground and freeze while it sniffs you. But as soon as the snake begins to pull itself onto your legs and reaches your knees, quietly pull out a knife from your pocket and rip its mouth open on the side.

The tribes living near Mount Meru in Tanzania believe this. that the dying python seems to spit out at the end gem. When such a stone does not appear, then all those present at the death of the snake begin to accuse each other of theft.
With our means of communication, the steppes of Africa and the jungles of India and the Malay Peninsula can in no way be considered very remote and lost somewhere on the edge of the earth. If in our days somewhere someone is grabbed and swallowed by a snake, then rest assured that such a terrible and exciting event will immediately appear in the pages of the entire world press. And since we are not only for last years, but for decades we have not read anything like this anywhere, therefore, such incidents have never or almost never happened.

Therefore, we can safely say that such giants as boas and pythons are practically quite harmless for us humans.

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 to 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 killing people big 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. Employees law enforcement A 2.5-meter albino Burmese python is carried out of 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
During the incident, the show's TV presenter tropical forests The Amazon 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 a beautiful and no less 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 everything Required documents and her pet was sent to an animal shelter to recover.

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 violated one of the most important rules behavior at the zoo when he entered a 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.

Although this attack itself was unusual, since Eric was far beyond perfect size to serve as prey for a 3-meter snake, this was not a shock since Burmese pythons are the most aggressive snakes among the large boa constrictors.

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. Every year there are dozens of python attacks on their owners and this species is responsible for greatest number 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 in his last attempt feeding the python was not careful. 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 hers 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 you evaluate snakes by weight, then, undoubtedly, the anaconda comes first, largest species snakes on the planet. 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 finally able to free his defenseless grandson from beast of prey, who struggled with him for almost thirty minutes.

After wild attack, Matheus was immediately taken to the 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.