Man Eaters
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- Dusty Rhoads
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Man Eaters
Hello friends,
I know some of you may know this... My questions is, how many species of snake are documented man-eaters? Especially, in the wild. (But captives works too.) Thanks! DR
I know some of you may know this... My questions is, how many species of snake are documented man-eaters? Especially, in the wild. (But captives works too.) Thanks! DR
Re: Man Eaters
I think only three-The Reticulated Python, African Rock, and Anaconda. If you include captivity, you can of course add the Burmese.
- chris_mcmartin
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Re: Man Eaters
There are several.Dusty Rhoads wrote:how many species of snake are documented man-eaters?
Unless you don't believe the Internet.
In that case, the answer is likely one (or less).
- DaneConley
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Re: Man Eaters
Im pretty sure it's anaconda, reticulated, and african rock. And Black Rat Snake...haha kidding. But these three are for adults (mainly females, because they are smaller) but usually snakes don't eat people because if they eat something too large, the food or people would decompose before fully digested which would severly hurt, sicken, and even kill the snake. (Would you take that chance) so its normally only snakes desperate for food.
- Christopher
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Re: Man Eaters
chris_mcmartin wrote:There are several.Dusty Rhoads wrote:how many species of snake are documented man-eaters?
Unless you don't believe the Internet.
In that case, the answer is likely one (or less).
Re: Man Eaters
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/ ... 85131.html
I never heard of Africa Rock Pythons eating people, but now I know.
I never heard of Africa Rock Pythons eating people, but now I know.
Re: Man Eaters
Are you talking about killed, or actually eaten? If you mean documented cases where the person was actually consumed, the answer is zero. That's not to say it hasn't happened and gone undocumented, but there has never been a confirmed case of a snake swallowing an entire human. The closest incident was in 1995 in Malaysia; a man was killed by a retic that got most of his head down before his brother found him and killed the snake.
Re: Man Eaters
I hear big snakes will sidle up next to someone in their sleep to get an idea of their size, then wait until they're big enough to eat them.
As I've received several emails with the same story, I just KNOW it must be true.
Same with the story of the construction worker in South America that fell asleep and got eaten by an anaconda (which, somehow, turned into a retic by the time the photos were taken).
As I've received several emails with the same story, I just KNOW it must be true.
Same with the story of the construction worker in South America that fell asleep and got eaten by an anaconda (which, somehow, turned into a retic by the time the photos were taken).
- BlakeMolone
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Re: Man Eaters
I found this Ratsnake stalking kids as they got off the bus.
- MHollanders
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Re: Man Eaters
Leptotyphlops and Ophisauris are notorious for eating humans, especially young'uns.
Re: Man Eaters
A follow up on this article would be interesting, since either the snake or boy was found theres no real evidence that he actually was eaten.TravisK wrote:http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/ ... 85131.html
I never heard of Africa Rock Pythons eating people, but now I know.
- Ross Padilla
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Re: Man Eaters
jmcghee wrote:Are you talking about killed, or actually eaten? If you mean documented cases where the person was actually consumed, the answer is zero. That's not to say it hasn't happened and gone undocumented, but there has never been a confirmed case of a snake swallowing an entire human. The closest incident was in 1995 in Malaysia; a man was killed by a retic that got most of his head down before his brother found him and killed the snake.
I don't know, these pictures sure do look real.
Re: Man Eaters
You know Ross, it's pretty cool how the guy right there was able to change pants post mortem.
- Ross Padilla
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Re: Man Eaters
Yeah, but the guy with the pants has no shirt on and the floor is different too.
Re: Man Eaters
It's all very sketchy.
- Ross Padilla
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Re: Man Eaters
If its fake, that guy is pretty sick to crawl up in that thing.
- AndyO'Connor
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Re: Man Eaters
The one with the shorts looks staged, whereas the other one looks pretty real. It would be an easy way to hide a murder in those parts of the world, find a fairly large snake, kill it, kill a person in a not-so-obvious way, then stick the body half way into the snakes gut and make it look like it busted open like that alligator/burmese picture from the everglades a few years ago...
Re: Man Eaters
Andy,
You are now on the FBI's watch list.
You are now on the FBI's watch list.
Re: Man Eaters
I think it's fake.
Re: Man Eaters
Every couple of years those same badly staged photos come up with someone wondering which ones are real. Save yourself the trouble, those have all been around for 20 years, and they're all staged. You can sleuth the stories on each individual one, but they are all 100% fake. Heck, the one with the child's legs hanging out is a mediocre at best PhotoShop job. When you find the rock python in the back of a pickup truck, that one's fake too.
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
I get asked that at my reptile shows all the time. Yeah big snakes can and do kill people by constriction (usually children not adults) but it is mostly captive snakes and is extremely rare in the wild. A recent Florida toddler tragedy comes to mind. Actually being consumed by a giant snake? There are no 100% confirmed cases in the last 50 years (and anything earlier is anecdotal at best) but evidence seems strong in at least one African Rock Python case with a herder boy that was killed and partially consumed before the snake was found by his relatives and killed, he likely would have been totally eaten if the snake had not been interrupted (his brother ran for help during the attack.) Also a Philippine police officer took astonishing photos of a Retic attempting to eat a young dead woman with her head completely down, but was unable to get her shoulders swallowed. The bite wounds and lacerations on her shoulders seemed very authentic by all who investigated. (Not just some guy who crawled in a cut open dead snake with nary a bite wound on him)The snake may not have killed her though, the cause of death was unknown, it is possible the hungry snake was scavaging a dead person.
An adult male person or average size adult female usually would have a shoulder width that would make consumption an impossibility, but children and smaller adult females it is possible.
Only Green Anacondas, African Rock Pythons, and Reticulated Pythons attain a size that would even make man-eaters remotely possible. I am unaware of any factual story of total consumption I.E. completely swallowed (even a child) in the wild or in captivity and although Burmese Pythons attain impressive size I have never heard of any cases of consumption at all.
My brother while in Brazil constantly came across the same several photos of a Green Anaconda that supposedly ate someone but after the snake's necropsy the meal was in fact a goat. Of course they never show the photos from that part.
Strange how these stories all come from countries where people are regularly killed and possibly eaten by large crocodillians which has certainly been documented many, many times but getting eaten by giant snakes seems more sensational.
An adult male person or average size adult female usually would have a shoulder width that would make consumption an impossibility, but children and smaller adult females it is possible.
Only Green Anacondas, African Rock Pythons, and Reticulated Pythons attain a size that would even make man-eaters remotely possible. I am unaware of any factual story of total consumption I.E. completely swallowed (even a child) in the wild or in captivity and although Burmese Pythons attain impressive size I have never heard of any cases of consumption at all.
My brother while in Brazil constantly came across the same several photos of a Green Anaconda that supposedly ate someone but after the snake's necropsy the meal was in fact a goat. Of course they never show the photos from that part.
Strange how these stories all come from countries where people are regularly killed and possibly eaten by large crocodillians which has certainly been documented many, many times but getting eaten by giant snakes seems more sensational.
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- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
Sounds like two actual cases where the story has been combined into one by the Urban Legend rumor mill. the retic one was a trying to eat a dead female in the Phillipines, the story and pics first came out in a Malaysian magazine and the African rock was the herder boy who got attacked and killed and partially swallowed and his brother went for help. Neither were actually completely swallowed.jmcghee wrote:Are you talking about killed, or actually eaten? If you mean documented cases where the person was actually consumed, the answer is zero. That's not to say it hasn't happened and gone undocumented, but there has never been a confirmed case of a snake swallowing an entire human. The closest incident was in 1995 in Malaysia; a man was killed by a retic that got most of his head down before his brother found him and killed the snake.
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- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
Pics-Here is a huge anaconda that clearly couldn't swallow any of the men holding it. Its head size is just way to small even with snakes' ability to swallow larger prey than their head size.
The silly and often shown "man crawls in a cut open dead snake" that was way too small to be believable.
One of the actual photos of a dead female in the Philippines and the Reticulated Python trying to get past her shoulders.
The typical "man inside snake" photos can quickly be determined as hoaxes because the bodies have no actual teeth marks on them, just fake gore. Heavy contusions and possible constriction related fractures should be abundantly evident on victims. Ruptured capillaries would cause subsurface spiderweb patterns on skin. Livor mortis or blood pooling begins to take effect twenty minutes after death and it would take the snake at least that long to swallow someone. Numerous teeth punctures should be found on any alleged victim.
The snake would have to work teeth rows along the body as it progresses to swallow any large prey item.
Also most show snakes that are not nearly large enough to swallow a person the head and body are just way too small, it takes a snake at least 20 feet plus to even come close for a medium sized person. Most bizarre is the photos are strangely "feet first swallows" with the feet towards the tail of the snake (look at the scales on the snake to determine direction) which would be impossible for such a huge meal (extremely rare for a successful feet first swallow even with medium sized natural prey, most breech swallow attempts are aborted or regurgitated.) Human beings even dead, rarely would have both feet right touching together for a snake to even try that. Most photos show only a small to medium sized snake (incapable of such an incredible claim) with a large food item bulge that has little for reference as to the actual scale of the snake or extreme foreshortening illusions involved to make the snake seem huge. then they cut to the obviously fake "guy in snake" photos sometimes not even the same species of snake!
The silly and often shown "man crawls in a cut open dead snake" that was way too small to be believable.
One of the actual photos of a dead female in the Philippines and the Reticulated Python trying to get past her shoulders.
The typical "man inside snake" photos can quickly be determined as hoaxes because the bodies have no actual teeth marks on them, just fake gore. Heavy contusions and possible constriction related fractures should be abundantly evident on victims. Ruptured capillaries would cause subsurface spiderweb patterns on skin. Livor mortis or blood pooling begins to take effect twenty minutes after death and it would take the snake at least that long to swallow someone. Numerous teeth punctures should be found on any alleged victim.
The snake would have to work teeth rows along the body as it progresses to swallow any large prey item.
Also most show snakes that are not nearly large enough to swallow a person the head and body are just way too small, it takes a snake at least 20 feet plus to even come close for a medium sized person. Most bizarre is the photos are strangely "feet first swallows" with the feet towards the tail of the snake (look at the scales on the snake to determine direction) which would be impossible for such a huge meal (extremely rare for a successful feet first swallow even with medium sized natural prey, most breech swallow attempts are aborted or regurgitated.) Human beings even dead, rarely would have both feet right touching together for a snake to even try that. Most photos show only a small to medium sized snake (incapable of such an incredible claim) with a large food item bulge that has little for reference as to the actual scale of the snake or extreme foreshortening illusions involved to make the snake seem huge. then they cut to the obviously fake "guy in snake" photos sometimes not even the same species of snake!
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- Josh Holbrook
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Re: Man Eaters
I didn't think a snake would be able to get past a person's shoulders until I saw this video and rethought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
Re: Man Eaters
Not a hippo, maybe a Tapir. The feet look like a Tapir but I'm not that good at mammals.Josh Holbrook wrote:I didn't think a snake would be able to get past a person's shoulders until I saw this video and rethought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
Re: Man Eaters
HahahahaBlakeMolone wrote:I found this Ratsnake stalking kids as they got off the bus.
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
That snake is a green anaconda from South America, hippos are from Africa. Zero chance for interaction between these species except in a zoo, where trust me, they don't regularly feed off the hippo babies to the anaconda. The head shape and pattern of an anaconda are very distinctive not to mention the narrative of the clip is in Portuguese, the spoken language in Brazil. The regurgitated prey item could be some sort of pig or peccary or perhaps a small tapir. When I worked at a zoo I regularly observed both hippos and pygmy hippos at close range both are much too large for any snake to take. Even young hippos are well out of the prey size range of all but the most giant snakes over 24 feet at 80 to 120lbs. (Most 15 foot long snakes struggle or are inable to swallow a 20 lb. pig.) Pygmy hippo babies might be possible at around 12 pounds when born but who is going to feed a snake one? The feet are certainly wrong for a hippo most likely a small tapir.Josh Holbrook wrote:I didn't think a snake would be able to get past a person's shoulders until I saw this video and rethought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
- Josh Holbrook
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Re: Man Eaters
I realize that hippos and anacondas are from different continents. But backwater zoos in third world countries do crazy things sometimes. Heck, I work at a first world zoo and we do crazy things sometime. It is an anaconda, and on second look you're right, it is a tapir - and an adult or subadult one at that(juvies have patterning,) which definitely puts in the same ballpark size as a juvenile or young hippo. Point being, large snakes can get their mouths around some big prey.Jeremy Westerman wrote:That snake is a green anaconda from South America, hippos are from Africa. Zero chance for interaction between these species except in a zoo, where trust me, they don't regularly feed off the hippo babies to the anaconda. The head shape and pattern of an anaconda are very distinctive not to mention the narrative of the clip is in Portuguese, the spoken language in Brazil. The regurgitated prey item could be some sort of pig or peccary or perhaps a small tapir. When I worked at a zoo I regularly observed both hippos and pygmy hippos at close range both are much too large for any snake to take. Even young hippos are well out of the prey size range of all but the most giant snakes over 24 feet at 80 to 120lbs. (Most 15 foot long snakes struggle or are inable to swallow a 20 lb. pig.) Pygmy hippo babies might be possible at around 12 pounds when born but who is going to feed a snake one? The feet are certainly wrong for a hippo most likely a small tapir.Josh Holbrook wrote:I didn't think a snake would be able to get past a person's shoulders until I saw this video and rethought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
Most 15 foot long snakes unable to swallow a 20 point pig? Tell that to some of the burms in the glades that've been found with 6 foot gators inside...
Re: Man Eaters
Yes they can swallow huge items, but just being a big speciman is not enough, the item of consumption has to be properly shaped. A human is not shaped in an eliptical form when dead. Quadripeds make essentially a tapered oval, the legs fold back along the body easily. The elipitical shape is easily kept by just restraining the feet along the body of the animal. Because of the shape it allows for gradual expansion of the mouth of the animal and facilitates consumption.
A human on the other hand is an inverted triangle, swallowing would be possible if consumed backwards feet (the feet would have to be together) first. To start from the head the shoulders impede consumption, the head goes down easily but then a span of generally 15'' is required to be taken. A snakes jaw and ligature does not function in such a way to allow a giant bite.
NOW if the shoulders were tightly bound it may be possible, but that would not be natural consumption. Constriction wont keep the shoulder together because a coil is loosened to allow the jaw to move forward. The clavicle and shoulder blade must be bent together at a constant and even pressure, in order to form the compression necessary. Upon uneven coil release in pressure, one of the shoulders pops out awkwardly.
I have bred retics, I still own 2 large females, though I no longer breed I still maintain these two girls and both can eat very large meals but the shape is essential.
-N-
A human on the other hand is an inverted triangle, swallowing would be possible if consumed backwards feet (the feet would have to be together) first. To start from the head the shoulders impede consumption, the head goes down easily but then a span of generally 15'' is required to be taken. A snakes jaw and ligature does not function in such a way to allow a giant bite.
NOW if the shoulders were tightly bound it may be possible, but that would not be natural consumption. Constriction wont keep the shoulder together because a coil is loosened to allow the jaw to move forward. The clavicle and shoulder blade must be bent together at a constant and even pressure, in order to form the compression necessary. Upon uneven coil release in pressure, one of the shoulders pops out awkwardly.
I have bred retics, I still own 2 large females, though I no longer breed I still maintain these two girls and both can eat very large meals but the shape is essential.
-N-
Re: Man Eaters
See above post regarding why a gator goes down so easily..
- Christopher
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Re: Man Eaters
Well now I think you spoke a little too soon....That snake is a green anaconda from South America, hippos are from Africa. Zero chance for interaction between these species
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/co ... os.html#cr
Edit-of course I dont think any anacondas have actually eaten hippos though
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
No zoo keeper in their right mind would feed a very expensive import to a native. that video leaves much to wonder because of little in the way of size reference of the snake. It is impressive no doubt, but I hardly think that tapir is the same size as a 80 to 120 lb. baby hippo. I think that is a young tapir and if it were an adult South American Tapir at up to 8 feet long, 3 feet high and around 600 lbs. that would certainly be the world record size meal for a snake.Josh Holbrook wrote:I realize that hippos and anacondas are from different continents. But backwater zoos in third world countries do crazy things sometimes. Heck, I work at a first world zoo and we do crazy things sometime. It is an anaconda, and on second look you're right, it is a tapir - and an adult or subadult one at that(juvies have patterning,) which definitely puts in the same ballpark size as a juvenile or young hippo. Point being, large snakes can get their mouths around some big prey.Jeremy Westerman wrote:That snake is a green anaconda from South America, hippos are from Africa. Zero chance for interaction between these species except in a zoo, where trust me, they don't regularly feed off the hippo babies to the anaconda. The head shape and pattern of an anaconda are very distinctive not to mention the narrative of the clip is in Portuguese, the spoken language in Brazil. The regurgitated prey item could be some sort of pig or peccary or perhaps a small tapir. When I worked at a zoo I regularly observed both hippos and pygmy hippos at close range both are much too large for any snake to take. Even young hippos are well out of the prey size range of all but the most giant snakes over 24 feet at 80 to 120lbs. (Most 15 foot long snakes struggle or are inable to swallow a 20 lb. pig.) Pygmy hippo babies might be possible at around 12 pounds when born but who is going to feed a snake one? The feet are certainly wrong for a hippo most likely a small tapir.Josh Holbrook wrote:I didn't think a snake would be able to get past a person's shoulders until I saw this video and rethought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhhhh1QiT-U
Most 15 foot long snakes unable to swallow a 20 point pig? Tell that to some of the burms in the glades that've been found with 6 foot gators inside...
it is not necessarily weight but shape with the pigs, pigs are wide and bulky. our 15 foot burms and retics have no problem with 15 lb rabbits but most try and can't get a 20lb hog down. Gators are narrow and streamlined to say the least and our gators are approaching 4 feet will let you know how much they weigh at 6 feet which would be mostly tail length and a relatively narrow streamlined body.
Here is me with a 5 foot gator that I don't think a 15 foot snake can choke down period without another "blowout picture" happening. even a 5 foot gator is an impressive animal size wise.
In the snake vs. gator photo reportedly a 13 foot python and a 6 foot gator that I suppose you are referencing that is probably a very young gator indeed. Unfortunately it is the ventral view instead of the dorsal of the gator but judging by the plant heights for size reference it seems small. The snake looks like a retic to me not a burm. I find it hard to believe a 13 foot Python would have any chance of swallowing a 6 foot gator at all judging by what can be taken by our 15 Retics and Burms and a friends 22 foot anaconda. here is a break down of that real photo with questionable captions by a good debunking website http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/snakegator.asp it is likely that someone cut the head off the snake and cut open the snake to expose the small gator rather than a battle of giants resulting in a blowout.
That said, crocodillian predation by snakes can and does occur regularly but with the appropriate size ratios of the animals involved. Anacondas take small crocodiles and Caimans and obviously the pythons in Florida are giving it a go...
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- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
Crap you are right about interaction I forgot about the drug lord's exotic hippos but lets see a snake take one down.Christopher wrote:Well now I think you spoke a little too soon....That snake is a green anaconda from South America, hippos are from Africa. Zero chance for interaction between these species
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/co ... os.html#cr
Edit-of course I dont think any anacondas have actually eaten hippos though
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w ... bQ&cad=rja
Here is a good sized albino Reticulated Python eating a 17lb pig video
edit:link didn't work first go around
Here is a good sized albino Reticulated Python eating a 17lb pig video
edit:link didn't work first go around
Re: Man Eaters
That anaconda video looks to me like it's eating what anacondas usually eat: a capybara (a particularly bloated one at that). It may be a young tapir, but my money is on capybara
Re: Man Eaters
I can't vouch for any of the other photos but I think the 3rd shot jeremy westerman posted is legit. The one labeled as snake eating female, I saw a show on tv about man eating snakes and they disproved alot of different photos and stories but that one they said was authentic. Apparently it was actually an Asian man and the retic did kill him and began to eat him but couldn't make it past the shoulders. It was then discovered and killed.
I think it can happen but that most of the reports are fake I mean we have all seen snakes eat some big prey items. I think an average sized male is safe but perhaps it is possible for a few of the larger specimens of the larger species to prey on humans.
I think it can happen but that most of the reports are fake I mean we have all seen snakes eat some big prey items. I think an average sized male is safe but perhaps it is possible for a few of the larger specimens of the larger species to prey on humans.
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Re: Man Eaters
or kids.
Won't someone think of the children?
didn't someone document a retic eating a sunbear or something similarly insane?
Won't someone think of the children?
didn't someone document a retic eating a sunbear or something similarly insane?
Re: Man Eaters
Is the OP just referring to adults? I thought it was a given that infants/young children have been consumed by a number of species before - I thought Clarke's Man is the Prey had cases involving retics, african rocks, burmese, boa constrictors, and maybe anacondas (with the burmese and boas it was only infants).
- AndyO'Connor
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Re: Man Eaters
I don't think many if any of the reported cases are real, and I think it's incredibly unlikely for it to ever happen, but I think if any of you are science minded people, you'll need to broaden your idea of "possible". I think that a true beast of a snake, 25 foot plus, of an anaconda, or larger retic could definitely eat and average sized adult male. It may not be easy, but I think once the head was in, if the snake was at the right angle and its top jaw made its way to a shoulder and the neck bent, bringing the ear to the shoulder, it could get one shoulder in, and then it is much more feasible for the other shoulder to get worked in, and it's smooth sailing (or swallowing) after that. Haven't smaller snakes been documented eating any of the similarly shaped primates? Although not as pronounced, wouldn't a spider or howler monkey's shoulder produce a hitch for an average sized boa constrictor? I just think it's more possible than many of you are trying to prove, but I agree it is highly unlikely for the circumstances to ever come together.
Re: Man Eaters
Consumption of adults must be vanishingly rare, but consumption of children from infancy-60 pounds would be child's play (pun intended ) for a large individual retic, burmese, rock or anaconda. And the way toddlers cavort in the rivers in tropical countries worldwide I think it would be more surprising if it didn't happen. I remember hearing recently of a toddler being taken in Brazil, but can't find the reference.
That Mannix book is a fun read-first enjoyed it as a teenager back in the 70s....
That Mannix book is a fun read-first enjoyed it as a teenager back in the 70s....
- Hans Breuer (twoton)
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Re: Man Eaters
ROTFL!!!!!BlakeMolone wrote:I found this Ratsnake stalking kids as they got off the bus.
Re: Man Eaters
That's what I was gonna say, Capybara. And I really doubt that 15 foot snakes "have trouble eating 20 lb pigs. I have a 5 ft. Retic and it really amazes me the size of animals that it can eat.crocdoc wrote:That anaconda video looks to me like it's eating what anacondas usually eat: a capybara (a particularly bloated one at that). It may be a young tapir, but my money is on capybara
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
I don't doubt a 25 footer of any of those species mentioned could eat a man but most snakes just aren't that big and then the particular ambush situation required for a grown man to be overcome and killed and eaten makes it a seriously remote possibility at best. I am sure kids or infants could get eaten by a much smaller snake (say around 15 feet for an infant or toddler) but I haven't heard of any authenticated cases at all. Kinda reminds me of Gary Larson cartoons where the explorer is sleeping in his tent but his "sleeping bag" is inching its way over him because its really a giant snake. ha ha. Crocodillians are the only reptiles that regularly kill and eat people although a few komodo Dragon stories seem believable.AndyO'Connor wrote:I don't think many if any of the reported cases are real, and I think it's incredibly unlikely for it to ever happen, but I think if any of you are science minded people, you'll need to broaden your idea of "possible". I think that a true beast of a snake, 25 foot plus, of an anaconda, or larger retic could definitely eat and average sized adult male. It may not be easy, but I think once the head was in, if the snake was at the right angle and its top jaw made its way to a shoulder and the neck bent, bringing the ear to the shoulder, it could get one shoulder in, and then it is much more feasible for the other shoulder to get worked in, and it's smooth sailing (or swallowing) after that. Haven't smaller snakes been documented eating any of the similarly shaped primates? Although not as pronounced, wouldn't a spider or howler monkey's shoulder produce a hitch for an average sized boa constrictor? I just think it's more possible than many of you are trying to prove, but I agree it is highly unlikely for the circumstances to ever come together.
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
It is very possible that gas bloat caused the snake to regurgitate a large meal that was decaying before it could digest it. I am sure that it is a native prey item and Capybara seems highly likely.crocdoc wrote:That anaconda video looks to me like it's eating what anacondas usually eat: a capybara (a particularly bloated one at that). It may be a young tapir, but my money is on capybara
- Jason_Hood
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Re: Man Eaters
Jeremy Westerman wrote:It is very possible that gas bloat caused the snake to regurgitate a large meal that was decaying before it could digest it. I am sure that it is a native prey item and Capybara seems highly likely.crocdoc wrote:That anaconda video looks to me like it's eating what anacondas usually eat: a capybara (a particularly bloated one at that). It may be a young tapir, but my money is on capybara
The snake regurged because a guy was hitting it with an oar...jeez man. One guy is on it's tail pulling on it and the other guy is hitting it on the food bolus and agitating it from the front... that is plenty to cause the regurge.
Pretty sure the gator in the glades picture was taken by a NG photographer out with Skip Snow if I remember correctly. It was a burm and not a retic.
Jason
- Dusty Rhoads
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Re: Man Eaters
This is for an article I'm working on, so thanks for the comments. I have found quite a few confirmed deaths of adult male humans by retics (in the wild).
And it looks like African Rock as well, so that's two species.
Someone asked whether I meant adult humans or not. To be clear, I'm just wanting a tally of constrictor species that have killed Homo sapiens, from infants to adults, in the wild. Whether the snakes were allowed to finish eating or not does not matter.
That book Man is the Prey sounds like it could have some leads to a good estimate of species??
Cheers,
DR
And it looks like African Rock as well, so that's two species.
Someone asked whether I meant adult humans or not. To be clear, I'm just wanting a tally of constrictor species that have killed Homo sapiens, from infants to adults, in the wild. Whether the snakes were allowed to finish eating or not does not matter.
That book Man is the Prey sounds like it could have some leads to a good estimate of species??
Cheers,
DR
Re: Man Eaters
Dusty Rhoads wrote:That book Man is the Prey sounds like it could have some leads to a good estimate of species??
Yeah, but I can't remember how well the particular incidents are sourced. Still, it's a start.
- Jeremy Westerman
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Re: Man Eaters
Years ago I was researching for a paper on different man eater species and had to give up on big snakes because there was no reliable data available so I switched to mountain lion attacks for the topic instead. Pretty much Tigers, lions, Leopards, Jaguars, Cougars, Crocs and Sharks are where there are tons of data available but trying to find big snake man eater data is like teaching ignorant creationists about evolution. Nearly impossible no matter how much time is spent explaining and researching the facts.Dusty Rhoads wrote:This is for an article I'm working on, so thanks for the comments. I have found quite a few confirmed deaths of adult male humans by retics (in the wild).
And it looks like African Rock as well, so that's two species.
Someone asked whether I meant adult humans or not. To be clear, I'm just wanting a tally of constrictor species that have killed Homo sapiens, from infants to adults, in the wild. Whether the snakes were allowed to finish eating or not does not matter.
That book Man is the Prey sounds like it could have some leads to a good estimate of species??
Cheers,
DR
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Re: Man Eaters
Unless you're a dumbass and get yourself in a bad situation with a 20+ snake you don't have to worry. As for kids they could be eaten by a large constrictor but a kid with the right supervision would NEVER have this problem.