The man eating anaconda

Most outlandish rumours throughout history have been manifested in a similar way. Somebody will propose a belief which is incredible by normal standards and then the theory, due to its sensationalist nature, gains popularity. Once realised, there will inevitably be hordes of people attesting to similar tales and admissions, despite the existence of any substantial proof lending them authenticity. In the field of wildlife, there exists a perfect example of such a tale and this is in relation to snakes and specifically, a belief in their capacity to ingest a human being. Ever since man discovered the Amazon jungle and carved his way through thick green undergrowth, he encountered colossal specimens of anacondas which could easily explain the birth of such claims, simply as a result of their enormous size and strength, with carefully documented reports on certain specimens proving sizes of up to six metres in length. These we know of, but there are also wilder claims of such beasts reaching staggering sizes of fifty metres which are almost certainly born out of the exaggeration principle, where a size observed becomes double or even triple the value it was when relayed as a story.


As wild a claim as it might be, there are certain details in regards to the snakes physical structure and also in the observation of it's dietary preferences, that leads people to believe this urban myth may not be based purely in the world of fiction. Snakes in the past have successfully killed wild game such as antelope, boars, alligators and goats, with the scale of such animals as large as and in some cases, larger than humans, lending credence to the claims of the legendary man eater. Once it's prey has been neutralised, the serpent has then attempted to swallow and ingest it, sometime with success and other times resulting in a premature death as the prey proves to be too large and subsequently becomes trapped in the jaws of the creature. On other occasions, due to the combined efforts of the prey's size and a slow digestive system, the meal cannot be processed in time and decays inside the body of the creature, causing the same unfortunate fate. Their ability to bring down and then feast upon creatures many times their own size is realised by their bodies ability to expand to a fantastic extent, evidenced by their bloated appearance after devouring a meal. Their jaws are also designed with this process in mind, with the lower not connected by bone to the upper. In it's place, there exists a flexible tendon on each side, resulting in an ability to open it's mouth much wider than almost any other animal in existence. All these attributes lend themselves rather amicably to a theory of man eating.


The proof many people desired seemed to have been found a few years ago when a particular photograph began to circulate over the internet. It showed a large anaconda at rest on a tiled floor inside a building, located in India. It's appearance was bloated around the middle of it's body, obviously a result of swallowing a very large victim. Despite the insistence from certain elements that the victim was of human origin, it was later concluded a hoax, with the person's identity changing relative to the site it was read from. In some cases, it was a woman residing in South Africa and yet in others he was an Indian man from his country of origin. The original source of the photograph is still unknown, with the only verifiable information proving it to be a real picture, with a genuine snake visible in it. Although the unknown identity of the victim is disappointing, it could be used as evidence for a snake's capacity to eat a human as it's size is very similar in scale to an average person.