Investigating Monster Snakes (Full Episode) | Monster Snakes | Nat Geo Animals

NARRATOR: They slither through Amazonian swamps. Glide across Everglade waterways. And lurk in caves across the world. BRADY: Here comes the head! Watch it, ah! NARRATOR: Monster serpents are the stuff of nightmares! Pythons and boas are among the biggest reptiles on the planet... And they eat big too. First, the victim is squeezed to death... Then, swallowed whole. Even humans have become prey. (scream) From the biggest to the baddest, and every killer constrictor in between... These are Monster Snakes! (theme music plays). The Green anaconda, known as the heaviest snake in the world. They reach up to 25 feet long and can weigh more than 300 pounds. To support its bulk, anacondas spend almost all of their time in and around water. Camouflaged to blend into plant-choked water, this snake usually waits for prey to come to it. Eyes and nostrils positioned on top of their heads allow the snakes to remain almost completely submerged as they wait to ambush. The anaconda shares this flooded plain with the capybara, the largest rodents on Earth, often reaching more than 100 pounds. Capybara are social animals and herbivores. Much of their diet consists of aquatic plants, so they spend a lot of time near water. Prime hunting ground for the anaconda. Underwater it can stalk without being seen... Poking its head up just long enough to gage the distance. Then it waits. It strikes, latching on with six rows of teeth, coiling itself around the large rodent. There is no escape. Anacondas don't kill with venom... They are constrictors. They compress the blood flow to their prey's heart causing cardiac arrest. Once the heart has stopped beating, they begin to eat their meal whole, toes and all. They do this with the help of both stretchy ligaments and mobile joints in their mouths. In the middle of the anaconda's upper jaw are two rows of backward-pointing teeth. These teeth can move independently, biting into prey, and helping move the snake's head up and over its meal. But eating this way creates a problem... With its mouth stretched so tightly, breathing could be a challenge... Evolution developed a solution for that... The windpipe gets pushed forward from deep within the throat, it becomes like a snorkel. Effortlessly breathing while feeding. It's a huge meal. The anaconda will rest, digesting its catch for weeks. A capybara this size will satisfy it for months, but eventually it will need to feed again... For females, finding large prey is vital. 30% of their body weight is used for reproduction. Anacondas give birth to live babies, up to 50 at a time. But not all of them make it out of the den alive. And after 7 months of fasting, the mother will eat the babies that didn't survive. The rest leave the nest, ready to kill from day one. These nearly two-foot-long snakelets will become the next giants of South American waterways. These snakes are hard to find, so adventurers like Richard Terry are eager to learn more about these mysterious monsters. RICHARD: We're still close to water. We are literally looking along the riverbank using our eyes, looking for bubbles or any signs of disturbance. Track marks. But if they're here on land they could be hungry, and we've got to be really careful. NARRATOR: It doesn't take long to find signs that an Anaconda is nearby. SAMUEL: Richard, there are the marks. The little tree, the little bush has been crushed. RICHARD: You can see that the leaves have been pushed into the mud. He says the snake gets onto this so that he can put his head in the sun, before it then enters the water and then out onto the land to hunt. SAMUEL: I can see it! RICHARD: Really? SAMUEL: I don't know where's the head! Come here! Come help me, put your hand underneath here. Just grab it. I'm gonna pull it. Just grab it! Pull that. Yeah, pull it. RICHARD: Ohhh look at this! It is... It's got the black oval markings! Look at this! That is... SAMUEL: Pull it! Pull it! Pull it! RICHARD: The anaconda! Where's the head? (painful scream). SAMUEL: Grab it, just grab it! RICHARD: OK! SAMUEL: It's got you, it's got you! RICHARD: It's got me! Arghh, I've got it! SAMUEL: Yeah! RICHARD: Release. Release. She's aggressive! SAMUEL: OK, I got it! RICHARD: She's aggressive! I got it! She sank her fangs into my thumb right away! As soon as we had our hands in the water! Look at the markings, green, black ovals all over it! This is the green anaconda! Look how thick it is! Look at the girth of this! She's hissing! (hissing) Sleek, efficient, fast, stealthy; the Green Anaconda is the largest snake in the world. This thing here has the ability to crawl out of the water, to actually rear up out of the water and strike. Strike people in their canoes, in their boats. And also to climb up onto land. Although these creatures do swallow their prey whole, you can see from my thumb, they will strike, and they will attack! If someone is cornering them like we just did then in the hole, it will turn around and it will bite. NARRATOR: Richard may have gotten off easy, others haven't been so lucky... Anacondas are the most aquatic of the boa family, their soft, loose skin helps them withstand long periods of immersion. Quiet stealth allows for rapid attacks and raw power. This force of nature can even set its sights on humans. Jose Damaso and his father-in-law were out fishing in the Amazon rainforest of northern Peru. This fishing spot happened to be home to an especially large anaconda. The two locals had seen this beast before but never thought of it as a threat. Jose failed to notice that the anaconda was nearby. The giant serpent can hold its breath underwater for up to ten minutes. Fully concealed, it silently closes in... NARRATOR: An anaconda's razor-sharp teeth dug into Jose's thigh... Teeth designed for exactly that purpose. If the snake succeeded in coiling around him, there'd be no escape. Luckily, his size and quick reaction probably saved his life. But he's left with a reminder of just how close he came to the unthinkable. Attacks like this have occurred before but there are no confirmed cases of an anaconda killing a human. But with humans building houses on the edge of their territory, it might just be a matter of time... Anacondas aren't the only constrictors with tales of terror attached to their name. In Africa, a species of python plays the villain in legendary stories throughout the region... It lies in wait... watching for the prey to approach... And readies an attack: a deadly embrace. The African Rock Python. There's a story going around sub-Saharan Africa, about a sleeping goat herder and a giant python on the hunt. They say the boy was stalked by a beast two feet around and 18 feet long, with dozens of needle-sharp teeth and jaws as wide as the boy's shoulders. It's said to have snatched the sleeping boy, squeezed the life out of him, and then swallowed him whole. And for this snake, consuming a small boy wouldn't be difficult. To devour giant prey, the python starts by opening its jaws 180 degrees. Its teeth are curved backwards. And the two sides of the skull move independently, rocking back and forth, inching the jaws up and over the prey. And once inside, the python's stomach expands, enough to accommodate animals two to three times wider than itself. But snakes will give up their meals if they sense serious danger... Shedding the extra pounds enables a python to retreat quickly, or provide a distraction so it can escape. Digesting massive meals can take weeks. Regurgitation is sometimes necessary for survival. Like anacondas, African Rock pythons aren't venomous. Its weapon is all muscle. This serpent can weigh nearly 300 pounds and grow to almost 20 feet. Making it one of the largest snakes in the world! This python lives throughout the Savannas and forests of Sub-Saharan Africa... Hunting on land and in water. This giant tracks its target with special heat-seeking pits. These sensors home in on body heat... Stripping prey of camouflage and targeting the point of attack. Already powerful on land, this brawny serpent employs a more impressive tactic, from underwater... Where it glides with fluid grace. Ever adaptable, Pythons that live near water thrive on fish. Some snakes find even bigger prey here... it waits, underwater. Rising every 30 minutes for a discrete breath... Hours of coiled tension... Waiting, until... scores of teeth seize the prey... Then muscular coils envelope the victim. Crushed, the springbok's heart slowly stops beating. The Python devours up to 130 pounds of lifeless prey... whole. After a meal like this, it won't need to eat again for a while, but hungry or not, pythons are always dangerous. Grazing livestock make perfect meals, and farms are ideal hunting grounds. SIMON: How you doing? NARRATOR: Snake catcher, Simon Keys, helps to rescue and relocate menacing reptiles. SIMON: Yeah. SIMON: Down into there? SIMON: We know it's a big python. There is no other snake in Africa capable of eating an adult chicken. Show us the hole, let's have a look there anyway. JOSEPH: Yeah. SIMON: Just in case it is in there. SIMON: Okay. SIMON: Underground. NARRATOR: Pythons can't dig their own holes, so they often invade and take over dens dug by aardvarks. Farmers rely on snake catchers for help but handling killer pythons is always a high stakes risk. SIMON: See, there, it goes a bit wider there again for a minute. There are those wider bits and then there are really narrow ones. Makes you feel claustrophobic. Snakeskin, big one too. I'm just going to grab it now but yeah, it's big. Big, Big. Yeah, it's pretty fresh. There it is! It's a python! He's getting away; use that hook. Wait there, wait, wait! (groan). SIMON: Okay, I've got it! Alright, it's got me as well though. I've got to sort my hands out; I've got a loose grip. Jeez this is strong, eh? Ugh! I've got to get this thing off. Can't actually get it off me. If you can unwind it and I'll check over here, here we go. It's flippin' strong! Alright, I've got it. Just. But it's got me as well. And it's (bleep) all over me. I don't blame it. Now I've got to try and get out of this tunnel. Quickly as possible, it's got my leg. It's stuck like a rope. Sioux! SIOUXSIE: What? SIMON: Sioux, I've got it, got it. SIOUXSIE: You've got it? SIMON: Yeah, Don't let go of it please. SIOUXSIE: It's big. You alright? SIMON: Yeah, I'm alright. SIOUXSIE: Yeah but I've got to get up here. What about you? Do you have the head, have everything? I've got the head. SIOUXSIE: You good? NARRATOR: Moving these huge snakes is necessary so that both humans and snakes can live in peace. SIMON: Okay. Thanks. SIMON: No worries, alright. Glad to be out alive. NARRATOR: South America is home to another Monster Snake. The Boa Constrictor. It stretches up to 13 feet and weighs up to 60 pounds.. and it's fast. And once in the coils of this serpent, escape is not an option. This highly adaptive snake can live in various habitats; from grassy plains to dense tropical rainforests. It is both terrestrial, occupying hollow logs and abandoned burrows and arboreal, living in the trees. The Boa constrictor coloring and markings vary greatly to blend into these different environments. They are excellent swimmers, but prefer to stay on dry land. During the day, it sleeps. Clear scales cover its cat-eye pupils, making the boa constrictor look like it's awake. They also have excellent night vision. And that's when the hunt begins. The boa waits inconspicuously in leaf litter. The strike is lightning fast. Less than half the time it takes to bat an eye. Trapped in the snake's hold... Death comes slowly. The hunter takes its time digesting the rodent. Its next meal may be weeks away. Boas may be the most adaptable of all the Monster Snakes. A cave in Puerto Rico is home to thousands of bats. Agile predators in their own right. Tonight, they are the hunted. When the sun sets, a slithering bat-assassin emerge, the Puerto Rican boa. Welcome to the "Cueva De Los Culebrones", "The Cave of the Long Snakes." These boas are known for their unique hunting strategies, patience and persistence are key. While bats prepare to hunt, the snakes set their trap, slithering up to the mouth of the cave and then uncoiling. Just 25% of the snake's body stays on the rock as they hunt by sense of touch. Which means until a bat brushes up against them, these snakes are just hanging around. Eventually, an unfortunate bat will get too close to the snake's mouth. The boa wraps his body around the bat twice and squeezes to kill. Then in true snake fashion, he eats his prey whole, wings and all. India is home to some of the biggest and most powerful pythons. Two of these giants are the "Burmese" and the "Indian rock". The Indian Rock Python thrives in jungles from India to Southern China... And throughout Southeast Asia. Topping out at over 13 feet and 150 pounds; it's actually the smaller of the pair. Its cousin, the Burmese python, reaches lengths of almost 20 feet. But its range is much smaller and nestled within the Indian rocks. Human fatalities from either species are rare. But when they do occur, they only add to these snake's giant reputations. And now they are becoming a problem in the United States. NARRATOR: In the Florida Everglades foreign monster serpents are on the prowl. The carnage is evident... Bodies are turning up... But in a shocking twist... Both victim and perpetrator are mysteriously dead. A Burmese python... An American Alligator... Two gigantic reptiles in a battle nature never intended. September 26, 2005. A chopper pilot is out on a routine flight over the Florida Everglades. The pilot spots something in the saw-grass. It looks like a reptile, but not like any reptile normally found in the Everglades. He's seen pythons before, but this one... somehow... has a gator sticking from its side. Anacondas are capable of killing 300-pound caimans, they evolved together. But a Southeast Asian python eating a North American gator seems unlikely, a research team from the University of Alabama investigates on a smaller scale. SECOR: Wow look at that... That little alligator doesn't have a chance. NARRATOR: The gator's streamlined body helps the snake ingest its grisly meal... But what really makes it possible is the python's jaw... Four rows of razor-sharp teeth work independently to walk up and over the gator, pulling the throat over the meal. A tiny camera hidden in the prey allows a view from the inside. SECOR: It is an amazing feat for the snakes to eat large items. A python can easily consume a food item that might be 3, 4 times the diameter of its head and that's, that's huge, when you look at other animals in the world, they just can't do that. NARRATOR: It took just 10 minutes for this python to polish off a gator nearly half its size, but can it really digest the meal... One that's full of bones, claws and tough hide? Digital X-rays provide a rare glimpse inside the python's amazing digestive machinery... Swallowing boosts oxygen intake by 3,600%... Driving tremendous amounts of hydrochloric acid into the stomach... SECOR: And that acid can break down the skin, it can break down hooves, it can break down teeth, it can break down bones. NARRATOR: Still, it takes nine full days and during digestion, the snake is listless and slow. Finally, almost nothing remains. So what happened when a monstrous 13-foot Burmese Python was found badly bloated, head missing, its belly burst... And half-inside, a six foot Florida gator? Stephen Secor thinks he figured out what happened in the 'Glades that day... A python heads out in search of a meal... It finds a target lying motionless. A gator suffering from fresh head wounds. Instinct tells the snake to go for it. The python's kill and big swallow sets its digestive juices to work on the gator's tough, bony hide. But the snake's body becomes bloated and stressed. Now the python is vulnerable to attack... This invasive snake may have been able to eat one alligator, but it was unprepared for another. The fight may have been fierce enough to push part of the swallowed gator out of the snake. In the end, the python and its gator meal lie dead. Not all of the experts are convinced it happened that way. But the possible role of another gator might be a sign that some native species, won't give up their territory lightly. One obvious question: how on earth do giant snakes from Asia get 10,000 miles to the 'Glades? Pythons are survivors, they are extremely tough, cold-blooded, able to last months without a meal. But these reptiles don't cross oceans on their own, they're imported on purpose as pets. The Fisher family is happy to share their south Florida home with pythons. They have eight. GIRL: Daddy? MAN: Hey kid. NARRATOR: Two of them are the same species that's causing havoc in the Everglades, only a newer breed, designed for the pet market. MAN 2: Say hello to Casper. NARRATOR: After school, the fisher kids take the snakes for a walk. MAN: Those are real? MAN 2: Yeah. MAN: Oh my god! NARRATOR: But the Fisher Family may be living on borrowed time. In the US pet pythons are a danger, killing or seriously injuring more than 20 people in the last 10 years. Rescue firefighters in Aurora, Colorado still remember this 911 emergency call from several years ago. DISPATCHER (over phone): Fire Emergency? WOMAN (over phone): My roommate is being choked by a snake. WOMAN 2: Oh, my God! NARRATOR: They rush to the home of Rick Barber. His pet python has always been gentle. WOMAN: I can't even get near that thing. NARRATOR: The snake may have suddenly felt nervous and it starts squeezing. WOMAN: He's down here. He's not breathing. MAN: Fire department! Fire department! NARRATOR: Four firefighters and a policeman pry the snake off of Barber. But it's been constricting more than 10 minutes, more than enough time to starve the brain of oxygen. Paramedics rush Barber to the hospital... All of the firefighters and even the pet snake survived. The pet's owner did not. NARRATOR: In Florida, non-native Burmese pythons are on the loose and it's a big problem. When pet snakes become too much for their owners to handle, they resort to dumping them into the Everglades. Now they are threatening native wildlife and pets. Their numbers may be growing but so is the army that's determined to wage a counter-offensive. So much so, it's turned into a full-time job for wildlife wrangler Todd Hardwick. TODD: Yeah, no, I'm in front of your house right now, I'll be right... NARRATOR: Today, he's responding to a house call. A cat is missing and someone has seen a giant snake. TODD: I catch animals from all over the world without ever leaving Miami. Is the snake still here? HOMEOWNER: Oh, my gosh I have no idea where he disappeared he was right over here and I'm terrified. TODD: These snakes show up just about anywhere. Usually in the most unexpected place. NARRATOR: Finally, Todd sees something in the corner of the yard and a cornered python can be trouble. Getting control of its head is a must... TODD: Big snake, big snake. This is an exotic invader species it doesn't belong here in Florida or anywhere in this country. NARRATOR: He bags it, but there are hundreds more out there finding cracks to exploit in the local ecology. Exotic reptiles are on the move in south Florida and the most disturbing aspect of a python attacking a gator is what might happen next. Anything could be on the menu. If a python can kill and swallow a six-foot alligator, why couldn't they eat something smaller, like a two or three-year-old human child? In Africa, similar sized animals can disappear in the blink of an eye. All snakes seem to have special features, but there's one lurking out there that has it all... Multi-talented and especially deadly. It's one of the biggest... arguably the baddest... The reticulated python. Its size alone is intimidating. An adult male can grow to 25-feet long and weigh over 250 pounds. And it's packed with 10,000 powerful muscles to crush its dinner to death. It slithers across much of south Asia... in a region of humid rainforests and rivers. The reticulated, or crossed pattern, of its scales allows it to blend seamlessly into its surroundings. Despite its considerable bulk... this super snake will go to any lengths for a meal. Even up a tree. Monkeys on the highest branches aren't safe. Neither are deer... no matter how swift. This hunter is on the prowl, and it has an arsenal of weapons at its disposal. The eyes feature cat-like pupils that open wide so they maximize available light. Heat-sensing pit organs on the face detect the heat generated by nearby prey. And chemical sensors on its tongue pick up odors in the air. It can maneuver just about anywhere. Detecting prey is one thing. killing it is another. And the reticulated python excels at both. All these tools guide the python to its ultimate act... A deadly one-two... strike and coil. The snake's powerful jaws have over 80 sharp, backward-curving teeth that latch onto prey to prevent escape. It constricts with so much power... it stops the flow of blood and oxygen. Eventually, the victim's heart will stop beating. And then... the final trick. NARRATOR: Like most snakes... the Reticulated python eats its meal in one long gulp. Unlike human jaws, which are fused together, these snakes have loosely connected jaw bones and elasticated skin. The skin can stretch to seemingly impossible proportions, overlapping scales expand to accommodate the size of the meal. Of all snakes the Reticulated python ranks among the most impressive... if not the most terrifying... of them all. Even for seasoned herpetologists like Brady Barr, the reticulated python represents a very real danger. He's headed into remote caves, researching python strategies for surviving tropical heat. BRADY: Oh, huge, huge python, huge python! See it? Quick, quick, quick, quick, quick! MAN: You want this, (inaudible). He's got a good grip. BRADY: I know, I know okay I'm going in. I'm going in, I'm going... Oh (bleep). MAN: What happened? BRADY: He just bit the rock. Be careful, he's got a mouthful of teeth. I've got him by the head. Oh, he's out, he's loose! Okay, can you pull him? Whoa, whoa, whoa, here comes the head! Here comes the head! Watch it! Watch it, watch it... Watch it, watch it, watch it! Aagh, (bleep), aagh! Aagh, he's on me! He's got... (bleep)! He's, he's bitten me! Where's his head, where do you see it? Like a really bad bite. MAN: Is he still grabbing you? BRADY: No, he's squeezing me very tightly. I gotta get out of this stuff, I mean, I'm bleeding. There's his head! Where are the snake sticks? Mark, just start pulling him backwards toward the shallow end, then when you get in the shallow, I'll get the head. Okay, look, he's using his thermal imaging to get me. I'm gonna have to cover his head. Hang on to him. Great, got him! Whew, we got him! Let's go out, let's go out! Hang on, let's get this thing in a bag and just check my wound, then we'll continue. Man, that's a big snake, that is a big snake. Okay. That's the good thing about these giant bags. What a battle! Oh, man. You know, the thing bit me under water. How bad does it look? MARK: Oh, yeah, it's bad. Brady, it's not good, it sliced you open. BRADY: Yeah, it hurts bad. We're going to have to get to a doctor. MARK: Yeah. Can you pull the trouser a bit more up, Brady? The left side, yeah, okay. Oh, oh no. There's another big wide gaping wound... Pretend you're biting into wood. BRADY: Aah! NARRATOR: In the pursuit of gathering data, sometimes there are casualties. For Brady, this bite is painful, but close encounters with reticulated pythons have proven deadly for others... In Sulawesi, Indonesia, two people have recently met a gruesome fate. In March 2017 a 25-year-old man was missing from his family's palm oil plantation, after finding a 23-foot reticulated python lying motionless in a ditch, villagers cut into the snake and found Akbar Salubiro's lifeless body. Then in June 2018, Wa Tiba never returned after checking on her vegetable garden. Locals found her sandals and a machete the next day, only about 100-feet away from a large, bloated python. Sadly, she had been consumed by the snake. As cities continue to expand, natural habitats decline, forcing snakes to hunt and seek shelter in human dwellings. increasing the risk of these dangerous encounters. But snakes are not our enemies. They typically attack humans only when provoked. and usually after fair warning. Snakes will continue to fascinate us, with their smooth accuracy, brute strength, and hidden skills that make them unique and sometimes terrifyingly deadly.