Man To Be Eaten Alive By Anaconda In The Name Of Science

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

And he isn’t even shooting a music video for Nicki Minaj.

Naturalist and wildlife filmmaker, Paul Rosolie, apparently donned a self-designed, snake-proof suit and allowed himself to be consumed by the Amazonian giant serpent.

The footage, whatever it may entail (or entrail, will you), will air on Discovery Channel, December 7th in a special titled Eaten Alive.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Rosolie was able to tempt the snake by covering himself in pig’s blood. He was then apparently able to escape by being pulled back out with a rope attached to the top of the suit.

Discovery Channel claims that neither Rosolie or the snake were injured in the filming of the special.

It still remains to be seen whether this is a hoax or not. The network assures that this is not, but they also said that about their 2013 “documentary” Megalodon: The New Evidence. And scientists just confirmed that, no, Megalodon is not still living. It died out two million years ago..

Read more at 

New Jersey snake hunt ends after officials find no evidence

Unconfirmed sightings this month of a snake, perhaps an anaconda as long as 16ft, raised concerns among visitors and swimmers

Associated Press in Jefferson, New Jersey

theguardian.com, Thursday 24 July 2014 19.08 BST

A 16ft exotic snake reportedly slithering around New Jersey's largest lake is apparently a suburban legend. Or the snake just isn't hungry.

The state has stopped looking for the reptile after scientists failed to find any evidence of it in Lake Hopatcong and traps baited with chicken were left untouched.

Three unconfirmed sightings this month of a snake, perhaps an anaconda as long as 16 feet, raised concerns among visitors and swimmers. The state investigated, erring on the side of public safety.

State wildlife experts found no scientific or biological evidence that an exotic snake is in the area, state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Ragonese said. "There were no signs of droppings or skin," he said.

Continued

Some in Congress oppose wider ban on big snakes – via Herp Digest

By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau, November 29, 2012

WASHINGTON D.C. -- The monstrous snakes that have invaded the Everglades and gobbled up some of its endangered wildlife are Florida's problem, not cause for a nationwide ban, some Republicans in Congress declared on Thursday.

Their staunch opposition greatly diminishes the chances that Congress will approve a bill to broaden the ban on invasive snakes that was proposed by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and supported by proponents of Everglades restoration.

Opponents cited evidence that these snakes die in cold weather and cannot move farther north to threaten other parts of the country. They said a nationwide ban on importation and interstate sales would thwart pet owners and pinch the livelihoods of sellers and breeders.

"Florida is handling a Florida problem that only exists in Florida," U.S. Rep. John Fleming, R-La., chairman of the House subcommittee on fisheries and wildlife, told witnesses at a hearing on Thursday.

The chairman mocked testimony that Burmese Pythons have rebounded from cold snaps, have killed several young children and could thrive in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and semi-tropical U.S. territories. He also dismissed warnings that global warming will increase the range of deadly snakes and other invasive species.

"I think the worry, the threat, that in the next few years we're going to have reptiles on our doorsteps in Washington, D.C., is a little overblown," Fleming said.

A Florida member, U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, dismissed the proposed ban as "a solution in search of a problem." He said the bill amounts to an egregious attempt by an over-bearing government to rein in helpless small businesses, jeopardizing a $1.4-billion reptile industry.

"I'm dumbfounded," Southerland said. "We got bigger fish to fry here than to target businesses. It's open season on businesses. It's open season on enterprise, on freedom."

With as many as 100,000 snakes infesting the Glades, the U.S. Interior Department already has issued an administrative rule to ban importation and interstate sales of the Burmese python, northern and southern African python and the yellow anaconda.

Rooney and Everglades promoters hope to put that ban into law and expand it to include five more species: the reticulated python, boa constrictor, DeSchauensee's anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda.

Environmentalists say these snakes kill endangered wildlife in Florida and undermine a multi-billion-dollar restoration of the Everglades.

"If we are trying to restore the ecosystem for wading birds adapted to the Everglades and we have invasives countering those measures, that's a big problem," Julie Hill-Gabriel, director of Everglades policy for Audubon Florida, said after the hearing.

She also warned that widespread publicity about pythons and other snakes in the 'Glades have discouraged tourism.

"We have some people no longer willing to visit because they are just afraid," Hill-Gabriel said. "The world knows the Everglades have a snake problem, and we need to show we are taking action."

The current ban and proposed expansion would not solve the immediate problem, which is how to eradicate the estimated 30,000 to 100,000 invasive snakes already in the Everglades.

What lies beneath.... Diver braves the waters to swim with deadly 26-foot anaconda

Swiss diver Franco Banfi went to the Mato Grosso region of Brazil to capture these amazing close-up of enormous anaconda snakes in their natural habitat

These underwater beasts feed on rodents, birds and fish, lurking close to surface coiled and ready to strike

It lurks just inches below the surface coiled and ready to strike - and yet you wouldn't know it was there.

These remarkable images show the enormous 26-foot (eight metre) anacondas of Mato Grosso in Brazil searching for prey in the murky depths.

They were captured by brave diver and snake enthusiast Franco Banfi, 53, who joined the beasts in their natural habitat armed only with a camera.

Read more and see photos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2230499/Diver-braves-waters-swim-deadly-26-foot-anaconda.html#ixzz2C6uAqYJ2

Briton catches 18ft anaconda in South America

McCann (right) with fellow traveller Robert Pickles (second from left) and two guides. Picture: Barcroft Media

A British man has captured what is thought to be one of the largest snakes in the world.

Niall McCann, a 29-year-old biologist from Cardiff, snared the 18ft anaconda in the tropical rainforests of Guyana, South America, three weeks after he initially spotted the creature during his exploration with fellow traveler Dr Robert Pickles. The find occurred in 2009 but photos have only recently emerged.

The pair had initially set off to search for “giant otters” but came across a river teeming with wildlife - an area never before surveyed by scientists.

Speaking exclusively to Yahoo! News, Mr McCann said: “The animals there had never seen people before so you could get incredibly close to them”. Admitting that the Rewa River in central Guyana was “like the garden of Eden” he also revealed that during the three-week adventure across the river they spotted seven anacondas, four over 16 feet long.

Recalling the first time they saw the 18ft anaconda, the 29-year-old biologist described the behemoth as “frighteningly enormous”. Pulling up their boat beside the bank, McCann and Pickles climbed out to take a closer look. “When you first see something of that size you just don’t know how it will respond. We were very scared, we had heard innumerable horror stories of them taking people and killing them – you know this is a seriously dangerous animal you are faced with,” McCann said.

After taking photos from a safe distance they continued on, spotting the same snake three weeks later in the same spot. After going back up the river that night to camp they “felt confident having handled a lot of snakes and crocodiles in the previous three weeks,” coming to the decision to capture it the next day.

“We spent about 20 minutes preparing the landscape so we could encourage it to move inland, we didn’t want it to go into the river as it could have escaped,” McCann told Yahoo! News.

“It would stretch out then coil, ready to strike, then stretch out and coil again. I said, ‘right, next time it stretches I’m going to go for it’. It started to stretch out and I just leapt on top of it with both hands behind its head, my knee on its back and the other chaps piled on behind me”.

“It was a struggle for the first 30 seconds or so as it tried to move its head from side to side. It tried to scratch at us then Ash, the head guide, came round the front and grabbed it by the jaws as I lifted it up – wrapping its jaws with tape so it could no longer bite us”.

The intrepid explorers then ensured the anaconda could not escape with its jaw taped shut as it would not survive in the wild - a circumstance that McCann admitted would have been “very upsetting for us”. After measuring the anaconda they then freed its jaw – allowing it to escape.

“We were doing it for scientific purposes but I can’t lie, we were also having an adventure,” McCann admitted. “This is the largest snake in the world, it is a pretty amazing thing to do as a biologist to get close to one let alone handle one. There is something primordially intimidating about the appearance of an anaconda- especially one of those proportions”.

Research continues after McCann helped set up a British based conservation project in the area.
 
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/briton-catches-18ft-anaconda-in-south-america.html