HOLDING A RED BELLIED PIRANHA
time for the ultimate killer’s test how
would the piranha react to my duck so
we have our oven ready here
just give it a devil
and give some meditation as if the
animal was in distress
yep and then make some movements and to
release some blood from it right okay
sir you’ve got to make it look as if
this animal’s uh
struggling to break free of the surface
and maybe it’s had a broken wing it’s
bleeding
we knew they were there but they’re very
wary
first a small scout darts in to take a
bite and checks how the prey reacts if
it gets a violent reaction they all back
off but if not then the whole pack just
piles in
[Applause]
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just a few minutes later
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okay
time for me to get to grips with one
carefully slightly and get the other
hand behind the gills picking up
piranhas is like handling a cocked and
loaded gun with a hair trigger
let’s have a look at the teeth we can
see just how powerful those jaws are
they are incredible aren’t they
cut straight through flesh
let’s uh get some idea of how much it
bites if i put the blade its mouth oh my
god
you’re good that’s incredible that’s
that sound is just oh my god bang bang
they will actually cut through metal god
he doesn’t give up does he no he doesn’t
his eyes will be watching all the time
they’re very very alert yeah right well
i think he’s getting a bit frustrated so
i’ll put him back in the water with his
thousands of friends
and hope his memory’s not so good
ripening fig trees overhanging the
water’s edge provide welcome food for
shoals of hungry fish
the commotion attracts dorado known
locally as the river tiger
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they patrol the feeding shuttles looking
for a chance to strike
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and waiting in the wings
ready to pick off any injured fish
are the piranhas
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a feeding frenzy quickly develops
piranha can strip a fish to the bone in
minutes
BITTEN BY A BLACK PIRANHA
oh no
oh i had something big there and it’s
got a way
ah
i’m almost certain that was a black
piranha
yeah close but not close enough
but having everyone fishing has paid off
the guy in the next boat has just caught
something and passed me his line
okay it’s a black piranha
it’s not one of the real monsters
in fact
it’s quite average size
although you can see it still has
quite a snap on it and a superlative
set of gnashers
ah
really mistimed that quite badly
oh ow
well
it was about time that happened i’ve
been catching piranhas for a long long
time and i’ve not been bitten yet
but that’s my first piranha battle scar
the black piranha is really very
distinctive very dark in color but it
has these incredible
red eyes
it has a very very stocky body look at
it in cross section if you look at it
end on you can see
it’s almost bulldog-like in appearance
but because it’s not very long it’s very
maneuverable it can move incredibly
quickly moving in towards food taking a
bite and then instantly swimming away at
great pace they don’t actually hunt in
packs as is traditionally believed or in
shoals actually they tend to hunt on
their own now looking at this one here
you can see it’s a little bit tatty
around the tail
and around these fins here and the
reason for that is that other piranhas
will actually come in and take big
chunks out of the fins they are
cannibalistic they will eat their own
kind and they’ll certainly waste no
opportunity to munch down
big chunks of these fins but leaving the
fish alive and let me just see if i can
show you these teeth
look at those absolutely fearsome
the black piranha with its burning red
eyes
and some of the sharpest teeth on earth
it truly is one of the most fearsome
hunters of the flooded forest
and gotta go on the deadly 60.
when it comes to hunting there aren’t
PIRANHA FEEDING FRENZY CAUGHT ON UNDERWATER CAMERA
many fishermen who can catch fish as
impressively as a giant otter
and with so many mouths to feed the
family take every available opportunity
to go fishing
that’s just as well as a fully grown
giant otter needs around four kilos of
fish a day
and on this body of water that means the
most infamous fish of them all is at the
top of the menu
the piranha
piranhas are really common on the lake
and diablo and the others seem to love
them
it begs the question though how can he
teach his cubs to take them on without
getting bitten by those razor-sharp
teeth
charlie decides to try and see just how
aggressive the piranhas are by attaching
a chunk of meat to an underwater camera
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with the underwater camera wired to a
monitor on the boat
charlie can get an otter’s eye view of
the murky world beneath him
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the piranha’s acute sense of smell helps
them detect the meat almost immediately
what fascinates charlie though is how
frenzied they are at devouring it
in less than 30 seconds the meat is gone
the otter cubs will have to move at
lightning speed to catch their dinner
without being bitten
it’s a skill they have to learn
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[Applause]
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