National Geographic: Land of the Anaconda Page #5

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each capture...

and gets more dangerous

with each encounter.

Alright.

Alright. It's her.

Marion is quite capable

of killing a human being.

If I let her wrap around me,

I'm history.

I'm gone.

I'd need at least two more,

three more people to unwrap her

because once she makes the loop,

she is absolutely impossible to undo.

You can't just stick your hands

between the loops and loosen her up.

It's much too tight.

So even if I have people helping me

they need to know what they're doing,

because otherwise it's very hard to

it's a very strong animal.

And also the teeth are shaped like

needles pushing backwards.

First the mouth holds

and then if the animal gets

to make a loop around the prey,

it doesn't matter

what kind of prey it is, it's dead.

Anacondas can and do take prey

the size of humans,

and many a person's

disappearance on the Ilanos

has been blamed on the giant snakes.

Though no human deaths

have been confirmed,

members of the anaconda team

have been stalked and attacked.

So, yeah, having been bitten sometimes

yet doing the right thing

I've managed to have all my

fingers and toes so far.

Over the years

Jesus has recaptured some of

his snakes several times.

He's come to like and respect

them as individuals,

but understands that the

feelings aren't mutual.

Each time I catch them

each time I find them,

I learn something new about them.

And I get attached to them.

I get to understand even

their personalities,

makes me really happy

when we find an old friend.

But I don't think they're quite as

happy to see me as I am to see them.

No, let go, let go. Give me room.

Trying to defend herself

this old friend has sunk

her fangs into Jesus' hand.

Okay, open the mouth now.

Ready?

Yeah.

Alright, push your finger forward

if you can.

Because her teeth curve backwards,

he must fight off

the instinct to pull away,

which would only do more damage.

Instead, he must push his hand

deeper into her mouth

to free his skewered finger.

Alright, back a little bit.

No, it's caught...

Yeah...

Need a stick.

Alright...

A stick, yeah.

Long on power and short

on stamina the anaconda relents

after a few minutes.

It's loosening up now.

Okay, okay.

We got it, we got it.

Okay.

After six years of snake encounters

Jesus still marvels at the range

of temperaments

among his favorite creatures.

Anaconda have a

very interesting personality.

Some animals are normally oblivious

and we have caught them several times

and we know they are tame animals.

Some of them are absolute b*tches.

They're really...

they get to be really mean.

As the heat of the dry season

continues to intensify,

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