10 Most Dangerous River Monsters

hi everybody it's katrina from otters flipping over kayaks to cannibalistic turtles that can bite your finger off here are 10 of the most dangerous river monsters in the world number 10. giant otter you might think of most otters as cute and cuddly but the giant otter is a different story native to the rivers and creeks of northern south america they can grow to be up to six feet long and weigh 70 pounds although some might get even heavier these apex predators compete for food with jaguars and caimans and it is so tough it is also known as the river wolf in south america they are quite the swimmers and their webbed feet and the shape of their bodies enables them to shoot through the water snapping up piranha humans are not on the menu but they have been seen fighting with gators and caimans for hours to get a meal despite their webbed feet they can run 18 miles per hour on land at a full run and have powerful canines and molars getting bitten by one is like getting bitten by a german shepherd which can break hand bones giant otters live in family groups which enables them to hunt in packs despite being tough they have been hunted almost to extinction they usually avoid humans but can be extremely aggressive and territorial if they feel their land or their young are being threatened otters are very hard to see in the rivers and can be extremely quiet northern otters are smaller but are also equally territorial in lakes and streams where they live in 2018 a woman was kayaking with a group of people in florida when she was attacked the kayak flipped and the otter continued biting and scratching her the other kayakers were able to help her in 2016 two teenagers in california had to be taken to the hospital after getting attacked by three to five of the animals they had been jumping off rocks into the reservoir when they were chased down and bitten multiple times in 2014 a young boy and his grandmother were attacked in washington state and the boy almost died of all the things that might happen to you in visiting a creek or a lake i bet you didn't imagine an otter would be a threat number nine giant amazon leech no one likes a leech they're blood thirsty slimy parasitic worms that feed on blood emergency physician jeremy joslin was in cambodia helping out with an ultramarathon after the event the athletes decided to go into a nearby stream to cool off he said shortly after the screaming started and people began hurrying to his camp to get the leeches removed while they are disturbing most of the time it's not a medical emergency usually some species are very aggressive and can cause serious complications they can be found all over the world but the existence of the giant amazon leech is really disturbing they can grow up to 18 inches long and 4 inches wide the data on leeches is fuzzy but many people think that this makes the giant amazon leech the biggest leech on earth for a long time people thought that it had gone extinct until they found two more of them in the 1970s one of these leeches was lovingly named grandma moses and she was brought to uc berkeley for further research there she had over 750 baby leeches from this litter of babies scientists were able to investigate the giant amazon leech's biology in close detail not my particular academic passion but clearly i'm missing something leeches have many ways to sense their prey and will latch on with their suckers they can spread disease and stay on you for days at a time have you ever dealt with leeches before let me know in the comments below number 8. giant freshwater stingray some think that the giant freshwater stingray might be the largest freshwater fish in the world they are so big that the literal act of weighing these monsters is a task unto itself just ask jeff corwin host of ocean mysteries who went to thailand's mae klong river to help measure what they called the big one the ray was 7.9 feet across and 14 feet long and weighed an estimated 700 to 800 pounds scientists said it was really hard to measure and weigh them without hurting them some experts have estimated that they can grow up to sizes as large as 1 300 pounds and if you take the tail into consideration they can be as long as 16 and a half feet researchers have spent a lot of time trying to find out more about them but it seems that there aren't a lot of them to find they tend to hide at the base of murky muddy rivers so they're that much harder to spot they may be critically endangered and they may be in places we've never looked at the very least we know that some of them hang out in the river systems of asia in countries like thailand and malaysia they are known as gentle giants but researchers have to be careful not to get cut or stabbed by their large venomous spine its spine is used for defense and can be lethal the mega fish project studies the world's biggest freshwater fish and has an important catch and release program to help determine if a species needs legal protection these huge rays are under threat and currently there is no law to protect them number 7. bull shark most sharks aren't trying to get into trouble but bull sharks seem to have no fear and are known to instigate attacks unprovoked this fact has earned them the title of the most aggressive shark in the world and what's more there are a lot of them out there although they are mostly found in coastal waters they are able to live in fresh water and will often travel up rivers to investigate so depending on where you are keep an eye out for them you could be kayaking or swimming in a river mining your own business and then a shark suddenly pops up sharks have been found up a river in illinois about 700 miles away from the ocean australian rivers are also at risk of course they are called bull sharks because of their short and blunt snouts as well as their stubborn disposition scientists have observed them head-butting their prey before attacking just like a bull would do they're not as big as other apex sharks like the great white but they're scrappier ranging from seven to eleven and a half feet long they tend to live near tropical shorelines which is exactly where we like to swim so it is more likely for us to encounter them than other species they will attack dolphins fish birds whatever they can get their teeth on and will also attack other sharks national geographic reports that while humans are not on the menu per se they will attack people inadvertently or out of curiosity stay safe on your river journeys friends because you never know what might happen number six anaconda the green anaconda is widely known as the biggest snake on the planet pound for pound it is way heavier than its competitor the reticulated python which can get a bit longer even so the green anaconda can get to about 30 feet long and weighs twice as much it can weigh up to 550 pounds which is bad news for anything that might get in this massive snake's way anacondas in general live in swamps marshes and streams and tropical rainforests below the water you may even fail to see it coming they're excellent at hiding and can lay in weight with just their nostrils above water these snakes are not picky eaters they can eat entire turtles wild pigs deer capybara caimans and have even been known to take down jaguars but how do they accomplish these awe-inspiring feats they strike and constrict they take their gigantic girthy bodies and they wrap themselves around their prey after a short while their prey suffocates and they swallow them whole these snakes have occasionally exerted their power on humans as well although it doesn't happen often but if you're ever in the amazon you definitely don't want to stumble upon an animal this dangerous and humongous so don't forget to pay attention number 5 electric eel when you hear the scientific name electrophorus electricus you know that you're in for a shocker and the electric eel is happy to administer that shock if you get too close however as popular as electric eels are they're not actually eels at all in terms of their family tree they are closer to catfish than eels but they are definitely electric they actually have electric organs which have around 6 000 cells that store electricity these organs are around 80 of the electric eel's mass when the electric eel attacks it releases all of the energy stored inside of its cells and funnels it into a gigantic shock this is capable of stunning the vast majority of its prey into submission before they've recovered the eel has swallowed it whole but that's not the only purpose that this electricity serves they also use these electric charges to communicate with other electric eels and even to scan their environment seems like a pretty advanced superpower these animals don't usually attack humans but when they have it's ledges serious consequences sometimes it can make your heart stop if this happens or if you get stunned in general or panic you could drown so don't get too close number 4. red-bellied piranha piranhas are notorious for their hunting behavior and sharp teeth but the red-bellied piranha might just be the most dangerous piranha of them all they are fish that swim in the fresh waters of south america and they don't do it alone they go about their business in large groups of sometimes over a hundred others usually they just eat the fins of larger fish and scavenge plants but locals have claimed that they've eaten humans before the show river monsters shared several stories of people that have been attacked or eaten by piranhas told by the locals who live there that hasn't been entirely confirmed but if you are splashing around or injured in the water it definitely attracts their attention good news is they don't often attack humans in fact they have a weird way of getting people to stay away they bark in their direction in spite of all of this they're vital to the smooth operation of their ecosystems and to help regulate the populations of animal and plant life as well as keeping the waters clean number three alligator snapping turtle the alligator snapping turtle looks like it belongs in the distant past with the dinosaurs not in the present when you're trying to enjoy your swim but these intimidating turtles hang out in the southeast region of the u.s so you might see one if you go to a river or a lake and they're definitely not lookers they are named the alligator snapping turtle because of their scaly shells and serious bite just look at it with its mouth a gape these turtles can grow to weigh around 220 pounds with the largest on record weighing 249 pounds people familiar with the animals say to handle them with extreme care because they can be potentially dangerous they don't bite humans often but when they do it's gruesome their bites are strong enough to take off your finger with ease and they can easily bite through a broom handle keep your hands away from their face these turtles have developed a distinct hunting mechanism over the years they have a weird red appendage on their tongues which serves to attract fish like a lure once there the snapping turtle does what it does best snapping them into its jaws it will eat almost anything it can catch from fish to nutria these turtles have even been known to snatch small to mid-sized animals such as squirrels possums raccoons and armadillos when they get too close to the water's edge their favorite food though other turtles number 2. piara payara are referred to as feigned vampire fish for good reason when you see the teeth on these bad boys you'd be hard-pressed to think of anything but dracula in fact their teeth can grow to be around six inches long they are also known as the saber-tooth barracuda vampire fish vampire tetra or saber-tusk barracuda yikes can you even imagine getting bitten by a fish with that big of a bite and payara put these fangs to good use they tend to feed on tinier fish and they've been known to even eat piranhas too these scary fish prowl through the water of the amazon river although they're not easy to find there isn't much known about them but they vary pretty wildly in size the tinier ones in captivity tend to be around a foot long but the largest payara can grow up to three feet long that's when these fish start to really look intimidating you can see payara for yourself at many aquariums around the world even though they're pretty hard to maintain if they aren't kept with much bigger fish then the payara will see everything as a snack number 1. candy room the candy roo is a tiny species of catfish with a nasty reputation for swimming into the private areas of people who wade into its waters supposedly it will work its way inside you and start to feed they swim in the basin of the amazon rainforest but it's not entirely clear which species is singled out by the name candiru it could refer to a number of families but usually scientists are talking about vandalia cirosa when they use the term regardless candiru are naturally infamous for their antics however it's not confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that candiru have actually done these nasty things attributed to them these stories come from reports around the 1800s but in fact there has only been one actual case of this occurring and it was in 1997. even that case is not crystal clear but suffice it to say the legend surrounding the candiru makes people stay away from them those indigenous to the amazon suggest that you wear thick clothes and avoid going to the bathroom in the river however recent studies have shown that candiru don't really care about urine they eat from the gills of bigger fish so they're enough of a pest to the rest of the fish in the amazon to worry too much about humans at any rate they are pests so it's probably best to keep your distance thanks for watching which river monster do you think is the scariest have you ever seen any of these in real life let me know in the comments below 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Views: 247,433

Rating: 4.8295684 out of 5

Keywords: river monsters, dark waters, deadliest animals, mighty rivers, river monsters piranha, deadliest creatures, deadliest monsters, river creatures, amazon river, found in the amazon, deadly animals of the amazon, deadly creatures of the amazon, most dangerous creatures of the amazon, scariest river monsters, most poisonous creatures, most venomous creatures, mysterious creatures, scary monsters, on the planet, goliath tigerfish, in the world, biggest catches, biggest fish

Id: M9XUU9sHtTs

Length: 13min 19sec (799 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 14 2020