12 Bizarre Discoveries in the Amazon

if you're venturing to a part of the world with the most unique species of animals on the planet you're probably in for some interesting finds join us as we explore some of the most bizarre amazon discoveries Cayman to begin things the apex predator of the Amazon River is a strange and terrifying creature but by no means is it safe from other predators in this intense jungle the black caiman is essentially a gigantic alligator these beasts can grow up to 20 feet long and they're much heavier than Nile crocodiles their diet consists of well everything monkeys piranhas deer and even anaconda are all on the menu these prehistoric predators are also partial to people but not exactly in a good way in 2010 a biologist that was cleaning a fish was attacked by a caiman living below her house and while she was able to fend it off it wouldn't leave empty-handed taking away one of her legs as a prize apparently the brood had been under her houseboat for over eight months just waiting hungrily welcome to the Amazon the green anaconda with all of the biodiversity and incredible variations of flora and fauna in the Amazon it's not actually surprising to find that the largest snake in the world calls this place its home the green anaconda is not strictly speaking the longest snake in the world but it is by far the heaviest females are generally larger than the males and they can reach up to 550 pounds growing over 30 feet in length also the creature is just 12 inches in diameter so while it isn't the longest it's a pretty formidable snake the good news is however that the green anaconda is not venomous the bad news is it can still pretty easily kill large prey like deer came in and even Jaguars anacondas will use their immense weight along with their strength in order to suffocate and crush their living meals now it may be hard to picture a 30-foot snake sneaking up on you but they use stealth in order to hunt their prey they are a Palma now if you're worried about swimming in piranha infested waters you want to reevaluate your list of fears with this next discovery the ara Palma is a carnivorous fish that takes up just a little bit more space than a piranha does these behemoths can grow up to nine feet long weighing about 200 pounds the ARA Palma is encased in what appears to be armor like plating so it doesn't really have a whole lot of fear of anything in the river they mostly feast on fish and birds and are forced to float near the surface of the river to breathe air as well as water now if you weren't scared enough already these fish are actually so intense and monstrous that even their tongue has teeth the giant otter when you see a family of otters playing around in a river or even the ocean often you may think oh how cute this is at least partly because otters tend to be small the Amazon however is home to the largest species of this marine mammal the aptly titled giant otter the name really says it all males can grow up to six feet long and the adults of the species eat up to nine pounds of food every day while this may still seem adorable these animals actually hunt in packs and have been seen eating a giant anaconda and a five-foot caiman so maybe less adorable and more vicious than you would imagine they are getting more rare as human intervention threatens their way of life but these capable hunters are still known to the locals as the river wolves the Candiru not everything that's terrifying in the Amazon is giant though admittedly most creatures are the can do or tiny parasitic fish that work to latch themselves onto a larger fish's gills in order to feast on their blood they use their sharp spines to hold themselves in place and the bigger fish can't get them off this is all well and good and may not seem like such a big deal but there's more to the story than meets the eye there is at least one documented case of a can darou launching itself up a man's urethra while he was urinating and the spiny fish got lodged in the tract at the time of emergency surgery it was attempting to burrow into his testicles it's probably at this point that we should stress that this incident is very rare and it may stop you from using the Amazon River as a toilet bull sharks when you're spending all of your time worrying about the dangers of the Amazon you may not get the full experience of the beauty along with the importance of the river but you also might not be expecting a killer from the sea bull sharks actually live in the Amazon River they can be found as far up the river as Peru 2,500 miles away from the ocean the bull shark special kidneys are able to alter the salinity of the surrounding water which allows these unique predators to survive in fresh water they also tend to reach about 11 feet in length and can weigh approximately 700 pounds not surprisingly the tremendous fish are some of the more frequent attackers of humans and they tend to live near densely populated areas with its multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth and its proximity to towns and villages the bull shark is considered one of the most dangerous sharks on the planet electric eels okay so now you're getting concerned about being bitten and strangled and crushed but another much less conventional thing to worry about with regards to the Amazonian wild is electrocution that's right there are electric eels in the Amazon River and they pack a punch these eels are relatives of the catfish family and can grow up to eight feet long they're electric output has been measured to be about 600 volts and they generate this charge from specialized cells the voltage is about five times the power of a typical electrical socket and can knock over a horse now while 600 volts isn't usually enough to actually kill a full-grown human multiple shocks can quickly lead to respiratory failure along with heart attacks also you're getting this kind of shock while inside of a River now it's not uncommon for people to be stunned after an eel attack and well just simply drown imagine just trying to swim in the Amazon after getting multiple shocks of 600 volts there are a large number of disappearances in the region that have been attributed to eels but whether they were attacking or just actually scared and surprised is actually unknown the glass frog camouflage is a useful survival tactic for creatures that get fed upon but sometimes in the Amazon this technique leads to some interesting consequences the glass frog is technically green but if you were to see the specimen that's probably not the first thing that you would believe the skin of the glass frog as the name suggests is entirely see-through looking at it from the underside you can see all of the frogs internal organs working away the heart pumping blood the stomach digesting and these strange creatures can grow up to 3 inches in length and have been known to eat their young while this isn't actually unusual in frogs the optics involved in this familial violence verges on something from an MC Escher painting the decoy building spider when threatened many creatures on the planet are likely to make themselves look big that way they can scare away their would-be predators cats will raise their backs some lizards will flatten themselves even humans are told to look big when faced with bears it's a tried-and-true method and it's also somewhat related to the decoy building spider but naturally it takes things just a little bit further the recently discovered spider is thought to be of a species that's never before been seen and is actually only about 5 millimeters in length however it doesn't stop it from scaring off bigger bugs the technique it uses to construct a giant spider shape out of dead leaves and debris makes the decoy complete with multiple legs and an abdomen thus it seems like a gigantic spider is actually living in the web but it's actually all just for show the fascinating and brilliant work of nature is now being studied at research center but very little is known of the tiny craftsman piranha no matter where you go in the world it's hard to beat the classic of bizarre discoveries the red-bellied piranha is the original fear in the semi deep river and despite all of the Hollywood hype these little guys aren't exactly all as bad as they seem when we say little they do grow to be 12 inches long and hunted packs but as for danger they've got hilariously sharp teeth that interlock for maximum rending and tearing power usually though piranhas are actually just scavengers and they tend to eat things that are badly wounded or already dead but what they do to their prey is the stuff of horror movies a feeding frenzy of tens of these organic hacksaws will skeletonize their unfortunate food source in just a matter of minutes now attacks on humans do happen but it's incredibly rare and usually linked to a provocation or starvation the jesus lizard many creatures that are discovered in the amazon walk and many live in the water but very few do both at once the affectionately titled Jesus lizard is one of the more strange inhabitants of this wild Wonderland and it's truly a sight to behold also known as the common basilisk the Jesus lizard is also named because it can literally walk on water well it actually runs on water when escaping predators the lizard splays its toes to reveal webbing which combined with its powerful legs can allow the creature to run along the water surface the Jesus lizard can do this for up to 60 feet it's a unique and powerful survival tactic but it's actually a tiring exercise after it's run it's usually pretty far away from its foe and it sinks and swims at its leisure to another less dangerous spot the pink dolphin at this point you may be thinking that nothing else lives in the Amazon that could be much of a surprise considering what was on our list to begin with well as it turns out the most habitant of the Amazon River would be unique and bizarre if it were to be found in the ocean where most of its relatives dwell found in this river it's an absolute marvel the Amazon River dolphin or boat oh can grow as large as an adult human but the weirdest part of it is clearly the color the boat oh is bright pink and the present theory is the dolphin has blood capillaries near the surface of its skin which gives it its hue but nobody really knows for sure local legend however tells of these giant mysteries transforming into attractive men and then luring unsuspecting women to the water's edge before stealing them away to the waters deep realms while the legend probably doesn't have a whole lot that's based in truth the pink dolphins of the Amazon are a supremely surprising and interesting species to come upon this January 1st in Malibu California when researchers from hrl laboratories achieved a breakthrough in ceramic 3d printing technology where they took 3d printing to a whole new level and if you don't think that it's impressive let me just tell you that ceramics are one of the hardest materials in the world the 3d printers which can carry the molecular structure silicone made them close to perfect

Channel: World List

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Keywords: world 5 list, bizarre discoveries, strange discoveries, amazon discoveries, bizarre amazon discoveries, discoveries in the amazon, biggest snake, largest snake, 7 biggest snakes ever found, mind boggler, biggest snake in the world, biggest snake on earth, biggest snake ever caught on camera, 10 most beautiful snakes in the world, zoneA, very beautiful snakes, most beautiful snakes, most beautiful snake species, top, top 10, top ten, top most, list, facts, world5list

Id: pb6dwSM7hM8

Length: 12min 45sec (765 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 23 2017