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River.Monsters.S03E02
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00:00Animal Planet. Surprisingly human.
00:07My name's Jeremy Wade.
00:10For 25 years I've chased dangerous fish up some of the wildest rivers on the planet,
00:17tracking down the facts that lie behind legends.
00:22I'm fascinated by the real-life monsters that sometimes eat us
00:28and which feed our nightmares.
00:32But as a biologist, I want to know the truth.
00:39Now I'm back on the hunt, lured by the riddle of an eight-foot flesh-eater
00:45that's said to devour humans.
00:50If I'm right, this alleged killer is born deep in the ocean,
00:56yet transforms itself into a freshwater predator.
01:03The fish I'm after has a grip like a vice,
01:08and it stands accused of terrifying attacks.
01:15Imagine a landmass cut off from the rest of the world for 80 million years.
01:30A wilderness of impenetrable forests and lakes almost twice as deep as Loch Ness.
01:37Now suppose that in the cold, dark waters of this lost world lurks a predator big enough to kill a man.
01:45This was virtually the last place on earth to be discovered.
02:04When the Maori came here barely 800 years ago, there was one animal they revered above all others.
02:16I've always thought of New Zealand as a totally safe place to get in the water,
02:19but just recently two separate reports have caught my eye and made me think again.
02:25One incident concerns a young man, Clint Haynes, who is out on a remote lake in New Zealand's South Island.
02:40According to this newspaper report, Haynes had gone out to recover a friend's boat propeller from the bottom of the lake.
02:46He knew the lake well, or at least he thought he did.
02:57At about 100 feet down, something massive suddenly swam towards him.
03:06And within seconds, there were more of them.
03:08He says up to about 80 pounds in size.
03:11In the pitch black, one of these creatures sank its jaws into one of Clint's fins and started to drag him down.
03:21Panicking, he dropped his flashlight and swam for his life.
03:32Clint's wife Bev remembers how this aggressive pack actually pursued him to the surface where Clint was screaming to get out.
03:37He'd come up so fast from deep water that he collapsed with the bends.
03:46Haynes survived the attack, but was plagued by nightmares.
03:54For Ian Sutherland, another diver working in northern New Zealand, a similar encounter proved to be more violent.
04:01The creature in this case was already a local legend. Its head was reportedly a foot across.
04:16Without warning, it rammed Ian in the chest with enough force to crack one of his ribs.
04:20By all accounts, the animals that grabbed and thumped these two divers were super-sized eels.
04:33Now, I've heard about monstrous sea-dwelling eels. Some like this European conga can grow to ten feet long.
04:43And the giant moray is a seriously large animal, certainly big enough to attack humans.
04:50One well-known account here of a diver getting his thumb ripped off and eaten.
04:54But the idea that a freshwater eel could ever be huge or dangerous comes as a real surprise.
05:01New Zealand, in fact, has three kinds of freshwater eel.
05:06The speckled eel grows to around six feet long, but it's off my suspect list because it doesn't live in the lake where Haynes was attacked.
05:14At little more than four feet long, the shortfin eel is simply too small to fit the bill.
05:24The most likely perpetrator is the longfin, an eel that's unique to New Zealand and which is known to grow to at least six feet.
05:35Modern records have this snake-like fish growing to around 55 pounds.
05:39But there are older anecdotal reports of much larger specimens.
05:44In the 19th century, the naturalist Thomas Potts mentions a 90-pounder landed from a place called Stoneyhurst.
05:52And there's even a story of a 130-pound eel taken from a deep lake in New Zealand's South Island.
05:59Such an eel, if it ever existed, must have looked like an underwater python.
06:03These accounts are certainly intriguing.
06:08But buried in the archives of London's Maritime Museum is an even more tantalising description
06:14of a creature that's not only a monster, but also a man-eater.
06:22Some 240 years ago, British explorer James Cook painstakingly mapped the coastline of New Zealand.
06:29As he did so, he gathered information from the Maori inhabitants about native wildlife.
06:36And in one of his many journals, he alludes very specifically to a man-eating monster.
06:42Following a conversation with a local chief, Cook writes, and I quote,
06:49We had another piece of information importing that there are here snakes and lizards of an enormous size,
06:57eight feet long, and equal to a man's body in circumference.
07:01They sometimes seize and devour men.
07:03According to Cook, the chief actually drew a picture of one of these creatures to show what he meant.
07:10But the obvious conclusion that this beast must be a python or possibly some kind of huge lizard simply can't be right.
07:17What makes this account so intriguing and also so problematic is that there are no snakes or any large reptiles in New Zealand.
07:28And there never have been.
07:30As I head for New Zealand, my prime suspect for Captain Cook's devourer of men is not a snake, but a fish that looks like a snake.
07:43It's a theory that seems more plausible when you consider Maori folklore.
07:47Maori legends are full of tales about predatory beasts called tanifa.
08:03Now, these potentially very dangerous creatures are quite slippery customers,
08:08and sometimes they take the form of a giant eel.
08:11I'm starting my search for a giant longfin at a place called Mangafitakao, near Waitomo, on New Zealand's North Island.
08:22Supposedly, there are eels that have lived in this cave for at least 30 years and have never seen daylight.
08:28More disconcertingly, the Maori name for this underworld means bad place to cross the river.
08:52Eels are at the heart of Maori culture.
08:54Legend has it that they all sprang from a single, huge ancestor.
08:59The story goes that there was a drought up in heaven, and a giant eel was sent down to earth to try and find water for the gods.
09:09But while it was here, it tried to seduce the wife of Maui, who was the most powerful of the Maori gods.
09:16And enraged, Maui fought with the giant eel and hacked it in two.
09:22And the severed head gave rise to all the seawater eels and the tail, so the story goes, gave rise to all the freshwater eels.
09:30Even with a flashlight and a headlamp, I'm straining to see more than a few feet.
09:39I've no idea what might be lurking here, but to tempt something out of the shadows, I decide to dip a piece of meat into the water.
09:46Straight away, an eel emerges.
10:00This one isn't huge, but it is surprisingly bold.
10:11Despite living in pitch black, it has absolutely no fear of the light, or of me.
10:18It's on a single-minded search for flesh.
10:21Yet this carnivorous instinct doesn't, on its own, make the longfin a killer.
10:34I want to find out if they can get big enough and aggressive enough to be seriously dangerous to people.
10:41Could they ever be, in the words of Cook, devourers of men?
10:51To get a proper look at what makes the longfin eel New Zealand's top freshwater predator, I first have to catch one.
11:14When it comes to bait, anything goes.
11:17Fresh roadkill could be worth a try.
11:22Eels tend to be more active at night, relying on smell rather than sight to find food.
11:32I use a concoction of guts and offal to draw them in.
11:37Eels have a phenomenal ability to sense blood.
11:39My two rods are each equipped with an electronic alarm, primed to go off if something makes a grab for the bait.
11:52I don't have to wait long.
11:59If there's flesh on offer, it seems these animals are into it, like starved piranhas.
12:03With some fresh roadkill on the end of my line, I've hooked my first longfin eel.
12:21Even with a small one, I have to take special care because these fish have poisonous blood.
12:31The serum contains a neurotoxin that can kill dogs.
12:35And just a splash into my eye or a cut as I try to unhook it could land me in serious trouble.
12:44It doesn't feel like a normal fish at all.
12:47Very, very smooth skin.
12:48They do actually have scales, but they're embedded under a layer of skin.
12:53Not very big eyes, they don't really use their eyes to hunt.
12:57But they do use smell.
12:59And you can see what looks like a pair of horns on the front of the head there.
13:05In fact, these structures are tubes that funnel water into enlarged nasal chambers.
13:11The eel's sense of smell is even more sensitive than that of a great white shark.
13:18Having zeroed in, an eel grabs its prey with powerful jaws that bristle with hundreds of teeth.
13:27You can see why people consider these to be very similar to snakes, even though they are technically fish.
13:37There are plenty of eels here, but nothing over three feet long.
13:44Leaving legends aside, I wonder if science can shed any light on the question of size.
13:50Just how big, in theory, could this animal grow?
13:59Inside the skull of a dead eel may seem like a strange place to look for an answer.
14:04But Dr Don Jellyman is the world authority in these animals, and he knows exactly what he's after.
14:11So this is the brain, the spinal cord, and this little otolith sits in a small sack just in the back here.
14:17And it's part of the balancing system.
14:20So that's what we're after, Jeremy.
14:22That little bone there holds the key to a lot of the life history of the eel.
14:26It's age, it's growth rate.
14:27Once magnified, this tiny ear bone reveals the growth history of the fish.
14:34So is that the same sort of principle as counting the rings on a tree, something like that?
14:38It is. It's exactly the same.
14:41A two to three foot eel can be 30 years old.
14:45But amazingly, this is just a youngster.
14:47What's the oldest they might be, do you think? Any conjecture?
14:52Well, the oldest that I've aged is 105 years old.
14:56And from that lake, the average age at which the females migrated was 93 years.
15:01It's extraordinary, isn't it?
15:02One thing I've been thinking about is this mention in Captain Cook's journals about, he was told about something that was snake-like and eight feet long.
15:13Would one of these be capable of growing to eight feet, do you think, in ideal conditions?
15:17Yes, it's quite likely in the wild that they would have grown to a very, very large size like that.
15:22I wouldn't dismiss that.
15:24So that could be a reliable report. And at that length, how much is that going to weigh, roughly?
15:27Yeah, well over a hundred pounds at that stage.
15:30Right. Yeah.
15:31Gosh.
15:32That's a big fish.
15:33Yeah?
15:34It's a seriously big fish.
15:35Okay, so that Captain Cook report, it could have been one of these?
15:37It could well have been.
15:39It might be of interest just to have a look inside it.
15:42So we'll just...
15:45It'll run up through here.
15:50So, oh, there is something in here.
15:51That's the stomach, is it?
15:52That's the stomach there.
15:53That's quite full, isn't it?
15:54Let's take a peek. I'm rather interested to know what this has got in it.
15:58With toxic blood oozing out of the eel's body, I'm careful to wash my hands.
16:06So...
16:09Aha.
16:11Is that another eel?
16:12It's another eel, yes.
16:13It's well digested.
16:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:16So they can be quite cannibalistic.
16:17They're just well adapted to taking those opportunities as they arise.
16:20If there's tucker there, they're into it.
16:22Yeah.
16:28My photo fit of Captain Cook's monster is starting to take shape.
16:33It's a fish with real nerve.
16:38Guided by the nose of a bloodhound.
16:41And armed with hundreds of close-packed teeth.
16:44It can live for more than a century, and potentially at least grow to eight feet long.
16:54It also happens to have toxic blood and a taste for its own kind.
17:00But is it truly dangerous?
17:03To find out, I've booked myself onto a popular radio chat show.
17:07Radio Southland's 96.4 FM.
17:09I'm Matt Wutherford, talking with well-known angler Jeremy Wade, who's really interested in hearing your stories about long-fin eels.
17:17So give us a call on 21-88-964.
17:20I'm looking for evidence of aggression, and the lines are soon buzzing.
17:25And the eel came and latched onto the deer carcass.
17:28And we had a wrestling match for that.
17:29Trying to measure her, she latched onto my finger.
17:32When I looked down, I was quite surprised.
17:34Quite a large black eel.
17:35It would have to have been, you know, two metres and as round as a man's thigh.
17:40The end of my finger ended being stripped back to the bone.
17:43There are some monsters, there's no question of that.
17:49I was prepared for tales of ducklings swallowed whole.
17:52But it seems that some eels strike at much larger prey.
17:57Yeah, I took my dog Sam down to the river and we were playing with a ball.
18:01I was throwing it and he was bringing it back to me.
18:03And I threw it this one time and I heard him go in for it.
18:09I could hear something going on, but I couldn't see him.
18:13He just disappeared into the water.
18:23I'm still taking note when a man calls in to tell me about some sheep that were eaten, alive.
18:29What was happening when the sheep were falling into the river and turning around and trying to get back out again.
18:35But before they could get out, these eels were attacking them from behind and going in the back passage of the sheep.
18:41They were pulling the intestines out and going right inside the animal and getting right up to the liver and that before it actually ceased to live.
18:55Then, to top it all, the story of a man who went skinny dipping.
18:59This rather large eel come up and grabbed them in a very peculiar sort of a clutch.
19:05Right, I think I'll get your drift out possibly.
19:07Yes, and it ended up putting him in the hospital.
19:11So this chap who was hospitalised, hang on, I'll put this delicately, was he missing anything when he got out of hospital or was he just patch patched up?
19:21I think he was alright when he got out of hospital, but he might have been cross-eyed for a while.
19:24OK.
19:25My respect for these long fins is growing by the minute, so I'll definitely take care when I'm out there trying to get my own hands-on experience.
19:33Mate, beware. Just be careful. Eel wrestling is not a good sport for tourists.
19:40OK, thanks for the warning.
19:41Stick to bungee jumping.
19:43Going on the radio has really helped me to tap into local knowledge and very quickly get an accurate sense of what this predator is capable of.
19:53But since coming here, I've also tracked down an old newspaper report that describes a terrifying assault on a young girl.
20:01This appears to be a very clear example of an eel deliberately trying to kill a human.
20:07In 1971, eight-year-old Carol Davis wandered into a stream on her father's property.
20:18For several days previously, large eels had been attacking Mr. Davis' ducks.
20:24Then, for reasons that aren't clear, one of them decided to have a go at Carol.
20:31The idea that an eel could drag a girl into deep water,
21:00is entirely possible.
21:03This is a fish that can actually swim backwards with real power.
21:07Carol's horror story has really concentrated my mind.
21:16Not only was she attacked in shallow water,
21:19her ordeal also happened in broad daylight.
21:22It makes me wonder what would happen to me under similar conditions.
21:28It's not just dark underground caves where you find eels lurking.
21:33I'm in a wildlife park where I know there are half a dozen big longfins.
21:40I'm not yet ready to try this out in the wild, where if things went wrong, I'd be miles from any help.
21:47Nonetheless, there's no such thing as a tame eel, and I've already heard enough to put me on edge.
21:55A splash of longfin blood on your eyes or lips can cause inflammation for several days.
22:10But how much would it take to kill you?
22:13The answer, right after this.
22:19Just three teaspoons of longfin blood has enough toxin to kill a person.
22:24I'm in New Zealand, on the trail of an alleged man-eater described two and a half centuries ago by Captain Cook.
22:39Was he just spun a yarn by a local chief, or could there be giant eels here capable of preying on humans?
22:46Before heading into the wilderness and doing this for real, I'm testing the water in a wildlife park, where there are half a dozen hefty eels.
23:05Their mouths are lined with hundreds of backward-pointing teeth, and the ones in here are certainly big enough to grab an ankle, or a hand.
23:35I'm treading into the roots here, and the trouble is they're going to be lurking right in there, I don't want to get my toes nipped.
23:49After a couple of nervy encounters, I decide to push my luck.
23:53I've actually got one right here.
23:56There we go.
24:10Whoa!
24:14Short and dramatic.
24:16It's my first real contact with one of these big longfin eels.
24:21Clearly, well-fed eels like these just aren't aggressive.
24:26But I'm not fooling myself.
24:29They'll be so placid in the wild.
24:41In New Zealand's South Island, I leave the beaten track and push into the mountains.
24:49Some of the biggest eels mentioned in historical records were caught from deep lakes in the interior.
24:54And this is where I'm focusing my search for a monster.
25:01On Lake Manapuri, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, I first join Evan Brunton.
25:07A man who tracks and catches eels for a living.
25:10There are parts of this lake that plunge to more than a quarter of a mile deep.
25:17Room enough for a monster to hide in, even today.
25:20So we've actually got over 1,500 feet in the middle.
25:23I mean, that's way deeper than Loch Ness.
25:271,500 feet is nothing for an eel.
25:28The other night we were tracking eels at 2 o'clock in the morning and one eel was travelling right on the surface and the other eel was travelling at 150 metres, which is 600 feet.
25:41An eel could quite happily live at the bottom of this lake.
25:44Do you think there are still big ones around?
25:47Yes, there is a few big ones from time to time.
25:50It just seemed to turn up out of the blue.
25:55Evan calculates that some of the eels in this lake are over 80 years old.
25:59When you think about it, some of these eels were 20 years old at the outbreak of the Second World War.
26:07Have you heard any stories of aggressive or dangerous eels in your time?
26:14Oh, yes.
26:15A couple of people went missing in the hidden lakes of Tiana, supposedly taken by monstrous eels.
26:23You've only got to see the strength in them when they bite.
26:25It would be very, very hard for some people to actually get up again, especially if there was more than one of them.
26:33People can fall over and knock themselves out, can't they?
26:40At a secluded bay, we pull over to see if anything large has turned up in Evan's nets.
26:50Even here, the chances of finding a giant eel are slim.
26:56But the 16 pounder that Evan hauls out is still an impressive animal.
27:00So powerful.
27:02You can imagine that at 30 pound.
27:05Could drag someone away.
27:08There's some eels up in the Waikato that have been up to 100 pound.
27:13And they've been caught and reliably weighed?
27:15Yes, they have.
27:16Oh, gosh.
27:22Evan's accounts of monstrous 100 pound eels have got me itching to fish.
27:29But first, there's a niggling question at the back of my mind.
27:32I can well believe that a massive eel could seize someone and drag them under.
27:39But with teeth designed to grip rather than cut,
27:43I'm sceptical about whether it could actually dismember and devour a person.
27:47If Captain Cook's man-eater really is a huge longfin, then this animal must have some other way to rip you apart.
27:58To see how, I'm laying on a buffet.
28:05A hunter has provided me with a deer carcass, and I've brought along a high-tech box of tricks.
28:13Underwater cameras placed around the bait will give me separate views of the tail, throat and stomach.
28:24If any eels show up to feed, I'll be able to see how they deal with something that's too large to swallow whole.
28:30The eels I've seen have got very powerful bodies and a very strong grip, but how one of these animals,
28:43even if it was the eight-foot size mentioned in Captain Cook's journal,
28:47how that could devour a person is still not immediately obvious.
28:53With my surveillance cameras switched on, I retreat to a makeshift control room.
28:57The stage is set.
29:00All I can do now is sit and wait.
29:09For nearly two hours, nothing shows up.
29:15Then, out of the blue, they appear like a pack of wolves.
29:20And I catch my first glimpse of how these animals could rip you to shreds.
29:27I've questioned how a fish that doesn't have large cutting teeth could actually kill and eat something as big as a human.
29:48But with a deer carcass under surveillance, and the night closing in, my doubts are about to be blown away.
30:00Here we go. It's getting in there.
30:04Yep, it's latching on. It's actually spinning. It's spinning around.
30:08These eels are feeding like crocodiles, gripping the victim firmly, then spinning violently to twist off chunks of flesh.
30:21It actually reminds me of this story that I've heard. It's one of those stories that I haven't been able to pin down where it happened, who to.
30:39But a few people have told me this, and it's somebody who was driving, supposedly had a few to drink.
30:51It's said that the man swerved out of control and crashed into a lake.
30:54Unconscious and bleeding, he would have been, quite literally, a sitting target for marauding eels.
31:19I've now seen with my own eyes how a pack of longfins could make a real mess of someone, given half a chance.
31:40I've also tracked down credible stories of massive eels living in New Zealand's remote backwaters.
31:55Yet just when I'm ready to try and catch one of these slippery monsters, I run into an unexpected problem.
32:00In wilderness areas like this, fishing for eels with hooks is now strictly forbidden.
32:07I've no choice but to give up my usual methods and start from scratch.
32:13Eel fisherman Vic Thompson is my teacher.
32:16I'm going to make a bob for you. Simply find a bit of steak like that, or any red meat, cut it into a slim slice.
32:25And I've got a bit of mackerel fish here, which adds a bit of flavour.
32:30You have a bit of wool, just ordinary darning wool needle. Thread through like that to start with.
32:37Pull it right through. And then you just wind this around like that.
32:42After you've done the first layer like that, you've got to put a loop on here to attach it to your line.
32:51The theory is simple. When the eel bites, its teeth get tangled in the wool.
32:57I must then drag it ashore before it shakes itself free.
33:03So there you've got your loop on your bob. Good bite size for an eel.
33:07So I guess the angler doesn't have the hook. The eel actually has the hook in this situation, doesn't it?
33:12The eel has lots of hooks in its mouth. So they hook onto the wool.
33:16Very low tech, but very effective by the sound of it.
33:19Very effective.
33:21It all sounds straightforward.
33:23But as I head for a deserted spot on a deep water lake, I'm not so sure.
33:28The method I've just learnt is a traditional Maori technique known as toi, or bobbing.
33:36One clear benefit at least, is that with no hooks involved, there's little danger of spilling the eel's toxic blood.
33:44Assuming I can catch one.
33:47Having cast my very first hookless bait, I wait for a bite.
33:55If anywhere has super-sized eels still prowling the depths, it has to be a place like this.
34:02On the shores of a deep lake in southern New Zealand, I'm hoping to land a giant longfin eel.
34:22But this is the first time I've had to fish without a hook on my line, and it feels like I've been disarmed.
34:28It's still in the mouth. It's still in its mouth. Look at that. Just came out.
34:51Come here.
34:53There we go. My first fish on a bob.
35:00The technique actually works, and it works for two reasons.
35:02A bit of role reversal here. Normally it's me providing the hook.
35:05This eel has got hundreds of little hooks in its mouth in the form of teeth.
35:09And that's why it catches on to that bob, it sort of hooks in.
35:13But the other thing is, it's a predator, and so it thinks that bait is getting away, so it hangs on.
35:17And then if I'm quick about it, it's up on the bank before it actually knows what's going on.
35:25OK.
35:27Oh, it's all right. I'm putting you back. No need to struggle. I'm actually putting you back.
35:30Lovely. I've just caught a fish without using a hook. It absolutely works.
35:45Spurred on by my success, I push further into even wilder backwaters.
35:50To places where few people ever fish.
35:56The eels here are as bold and as willing to strike as any I've seen.
36:02And with my bobbing skills improving fast, I'm soon dragging them out at up to four feet long.
36:08But I'm looking for a beast twice this size. And time is running out.
36:18If the animal described by Captain Cook really was an eel, then seemingly the big ones are very rare.
36:25Or even, perhaps, a thing of the past.
36:28So far, the monster I've come in search of has eluded me.
36:42But I still have some unfinished business with the longfin eel that may yet help me solve the mystery.
36:48Just in my short time here, I've been hearing a lot about their aggression.
36:52I'm in no doubt that I'm dealing with a very powerful and large animal.
36:58There were those sheep dragged into the water and eaten alive.
37:01And that was actually from somebody who saw that happening.
37:07As for humans, we have a swimmer who was swimming without clothes, who had his private parts mauled.
37:13And then there was the diver having his ribs actually cracked.
37:17And then finally that newspaper report of a girl being dragged into the water.
37:22But I have to admit there is still a grain of doubt in my mind.
37:30To be totally convinced, I need to see the proof for myself.
37:35And there's only one way that I can do that.
37:37My destination is a remote river in the heart of a primeval wilderness.
37:51I want to find out if wild longfin eels, large or small, are willing to attack a healthy adult human.
37:58I've already been in the water with these animals, in a zoo.
38:11This time, it's going to be very different.
38:13The place I've chosen is swarming with eels.
38:27And because they're wild, they'll be hungry.
38:30The question is, will they be bold enough to have a crack at me?
39:00To draw them in, I first soak my clothes with fish guts.
39:05Put simply, I'm turning myself into human bait.
39:13I can feel my heart starting to pound.
39:15I've done some crazy things in my time.
39:17Getting into a pool with piranhas, going into murky water after snakeheads.
39:21But this has to be one of the scariest things I've done.
39:25For protection, I'm wearing chainmail gloves and a thick wetsuit.
39:30And I'll be sticking close to the bank.
39:47Within minutes, eels are catching the whiff of blood and moving in.
39:54I've traveled halfway around the world to find out if there's such a thing as a freshwater eel that will attack and eat a man.
40:15On a remote river in New Zealand, I've soaked myself with fish guts.
40:20And I'm offering myself as live bait.
40:24The question is, are any eels going to bite?
40:32That is just so snake-like. Coming out of the water with its mouth like that.
40:37I'm hoping they're going for my hands, but they seem to be interested in other parts of my clothing at the moment, which is a bit disconcerting.
40:42And even if I move, if I move my legs, I move my hands, it's not really sending them away at all.
40:51They're right, they're coming right in close.
40:52The thing about these fish, these are not fish that people feed, these are wild fish, so they are hungry.
40:57They're bumping my legs, they're bumping my legs, they're tugging at my shirt, and they're coming in on my fingers as well.
41:07I'm actually wearing gloves, these are Kevlar gloves, and I wouldn't be too happy doing it without those.
41:17No, I do want to hold my ground, I mean, I've come this far, I don't want to get out too, too quickly.
41:24It's broad daylight, and from their point of view, I'm a big animal. But they're totally unphased.
41:31Get out! Ow!
41:33I think I need Kevlar underpants as well.
41:36I'm actually wearing gloves, these are Kevlar gloves, and I wouldn't be too happy doing it without those.
41:39No, I do want to hold my ground, I mean, I've come this far, I don't want to get out too, too quickly.
41:44It's broad daylight, and from their point of view, I'm a big animal.
41:48But they're totally unfazed.
41:51Get out! Ow!
41:53I think Kevlar underpants as well. Most fish would not do this at all, even piranhas.
41:56Ow!
41:58That was inside of the thigh, inside of the thigh.
42:01What I don't want is for them to draw blood. If they draw blood, that could really get them going.
42:09Ah!
42:15Ah!
42:16That is one aggressive fish.
42:19Ah! Look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that!
42:22Ah!
42:23I think it's time for me to get out, get out, get out.
42:27I came here wondering if the monster described so long ago by Captain Cook was, in fact, a giant eel.
42:32Short of seeing an eight-footer, I can't be sure.
42:33Yet it's clear to me that without protective clothing, these eels would have ripped into my flesh and tried to eat me alive.
43:05just about size. Slip and fall over in some lonely river and it's the hungry
43:11pack that could seal your fate. Want to know how to catch a river monster of your
43:19own? I'll show you how at animalplanet.com forward slash river monsters.
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