Think I'm Bad? You Should See My Big Brother! ; As Scientists Say Piranhas Aren't Such Monsters After All
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Summary
THE pool in the river is calm, just the place to escape the biting flies and relentless humidity of the Amazon with a quick swim. So an unwary jungle traveller dives in and enjoys the cool relief for a few brief seconds before silently, faster than the eye can see, a small mouthful of live flesh is ripped agonisingly from his thigh by a tiny silver fish.
The waiting shoal of piranha scents a kill, and before the swimmer can move even a yard towards safety, his body has dissolved into a vortex of blood and flashing white teeth. Within a minute, every last living morsel is devoured, except for a few leg bones, and then the water is calm again. It looks like the perfect spot for a swim. This is the scenario that haunts all our nightmares. For the piranha may be a small obscure fish, native to the one of the world's most inhospitable rivers, yet it has a global reputation for ferocity and stealth that is matched only by the Great White shark. But now a team from St Andrew's University has claimed in a remarkable scientific paper that the piranha has been slandered, and that its reputation as a miniature flesh-eating monster is entirely unfounded. 'Contrary to popular belief and their sharp teeth piranhas are omnivores,' say the researchers, who recently returned (intact) from the Brazilian jungle. Nor, it is claimed, do the fish live up to their billing as aggressive hunters who will team up to kill anything from a full-grown man to a buffalo. They are actually shy, sensitive types. 'Previously it was thought piranhas shoaled as it enabled them to form a co-operative hunting group. However, we have found that it is primarily a defensive behaviour,' reports Professor Anne Magurran, who led the team studying the fish in the flooded Amazon basin. Can it really be that the razor-toothed fish whose reputation strikes such fear that its name is the title of an acclaimed horror film is simply misunderstood? Certainly, that is what the Scottish team would have us believe.See the full content of this document
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Think I'm Bad? You Should See My Big Brother! ; As Scientists Say Piranhas Aren't Such Monsters After All
YET the truth lies somewhere between the bloodthirsty legend and the whitewash. That the fish bite and bite hard is beyond question, as any number of villagers in Suriname, or fishermen in Paraguay, or children in Brazil, will tell you while pointing to livid scars as proof. A bite from a piran...
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