DOES THE ANACONDA ATTACK MAN ? 



famous snapping- turtle of the Bongaultier ballads, the 

 anaconda eats alligators. That this is an actual habit 

 of the snake was discovered, to his cost, by a German 

 gentleman, who purchased examples of both and left 

 them together through stress of accommodation. To 

 tackle an alligator, even for an anaconda, is a serious 

 matter. Mr. Quelch relates that a fight between the 

 two reptiles, ending in victory for the snake, took two 

 days. It all depends, as with wrestlers, upon the way 

 in which the snake succeeds in laying hold of the alli- 

 gator. When in an advantageous position from the 

 snake's point of view, victory is assured. Besides alli- 

 gators, the anaconda devours teguexin lizards, for 

 which it appears to have a partiality ; it has been known 

 to swallow such large beasts as peccaries and wood deer. 

 Oddly enough, its specific name of " murinus " has been 

 given to it on account of the fact that its small young 

 eat mice. It is a moot point whether the anaconda will 

 attack human beings. There is a general belief that it 

 will do so, and a consequent dread of the Ophidian in 

 many parts of South America. And there are cases of 

 anacondas having seized hold of a human being. A boy 

 washing rice in a stream was laid hold of by one of these 

 snakes but liberated by his father. In this case it is 

 thought that the mere movement of the water led the 

 snake to the wrong impression that some convenient fish 

 was in the neighbourhood. So bathing where there 

 are anacondas is not certainly dangerous, though an 

 accidental nip would not be a pleasant thing to occur, 

 and is rather uncanny to contemplate. Naturally, the 

 anaconda has 'given rise to legend. Anything big al- 

 ways does. Along the Amazons Mr. Bates relates that 

 this serpent is the origin of a legend of a huge freshwater 

 sea-serpent, to speak Hibernically, named Mai d'Agoa, 

 mother or spirit of the water. There is also the Min- 

 hocao, an equally fabulous beast who tunnels the mud 



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