00:00Of course, you know that the Amazon River is famous for its piranhas, bull sharks, and
00:08other creatures you don't want to meet.
00:10But there are even more dangerous rivers in the world.
00:14The deepest of them, the Congo, goes so far down in some sections that even light can't
00:19reach there.
00:20It's the only major river that crosses the equator twice and carries enough water to
00:25fill more than 13 Olympic-sized swimming pools into the Atlantic Ocean every second.
00:31Wow.
00:32Even the most experienced boaters have trouble passing through all of the river's strong
00:36currents, rapids in its upper part, and waterfalls and gorges in the lower section.
00:41The Congo currents are so fast and powerful that they even divide animals like mountains
00:46and oceans do.
00:48There are new species of fish evolving separately on the two banks as they can't reach the
00:52other side and breed with each other.
00:55One of the most dangerous types of fish living here is the Goliath tigerfish.
01:00These monsters that grow up to 5 feet and travel at the speed of 25 mph are relatives
01:06of piranhas.
01:07Their mouths are full of vicious, razor-sharp teeth.
01:11Their females lay hundreds of thousands of eggs, and the offspring are predators from
01:15birth.
01:16You have a good reason to fear the Goliath tigerfish as they're the only freshwater
01:21fish in Africa that have attacked crocodiles and even humans.
01:25Okay, not swimming there.
01:29There are dense jungles and more hungry wildlife, including snakes and some aggressive hippos,
01:34all along the river.
01:35Still, it's used as a water highway in Central Africa, so barges traveling on it for weeks
01:41are often crowded with up to 2,000 people, and capsize every now and then.
01:47Even if you believe the local folklore, there's one more thing to be afraid of – the one
01:52who stops the flow of the rivers.
01:54A dinosaur-like beast that is said to live in the Congo River basin.
01:59There have been over a hundred sightings over the last century, but no one can provide solid
02:04evidence the beast is real.
02:08At the turn of the 21st century, there was a series of terrible, mysterious stories on
02:13the Kali River in Asia.
02:15Often described as a mud-colored water pig would drag swimmers underwater in front of
02:20terrified eyewitnesses, British biologist Jeremy Wade stepped up to crack the case.
02:27He noticed that all the scary incidents were happening in one specific spot, stretching
02:32about 4 miles.
02:33Villagers told him this creature was growing big and bad from all the food it got.
02:38Wade examined the water with a depth sounder and thought it could've been a whirlpool.
02:44Then the monster dragged a domestic water buffalo into the water.
02:48The buffaloes are big and heavy, so the creature that attacked it would have to be super strong.
02:53Saltwater crocodiles don't go so far inland, and the most common local species of crocodiles
02:59don't live in cold waters.
03:01There were no bull sharks in the area either.
03:03Finally, Wade spotted several goonch catfish underwater.
03:08Some of them were human-sized.
03:10They couldn't capture these monsters with a regular fishing rod, but a special ceremonial
03:14construction did the job.
03:16The largest fish was 6 feet 7 inches long and 3 times the weight of an average goonch.
03:22It was large enough to take down a human or a large animal, but Wade mentioned there could
03:27be even bigger ones living in the Kali River.
03:32The Orinoco River in South America is dangerous to navigate because of some crazy curves and
03:38strong underwater currents.
03:40It's easy to get lost here, even if you have your GPS on.
03:44There are sudden waterfalls all along, and you must be prepared to handle those to survive.
03:50The river is the only home to a rare Orinoco crocodile, and has some pretty scary-looking
03:55vampire fish swimming around.
03:58This payara fish has sharp, spiky daggers that line their gums and two elongated fangs
04:04that rise from their lower jaws.
04:06Hmm, could probably use an orthodontist and some braces, you think?
04:09It's a ferocious hunter constantly looking for the next victim, which is going to be
04:13a medium or large-sized fish.
04:16If a human catches a payara, it will defend itself, leaving cuts, nips, and bites.
04:22But there are no known cases of this cutie taking a human life.
04:26Well, that's good.
04:29The Yellow River in China received its name after its color, but it wasn't always this
04:34yellow.
04:36The Yellow River was first formed at least 30 million years ago and shifted its course
04:39over 30 times over the centuries.
04:42Yellow sediments moving downstream from a plateau in the distance transformed it from
04:47clear to muddy.
04:49This fine-grained substance piled up at the bottom of the river and formed natural dams.
04:54The huge amounts of water that the river carries need to find their way to the sea.
05:00And that's when major floods happened, taking several million lives and various epics.
05:06The locals tried to solve the problem by building higher and higher levees, but it only made
05:10things worse.
05:12Water coming out of the river would now have nowhere to back up as the riverbed was higher
05:17than the surrounding land.
05:19This even shifted the river's mouth.
05:21Now there are massive dams and dikes all along the river to try to contain it.
05:28The Parana River is the second longest in Latin America and has many tributaries.
05:33They flow in from the highlands near the Andes, and there's a huge drainage in the
05:37wet season.
05:39This makes the river a perfect home for, guess what, piranhas.
05:43There are 30 to 60 species of these scary fish in the Piranha waters.
05:48In late 2013, they attacked bathers cooling off by the water on a hot day.
05:53People started running out of the river as they felt something was biting them in the
05:57water.
05:58Luckily, no one lost their lives in the accident, but it's still considered one of the most
06:03audacious piranha attacks ever recorded.
06:06Biologists later determined that the type of piranhas, called Palomates, was to blame
06:11for this, and humans had probably disturbed their breeding grounds.
06:15Wow.
06:16The piranha also has a strong current that is tricky for boats and swimmers to overcome.
06:21Plus, it often floods, which can be dangerous for people living in the surrounding areas.
06:28The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through 11 countries all the way into
06:33the Mediterranean Sea.
06:35Expeditions have spent centuries looking for its source, and no one still knows for sure
06:40where this mighty river begins.
06:43Adding to the mystery, the Nile takes an unexpected turn right in the middle of the Sahara.
06:49Scientists have figured out the reason is a massive underground rock formation from
06:53millions of years ago.
06:55The Nile has served as the most important water highway for civilizations through centuries,
07:00but it has some pretty dangerous inhabitants, like crocodiles that grow to be 20 feet long,
07:06which is slightly more than the height of an average giraffe.
07:09These bad guys can reach a speed of 30 mph on land and take the lives of a couple hundred
07:15people every year.
07:16Hippopotamuses that also live here sometimes go after boats, and venomous snakes like the
07:22black mamba and the Egyptian cobra add to the mix.
07:26One of the most dangerous creatures on the Nile is the mosquito, as they carry around
07:31all sorts of diseases that affect hundreds of thousands of people.
07:37The Brahmaputra River in Asia carries waters from the mighty Himalayas.
07:42When the snows in the mountains melt, the river floods massively, causing landslides,
07:47displacing millions of people, and taking the lives of hundreds of animals in the nearby
07:52national parks.
07:54Such floods are also common during the monsoon season in India, from June to October, with
07:59heavy rains.
08:01The course of the Brahmaputra River has changed incredibly over the past two and a half centuries.
08:07Erosion is another danger it's hiding.
08:09The banks of the river are mostly made of weak, cohesive sand and silt, and even though
08:14the erosion rate has gone down, it is still the reason a lot of people lose their land
08:19and get displaced.
08:21The Brahmaputra is one of the few rivers in the world that has a tidal bore.
08:25That's a strong tidal wave that pushes up the river against the current where a river
08:30empties into an ocean or sea.
08:33And there you have it.
08:37That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like
08:42and share it with your friends.
08:43Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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