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  • 5 months ago
River.Monsters.S05E05.Vampires.of.the.Deep
Transcript
00:00:00I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist, extreme angler, monster hunter.
00:00:18I've traveled the world to solve seemingly inexplicable freshwater deaths,
00:00:23uncovering monstrous culprits lurking below the surface.
00:00:29Now, I'm on the trail of the most brutal attack I've ever heard of.
00:00:34It's extremely gruesome.
00:00:36A man killed when something in the water ripped off his face.
00:00:43To track down this culprit, I have to journey to the remote heart of South America.
00:00:48Nearly the whole country is blanketed in rainforest.
00:00:51Where the battle for survival is fiercest.
00:00:54I was expecting to go in there and investigate the skeleton, but there's nothing left.
00:00:58Have I waded in too deep?
00:01:00This could in fact have been a murder.
00:01:03But once I'm on the trail of a river monster, there's no turning back.
00:01:08I've now been traveling to South America for 20 years, and whenever I return, I find new horrors hiding in its waters.
00:01:36I recently came across a grim report from only a year ago.
00:01:43A young man was swimming across a South American river.
00:01:48Suddenly, he started struggling and then disappeared below the surface.
00:01:55He was only underwater for a matter of moments before being pulled out.
00:01:59But it was already too late.
00:02:02He was dead.
00:02:04But this was no drowning, as he had highly unusual injuries.
00:02:09According to the report, something under the water tore his face off, while leaving the rest of his body untouched.
00:02:16The river monster behind this attack sounds truly terrifying.
00:02:23But I don't have much to go on.
00:02:25The report is brief, with barely any detail.
00:02:28In this internet age, we're used to having all the information we want at our fingertips.
00:02:33This story, however, comes from a part of the world beyond its reach.
00:02:37When you're dealing with an information black hole, the only way of delving deeper is to go there.
00:02:43All I know is that the death happened on the Rio Yata, which flows through northern Bolivia, a country I've never been to.
00:02:53This is a very remote region, practically cut off from the rest of Bolivia by impenetrable forest.
00:03:00The best way for me to get there is to fly to Brazil, then drive the perilous roads to the river that forms the border.
00:03:10This is a very poor and dangerous part of the world, where cocaine smuggling touches everything.
00:03:17In the near absence of roads, rivers are the main highways, especially for organised crime.
00:03:25There are miles and miles of river where anybody can slip across unnoticed.
00:03:32As soon as I cross over into Bolivia, I start asking questions.
00:03:44But nobody has heard about the death I'm here to investigate.
00:03:47No, no, no with you.
00:03:49No, she doesn't know anything, hasn't heard anything at all.
00:03:52The only lead I can follow is the river itself.
00:03:57The Rio Yata twists and turns for 650 miles through dense jungle,
00:04:02and the fatal attack happens somewhere along here.
00:04:09My plan is to work my way along the river, stopping at any sign of habitation along its banks,
00:04:15asking questions and seeking clues in my mission to solve this murder mystery.
00:04:31My guide is Luis, the only motorboat owner I could find who's willing to take me through this wilderness.
00:04:37This river hasn't been explored by scientists, nobody really knows what's down there.
00:04:47So it could be the perfect place for an as yet undiscovered monster to be lurking.
00:04:52I need to keep an open mind as to the killer's identity.
00:05:04I want to get my line into the water and start gathering leads, no matter how small.
00:05:10So far, I've no local advice to tap into.
00:05:20But I know that a tight bend in the river is a good bet for beginning to bring in whatever lives here.
00:05:26Predator or prey.
00:05:28The chances are there's deepish water down here.
00:05:33There's a few snags, sunken branches on the edge.
00:05:37It's the kind of thing that might make fish feel confident.
00:05:40The fact there's refuge nearby.
00:05:42Also the depth of water.
00:05:44There's a good chance that the killer I'm after is a carnivorous predator,
00:05:48as it tore off the victim's face.
00:05:50So I'm using a whole fish for bait.
00:05:53Bait is a very precious commodity.
00:05:55It doesn't last very long in this heat.
00:05:59There's a lot of hope resting on this fish here.
00:06:07It doesn't disappoint.
00:06:20It looks like some kind of freshwater stingray.
00:06:22I'm going to try and slide it on to the beach here.
00:06:29It may not be the biggest monster in the river, but stingrays are the most feared fish in South America.
00:06:36They're responsible for countless injuries every year.
00:06:40Stab-proof gloves will protect me from its venomous, barbed tail.
00:06:44This is a creature that is potentially very dangerous to people.
00:06:49If you stepped on it and this thing is stuck in your leg, it's very, very painful.
00:06:53But if you don't treat the wound, that can become septic.
00:06:55And, you know, the worst-case scenario there is actually for that to go gangrenous.
00:07:00Remove the limb if you don't do that. That's fatal as well.
00:07:04The main one's about four inches long, and there's a small one coming through underneath.
00:07:09And I think the principle is a bit like what happens in sharks.
00:07:12When their teeth fall out, they're replaced by other ones coming from behind.
00:07:15And I think when this main spine falls out, gets damaged, there's another one waiting to take its place.
00:07:23But as dangerous as its tail is, this stingray doesn't have the hardware to tear somebody's face off.
00:07:29It hasn't really got teeth. Well, it has, but they're so close together that it forms almost like a grinding plate.
00:07:37There's a bit of roughness there, almost like tiles, with each tile slightly pointed.
00:07:42And the actual jaw is quite muscular. It's got a good crushing force there.
00:07:48Without the weaponry to rip flesh from bone, the river stingray is off my suspect list.
00:07:54But what other deadly creatures live alongside the ray in these murky waters?
00:08:17A flat-whiskered catfish.
00:08:19This has got teeth, but I mean, they're not very big. They're very, very small, very close together.
00:08:24The effect is more like sandpaper, something like that. It's rasping, quite rough to the touch.
00:08:29So there's no way that this fish could cause the type of injuries that I've been hearing about.
00:08:37But a nice plump catfish might well be on the menu for a bigger, more voracious predator, which could be lurking nearby.
00:08:49Then, after the initial flurry of activity, it all goes quiet.
00:09:09We've not made it far enough along the river to reach a village in daylight.
00:09:13We need to find a safe place to set up camp for the night.
00:09:21Looks like someone's been here before.
00:09:23That's going to be perfect for the hammock, I think.
00:09:25I'm taking every opportunity to find out what patrols these waters.
00:09:40I'll leave a couple of lines out overnight, right next to my hammock.
00:09:45Although my focus is firmly on the dangers in the water, I also have to be wary of what could be in the jungle.
00:09:54Not just armed drug runners, but the wildlife as well.
00:10:01Just looking at the bank here, and I'm a little bit wary because there's some caiman footprints and slide marks.
00:10:06Some of it's moved over there.
00:10:15Black caimans are South American relatives of the alligator.
00:10:19They can grow up to 19 feet long and have no problem hunting in the dark.
00:10:24So far, the Rio Yata hasn't given up any clues to the fate of the man with the missing face.
00:10:38But like illicit goods, news travels fast along rivers.
00:10:43And if the gruesome death happened anywhere nearby, a local fisherman would probably be the first to hear.
00:10:48Somebody here who looks like he's fishing, so I'm going to nip in and just have a bit of a chat.
00:10:53Now, scientists might not know what's under the water here, but the locals tend to have a pretty good idea.
00:10:58It's possible in Costa.
00:11:02First meetings can be tense here. Drug running is commonplace, so the locals are wary of outsiders.
00:11:08He seems willing to talk, so I ask him about the grisly death.
00:11:26He says he doesn't know anything about the accident last year.
00:11:32But he has heard of another fatality caused by a huge fish.
00:11:36There's one that will attack people.
00:11:44So could this be the face ripper.
00:11:56I'm in remote northern Bolivia, investigating the death of a man who had his face torn off by something lurking in the Rio Yata.
00:12:07I'm here to find out what kind of creature is capable of such a horrific attack.
00:12:15A solitary fisherman may have my first clue.
00:12:18I'll just say, are there any dangerous fish in here?
00:12:21He says, yes, there's one that will attack people and can drown them.
00:12:24A child was recently killed by one along the river here.
00:12:28Two boys went down to the river's edge to check on a line that had been set the night before.
00:12:42As one of them pulled in the line, his feet got tangled up in the coils.
00:12:52Suddenly, the line snapped tight as a huge fish took off.
00:12:58The little boy was no match for this fish's strength, and just like the defaced man, they couldn't get help to him in time.
00:13:09They pulled on the line, shot the fish, and when they pulled it in, the missing lad was actually in its stomach.
00:13:20I've asked him to draw it because local names are very confusing.
00:13:23They don't often tell you very much.
00:13:24In the absence of a scientific name, in the absence of the actual body to look at, a good description with a drawing is hopefully going to tell me something.
00:13:32No scales, it just has skin, so that means it's probably a catfish of some sort, a big head.
00:13:53Right, he's saying it's got a big tentacle coming off the dorsal fin.
00:13:57No, that's pretty much a giveaway. That sounds like, if it's the size that he's saying as well, that sounds like it's a Piraiba.
00:14:06This story sounds unlikely, but I've long known that Piraiba can be lethal.
00:14:12The real monster of the Amazon.
00:14:15After investigating a story of a fisherman swallowed by one.
00:14:21But despite their size and power, they have tiny teeth packed into rough pads.
00:14:27Although a big one could swallow a person, they're not capable of clinically removing somebody's face.
00:14:39Before I continue on my way, the fisherman is quick to remind me that I must go carefully.
00:14:44Yeah, he's saying you've got to be careful in this river. He says there's lots of things in this water that can attack you and that are potentially dangerous.
00:14:53I continue my journey, bend by snaking bend, down the 650 mile long river, on the lookout for any clues.
00:15:06And fishing every likely spot, day and night.
00:15:13I also talk to any villagers or fishermen I come across.
00:15:18Until finally, I meet someone who's heard about the death.
00:15:24Well, I'm going in the right direction. He says it's downstream from here, but he says it's quite a way.
00:15:38He tells me a bit more detail about the death.
00:15:47What he heard was that just bone was left, everything else was eaten.
00:15:53Another fairly gruesome detail in addition to what I've heard already.
00:15:58This is a significant piece of information. Whatever attack the man didn't just make a grab for his head, it sounds like it was actually feeding on him.
00:16:15I've been travelling the river for three days now, and I haven't caught anything capable of doing that kind of damage.
00:16:21But all that could be about to change.
00:16:23What's this? What's this?
00:16:36I'm deep in the remote jungles of Bolivia.
00:16:40Investigating the death of a man who had his face bitten off by something in the water.
00:16:48Oh, what's this? What's this?
00:16:51Oh, but so far I haven't caught anything with the teeth to do the job.
00:16:58Here we go. Here we go.
00:17:03Red-bellied piranha.
00:17:06Ah, there's a very audible crunch going on there.
00:17:09This is the most notorious of the piranhas.
00:17:13It's got very sharp teeth, which interlock with it like scissor blades.
00:17:17And looking at this one, what's very characteristic, it's got a very solid, broad head.
00:17:24And what this largely means is there's a lot of musculature under the gills there in the sort of the cheek region behind the eye.
00:17:31That's the force behind these cutting blades.
00:17:33They may have the hardware, but after 20 years of fishing in South America, I've come to the conclusion that most of the time their bloodthirsty reputation isn't much more than Hollywood hype.
00:17:46To prove it, I've jumped into piranha-infested rivers.
00:17:57I've even sat in a pool full of them without getting so much as a nip.
00:18:02These piranhas were tearing into a piece of dead meat just a couple of minutes ago, but they're just not interested in me.
00:18:12And dead meat is the clue.
00:18:15Few aquatic hunters would turn down an easy meal of a dead animal.
00:18:20And when I investigated a story of a whole bus full of people reportedly eaten alive by piranhas,
00:18:31it turned out that the wounds were inflicted after they'd drowned.
00:18:36I've not heard as yet a confirmed report of these actually killing a healthy adult.
00:18:42So piranhas aren't on my suspect list.
00:18:46But somewhere in this river, there's a freshwater killer, and I'm determined to find it.
00:18:53With my guide Louise, I travel further down the river without seeing any sign of human habitation,
00:18:59until we finally come across a small village.
00:19:02I still don't know where the attack took place, or even the victim's name.
00:19:07So I'm hoping somebody here can start filling in the blanks.
00:19:12Señor, señora.
00:19:14Doesn't look like there's anyone at hand here.
00:19:17The first few people I speak with know nothing.
00:19:21Okay, okay.
00:19:23But my persistence pays off.
00:19:25Usted sabe algo?
00:19:27Si.
00:19:29Sobre de que menda de lo que ha sucedido.
00:19:32Oscar Barbosa es.
00:19:34I've got a name and a place.
00:19:35The man's name was Oscar, Oscar Barbosa.
00:19:40De aquí de la Comunidad Rosario del Llata hasta Santa Teresita dicta un día.
00:19:45It was on the river here, a village called Santa Teresita.
00:19:49And that's about a day away from here, travelling on the river.
00:19:52Gracias.
00:19:54Okay.
00:19:56I'm finally on the right track.
00:19:58I've been told that the village I'm looking for is at a ferry crossing.
00:20:08So I think this is it.
00:20:09I think this is the place where it happened.
00:20:10This is the place where I'm getting off the boat.
00:20:13This is the village where Oscar died and if I'm going to get answers anywhere, it's going to be here.
00:20:24But very quickly I discover that Santa Teresita is practically abandoned.
00:20:36There's very little employment in these remote villages and many people have to leave for weeks at a time to follow seasonal work.
00:20:43I find a few people left who have heard of the attack but they weren't in the village at the time and seem reluctant to talk about it.
00:20:55I'm having trouble finding anybody who saw what happened.
00:20:58There's actually very few people around.
00:20:59There's lots of houses but a lot of them seem to be empty.
00:21:02I'm just thinking if it happened on a day like today, there wouldn't really be many people around to witness it.
00:21:07But what I have heard second hand is that apparently Oscar wasn't from here.
00:21:11He was on his way through.
00:21:16They say he came from a town called Guayra Marín.
00:21:19I'm told that one minute he was on the ferry boat and the next they were dragging his body from the water.
00:21:32There's a villager who saw the whole thing and recovered his body.
00:21:37But he's not here now and they don't know when he'll be back.
00:21:41He says if I want to know more, perhaps I should try to find Oscar's family in Guayra Marín.
00:21:51So the only way to push my investigation on is to leave behind the attack site I've only just discovered and head for the town.
00:22:02But I don't have much choice if I want to get to the bottom of this case.
00:22:07I now have a name to go on.
00:22:12And when I get into town, I track down a man named Juan, a relative of Oscar's mother, who takes me to her house.
00:22:23This is a sensitive situation.
00:22:25She lost her son only 12 months ago.
00:22:27I don't want to intrude, so I decide to leave the camera outside.
00:22:43But I've hit a brick wall.
00:22:46She's refusing to talk about Oscar's death.
00:22:49Outside, Juan explains that it might not all be down to grief.
00:22:59Obviously, part of this is the fact that she's still very upset by this.
00:23:03But he's also saying that he said that some people have been getting to her in some way, saying that she's not to talk about this to other people.
00:23:11So, you know, there's something going on here. Something's not quite right.
00:23:24From past experience, I've found that people are normally grateful for any attempt to make sense of the death of a loved one.
00:23:30This reaction makes me suspect that something else could be going on.
00:23:46Juan points me in the direction of a local journalist named Dorian, who reported on Oscar's death at the time.
00:23:53I'm hoping he can help me with some details surrounding the case.
00:23:57The difficulties we have found as a social communicator, first of all, is to find the family.
00:24:08It sounds like he hit a number of dead ends when reporting this case.
00:24:12He had a name of a police officer who supposedly investigated.
00:24:16This person turned out not to exist. There was no police investigation, no report there.
00:24:21And also, the body was buried within 24 hours very quickly, considering that some of the family members had suspicions that this wasn't a straightforward accident.
00:24:34That this could, in fact, have been a murder.
00:24:36But I'm not a homicide detective. And I'm beginning to wonder if I've waded in too far.
00:24:44I'm in Bolivia, investigating the brutal slaying of a man in the remote Rio Yata.
00:24:56So far, I've been working on the assumption that it was something in the water that did it.
00:25:02But I've just found out that all might not be what it seems.
00:25:05Some of the family members had suspicions that this could, in fact, have been a murder.
00:25:14This region of Bolivia is notorious for drug running gangs.
00:25:15I've heard before of criminals taking bodies to the river to cover up evidence of a murder,
00:25:17or the police are not a murder.
00:25:19There's no police!
00:25:20Yeah, there's no police!
00:25:21There's no police in the police.
00:25:22There's no police in the police.
00:25:23There's no police in the police in the police.
00:25:24There's no police in the police.
00:25:25There's no police in the police.
00:25:27So far, I've been working on the assumption that it was something in the water that did it.
00:25:31But I've just found out that all might not be what it seems.
00:25:35Some of the family members had suspicions that this could, in fact, have been a murder.
00:25:36I've heard before of criminals taking bodies to the river
00:25:40To cover up evidence of a murder
00:25:43Or the identity of a victim
00:25:45Using the river's scavengers to strip flesh from bone
00:25:49Was Oscar literally defaced?
00:26:00If his death is connected to organised crime
00:26:03Then the fact that I'm digging up details of a murder
00:26:07Could threaten my safety
00:26:08I'm beginning to wonder
00:26:17Whether it's too dangerous for me to continue my quest
00:26:20The next morning
00:26:31I decide I've come too far to give up now
00:26:34I have to push on
00:26:36To find the truth
00:26:37Juan told me Oscar's body was taken to the morgue here
00:26:42But just as I gear myself up to head downtown
00:26:45I'm stopped in my tracks
00:26:47Overnight, Guayra Merin has turned into a ghost town
00:26:54This isn't making a lot of sense
00:26:57I'm very anxious to be getting out talking to people
00:27:01Find out if this really is a case of human foul play of murder
00:27:04But this is weird
00:27:07It's not Sunday
00:27:08This is the middle of the week
00:27:09It's 10, 25
00:27:11There's nobody on the street
00:27:13Well, I say nobody
00:27:14There's military police
00:27:15That's all
00:27:16I can't go anywhere
00:27:17The soldiers on the corner have spotted me
00:27:19And I find myself in front of the chief of police
00:27:23He tells me that everybody in the whole country is under armed curfew
00:27:33So that the government can keep track of all its citizens
00:27:36Everybody has to stay in their houses for 24 hours
00:27:41They can't go anywhere
00:27:41And even though I don't live here
00:27:43That includes me
00:27:44I've got to stay inside
00:27:45If I don't get off the streets now
00:27:49I could be arrested
00:27:50I've got no choice
00:27:54But to sit it out
00:27:55For another day
00:27:56The next morning
00:28:05I continue my investigation
00:28:07I head to the hospital
00:28:09To see if anyone knows
00:28:11How Oscar met his gruesome end
00:28:13I find Dr. Navarro
00:28:18The man who signed Oscar's death certificate
00:28:20The first thing he does
00:28:28Is pull out a photo of Oscar's injuries
00:28:31This is not the kind of picture I'd want to show around really
00:28:37This is the evidence
00:28:40It's purely the face
00:28:41It's extremely gruesome
00:28:44And he's never seen that before
00:28:46Where it's been such a localized attack
00:28:50Localized injury
00:28:51It is really very horrific
00:28:53But did these injuries kill Oscar?
00:28:56Or are they covering up evidence of a stabbing or shooting?
00:28:59Dr. Navarro says there was no evidence of murder
00:29:04Oscar was definitely attacked and killed by something in the water
00:29:09So how did Oscar die?
00:29:13And the cause was blood loss
00:29:15Once anything attacking gets beyond the soft tissue
00:29:18All it's got to do is puncture one of these arteries
00:29:20And what with the pressure of the blood behind it
00:29:23Somebody can actually bleed to death in a very short time
00:29:25From the bite marks left on Oscar's head
00:29:29Dr. Navarro is in no doubt as to what did this
00:29:32And the piranhas
00:29:33Piranhas
00:29:35Piranhas
00:29:36Piranhas
00:29:37For years it's been an article of faith for me
00:29:43That despite the hype
00:29:44Piranhas don't normally kill people
00:29:47Dr. Navarro's findings potentially throw this into question
00:29:52This is the first time I've seen such graphic gruesome medical evidence
00:29:59Of somebody being killed by piranhas
00:30:02Is it possible to say which type maybe was involved in this?
00:30:07He's saying that there's no real way after the event
00:30:17That you can tell which type is responsible
00:30:19They're all very voracious but pointing the finger can't be done
00:30:23There are nearly 40 known species of true piranha in the world
00:30:29Some more aggressive than others
00:30:31But none in my experience would normally do this
00:30:35That makes me think that one of two things might have happened
00:30:40Either something has changed the way the piranhas behave here
00:30:44Or the remote Rio Yata is home to a new ultra-aggressive species of piranha
00:30:50That I've never seen before
00:30:52There's only one way to find out
00:30:59Get back to Santa Teresita
00:31:02And get a line in the water
00:31:04I'm told that just downstream from where Oscar died
00:31:08There's a series of rapids where locals catch various different types of piranha
00:31:14Maybe this is where I'll find the man killer
00:31:17So far I've been catching a variety of fish
00:31:23But what I'm going to do now is
00:31:24Specifically target piranhas
00:31:27So I'm going to start off, I think
00:31:30Using an artificial bait
00:31:32Something which mimics a small fish
00:31:34And that sort of calls attention to itself in the water
00:31:36And because anything that goes for that is likely to have teeth
00:31:40Then I've got about 10 inches of wire on the end there
00:31:45Otherwise they're just quite through the line
00:31:47My location is a half-built abandoned hydroelectric dam
00:31:59There's a really nice slack on the edge of the rapid here
00:32:03Classic predator ambush territory
00:32:06Lots of white marks all over the rocks there
00:32:09So the cormorants have been finding fish
00:32:11I think it all looks pretty good
00:32:13But before I start fishing
00:32:16Something unusual catches my eye
00:32:19Hundreds of tiny fish are making their way over the man-made rapids
00:32:26This is water that would just sweep me away
00:32:31And here you've got these creatures mostly about an inch long
00:32:34Some of them are two or three inches
00:32:35Making their way up against the current
00:32:38A bite-sized snack for any piranha
00:32:45Right, that's some of the easiest fishing I've had for a little while
00:32:51Only fast, powerful fish can survive in these rapids
00:33:02A vampire fish, a saber-toothed distant relation of the piranha
00:33:21Some vampire fish grow up to four feet long
00:33:25Their dagger-sharp fangs are tailor-made for impaling other fish
00:33:29In lightning-fast attacks
00:33:32I've even seen them bite off more than they can chew
00:33:36In cannibalistic assaults on their own kind
00:33:39It's got another one down its throat
00:33:43Although it's got terrifying dental hardware
00:33:47These teeth can't strip flesh from bone
00:33:50In the way that Oscar's attacker was able to do
00:33:53But anything that can share the water with these
00:33:57Must be an impressive predator in its own right
00:34:00I just saw a flash, something going for it
00:34:09Hey, that's a fish
00:34:10That's a red piranha
00:34:15I'm not going to take any chances
00:34:20I don't want my fingers too close to the teeth
00:34:24But nothing can prepare you for the unexpected
00:34:28Other than controlling buoyancy
00:34:37What else do piranhas use their swim bladders for?
00:34:42Find out right after this
00:34:45Other than controlling buoyancy
00:34:51What else do piranhas use their swim bladders for?
00:34:54The answer's communication
00:34:57They vibrate them to make two different sounds
00:35:01For warning off rivals
00:35:04I'm in northern Bolivia
00:35:15Where a doctor has confirmed
00:35:16That piranhas attacked and killed a young man last year
00:35:20For 20 years
00:35:24For 20 years I've believed that piranhas won't normally attack healthy living humans in a river
00:35:29This is the first time I've ever come across medical proof of it happening
00:35:34Could some type of ultra-aggressive piranha in these remote jungles
00:35:39Be the culprit for the most gruesome death I've ever investigated
00:35:43Hey, that's a fish
00:35:44I'm trying to reel in the evidence when a searing pain shoots through my hand
00:35:48But I've just impaled myself on a treble there
00:35:54That hook has gone right in my thumb
00:35:57I've got to deal with that
00:35:59As the red-bellied piranha struggles, the hook digs deeper into my thumb
00:36:03It's the first time I've actually done that
00:36:05But I have seen it happen to somebody else
00:36:07And we had to give them half a bottle of whiskey
00:36:09And then hold him down on a table to pull it out
00:36:12I can't pull the hook straight out
00:36:15Because the backwards-facing barb is dug right into my flesh
00:36:19Can you just hold the lure like that
00:36:21Where my fingers are
00:36:22While the sound man takes the weight of the fish off my thumb
00:36:26I get to work with some pliers
00:36:29That hurts
00:36:44I'm just letting that bleed
00:36:46Because there's probably fish slime and all sorts in the wound
00:36:50I'm just wondering if a little bit of human blood on this
00:36:58Might be that extra little something
00:37:01All piranha species have an extremely acute sense of smell
00:37:06It's thought they're able to detect a single drop of blood
00:37:10In 50 gallons of water
00:37:12Will my blood attract something different onto the line?
00:37:18That's interesting
00:37:41That is different
00:37:42That is different
00:37:43This isn't a red-bellied piranha
00:37:44This is a black piranha
00:37:46Compared to the red-bellied
00:37:48These are comparatively solitary
00:37:50Comparatively shy
00:37:52But, well, you say shy
00:37:54Just look at the size of the lure that that went for
00:37:57About the same length as the fish itself
00:37:58These are the largest of the carnivorous piranhas
00:38:02They're recognised as having the strongest bite
00:38:06Pound for pound
00:38:07Of any fish that's been measured
00:38:09But these are solitary fish
00:38:13And don't hunt in packs
00:38:14So I don't see how one black piranha
00:38:18Could overwhelm Oscar
00:38:19And bite off his entire face
00:38:21This isn't the mystery piranha
00:38:22This isn't the mystery piranha I'm after
00:38:25After this, the piranhas start coming thick and fast
00:38:34Revised technique of unhooking
00:38:39The river is teeming with them
00:38:52But I haven't uncovered anything out of the ordinary
00:38:55I'm not finding any evidence of a new ultra-aggressive species of piranha
00:39:02In the Rio Yata
00:39:03Tracking down the pieces of this puzzle
00:39:13Is proving harder than I expected
00:39:15And I still don't have enough
00:39:17To build a clear picture of what really happened
00:39:19When Oscar Barbosa went into the water
00:39:22On that fateful day
00:39:23I'm not finding the mystery fish I'm after
00:39:28And I haven't heard about any more piranha attacks here
00:39:31Since I arrived
00:39:33But there's another place further north
00:39:36Where apparently there's been a recent spate of piranha attacks
00:39:39I need to investigate whether some kind of new ultra-aggressive piranha
00:40:00Could be behind these attacks as well
00:40:02Or whether something else is going on
00:40:05To explain why piranhas are suddenly living up to their B-movie reputation
00:40:10And turning on humans
00:40:12I'll go to any lengths to unravel a mystery that rewrites the rules
00:40:19So I'm travelling to the site of the attacks
00:40:20So I'm travelling to the site of the attacks, Suriname, on the northern coast of the continent
00:40:25It's the smallest independent country in South America
00:40:30Once a Dutch colony, it was established on the labour of African slaves
00:40:35Suriname is a melting pot of cultures, including Amerindians and Maroon tribes
00:40:41The descendants of African slaves who escaped into the forest
00:40:45Nearly everyone lives on the coast
00:40:50But some people eke out a living in its remote interior
00:40:53And that's where the attacks have been reported
00:40:56The quickest way in is by light aircraft
00:41:01Nearly the whole country is blanketed in pristine rainforest
00:41:06And there's a very strong river culture here
00:41:10My destination is a village called Dondaskamp
00:41:21I hear that everybody here has some story about piranha
00:41:27She went swimming in the river here
00:41:34And a piranha bit her on the leg
00:41:37Whatever's targeting the villagers here
00:41:40Clearly has incredibly strong jaws
00:41:42Dondaskamp
00:41:46Dondaskamp
00:41:46Dondaskamp was swimming in the water
00:41:48Apparently about the time this happened
00:41:51Various other people had been bitten
00:41:53And people had warned him not to go in the water
00:41:55But he was in there
00:41:57And that's when he felt something
00:42:00The piranha did take actually a bit of bone
00:42:02From the end of his toe there
00:42:05There's quite a bit missing
00:42:06They're blaming piranhas for the attacks
00:42:11But as to what type
00:42:13In these murky waters there's just no way of knowing
00:42:16What's clear though is that the villagers are very afraid of them
00:42:20I'm keen to get on the river and see for myself
00:42:25But before I set out
00:42:26The locals suggest I get some protection
00:42:28From a maroon elder
00:42:30Clearly they think I need it
00:42:32Maroon tribes practice a tribal religion called Winti
00:42:45And they wear amulets called buoys to protect them from harm
00:42:49I've been taken to the man who prepares the ingredients
00:42:54That give the amulet its power
00:42:56It takes seven days to make
00:43:01And I'm coming along for the final stages
00:43:03So what's inside here
00:43:07Various ingredients
00:43:08What looks like ash
00:43:09Various medicinal herbs
00:43:12Two horseshoes
00:43:12Some shoes
00:43:13And some iron balls as well
00:43:17Here
00:43:18Here
00:43:19Here
00:43:20Here
00:43:21Here
00:43:22Here
00:43:23So the buoy has been put inside the pot
00:43:38Along with all the various ingredients that were there
00:43:42And the idea is now it's going to be cooked
00:43:44And the buoy will absorb the powers of those ingredients
00:43:49I'm told to dip my fingers into the boiling concoction
00:43:56You can do it
00:43:59I can do it
00:43:59Yeah
00:43:59Piranha
00:44:00No
00:44:02Piranha
00:44:03No, come bite me
00:44:04Yes
00:44:04Yes
00:44:05Yes
00:44:06Piranha
00:44:08No, I can bite the fish
00:44:09So he's saying the piranha is a dangerous fish
00:44:12But with the protection of this buoy
00:44:14They will leave me alone
00:44:16Without this I could be in danger
00:44:18Okay
00:44:21After some finishing touches
00:44:26The buoy is ready to be put on my arm
00:44:28The rationalist in me knows this whole thing doesn't stack up
00:44:35But fishermen are a superstitious breed
00:44:40And I'm no exception
00:44:42A final dowsing with alcohol
00:44:47And the ceremony is complete
00:44:49The power of anything like this is largely the power of tradition
00:44:55The power of belief that's behind it
00:44:56If nothing else
00:44:59This ceremony shows there's a genuine fear
00:45:01Of what's in the water here
00:45:03But I still want to find out what it is
00:45:07Just upstream from Donderskamp is a sluice
00:45:14These eddies are ideal ambush spots for predatory fish
00:45:22My leader is wrapped with flexible woven metal
00:45:28To prevent anything toothy from biting through it
00:45:33But that's not stopping
00:45:40Whatever's down here
00:45:42Right, this is wire I've got here
00:45:51That's actually gone through that
00:45:53Gone right through it
00:45:55And it doesn't happen just once
00:45:59Again, look at that
00:46:00I've done it again
00:46:02Don't believe it
00:46:06That's three times
00:46:07This is 50 pound braided wire
00:46:12And it's just cut through it
00:46:15It was on for a fraction of a second
00:46:16Cut through metal
00:46:19The wire has been bitten through like it's cotton thread
00:46:25If I fell in the water here
00:46:29I could have chunks bitten out of me in seconds
00:46:32Just as I think something's going to bite through my line again
00:46:38I finally get a good hookup
00:46:40That feels like it's attached properly
00:46:45Right, let's see
00:46:47And as I pull my catch in
00:46:51I see the horrifying full effect of what's down there
00:46:55Right, right
00:46:57I'm in Suriname
00:47:21Following up a lead that could explain the gruesome death of a young man
00:47:26Which is challenging what I thought I knew about piranhas
00:47:30Right, let's see
00:47:32Okay
00:47:34Hey
00:47:35Something went for that
00:47:36Did you see that?
00:47:37Something went for it
00:47:38Right, right
00:47:40This is very interesting
00:47:42Catfish
00:47:46Look at that
00:47:47Look at that
00:47:48Look at that
00:47:49One fish slashed in half by another
00:47:53In a lightning fast attack
00:47:55In the time that it took to bring that in
00:47:58Well, half of it's been taken
00:48:00This has actually been bitten on the head as well
00:48:04Where there's bone, where it's harder tissue
00:48:07I can see the signature here
00:48:08I can see the semi-circular bite marks
00:48:11And you can actually even see the individual tooth marks here
00:48:14So this is, you know, a large fish
00:48:17And it's just come in and it's just been repeatedly biting
00:48:20This went from being a perfectly healthy fish
00:48:24To being half devoured in a matter of seconds
00:48:27It's just one thing that needs to happen
00:48:29And it becomes a victim
00:48:30Like Oscar
00:48:33One minute happily swimming
00:48:34Dead the next
00:48:37What could be responsible?
00:48:50But after this explosion of activity
00:48:52It all goes quiet
00:48:54This is very strange
00:48:57I'm not even getting any touches now
00:49:00It's as if they've vanished
00:49:01Either they're feeding
00:49:04With a vengeance
00:49:05Or they're not
00:49:06And there's no
00:49:08No sort of halfway house
00:49:10There's no half measures with them
00:49:11I haven't travelled all this way
00:49:19To give up on this ferocious predator now
00:49:22The villagers told me there have been attacks all around here
00:49:29And recently in the waters of a man-made lake
00:49:33Called Broca Pondo
00:49:34When it was built in the 1960s
00:49:40The dam flooded the valley
00:49:42And drowned the rainforest
00:49:43We have to navigate between the skeletons of the trees
00:49:48The water here is reasonably clear
00:49:56So maybe I'll finally see the mystery attacker
00:50:00If I can draw it to the surface
00:50:04I spot the perfect place to try out some unorthodox fishing
00:50:13Where there's already signs of activity near the surface
00:50:19Put a bit of chicken skin in here
00:50:23Got to use a bit of wire just to tie it on with
00:50:25See what they do to it
00:50:27And with a bit of like
00:50:27I can actually watch their response to the food
00:50:30There's smaller stuff on the surface
00:50:34Without hesitation
00:50:37They go for the bait
00:50:38Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes
00:50:41There's no hook on here
00:50:42And right, that was the work of just a few seconds
00:50:46Something grab that
00:50:47Should have put that back in again
00:50:49See if they're interested in the last fragment
00:50:50Yeah, yeah, there we go, there we go
00:50:52There we go
00:50:52I'm probably seeing about a dozen down there at the moment
00:50:57They're just dark shapes that
00:50:59There we go, that's another one's got it
00:51:03Another one's got it
00:51:04There we go
00:51:05And another, and another, and another, and another
00:51:08Look at that, they really want that
00:51:09They really want that
00:51:10They devour the skin in an instant
00:51:15They're just too quick for me to get a close look at
00:51:18Let's see what'll happen with the whole chicken
00:51:22I hang it from a post that I've lodged in the lake bed
00:51:27So whatever goes for it
00:51:31Has to stay at the surface
00:51:33Good
00:51:35That's us
00:51:37There's something at it
00:51:40The chicken is moving
00:51:42Something is pulling at that chicken
00:51:45And there's small fish in there
00:51:46Which every now and then scatter
00:51:47Oh, right
00:51:56There's one
00:51:57They're all coming in
00:51:58They're all coming in
00:51:59This is it
00:51:59As soon as one gets stuck in
00:52:00They're all in there
00:52:01The frenzy brings a fish into sight
00:52:04I'm in South America
00:52:25Investigating the gruesome death
00:52:28Of a man who had his face ripped off
00:52:32And I've uncovered unprecedented evidence
00:52:36That he was killed
00:52:37By piranhas
00:52:39Is a savage new species behind the attack
00:52:48Or is something more sinister going on
00:52:51I'm conducting a test
00:52:56Which might give me some clues
00:52:58Oh
00:53:02Right
00:53:06They're all coming in
00:53:07They're all coming in
00:53:07This is it
00:53:08As soon as one gets stuck in
00:53:09They're all in there
00:53:10And they're just pulling it
00:53:16This way, that way
00:53:18Every now and again
00:53:20It's almost like a little freeze frame
00:53:21I can just see
00:53:22For a fraction of a second
00:53:23A hump black shade out of the water
00:53:25Definitely black piranhas
00:53:28As far as I know
00:53:32This is behaviour
00:53:33That's never been caught on camera before
00:53:35Black piranhas
00:53:37The supposedly solitary
00:53:39And timid members of the piranha family
00:53:41In a mass feeding frenzy
00:53:48I can actually see
00:53:53That was a large fish
00:53:55A large fish
00:53:56It's gone
00:54:02It's all stopped
00:54:03I think they've had it
00:54:04I was expecting to go in there
00:54:06And investigate the skeleton
00:54:08But there's nothing left
00:54:10This is behaviour
00:54:16That goes against all
00:54:17That was previously believed
00:54:18And it puts black piranhas
00:54:20In the frame
00:54:21For the recent attacks
00:54:22If studies say
00:54:25They're timid and solitary fish
00:54:26It's time for a rewrite
00:54:28It also shows me
00:54:33That they have the ability
00:54:34To change their behaviour
00:54:36And become potential man killers
00:54:39I'm heading back
00:54:51To the attack site
00:54:52On the Rio Yata
00:54:53To see if this phenomenon
00:54:55Of changing behaviour
00:54:56Could account for
00:54:57Oscar's horrific death there
00:54:59The first time I arrived
00:55:04In Santa Teresita
00:55:05It was like a ghost town
00:55:07Nearly everybody
00:55:08Was working far away
00:55:10From the village
00:55:10But now
00:55:13Many have returned
00:55:14Perhaps the witness
00:55:25I heard about
00:55:26When I first came here
00:55:27The person who recovered
00:55:28Oscar's body
00:55:29Has come back too
00:55:31Buenos, Buenos Aires
00:55:33People know who he is
00:55:36And they say he's here
00:55:38I'm pointed in the direction
00:55:40Of his house
00:55:41After weeks of searching
00:55:45Finally
00:55:46Someone who actually
00:55:47Witnessed the attack
00:55:49Carmelo tells me
00:55:53It was a day
00:55:53He'll never forget
00:55:55And he saw Oscar dive
00:56:16And he saw Oscar dive
00:56:18Into the water
00:56:19At first he was swimming
00:56:32Without difficulty
00:56:33But then he started struggling
00:56:36And sinking below the surface
00:56:39The third time
00:56:44He went under
00:56:45Carmelo realised
00:56:47That this was serious
00:56:48Something had to be done
00:56:49Carmelo and a friend
00:56:53Raced out to the spot
00:56:54Where Oscar disappeared
00:56:55He tied a rope around his waist
00:57:02And bravely dived in
00:57:04But the water was murky
00:57:08And he couldn't find him
00:57:09He went under a second time
00:57:14But nothing
00:57:17The third time
00:57:22He started to feel
00:57:23His way around
00:57:24The fourth time
00:57:26He went down
00:57:27He found a foot
00:57:29And hung on to it
00:57:30While bringing Oscar's body
00:57:33Up to the surface
00:57:34He felt a searing pain
00:57:35In his arm
00:57:36Carmelo too
00:57:39Was under attack
00:57:40He still bears the scars
00:57:44Of the wounds
00:57:45He endured
00:57:46Retrieving Oscar
00:57:47From the bottom
00:57:47Of the Rio Yata
00:57:48As he surfaced
00:57:57With the body
00:57:58He said
00:57:59The piranhas
00:58:00All surfaced
00:58:01Like a shoal
00:58:02Of sardines
00:58:03Or something
00:58:03Coming up
00:58:04With the body
00:58:05I climbed up
00:58:06And I didn't
00:58:07I climbed up
00:58:07And I didn't
00:58:07I climbed up
00:58:08By then
00:58:11He'd seen the damage
00:58:12He'd seen
00:58:13Where all the flesh
00:58:14Had been eaten away
00:58:15A lot of bleeding
00:58:15And he said
00:58:17At that time
00:58:18Oscar was already dead
00:58:20Carmelo was attacked
00:58:23By the same piranhas
00:58:24That killed Oscar
00:58:25He has no doubt
00:58:28About which species
00:58:29They were
00:58:30Do you know
00:58:31Do you know
00:58:31What type of piranha
00:58:32They were here
00:58:33And it's not
00:58:36The answer
00:58:37I was expecting
00:58:38I'm in Bolivia
00:58:52Trying to identify
00:58:54What kind of piranha
00:58:55Killed a young man
00:58:56In the Rio Yata
00:58:58I found a witness
00:59:01Named Carmelo
00:59:02Who bravely tried
00:59:03To save him
00:59:03And was himself
00:59:04Bitten in the process
00:59:06But with almost
00:59:0740 species
00:59:08Of true piranha
00:59:09Which one
00:59:10Is the culprit
00:59:10Do you know
00:59:11What type of piranha
00:59:13They were here
00:59:14He says
00:59:22They were brightly colored
00:59:23Red
00:59:24And he indicated
00:59:25The belly
00:59:26And the flanks
00:59:27And it's a very clear
00:59:28Positive idea
00:59:29Those were red-bellied piranhas
00:59:30This wasn't
00:59:32What I was expecting
00:59:33To hear
00:59:34Carmelo's testimony
00:59:39Is the first time
00:59:40I've heard an eyewitness
00:59:41Describe an adult human
00:59:43Being targeted
00:59:45And killed
00:59:45By red-bellied piranhas
00:59:48It's an unprecedented event
00:59:55And runs counter
00:59:56To experiments
00:59:57I've conducted
00:59:58Showing that red-bellies
00:59:59Won't normally attack
01:00:00People
01:00:01Or large animals
01:00:02But they're not
01:00:04The monsters
01:00:05That B-movies
01:00:06Would have us
01:00:06Believe they are
01:00:07So is this
01:00:13Just a freak event
01:00:14I have to know
01:00:21If this is a one-off
01:00:22Or is something
01:00:23Happening that's
01:00:24Similar to the change
01:00:25In piranha behavior
01:00:26I witnessed in Suriname
01:00:27Carmelo says
01:00:32That Oscars
01:00:33Is not the only attack
01:00:34He's come across
01:00:35On the river
01:00:35Piranha struck
01:00:39Near a riverside ranch
01:00:40Very recently
01:00:41If I hurry
01:00:44I might make it there
01:00:45Before nightfall
01:00:46On the way
01:00:56I hear news
01:00:57Of other attacks
01:00:58He's saying
01:01:08There's big piranhas
01:01:10Here
01:01:10His cousin
01:01:11Was bitten
01:01:12He was washing his hands
01:01:19And something came along
01:01:20Took a big lump
01:01:21Out of his hand
01:01:22So he says
01:01:22Piranhas
01:01:23You've got to
01:01:23Watch them here
01:01:24The case against
01:01:27The piranhas
01:01:27Is building
01:01:28It seems that
01:01:30Oscar's attack
01:01:31Was not a once
01:01:32And done incident
01:01:33We just make the ranch
01:01:43By dusk
01:01:44And the conversation
01:01:45Soon turns to attacks
01:01:47Culebra
01:01:55A laborer
01:01:56Tells me that the attack
01:01:57Carmelo heard about
01:01:58Happened only six months ago
01:02:00This time
01:02:02This time
01:02:02It wasn't on a human
01:02:03But something larger
01:02:04And much more powerful
01:02:06Three cowboys
01:02:11Found a horse
01:02:12From a neighboring ranch
01:02:13That had swum
01:02:14Across the river
01:02:15Onto their land
01:02:16They got it back
01:02:19Into the water
01:02:20To return it
01:02:21It was literally
01:02:23Just a few feet away
01:02:24From the bank
01:02:24And the piranhas
01:02:25Attacked it
01:02:26And as soon as
01:02:32It started bleeding
01:02:33More and more
01:02:34Piranhas came
01:02:35The cowboys
01:02:40Desperately tried
01:02:41To recover the horse
01:02:42But just the time
01:02:46That it took them
01:02:46To do that
01:02:47The animal was dead
01:02:49Not only that
01:02:49It had been hollowed
01:02:50Out by the fish
01:02:51And when they
01:02:53Managed to get
01:02:54The body of the horse
01:02:54Out of the water
01:02:55There was apparently
01:02:56Just a stream of piranhas
01:02:58Falling out of a hole
01:02:59In its skin
01:03:00It was that quick
01:03:01That it happened
01:03:01These latest stories
01:03:04Have given me
01:03:04A lot of food for thought
01:03:06I realize I can't deny
01:03:11The mounting evidence
01:03:12I'm faced with
01:03:13Any longer
01:03:14The piranhas here
01:03:18Seem to be more
01:03:19Aggressive than normal
01:03:20In chaos theory
01:03:23The term butterfly effect
01:03:25Suggests that a small change
01:03:27Such as the tiny breeze
01:03:28Created by butterflies wings
01:03:30Can escalate into huge
01:03:32And unpredictable consequences
01:03:33The chain of cause and effect
01:03:39In nature
01:03:39Ripples from one event
01:03:41To another
01:03:41And never more so
01:03:43Than in the watery environment
01:03:44Of rivers
01:03:45Piranhas here
01:03:49There are attacking
01:03:50Healthy living people
01:03:51And even creatures
01:03:52As large as horses
01:03:53But why?
01:03:56Perhaps something
01:03:57Has happened in the river
01:03:58To provoke this change
01:03:59In behaviour
01:04:00I've seen something
01:04:03Similar before
01:04:04In Papua New Guinea
01:04:05The normally vegetarian
01:04:09Paku started attacking humans
01:04:11In the absence
01:04:12Of its usual food supply
01:04:13If the peaceful Paku
01:04:17Can be transformed
01:04:18Into a savage attacker
01:04:20Could something similar
01:04:22Happen when the piranhas
01:04:23Environment is changed
01:04:24I start asking around
01:04:27To see if people
01:04:28Have noticed anything
01:04:29That's changed
01:04:30In the Rio Yata
01:04:31I'm soon told
01:04:34Of a predatory fish
01:04:35That appeared in these waters
01:04:36Just twenty years ago
01:04:38Could its arrival
01:04:41Have some connection
01:04:42To red-bellied piranhas
01:04:44Turning into man-killers
01:04:46I've got a new fish
01:04:50To find
01:04:51But will it close the case?
01:04:58What is this?
01:04:59I've found a couple of locals
01:05:01Who'll take me to where
01:05:02I might be able to catch
01:05:03One of these mysterious
01:05:04River invaders
01:05:06The only other people
01:05:11Around are gold prospectors
01:05:13Living on dredges
01:05:14In the middle of the river
01:05:15The final part of the journey
01:05:20Is a trek through jungle
01:05:22To a lake
01:05:23The lake apparently
01:05:27Is an oxbow
01:05:27That's to say
01:05:29It's a bend of the river
01:05:30When the water's up
01:05:31It's actually part of the river
01:05:32But when the water goes down
01:05:33Like now in the dry season
01:05:36It's cut off
01:05:37So you had to come
01:05:37Through the forest
01:05:38I can just see water now
01:05:39This is the ideal time to fish
01:05:43Because all the lake's
01:05:44Inhabitants
01:05:45Are captive quarry
01:05:46At the very end
01:05:47Of the dry season
01:05:48But when the imminent
01:05:50Rainy season arrives
01:05:51The waters will rise up
01:05:52Reconnect with the river
01:05:54And spread into
01:05:55The surrounding forest
01:05:56Making everything
01:05:57Much harder to catch
01:05:58No one can explain to me
01:06:04Exactly what fish
01:06:05I'm after
01:06:06Other than it's very big
01:06:08Suddenly
01:06:10There's a bite
01:06:11And almost immediately
01:06:13My line breaks
01:06:14The line broke
01:06:17Right by the reel
01:06:18Right by the reel
01:06:19There's a fish on it
01:06:20Yeah
01:06:21But the lure is still
01:06:22In the fish's mouth
01:06:23With the length of line
01:06:24Trailing behind
01:06:25Here's the line
01:06:26Here he goes
01:06:28One of my guides
01:06:31Called Gary
01:06:31Deftly retrieves
01:06:32The free end
01:06:33And saves the catch
01:06:34So this peacock bass
01:06:38Very very aggressive
01:06:39Predator
01:06:40As can be seen
01:06:41By just the size
01:06:42Of the mouth
01:06:42In relation to the rest
01:06:43Of the body
01:06:44Spiny dorsal fin
01:06:46Needs to be handled
01:06:47Quite carefully
01:06:48And the other thing
01:06:49To say about this
01:06:50Well peacock bass
01:06:51The name comes
01:06:51From that eye spot
01:06:52On the tail
01:06:53That does very much
01:06:54Look like an eye
01:06:55And anything like
01:06:56A heron that comes
01:06:56Along is basically
01:06:57Going to jab
01:06:58The wrong end
01:06:59Peacock bass
01:07:03Have been a staple
01:07:03Catch for as long
01:07:04As people have lived
01:07:05Here
01:07:05So this isn't
01:07:07The mystery newcomer
01:07:08Over supper
01:07:10Gary tells me
01:07:11How the locals reacted
01:07:12When the fish
01:07:13I'm after
01:07:14Was first spotted
01:07:15When they first
01:07:16Appeared here
01:07:16They didn't know
01:07:17What they were
01:07:18And because they're
01:07:18So big
01:07:19They were afraid
01:07:20Of them
01:07:20And they would
01:07:21Actually be banging
01:07:22On their canoes
01:07:23To try and scare
01:07:23Them away
01:07:24Here they call them
01:07:34Peche
01:07:35A name I'm not
01:07:36Familiar with
01:07:37And it doesn't look
01:07:38Like I'll be
01:07:39Catching one today
01:07:40The next day
01:07:55What seems like
01:07:56A promising start
01:07:57Soon clouds over
01:07:58Is this
01:08:00The very beginning
01:08:00Of the rainy season
01:08:02Since I don't know
01:08:05What I'm dealing with
01:08:06I've decided to follow
01:08:07The same technique
01:08:08Devised by the fishermen
01:08:09Here for catching
01:08:10Peche
01:08:11Apparently the fish
01:08:13Is so big
01:08:14They've had to
01:08:14Improvise their own
01:08:15Grappling hooks
01:08:16I've actually taken
01:08:18Three single hooks
01:08:19Join them together
01:08:20To make a
01:08:21Homemade treble hook
01:08:22And then hang in
01:08:23Just a couple of
01:08:24Inches below that
01:08:25This is a bearing
01:08:26Out of a motorbike
01:08:27Or a car
01:08:27Having a new
01:08:28Incarnation as a
01:08:29Fishing weight
01:08:29Attached to a very
01:08:31Heavy nylon line
01:08:32Being nylon
01:08:33That's actually
01:08:34Quite thin
01:08:35That's going to be
01:08:36Interesting in your
01:08:37Hands when that's
01:08:38Going out at speed
01:08:39Here the fishermen
01:08:41Look for disturbances
01:08:42On the water's surface
01:08:43Then cast their weight
01:08:44Across it
01:08:45Draw in the line
01:08:46As quickly as possible
01:08:47And hopefully
01:08:48Snag the fish below
01:08:50So I bring it in
01:08:51Bring it in
01:08:52Bring it in
01:08:52If I feel anything
01:08:53And then just
01:08:55Pull on the line
01:08:56As hard as I can
01:08:57And that's when
01:08:57It could get interesting
01:08:58Snagging isn't a
01:09:01Technique I'd normally
01:09:02Use because of
01:09:03The injuries it
01:09:04Causes to the fish
01:09:05But whatever's
01:09:08Arrived in these
01:09:09Waters
01:09:09Is an invasive
01:09:10Species
01:09:11And these fishermen
01:09:12Keep whatever they
01:09:13Catch for their
01:09:14Community
01:09:14The rain makes
01:09:21Spotting surface
01:09:22Movement extremely
01:09:23Difficult
01:09:23But once the rain
01:09:27Eases off
01:09:28We're primed for
01:09:29Action
01:09:30These disturbances
01:09:34Can happen anywhere
01:09:35So all three of us
01:09:37Are constantly
01:09:37Scaling the water
01:09:38Looking for where
01:09:40They appear
01:09:40That was right next
01:09:49To the boat
01:09:50But I didn't feel
01:09:51I didn't feel anything
01:09:51I actually felt
01:10:01Something here
01:10:02He's saying I should
01:10:02Have hit that harder
01:10:03To double our chances
01:10:05To double our chances
01:10:05Gary starts throwing
01:10:07His line out as well
01:10:08If one of us hooks up
01:10:11The other will help
01:10:12Pull it in
01:10:12But in a tiny
01:10:16And unstable boat
01:10:17Like this
01:10:18A huge fish
01:10:18On the end of the line
01:10:19Can easily pull us in
01:10:21I'm worried about
01:10:23Ending up in the water
01:10:24Where there might
01:10:25Could also be piranhas
01:10:26I keep catching
01:10:33Tantalizing flashes
01:10:35Of something in the water
01:10:36But no definite sighting
01:10:38Of the fish I'm after
01:10:39It makes me all the more
01:10:46Determined to catch it
01:10:47Finally Gary hooks into something
01:11:02Could this be the monster
01:11:04That has somehow turned
01:11:05The local piranhas
01:11:06Against humans
01:11:07I'm in Bolivia
01:11:29Trying to hunt down
01:11:31A giant predator
01:11:32That's invading
01:11:33These remote jungles
01:11:34An underwater intruder
01:11:38That might somehow
01:11:39Have changed the behaviour
01:11:40Of local piranhas
01:11:41Making them attack humans
01:11:44Who they used to live
01:11:45Peacefully alongside
01:11:46And there's something huge
01:11:50On the end of the line
01:11:51Gary pulls hard
01:11:53But the beast gets away
01:11:54Left behind on the hook
01:11:56However
01:11:56Is a fascinating clue
01:11:58Snagged from the fish's side
01:12:00That's a scale
01:12:01From a very big fish
01:12:02Gary tells me
01:12:04That this is from the fish
01:12:05They call the Paiichi
01:12:06I recognise it
01:12:08As a scale
01:12:09From a huge
01:12:10Arapaima
01:12:12The scale has a striking colour
01:12:17And from its size
01:12:18I estimate its owner
01:12:19Was close to 300 pounds
01:12:21In weight
01:12:22And 8 feet long
01:12:23This is an old adversary
01:12:27Of mine
01:12:28Arapaima are formidable predators
01:12:32Incredibly muscular
01:12:33Sheathed in flexible body armour
01:12:36And almost immune to attack
01:12:38Massive female arapaima
01:12:42About 150 pounds
01:12:43They attain their huge size
01:12:47By feeding on anything
01:12:49That fits into their mouths
01:12:50Mostly fish
01:12:52Which they swallow whole
01:12:53And one fish
01:12:57Is a favourite meal
01:12:59Piranhas
01:13:01Toothy aggressive piranhas
01:13:04Don't stand a chance
01:13:05Against this armour plated
01:13:06Eating machine
01:13:07But I can't believe
01:13:14This scale is here
01:13:16Arapaima shouldn't be in Bolivia
01:13:19This could be the significant event
01:13:23I've been looking for
01:13:24To understand the lethal change
01:13:26In the local piranha population
01:13:28And which might account
01:13:31For Oscar Barbosa's tragic death
01:13:33The scale is hugely revealing to me
01:13:38These are the breeding colours
01:13:39Of the female
01:13:40Dark black
01:13:41Vivid red
01:13:43Fringe to the scale
01:13:44That red colour
01:13:45Is a significant sign
01:13:47If they're successfully breeding here
01:13:50Then these monsters
01:13:51May already be taking over
01:13:52Bolivia's waterways
01:13:53There's only one way
01:13:56To find out
01:13:57What's going on
01:13:58Below the surface
01:13:59But to do that
01:14:01I need different gear
01:14:02Now that I know
01:14:07What I'm fishing for
01:14:08I return to my trusted
01:14:10Rod and reel
01:14:10I've switched up the line
01:14:15To a higher breaking strain
01:14:17But Gary doesn't believe
01:14:19That I'll be able
01:14:19To bring in an arapaima
01:14:21On what looks to him
01:14:22Like such flimsy gear
01:14:24He was saying
01:14:26The line is very thin
01:14:27It's not going to take
01:14:28A big fish
01:14:29I was explaining
01:14:30You know
01:14:31This line is actually
01:14:31Very strong
01:14:32Anyway
01:14:33I put him on the angler's end
01:14:36And I think there was
01:14:36A sort of a light bulb
01:14:38Went on in his head
01:14:39He can understand now
01:14:39How this equipment
01:14:41Although it looks fairly flimsy
01:14:42Compared to what he uses
01:14:43How this might bring in
01:14:45A decent sized fish
01:14:46If we can get out
01:14:48On the water
01:14:49But the rain is just
01:14:51Falling harder
01:14:52And harder
01:14:53Just sitting here waiting
01:14:59For a break in this rain
01:15:00At the moment
01:15:01It's just going
01:15:02Without any let up
01:15:03And the guys say
01:15:03This could actually be
01:15:05The start of a wet season
01:15:06And if that is the case
01:15:08What that means is
01:15:09The lake is going to fill up
01:15:10It's going to turn to muddy soup
01:15:11It's going to join
01:15:12With the main river
01:15:13And the chances of anybody
01:15:16Catching arapaima
01:15:17Are going to disappear
01:15:18Until several months from now
01:15:20All I want
01:15:24Is a little break
01:15:25Finally
01:15:30The rain starts to lift
01:15:32But it's now
01:15:33Late afternoon
01:15:33We don't have much time
01:15:36Before dark
01:15:36If these waters
01:15:39Are riddled with arapaima
01:15:41They could be nailing
01:15:42The piranhas
01:15:43Picking off
01:15:44The slower
01:15:45Weaker ones
01:15:46And leaving the stronger
01:15:47And more aggressive fish
01:15:48And if they're competing
01:15:50For the same food
01:15:51Perhaps this has forced
01:15:53The piranhas
01:15:54To behave
01:15:54In a much more
01:15:55Aggressive fashion
01:15:56I want to get an impression
01:16:01Of arapaima numbers
01:16:02By putting a bait
01:16:03Where they're lurking
01:16:04But there's nothing doing
01:16:13Gary is getting anxious
01:16:18He thinks that tonight
01:16:20Might be our last chance
01:16:21To fish
01:16:22Before the relentless
01:16:23Rainy season sets in
01:16:25We agree to bring
01:16:27His gear into play too
01:16:28And he shows me
01:16:30How people here
01:16:30Fish for arapaima
01:16:31After dark
01:16:32When the surface
01:16:34Disturbances
01:16:34Can't be seen
01:16:35So basically
01:16:37There's one main line
01:16:38Every ten yards
01:16:40Or so
01:16:40The baits
01:16:41Are going to be suspended
01:16:42They won't be on the bottom
01:16:43They'll be somewhere
01:16:43In mid water
01:16:44The idea being
01:16:45That they're going to
01:16:46Intercept
01:16:47The arapaima
01:16:48As they're actively hunting
01:16:50Fishing at night
01:17:00Means I'm working
01:17:01Virtually blind
01:17:02But if the arapaima
01:17:05Numbers here
01:17:06Are as great
01:17:06As I suspect
01:17:07Then hopefully
01:17:08I will get a bait
01:17:09In front of one
01:17:10Yeah that's a fish
01:17:25That's a fish
01:17:25That's good size as well
01:17:28I might just glove this
01:17:39So there we go
01:17:51This is an arapaima
01:17:54The first fish
01:17:56I've pulled in
01:17:57From these dark waters
01:17:58Is a momentous catch
01:18:00But not because
01:18:01Of its size
01:18:02This arapaima
01:18:04Is only around
01:18:05Two years old
01:18:06That means
01:18:07These heavily armoured
01:18:08Eating machines
01:18:09Are breeding here
01:18:10So their population
01:18:12Could be growing
01:18:13Every year
01:18:14How many more
01:18:17Are out there
01:18:17How bad
01:18:19Has this invasion become
01:18:20We need to check
01:18:23The lines
01:18:24As we pull them in
01:18:28It becomes clear
01:18:29Here we go
01:18:32Here's the fish
01:18:33They're here in force
01:18:36These fish
01:18:47Given the right conditions
01:18:49Warm water
01:18:50They don't need a lot
01:18:51Of oxygen
01:18:51They can absolutely
01:18:52Take over
01:18:53So once
01:18:53The genie's out of the bottle
01:18:55There's no putting it back
01:18:57These things
01:18:58They're here to stay
01:19:00They're here to stay
01:19:00In the case of what happened
01:19:04On the Rio Yata that day
01:19:05I see now
01:19:06All the possible pieces
01:19:09Of the jigsaw
01:19:10Maybe this is what caused Oscar's death
01:19:13Not the direct cause
01:19:14But one of the factors
01:19:15That upset the balance
01:19:17And push the piranhas
01:19:19Into becoming more aggressive
01:19:21Attacking anything
01:19:23And anyone
01:19:24As they fight for survival
01:19:28In this more competitive
01:19:30And dangerous river world
01:19:33Maybe it was only a matter of time
01:19:37Before someone was killed
01:19:39Oscar was the unlucky one
01:19:43In the wrong place
01:19:44At the wrong time
01:19:46Caught in the perfect storm
01:19:49As nature does
01:19:50What nature has always done
01:19:52Adapt
01:19:54To survive
01:19:56For behind the scenes stories
01:20:01Fishing games and more
01:20:02Go to animalplanet.com
01:20:04Slash rivermonsters