Anacondas: Not Like in the Movie | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here. for the moment. And this is Stuff You. Should Know, the podcast. That's right. Uh, this was one of my ideas. Uh, I believe Olivia helped us with this. because I am on a mission to get my. daughter to watch the movie Anaconda.

The first one. Was there another one? I. think they remade it. Yeah. Oh, I'm I. mean, if we're talking about the one. with John Voit and Ice Cube and Mhm. Owen Wilson, that's the one I'm talking. about. Don't forget JLo. She's the the. star. That's Well, arguably the star is. that big slithery snake, I guess. though. Um I watched it for the very. first time last night. Oh, did you. really? It's not good. No, I know. I. mean, it's not one of those ones that's.

like so bad it's good. It's just kind of. bad. Oh, I see. I think it's kind of a. fun bad movie. Uh our uh friends of the. podcast, The Flop House, the bad movie. podcast has been around for as long as. we have. Those guys are great. Yep. Their their rating system is uh good, bad movie, bad bad movie, or movie I. kind of liked. So, it's kind of fun. Did. they rate Anaconda? Do you know? I don't. know that they've ever done this one. I'll have to ask uh Dan about that.

Well, I'm giving it a bad bad movie. Okay. I I remember it as being good, bad, and for a, you know, almost. 10-year-old, like she would like it. Yeah, totally. There's a lot of Jaws. homage to it. So, I'm sure that's one. reason you like it subconsciously. Yeah. I had a just before we get going again. while we're on movies. Uh, a very. humbling dad moment, which is a reminder. that you can't necessarily make your. favorite stuff your kids's favorite. stuff. Uh, we tried to watch Army of. Darkness, uh, aka Evil Dead 3. And she.

made it through about 40 minutes and I. thought she was liking it and then she. went, "Nah, can we turn this off?" And I. was so heartbroken. And I was like, "Oh, really?" I was like, "You don't think. it's kind of fun and funny and weird?". And she was like, "Yeah, but it's just. not my thing." And I was like, "Okay, man. Did you write her out of the will?". Yeah, that's it. Sorry. Bruce Campbell. gets it all now. Do you know what she. didn't like about it? Uh, no. I mean, it. wasn't too scary because she doesn't.

mind scary stuff. Um, it was funny. She. was laugh. I don't know. I thought she. was into it. It may have just been the. mood. Maybe a try again later because. that's happened before. Have you ever. seen Bubba Hotep with Bruce Campbell? You bet your Sweet Bivby. I have. It's a. great movie. I I wonder if she would. like that. Like maybe she didn't like. all the skeletons that he had to fight. and stuff like that, but she would like. Bruce Campbell doing his thing. Yeah. I. mean, who doesn't? I think Bruce. Campbell is is appeals to all ages. He. really does. And that's our Bruce.

Campbell story. All right. Should we do. a good oldfashioned stuff you should. know animal episode? Yeah, this is. definitely that we're talking anacondas. for those of you who didn't bother to. look at the title. Uh, and anacondas are. giant, massive snakes, the world's. heaviest snake, like by far. Um, not the. world's longest, but they're not too too. much shorter than the world's longest. So, they're just a massive giant snake. They're boas, which means they like to. constrict you. They're big enough that.

if you're a human, they could constrict. around you and kill you and eat you if. they wanted to. Luckily, they don't. really have much to do with humans. Apparently, our buns are not substantial. enough for their liking, and so they. don't want none of us. And just remember everyone, you can do. side bins or sit-ups, but please don't. lose that butt. Nope. Not if you want a. anaconda to eat you. I just referenced. that specific part of that song this.

past weekend because that is my favorite. part of that song which is one of my. favorite songs. The sidebends and. sit-ups part. No, just that whole uh. that whole sort of section starting with. uh workout tapes by Fonda. Mhm. It's. just I don't know. It's again Sir. Mixcalot. What how we've talked about. him a lot lately I feel like. Yeah, he's. come up a couple times more almost as. much as Billy Joel. That's right. They. should do a uh a mashup. Uh so yes so anacondas are giant and.

scary but strangely they're not really. anything to be scared of according to. science and people who don't live around. them. Yeah. Uh they are member of the uh. unctus genus which means good swimmer in. Greek and as we'll see they are great. swimmers. Uh and they are part of the uh. I even looked this up. I think it's like it it's spelled. All. right. Say it then. Boid. Okay. I saw E. though. I I think we've been pronouncing. D A wrong. I think it's a D. Boidi H.

You're you're back on that bow bow thing. again. And I'm pretty sure it's boid. Maybe. How about boid? But that is known as a true boa. Uh they. are nonvenenomous. So they're not going. to uh they're not going to kill you with. with venom. Um they're just going to. give you a big warm hug. Uh but they're. not after you. Again, like you said, they're they snakes generally don't want. to be around people at all. Uh, so it's. certainly not like the movie where they. are on the attack. No. And I mean they. say so many lies about anacondas in that.

movie. Like Yeah. Bad. Real bad. Yeah. Yeah. Um, luckily the most of the people. who saw that movie probably don't live. around anacondas and don't have a chance. to kill them. But it was like that level. of lies and smears against anacondas in. that movie. Yeah. Uh, one thing that the. movie did get right and that I mentioned. is that they are great great swimmers. uh they have those eyes and the nose on. top of the head, so they can barely keep. their little top of their head out of. the water uh and still be below water, which is a terrifying thought. Uh.

although mostly when I've seen them, um. they're kind of swimming on top of the. water like you see a lot of snakes do. But they can hold their breath for like. 10 minutes, right? And just like fully. dive. Yeah. Yeah. 10 minutes. Like the. the more you learn about anacondas, just. the more unsettling they are. Like it's. good that they don't really want to have. much to do with humans, but if they. wanted to, like we would be in trouble. for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Uh because. they love the water so much, they. obviously live in the swamps of the.

world, uh slow flowing rivers. Uh if. there are places that are flooded uh. annually or seasonally, um they will be. there during those times and when it's. not, they will probably travel to wetter. clims or maybe just burrow down in the. mud. Uh, but they'll also go into the. jungle and forest here and there. Just. they they really like the water though. Yeah. All fresh water though. They're. not salt tolerant, which was not. immediately apparent to me. I had to. look it up. Oh, you thought there could. be like an ocean anaconda. Well, I'll. I'll explain why later on. How about.

that? I'm going to save that one for. later. My thinking. Are you going to say. the word brackish at any point? I may. Okay. Um, so just because they're. snakes, they have the Jacobson's organ. in their mouth, the roof of their mouth. that's prominently featured in the movie. Anaconda because that thing like bears. its fangs at the camera like every 30 40. seconds. Yeah. And there's its. Jacobson's organ, the big hole in the. back of the roof of its mouth. And. because um whenever you see a snake. flicker its tongue really quickly, what. it's doing is it's sampling the air and.

transferring it to the Jacobson's organ. which analyzes it and says there's a um. a capabara right over there. Let's go. eat it. Yes. Uh they can also uh the. heat signatures can be recognized. So. part of finding that that animal is. their warm blood, but they also use it. to find a nice cool place to go rest. after they've had a big meal. Uh which. we'll get to. That's the Yeah. And. that's a different one. That's the pit. organ. This is just nuts. Oh yeah. Yeah. So So that's the one that So one um the.

Jacobsons senses smells in the air. pit. organs, like you said, sense heat and. the pit organs transfer these this um. these electrical impulses based on. thermal um signatures to their optic. center and it gets integrated with their. vision. So they can see Yeah. like a. capabara again plain as day in complete. darkness just like predator. Yeah. It's. I mean we we think we've never we've.

never asked them to draw a picture of. what that looks like. It's true. But. this is the best we can figure. But I. mean that kind of goes to show just how. amazing science can be that that we. basically walk around thinking like we. know what a anaconda's vision looks like. even though Yeah. No anaconda's ever. told us. Yeah. I mean that's the same. with whether an animal is color blind. I'm always like well how do you know? Sure. Um, so if you want to talk, um, well, speaking of colors, uh, we'll get.

to the nitty-gritty of sort of the. different kinds of anacondas, but for. now, we'll just say the green ones are. the ones that are really, really big. Uh, they're bigger than the yellow ones. Um, they're the heaviest snake in the. world, like you said. Um, basically, I. think the you mentioned not the longest. That goes to the reticulated python, but. the female anaconda, green anaconda, is. larger than the male. um anywhere from. 15 to. 30 feet even sometimes. Uh that's at the. very high end. I think they're.

generally, you know, 15 to 20 feet and. weigh about 150 to 200 lb. Whereas the. males are only about 9 to 10 feet and. 100 to 120 lb. Still a very large snake. That's a giant snake still. And yeah, that 30 foot one, that's supposedly the. record. Um although it's not obvious. where that came from, but supposedly the. record anaconda was 30 feet long and 550. pounds. Right. Again, that's not I we. don't know who said that originally, but. there was we know for a fact a snake and.

a green anaconda female that was about. 440 lbs and 20 feet long. So, they do. get gi. And you look up like go look up pictures. and videos of of green anacondas and. you'll be like, "Wow, that's a big. snake." And then see if you can find one. next to like a human or something for. scale and you will just be blown away by. how giant these things are. Yeah. Like a. banana. Uh, also be wary because there. are a lot of fake pictures and videos of.

giant anacondas. Yes. And it's just. harder to tell these days. I saw some. video from like helicopters above a. river where it's like there's no way. this thing is that big cuz they were 60. feet long and as big around as a. basketball. Um and they look really. good. Yeah. And Yeah. And they're hard. to hard to tell. Um like you said, I saw. one and it was curling around this lion. and I was like, "Wait a minute. These. things are only in South America and. lions are not in South America." That.

was the only way I I like I had to stop. and think about it because it looked so. realistic. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, can't. you just be amazed by the natural world. as it is? Like, does does everything. have to be pushed to the extreme for you. to get your jollies? I'm with you, buddy. I thought had the same thought. Uh, so I mentioned the yellows are. smaller. They're 9 to 10 lbs for the. females, which are larger than the males. cuz they're only about 6 feet long. Uh, which is again still a very big snake.

Uh, and they can they can top 100. pounds. A yellow one can. Um, like all. snakes, they have intermediate growth, which means they're always growing. It. slows down in adulthood, but the snakes. keep growing forever. Yeah. And there. was one other dimension that we left. out, and that is those green anacondas. can get to about 12 in or a third of a. meter in diameter. Yeah. That is a. that's an old thicky is what they call. that. Uh, and how long do they live, Josh? Uh,

for a while, actually. in the in the. wild up to 20 years on average. Um, and. then because the wild is so much more. dangerous than a cushy zoo. Uh, in. captivity they can live up to 30 years. They're just not as happy as the ones in. the wild. The ones in the wild are like, "Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful. corpse." The ones in captivity are like, "I'm going to get soft, but I'll live to. an old age." That's right. Just throw me. a capyra in here so I can have some. lunch. Right. They're like, "Capy byra. again. Can I get a tapier?

Uh they are apex predators, so nothing. is going to come after the anaconda. Uh. they're just it's not going to happen. Um they they feed on fish, they feed on. reptiles. We mentioned mammals. Um. they'll eat a deer. They'll eat a a. cayman. Um although I did see a cayman. stand off an anaconda because I think it. was one of the smaller anacondas. So I. got out of there. That's a The cayman's. are like the mini crocodiles, right? Yeah. But they're they're still, you. know, got some size to them. Sure. Sure.

But I'm that's I I just wanted to make. sure I was thinking of the right animal. Totally. Uh and they kill things like. you would think. They're constrictors. So they grab it. They grab it around the. neck. They coil that body and they. squeeze it. Uh and I I always heard that. like, oh, they'll crush your internal. organs and you break your rib cage. They're really not doing that. And this. is kind of a cool little fact. What. they're doing is they're stopping the. blood flow and you end up having heart. failure because or or a stroke because. you have no blood reaching your brain or.

your heart and you lose consciousness. Uh they they can bite if you're smaller, but they're generally going to constrict. you to death. Yeah. And the reason that. they don't break your bones is because. they um don't want bones sticking out of. your body on the way down um their. gullet as they're digesting you. So they. use a little bit of finesse, I think. Yeah, because they swallow you whole, you know. That's the idea. That's why. when you see constrictors with those big. bulges, that is like a pig or something. It's probably John Voit. It's I wish it.

was. But, uh, we should say that they. don't, you know, because they're eating. such big things, they don't have to eat. very much. They can go months between. eating meals and it can take weeks and. weeks for them to digest. So, they'll. just sneak away to a nice cool place and. digest and on on the download for a. little while. Uh, and there was one. report of a captive anaconda that live. for 2 years without eating, right? And. they normally keep to themselves. They. have their own hunting territories, but. most of the time they're like, I just.

leave me alone. I'm just over here doing. my thing. Except they come together from. April to May during breeding season. And. they're polyandrous, which means that a. single female will um mate with multiple. males as opposed to polygamous, which. means a single male will mate with. multiple females. And they will mate in. what's called a breeding ball. And if. you want to be unsettled to your core, look up green andaconda breeding ball. Yeah. Breeding ball is the stuff of.

nightmares. Mhm. For sure. or that's. like as many as 13 snakes sometime just. having a big old snake party uh with. each other. Uh that's not how it always. goes down though. Um a lot of times the. females will uh spend an entire mating. season with just one dude. Um but that. dude may be lunch after they are. impregnated because the female may just. eat that male because they've just. gotten pregnant and they need to bed. down for seven months without eating. again. So uh TS for you, pal. Yeah,

that's something in the animal kingdom. called Sexual Cannibalism. Yeah, Sexual. Cannibals is maybe the greatest band. name we've run across so far. Yeah, they. open for the fine young cannibals. Yeah, exactly. Um, and I just one other thing. about that. I read some species of males. will sacrifice themselves to be. cannibalized after mating. And there was. a study of fisher spiders or dark fisher. spiders, something like that. Um, where. they found that after the female eats.

the male, she has more success like. healthier offspring and more offspring. when she eats the male than if she. immediately ate an alternative prey like. a cricket or something like that. So, there's something involved in that. exchange that helps reproduction and. natural selection go full steam ahead, I. guess, in whatever species does that. Wow, that's super interesting. I thought. so, too. Um, they mate uh the green ones. that is mate uh every other year because. it's it's a lot. I think we could admit.

that that big sex ball that they form. sometimes and for weeks. Yeah. And just, you know, the seven-month pregnancy and. they're not eating. It's just a lot. So, they do this every other year. Uh greens. have about 30 babies at a time. Yellow. ones have about 40. But there is at. least one verified case of a green. anaconda having 82 baby anaconda snakes. Yeah, that's I mean that poor snake. Yeah, she's like my aching back. Uh they. have live births too. They're vivaparis.

rather than ovaparis. They don't lay. eggs like some kinds of snakes. And. regardless, however the baby comes out, they don't do any parenting. They're. just done. They have their babies and. they just slither off and the babies are. on their own immediately and they just. start swimming around and eating. whatever's in in the area and then after. 3 or four years they get into their own. breeding ball situations and the the. circle of life just keeps continuing on. Yeah. And those babies are a couple of. feet long and uh that feels like a.

pretty good place to break. Yay. Yay. I. don't know why I said yay as opposed to. nay. We'll be right back. [Music].

So Chuck, um there are different species. of anacondas and one of the things. that's extremely interesting about this. that I guess the taxonomy of anacondas. is that very recently they've shaken. things up. I mean if you're a. herpatologist, this is one of the most. exciting things in your field to come. along in a really long time, I'm. guessing. Yeah, I bet you're right. So. originally, up until very recently, um. scientists divided anacondas into four.

species. There was the green andaconda, uh, Uncti Marinus, um, which we talked. about, um, basically this whole time. Yellow anaconda, Uncti Note, the Benny. doesn't even, it's not even called an. anaconda. That's how odd it is. That's. Unki's benis. And then the dark spotted anaconda. Anaconda, which is Unki's desensil. desensil. Did I say that right, Mr. German.

pronunciation guy. I think that is an I. at the end and not an L. Oh, Dawinci. [Music]. I think that is exactly right. That's. definitely a German word. So, those four. species are the ones that they've. they've considered anacondas since time. immemorial. But within the last year or. so, they're like, "This is all wrong. We. need to re reconfigure stuff into like a. a new breeding ball of of species of. anaconda." Yeah. There was a a paper uh. as Emily likes to say, probably a white.

paper from last year uh where an. international team of scientists got. together uh they had probably the the. leading anaconda expert in the world, Jesus Rivas of New Mexico Highlands. University, and they got together and. said, "Guys, I think we got to we got to. dig in a little deeper. We're being a. little lazy, and we got to rename these. reclassify these these snakes. uh we're. going to split these green anacondas. into two species and we're going to.

combine the other three into one and. Will Smith somehow has something to do. with this. Yeah. Interestingly, so. they've studied anacondas for decades. and decades to try to figure out the. taxonomy is correct because I mean when. Lana started taxonomy it was all based. on like this thing looks like this thing. and as we've gotten better at genetic. analysis we've been like well just. because it looks like it actually. they're not very related at all. That's. been the case with um Anacondas. But a. big chunk of the the um work that's been. done, the research that's been done that.

led to this was done through a National. Geographic show poll with Will Smith. Yeah. There was apparently at least one. episode where um one of the leaders of. the Werani people, his name was Penty. Beahua, um he said, "Hey, Will Smith, why don't you guys come to uh Ecuador. and we'll hang out in the Amazon and we. we'll we'll lead you around um and show. you anacondas and you guys can capture. them and test them and release them. back." And that's exactly what happened.

And from that they took all sorts of. blood samples and tissue samples and did. a genetic analysis and they're like we. got this way wrong. Yeah. And Will Smith. said, "What did the five fingers say to. the face?" I know, man. That's That is. going to be tough for him to ever live. down. It's cuz it's one of the weirdest. public things that's ever happened, televised things that's ever happened. It was weird. Yeah. It's still. mindboggling to think about and I. remember seeing it live just being like, "What did I just see?" Yeah. No, same. here. Uh, I'm pretty sure I saw it live.

and not a replay, but it was but also. the violence of it, I think, is what. what's going to make it so hard to live. down. It was just an ugly ugly thing. It. really was crazy. Oh, man. So strange. Uh, so they um did some research and. again you said that, you know, once we. sort of get into the genetics, just. because something looks like something. doesn't mean much. Uh, so they did that. They got into the genetics of these. snakes and they found that um two uh the. two green anaconda types because you.

know they reclassified. um were split up. They were they. diverged um because of probably plate. tectonic activity about 10 million years. ago when plates smashed together and. created a big like ridge or a mountain. range and all of a sudden it's like the. Berlin wall and they were split up and. they look a lot alike if you look like. them like you were saying but uh their. genomes differ by about 5 and a half%. which is a lot genetically. Yeah, humans. and chimps are separated by about 2% and. these are identical looking snakes. So, they are definitely different species.

And it just goes to show you like how. species put into um very similar. habitats a long time ago that those. small changes that that um spread out. and out and out over millions of years. can have huge sweeping effects that. their their their genomes could be. divergent by 5% just over that time, which is the basis of chaos theory. Oh, really? Yeah. The little tiny changes to. inputs early on over a long enough span. of time create completely different.

things over long spans of time. You. should say that all as Jeff Goldblum. I can't I wish I could do a Jeff. Goldblum. Me, too. That would be. amazing. I saw him once in person. outside of the um what's the place we. always stayed for Sketchfest? The hotel. I saw him outside that hotel, too. He. was there at the same time. And I was at. one point even in a little circular. group with friends I knew that knew him. and I just stayed quiet and tried to. just be among Jeff Goldblum. I feel like.

we talked about this at the San. Francisco show. I think so. And my. takeaway just from being near him is. that boy he was a charming lovely guy. that it seemed like he wanted every. interaction with the person to leave. thinking like what a great dude that guy. is. And he smells like a million. dollars. A million bucks. Mhm. So yeah, I wish I could do a Jeff Goldlum, too, I. guess, is what I'm trying to say. So, uh, we should mention the range quickly. before we probably break again. Um, the. greens, uh, obviously, uh, almost all of.

Brazil, uh, and other parts of South. America, um, east of the Andes, up the. northern Venezuela coast, uh, you can. find them as far south as Paraguay. And. interestingly, uh, also, maybe, unlucky. for them, on the Caribbean island of. Trinidad. Yes. Okay. Now, here's where. the salt tolerance thing comes up. I. could not figure out if you look at a. map, Trinidad is there's a part of um. Venezuela that's no more than 10 miles.

away from Trinidad and Tobago, the. islands, right off of Venezuela. So, these things can swim and hold their. breath for 10 minutes. I was like, how. did they get to Trinidad? Did they swim? I still have no idea how they got to. Trinidad. had to have been, you know, at. a point in time when Trinidad was still. fused to Oh, maybe to South America or. like maybe the sea levels were lower, so. there was a land bridge. I don't know. But that's how I found out that they're. not salt tolerant. They're only.

freshwater snakes because no, they. couldn't have swam to Trinidad. That's. the answer to that. Even if they. vaselined up and wore the the goggles. and the uh skull cap and the um bike. shorts. Yeah. Oh yeah, they wear bike. shorts these days. What was it that. Peewee Herman thing in Peewee's Big. Adventure? He said, "Oh yeah, he's. talking about blowing your mind." He's. like, "Have you ever seen a snake wear a. vest?". You remember that part? That's Yumi's. favorite part in that entire I don't. remember that part. That's funny. I.

thought I knew that movie Inside and. Out. That's very funny. Uh I've not seen. that documentary yet on Peewee Herman. I. heard it's really really good though. Yeah, we just watched it. It is very. good. Yeah, there's also one we're. watching called Chimp Crazy by the guy. who did Tiger King. Oh, no thanks. It's. um it's not it's not as hard to watch as. you would think. It's more human. interest stuff, but um yeah, I mean. there's still it's weird because you. it's you empathize with both sides. It's. one of those documentaries. I'm one of. the few people that didn't have any.

interest or watch Tiger. Was it Tiger? What? Tiger King. You kind of missed. out, man. That was something. Yeah, I. don't feel like I did. Okay. Well, then. yeah, you might not like Chimp Crazy. then if you didn't want to watch Tiger. King. All right. Uh, shall we take that. break? Yes. All right. We'll be back and. talk about human interactions with. anacondas right after this. [Music].

So, we mentioned that um you're probably. not in danger around an anaconda. Uh I. don't know if I'd go like partying with. one, but you know, we said they may eat. like every couple of months. So if you. know for a fact that anaconda has eaten. something, those are probably the one. videos you're seeing on the internet. when there's people like you know uh.

doing like documentary work on. anacondas, they probably know that that. thing is eaten. Yeah. Interestingly, there was a study that found that humans. um who live around anacondas see a full. anaconda is far less threatening than. one that doesn't see have a big pot. belly. Yeah, I would say so. It makes. sense. Uh there was a book that I don't. even know if we should mention but a. book from the 50s called Giant Snake. Hunt by a guy named Ralph Blombberg who. claimed two definite cases of people. being killed by snakes but I think that.

book is probably not accurate is my. guess. Uh there is a video uh that I. watched um from Terasanta Brazil that. has a guy I'm sure you watched this too. an anaconda standing or the guy was. standing rather in like chest deep water. in a river in Brazil and the anaconda. was wrapped around him and the his. buddies up on the boat were trying to. get it off and he bit this snake um near. its head and the snake released it and. they got they got this guy out of there. It was weird. But if you listen closely,

his bite made the same sound that Fred. Flintstone makes when he bites into. something. That chomp sound. I was. really surprised. It was very. surprising. Um, so yeah, this is the the. that's really really rare that that. happens and the guy was able to escape. unharmed. The point is is if a if an. anaconda wanted to to take you on like. you would be in big trouble. Yeah, sure. Um, it turns out that there are some. people who want an anaconda to take them. on. There's a guy named Paul Rosolei who.

is for all intents and purposes is. chainsaw from summer school. Did you. look this up and see him? Uh, I did and. and I remember when this happened. Okay, so Discovery Channel had a two-hour. special called Eaten Alive where in Paul. Rzolei was out looking for a giant. anaconda to eat him and uh it was just. pulse pounding from the beginning to the. last moment from what I understand. Yeah. You don't remember this? No. Oh. boy, I do. It was a media disaster and.

uh I would like to think a low point for. uh Discovery Channel, but uh he they. made a carbon fiber suit that he wore. and he drenched himself in pig's blood. As you do and what he claimed was like, "Oh, I want to bring awareness to the. loss of habitats um you know, for these. snakes." But close to 40,000 people. signed a petition beforehand calling it. animal abuse, saying you can't do a show. like this. Uh the show itself was a a. disaster. Sort of a a Haraldo um digging.

for uh who was it Jimmy Hawthor or was. it I don't know about Hawtha. I know. that he um did found Al Capone's vault. Al Capone. That was it. Uh that had. nothing basically in it. And that was. kind of the deal here where almost all. of the show was just prep. In the last. 15 minutes, this snake, this poor snake. uh being exploited uh tries to bite him. on the head and starts constricting him. and he's like, "Oh, oh my arm." and he. taps out and that was it. Right. If So I. think the rule of thumb here, Chuck, is.

if you are in another animal's habitat. messing with it and there's a TV camera. on you, you are in the wrong. There is. no exception to that. Because you are. going into their house and messing with. them for your own benefit. And that's. just wrong. It's wrong. And don't do it. Agreed. Yeah. That's all I have to say. about that. I think we should mention a. couple of these tweets though because. they're pretty funny. Totally. There was. one person who said that um they called. it eaten alive because getting squeezed.

really hard didn't sound as enticing. That was a good one. Uh another one. someone said uh calling it eaten alive. is like having a show on the Food. Network about cooking a turkey and all. they do after two hours is preheat the. oven. Good stuff. Roasted. I don't remember it. at all and I I don't remember it being a. disaster, but I could I could see that. Yeah. Uh as far as human interaction, you know, humans are probably a bigger. threat uh not probably, humans are a. bigger threat to anacondas than they are.

to them. Definitely. Uh a lot of times. it will be preemptively killed in a. small community because of uh fear of um. like small kids maybe a little bit more. of a threat or a small elderly person. perhaps um or your livestock. Uh a lot. of times they'll describe this as. retaliatory killing because they they. ate my prized deer so I'm going to kill. it. But they did an actual study in uh. Brazil in 2015 and they found it's. probably more of a preemptive fear to. keep them from doing something like. that, right? Uh and based on your human.

development index score, which is a a. rating of um education level and um. standard of living and income for an. area, the lower that score, the more. likely you are to kill an anaconda. I. feel like that's a little bit slanted. because I feel like um people with high. human development index scores probably. don't live with anacondas in their yard. So, I think that's a little bit skewed. But I I get I get the gist that you know. the more you're educated about, say.

animals, the more the less likely you. are to to hurt them. Yeah. At the same. time, the more educated you are, probably the. more removed you are from animals. So. it's hard to fault people who literally. live among anacondas or other things. that they perceive as a threat killing. them even though to us in the de the. developed world or the global north uh. it seems just abhorrent. We don't have. to deal with that. So it's there's a. certain amount of judgment that you have.

to take perspective on. Either way I. wish that no one would kill an anaconda. especially if they leave humans alone. But I don't I can't also put myself in. the shoes of the people who live among. them, I guess, is what I'm saying. Yeah, well said. I'm glad you said that. because I'm out of breath. No, that's. great. Uh you obviously a loss of uh. habitat is a problem for everything in. South America. Uh draining of wetlands. for agricultural use and uh just, you. know, clear cutting of rainforest and. things like that. Um despite all this,

uh they're in pretty good shape. um the. International Union for Conservation of. Nature and Natural Resources uh. classified uh or they're currently. classified as uh of lease concern. Mhm. Um that was surprising. Yeah. I mean, they're they're they're doing pretty. good. Um you you might wonder about. like, well, what about these things? Like if people bring them over and all. of a sudden they're in the swamps of. Florida. Uh there are some anacondas in. Florida, but it's generally not a. problem. The Burmese python is, you.

know, very much on record as being a. much much bigger problem. But. regardless, uh, Florida has a complete. ban on, um, anacondas, and they are. prohibited as pets. They said, "Don't. even don't even think about it. We're. Florida. We'll we'll find you. We'll. hunt you down and find you if you. release an anaconda here." One of the. reasons why they're they're not a big. problem as an invasive species is. because they're really hard to keep as. pets. like you essentially need like a a. a zoo exhibit sized place. There's a.

word in there somewhere that I'm. missing. Um to to keep an anaconda like. at your home. Most people can't do that. So there's not a lot of pet anacondas. anywhere that could be released in the. first place. Yeah. So we're going to. finish up with a little bit on some of. the more famous anacondas. Uh first of. which has got to be Anna Julia. Um, this. is a 20-footer, uh, 440 pound female, obviously, green, and probably the most.

famous anaconda that lived in the. Formosa River near Bonito, Brazil, because there's a lot of ecoourism. there. And um, Anna Julia was just. present a lot and the water there in the. river uh, around Bonito is is pretty. clear as far as that kind of water goes. And Anna Julia was not aggressive. So, she was like, "Hey, if you want to make. a documentary about me, I'm right here. Let's do it. Come on in. The water's. fine. Yeah. Or maybe don't come on in. the water. So there's a Yeah. Well, there's actually um from that study,

that pole to pole National Geographic. thing that contributed to that huge. study that changed the species. arrangement, the taxonomy. One of the. biologists involved in that, there's a. video of him swimming alongside Anna. Julia. Um and she's totally underwater. just swimming along and does not seem at. all bothered by his presence. I mean, he's not like trying to ride her or. anything like that. He's not putting on. her. Was he the one wearing the freaking. dress shirt? I think so. Yeah, he was. not dressed for for snorkeling or.

swimming. It was very weird. Well, and. and I immediately went to the comments. I'm like, surely I'm not the only one. that is noticing this. And of course, everyone is like, "Well, I see the guy. dressed, you know, formal for the. occasion, and everyone's talking about. this guy wearing I mean, it may be one. of those weird uh sort of moisture. wicking out all weather outdoor shirts. that just is a button-up, but why are. you swimming in a button-up?" I get the. impression that he's Dutch. Oh, that explains it. So, um, what's sad about it though is.

that Anna Julia was found dead just a. few weeks after, um, this, uh, the. research that she was a huge part of. Like because she was so docil, they were. able to closely study and observe her. And she contributed greatly to our. understanding of anacondas. And she died. like five weeks after that research was. published, that big 2024 paper. And of. course, everybody's like, "Somebody like. who shot Anna Julia?" It was like a a. murder mystery that Netflix quickly made. a 10- part series about. And uh it turns.

out that she died of natural causes. Yeah. Which is sad, but good to know. that she was not killed. Yeah, definitely. Uh if you live in St. Louis, you're probably screaming at us right. now. You got to mention JLo, guys. You. got to mention JLo. Uh JLo was the 18. foot 210 lb anaconda uh that lived for. about a dozen years at the St. Louis. Zoo. Mhm. And um you know uh feel what. you want about zoos, but this anaconda. was um saved actually um escaped being.

sold for meat and skin at a gayana. market and an animal exporter stepped in. uh bought the snake and brought JLo to. the zoo in 2010 and was apparently the. star of the show at their developing uh. herpetarium. Yeah. and the the um animal. exporter who brought her very famously. put her in um what looked like a present. box with like a bow on it and. everything. It was like, "Here you go, guys." And let him open it. And all of a. sudden, JLo sprung out and coiled.

herself um in a very like happy, playful. way around the zookeeper. Yeah. Kind of. like a genuine hug. Yeah, exactly. And. slithered off. And um because anacondas. sound just like this anaconda in the. movie Anaconda, she went. as she slithered off because that's the. sound that that snakes make. Uh that sounds sort of like the sound. that the uh the mummy makes. Did you. ever see that special? No. They they.

built a uh they were just talking about. this on the 3M podcast with Scott Aman, Lauren Lapkins, and Paula Tommpkins. where there was another one of the. specials like let's recreate this thing. that we have no idea what it sounded. like. And they tried to recreate what a. mummy sounded like by building this uh I. think a 3D um mummy voice box and. passing air through it. And it was just. sort of like a a mummy a dead human. being that's been inbalmed. Yeah, that's bizarre. I mean, I'm sure.

they sounded like a human prem and then. they didn't sound like anything cuz they. were dead postmification. That's just odd. I know. My my mind just. got blown. I mean, I'm I'm with you. It's It was a. very strange thing. Okay. I don't know. why they did it. I don't know much about. it other than hearing it on Freedom and. looking it up because I had to hear the. sound. Like, we may edit that gap out, but there is a substantial pause where. we were both just stunned thinking about. this for a second. No, I think we should.

leave it in there because that was that. was real life. Uh, who else? Chuck, we got to mention. Oliver from the San Francisco Zoo. You. know what's funny is I didn't I was so. caught up in the sound that that mummy. made I didn't even think about like what. does that even mean? Yeah. What are you. doing? Like who thought of that idea? Oh, I don't know. It's probably. Discovery Channel. So, yeah. Man, that's. just bizarre. Uh there's Oliver from San. Francisco Zoo. He may have been the. oldest anaconda um to live in captivity.

He was 40, they think. And then the. oldest living snake in captivity is. Annie who uh is in the Monte Casino Bird. Gardens in Johannesburg, South Africa. And uh in two 2021, May 14th, 2021, Guinness said that she was 37 years and. 317 days old. And since um Olivia said. that she couldn't find any mention of. her death and that she she thinks that. she's still there, that she's coming up.

on her um 42nd birthday. Wow. So yeah, on May 62nd, she'll be 42 years old. You. know what they don't have in that bird. garden? Birds. Yep. That was great. And Chuck, we can't go. any further. All right, I'm done. Okay, well Chuck's done because he just. dropped the mic. And since he did that, it's time for listener mail. Uh, I'm gonna call this Oh, this is a.

fun followup. I always love it when we. do something on someone and uh like a. family member writes in. Oh yeah. And. that's what happened here with uh Udell. Hey guys, listen to the popcorn episode. I was delighted you mentioned Charles uh. Creeders, my great greatgrandfather. Mhm. Uh here's some more information. about him and how he came to invent the. popcorn machine. He founded Creeders and. Company in Chicago in 1885. Initially. building peanut roasters, patented the. process of popping popcorn in oil, or.

seasoning as he called it, to prevent. popcorn from burning. In 1893, he. patented the first popcorn popper, which. use a steam engine to power it, and he. debuted it at the 1893 Columbian. Exposition. At uh at first, his invention wasn't. getting much attention uh until he. started handing out free bags of. popcorn. Brilliant. Mhm. I love it. Uh. during the 20th century, uh early 20th. century, his invention became a staple. for street vendors, uh helping them to. support themselves and their families. And today, Creators and Company is a.

fifth generation family business. My. grandfather, Charles Dreers, owns the. company, and both my uncles and my mom. still work there to this day. Oh, that's. so cool. I love that. That is from. Garrett, uh I guess Udell. Thanks a lot, Garrett. That is a fantastic email. But. we do love it when we talk about. somebody and a family member writes in, especially when they're not upset at us. Yeah. And especially when they did. something great like admitting the. popcorn machine. That's right. Uh if you. want to be like Garrett, you can get in. touch with us via email. You can send it.

off to stuffodcast@ iheartradio.com. Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts of. iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio. app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].