River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 1, Episode 1 - Piranha - full transcript

Piranha.

Legends tell of the most
ferocious fish in the world.

With razor-sharp teeth,
they hunt in packs,

stripping a body of its flesh
in minutes.

They have a reputation
for killing and eating humans.

Literally being stripped
of all the flesh.

Only the boots were left.

But it may not be justified.

I don't think
the reputation of piranhas

as bloodthirsty monsters
is deserved at all.

I'm Jeremy Wade,
biologist and extreme angler,



and my mission is to find out
if piranhas really are

the ultimate horror
of the Amazon.

All they said that they saw was
just a turbulence in the water

of the piranhas devouring
the child.

I remember a story from the '70s

of a bus crashing into
the Amazon River in Brazil.

The people inside
were eaten alive by piranhas.

Horrific stories like this
have been circulating

since the discovery
of South America.

But every single piece
of scientific research I found

says that piranhas
don't kill people.

So are these stories real,

or are they just
overexaggerated urban myths?

Fish on.
Fish on.



I've traveled the globe

literally putting my life
on the line

to prove that there are
giant man-eating fish

where no one
would expect them...

Big old mouth on there.

In our freshwater rivers.

But now it's the turn
of the small guys.

Could piranhas really kill
and eat a human?

Are they the bloodthirsty
killers from the movies

that fill our nightmares?

I visit London Zoo
to talk to Brian Zimmerman,

a piranha expert and assistant
curator of the aquarium,

to see what he thinks.

There's no documented cases
of a living human

going into the water and being
attacked by a group of piranhas

and being reduced to a skeleton
in seconds.

But piranha
are carnivorous fish.

If they're hungry,
it's certainly possible

that they would attack
to try and get food.

I don't see why a human
would be any different

than an egret
falling in the water.

It's just, for a piranha,
it's a potential food source.

But to my knowledge,
that's never happened.

So if Brian believes

piranhas have never attacked
and killed a living person,

then did this bus crash that
I remember really take place?

I decide to head to Manaus,

the city at the heart
of the Amazon,

to see if I can get
to the bottom of this memory

and maybe track down
a definite case

where piranhas
have eaten someone alive.

And where better
to start my investigation

than the home of many
a gruesome fishermen's tale...

The Manaus fish market.

With over 2,000 species of fish
found in the Amazon River...

More than
the entire Atlantic Ocean...

There's no shortage

of strange-looking
river monsters here.

Wicked-looking spines on there.
Such a variety of fish here.

Scientists have determined
that there are

some 60 different species
in the piranha subfamily.

Yet the majority of them
are actually vegetarian.

It is the flesh-eating behavior
of just a couple of species

that gives them
their reputation.

And it's not long
before my questions unearth

another shocking account

that shows
just what they are capable of.

This is a piranha story.

And old man was left in his
floating house by his family

just for a couple of hours.

They came back, he'd gone.

There were
just his clothes there.

They thought he
must have gone to take a bath

but he wasn't in sight anywhere.

They searched.

Eventually they found
just his skeleton.

Literally...
He'd gone in the water.

Because he was old,
he wasn't able to get back out,

and the piranhas just had him.

- Dois mês.
- Dois mês?

Two months ago.

It's another gruesome story.

But here at the market,

I can't track down a name
or definite location

for this fisherman's tale.

I'm gonna have to search
further afield

to find an eyewitness
to a lethal piranha attack.

The Amazon River
is 4,250 miles long...

twice the length
of the Mississippi.

It is mostly wide
and slow-moving,

but up this distant tributary,
it is quite the opposite.

A fifth of all the water
on earth

passes through the Amazon.

And piranhas and their relatives

are found
in just about all of it.

It's a fisherman's paradise.

And it's full of river monsters.

And there's a fish on.
There's a fish on.

Oh, there it is. There it is.
Jumping out of the water.

That's quite strong.
That's a strong fish.

I've hooked a predatory fish

with dental hardware
straight out of a horror movie.

So this is a payara.
It's a relative of the piranha.

It's an arms war down there.
Everything's got teeth.

Everything is eating
everything else.

They've actually got those fangs
there in the lower jaw.

And they use those to puncture
the swim bladder of the prey.

So it just messes up
the buoyancy.

The small fish
is then totally out of control.

It's flopping around
near the surface,

and these will just come along
afterwards and mop them up.

And those fangs are that big

that it has to have special
holes in the upper jaw.

Otherwise it wouldn't be able
to get its mouth closed.

So it's probably
some very precise engineering

going on out of sight
that we can't see.

This vampire-like creature

shows how evil-looking
the piranha family can get.

But despite its looks,

it is not the fish responsible
for attacking people.

This is a solitary fish hunter.

The piranha we all fear
feed in packs.

And they are so common
in the Amazon

you can catch them
almost anywhere.

Normally, I use high-tech gear
and stealthy tactics

to lure a monster onto my line.

But the piranha's method
of feeding is so bold

that I'm changing my approach.

I've dispensed
with my normal rod.

And I'm just using
a bit of bamboo

with a short length
of line on the end.

Tried-and-tested means
of catching piranha.

Just a hook on the end
with a piece of wire

so they I don't chomp through
the line, lump of meat.

And unlike other techniques

where you're being quiet
and stealthy...

piranhas are actually attracted

by noise and disturbance
on the surface.

Oh.
There you go.

Red-bellied piranha.

In just a couple of minutes,
I've caught a small piranha.

But do not be deceived.

It still has knife-like teeth

that can easily remove a lump
of flesh in a single bite.

Multiply that
by the hundred or so mouths

in a hungry school of piranhas,

and it's a death
of a thousand individual cuts.

A protruding jawbone
with large chomping muscles

means that when the mouth
is closed,

the triangular teeth
from both jaws

lock together like a bear trap.

They are perfectly adapted

to slice off pieces of meat,
fins, or scales,

literally taking apart
their prey piece by piece.

They predominantly hunt fish,
but they will eat the meat

of almost any animal
that crosses their path.

And in this river,

with almost every cast
I'm catching a piranha.

This river is just
absolutely full of piranhas.

They're just all over the place.

Doesn't mean to say, though,
that I can't do this.

Surely swimming
in a piranha-infested river

is suicide.

This water may be full
of piranhas,

but they're not attacking me.

If I can swim here,

and it's true that the old man
from the fish-market story

and the victims of
the bus crash were eaten alive,

then something is missing

that is needed to trigger
a feeding frenzy.

Still alive.

There's plenty of water here.

I'm guessing there's enough
food for them down there

without them wanting
to attack me.

So what about
if I set something up

where I know there are
plenty of piranhas

and I know they're hungry?

Welcome to my piranha pool.

Here at a local hotel, just
like my favorite Bond villain,

I've filled
a small swimming pool

with over 100
red-bellied piranhas.

And they haven't eaten for days.

It is the perfect opportunity

to test just how voracious
these creatures are.

Everybody knows about sharks
being bloodthirsty killers.

Just wondering if piranhas

have the same kind
of sensitivity to blood.

Piranhas have evolved to live

in the murky, sediment-filled
waters of the Amazon,

where visibility
is often less than a foot.

So a good sense of smell
to locate their next meal

is surely essential.

That's definitely getting
a reaction.

A number of fish have come
into the cloud of blood,

and they're looking around.

They want something to chew
into, but there's nothing there.

I think time to put a bit
of flesh in there for them.

So blood is definitely
whetting their appetite.

And there would have been
blood in the water

from those injured
by the impact of the bus crash.

Now, I wonder
how these piranhas will react

to a bloody piece
of prime steak.

There we go.
It's the first nibble.

The first nibble.
The first nibble.

And there they are.
They're all piling in.

Once the first one started,
there we go.

They're all over it.

Piranhas react

to the sound and movement
of another piranha feeding,

attracting them to the scene
and inciting a feeding frenzy.

As soon as one piranha
takes a bite, it moves away,

allowing a fast turnover
of feeders

and a rapid succession of bites.

It's no wonder they are known

for stripping their food
to the bone in just minutes.

There we go.
Meat definitely worked.

I just wanted to know
how they might react

to something that's alive.

These piranhas were tearing into
a piece of dead meat

just a couple of minutes ago.

But they are just not interested
in me.

So what is it

that turns piranhas
into vicious, murderous killers?

That is what
I want to try and find out.

I've come to the Amazon
to find out

if piranhas are the
bloodthirsty killers of myth

or if the truth
is a little more complicated.

I've managed to unearth a
newspaper report from the 1970s

that describes the exact
bus crash that I remember

where some of the passengers
were eaten by piranhas.

It reports that on the 14th
of November, 1976,

the bus was traveling
from Manaus

to the town of Itacoatiara,
a journey about five hours.

After driving through the night,

it crashed into
a tributary of the Amazon,

killing 39 passengers.

The newspaper also mentions
the name of a survivor...

Dirceu Araújo.

I've managed to track him down

to find out what he can
remember from that fateful day,

as this might allow me
to pass judgment

on the guilt or otherwise
of the piranha.

Dirceu tells me he was sitting
at the very rear of the bus,

and like the rest
of the passengers,

he had been sleeping
for most of the journey.

On board that day
were several families,

a couple of students
named Alex and Ivan,

as well as many other men
and women

returning to their homes
in Itacoatiara.

Not long before the accident,
the bus went through a pothole,

waking Dirceu up.

This, he tells me,
could well have saved his life.

This is the very spot
where the accident happened.

The bus came down here,
went in the river down there.

Dirceu doesn't not know
if the brakes failed

or if the bus skidded,

but the driver had done
the same route

several times that day.

The papers at the time
reported the suggestion

that he fell asleep
and at the ferry crossing

carried straight on
into the river.

One minute everything's normal.

Literally the next moment,
it's in the water.

There were people crying,
wailing, much despair.

There were people at the front

trying to open the door
by pulling it.

He's basically saying that that
door only opens if you push.

Then the water started
to come in,

at which point he went back
to where he'd been seated.

There was a boy there who'd been
trying to break the window,

and he saw actually saw...
Dirceu saw

this boy's foot
disappearing out of the bus.

He saw the foot, followed it,

and managed to get himself out
through the same hole.

He's just about clear
of the bus.

Somebody grabbed hold
of his leg. Can you imagine?

Somebody is trying to grab hold
of his leg

while he is trying to escape
and get to the surface.

Actually had to kick

this person's hand off
to get free from the bus

and actually, you know, escape
from the wreck.

39 people remained trapped
on the bus

and didn't survive.

In the panic of his escape,

Dirceu doesn't remember
seeing any piranhas,

so no one knows how long it was
after the bus submerged

that the piranhas attacked.

Even to this day,
just going over the bridge,

which they've got now
over the river,

he says every time he crosses,
he just remembers that day.

It was several hours

before rescuers could winch
the bus out of the water.

By that time,
it was far too late

for any remaining passengers.

There were three children
and one baby,

actually all
from the same family.

They were brought up dead.

There was one body there

had literally been stripped
of all the flesh.

Only the boots were left.

The impact piranhas have
on a human body is distinct

and may be too shocking
for some viewers to see.

These horrific images
from recent cases

arriving
at the Manaus city morgue

show just what a piranha
is capable of doing

and the type of wounds
it leaves.

Exposed flesh and soft tissue
are removed first,

which is exactly what
Dora Di Barbosa witnessed

when she arrived on the scene

as the bodies were being
extracted from the bus.

She told me
that some of the victims

were brought out
still hugging each other.

And her story
made me truly realize

what it meant to lose someone
in this crash.

Dora was just 17 years old
at the time of the tragedy.

And what happened...
She was living in Itacoatiara,

and she'd just actually started
her nurse training at the time.

And so she actually went
to the river

at the site of the accident.

Hmm.

That's pretty tragic.

Dora says she did know
some of the people on the bus,

which just makes it sort of
extra, extra horrific, really.

There was the husband
of the teacher of hers,

and she says that his face
was completely eaten away...

Not down to the bone
but down to cartilage.

And also a lad called Ivan,
who she liked very much.

This was
her childhood sweetheart.

And he was one of the victims
as well.

And she said because of this,

she found it very difficult
early on

to talk about
this whole business.

But as a result of this,

she said she actually left
the area

and didn't return for a while

because of the memories
of the place.

Just like the testimonies
from the bus crash,

the morgue pictures
leave us in no doubt

as to the horrors piranhas
can inflict on a human body.

But as the bus crash happened
30 years ago,

it's impossible to know
if the victims died

of the wounds inflicted
by the piranhas

or if they were already dead.

We know that on the bus,
they were trapped,

there was blood in the water

and people were eaten
by piranhas.

But did the piranhas attack
and eat their victims alive,

or did they merely scavenge
the corpses

of those
who had already drowned?

So even though
I have found my bus crash,

the case against the piranha
still hangs in the balance.

My quest to investigate

the bloodthirsty reputation
of the piranha

is still unresolved.

Although piranhas have without
doubt fed on dead human flesh,

I'm yet to find proof that they
have killed a living human.

Maybe Brian Zimmerman was right.

I don't think
the reputation of piranhas

as bloodthirsty monsters
is deserved at all.

Piranha are just an animal

that is trying to survive
in the wild,

and they happen to be
a carnivorous fish.

Yet in flooded water bodies
like this,

scientists have discovered

that there are double the
number of piranhas than normal.

And this has led to a situation

where their innocence
is once again in question.

All over Brazil, dams like this
have created artificial lakes

which are very popular places
to come for a swim,

particularly in the heat
of the dry season.

Put that together
with a concentrated population

of piranhas,
and you're asking for trouble.

Humans being attacked
by man-eating fish

is the stuff of nightmares.

And it has fueled
an industry of fear

which Hollywood
has happily embraced.

If you're on a beach
by the ocean,

sharks can be
a very real concern.

It's not uncommon
to enter the water

with a fear
of what might lurk beneath.

But deep inland,
over 1,000 miles from the sea,

most people would not expect
to be a victim.

Yet on the weekend
of December the 21st, 2005,

at the end of the dry season,
this is exactly what happened.

On a beach exposed
by the seasonal low water,

eight people were attacked.

And the perpetrators
of these attacks were piranhas.

In a period of seven months,

190 people were bitten
by piranhas.

Unlike the bus crash,
these weren't frenzied attacks

which left the corpses
half-eaten.

These were individual bites.

No one was trapped, injured,
or bleeding.

Yet the piranhas were
definitely attacking

live people.

Obviously, something strange
had occurred here.

I've come to one of these
artificial lakes

created by a dam
to find out what's going on

and to see what kind
of piranhas are living here.

All this used to be rainforest.

But when the water rose,
the trees all died,

just leaving
this weird landscape.

There we go. There's a knot.
There's something on there.

Right. Here we go.
Here we go.

Here we go.
That's a sizable fish.

That's a piranha,
but that is a big piranha.

Now, this is something I've
got to be very careful with.

Careful, careful, careful,
careful, careful.

And here it is.

Imagine swimming with these boys
in the water.

Oh! Crunch.

Oh!

Crunching on the hook
as I take it out.

How about that for a piranha?

This is a black piranha.

It's the biggest species
of piranha.

Look at those teeth.
Look at those teeth.

I'm being extremely careful
here.

They just have
such powerful jaws.

That would take a serious-size
lump out of you...

Literally the size of that jaw,

that would be the size of
the hole that would be missing.

Those teeth are so sharp that
when people get cut by them,

they say they don't even feel it
when it happens.

They only notice it
when they see the blood.

It was these kinds of attacks,
single bites,

that were being made
at the beach.

But again, Brian's theory
that piranhas are misunderstood

has an explanation.

Piranha tend to build their
nests in very shallow areas

because they need
to have vegetation,

not only for the eggs
to stick to

but also for the young fry
to retreat

when they're first hatching.

So in cases where people
have been bitten,

I mean, I suppose somebody
wading in shallow water

and happens to tread
onto the nest of a piranha

where there's a big male
defending its eggs

is definitely gonna be
susceptible to getting a bite.

The beach attacks occurred

when there were most people
in the water

on the hottest days
of the end of the dry season.

It is at this point, usually
just after the first rains,

when piranhas breed.

All they were doing

was simply what most
living creatures do...

Protecting their young.

So these multiple
piranha attacks

actually reveal a caring animal

that, in this instance,
has no intention to kill.

Piranha are very nervous fish.

We were actually involved
in a study recently

which was looking at the reasons

for shoaling behavior
in piranha.

And the study actually found

that instead of them being
pack hunters

and living together in groups

because they're trying to hunt
their prey,

they actually live in shoals
to avoid predators themselves

and it's a case
of safety in numbers.

Piranhas may enjoy a reputation
as evil killers.

But here in the Amazon,

they are far from the top
of the food chain.

This river is a supremely
predatory environment.

And I'm told that there are
wild river monsters

that come here
to be fed by locals.

These creatures
are highly adapted killers

and greatly feared
by the piranhas.

And once again,
I'm the guinea pig

that is entering the water
to meet them.

Dolphins.
Who'd have thought it?

1,000 miles from the ocean,
right up the Amazon River.

Freshwater dolphins.

And these guys...
I mean, they're having fun now,

but my goodness,
they've also got a dark side.

We're in the middle of a frenzy.
That one bit my thumb.

That one got my thumb.
Oh, dear.

Hey!

And these are the guys
that take out piranhas.

Little bit eager.
A little bit eager.

The jaw... very, very long
and elongated, full of teeth...

Just perfect for grabbing fish.

Wow!

They've also got this
really strange bulging head,

and that's actually... oop!
An echolocation organ.

A lot of these waters
in the Amazon are very murky.

And they can't see their prey.

But even in that situation,

they can find
and kill their prey... ooh!

Using sonar.

Ooh-hoo-hoo.

You know, you've got to be
very, very careful

tangling with these creatures.

Ah.
Time for me to get out, I think.

The Amazon is the most
predator-filled waterway

on the planet.

Everything kills or is killed.

I've spent years
fishing this river,

and I know it is crammed full

of the meanest,
nastiest creatures.

Perhaps piranhas
are not unusual.

They just get singled out
for attention

because they capture
our imagination.

But that still doesn't explain
what triggers their attacks.

It's strong and heavy.

Look at this!

Fine.
Fine, fine, fine.

A new species for me.

I know the species, but I've
never, never, never caught one.

There's a lump taken out of it
by piranha.

They can tell when a fish is in
distress, and they go after it.

You can actually see the shape
here of a piranha jaw.

Something chomped this fish
on the way in.

You know, normally these fish
are paying complete attention

to not ending up on the menu.

This one, basically
thinking about something else

for just a moment, and
a piranha came and chopped it.

So you've literally
got to watch your back.

This armored catfish
was a fantastic catch.

But seeing the piranha bite
on its back

has crystallized everything
for me.

This fish lives in and amongst
piranha every day of its life.

Yet, struggling on the end
of my line,

it instantly became a target.

It is the thrashing struggle
of distress

that triggers
the piranha's natural instincts

to target the weak and helpless.

This explains why I can swim
and splash around with piranhas

yet the struggle for life
in the bus crash

initiated the piranhas'
predatory instincts.

It's sobering to think

of what happened to those
poor passengers that day

as they traveled
back to their hometown.

Their lives were never meant
to cross with piranhas.

Yet, for thousands of people
in the Amazon,

life is literally lived
on the water.

With such huge seasonal
variations in water level,

entire villages float
on the river.

And there's one
whose very name suggests

the reality they deal with
on a daily basis.

This place is known
as the piranha reserve.

I've come here to find out
what life is like

living with the constant threat
of piranhas.

These people are known as
Ribeirinhos, or river people.

Almost everything they need

is sourced from or around
the Amazon River.

Let's see if the piranha
reserve lives up to its name

and what kind of piranhas
they have here.

The line is flat on the surface.

There it goes.

Red-bellied.
There we go.

Whoop!
Now, right.

You can see why people...

I couldn't do that
if I didn't have shoes on.

You can see why
so many people here

are missing bits
out of their toes.

Every one of these
is a red-bellied.

This one's got slight spots, but
that just means it's a juvenile.

Again. Here we go.

There's almost more fish
than water.

Every single chuck,
out comes a red-bellied piranha.

They're not very big,
but my goodness.

There are just loads of them
down here.

I've heard all these stories

about piranhas being capable
of skeletonizing bodies

literally within moments
or minutes.

I've got this freshly killed
duck here from the market,

and I think it's time to put
those stories to the test.

It's apparent that the sound,

the thrashing of a distressed
animal is what attracts them,

so just a little bit of movement
to start them homing in.

They're in there.
They're in there already.

I just saw a flash of silver

with that very distinctive red
as well.

They're starting to arrive now.

Once one finds it, basically,
that kicks the whole thing off.

Oh, look at that.
Doing the head there.

They've already just stripped
all the flesh from the spine.

Flip this in and have a look.

Oh. Right.

From the back,
this didn't look too bad.

But actually flip it over,
the side where the fish were,

and they've made a real mess
of that.

They've actually chewed through
a huge expanse of feather

to get at the meat, and they've
gone into the body cavity.

They've taken
most of the meat away.

There's a huge section
of actually the backbone

gone in the neck.

The head is just reduced
to bone.

Both eyes are gone.

And all this
just in a matter of minutes.

It's easy to forget

that this is right outside
someone's front door.

For the people who live here,

dealing with the dangers
of piranhas on a daily basis

is just part of life.

I visit some of the families
who live here

to find out how they cope.

But I discover a story
of a piranha attack

that chills me to my very bones.

This remote place is actually
called the piranha reserve.

But what I soon learn is that
it is in the dry season,

when the water is low and
the piranhas are concentrated,

that the villagers
are most at risk.

It is a particular time of year.

It's principally the months
of September and October here.

You can't even get in the water
to have a wash.

The main food item here is fish,
so there you are.

You have to clean the fish

in order to prepare it
for the meal.

And just the smell of that
will bring

a concentration of piranhas,
so you got to be careful.

Keep your fingers
nowhere near the water.

But on one occasion, this
family dropped their guard,

with horrific consequences.

It was a grandson of Julio's.

They're saying you can't look
after kids all the time.

His wife was cleaning some fish
off the back of the house.

And the child just ran,
as children do,

from one side of the house
to the other

and fell in the water
at the other side.

He said literally
they heard him.

As they got there,
it was already too late.

The child fell in the water
and just didn't come up.

All they said that they saw was
just a turbulence in the water

of the piranhas devouring
the child

just literally moments

after the child had fallen off
the side of the boat.

With nets, they were trying to
sort of retrieve the child,

even while this was going on,
and eventually, he said,

all they got in was bones.

When I asked how long it took,

he said this happened
very rapidly

because, you know,
there are just so many...

So many piranhas here.

This is what I've been
searching for...

A firsthand account

of piranhas attacking, killing,
and eating a human...

in this case, a 3-year-old boy,

who the grandfather preferred
not to name.

Yet the reality
of hearing a story like this

takes away all feelings
of success I might have had.

It's one thing to hear
the myth of piranhas,

but I mean,
it's quite something else

to talk to somebody who's
actually seen the truth of that

with their own eyes.

If you consider that
this is just one of hundreds

or even thousands of similar
isolated settlements

found all along the Amazon,

who knows how many more
cases remain unreported.

These lads are just balancing on
pieces of wood about that wide.

And I've just heard
this horrific story

about somebody falling
into this water

and getting just devoured
in seconds,

and they don't even seem
bothered by it.

Much as we might live
with the ever-present threat

of a lethal highway
on our doorstep,

these people continue
their lives

within feet of deadly piranhas.

I guess, like a lot of things,

living in a floating house
like this

with these piranhas underneath,
after a while, it's just there.

It's just automatic.
You just get used to it.

There are just precautions
that you take.

You can't be thinking about it
all the time.

If you were, you wouldn't be
able to get on with your life.

It's just this
ever-present presence

underneath and all around you.

I set out on this journey

to find an eyewitness
to a piranha attack

in the hope that their evidence

might give me the proof I needed

to know if the bloodthirsty
reputation of the piranha

is justified.

I've found that piranhas
are sometimes shy,

sometimes defensive, and they
are somewhat misunderstood.

But if you have
a very specific combination

of the right time of year,

blood, the struggle of distress,

and a trapped
or weakened person,

you will trigger
a piranha feeding frenzy.

In a river full of monsters,

this is just
a natural adaptation

to life here in the Amazon.

But no water what, the piranha
will continue to evoke fear

and horror
in each and every one of us.

Want more of the world's
wildest, strangest

and most terrifying
freshwater horrors?