River Monsters (2009) s01e05 Episode Script

The Amazon River is home to a terrifying collection of man-eating monsters.
And in the darkest corners lurks a dinosaur.
Legends tell of an evil spirit inhabiting an enormous fish.
Longer than a man, it is encased in thick scales, and it crushes its prey with a tongue made of bone.
But with a body of pure muscle, its primary weapon is raw power.
I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and extreme angler, and I've encountered this creature once before.
That time, I came out second-best, but now I'm ready for the rematch.
Yes! I've been coming to the Amazon for 15 years, and a tale I've heard many times is that of a fisherman going missing.
Far from home, on a remote tributary of the Amazon, something happens.
People tell of a creature leaping out of the water, knocking the fisherman from his canoe.
But with no eyewitnesses, the list of suspects is speculative, at best.
Could there really be a monster in the Amazon capable of doing this? And if so, what kind of beast could it be? Anaconda, cayman piranhaare all convicted killers.
But in my travels around the world I've caught some super-sized freshwater fish that are more than capable of doing the job.
Is there one more river monster to add to the list of the Amazon's usual suspects? A creature that has somehow slipped through the net? This story of a canoe found floating, nobody in it, fisherman disappeared The automatic assumption from everybody was that it was a cayman or an anaconda.
Those are the obvious candidates, but I think another animal might have been involved, and what I think it might have been is one of these.
Now, this is a real armour coat, and it looks as if it's a snake or some other reptile.
But, believe it or not, this is actually a fish, a big fish.
This is the skin of an arapaima fish, and if its scales make you think of a dinosaur, that's because the arapaima is indeed a dinosaur of sorts.
It has swum in these waters, virtually unchanged, since the Cretaceous period.
That is just a single scale from this animal.
Now, I mean, you know, that is pretty impressive.
But they go a lot bigger than that, and the reason I know that is that.
Now, whatever that came off, that would have been a serious river monster.
Arapaima have been caught measuring up to 10 foot long, making them the largest freshwater fish in the world's largest river.
But in recent years, they have been relentlessly over-fished, and today they are so rare, it is forbidden to catch them in most areas.
However, they are potentially found throughout the countless thousand miles of river that make up the Amazon Basin.
And I believe arapaima may be responsible for killing some of those missing people.
My mission is to investigate this theory and see if I can track down and even catch one of these potential killers.
I've begun my quest in Manaus, the Wild West frontier town at the heart of the Brazilian Amazon.
I need to know what I'm dealing with, and for that I'm going to visit some captive arapaima.
And I know just the place.
Normally, in the Amazon, seeing arapaima live and close up is pretty well impossible.
There' s just so much water.
It's murky.
Here's this place - a bar in the middle of Manaus.
And this could be just the perfect place to check them out.
Amazing opportunity to get eyeball-to-eyeball with these things.
It really is prehistoric-looking, like stone or metal or something.
You know - real armour-plating.
And the other thing that's very striking is, they are very elongated.
They're quite cylindrical.
That is just perfect design for an ambush predator.
You know - speed over a short distance.
Arapaima are naturally predatory, engulfing any fish that fit into that bony mouth, including piranha.
They will even consume birds and other animals, sucking them down from the water's surface.
And then they've got this very gruesome technique for actually finishing their prey off.
They have a tongue with a piece of bone inside it, and they actually use that bony tongue to crush the small fish against the roof of the mouth, so it's not a very pleasant way to go, I'd imagine.
These are pretty big fish.
That mouth isn't big enough to swallow a person, so any stories like that you've got to discount, but it could still kill you.
That is a very solid lump of bone, with an enormous mass of muscle behind it.
I've been on the receiving end of one of these things - it hit me in the chest.
And no exaggeration - I could still feel that a month and a half later.
It bruised me so deeply.
It was seven years ago, and I was helping a friend of mine, a research scientist, with his captive-breeding programme for arapaima.
His long-term goal is to take the pressure off the wild population, but he needed to capture his fish to pair them up with likely mates.
We'd caught several fish and weighed them without problem, when I let my guard down.
While drawing in a net with an arapaima trapped inside, this hard-nosed giant turned from fish into missile.
From nowhere, I had a hundred pounds of solid bone smash into me.
Weeks later, a doctor described my injury as similar to the impact of striking the steering column during a car crash.
I'm not saying this is some malignant creature that will deliberately hunt and eat you - it doesn't have the mouth for it.
But corner one of these beasts, and it will launch a pre-emptive strike.
It is this event that makes me believe the arapaima may be the killer in question.
If these fishermen were hunting arapaima, or accidentally caught one in a net, this animal will violently defend itself.
Just one thrash connecting with the head is all it would take to knock you unconscious, leaving you at the mercy of the Amazon's scavenging river monsters.
If I am going to investigate this theory, I need to demonstrate that my experience wasn't a freak occurrence, and arapaima do have the power, the ability, and even the intent, to take a fisherman out.
But more importantly, I need to prove that, despite over-fishing, there are still arapaima out there large enough to do the damage.
And the best way I can do that is by catching a giant arapaima.
But as I set off on my mission, leaving the port of Manaus, my boat captain tells me that, if I'm interested in arapaima, then I should definitely visit one of these floating houses.
Salted arapaima used to be a meal enjoyed across the Amazon.
But since a ban on commercial fishing, a few enterprising ribeirinhos, or "river people", have started to farm them in pens like this, to satisfy the demand for arapaima meat.
I've heard these arapaima in this enclosure here do something quite spectacular.
I've arrived just as they're preparing to fish one out for their own cooking pot.
Jeremy.
Jeremy.
Alegria, eh? Senhor Alegria, which means "happiness", is about to try and get an arapaima out of here.
There's a few in here, and he says it's not an easy job - it can be a wee bit interesting.
I'm going to ask him if maybe I can help.
There are 30 fish in here, and he says they're jumping everywhere.
And you're just having to duck.
You risk getting hit by the head.
And this is about the size of a boxing ring.
It's like having 30 people coming at you and just having to avoid them.
Right.
I'm going to have to prepare myself.
Suddenly, all my old fears from my painful encounter are back.
But if I'm going to catch an arapaima capable of killing a man, I need to face up to my fear.
And if that means getting back into the water with one of these beasts, then that's what I'm going to have to do.
Oh, I just trod on a fish! I just trod on a fish! Right.
Ah, this is th-th-this is a bit like a boxing ring.
It's about the same size.
There's 35 fish in here, nearly as big as I am.
And I'm starting to OK.
Taking the net up.
It's a simple matter of netting one, but this is exactly what I was doing when I took the full force of an arapaima head-butt to the chest.
And I have been warned that these fish are particularly violent when cornered.
We're walking forward, which means all the vulnerable bits of my body You know, a boxer would be covering them up.
OK, that's going well.
They're going to start jumping any minute.
Any minute, they're going to start jumping.
OK.
We didn't get one.
We're going to have to go through the whole thing again.
Knowing what's coming makes the second attempt even more daunting.
I am afraid.
"Jeremy is afraid," he's saying.
I think that is fairly clear to see.
Ah, right.
He's saying they might be a bit tired this time, so they might There's no doubt that when cornered or trapped by nets, the arapaima becomes a formidable force of nature.
With the help of these arapaima farmers, I'm finally holding one of these incredible fish in my arms.
Look at that thick My fear has been replaced with a new respect.
Maybe I'm now ready to face an arapaima on my own.
Oh, now we're gonna let the head go.
Gonna let the head go.
This is the Whoa! They wanted one to eat.
That one was too big.
They want to get a smaller one.
I think I'm just going to leave them to it.
OK.
Never, ever seen anything like that before.
All those fish, absolutely clean out of the water.
You know, I think that just has to be the evidence that I was looking for.
Just imagine the damage a fish could do that had the same solid-bone head, but was more than twice the weight.
But Senhor Alegria also insists that they sneak through holes in the nets, displaying a curiously un-fishlike cunning.
Combine that with their sheer muscular power, and you can easily see how dangerous the arapaima becomes when cornered.
Now I know what I'm dealing with.
But to catch one, it's gonna be a couple of days by boat to one of the few places where arapaima fishing is still allowed.
After a day's travelling, we stop at a riverside town to spend the night.
I'm not suggesting the arapaima is responsible for all disappearances on the Amazon - this river has a full complement of killers, as I'm powerfully reminded when asking around for any fisherman's tales.
This man lost his wife to a horrifying attack by the South American cousin of the alligator, the cayman.
Just yards away, his poor daughter could only helplessly look on.
This gentleman's wife went fishing.
On her way back, the boat actually sort of went over the top of a cayman.
It hit the canoe, tipped her into the water, and then basically grabbed her.
The cayman had drawn away, because of the commotion and the shouting.
And then her daughter was able to go round the other side and pull her to land.
But it just took so long to get help, that, despite rescuing her mother from the cayman, she died of her wounds later on.
It's one thing to hear second-hand stories about people being taken by animals in the water.
You know - all very dramatic fisherman's tales.
But to actually hear from somebody who actually saw their mother, you know, taken in front of them, just really brings home just what a potentially dangerous place this is, if you're a fisherman.
Something I've got to remember is that it's not just dangerous fish you've got in the water, but there's a whole array of other, nasty, dangerous creatures down there.
My mission is to prove whether the arapaima deserves a place alongside the Amazon's undisputed freshwater killers.
And as I go deeper into the heart of the Amazon in search of this fish, I encounter the other creatures that come with this increasingly dangerous territory.
Fishermen that hunt the arapaima fish here in the Amazon regularly expose themselves to river monsters that have no need to prove their deadly nature.
I've heard a tale of a killer cayman in these waters so I head out after dark to see if I can find it.
But it seems like I'm the one being watched.
There are eyes following my every move.
I'm out at night hunting cayman.
There's one in these waters, apparently, that is absolutely man-eating size.
They say it is close to 20 foot.
Caymans' eyes reflect my flashlight, making them easy to spot.
Right.
There's one.
There's one.
There's one.
Maybe I can grab a small one, to have a closer look.
Too fast.
Too fast.
Yes! Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha! That's a cayman.
Just having a close look at this animal here, I can really now understand why this is one of the most feared creatures in the Amazon.
Just imagine this thing scaled up.
I mean, those teeth - that sort of armour-plated body.
It is just the perfect design for taking out anything else that lives in this river.
So, it was basically a big one of these that was responsible for the death of that fisherwoman.
She just went over it in her canoe, and it just surfaced, flipped over the boat, and then grabbed her when she fell into the water.
Seeing how many cayman there are in these waters makes me realise that it is as much the company that arapaima keep that makes them such risky prey to hunt.
Their fearsome defences allow them to survive in these predatory waters.
But also, as the arapaima becomes rarer and rarer, it is pushed deeper into the literally uncharted reaches of the Amazon.
This is where the deadly forces of nature lurk.
Civilisation is left behind, and all medical assistance is, well, beyond reach.
But if I'm to catch a giant arapaima and lay my own demons to rest, then I'm going to have to face these other monsters as well, as I enter the dark heart of the Amazon.
Being such a rare animal nowadays, limited and sustainable fishing is allowed in just a few locations.
And this is where I'm headed.
I'm as far off the beaten track as possible, in search of those last places which still provide sanctuary to monsters.
Basically there was no way we could get up here using the motor.
Too many branches, rocks in the water.
So, we're having to manhandle the boat up this this very narrow creek.
We've entered a pristine, magical world, home to many mysterious jungle creatures.
And maybe, maybe the large arapaima I'm after.
Goodness me! That is a fish and a half! Look at that.
This is a beautiful caparari.
Oh.
Right.
I'm actually very pleased to have this fish.
It's not the arapaima I was after, but this is just, to my mind, such a lovely-looking fish.
I mean, the patterning on that is just wonderful.
This bizarre catfish is a strange monster of the deep, but it seems that the arapaima is an elusive giant that won't be caught easily.
With the weather turning, it's time to rethink my options.
Maybe I need to find someone who can advise me where exactly it's best to fish.
As I race ahead of the storm, deeper into the jungle, I'm reminded of the legend that tells how this monster fish came into being.
Pirarucu was the son of an Indian chief, known to be cruel and arrogant.
He was disrespectful of the gods, so the highest god, Tupã, decided to punish him.
He ordered storms to attack Pirarucu on a fishing trip, but Pirarucu laughed them off.
So, Tupã struck him down with lightning dragged him to the bottom of the river, and transformed him into a giant fish - the arapaima, or fire fish although, to this day, Brazilians still call it Pirarucu.
In the West we have lost much of our old reverence for the natural world, but there are still remote tribal people for whom reality and myth are almost interchangeable.
The tribes of this region have a deep connection to the arapaima, and are still allowed to hunt it for food.
So, if I'm going to track one down and learn from the ancient ways, I'm told there are no better teachers than the Munduruku people.
I'm on a mission to catch the giant arapaima, or fire fish a fish that I believe should be on the list of river monsters that cause human fatalities here in the Amazon.
From experience both past and present, I know just how powerful this creature is when cornered.
To prove that there are still arapaima out there that are big enough to inflict a deadly blow, all I have to do is catch one.
Getting to grips with arapaima in captivity is one thing, but getting close to them in the wild is another thing entirely, particularly now they are so endangered.
But there are some people further up this Amazon backwater who do have a very ancient relationship with the arapaima, and I'm hoping that, when I get there, I'm going to find out an awful lot more.
I've now been travelling for several days.
It feels like I'm light-years from civilisation, when I finally track down the Munduruku people.
Although often dressed in Western clothes these days, the Munduruku still retain their connection to wildlife and to the myths and legends of old.
It looks like I could be here at the right time.
A good time is right now, when the water's down and the fish are actually concentrated.
Ah.
Lunch is on the go.
Turtle's actually very tasty.
If you're eating fish all day, every day, a little bit of variety, actually, is quite a treat.
So, some fish ready for supper.
No fridge here or anything, so they had to put some salt on.
Otherwise, they go off in the heat.
Hmm! This is a little spice you put on your fish.
It's sort of manioc juice, with a bit of chilli peppers in there, and it's got a bit of a bite.
So, the way the people fish here is not the industrial method that is used, or was used, elsewhere.
It's very traditional.
It's one person, in one boat, with a harpoon, just waiting.
And there's somebody in the village who can possibly take me out later, to see if I can see some arapaima, at least.
It's a newborn little monkey, and they're feeding him with a bottle at the moment - he's that young.
That is a monster.
That is an absolute monster.
I hook up with Manel, one of the village's top fishermen.
He's going to take me out to see if we can spot some wild arapaima.
I want to learn all I can about the behaviour and natural haunts of this monster, if I'm going to give myself the best chance of catching a good-sized arapaima.
What Manel's just told me is that, to fish for arapaima, the one thing you really need is patience, and I'm really getting a sense of that.
Just drifting, slowly, slowly, watching for that one sign of the fish coming up to the surface.
Arapaima are air-breathers, an adaptation that allows them to live in the oxygen-depleted lakes that form in the Amazon's dry season.
But it is also a vital clue for fishermen.
Every time they break the surface, they give away their presence.
What we're actually looking for is the sign of the fish when it comes up to breathe.
And when they're not afraid or at all spooked, that could be, actually, quite a gentle ripple, for such a big fish.
It's a small sign, but it gives away their location.
The only problem is that it can be 20 minutes or more between breaths, so predicting where they're going to come up next is not easy.
So, there you are, all day, under the hot sun, after this huge fish.
But, you know, not only is that down there, there's all these other monsters in the water.
I'm often in large, metal-hulled fishing boats, so coming down to water level in tiny canoes makes you feel very exposed and vulnerable.
I'm beginning to appreciate that how you see the natural world entirely depends on your perspective.
We've been paddling around here for a fair old while, and he's actually pointed out a couple of fish surfacing, but, to be honest, I actually couldn't see anything at all.
I think I've got quite a way to go until I properly get my eye in.
As we head back to the village, my guide tells me about one river monster in particular that they fear.
It's called the cobra grande, the "big snake".
I've heard of this monster before, and I thought it was a mythical, oversized anaconda, but I am told that several people here have actually seen it, and that a nearby village had to totally relocate, because they were so terrified of the "big snake".
He has actually seen a cobra grande, and it was actually on land, so I'm very keen to get the details.
This sounds more than just a big anaconda.
This was huge.
I mean, immense size.
Great big head.
And this thing was black, red and yellow.
And it was missing its tail, which is an odd detail, but he obviously had a very good look.
The snake was just lying there, looking out over the water.
These eyes like searchlights.
And apparently, its head just covered in bees, just black with bees, but the animal just not bothered at all.
So, it does sound as if it's more than just an anaconda.
It is something very different.
I mean, almost like a mythical beast, except for the fact that, for him, it's no myth.
It is a real animal.
Sounds far-fetched, but he actually saw this huge animal, just down the bank from here.
He tells me that a few other people in the village saw the cobra grande very recently.
This is an opportunity not to be missed.
I've come to meet the Munduruku people, to try and catch the Amazon's biggest fish.
But as I've become immersed in their world and myths, I've decided to put my arapaima hunt on hold, to follow up a lead that might reveal another vast river monster- the cobra grande, or "big snake".
I'm on my way up a narrow, winding creek, in the middle of flooded forest - except, at the moment, the water is very, very low.
And I'm on my way to see the hole where a cobra grande is supposed to live.
This is the giant snake which I thought was just purely a creature of myth.
But they said, "No, no, we are taking you to a place where people say there is one actually there now.
" I was initially sceptical, but their insistence is infectious.
I mean, it really is quite a spooky place - all these skeletal, dead trees poking out of the water.
And if anywhere is going to be the home of a cobra grande, I mean, this place certainly does have that kind of feel to it.
We're here.
With the Amazon Basin covering some 2.
7 million square miles, there are, without any doubt, new species waiting to be discovered.
And who knows how big some of these animals might be? Now, they said that this line here is a track.
If this actually is the track of a snake, it is a big, heavy animal.
You know, this is a seriously large track that it's actually made in the ground here.
Anacondas can reach around 30 feet.
If that isn't a big snake, I don't know what is.
But the locals say cobra grande is far bigger than an anaconda.
That does actually look like the home of something, judging by the size of the holes there.
That could have been something pretty large.
So, here we've got a bit of shed snakeskin, and it goes all the way from Well, I can see it starts here.
There's some there.
There's quite a lot here.
And then just a little bit more here.
Let's just pick a bit up.
You can actually see the individual scales.
At some point, quite a large snake lay here and shed its skin.
I'm just going to ask her what exactly it was that she saw here.
She was going to collect turtle eggs, and just saw this thing ahead of her.
It looked like a tarpaulin, a big lump of something.
And then the man who she was with sort of realised that it was a snake, and, with a shotgun, put three shots into it, and apparently, the thing didn't move at all.
It actually then went down the hole that we found earlier, and just went underground.
And then there was just this hissing sound, apparently, of it breathing.
It's hard to believe, but they came to where the animal was, and the three lumps of lead were on the ground - hadn't even gone in the body.
Even though it sounds quite an ugly beast, I'm frustrated that it doesn't seem to be here, although there are very, very definite signs that something large is around these parts.
If I'm to fish for a giant arapaima, then I will be entering the home of monsters.
Maybe I won't meet the cobra grande on this trip, but I'm finally grasping how myth and reality are intertwined for these people.
I'm sure I could spend a lifetime learning more and more about the arapaima and the creatures that share its mysterious world.
But it's now time to put all I have gathered into practice.
This is actually a place where the tribes people round here used to come before a big battle.
To focus the mind, prepare themselves mentally, beforehand.
And I guess, as I'm likely to need all the help that I can get, you know, it's not a bad idea for me to spend a few minutes here, as well.
I know that if I'm going to be successful, I need to understand and respect a fish that, for the local tribes, is the incarnation of a warrior.
Mentally and physically prepared, it's game on.
It's just me, my guide Johnny and out there somewhere, a very big fish.
I'm putting into practice the things I've learnt.
Not just from the fish in captivity, but also the whole business about locating the fish, spotting them, patience You know - gradually working close, so that you're in a position of getting one on the line.
With the water so low in this lake, oxygen levels are depleted.
The arapaima's air-breathing physiology is both its strength and its weakness.
It came into existence millions of years before there were hunters like me around, scanning the water surface for that telltale clue.
There are some bubbles coming up in the middle, more or less where my bait is, and that is very likely to be an arapaima, down there on the bottom, grubbing around in the mud, very close to my bait.
Something took it, but then let go.
That's a fish.
There's a fish on.
That's a sizeable old tambaqui.
Strong, strong, strong fish.
Oh tambaqui.
Big old tambaqui.
This tambaqui is not the fish I'm after, but it's still quite a catch.
This is a relative of the piranha, but, instead of having huge incisors, it's got these enormous grinding teeth on the jaw.
The closest thing in nature to the teeth of a tambaqui is the teeth of a horse.
Normally, this thing feeds on a diet of pure Brazil nuts and other seeds.
Very good flesh, very prized for its eating, but also really, really strong.
One of the most powerful fish, pound for pound, that there is anywhere.
Still lots of energy left in it.
Good to see it go back.
I fish this spot for a while longer, but nothing's biting.
It could well be that the struggle of the tambaqui has scared everything off.
So, I change location for somewhere that's more hidden away, which might still hold a giant.
I'm told there is another small lake in the forest where rod-and-line fishing is allowed for arapaima, as long as it's catch-and-release.
We can't take the canoe there, but we can go on foot.
And the fact that it's tucked away a little bit Maybe there's going to be something that I can get a bait at over there.
Yes, yes! That's a fish! I've heard tales of various Amazon monsters on this journey.
Some legendary, some real, and all dangerous.
But there's one creature that, despite over-fishing, I'd love to prove really grows to mythic proportions.
It's the arapaima, a fish capable of knocking a man from his canoe and leaving him for dead.
But the only way I know how to prove these monsters are still out there is to catch one.
And I've heard of a lake that might be just the place to do that.
This lake looks really nice, actually.
It's very quiet.
Lots of snags, which could be interesting.
I'm actually using a thing called a circle hook.
Now, that looks like it's not going to hook anything at all.
The point just coming in here - that's just not going to hook on anything.
But in fact, if that's the fish's mouth what happens is, it just comes and turns And there it is right in the corner of the mouth.
Oh! There we go.
There was one.
I saw this red tail come up, fraction of a second.
But I recognise it now - that was an arapaima.
And I've got to try and quietly get into position, so I can actually put a bait near that fish.
One thing that I learned from the tribes people, which is quite hard to do but I've just got to be patient.
Yes, yes, yes, yes! That's a fish.
That's a good fish.
Closer.
I can see the fish.
As the battle with this arapaima approaches the half-hour mark, I'm reminded that the rebellious, proud spirit that inhabits this fish even refused to surrender to the gods.
Right.
It's gonna be hard There we go.
Oh, look at that - it came out so easily.
OK.
We're ready.
There it is! Look at that for a fish.
Look at that! Massive female arapaima.
About 150 pounds.
I finally have the proof in my arms that huge arapaima are still out here.
This is a true dinosaur of the deep.
I need this fish to regain its strength after our battle, before I release it.
If I put it straight back, it might not have the energy to swim to the surface to take a breath, and, being an air breather, it would drown.
The head a little bit under the water.
And pointing up towards the bank, so that, if it does thrash, there's only one way it can go, in theory which is not back into the water, although they can just doddle round 180 degrees.
Even at the end of a long fight, I can still feel the strength of this fish.
So, I can absolutely imagine this thing being able to knock over Oh, there we go.
That's good.
That's good.
That was the fish just having a breath, which is excellent.
It means the fish is not too tired out.
But, I mean, mainly, this fish is just a bony head, with a big cylinder of muscle behind it.
If it wasn't tired out, I wouldn't be able to hold it.
That's good.
No, it's gone.
We were just wondering if it had enough strength to go, and I just couldn't hold it.
And at the end of an epic battle on the line, but also an epic quest, trying to find one of these things, but, you know, finally feeling the strength of it, absolutely, I'm in no doubt now that if you were in a small canoe and that thing hit you, I mean, it would easily upend the canoe, and if you were in the water afterwards, and you got on the wrong side of that head, my goodness, that would absolutely take you out.
Mythic and real beasts swirl around one another here in the Amazon.
When people go missing, there is usually talk of giant snakes and man-eating cayman.
I set out to show that the arapaima is an underestimated fish, capable of extraordinary feats of strength.
If cornered, trapped or netted, it becomes a formidable opponent, an airborne missile.
I knew I had to overcome my fear to prove my case.
I went back into the water and caught an ancient survivor that is part-fish, part-legend, and entirely worthy of a deadly reputation.
Now, this is a real river monster.