EXPERT: New Discovery Show About Man Eaten Alive By A Snake Is 'Nonsense'
Sounds crazy, right?
According to that, a man will put on a suit that will stop him from being crushed by the constricting power of the the largest snake on the planet, one that grows longer than 29 feet. Even more, it's implied that he will be "eaten alive" and somehow be able to breathe, survive, and emerge from the belly of the beast.
We didn't buy it, so we checked with Frank Indiviglio, a herpetologist and author who worked with the Bronx Zoo for more than 20 years. He now consults with zoos and writes about snakes and other creatures.
"Nonsense; not possible," he told us in an email.
He also followed up with us on Twitter:
Discovery hasn't explained what they mean when they say Rosolie "enters the belly of an anaconda," so we can't say what that really means, and Indiviglio didn't offer further explanation, but some of the factors that would make that stunt hard to survive would be finding a suit that could survive the pressure and then breathing while inside a snake.
Plus, Rosolie says he "would never hurt a living thing," and he'd have to get out of the snake somehow without cutting it open in that case, which is even more improbable.
The Discovery Channel has developed quite a reputation for passing off fiction as fact, especially among scientists. This happens frequently with Shark Week shows about monster sharks or mermaids - shows that misled people into thinking fictional creatures are out there. Other fake documentary gems have titles like "Russian Yeti: The Killer Lives."
Sounds like nonsense to us too.