We’ve all watched some kind of wildlife documentary before and been absolutely fascinated by the way snakes secure their lunch – but I’ll bet seeing a bloke offer himself up on a plate to one will blow all of that out of the water.
Most people would run a mile if they saw a slippery serpent making a beeline towards them, as all those hours watching David Attenborough have left us pretty clued up on their killer capabilities.
Honestly, you’d probably be better off doing ten rounds with Tyson rather than taking your chances with one of the most powerful snakes on the planet, like the green anaconda.
But for Paul Rosolie, these semi-aquatic species are sort of his pals – and the same goes for every other animal in the Amazon rainforest, as the conservationist has made it his life’s mission to try and save it.
Paul Rosolie in the Amazon. (Instagram/@paulrosolie)
He’s dedicated everything to protecting creatures, their habitats, and essential ecosystems over the last 16 years, spending time in countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, India and Peru.
The researcher has spent years studying the green anacondas which call the Amazon home, while dually watching their ‘habitats decrease and decrease’ helplessly – so he knew he needed to pull out the big guns to help try and save it.
Rosolie reckoned that people needed to see something which would give them a ‘shock’ to actually stir up support for their mission to save the rainforest – so naturally, he volunteered to get eaten alive by a green anaconda.
Back in 2014, the nature lover embarked on a daring mission that saw him offer himself up for dinner to the largest and heaviest snake in the world, which also doubled as a ‘massive fundraiser to protect the rainforest’.
The Junglekeepers founder, whose organisation claims to have protected more than 77,000+ acres of Amazonian habitat and wildlife, quickly came to regret this decision though when it came down to it.
Rosolie’s incredible quest was featured in an episode of the Discovery Channel series Eaten Alive and showed how the 38-year-old spent weeks trying to track down a green anaconda with a 10-strong team.
Luckily, they found the perfect candidate – a 20ft long, 18 stone snake – in the Peruvian Amazon.
Rosolie was donning a carbon-fibre suit for the bizarre experiment, which had been custom-made by a team of engineers using 3D technology to ensure he wouldn’t get crushed by the snake.
He wore a custom-made carbon fibre suit to protect himself (Discovery Channel)
It was streamlined so that it would not irritate the animal’s insides and was strong enough to survive its digestive fluids too.
The animal lover was slathered in pig’s blood to make sure his journey into the snake’s gob went as smoothly as possible.
Rosolie’s specialist suit was also rigged out with a radio mic and built-in cameras, so his team could communicate with him about what was going on at all times.
He also sported a face mask which was connected to a crush-proof hose that trailed behind him which was attached to a three-hour oxygen supply – just in case he did get completely eaten and ended up suffocating in the snake’s stomach.
Rosolie approached the anaconda ‘on all fours’ in a bid to fool the snake into thinking he was a wild boar and it only took a matter of seconds before the female anaconda had her 5ft 9ins victim exactly where she wanted him.
It latched onto Rosolie’s head and began constricting his arms and body by wrapping itself around him.
Rosolie approached the green anaconda on all fours (Discovery Channel)
“I’m getting coils over me,” he told his team at the time. “She’s got my arms pinned. She knows there’s nothing I can do.”
Rosolie was then heard saying ‘Oh god,’ but reassured his colleagues that he was okay, even though his heart rate had shot up ‘pretty high’ and his breathing had become ‘really laboured’, according to one of the team.
He said he was ‘trying to stay calm’ as the green anaconda began to tighten her grip around his body as he wriggled on the rainforest floor, later admitting that he is ‘the type who’ll say, ‘I’m fine, I’m fine’…until I’m dead’.
The daredevil didn’t respond when another colleague checked in with him, before the snake then latched onto his head.
Rosolie then screamed to his pals: “Stand by guys, I’m starting to feel like she’s consuming me. Guys, my face is down.
“I’m calling it, I need help!”
The team immediately rushed over and wrestled the snake off of him, despite only part of his head being consumed.
The 20ft long snake latched onto the daredevil’s head while wrapping itself around him (Discovery Channel)
Speaking of his attempt at getting eaten alive afterwards, Rosolie said: “The last thing I remember was her mouth open wide and everything went black. I went limp and let it constrict. All the while I was just thinking: ‘Eat, eat, eat!’
“She wrapped around me and I felt my suit cracking and my arms ripping out of their sockets,” he recalled.
As you can tell, the animal lover realised very quickly that he could be inches away from death.
He explained that he feared the snake was going to ‘snap’ his arm, as ‘her force was fully on his exposed arm’, which is why he decided to ‘tap out’ of the experiment.
But Rosolie insisted he ‘wasn’t terrified’ during an interview with MSNBC, as he was confident that his carbon-fibre suit was ‘strong’ and that he ‘wouldn’t get crushed’, adding that there were ‘experts on hand’ in case of any issues.
“We took a lot of care,” the author added. “It was really all about showing people the power of these snakes with the mission of protecting their habitats.”
The fact he was between the jaws of a green anaconda that was squeezing the life out of him and that he lived to tell the tale while dodging asphyxiation is certainly a mean feat – but let’s leave the ‘eaten alive’ stuff to the movies, eh?