Animals
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Piranha
Although incidents are rare, the flesh-eating variants of piranha are very capable of doing the damage that they are reputed for. If an injured animal strays into the river, piranha can smell the blood and swarms of frenzied piranha are then able to devour the animal (such as a peccary, cow, or even a human) in just a matter of minutes leaving only the skeleton behind. People who regularly swim in Amazônia's rivers sometimes have scars from where piranha have bitten them. Piranha aren't vicious all the time. Normally the
meat-eating piranhas eat other fish, and some studies
suggest that piranha may only take a single (and
relatively harmless) bite out of the fins of other fish
leaving the fish otherwise healthy. Fish caught in
the Amazon are frequently reported to have missing fins. Piranha teeth are extremely sharp, and Indians often use the teeth as cutting blades, and even use the jawbones as scissors. |