Paul Rosolie let a 20ft anaconda wrap around his body and bite his head, all in the name of saving the Amazon.
Remembering the environmentalist eaten by the world’s largest snake – challenge stopped live: “She’s consuming me”
Back in 2014, most of us were watching Planet Earth and other insightful animal documentaries. Paul Rosolie, on the other hand, was sharing his own ‘in sight’ by trying to get eaten alive.
The US ecologist and conservationist made headlines when he starred in Eaten Alive, a Discovery Channel special that saw him don a custom-made carbon fiber suit, slather himself in pig’s blood, and offer his body to a green anaconda in the Peruvian Amazon – all to raise awareness of rainforest destruction.
What happened to snake-eaten Rosolie?
Rosolie, who has spent over 16 years protecting wildlife and ecosystems in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Peru, had a clear mission. “People needed a shock,” he later said. “If letting a snake eat me helps save the rainforest, so be it.”
The 20ft female snake – weighing around 250lbs – didn’t hesitate. As Rosolie approached on all fours, mimicking a wild boar, she struck his head and began to coil around his arms and torso. “She’s got my arms pinned. She knows there’s nothing I can do,” he said via radio mic, his breathing labored, heart rate surging.
Inside the reinforced suit, he was equipped with a face mask, a crush-proof oxygen hose, cameras, sensors and a three-hour air supply. But none of that stopped the pain when the anaconda began to squeeze.
“The last thing I remember was her mouth open wide and everything went black,” he recalled. “She wrapped around me and I felt my suit cracking and my arms ripping out of their sockets.”
As she clamped onto his head and tightened around his chest, Rosolie finally tapped out: “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 rushed in, pulling him free before the snake could swallow more than part of his head.
He survived – shaken, sore, but alive – and raised thousands for jungle conservation. Still, a decade on, the Amazon remains under threat. Rosolie’s brush with death may have shocked the world, but his deeper message still needs hearing.
Here is Rosolie’s full story explained by him: Why I let myself be ‘Eaten Alive’ by an anaconda
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