{"id":43346,"date":"2024-11-01T13:49:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/94e3161f-a5c3-457f-8433-320e044078b1"},"modified":"2024-11-01T14:27:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T13:27:39","slug":"10-animals-that-could-swallow-a-human-whole","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/10-animals-that-could-swallow-a-human-whole\/","title":{"rendered":"10 animals that could swallow a human whole"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are there any animals capable of swallowing a human whole? Stuart Blackman investigates <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Friday, 01 November 2024 at 12:49 PM<\/p>

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There\u2019s no shortage of animals out there that\u00a0could\u00a0eat\u00a0a whole human.\u00a0But there aren\u2019t many that\u00a0could\u00a0eat a human whole.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

Most top predators\u00a0have the good manners\u00a0to chew their food, or at least\u00a0take bites out of\u00a0it\u00a0for swallowing\u00a0in manageable chunks.\u00a0But\u00a0some do wolf it down in one.\u00a0And tales of people being\u00a0ingested\u00a0in a single gulp go back at least as far as the Old Testament story of Jonah\u00a0and the\u00a0whale.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>

Discover the animals that can tackle and eat the world’s most venomous snakes<\/a><\/li>
Deadliest apex predators in the wild: which ruthless mammals are the best killing machines?<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
And not just\u00a0by whales, but by\u00a0snakes, sharks, crocodiles and alligators, too.\u00a0But is there any\u00a0truth\u00a0to\u00a0them?\u00a0Or are they just\u00a0delicious yarns? We take a look<\/p>
Can any animals swallow a human whole? Here are 10 that potentially could…<\/h2>
Sperm whale<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty images <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
The sperm whale<\/a> is\u00a0probably\u00a0what most of us imagine when we think of\u00a0the great\u00a0sea creature\u00a0that swallowed Jonah\u00a0(although\u00a0some versions\u00a0describe it as\u00a0a huge fish rather than a whale).\u00a0A more recent story \u2013 one that is strikingly similar to Jonah\u2019s – involves a 19th-century whaler named James Bartley<\/a> who, it is said, was swallowed by a\u00a0harpooned\u00a0sperm whale\u00a0that\u00a0had\u00a0destroyed\u00a0his\u00a0boat\u00a0in the South Atlantic.\u00a0<\/p>
Like Jonah,\u00a0Bartley\u00a0supposedly\u00a0lived\u00a0to tell his tale.\u00a0He\u00a0was\u00a0cut free\u00a0by\u00a0his shipmates\u00a036 hours later,\u00a0when the whale finally succumbed to its injuries, although he was blind, hairless and had bleached\u00a0skin\u00a0for the rest of his life.<\/p>
It\u2019s true that sperm whales swallow their prey whole. Their numerous peg-like teeth are used only for getting a grip on slippery seafood prey such as giant squid. And if they can ingest a giant squid, they\u00a0might well be able to\u00a0handle a human.\u00a0<\/p>
However,\u00a0the original account, published anonymously in various US newspapers in 1891, contains historical inaccuracies that\u00a0cast\u00a0serious\u00a0doubt on the story.\u00a0It is also\u00a0highly\u00a0unlikely that\u00a0anyone could\u00a0possibly\u00a0survive\u00a0such an\u00a0ordeal.\u00a0The inside of a sperm whale\u00a0is\u00a0not\u00a0somewhere\u00a0you\u00a0sit down,\u00a0light a match and wait to be rescued.\u00a0If you\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0drown or\u00a0suffocate\u00a0on the way down, the\u00a0whale\u2019s multiple muscular stomachs could crush the\u00a0life out of you. And if that doesn\u2019t finish you off, the acid bath surely would.<\/p>
Green a<\/strong>naconda<\/strong><\/h3>
: Getty <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
The green anaconda<\/a> might not be the longest snake in the world (that title goes to the reticulated python), but it is probably the heaviest, reaching over 100kg.\u00a0These\u00a0muscular\u00a0South American\u00a0constrictors\u00a0can kill and swallow caimans, tapirs, pigs and capybaras, although there\u00a0are no confirmed records of their\u00a0eating\u00a0humans, perhaps because they tend to live in remote areas where there are few people.<\/p>
That said,\u00a0it seems they are not averse to trying if they get the chance.\u00a0In 2024 a video emerged\u00a0of a man wrestling with an anacond<\/a>a that\u00a0had wrapped its muscular coils around him in a\u00a0Brazilian river.\u00a0He\u00a0only\u00a0manages to free himself with the help of a friend\u00a0and by biting the snake\u2019s head.<\/p>
Saltwater crocodile<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
Saltwater crocodiles<\/a>\u00a0are\u00a0the largest of all living reptiles.\u00a0The biggest males can exceed 6m in length and a tonne in weight.\u00a0They\u00a0certainly kill and eat people with some regularity (there were \u00a0106 \u00a0crocodile-inflicted deaths\u00a0in Australia alone between 1971 and 2013), but they are not known for swallowing their\u00a0victims\u00a0whole.\u00a0<\/p>

Crocodile vs alligator: what’s the difference between these two fearsome predators?<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
Instead, they dismantle their\u00a0prey\u00a0using a manoeuvre called the \u2018death roll\u2019, which involves\u00a0grasping a limb or head in their jaws and rolling vigorously in the water until it separates from the body, and then swallowing it.<\/p>
\u00a0But then again, some humans are smaller than others\u2019\u00a0legs,\u00a0in which case,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0perhaps\u00a0not\u00a0out of the question.<\/p>
Great w<\/strong>hite shark<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
One of the deadliest animals in the ocean<\/a>, the great white<\/a> is responsible for more unprovoked attacks on humans\u00a0and more fatalities\u00a0than any other shark species.\u00a0As the biggest of the predatory sharks, at up to around 6m in length, they are the most likely to be able to process a whole human.<\/p>

Discover incredible, hard to believe shark facts that celebrate this fascinating, yet much-maligned fish<\/a><\/li>
Dolphin vs shark: what’s the difference between these charismatic ocean dwellers?<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
And perhaps they could. But that\u2019s not generally how great whites operate. Their many razor-sharp teeth<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0are a pretty good indication that they prefer to bite chunks out of their food.\u00a0<\/p>
Whale shark<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty video <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
If any animal should be capable of swallowing a human whole, it is surely the whale shark<\/a>. It is, after all, a shark that\u2019s the size of a whale.<\/p>
\u00a0But the world\u2019s biggest fish, which can reach\u00a018m\u00a0in length,\u00a0is a\u00a0slow-swimming,\u00a0gentle giant that has no interest in eating anything much larger than\u00a0small fish. Like many of the largest sea creatures, it\u00a0feeds on\u00a0plankton.<\/p>
By swimming\u00a0around\u00a0with its enormous mouth wide open, it takes on huge volumes of water from which it extracts tiny plants and animals using its sieve-like gills.<\/a><\/p>
While it\u2019s not\u00a0impossible that someone\u00a0could\u00a0end up in a whale shark\u2019s mouth by mistake, it\u2019s a scenario that the shark is probably as keen as a human to avoid, and there doesn\u2019t seem to be any evidence that it has ever happened.\u00a0<\/p>
Megalodon<\/strong><\/h3> $\"$
Megalodon Getty <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
You\u2019d need a time machine\u00a0to get\u00a0swallowed by what\u00a0may be\u00a0the biggest shark that has ever lived and one of our greatest prehistoric sea monsters<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>
This active predator prowled the\u00a0world\u2019s\u00a0oceans until\u00a0about four million years ago, and\u00a0what little we know about it comes from fossilised teeth, the biggest of which are about 17cm long, and a few vertebrae (the cartilage skeletons of sharks don\u2019t preserve well).\u00a0<\/p>

The prehistoric beasts that would have terrified early man<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
Estimates of\u00a0 Megalodon<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0body length\u00a0range from\u00a010m\u00a0up to more than\u00a018m\u00a0– three times the length of the largest\u00a0great whites.\u00a0We\u2019ll probably never know if they\u00a0could have swallowed a human whole, but\u00a0you surely couldn\u2019t put it past them.<\/p>
Blue whale<\/strong><\/h3>
It\u2019s no great surprise that the\u00a0biggest animal\u00a0that has\u00a0ever\u00a0existed\u00a0comes equipped with a very big mouth. It can open it very wide, too\u00a0\u2013 all the better for taking enormous gulps of seawater\u00a0from which it\u00a0filters\u00a0out the\u00a0 krill <\/a>(shrimp-like crustaceans) that it feeds on almost exclusively.\u00a0<\/p>
A\u00a027m-long blue whale<\/a>\u00a0may\u00a0take in\u00a0150 tonnes of water\u00a0in a single mouthful, so\u00a0it is unlikely that\u00a0any\u00a0human\u00a0that\u00a0sneaked\u00a0in\u00a0there by mistake\u00a0would\u00a0even\u00a0be\u00a0noticed – until, that is,\u00a0the whale tried to swallow it.<\/p>
Because a blue whale\u2019s oesophagus is only about 10cm in diameter, which is perfect for\u00a0handling\u00a0large volumes of\u00a0tiny\u00a0krill,\u00a0but rules out the possibility of anything much larger passing into the stomach.<\/p>
Komodo dragon<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty video <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
At up to 3m long and\u00a0nudging\u00a0100kg, Komodo dragons<\/a>\u00a0are the largest of all living lizards (crocodiles can\u00a0be\u00a0bigger, but\u00a0they\u00a0are not lizards). These slavering, opportunistic predators\u00a0are endemic to Komodo and\u00a0a few\u00a0other Indonesian islands.<\/p>
It is armed with up to 60 serrated teeth, tipped with iron,<\/a> that are wielded in a \u2018grip and rip\u2019 mode of attack and is one of the world’s deadliest reptiles<\/a>. Victims that are not killed outright may die subsequently of blood<\/a>\u00a0loss.\u00a0There is also evidence that their bites are venomous<\/a>.\u00a0Larger\u00a0prey\u00a0is\u00a0pulled apart and swallowed in chunks, but anything\u00a0up to the size of a\u00a0young\u00a0goat can be swallowed whole, as widely-available video evidence testifies.<\/p>
So could they swallow a human?\u00a0A small one perhaps, although there are no\u00a0documented cases.\u00a0Komodos\u00a0certainly\u00a0do\u00a0kill people\u00a0once in a while.\u00a0Komodo National Park\u00a0officials\u00a0recorded\u00a024 attacks on people between 1974 and 2012, five of which were fatal.\u00a0Many victims are attacked\u00a0when\u00a0they\u00a0are answering a call of nature in the bushes.\u00a0<\/p>
Humpback whale<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty video <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
Michael Packard is perhaps the only person alive who can describe first-hand what it\u2019s like to be swallowed. In June 2021, he was diving for lobsters off the coast of Massachusetts when everything went black.\u00a0<\/p>
Packard\u00a0thought he had been taken by a great white shark, until\u00a0he\u00a0felt around and found no teeth, when he\u00a0realised he was in the mouth of a huge baleen whale<\/a>.\u00a0It turned out to be a humpback<\/a>, a species that herds fish and krill within walls of bubbles before lunging, mouth open wide, at the school.<\/p>
Packard just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u00a0In fact, \u2018swallowed\u2019\u00a0isn\u2019t quite the right word\u00a0here.\u00a0A humpback whale\u2019s throat\u00a0cannot stretch wide enough to accommodate a human.\u00a0But Packard didn\u2019t know that. He resigned himself to his fate and thought of his family.\u00a0It took the whale 30 to 40 seconds to realise its mistake and spit\u00a0him\u00a0out\u00a0again.<\/p>
Packard\u00a0escaped with a dislocated knee and something to tell the grandchildren.<\/p>
Reticulated python<\/strong><\/h3>
Getty video <\/figcaption> <\/figure>
This is the only species\u00a0that\u00a0can be said for certain to swallow people\u00a0whole.<\/p>
Pythons, like boas and anacondas, kill their prey by constriction rather than with venom. Following an initial grasping bite, they coil their body around their victim and squeeze \u2013 very hard. Death is by asphyxiation. Prey is always swallowed whole. The snakes\u2019 slack-hinged jaws and elastic skin allow them to open wide enough to allow the passage of animals of a girth that far exceeds their own.<\/p>
Reports of people being\u00a0swallowed\u00a0by reticulated pythons\u00a0in\u00a0South and Southeast Asia\u00a0go back hundreds of years.\u00a0But it was only in 2017 that\u00a0solid evidence\u00a0came to light, in tragic circumstances.<\/p>

Discover the world’s deadliest snakes<\/a><\/li> <\/ul>
On Sunday 26 March,\u00a0a\u00a025-year-old man named\u00a0Akbar\u00a0left his home\u00a0on the\u00a0Indonesian\u00a0island of Sulawesi\u00a0to harvest palm\u00a0oil and didn\u2019t return.\u00a0The next day, a search party came across a python sleeping off a meal, which going by the size of the bulge in its\u00a07m-long\u00a0body, had been a very big one.\u00a0Worst fears were confirmed when the snake was killed and cut open \u2013 a process captured on video in\u00a0gruesome\u00a0detail.<\/p>
Several other similar cases have been documented since, including that of a 54-year-old Sulawesi woman named\u00a0Wa\u00a0Tiba, who was ambushed while tending\u00a0her vegetable garden\u00a0in 2018. The discovery of her sandals and machete\u00a0led\u00a0the searchers\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0very fat\u00a0python\u00a0about\u00a030m away.\u00a0Again, video evidence\u00a0of the snake\u2019s dissection\u00a0confirms\u00a0how\u00a0Wa\u00a0Tiba\u00a0died.\u00a0<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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