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A snake tale from another country. For many years we had a nanny from Peru whose family were political refuges. Her father was in charge of the military until another regime came into power. Her brother was a scientist in the Amazon studying plants that had medicinal properties under a Smithsonian grant. There is some sort of giant snake in a part of the Amazon that natives contend grow up to 30' & can bite like a dog. Reportedly, the snake fed on small animals including wild pigs. This scientist visited Wash.,D.C. every year or so to report on his research to the Smithsonian. I had the opportunity to meet him numerous times & discuss flora & fauna in the Amazon. This snake,(can't pronounce name) was very rare & extremely nocturnal & was rarely seen except during the mating season. At this time the giant snake would stalk & attack anything at night. The Smithsonian desperately wanted a sample so they sent someone to assist this scientist in a live capture. With the assistance of the natives they did indeed capture one only to have the snake kill itself. This was a small snake only about 18'. A couple of years later another team was sent in to capture a live specimen. This time a tranquilizer drug was to be used to prevent the snake from killing itself. Another specimen was captured this one about 19 1/2' & was tranquilized. Obviously, this was a very remote area accessible only by foot or canoe. Some where along the return the snake revived enough to kill itself. I was told the snake was non-venomous but the bites were vicious & resulted in an infection usually killing the victim. The natives in the area knew when the snakes were breading & avoided the jungle at night so attacks were very rare.