Piranhas in the Wild

[ Piranhas in the Life of the South American Natives ] [ Natural Enemies of Piranhas ] [ Piranha Teeth ]

Piranhas in the Life of the South American Natives

Piranhas got their name from the Natives of South America, the word "Piranha" actually means "Toothed Fish" in another language. The piranhas have also been given the name "Caribe," this used to be the name of a cannibalistic tribe of natives which no longer exists.

There is a special custom in the frequently flooded woodland and wet savannah zone of the Orinoco. In these regions, where burial of the dead is impossible during the many months of the year because of the flood waters, the piranhas or "caribe" are assigned a cultural-mythical role as undertakers. The Guarani Natives for instance, wrap their dead tightly in nets of coarse mesh and let the piranhas, which occur there in large numbers, prepare the bodies for the actual funeral. When the piranhas have removed all the flesh from the bones, the nets are taken out of the water. The skeletons are then dried, sometimes colored with the red juice of the onoto plant, and adorned with all kinds of feathers. Finally they are given a place of honor in a high-lying spot or in the gable of a pole-and-thatch hut.

Piranhas are of importance in the life of not just the Native tribes of the Orinoco range. Among the Native tribes of the Amazon the piranhas and their jaws have in a variety of ways come to an important place in the life of these primitive groups, both in everyday living and in ritual. The piranha's jaws especially have their place in the ordinary everyday life of the primitive Natives as a practical commodity and as a tool. Above all, the lower jaw with its sharp teeth is used for shaving off the hair of the head, for sharpening thin blowgun darts, and for cutting all sorts of things. Even today, many Native tribes of Brazil still refer to a pair of scissors as "piranha," since in function these have largely replaced the natural tool. The Tucuna and Aweti Natives decorate their dancing masks with piranha teeth. They are also put to an interesting use as well: the toothed jaws are often carried around the waist by Natives using blowpipes for hunting. The teeth are used to make a notch in a poisoned dart so that it breaks into the wound when the animal attempts to remove it, that allows the poisoned dart remain in the animal so that the curare poison can enter the blood stream of the prey.

In South America there is a widely held belief that a bowl of piranha-head soup is an aphrodisiac.

The natives hate the river stingrays because they often step on them while hunting for fish. The rays first reaction is to wip its tail which is armed with a spike covered in acid slime into their foot or leg and then thrash the barb into the wound. Such injuries are very painful and can take months to heal. For this reason whenever they see a ray they will spear it cut off the tail and throw the bloody ray back into the water to be eaten by the piranhas.

One of the biggest myths is of caddle herdsmen sacrificing a sickly cow to the piranhas so that the others can cross the river unharmed. This isnt true at all, not that it isnt impossible for a large number of piranha to reduce a cow to a skeleton, but that the caddle herdsmen are too poor and cant afford to sacrifice any animals just to ford a river.

Natural Enemies of Piranhas

Piranhas in their natural habitat have cause to fear the Brazilian giant otter, the largest otter on earth, up to 7 ft long and weighing up to 53 pounds. Unfortunately the otter is becoming rarer all the time. Especially important predators are, above all, the caimans.

Among the most interesting piranha hunters, however, are undoubtedly the freshwater dolphins or "boto" that have evolved in the tropical Amazon and Orinoco, there are 2 colors of this dolphin, black and pink, each a different species. It is a piranha gourmet, almost specializing in eating them. Next to humans, these dolphins are major predators of fish.

Juvenile piranha are also eaten by herons, the very strange looking matamata river turtle and larger predatory fish.

Piranha Teeth

Unlike the teeth of the sharks, the dentition of the piranhas is not designed for lacerating, crushing, mangling, or holding prey; they are more implements for snipping, or clipping neat sections of flesh from an organism, rendering the prey into small, bite-sized, swallowable pieces. Unlike the teeth of sharks, which are arranged in rows that move up and succeed each other on "the front line" as wear or damage removes their effectiveness, piranha teeth are set in the short, broad jaws in a single row. These are sharper than sharks teeth and their mechanics remind one of the design and operation of a bear trap, in that when the piranha's jaws snap shut, the points of the teeth in the upper row fit neatly into the notches of those in the lower row.

Indeed, although the mouth of even a large piranha is relatively small in relation to the overall size of the fish, the average bite would neatly excise a piece of flesh the size of a large olive. That may not seem like much of a mouthful, but when one considers the piranha's rapid-fire method of snap, swallow, and return for more, the idea of a prey animal disappearing within minutes under the combined assault of a large school of piranhas is not difficult to visualize!

The strength and power of the piranhas bite comes from the extremely deep and powerful lower jaw of the more dangerous species. The muscle mass and their attachments are very dense and provide the fish with the legendary cutting power.

B a c k