When naturalist Paul Rosolie wanted to focus attention on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, he decided he needed a stunt guaranteed to get people looking. So the staunch environmentalist offered himself as dinner to an anaconda — and was prepared to be swallowed alive, filming every moment. But in the end, Rosolie wasn't exactly ingested by the snake, disappointing viewers who expected a journey into the belly of the deadly beast. Instead he let the anaconda coil around him before calling the mission off, fearing he might get seriously injured.Why did Paul offer himself to be eaten alive?The idea came to him after a decade spent working in, and working to save, the rainforest habitat, Rosolie said. "Everybody on Earth knows that the rainforests are disappearing and most people can tell you how important they are, but still, not enough people are paying attention, not enough people realize this is such a problem."What precaution measures did he take?To avoid suffocating, experts crafted Rosolie a specially designed carbon fiber suit, equipped with a breathing system — as well as with cameras and a system to communicate. "We didn't know if this was going to work, if I was going to be eaten, but we made sure that if I did make it inside the snake, I wouldn't suffocate," Rosolie explained after the ordeal.How did he manage to catch hold of an anaconda?The next challenge was trying to find a snake in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. "We spent 60 days out in the jungle, camping, hiking, looking through swamps every night," Rosolie said. Eventually, the crew found a female snake, which at, six meters (20 feet) long, fit the bill.Was Paul eaten up immediately?"When I went up to the snake, it didn't try to eat me right away," Paul Rosolie recounted. "It tried to escape. And when I provoked it a little bit, and acted a little more like a predator, that's when it turned around and defended itself."In the end, Paul wasn't swallowed whole by the giant serpent, but instead wrestled with the beast as she coiled around him before he aborted the mission.Why was the mission aborted?As the snake wrapped around a suited-up Rosolie — at one point opening its wide jaws on his helmet — the daredevil said she was squeezing his arm tight, which he feared might break. "I felt her jaw on my helmet and I could hear a gurgling and wheezing," he said.How was the mission called off?Paul's team looked on worried as his breathing strained and his heart rate slowed. He told them he was feeling light-headed and as the anaconda squeezed tight around him, he called for help. "Guys you need to get in here... I'm calling it I need help!" he said from inside the suit, prompting the support crew to rescue an exhausted Rosolie from the anaconda's powerful grip.How did Paul feel when the anaconda coiled around him?"Her crush force was fully on my exposed arm so I just started to feel the blood drain out of my hand and I felt the bone start to flex and when that got to a point when I felt like it was about to snap, I had to tap out," he said.How did social media react to the entire episode?Viewers on social media were swift in criticizing the show's misleading title after it aired on Sunday. "Eaten Alive' to be retitled 'Eaten Alive: Just Kidding,'" said one user. Another tweeted: "Eaten Alive? More like Briefly Drooled On By A Snake While Alive."What about the anaconda?Paul insisted his team was careful not to harm the snake and that he was the only one in danger. "We didn't force the snake to do anything, we didn't ask from the snake anything out of the ordinary," Rosolie said, explaining that snakes very often regurgitate if they are eating something and a predator comes by, they have to give up their meal so they can escape," he said before the programme was aired. The anaconda is now doing well, he said.How are activists reacting to this?Paul Rosolie has faced fierce criticism from animal rights groups, including from PETA, who said "the snake was tormented and suffered for the sake of ratings." Rosolie said he even received death threats. But he wasn't fazed, saying the shock value is important to increase attention to his cause — even if he was not exactly eaten alive. A fund linked to the show was set up to raise awareness and money to protect the Amazon and could also allow for more research of anacondas in their habitat.When will the show be aired in India?After the US showing, the inaccurately named 'Eaten Alive' will air on December 10 in Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Poland and Sweden, and two days later in Australia, before being broadcast in other countries, including China and India. Discovery said it expect at least three million viewers in the United States and a million others around the world. — AFP

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Also Read: PETA slams Discovery for TV stunt showing man getting eaten alive by anacondaQuick facts about the largest snake in the world

An anaconda is a large snake found in tropical South America. Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species in particular, the common or green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, which is one of the largest snakes in the world.

It is believed that the word anaconda has a Tamil origin — anai-kondra meaning elephant killer A more-likely Sinhalese origin was suggested by Donald Ferguson who pointed out that the word Henakandaya (hena lightning/large and kanda stem/trunk) was used in Sri Lanka for the small whip snake and somehow got misapplied to the python before myths were created Anacondas eat amphibious animals, like frogs & toads, as well as fish, caiman, birds, ducks and turtles The average size of one of these snake-giants is 6.1 m (20 feet) long and 148.5 kg. (300 pounds)! Anacondas give birth to live young, around 24-35 at a time Anacondas live 10-12 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity.