It can swallow entire gazelles,
turtles, and even lions.
This is the Nile crocodile,
the most dangerous crocodile in the world.
It normally preys on animals found in Africa,
but now, it's coming for you.
If you think something like this is impossible,
think again.
Crocodile attacks are more
common than shark attacks.
And these attacks
are responsible for nearly 1,000
fatalities a year.
So what would happen
if you were one of these attacks?
Would you be able to survive?
First, let's get to know a little bit more about this
creature who's coming after you.
The Nile crocodile is
typically found in Africa,
but has also been seen in Florida in the United States.
These crocodiles are incredibly aggressive,
and are responsible for over
300 attacks on people every year.
What might make it so aggressive is its size.
The Nile crocodile can grow
up to 6 meters (20 ft) long
and weigh up to 550 kg (1,212 lbs).
All this combined
makes it the most dangerous crocodile on Earth.
And now, it's coming to swallow you whole.
You'd first get attacked by the crocodile
somewhere along a river.
And it's likely this would happen between December and May,
since that's the crocodiles breeding season.
As you're walking along the river,
the crocodile would stalk you,
waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.
You probably wouldn't notice the croc.
And even if you did,
it might be hard to get away from it,
as the Nile croc can run up to 18 km/h (11mph) on land.
And as it caught up to you,
it would strike at your leg with its massive jaw,
applying 3,500 kg (5,000 lbs) of pressure.
This would break your leg,
preventing you from getting away.
And now the crocodile could drag you into the river,
where it likes to do the rest of its eating.
Now that you're in the water with the crocodile biting into your leg,
it would begin to roll you around in the water.
This is it attempting to disorient and drown you.
And at this point, you'd be passed out.
And now that you're not moving,
the Nile croc would swallow your body whole.
You would pass through the crocodile's esophagus,
and into its stomach.
But wait,
this is a lot of food.
Not every animal would be able to
eat something like this,
so how can the crocodile?
Well, the crocodile's stomach is unique.
That's because these creatures swallow rocks
to help break up their food.
And that's why the crocodile didn't need to chew you.
While you're inside the crocodile's stomach,
you'd be smushed by all these rocks.
And with that, your body
would be broken up into smaller chunks.
Rocks aren't the only thing that would help
the croc digest you.
Inside the crocodile's body
is a heart valve that they control with their nerves.
Instead of this valve going to the crocodile's lungs,
it goes to the stomach.
This allows the crocodile to produce
10x more gastric acid
compared to other animals.
Over the course of a week,
your body would be getting crushed up
by all these rocks,
and you'd be getting dissolved by the stomach acid.
Skin, bones, hair, and all.
Then, the crocodile would poop out your remains,
and go hunting for its next victim.
So the next time you're near a swampy river,
watch out for crocodiles.
If you're not careful, they can be pretty dangerous.
But there are some things that you should be
even more afraid of.
They're the largest snakes on Earth,
roaming the Amazon.
They've eaten goats,
deer,
and even crocodiles.
So what would happen
if an anaconda tried to eat you?
Believe it or not,
in 2014
someone was actually dumb enough to attempt this.
He was wearing a large,
bulky suit covered in pig's blood.
The anaconda worked for an hour,
wrapping it's mouth around the head of the suit,
but it was ultimately unsuccessful
in swallowing the human whole.
If it had been sucessful,
how would an anaconda be able to eat
a full-sized adult?
So you happen to be wandering
in the Amazon rainforest and
stumble upon one of these giant anacondas.
Green anacondas grow up to 9 m in length (30 ft)
and can weigh as much as 225 kg (500 lbs).
You might think you'd be a tasty meal to them,
as a small meal for an anaconda
is about 18 kg (40 lbs).
If they were to gobble you up,
it would keep them satisfied for weeks!
But a meal over 45 kg (100 lbs),
like you
might not be what an anaconda
is most interested in.
Due to how massive you are,
not to mention being taller
and broader than most animals it eats,
you would take too long to consume.
This in turn would leave the anaconda
vulnerable to predators for weeks,
if not months, until it finishes digesting you.
But let's say it did want to eat you.
What would happen then?
Well, before an anaconda swallows you,
it would kill you first.
An anaconda is a constrictor snake,
and it kills by wrapping its body all around its prey
and quickly crushing them to death
with over 9,000 pounds of pressure.
It would be a pretty quick end for you,
but we know that's not how this show works.
So, let's assume you survive this,
and we get to see the entire process.
The anaconda would then widen its jaw
to swallow you whole.
You won't have to worry
about it chewing you up into little bits,
since it only has fangs used for holding its prey.
And luckily,
as opposed to other snakes,
the anaconda isn't venomous,
so its fangs won't poison and paralyze you.
But something you will find in the anaconda's mouth
is lots and lots of saliva.
Yeah, this will be used to moisten you,
You know, so it's easier for the anaconda
to slide you down their gullet.
So now you're moving down the snake's esophagus.
As with many other animals,
the muscles in the esophagus will
push you down the snake's body.
The anaconda also has the ability to move,
and bend its ribs to crush you even further,
and push you down into its stomach.
Okay now, you're in the anaconda's stomach.
Don't worry, we're still keeping you alive.
You know, to make this more fun.
The anaconda's stomach
produces powerful acids
and stomach enzymes
that will dissolve your skin,
and then, eventually, your bones.
How fast do these acids work, exactly?
Well, an anaconda once dissolved an alligator's skin
in just three days.
So your squishy and fleshy skin would
disappear pretty quickly.
Your body would break down even further
as you move through the snake's small intestine.
That's due to the liver and pancreas
secreting even stronger enzymes.
Everything besides your hair and your nails
would be digested at this point.
And even if you were wearing some magical suit
that protected you from the acid
and everything else,
it would still be a couple of weeks
before you were unceremoniously pooped out.
So, it's likely you’d starve.
Although something like this is incredibly unlikely,
just leave anacondas alone.
After all,
they aren't interested in eating you in most cases,
as you're just too big.
But don't cheer up just yet.
Because what would come after you next
would not be spooked by your size.
Oh, no, no, no.
Something is lurking in the water.
Do you see it?
Close calls like this
happen with whales more often
than you might expect.
And although the people in these videos
got away relatively unscathed,
there's no denying that they were just meters
away from being a whale's lunch.
If you've never seen a whale up close,
it's hard to comprehend just how monstrous
they can really be.
To put it in perspective, the blue whale
is the largest animal on the planet!
Its tongue alone weighs as
much as an elephant, and
it can fit anywhere between 400 and 500 people in its mouth.
But we wouldn't have to worry about one of these guys
swallowing us anytime soon,
because their anatomy makes it nearly impossible.
Instead, we should be more concerned
with their smaller cousins, sperm whales.
In 1891,
reports emerged that a man had been swallowed by one of these whales,
and although he lived to tell the tale,
he would never be the same again...
According to the story,
James Bartley was swallowed when a whale attacked his ship,
and he wasn't retrieved until the following day.
When the crew found and killed the whale,
they quickly brought it on board their ship and cut it open,
revealing an unconscious but very alive James Bartley.
His face and arms were bleached white,
and he was blind,
all thanks to the stomach acids of the whale.
However, as the years went by,
people started poking holes in this story
and questioned whether James had really been swallowed by a whale.
I mean, wouldn't the stomach acids do more damage than just bleaching his skin?
Well, with the power of science, we took a closer look,
and we quickly discovered that if you get swallowed by a whale,
coming back out with shiny white skin would be the least of your worries.
Okay, so the first thing you'd have to worry about
once you were swallowed would be getting shredded to pieces
by the sperm whale's impressive set of teeth.
Each tooth is approximately 20 centimeters long,
that's about the length of an average chef knife,
and whales have anywhere from 40 to 50 of these.
Let's say you're lucky enough to make it past all of them,
next you'd begin your descent down the throat.
Not only would it be dark and slimy down here,
but you'd also find it hard to breathe
due to the lack of oxygen and an increase in methane gas.
As the whale's throat muscles constricted in and out to help force you down,
you'd also start to feel hydrochloric acid beginning to eat away at your skin.
I know what you're thinking,
we just got into this whale, and
James Bartley's story already seems pretty fishy.
Well, you're not wrong, but what would be the fun in stopping now???
So, next you'd be dropped into the first,
and largest, of the whale's four stomachs.
You'd probably be in there for a while, but
the bright side is you might have some light
in the form of a bioluminescent squid or two being noshed on after your arrival;
sperm whales love the neon flying squid.
You'd better enjoy this brief light show, because
after this you'd just be tossed from one stomach to the next,
with the acids breaking down almost all of your body
until you're just a bunch of bones
being unceremoniously ejected from the whale's anus.
So yeah, it's pretty safe to say that
there's no way you could be swallowed whole by a whale
and live to tell the tale.
Sorry, James. You may have been able to fool people in the 1890s,
but we're on to you now.
As vast as they are and as monstrous as they might seem to us,
whales actually have no interest in eating humans.
And if they could talk, they would probably make a point of telling us that.
But that's a topic for another WHAT IF.