- The photo was taken near the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia.
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| Two river dolphins attacking an anaconda. Entiauspe-Neto et al., Ecology, 2022 |
Despite the fact that human beings know a great deal about their natural environment, we still see images that can surprise us. This is the case of a photo of Bolivian river dolphins swimming with a Beni anaconda-type snake in their mouths.
These river dolphins have rarely seen creatures, as it is unusual for them to have their heads above water for any length of time, let alone be juggling a predatory snake in their jaws at the same time.
As reported by Science Alert, it is not clear exactly what was happening here, dolphins and cetaceans, in general, are well known for their playful activities, activities in which other animals may be involved, willingly or not.
The photo was taken in August 2021, near the Tijamuchi River in Bolivia. The researchers saw a pod of dolphins stay above the water for longer than usual, but only after reviewing their footage did they get a better idea of what was going on.
"After checking the first images, we realized that the dolphins were handling a snake and, although it was difficult to estimate the size of their group, there were at least six," the researchers write in a paper describing the observation. "It became clear that they would rather play with the snake than try to eat it," they added.
The dolphins interacted with the snake in different ways, occasionally swimming together in a synchronous fashion, but staying in the same area (the activity moved about 70-80 meters downstream as the researchers watched the 7-minute course).
These dolphin-to-dolphin interactions are rare, and it's possible the dolphins were teaching each other about the snake, the researchers say, or perhaps eating it instead of playing with it. Another possibility is that the playful activity was actually sexual in nature.
"Afterward, we were able to observe in the photographs that the adult males were sexually aroused while playing with the anaconda," the researchers write.
"There were also youngsters at the scene, and it appeared that the adults were showing them the snake," the investigators added.
The Beni anaconda (Eunectes beniensis) can regularly grow up to 2 meters and lives in the same part of the world as the Bolivian river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis boliviensis) the section of the Amazon rainforest in northeastern Bolivia.
River dolphins are often hard to spot - rivers tend to be muddier and more difficult to navigate than oceans, so even if the details of what's going on aren't clear, here's a helpful insight into how these creatures spend part of their time (even more so considering that these dolphins are in danger of extinction).
Most likely, the experience did not end well for the snake. She didn't move during the interactions and stayed underwater for a long time, leading researchers to think she was probably dead in the end.
"I don't think the snake had a very good time," one of the team members, biologist Steffen Reichle of the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History in Bolivia, told the New York Times.