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Connor Miles

Mrs. Bommarito

Exploration

30 April 2021

Piranhas

In 1913 President Roosevelt went to visit Brazil, and he watched a school of hungry

piranha destroy a whole cow. Good morning my name is Connor Miles, and over the past

semester I did my research on the mysterious creatures known as piranhas. This event gave

piranhas the bad reputation we see today. And the way the story was told made it seem as if they

were flesh eating monsters. Even though the piranhas are shown as conniving creatures in

movies and in President Roosevelt’s story that is not the case. They are not as dangerous as they

seem, but you should still be cautious when you are around them. I hope to change your

perception on piranhas by telling you their characteristics not the misleading facts that you see in

movies about them especially in movies like Mega Piranha, Piranha. Piranhas and their

characteristics, habitat, and predators are fascinating to study.

Characteristics and behaviors of this creature are misunderstood. These fish are not man-

eating fish unless your dead. but if you are triggering one of their senses you may get bitten. But

these senses are usually for protect themselves and their young. Piranhas have three key senses

that detects injured animals so they can just put them out of their misery. They have a light diet

eating two to four times a day that usually consists of insects, fish, crustacean, worms, carcasses,

plants, and seeds. This small diet is what allows the fish to eat an entire cow if they are starving,

they will eat anything they see when starving. This also includes other piranhas’ newborn

piranhas as well, parents will often eat their young or others in the school, because of how bad
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they are starving. Piranhas can swim from 15 to 25 miles per hour depending on the species, but

it is usually enough to keep these creatures alive when they are being pursued by predators.

Piranhas are usually 5-14 inches but can grow pass that and be big as 18 inches and weighing

8.6lbs. Piranha’s teeth are essential to how they live to protect themselves and their offspring.

Their teeth are similar to sharks and just like sharks their teeth are capable of losing and

regrowing teeth. The third characteristic about piranhas is not so much a characteristic, but it

explains a lot about their species. Did you know that piranhas have the strongest bite force for

any bony fish? With a bite force that is 3 times their body weight. The final characteristic is the

one of the most important characteristics it’s the purpose of schools the schools are key because

this protects Piranhas from anything, and it usually scares off their predators. Helen Thompson

also says “Scientist used to think that piranhas only swam in large shoals so they could hunt

better. Piranhas swim this way for safety reasons and predators are less likely to strike when their

shoals are bigger.” The thing that is needed for piranhas to survive in the wild or in captivity, is

their habitat.

A piranha’s habitat is so vital because it helps keep these fish alive. Some people might

think that these fish are saltwater fish but that is not the case, piranhas are actually a freshwater

fish. Also, these fish cannot control their body temperature. Therefore, their habitat is also

crucial. Because these fish cannot control their body temperature they aren’t located in North

America unless they’re a pet. These fish are native to South America for example the amazon

basin and Orinoco River because the water is warm all year. And without the right water

temperature it can lead to death. But the things piranhas will have to worry about in the wild is

their predators.

Piranhas have many predators they include botos, caimans, amazon storks, egrets, turtles,
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and humans. Those are all the predators of piranhas you might be surprised that humans are on

that list, but I will tell you why in a second. Although all the predators of a piranha are up there, I

will only talk about three botos, caimans, and humans. But here is the first predator of piranhas it

is a boto a boto is an amazon river dolphin that’s in the same are as piranhas, and they usually eat

piranhas but not while they’re grouped together. These dolphins use their sonar sense to help

indicate its prey which usually help find lonely piranhas. Botos are not a dangerous animal but

they are endangered by the waters that are being polluted in the amazon and so are piranhas and

any other sea life that lives there. These dolphins are pinkish grey and grow up to 8ft and weight

150 pounds a predator that opposes a threat toward the piranhas are caimans. Caimans are a type

of crocodile that can be small but there is a couple species of this animal with red eyes that make

them look evil and as you could have guessed they are a reptile. Other species of caimans can be

black. With sizes that from 3-5ft. Caiman usually eat a lot of fish with a diet that consist of the

same animals that piranhas eat. Caimans can swim up to 30mph that’s a little faster than a

piranha. The last predator of the piranha is us humans. During research on piranhas, I was

surprised to see humans listed. but according to my interviewee Amanda they are. Humans are

considered a predator to piranhas because the people in South America need piranha’s teeth for

tools, weapons, tools used for wood carving, cutting hair, and sharpening darts. Or used for a

knife or a box cutter. But you can find piranhas as a souvenir inside a gift shop throughout South

America or you also can find a piranha to eat! at a restaurant with lemon and some South

Americans say that is it pretty tasty praise the lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all

ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, your

mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and

flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth,  young men
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and women, old men and children. psalm 148:7-12

In conclusion these fish are not as harmful as most would think. Hopefully, you found

something interesting about the piranha’s characteristics, habitat, and predators. This topic was

very fun to research very informative about piranhas even though most people in North America

might not need this information unless you own one. So my question is did this information

effect your view on these creatures? I would like to thank God, My Family, Friends, and all of

my teachers that helped answer all my questions and I would like to thank my interviewee

Amanda for answering all of my piranha questions are there any questions.