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+--- Thread: Myth becomes fact: Electric eels leap to attack land animals (/thread-2478.html)
Myth becomes fact: Electric eels leap to attack land animals - C C - Jun 7, 2016
https://cosmosmagazine.com/life-sciences/how-electric-eels-leap-attack-land-animals
EXCERPT: Slimy eels leaping from muddy water to electrocute an unsuspecting victim is something you might expect to see in a B-grade horror flick. Turns out, eels do in fact leap and attack predators – and it’s all because of physics, a US scientist has discovered. [...] On a field trip to the Amazon in 1807, 19th-century explorer Alexander von Humboldt witnessed a group of horses lead through a muddy pool filled with electric eels, which he described as dramatically leaping up to attack the intruders. But scientists have doubted the story. [...] Now, Catania reveals electric eels can leap out of the water to deliver a bigger shock to predators, as he sheds light on a 200-year-old tale....