Killer Piranha Attack Images

Outline
Circulating messages featuring gory photographs of blood and bodies at a beach claim that the images depict a vicious piranha attack in South America.



Brief Analysis
The photographs do not depict a real piranha attack. They are in fact taken from the 2010 remake of the classic horror film, "Piranha".

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Last updated: September 4, 2012
First published: September 4, 2012
Article written by Brett M. Christensen
About Brett Christensen and Hoax-Slayer

Example


Detailed Analysis
These rather gruesome images have circulated in various contexts since 2010. According to messages that circulate with the images, they depict a deadly piranha attack on a beach somewhere in South America.

Thankfully, however, the pictures do not show a real piranha attack. In fact, the images are stills taken from scenes in the 2010 movie "Piranha 3D". The movie was a remake of earlier "Piranha" offerings. In this version, a group of swimmers at a lake in Arizona are attacked by a swarm of giant prehistoric piranha released from the depths by seismic activity.

The images are sometimes wrongly associated with news reports about 2011 piranha attacks on a river beach in Brazil. The 2011 attacks were real, but not nearly so bloody and horrific as the scenes shown in the circulating images. Several swimmers were bitten but none died and none sustained serious injuries.

In fact, while they can certainly be dangerous to humans, piranhas probably do not deserve their reputation as fearsome killers. Many of the bloody stories about them are simply the stuff of folklore and myth.





References
Piranha 3D
Piranhas attack swimmers on river beach in Brazil
The truth about piranha attacks
Piranha 'less deadly than feared'
Wikipedia - Piranha

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