​In the Amazon Basin, local inhabitants have developed a truly unique and daring method for safely catching electric eels, which are notoriously dangerous due to their ability to generate powerful electrical discharges of up to 600 volts or more. The traditional technique involves strategically driving a herd of domestic cattle into the water where the eels are known to reside. The presence of these large, warm-blooded animals stimulates the eels to unleash their defensive electric shocks. They repeatedly target the cows, expending their biological energy charge and effectively exhausting their immediate ability to produce another large jolt.

This unorthodox maneuver serves as a high-stakes, yet effective, method of neutralization. Once the electric eels have expended their shocks on the cattle, the fishermen can observe the shift in the water: the initial chaotic, thrashing movements of the cows subside as the eels’ batteries are drained. At this point, the aquatic predators are temporarily weakened and mostly harmless. This allows the fishermen to then safely enter the water with spears, nets, or other implements to collect the exhausted, but still alive, electric eels for consumption.