Piranhas

When you think of piranhas, you probably think about a fierce fish with

razor sharp teeth. You might even think of a river that looks like its boiling with

swarms of hungry fish, eating an animal all the way down to its bone in just a few

minutes. I don't think you would want to get close to a piranha. But in reality, if

you did, the piranha would look at you and decide that you weren't really good to

eat and just leave you alone and swim away.

Even the scientists who study piranhas don't agree with each other on

how dangerous piranhas are to people. There is no proof that a piranha has ever

killed a person. Most piranha bites happen when fishermen try to take the

piranha off the hook and piranha bites them. A lot of fishermen have lost fingers

and toes to piranhas this way.

Piranhas live in most of South America and nowhere else in the world.

The piranhas range from southern Venezuela to the northern part of Argentina.

They are found in all of the major rivers in South America that flow into the

Atlantic Ocean, including the Amazon, Orinoco, Esscquibo, La Plata, and Sao

Francisco. They are lowland fish that live in big rivers and small streams. They

also inhabit lagoon, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. They live in fresh waters in

tropical forests and tropical savannas, or grasslands. Piranhas don't live in

mountain streams