MovieChat Forums > The Naked Prey (1966) Discussion > He shouldn't have eaten that big snail!

He shouldn't have eaten that big snail!

posted 13 years ago by jeffyoung1
7 replies | jump to latest

So many people have been traumatized for the rest of their lives by that particularly nasty brutal scene of the captive safari porter being trussed up in a crouching position, covered with a thick layer of red clay, breathing tubes inserted into his nostrils and mouth, hoisted over a roaring fire and roasted slowly for the entertainment of the the onlookers.

As an adult I'm more horrified by the scene of Cornel Wilde feasting on that large, African snail, the species and genus of I do not know.

I get my heebie jeebies after reading the book, "Parasite Rex", 2000. This informative book details the global evolution and spread of planetary parasites that infest every nook and cranny of earth's ecosystems all the way inside our bodies. Go check out the cable station, Animal World's, "Monsters Inside Me", about people in the U.S. infected by peculiarly nasty parasites that can happen to the cleanest and most careful of us. All this information makes you want to jump out of your skin.

Snails in particular are infested with a toxic brew of various parasites. Some of these parasites are multi-host, meaning, they ingeniously and diabolitically go through their life cycle through a succession of hosts. Usually a succeeding host devours the preceeding host. But sometimes a succeeding host becomes infected by, contact infestation, or devouring the waste product of the preceeding host, or some other bodily excretion. The parasites infesting snails worldwide are just as diverse. Some will end up in your GI tract. Others will settle down in your liver and bloodstream. The real nasty ones cohabit your brain. The worst parasites are the ones that are evolved for different hosts but accidentally end up in a human body where the parasite becomes lost and confused and cannot exit normally as it would in its normal host, for example, a cat or a frog. This 'lost' type of parasite does the most damage inside your body as it struggles to find its way out.

[–] turtletommy 13 years ago

Well that's a bit of info overload on snails though I'll follow your advice and not eat any raw African ones! But in reality just about everything in that part of the world or places like it are crawling with parasites and other nasties, so unless you can cook whatever you eat yer takin' your chances. The Wilde character had to decide on the run between getting speared to death or maybe having tapeworms or brain-eating parasites. Nice choice!

[–] jeffyoung1 13 years ago

I saw this in the television news twice! The first incident took place in 2003 and the second one in 2009. Both involved American female tourists to Mexico. Both woman became infected with a pork meat-borne parasite, trichenella, the infection of which is known as, trichenosis. In both cases, the parasite was not content to burrow into body muscle and encase itself in its typical cyst. In each incident, the parasitic worm (probably assuming it was in the body of its designated host, a pig) made its way up into the brain of each woman. Lodged inside each woman's brain, each parasitic worm made itself at home, carving out a comfortable studio apartment space that came with an unlimited source of food, brain tissue and blood. But eventually all good things must come to an end. Each parastic worm eventually died, whether of old age or attack by human antibodies, I don't know. That's when each woman suffered siezures. Fortunately for both women, the doctors MRI'd them and conducted some life-saving surgery. Each woman fully recovered, thank goodness.
FOX News' Greg Gutfield grossed out everybody by displaying a tv monitor view of the inside of the 2009 woman's brain. Yuck. For some perverse reason, a television monitor view of the brain, inside the stomach, and the vaginal canal, all look the same. You can't tell the difference. Barf.

[–] dalldorfw 7 years ago

I, for one, would rather get speared to death.

[–] skat1140 10 years ago

Not just the snail.

Just drinking the water out of the lake should've given him a host of different parasites and/or diseases. And several hours later, he certainly should've felt nausea or a sickness coming on.

[–] dennisvest30 9 years ago

As any modern survivorialist knows, you have to cook the meal (snail, grasshopper, spider, meat) before eatung. And drinking water from a lake, pond or stream (unless it is very clean looking) is risky. Especially drinking large quanities. The white dude in reality would probably be sick to his stomach, cramping, bad headaches, etc. The parasites, animal feces (in the water) would sicken anyone unless it was boiled first. You can use a cloth to filter out some things but water that polluted would sicken a man for sure.

[–] Technomage001 8 years ago

Now you can add industrial chemicals to the list. I read an article that said every human on the planet now has DDT, mercury and a host of other chemical in their body and that some are even passed on from mother to child over generations.

[–] liscarkat (16625) 5 years ago

The guy was desperate for food, and had to keep his energy up not only to survive, but to keep outrunning the hunters. He had to eat whatever he could find, and he didn't have any means of cooking it.