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We dive into the real story of Theodore Roosevelt’s encounters with piranhas in the Amazon, his impact on the ferocious reputation of the fish, and how one fishmonger titan—Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod—turned a fish story into a whopper about a cow. Stick around for a piranha survival quiz that just might save your skin.

Sources include Candice Millard’s excellent book The River of Doubt, Roosevelt’s Through The Brazilian Wilderness, and The Star-Ledger’s impressive investigative work on Axelrod.

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