Electric eelsIn 1800, electric eels were captured by Alexander von Humoldt with Aimé Bonpland. They were on a five-year expedition in the jungles of South America, on the way to the Orinoco river, where at Calabozo they discovered swamps crowded with electric eels, Electrophorus electricus. During their scientific investigation of the behaviour of the eels, the scientists received massive electric shocks. Humboldt reported a severe lack of feeling in his joints for the better part of a day after standing directly on an electric eel. They learned that horses had been killed by them. Humboldt published an article Observation on the Electric Eel of the New World in 1808.« |