Graham Cluley tells us that there's a rogue application doing the rounds on Facebook that claims to be a link to a video showing an anaconda coughing up a hippopotamus.

OMG, this is the biggest and scariest snake I have ever seen, check out this video

What's wrong with this picture? (Or rather this video...)

Well, you might wonder whether even one of the world's largest snakes could possibly swallow a hippo, even a pigmy hippo like this one (whom I met at Berlin zoo):

If you've read Graham's blog, you might be slightly dazed at the thought of either an anaconda or a hippopotamus with tentacles, or wondering how Paul the Octopus got into the discussion, or  whether a rogue application is anything like a rogue elephant.

(I know this chap, from Addo in South Africa, doesn't look very aggressive, but it was still quite unnerving to see him walking past our car. Much Addo about nothing, you might say.)

Or you might wonder how a South American snake came to swallow an African mammal in the first place. (Don't bother with the jokes about zoo viruses. I got there first.)

Of course, it's yet another Facebook scam. Sophos have a nice video here that shows the thing in action. Well, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you don't need me to tell you again that Facebook is a dangerous place to be these days. But I did put together some relevant resources in one of my other blogs, in an article about Facebook hoaxes and scams.

David Harley CITP FBCS CISSP
Senior Research Fellow