Plight ... Paul Rosolie says he wanted to draw attention to the rapid destruction of the Amazon. Source: Supplied

Rosolie presented himself as prey to the snake in the Amazon after putting on a special reinforced suit with helmet and devices to measure his vital signs.

The incredible feat was streamed on Discovery Channel’s website.

Rosolie and his team found an anaconda weighing 180 kilograms while hiking in the Peruvian rainforest.

The incredible footage showed Rosolie feeding himself to the anaconda head-first as his colleagues looked on.

Rosolie wore a carbon fibre suit and poured pigs’ blood over himself before imitating the snake’s normal prey to attract its attention and get it to eat him.

“I didn’t want to stress [the anaconda] out too much,” he said.

“I wanted to make sure that the suit was smooth and wasn’t going to hurt the snake.

“I really wasn’t scared. We tested this suit and worked on this with experts so we knew I was going to be safe.”

FREAK OF NATURE: Man survives being eaten alive by giant anaconda

Eaten alive ... Paul Rosolie wrestles with the anaconda. Source: Supplied

But after an hour of being constricted, Rosolie called time on the experiment, fearing he would be fatally crushed by the massive snake.

How Rosolie escaped the snake’s body before being crushed remains a mystery, although the special suit’s three-hour oxygen supply was crucial.

Incredibly, some viewers deemed his actions a cop-out, with one Twitter user even going so far as to accuse him of “failing America”.

The stunt was filmed in advance for the TV special Eaten Alive and was aired on the Discovery Channel in the US.

The herpetologist, naturalist and author spent an hour inside the snake, to the anger of animal rights activists.

While he did not reveal how he got out alive, we know he was eventually regurgitated by the snake.