The anaconda is the largest in mass of all snakes existing on earth. An adult reptile weighs about 97 kg. Eyewitnesses tend to exaggerate the size of the anaconda snake; researchers have not been able to fully find out how many meters the length of its body is. Scientists have encountered individuals up to 5.2 meters, but sometimes there are reports of more large reptiles 9 or 11 meters in length.
From this video you will learn how an anaconda snake eats (video of a crocodile hunt).
Where does the anaconda snake live?
It can be found in quiet backwaters, in low-flowing river branches and in small lakes in South America. The reptiles' distribution range includes Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, the island of Trinidad and northeastern Peru.
It is difficult for scientists to assess the dynamics of the reptile population due to the inaccessibility of their habitats. In captivity, the predator does not take root well; its lifespan in a terrarium usually does not exceed 5-7 years.
Scary Paraguayan anaconda
The body length of the boa constrictor reaches four meters. The huge Paraguayan anaconda hunts waterfowl, mammals and even young caimans!
The reptile rarely crawls ashore and tries to stay close to the water. Prefers low-flow, overgrown reservoirs. IN in rare cases crawls onto trees, and buries itself in the mud during periods of drought.
Can an anaconda snake eat a person? IN South America A case of attack on a 13-year-old boy was recorded. The teenager guarded the boat on the shore of the reservoir, while his father collected fruits in the forest. The man ran to the child’s cry, but could no longer help him.
Yet such tragic cases are extremely rare. Reptiles lead a secretive lifestyle; they prefer to stay away from people. If the boa constrictor is disturbed, it hides under water and remains there for quite a long time. If there is nowhere to retreat, the reptile may attack and bite. Its bite is not, but quite strong and painful.
Lifestyle and hunting
The boa constrictor spends almost all of its time in water, with 
When diving, its nostrils are blocked by special valves. If the reservoir dries up, the reptile “moves” to a more favorable place. If the dry period continues for too long, the boa constrictor buries itself in the mud and falls into torpor until the onset of the rainy season.
The anaconda snake hunts like all boa constrictors. The predator freezes motionless and patiently waits for its prey. When a potential victim approaches the required distance, the reptile makes a lightning-fast throw and strangles it. Contrary to popular belief, the boa constrictor does not break the bones of its prey, but squeezes it tightly and makes it impossible to breathe. The snake swallows the victim whole.
An anaconda snake sheds its skin in water. During molting, she rubs against snags and the river bottom, which helps her get rid of the old cover.
It is believed that the reptile is capable of staring before strangling it. However, official confirmation this fact does not exist today.
The snake is capable of giving birth to up to 40 cubs (the predator is viviparous).
Despite its impressive dimensions, the reptile is extremely difficult to detect. It has excellent camouflage coloring and moves almost silently.
Anaconda snake is incredible creation preserved virtually unchanged for many millennia.
Legends about huge snakes capable of swallowing a person amaze the imagination. However, such snakes do exist. In the rivers of South America live creatures whose size is difficult to imagine.
general characteristics
They belong to the boa constrictor family. This is the largest and heaviest reptile of all existing on earth.
Like all other snakes, it is a carnivorous predator.
Habitat
Snakes are found throughout tropical South America. Including:
- Colombia;
- Venezuela;
- Bolivia;
Appearance
Anaconda is the largest and heaviest snake of all existing on earth. The weight of an adult animal can reach 100 kg, and the length ranges from 5-7.5 meters. There is no documentary evidence of them whose dimensions exceed 7.5 meters. In the area of the tail, these reptiles have small bony processes, which are the rudiments of the hind legs. For this feature they received the name pseudopods.
Anaconda photo.
The giant predator belongs to the boa constrictor family. The Indians of South America have legends that tell of the existence huge snakes, whose height reaches 12 meters. However, no one has yet been able to verify the authenticity of these stories.
The body color is gray-green with large brown spots, which are located along its entire body in two rows. Because of the greenish tint of her skin, she is called green. This snake is not poisonous. However, its bites can be very painful.
Habitat
These snakes are found in the rivers and lakes of South America. They can also be found in humid rural areas equatorial forests South American continent. Favorite place habitats are creeks, streams and small lakes of the water basins of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers.
Lifestyle
The anaconda snake leads a predominantly aquatic lifestyle, occasionally crawling onto the banks of reservoirs. However, she tries not to crawl too far from the shore. Because only in water does this animal feel completely safe. They are very mobile in water, but move on land with great difficulty.
Giant anaconda photo.
The speed of movement is influenced huge size And heavy weight bodies. Green snakes are excellent swimmers and divers. They are able to stay under water for quite a long time.
At this time, their nostrils are tightly closed from water with skin growths similar to valves. Molting also occurs exclusively under water. At this time, the snake rubs its belly against the bottom and gradually pulls off its old skin.
Nutrition
This is a predator that feeds on a variety of mammals, amphibians and occasionally fish. A snake can lie in wait for its victims for a long time. Thanks to its color, the snake seems to blend in with the grass and remains almost invisible. After the prey gets close to close range, the snake makes a quick lunge and wraps its coils around its victim and begins to strangle it. The compression force is such that the animal simply cannot breathe and almost instantly dies from suffocation.
Anaconda snake underwater.
These snakes are sometimes called water boas. They even attack those formidable predators like crocodiles. A person can also become a victim of this reptile. Cases where a snake ate a person are often described by Indians living in the South American jungle. They are not documented. However, there is no reason not to trust the stories of local residents.
Reproduction
She leads single image life. These reptiles gather in groups only for the mating period, which occurs in April-May. At this time it rains in the countryside. At this time, females secrete odorous substances, by the smell of which males find them. After mating, the female bears the offspring for 6 months. At this time, she hardly hunts and loses a lot of weight. Anaconda snakes are viviparous. At birth, the cubs are about half a meter to 80 cm long.
Enemies
Adults in wildlife have very few enemies. Few animals are able to defeat this giant snake.
However, cases of attacks on them by other predators still occur. Most often, young individuals become victims of predators. On land they are often hunted:
- jaguars;
Green snakes are often attacked crocodile caimans. Perhaps the most formidable enemy is man. Hunting water snakes is not prohibited. The Indians kill them for their valuable skin and meat, which they use for food.
Lifespan
The lifespan of a boa constrictor in the wild is not reliably known. These snakes tolerate captivity very poorly and die after 5-6 years. Only one case is reliably known when a snake lived in captivity for 28 years.
Red Book
The water boa is a protected species. These reptiles are listed in the International Red Book. Due to the fact that they live in very inaccessible places, scientists have not been able to reliably estimate the size of the population. Therefore, assigned to them protective status belongs to the category “threat of extinction not assessed”.
Be in her stomach and stay alive! This idea came to the mind of the Italian biologist Paul R. Together with the Discovery Channel, Paul planned to conduct an experiment that was dangerous both for himself and for the boa constrictor and present the result to the audience of the channel. Scientist dressed in protective suit had to be swallowed by a six-meter snake. The idea is extremely dangerous. Snakes that reach this size easily swallow large mammals. However, there was no sensation.
Anaconda on the surface of the river.
The first time Paul tried to become dinner for the giant anaconda, it simply got scared and began to crawl away. Then the scientist decided to provoke the reptile himself into an attack, after which the snake, curled up in rings, began to swallow the man, squeezing him with its body.
The force of the pressure was such that the scientist felt that the bones of his arm were about to break, and he himself almost could not breathe. Wild pain and panic fear forced Paul to call for help and stop the experiment.
The scientist later said that only a protective suit saved him from imminent death. A person without protection would die within 10 seconds. This experience confirmed how dangerous a meeting with her is for any living creature !!
Do you know that...
Do you know everything about amphibians? There is a species of amphibian, such as the one that leads interesting image life. I advise you to read it!
Anaconda snake is a water boa constrictor. It is classified as a pseudopod due to a pair of small spines on the back of the body.
There is a version that the spines were inherited from the ancient ancestors of the times of lizards; they are also called the rudiments of the hind legs.
These snakes inhabit the tropics, settling near bodies of water.
She swims well and dives well; she can stay under water for a long time, closing her nostrils with special valves.
When the dry season comes, it moves to another body of water, or buries itself in the bottom silt, falling into torpor until the rains begin. Molting also occurs in water.
So what is it, anaconda? It's pretty large snake, from 5 to 9 meters long, non-poisonous. Her brain is small. There are no eyelids on the eyes. Why? Nobody knows yet.
It is difficult to monitor due to its habitat. The right and left jaws are not connected to each other, which allows her to swallow food whole.
The mouth has 100 sharp, curved teeth. Her long forked tongue brings fear not only to animals, but also to people. True, the latter do more harm to these giants, killing them.
The local population eats snake meat, they say it’s delicious, and the skin is used. Also, with the help of language, the anaconda determines what is happening around. Poking it out of her mouth, she scans the information and catches her “lunch.”
anaconda on a tree photo
The sense of smell is very well developed. By the way, its color depends on the type of snake. And there are four of them: green anaconda, spotted anaconda, yellow anaconda and Bolivian anaconda. The largest of these representatives is green anaconda. The main colors of a snake's shiny skin are brown, olive and yellow.
For example, a green anaconda has a green robe with round or oval black spots in two rows. And on the sides of the beauty there are small light spots. Such “clothing” serves as an excellent camouflage for the hostess in water where there are a lot of leaves and algae. The female is larger in size and weight than the male.
By the time of mating, the female eats up, becomes strong and fat. Males search for a female by smell, possibly using their tongue. Several gentlemen crawl in and wrap their rings around their queen, thereby forming a snake ball.
anaconda resting photo
Pregnancy lasts quite a long time (6-7 weeks) and the snake loses a lot of weight. The anaconda is ovoviviparous, giving birth to from 25 to 43 babies. Although they are babies, they are already about 80 cm long. After birth, the snakes swim away in different directions in search of food, the mother does not feed them. Of course, not all of them survive; many predators love to eat them.
Anacondas feed while waiting for them near the water. They know how to catch deftly, but for some reason they don’t really like fish. Pouncing on the victim, the anaconda begins to strangle it, and then swallows it whole. After a hearty lunch, a predator can for a long time do not eat.
Anaconda is a snake from a separate genus of anacondas, the subfamily of boas, the order of squamates, the class of reptiles.
Along with the python and the boa constrictor, the anaconda is one of the most... big snakes in the world, its length is from 5 to 6 meters, and its weight is about 100 kg. The largest currently known is about 9 meters long and weighs 130 kg.
The civilized world relatively recently learned about the existence of the anaconda - this viviparous snake that lives in the impenetrable jungles of South America.
Giant an... Ornament on the... Submarine...
The anaconda lives in the remote, inaccessible jungles of the tropical part of South America in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, northeastern Peru, Ecuador and northern Bolivia, eastern Paraguay and Guyana, French Guiana and the island of Trinidad, and it has not been studied at all so long ago. Basic information about this big snake people found out only in 1992, when biologist Jesus Rivas and a group of scientists studied the anaconda in its habitat, near Venezuela.
The anaconda's body is designed in such a way that, with a body thickness of 14-15 cm, it swallows quite large prey whole, and then its body stretches to the size of the animal it swallowed. The coloring of these snakes is varied and depends on the species. There are grayish-green ones, there are yellow ones, light brown ones and almost dark ones. The skin is scaly with rounded darker spots arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Such camouflage coloring helps the anaconda to camouflage well among coastal plants and algae.
The anaconda is ideally adapted to life in water. Her long powerful body, consisting of only muscles, wriggling in the water like a powerful propeller, gives it the ability to swim quickly both on the surface of the water and in the depths. Moreover, when it swims, its eyes and nostrils remain on the surface like those of crocodiles, and when immersed in water, the nostrils are closed with special valves. Eyes closed transparent protective film under water remain open, and she sees everything even in muddy water. The ability to slow down the heartbeat, while consuming less oxygen, allows her to stay under water for a long time.
The anaconda is a carnivorous predator and feeds only on animal food. Eats everything it comes across. These include wild animals: tapirs, peccaries, turtles, small crocodiles and waterfowl. It often attacks domestic animals coming to a watering hole: sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, geese, ducks and even dogs. It can hunt both in water and on land. In the water, the anaconda usually lies hidden, waits for the victim, and when it is close, it rushes at it. In other cases, having good hearing, an anaconda, while under water, can hear the sounds of animals coming to drink a hundred meters away, quietly swim up, and then rush at an unsuspecting animal with a lightning-fast throw. While on land, these cunning snakes They can hide on the path leading to a watering hole, or position themselves on thick, low-lying tree branches and, when the animal approaches, rush at it.
The anaconda has no fangs or chewing teeth; it doesn’t need them. But a continuous row of teeth located almost at the same level works like a powerful vice. Once in such a vice, not a single creature will be able to escape. Holding its prey, the anaconda wraps its body around it in multiple rings and strangles it until the victim stops breathing. After this, the anaconda swallows the prey whole, wearing it like a stocking on a leg, stretching its mouth and throat. After this, the loaded anaconda looks for a secluded place and lies down for several days digesting food. One such serving of anaconda is enough for several weeks. After which she goes hunting again. These creatures do not take into account kinship; they are quite capable of devouring each other.
When the anaconda is well-fed, it loves to bask in the sun, exposing its round sides to it. By this, it kind of warms up the blood, because like all reptiles it is a cold-blooded creature. But it does not crawl far from the reservoir and soon plunges into the water. If a lake suddenly dries up during the dry season, she tries to find new reservoir or burrows into the mud and bottom silt, passing into a suspended state, in which it remains until the first rains.
Anaconda leads an isolated, solitary lifestyle, but in mating seasons These snakes gather in groups to mate. Females are larger in size than males. Anaconda gives birth to live baby snakes. 7-8 months after the mating events, the female gives birth to up to forty or more small anacondas 50-80 cm long. Immediately after birth, the cubs are able to swim and get their own food. However, they often become prey for many animals and birds and quite a few survive.
Rarely does anyone decide to attack an adult anaconda, so among animals in nature the anaconda has practically no enemies. Who wants to fight this big snake, which also has incredible strength. After all, the weight of a nine-meter anaconda can reach up to 200 kg! A snake of this size can easily handle a small cow. What can we say about a pig or a dog!
Having such impressive size, the anaconda is able to move silently and remain unnoticed. In the places where it lives, residents of these areas show caution and attentiveness, believing that the anaconda can attack and kill. Cases of attack are very rare and fall into the exceptional category. As observations show, the anaconda, like all other snakes, sensing the approach of a person, hurries to move away in the other direction. The stories of some eyewitnesses about meeting them with anacondas with a body length of 12 meters or more can be considered an exaggeration. There are also fabulous stories about the hypnotic abilities of the anaconda, which supposedly hypnotizes its victim with its gaze.
The anaconda is still considered a little studied reptile. In many countries, for the purpose of study, they are kept in serpentariums, where they are under constant supervision. There are several cases of anacondas breeding in captivity. Lifespan of an anaconda in natural conditions not established, but in terrariums they live up to 20 years.
There are currently four known species: Green, Yellow, Dark and Bolivian. They all lead a generally similar lifestyle, the differences being mainly in their size, color and habitats.
Green or giant anaconda, lat. Eunectes murinus. It is the largest of all. Its length can be more than 9 meters. It is especially common in the Amazon basin in Brazil, and in the vicinity of the Orinoco River in Colombia. Often found in the Llanos grasslands in Venezuela, Ecuador and Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia, Guiana and Peru. Green anacondas have been seen occasionally in Florida. The color of this anaconda is green-olive on the back, yellowish on the belly. There are dark, sometimes almost black spots on the back and sides. The scales of the skin are large in front, decreasing towards the tail.
Paraguayan or yellow anaconda, lat. Eunectes notaeus. Second in size after green. There are individuals reaching a length of 4.5 meters. They live in Paraguay, Northern Argentina, and are found in Bolivia. The yellow anaconda usually chooses places with high humidity: small lakes, swamps, overgrown banks of small rivers and streams. Often found in seasonally flooded areas. It feeds on fish, turtles, lizards, small caimans, and waterfowl. Sometimes he steals bird eggs. Paraguayan anaconda snake is a solitary snake. A pair is formed only in April - May. It is the object of intensive hunting because of its beautiful skin, which is used for haberdashery, as well as its meat, which is considered a delicacy.
Dark anaconda or Deschauensei's Anaconda, lat. Eunectes deschauenseei. Lives in northern regions Brazil, on the coast of French Guiana, found in Guyana. Relatively small in size compared to others. Usually its length is slightly less than 2 meters, but some individuals up to 4 meters or more have been encountered. It prefers to settle in hard-to-reach places, so it has been little studied.
Bolivian anaconda, lat. Eunectes beniensis or Beni's anaconda is a medium-sized boa constrictor, usually about 4 meters in length. Lives in tropical forests in the Beni River valley in Bolivia. Anaconda Beni rare view, not common in other regions of South America, so it became known only in 2002. Scientists have not yet decided whether to count it a separate species or ranked in the Paraguayan anaconda.
Anaconda, like all boas, is still mysterious creatures, which people have a negative attitude towards and consider it one of the most dangerous and unpredictable predators. Even the origin of its name is still controversial. It is believed that the name “anaconda” appeared in South America from the Tamil phrase “copra” - which means killer, and “yanei” - elephant. In other versions, this word is translated as lightning barrel and others. All these names came from the homeland of these snakes. The most big anaconda in the world, whose length is 11.43 m, caught in the wetlands of Colombia. On this moment In the New York Zoological Society there lives a green anaconda about 9 meters in length and weighing 130 kg.
Despite the general external similarity, the anaconda differs from other types of boas and from pythons. All these snakes belong to the order Scaly, but the boa constrictor is a member of the pseudopod family, and the python is from the python family. All of them are non-poisonous and use one method of absorption of food, swallowing prey whole. Boa constrictors live primarily in Europe and Asia, although they are found in Madagascar, the Fiji Islands and New Guinea. There are about 60 species of them. This is what an emerald boa constrictor looks like.
Water boas live only in South America; these are all four types of anacondas listed above: green, Bolivian, Paraguayan and dark.
Pythons live in Asian countries, India, China and Indochina, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippine Islands. There are about 22 species in total. The biggest one is reticulated python. The largest currently known in the Japanese Zoological Garden, its length is 12.2 m and its weight is more than 200 kg.
A significant difference between pythons and boas is reproduction. Boas give birth to live young, while pythons lay eggs, which then hatch into young. Both boas and pythons, like most reptiles, are slow creatures in normal conditions, but during a hunt they rush at the prey almost with lightning speed. They have developed night vision, good sense of smell. In addition, they have the property of thermolocation, thanks to which they detect Living being in almost complete darkness.
IN last years There are quite a lot of lovers of exotic animals that they keep at home. These also include pythons, boa constrictors and anacondas, which are kept in special terrariums. Although it is not uncommon for these huge snakes to break free and cause a lot of trouble. In some Asian countries such as India, Thailand, Cambodia, local residents taming these huge snakes. They keep them in basements and provide them with food. Getting used to their owners and taking root in the house, these snakes protect the home from poisonous snakes, scorpions, phalanges, rats and other wild animals. A house that has its own python usually costs significantly more. Be that as it may, despite their negative characteristics and the generally negative attitude of people towards them, we have to admit that anacondas occupy equal rights specific place among other representatives of the earth's flora.
Video: Anaconda
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