Anaconda snake - very large reptile, the weight of which can reach hundreds of kilograms.
Some sources claim that the length of the snake can reach 11 meters, however, scientists believe that these rumors are false, because the most big snake, which the person met, was registered in Venezuela and its length was about 5.5 m.
Studying these snakes, scientists came to the conclusion that the length of females, which, by the way, are much larger than males, cannot exceed 6.7 m.
Description
It is believed that the anaconda got its name from a consonant word from the Tamil language, which means “killer of elephants.” The scientific name of this representative of scaly fish “Eunectes” translates as “good swimmer”.
Like other snakes, the anaconda's skeleton is divided into two parts: the body and the tail. In total, its body can contain more than four hundred pairs of vertebrae, which tend to expand when swallowing particularly large prey. The skull, like that of many representatives of their order, is connected by movable ligaments, allowing it to absorb prey entirely.
Interestingly, the anaconda's ears and eyes are positioned similarly to how they are positioned in crocodiles. This allows her to watch over her potential victim while underwater. The eyes are not particularly good at focusing on an object, but are more suited to tracking how things move.
A snake bite is quite painful, because its teeth are very long and powerful, but nevertheless safe, because giant anaconda is not poisonous. During a hunt, the snake’s tongue is always mobile, since it is the most important body responsible for the sense of smell.
On the body of a snake no glands. For this reason, her skin is glossy not due to any secretions, but because of shiny and smooth scales. They are lightly streamlined, which provides the reptile with comfortable movement in the water.
The color harmoniously combines olive, rich yellow and brown. The spots on the anaconda's body, which are located along its spine, help the animal to easily camouflage itself as in aquatic environment, and on land. Anacondas are excellent swimmers, therefore they prefer to settle near river backwaters, swamps and rivers with quiet current. This snake does not move on the ground very often, but chooses trees as a place for solitude. In case of dry weather, the anaconda, in anticipation of heavy rains, crawls into the mud. The list of territories where one of the largest snakes lives is as follows:
- South America;
- Peru;
- Brazil;
- Guiana;
- Guyana;
- Paraguay;
- Venezuela;
- Ecuador;
- Colombia;
- Bolivia.
I wonder what A giant anaconda grows throughout its life. That's just in early years this process is accelerated, and after reaching average size, it slows down. It is not known for certain how long these snakes live. In captivity, this figure is much less, about six years, but in the wild, the longest recorded age of an anaconda is 28 years.
Anaconda diet
Most of the time anacondas hunt in water. She waits for the prey for hours, quietly and motionlessly watching it, and then suddenly rushes at the prey and strangles it, wrapping it around it. Some sources indicate that numerous bone fractures lead to the death of an anaconda victim. In fact, it comes from suffocation. After a hearty meal, the snake digests food for a long time, and almost several months can pass from one meal to the next. The standard diet of an anaconda includes the following animals:
Anacondas are quite indiscriminate when it comes to food, so cannibalism flourishes among them. It should be noted that they do not always strangle their victims. Sometimes, if the animal is small, they simply grab it with their long teeth and then swallow it completely. Sometimes, pets such as cats, dogs and chickens also become victims of these large snakes.
Kinds
Giant anaconda, she's the same ordinary And green anaconda, is the largest anaconda, whose length can reach six and a half meters and weigh one hundred kilograms. On its body, which is colored gray-green, there are two rows of spots arranged in a checkerboard pattern. live green anacondas in South America, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, the island of Trinidad and Peru.
Paraguayan, which has several other names - yellow And southern, – can grow up to four meters. For the most part, representatives of this species are yellow in color, however, there are also green and gray individuals. The spots on the body have a dark border and a light center. southern anaconda prefers stagnant or low-flow waters of Paraguay and Southern Bolivia.
Eunectes beniensis has certain similarities with the Paraguayan anaconda. Its length is four meters, and the color of the body is either yellow-brown on the belly and brown on the back, or olive. There are five stripes of dark spots on the head, and the whole body is strewn with hundreds of white spots. The distribution area of this species is the forests of Bulgaria.
Deschauenseya- the smallest representative of anacondas, one and a half meters long. There is very little information about it, since scientists have not yet studied this species well enough. These snakes live in the Brazilian and Guiana swamps.
Reproduction
Like most snakes, anacondas prefer to lead single image life. However, during mating they gather quite in large groups. Their mating season falls during the rainy season, and the process itself takes place on land. Pheromones released in the body of females attract not one, but several males at once, with each of whom the female can mate in turn.
The snakes curl into a ball, and the male holds his partner with the help of imitation hind limbs, for which they received the name pseudopods. Anacondas belong to viviparous snakes, although they sometimes produce eggs. But in most cases, the thin eggshell bursts in the female’s body and live snakes are born. Experts argue about what maximum amount This snake can produce cubs. Some are of the opinion that no more than forty-five offspring can appear from one, and some argue that their number can reach as many as a hundred.
The length of the babies is a little less than a meter. As with all snakes, after the offspring are born, the mother is no longer interested in them. And although her offspring are already completely independent and can hunt, some of them die, becoming prey to caimans and other animals.
Coming from the city of Antiocha to Cartagena, when we settled it, Captain Jorge Robledo and others found so many fish that we killed with sticks whatever we wanted to catch... In addition, there are very large snakes in the thickets. I want to tell and tell about something reliably known, although I have not seen it [myself], but many contemporaries have met who deserve trust, and this is what it is: when, by order of the licentiate of Santa Cruz, Lieutenant Juan Creciano passed along this road in search of Licentiate Juan de Vadillo, leading with him several Spaniards, among whom were a certain Manuel de Peralta, Pedro de Barros, and Pedro Shimon, they came across a snake or snake, so large that it was 20 feet long, and very thick. His head is light red and his green eyes are terrifying, and since he saw them, he wanted to head towards them, but Pedro Shimon inflicted such a wound on him with a spear that even though he flew into [indescribable] rage, [still ] died. And they found in his belly a whole fawn [tapir?], as he was when he ate it; I will also say that some hungry Spaniards began to eat the deer and even part of the snake.
Appearance
Anaconda is the most massive snake of the modern world fauna. Females are much larger and stronger than males. There are many previous reports of anacondas measuring 9 or 11 meters in length, but animals of this size have never been measured before, and all these reports are extremely unreliable in nature.
The famous Swedish naturalist Georg Dahl in his book “ Wild roads"(1969; Russian translation 1972) talks about his capture of an 8.43 m long anaconda on the Guayabero River in the Colombian jungle.
Another Swedish naturalist, Ralf Blomberg, in his book “Giant Snakes and Terrible Lizards,” citing data from Clifford Pope, mentions an anaconda specimen 28 feet long, i.e. 8.54 m.
The largest female anaconda caught in Venezuela reached 97.5 kg with a length of 5.21 meters, despite the fact that at least 780 individuals passed through the hands of scientists. However, the maximum that anacondas can reach is estimated at 6.7 m in total length, or 5.3 m in length excluding the tail, according to various studies - slightly higher than the size of the largest specimens that have fallen into the hands of scientists. Minimum size anacondas capable of reproduction out of 780 individuals was 2.1 m excluding the tail.
The main color of the anaconda's body is grayish-green with two rows of large brown spots of round or oblong shape, alternating in a checkerboard pattern. On the sides of the body there is a row yellow spots smaller, surrounded by black rings. This coloring effectively camouflages the snake when it lurks in calm water covered with brown leaves and tufts of algae.
Due to the inaccessibility of the anaconda's habitats, it is difficult for scientists to estimate its numbers and monitor population dynamics. At least in the International Red Book, the conservation status of the anaconda is listed in the “threat has not been assessed” category ( English Not Evaluated, NE) - due to lack of data. But in general, apparently, the anaconda can still be considered out of danger. There are many anacondas in zoos around the world, but it is quite difficult for them to take root in captivity. The maximum lifespan of an anaconda in a terrarium is 28 years, but usually in captivity these snakes live 5-6 years.
Lifestyle
Anaconda leads an almost entirely aquatic lifestyle. It lives in quiet, low-flowing river branches, backwaters, oxbow lakes and lakes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.
In such reservoirs, the snake lies in wait for prey. She never crawls far from the water, although she often crawls out onto the shore and basks in the sun, sometimes climbing onto the lower branches of trees. The anaconda swims and dives well and can remain under water for a long time, while its nostrils are closed with special valves.
When a reservoir dries up, the anaconda crawls into another or goes downstream of the river. During the dry period, which occurs in some anaconda habitats, the snake buries itself in the bottom silt and falls into a stupor, in which it remains until the rains return.
Nutrition
The anaconda feeds on various mammals and reptiles, lying in wait for them near the water. It usually catches agoutis, waterfowl, iguanas and other small animals. Less commonly, larger individuals are capable of attacking peccaries, capybaras and caimans. Anacondas often find turtles, tegus, and snakes for lunch - at least in the zoo, an anaconda once strangled and ate a 2.5-meter python. Fish occupies a much smaller place in the anaconda’s diet than the small four-legged inhabitants of the jungle. Like all boas, the anaconda motionlessly waits for prey, and when it approaches, it grabs it with a lightning-fast throw and strangles it, entwining its body in rings (contrary to popular belief, the anaconda, like other boas, does not crush the victim and does not break its bones, but squeezes it and does not allows her to breathe, and she dies from suffocation). The anaconda swallows its prey whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat.
Frequent cases of cannibalism have been reported among anacondas.
Predation
An adult anaconda has practically no enemies in nature; sometimes, however, even big anaconda may fall prey to a puma, jaguar, family of giant otters, Orinoco crocodile or black caiman. Most often, anacondas are subject to predation by crocodile caimans, with which they occupy similar biotopes. Caimans usually prey on baby anacondas, as well as males weakened after mating. But at the same time, successful attacks and killings by adult males were recorded crocodile caimans large female anacondas.
Subspecies
- Eunectes murinus murinus- type subspecies, found in the Amazon basin within Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru
- Eunectes murinus gigas- distributed in northern Colombia, Venezuela, French Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago.
These two subspecies were described a long time ago - in 1758 and 1801, respectively. They were distinguished by their color details and average sizes, which are slightly larger in the second subspecies.
Currently, it is believed that the giant anaconda does not form subspecies.
Legends of the anaconda
Often in the descriptions of various “eyewitnesses” information is given about anacondas of monstrous length. It was not only amateurs who were guilty of this information. The famous British traveler to South America P. Fawcett wrote about snakes of incredible size, one of which he allegedly shot with his own hands:
“We went ashore and approached the snake with caution... We measured its length as accurately as possible: in the part of the body that protrudes from the water, it turned out to be forty-five feet and another seventeen feet were in the water, which together amounted to sixty-two feet.
Its body was not thick with such a colossal length - no more than twelve inches ... Such large specimens as this one are not often found, but the tracks they leave in the swamps are sometimes six feet wide and testify in favor of those Indians who claim that anacondas sometimes reach incredible sizes, so that the specimen I shot must look like a dwarf next to them!.. I was told about a snake killed on the Paraguay River and exceeding eighty feet in length!” (62 feet = 18.9 m; 80 feet = 24.4 m; 12 inches = 30.5 cm)
Now, without exception, all such stories are considered fiction (especially since Colonel Fawcett cited many other absolutely false information in his notes). Even mentioned many times in various sources a specimen with a length of 11.43 m was not documented according to all the rules and is considered unreliable by most experts, especially considering the fact that the mass of this snake is indicated in the region of 200 kg, while an animal of this size should have weighed a little less than a ton. In general, female anacondas do not often grow larger than 4 meters. It is very significant that at the beginning of the 20th century in the USA twice - once by President Theodore Roosevelt and the second time by the New York Zoological Society announced a prize of 5 thousand dollars for any snake more than 30 feet long (just over 9 m), but remained unclaimed.
A value greater than 8 meters for a snake is meaningless, at least from a purely biological point of view. Despite the fact that the anaconda occupies a slightly different ecological niche, even a 6-7-meter snake could defeat almost any herbivorous animal in the jungle. Too much growth will be energetically unjustified - in the conditions of a humid tropical forest, which is relatively poor in large animals, an overly large snake simply will not feed itself and it will be more difficult for it to hide from large predators.
Equally fantastic are the stories about the hypnotic gaze of the anaconda, which supposedly paralyzes the victim, or about its poisonous breath, which has a detrimental effect on small animals. The same P. Fossett, for example, wrote:
“...a sharp, foul breath came from her; they say it has a stunning effect: the smell first attracts and then paralyzes the victim.”
Nothing like this modern science, including taking into account the extensive experience of keeping anacondas in zoos, does not recognize it. However, it is a fact that the anaconda emits a strong unpleasant odor.
Anaconda and man
Anacondas are often found near settlements. Domestic animals - pigs, dogs, chickens, etc. - often become prey for this snake. But the danger of the anaconda to humans, apparently, is greatly exaggerated. Isolated attacks on people are made by the anaconda, apparently by mistake, when the snake sees only part of a person’s body under water or if it seems to it that they want to attack it or take away its prey. The only reliable case - the death of a 13-year-old Indian boy swallowed by an anaconda - should be considered a rare exception. On the contrary, the anaconda itself often becomes prey for the aborigines. The meat of this snake is valued by many Indian tribes; They say that it is very good, slightly sweet in taste. Anaconda skin is used for various crafts.
Notes
- Anaconda // Great Soviet encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978. (Retrieved August 17, 2011)
Giant anaconda, or common anaconda, or green anaconda(Eunectes murinus)
Class - reptiles
Order - scaly
Family - pseudopods
Genus: anacondas
Appearance
Anaconda is the largest modern snake. Its average length is 5-6 meters, and specimens of 8-9 meters are often found.
The main color of the anaconda's body is grayish-green with two rows of large brown spots of round or oblong shape, alternating in a checkerboard pattern. On the sides of the body there is a row of smaller yellow spots surrounded by black rings. This coloring effectively camouflages the snake when it lurks in calm water covered with brown leaves and tufts of algae.
Habitat
Anaconda inhabits all tropical part South America east of the Andes: Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, eastern Paraguay, northern Bolivia, northeastern Peru, Guyana, French Guiana, and the island of Trinidad.
Lifestyle
Anaconda leads an almost entirely aquatic lifestyle. It lives in quiet, low-flowing river branches, backwaters, oxbow lakes and lakes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.
In such reservoirs, the snake lies in wait for prey. She never crawls far from the water, although she often crawls out onto the shore and basks in the sun, sometimes climbing onto the lower branches of trees. The anaconda swims and dives well and can remain under water for a long time, while its nostrils are closed with special valves.
When a reservoir dries up, the anaconda crawls into another or goes downstream of the river. During the dry period, which occurs in some anaconda habitats, the snake buries itself in the bottom silt and falls into a stupor, in which it remains until the rains return.
Anacondas also molt underwater. In captivity, I had to watch how a snake, immersed in a pool, rubs its belly against its bottom and gradually pulls off its old skin.
The anaconda feeds on various mammals, lying in wait for them near the water. It catches tapirs, peccaries, agoutis, capybaras, etc. Cases have been described more than once when an anaconda even devoured a jaguar (obviously, only the largest anacondas can defeat this predator). Anacondas often eat waterfowl, small caimans, turtles, and snakes for lunch. Fish occupies a much smaller place in the anaconda’s diet than the four-legged inhabitants of the jungle. Like all boas, the anaconda motionlessly waits for prey, and when it approaches, it grabs it with a lightning-fast throw and strangles it, entwining its body in rings (contrary to popular belief, the anaconda, like other boas, does not crush the victim and does not break its bones, but squeezes it and does not allows her to breathe, and she dies from suffocation). Like all snakes without exception, the anaconda swallows its prey whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat.
Anacondas have reported frequent cases of cannibalism.
Most of the time, anacondas are solitary, but they gather in groups during the mating season, which coincides with the onset of rains and occurs in April-May in the Amazon.
Reproduction
Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 28-44 months.
During the mating period, males find females by following an odorous trail on the ground, guided by the smell of pheromones released by the female. During this period, you can observe how several very excited males scurry around one calmly lying female. Like many other snakes, anacondas form a ball of several intertwined individuals. When mating, the male wraps himself around the female’s body, using the rudiments of the hind limbs for traction (as all pseudopods do). During this ritual, a characteristic grinding sound is heard.
The female bears the offspring for 6-7 months. During pregnancy, she loses a lot of weight, often losing almost half her weight. Anaconda is ovoviviparous. The female brings from 28 to 42 baby snakes (apparently, their number can reach up to 100) 50-80 cm long, but can occasionally lay eggs.
The maximum lifespan of an anaconda in a terrarium is 28 years, but usually in captivity these snakes live 5-6 years.
Anacondas must be kept in a horizontal type with a large pool in which they spend a significant part of their time. content giant anaconda 26-32 °C during the day, the water should be warm (26-29 °C). Air humidity should also be significant - up to 90%. For this reason, moisture retention is desirable in a terrarium. Animals are irradiated according to general rules. Anacondas feed on rats in captivity. guinea pigs, less commonly fish and waterfowl; large specimens can eat rabbits. Snakes need to be fed in water. The feed is simply dropped into the water. If the snakes take only living animals, then in the middle of the pool it is necessary to install a massive snag, on the surface of which they plant food rodents, which the snakes can clearly see and deftly snatch.
Anacondas breed well in captivity and do not require any additional stimulation other than preliminary placement. Mating begins in late summer and continues until late autumn. During most of pregnancy, female anacondas refuse to feed. Anacondas breed in captivity every year, and there are no problems with raising young animals - boa constrictors begin to feed immediately after the first molt, which occurs on the 5-13th day after birth. They grow very quickly.
An anaconda versus a python in a fight will most likely win, unless, of course, it encounters the very long snake in the world, reticulated python. But here, too, her chances of winning are much higher, since she, although slightly inferior to him in length, is significantly superior in weight.
A large anaconda can also cope with a young crocodile. Of course, she cannot survive against an adult, massive, large specimen; in a fight with him, she will find herself in the role of prey. But she can handle a small crocodile without much difficulty, and therefore is quite capable of feasting on it.
Anaconda is a vertebrate animal from the class of reptiles, belongs to the genus of snakes from the subfamily of boas and lives in tropical latitudes South America. This snake feels great in fresh water, and therefore prefers to spend as much time as possible in the aquatic environment, for which it received the name water boa. Since it belongs to the subfamily of boas, the snake is not poisonous: it strangles its prey.
Currently discovered the following types anaconda:
- Giant - the largest snake in the world, more than five meters long, lives in tropical latitudes and settles in swamps and large rivers;
- Paraguayan - length no more three meters, lives in closed low-current reservoirs. In addition to Paraguay, it lives in Bolivia, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil;
- Deshauersea - lives in the northwestern part of Brazil;
- Eunectes beniensis is a snake about four meters long, representatives of this species are similar to the Paraguayan anaconda and there is a high probability that in the future it will become its subspecies. It was discovered in Bolivia in 2002 and on this moment is under study.
Description
Anaconda is considered one of the most major representatives genus of snakes in the world: the longest measured anaconda is 5.2 meters long and weighs 97.5 kg (females are larger than males). There is a lot of information about larger specimens, whose size exceeds ten meters, but this data is not confirmed by anything, and is very doubtful. It is worth noting that the anaconda versus the reticulated python is inferior in length (according to the Guinness book, maximum length python - 9.75 meters), but still wins in the mass.
The anaconda has a greenish-grayish color with large brown spots of a rounded or oblong shape, which alternate in a checkerboard pattern (this color hides a hunting snake very well). Speaking about the anaconda, it is not without interest that it, like other snakes, sheds its old skin, but does this without leaving the reservoir: it rubs against its bottom.
Although anacondas practically cannot hear sounds, they have a very well developed nervous system, therefore various fluctuations in environment they feel with their whole body.
But as for vision, the snake periodically goes blind: instead of eyelids, there are motionless transparent scales on its eyes, which, when the snake begins to shed, become cloudy, blocking the view. Speaking about the anaconda, it should be borne in mind that, being a snake, it does not blink, so there is an opinion that it hypnotizes its prey.
Lifestyle
One of interesting facts The thing about the anaconda is that it is almost always in the water, and tries to go to the coast as little as possible: it swims excellently and is capable of staying under water for a long time, and in order not to suffocate, its nostrils close the valves during a dive. She prefers to swim in bodies of water either with a very calm current or without it at all.
The boa constrictor comes to the shore mainly to bask in the sun, and sometimes even climbs trees to do this. Speaking about the anaconda, it should be borne in mind that it moves like all snakes: the main role in this process is played by the tenacious scales located on the stomach, as well as the muscles of the body.
Once on land, the snake does not move far from the water, and if the reservoir dries up, it either moves to another, or goes down the river. If during a drought it is not possible to change the reservoir, the boa constrictor buries itself in the silt located at the bottom of the reservoir, after which it falls into torpor until the rainy season begins.
Nutrition
Like all boa constrictors, the anaconda is not poisonous: having attacked the victim, it embraces it, from which the animal rarely manages to free itself. Her grip is so strong that even one of the most formidable predators in the world, a crocodile is capable of becoming its victim (although an adult crocodile large species will get rid of the capture and, most likely, will eat it himself).
The largest snake in the world eats various reptiles and small mammals that come to drink. Usually these are rodents, turtles, waterfowl, and lizards. Larger individuals can eat capybaras, peccaries, medium-sized crocodiles (up to two meters); there is even a known case when a large anaconda managed to eat a 2.5-meter python. They may well eat representatives of their own species.
Having smelled prey, the snake freezes in the water and becomes motionless. After the victim approaches, the boa constrictor pounces on it with lightning speed and strangles it, completely cutting off oxygen by immobilizing the chest, so the victim dies from suffocation.
After this, the snake eats it whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat. Like all snakes, its mouth stretches very well with the help of an elastic ligament connecting the right and left side the lower jaw, which are connected to the skull by bones, the ends of which provide them with rotational movement. Thanks to this, the most large snake in the world is capable of swallowing an animal significantly larger than itself (for example, a young crocodile).
Reproduction
When talking about anacondas, it should be borne in mind that they are solitary animals, but when the mating period begins, they gather in flocks (this happens during the beginning of the rainy season). At this time, there are usually several males near one female and, just like other snakes, when mating they intertwine into a ball of several individuals.
The anaconda is ovoviviparous: it bears eggs inside the body, while the cubs mainly receive nutrition not from the snake’s body, but from the egg. Before being born, baby snakes leave the egg shell while still in the mother’s body. The female carries the cubs for about six to seven months and during this time she loses weight by almost half.
The female gives birth to from 28 to 42 cubs with a length of 50 to 80 cm, sometimes their number can reach up to a hundred. Immediately after birth, molting begins, so the baby snake does not eat anything at this time. When the molting ends, the baby is already able to swim, hunt, and feed on its own. At this time, small anacondas are extremely vulnerable and are eaten by birds, crocodiles and other predators.
Enemies of anacondas
If we talk about the anaconda, it is necessary to keep in mind that this boa constrictor is so strong that it has practically no rivals among snakes (an anaconda can easily withstand a fight against a python). Sometimes she may be attacked by a jaguar or large crocodile. A large individual is rarely attacked: the crocodile usually attacks and eats baby snakes or males weakened after mating. There were two recorded cases where an adult male crocodile managed to cope with female anacondas (such situations are the exception rather than the rule).
Despite the fact that the boa constrictor eats many mammals, rumors about the anaconda as a snake that feeds on humans are greatly exaggerated. A boa constrictor of this species rarely attacks a person (despite the fact that the boa constrictor is longer, the person is vertical in relation to the surface, and therefore she may consider him too large prey for herself).
Fixed single cases attacks on a person caused by the fact that the snake sees only a part of the body that it can handle, or believes that they want to take food away from it. And then, she will attack a person sluggishly, reluctantly, rather trying to intimidate in the hope that he will leave. The only case where it is known for sure that an anaconda managed to eat a person is the death of an Indian teenager.
Since the snake lives in hard-to-reach impassable places, if cases causing death and there were, usually there was no one to record them.
It is man who is the most serious enemy for an adult anaconda: Indians hunt it for its skin, which is used for textiles and haberdashery, as well as meat. Hunting anacondas in the countries where they live is not prohibited, since it is believed that there are quite a lot of them and they give rise to numerous offspring. It is difficult to say exactly how many anacondas there are in the world, since they prefer to live in difficult places where the human foot steps as little as possible.
Niramin - Dec 10th, 2016
Anaconda lives in hard-to-reach tropical forests South America, preferring most spend their time in the numerous reservoirs of the Amazonian lowland. Therefore, the anaconda is often called a water boa.
It’s not for nothing that the anaconda is called giant. This one looks like huge snake quite impressive, differing from most of its relatives in its enormous size. The most large anaconda has a length of 5.2 m and a weight of 97.5 kg. However, in 1944, geologists, searching for oil in the jungles of Colombia, accidentally came across an anaconda, the length of which turned out to be 11 m and 43 cm. However, there is no direct evidence huge size no snake was provided, and since then no one has been able to see a snake of such enormous size. At one time, the US Zoological Society even awarded a prize of an impressive sum to those who found an anaconda whose size exceeded 12 m.
The greenish-gray coloring of the snake and large brown spots scattered over the body in a checkerboard pattern camouflage the anaconda very well during the hunt. The snake is not able to hear sounds, but it perfectly senses the slightest vibrations in its body and instantly reacts to them. During periodic molting, she goes blind. The anaconda can stay in water for a long time thanks to special valves that close its nostrils when immersed. The boa constrictor always stays close to a body of water, but if dry periods occur and it is difficult to find another body of water, the anaconda buries itself in the silt and enters a state of suspended animation until the start of the rainy season.
Since the anaconda is a boa constrictor, it does not need to kill its prey with venom, as other snakes do. Therefore it is not poisonous. But this snake has another weapon - it wraps itself around its victim and is capable of strangling a small crocodile in its deadly embrace.
This boa constrictor feeds not only on crocodiles, but also on various reptiles, small mammals, as well as rodents, birds and lizards. They do not disdain their fellow tribesmen. They can, without a twinge of conscience, dine on a python and snack on a representative of their own species.
Anaconda is an ovoviviparous snake. Therefore, future offspring spend more than six months inside the eggs, which develop in the mother’s body. Small anacondas leave the egg shell there, after which they are born quite ready for independent life.
Photo: Anaconda underwater. 
Video: Anaconda (lat. Eunectes murinus)
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