There are many myths and legends about the giant anaconda, and sometimes it is difficult to determine where truth ends and fiction begins. And it's all to blame - huge size this snake, as well as the inaccessibility of habitats and the hidden way of life of the animal.
The giant anaconda has a number of other names: green or common anaconda, as well as water boa.
Description, vernal appearance of anaconda
This is interesting! The first official mention of the anaconda in work of art found in the story “Chronicles of Peru” by Pedro Cieza de Leon, which was written in 1553. The author claims that this information is reliable and describes the anaconda as a huge snake 20 feet long with a reddish head and angry green eyes. She was subsequently killed and a whole fawn was found in her stomach.
The anaconda is a world fauna, with females growing much larger than males. According to the most reliable and verified information, the usual length of this snake does not exceed 4–5 meters. Swedish zoologist G. Dahl in his diaries describes an animal more than 8 meters long that he caught in Colombia, and his compatriot Ralph Bloomberg describes anacondas 8.5 meters long. But such sizes are rather an exception to the rule, and stories about caught 11-meter anacondas are nothing more than hunting tales. Modern scientists also classify the case of the capture of a giant anaconda 11 m 40 cm long, described in 1944, as a myth and believe that the size of the snake was greatly exaggerated.
The anaconda's body is pale greenish in color, covered over its entire surface with light brown oval-shaped spots; on the sides they alternate with a number of round grayish-yellow markings with dark edging. This color is ideal camouflage in dense tropical thickets among fallen leaves and snags. IN aquatic environment This coloring also helps the anaconda track prey and hide from enemies among algae and stones.
The anaconda's body consists of a spine and a tail, and the snake's ribs are very flexible and elastic and can bend and straighten strongly when swallowing large prey. The bones of the skull are also elastic, connected to each other by soft ligaments that allow the head to stretch and allow the anaconda to swallow a large animal. The tongue, like that of all snakes, is incredibly sensitive and mobile, it plays important role for studying environment and communication. Hard and dry scales cover the body like armor, protecting it from enemies. The scales are smooth and slippery to the touch, which makes catching an anaconda very challenging task . The anaconda sheds its skin at one time in a continuous “stocking”; for this, it actively rubs against stones and snags.
Habitat
Anaconda lives in the humid tropics and reservoirs South America. Its largest numbers are in Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia and Paraguay. Also, the anaconda can often be found in the jungles of Guiana, Guyana and Peru, but due to the fact that the reptile leads a very secretive and inconspicuous lifestyle, its number until now has only an approximate value. Therefore, it is still a problem for scientists to accurately count the number of anacondas in a particular region. The population dynamics are accordingly also poorly monitored and the Red Book states that there is no threat of extinction of the species. According to a number of scientists, the anaconda is not an animal that is in danger of extermination. Anaconda lives in many public and private zoos around the world, but to create comfortable conditions it is very difficult for reproduction and therefore snakes rarely live up to 20 years in captivity, and average duration life in zoos is short: 7–10 years.
Anaconda – aquatic inhabitant and dwells in quiet and warm waters creeks, rivers and channels. It can also often be found in small lakes of the Amazon basin. Anacondas spend most of their lives in or near water, lying on rocks or in dense tropical thickets, tracking their prey among leaves and snags. Sometimes he likes to bask in sun rays on a hill, occasionally climbs trees. In case of danger, it hides in the nearest body of water and can remain underwater for very long. for a long time. During the dry season, when rivers and canals dry up, anacondas are able to burrow into silt and coastal soil, remaining motionless until the onset of the rainy season.
This is interesting! The structure of the head of this giant snake, its nostrils and eyes are located not on the sides, but on top, and when tracking down prey, the anaconda hides under water, leaving them on the surface. This same property helps to escape from enemies. When diving into the depths, this snake closes its nostrils with special valves.
Despite gigantic size, an anaconda often falls prey to a jaguar or caiman, and a wounded snake can attract the attention of a school of piranhas, which can also attack the weakened animal.
Compared to the boa constrictors we are used to, anacondas are much stronger and more aggressive. They can bite or attack a person, but more often they still prefer not to get involved in a conflict. Left alone with a giant reptile, you need to be very careful and do not provoke the anaconda loud sounds or sudden movements.
It is important! An adult man can single-handedly cope with an anaconda, the length of which does not exceed 2–3 meters. The strength and musculature of this snake far exceeds the strength of a boa constrictor; it is generally accepted that one coil of the anaconda’s body is several times stronger than one coil of a boa constrictor. There is a widespread myth that these snakes can put a person into a state of hypnosis, this is not true. Like most pythons, the anaconda is not poisonous, but nevertheless its bite can be very painful and dangerous to humans.
Since time immemorial, there have been many myths and legends that describe the anaconda as a predator that often attacks humans. The only officially recorded case of an attack on a person was an attack on a child from an Indian tribe, which can be considered an accident. When a person is in the water, the snake does not see him fully and can easily mistake him for a capybara or a baby deer. Anacondas do not hunt humans, and local Indian tribes often catch anacondas for their tender and tasty meat, and use the skin to make various souvenirs and crafts for tourists.
The famous English zoologist Gerald Durrell describes his hunt for an anaconda and describes it not as a formidable predator, but as an animal that weakly defended itself and did not show aggression. The zoologist caught her by simply grabbing her by the tail and throwing a bag over the head of the “fierce anaconda.” Once in captivity, the snake behaved quite quietly, moved weakly in the bag and hissed quietly. Perhaps she was small and very frightened, which easily explains such “peaceful” behavior.
Nutrition
Anaconda hunts in the water or on the shore, suddenly attacking its prey. As a rule, it feeds on small mammals and reptiles. Agouti rodents, large waterfowl and fish often fall prey to the giant python. More large anacondas capable of easily swallowing a caiman or capybara, but this does not happen often. A hungry anaconda may in rare cases hunt turtles and other snakes. There is a known case when an anaconda attacked a two-meter python in a zoo.
This huge snake is capable of sitting in ambush for long hours, waiting for the right moment. When the victim gets close minimum distance, the anaconda makes a lightning-fast throw, grabs onto the victim and wraps it in the steel grip of its muscular body. Despite popular belief, these snakes, like pythons, do not break the bones of their prey, but strangle it, gradually compressing the chest and lungs. The anaconda often crawls into villages and attacks small livestock; even domestic dogs and cats can become its victims. There are known cases of cannibalism among anacondas, when adults attack young animals.
Reproduction
Anacondas lead a solitary lifestyle and gather in groups of several individuals only for the breeding season.. This time usually falls during the wet rainy season, which in the Amazon Valley begins at the end of April. The female marks her tracks with a special substance that contains pheromones and attracts mature males. Several adult animals gather around the female in a huge heap, hiss and start fighting. When mating, like other anaconda snakes, they curl into a tight ball, and the male embraces and holds the female with special rudiments, making specific creaking sounds. Since several males participate in mating at once, it still remains unexplored which of them she prefers, the largest, the youngest, or the one who came first on the “date.”
This is interesting! The fact that before mating the female feeds heavily, since after pregnancy she will not be able to hunt for more than six months. The period of drought can last for a very long time and the pregnant female actively seeks shelter protected from the sun with the remnants of life-giving moisture.
Typically, pregnancy lasts 7 months, after which the female gives birth to up to 40 cubs. The anaconda is a viviparous snake and, after giving birth, throws out undeveloped embryos along with the living offspring and eats them along with the dead cubs, thereby providing itself with some energy until the time when it can go hunting again. After birth, small anacondas are already completely independent and soon crawl away in search of small prey. Most of babies die, becoming victims of small predators and crocodiles, but up to half of the offspring can reach adulthood.
Anaconda's enemies
The anaconda has many enemies, and the main ones among them are caimans, who also live in rivers and channels and lead a similar lifestyle. Also, anacondas are often hunted by pumas and jaguars; young or weakened animals often fall prey to predators during periods of drought, as well as males who have lost strength after mating. But the main enemy of the anaconda remains the man who hunts giant snakes for fun and entertainment. Anaconda skin is also highly prized among tourists, making it attractive to poachers.
This is interesting! A small Paraguayan anaconda can be bought from private sellers; its price depends on the size and ranges from 10–20 thousand rubles.
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I kept thinking that a boa constrictor (or some other snake) CANNOT SWALLOW a person purely by physiological reasons. All films about this are fiction and horror films. But what does it turn out to be? Here's yesterday's news.
In Russia, a drunk can freeze, but it turned out that in hot India it is also dangerous to get completely drunk. A man lying in the cold on the street near a store in the Indian state of Kerala was devoured by a huge man-eating python.
A snake that swallowed a man. Photo: India, Kerala state.
The incident happened in the Indian state of Kerala, which, like Goa, attracts a large number of tourists.
In India, a careless man decided to have a pleasant evening, but did not bring any alcohol home and drank the purchased drinks right next to a liquor store. The drunkard settled down there for the night.
And in the morning local residents They found a bloated snake on the threshold of a shop. It turned out that the python was crawling past the liquor store and saw the “food”. He strangled the man and then swallowed his victim. After such a hearty “lunch,” the reptile was unable to crawl away and lay down at the scene of the emergency.
The bloated snake was subsequently discovered by local residents, LOTD reports.
This example can serve as an edification to numerous tourists who go to India on vacation and often forget about moderation in relation to alcohol and other relaxing substances.
Here's a case like this:
A huge python, according to the children's stories, suddenly grabbed their friend when they were collecting fallen mangoes in the garden. The snake quickly wrapped itself around the child, tightly squeezing his arms and legs. The boy was so scared that he didn’t even scream or cry.
“The python squeezed him more and more until the boy closed his eyes and threw his head back,” said 11-year-old Cave, an eyewitness to the tragedy. - I realized that he was dead or unconscious. Then the snake opened its mouth wide and began to swallow him all at once, starting with the head.” For three hours, the children silently watched what was happening, afraid to move or call for help.
Later, police and snake experts found no traces of the tragedy - the child and his clothes disappeared along with the snake. On the rumpled grass there was only a trail leading to the spring. Herpentologists explained that the African python needed water to better digest its prey.
According to experts, this is the first case of cannibalism for this species of snake. Python apparently woke up after hibernation and was very hungry.
Bloated from human body The reptile was found nearby in the jungle; it could not crawl far. The snake was killed and immediately cut up, but the boy could not be saved - he died of suffocation.
Another case:
It turns out that the plot of the film “Anaconda” has a real basis and in our sinful world there are giant reptiles that can swallow a person whole.
Typically, snakes prefer to attack smaller creatures that they can easily swallow, but despite this, there are many documented cases of these reptiles swallowing livestock, dogs and even baby hippos.
Unfortunately, the diet of these predators is not limited to such a meager set of dishes, and creeping reptiles are not averse to tasting human flesh if possible. It’s hard to believe, but there really are giant giants on Earth for whom humans are just prey.
Four friends: Jose Ronaldo. Fernando Contaro, Miguel Orvaro and Sebastian Forte went to Mato Grosso, Brazil for camping and fishing. The fishing went well, and the alcohol flowed freely. Returning from the river, the friends noticed the absence of the fourth member of their fun company– dentist Jose Ronaldo. The tipsy fishermen looked for their drinking buddy before dark, but Jose seemed to have disappeared into the ground.
The next day, in a cheerful and high spirits, they went in search, hoping to find their friend lying drunk in some ditch. Towards evening they discovered his torn clothes.
“At first we decided that it was a robbery: the ground around was dug up, as if someone had been fighting on it,” says one of the fishermen, Fernando Contaro. “My heart was relieved, because if he was attacked by a person, and not a wild animal, then he could survive!”
After examining the scene of the struggle, they discovered a deep footprint in the ground leading into the forest. Experienced hunter Sebastian Forte immediately said that the snake had left him... very big snake, at least 10 meters long. The sun was already setting and the men decided to return to camp.
The next morning the men followed the snake's trail. What they discovered at the end of their journey shocked them: in front of them was lying giant anaconda with an incredibly bloated body. Miguel pressed the python's head to the ground with a stick, and Fernando shot the reptile twice in the head with a revolver. The anaconda was towed to the camp, where they cut open its stomach and removed the dentist’s body, which had already begun to digest.
If a snake swallows a person, which happens relatively rarely, then it is certainly only for the purpose of “eating a little.” Here we could quote lengthy instructions recently published on the Internet on what to do if you are swallowed by a python or anaconda. The basic idea is that you need to let the snake swallow more of its legs, and then, with a sharp movement of a sharp knife, cut its head from the side from the inside. Where to get sharp knife and what to do if they start swallowing you from the head - this instruction does not tell you.
The only difficulty when swallowing a person should be caused by the shoulders. An adult, broad-shouldered man can hardly be swallowed...
The snake's jaw can, of course, move apart, but only to a certain limit. Only possible way- if the snake manages to swallow a person lying on its side (or it itself turns its head in such a way so that the victim enters it sideways).
So an anaconda may well swallow a child, a woman, a small, narrow-shouldered man...
Case three. Why shouldn't snakes eat hippos?
The answer is simple, hippos have too thick skin that more than one snake simply cannot digest.
(It's an unpleasant sight, think twice before watching)
Video: a stupid python that ate a baby hippopotamus, crawled with this carcass for a week, became terribly hungry and was forced to vomit this delicacy out of itself.
And now just some interesting information about snakes on this topic.
Bernard Grzimek.
From the book “Animals are my life.”
Can a snake swallow a person?
“There is no doubt that the ancients meant by their dragons our modern giant snakes. The amazing size of these animals, their considerable strength and the general fear of snakes in general make the exaggerations of which the ancients were guilty very clear.<…>Over time, human imagination has endowed dragons even richer and from incomprehensible fairy tales oriental people images gradually grew for which man of sense I searched in vain for the originals, because information about the giant snakes themselves was almost lost. The more stubbornly uneducated people stuck to the favorite description of a large dragon or a gorynych serpent, spewed onto the earth for the destruction of the whole world "(A. E. Bram)
A giant twenty-meter or even thirty-meter snake, hiding on a branch, lies in wait for its prey. From a blow to the crown of her head, hard as a stone, a man taken by surprise falls almost unconscious to the ground, and the snake, with a lightning-fast throw, rushes at him and wraps him in its coils, breaking all his bones in an iron embrace. This happens in cases where brave liberators who cut the snake into pieces with knives do not arrive in time to help...
Descriptions of such heartbreaking scenes can be found in many adventure novels and even in other reports of expeditions to the unexplored tropics.
Are they really attacking? giant snakes per person? Are they capable of swallowing us? There are hardly any other animals that are fantasized about as much as pythons, anacondas or boa constrictors. And therefore, it is precisely with regard to these animals that even a specialist finds it very difficult in every special case decide what is fact and what is fiction.
This starts with determining the length. Even serious travelers have claimed that anacondas 30 or even 40 meters long are found in the Amazon forests. But they, as a rule, kept silent about whether they measured these snakes themselves or know this from eyewitness accounts.
Anaconda is the same boa constrictor, only South American. It is she who is considered the largest and strongest among all the giant snakes in the world. Another South American snake, also no less famous and also a boa constrictor (Constrictor), reaches a length of “only” five to six meters.
It must be said that measuring a snake is not so easy. It is most convenient to do this, of course, when it stretches to its full length. But for big snake such a pose is completely unnatural; some of them are simply not able to accept it - they need to bend at least the very end of their tail to the side in order to have support. Such a strong animal will not voluntarily allow itself to be straightened for measurement. In a dead snake, the body usually becomes so ossified that it is even more difficult to measure. If you judge the length of snakes by their skins that go on sale, then it is very easy to fall into a mistake: after all, this skin is sold by the meter, and therefore, while it is fresh, it can be stretched in length by 20 percent, and some say even by all 50. Snake hunters often use this.
It is interesting that live snakes are also sold by the meter. Snake traders charge zoos for small and medium-sized pythons from 80 pfennig to one mark for every centimeter. The New York Zoological Society announced many years ago that it would pay 20 thousand marks to anyone who brought a live anaconda over ten meters long; however, no one has yet been able to earn this tempting amount.
And yet it is quite possible that such giants exist or existed until very recently. The weight of such an animal should be quite impressive; Thus, the Asian reticulated python measures 8.8 meters and weighs 115 kilograms. It’s no wonder that such a colossus, living in the thicket of a virgin forest, is not so easy to defeat without a whole horde of helpers. And then you still need to be able to deliver it unharmed to the airfield or port.
The record length of the hieroglyphic python (Python sebae), widespread in Africa, is 9.8 meters. The Indian or tiger python (Python molurus) reaches 6.6 meters, the East Asian reticulated python (Python reticulatus) - either 8.4 meters or 10 meters, depending on which source you believe. A little smaller than the amethyst python.
So, in fact, we have already listed all six giants of the snake world: four oviparous pythons - natives of the Old World and two viviparous boas - of the New. Among the 2,500 species of snakes that inhabit Earth, is there some more whole line other species of boas and pythons, but they are much smaller.
Giant snakes are not poisonous. Unlike the fat giants of the snake kingdom Poisonous snakes(for example, the African mamba, sometimes reaching four meters, and even longer - King Cobra) thinner and slimmer.
It takes a snake a lot of time to reach its enormous size. The eight-meter reticulated python living at the Pittsburgh Zoo grew by only 25 centimeters in a year. The older a snake gets, the slower it grows.
By appearance It is completely impossible to determine whether a snake is a female or a male. A pair of hieroglyphic pythons, which arrived at the New York Zoo at the age of one, grew at the same rate for the first six to seven years, but then the female began to noticeably lag in growth. The fact is that during this time she began to fast every year for six months: during the maturation of the eggs and when she warmed them, curled up around them.
We don’t know to what age giant snakes can live in the wild. No one has ever ringed them in their habitats, as has been done for decades, for example, with migratory birds. We can judge their age only from data obtained from zoos. The anaconda lived the longest at the Washington Zoo - 28 years (from 1899 to 1927). One of the boas lived in England at the Bristol Zoo for 23 years and 3 months, and the hieroglyphic python reached the age of eighteen there. Tiger python at the San Diego Zoo (California) lived to be 22 years and 9 months, and two East Asian reticulated pythons - one in London and the other in Paris - died at the age of 21 years.
The giants of the snake kingdom are the only large animals on Earth that do not have a voice, like, in fact, all other snakes. IN best case scenario they may hiss. Snakes are not only mute, but also deaf. They do not perceive sound vibrations in the air - they do not have ears for this, like other animals. But they perfectly perceive any, even the most insignificant, shaking of the soil or litter on which they rest.
In addition, these deaf-mute giants also have poor vision. Their eyes are devoid of movable eyelids, and the transparent leathery film that protects the eye during each molt is separated along with all the skin and removed, like glass from a watch. The snake eye lacks the muscles of the iris, therefore the pupil cannot contract in bright light and dilate in dim light. The snake barely reacts to changes in the lighting of the eyes: the lens in it cannot bend, like ours, which deprives snakes of the opportunity to carefully examine objects located at close or far distances at will. To look at anything, the snake has to move its entire head first and then back. Perhaps all these are very useful properties (necessary, for example, for swimming and especially for looking at various items under water), but, by God, much more advanced eyes are found in the animal world.
Since the python, like other snakes, does not close its eyes during sleep, it is always very difficult to determine whether it is sleeping or awake. Some snake researchers argue that a sleeping snake faces downwards, meaning its pupil is at the bottom edge of the eye; others dispute this claim.
The immobility of snake eyes gave rise to the widely repeated fairy tale that snakes supposedly hypnotize, as if paralyzing their prey with their gaze. Frogs, lizards or small rodents do sometimes sit completely still in the presence of a giant boa constrictor, but this is explained for various reasons: sometimes they simply do not notice the danger, and sometimes they freeze with fear; such freezing brings them a certain benefit, since the snake does not distinguish a motionless victim. After all, it is only when the frog runs away that the snake overtakes it.
How, after all, do these deaf-mute and, moreover, short-sighted giants find food for themselves? It turns out that they have developed sensory organs that we do not possess. For example, they unmistakably sense heat from a long distance. The snake senses a human hand already at a distance of thirty centimeters. Therefore, it is quite easy for silently crawling snakes to find even those warm-blooded animals that are carefully hidden in shelters. So that their own breathing does not interfere with their breathing, some of them (for example, pythons) have nostrils facing upward and backward.
But the sense of smell is most developed in snakes. Quite surprisingly, the organ of smell is located in their mouth, on the palate, and necessary information he is provided with a tongue that extracts various fine particles. Thus, snakes do not need daylight; they can crawl in the tracks of their prey with equal success both day and night.
Once, not far from the Serengeti, my son Michael and I came across a huge hieroglyphic python, reaching three to four meters in length. We decided to take him with us. By the way, giant snakes, if they are not holding on to a tree or tangled in bushes, are not that difficult to catch. In an hour they can travel no more than one and a half kilometers - if they suddenly have the desire to crawl for an hour. Giant snakes move completely differently than their small relatives. They move forward, wriggling with their whole body, while in a giant snake the abdominal scales are used for this purpose. The scales are set in motion by muscles extending from the ribs (the ribs themselves remain motionless), causing it to move forward and backward like the small scoops of an excavator.
At that time we did not yet have much experience in handling snakes and therefore at first we showed extreme caution when guiding the python with spears. But in the end, we still decided to grab the snake by the tail, and it didn’t even try to attack us. We managed to stuff her into a bag, which we tied and put under a cot in our tent for the night. Unfortunately, the next morning the bag was empty. Huge snake Still managed to free myself. However, from the trail she left, it was easy to find out where she crawled. This trail was straight, distinct and wide, as if someone had rolled a car tire.
Not a single snake, including poisonous ones, is able to catch up with a running person. But giant snakes can swim well, much better than other land animals. As for the anaconda, it can be classified as an aquatic rather than a terrestrial animal.
Snakes and the sea don't care. Thus, one boa constrictor (Constriktor) was carried by the current 320 kilometers from the South American coast and washed up on the island of St. Vincent, where he arrived in good spirits.
When the Krakatoa volcano erupted in 1888, all life on the island of the same name was destroyed. Biologists observed how, over the subsequent years and decades, various lichens, plants and animals gradually reappeared here. So, the first reptiles to appear there were rock pythons, which by 1908 again took possession of the island.
The giant snakes have not yet completely turned into round ropes, as happened with other representatives of the snake tribe. Boas and pythons, like us, still have a pair of lungs, while in most other snakes the left lung has disappeared, and the right has greatly elongated and expanded noticeably. Giant snakes have small remains of pelvic and hip bones. But only two pitiful claws remained from the outside of the hind legs - to the right and to the left of the anus.
How do such slow giants manage to catch their prey? It should be said from the very beginning that the statement that they knock a person or any animal unconscious with a blow to their head is absolutely false. The head of these giant monsters not particularly hard, and in any case softer than ours. The snake itself would not be too pleased to use it for boxing. In addition, the attack of a giant snake is by no means as lightning fast as it is imagined. The force with which a snake weighing 125 kilograms attacks a victim is no greater than the force with which a dog weighing 20 kilograms attacks. Of course, some frail, unathletic European might fall from such a push. But a more or less dexterous man is quite capable of handling a four-meter boa constrictor alone, at least if he manages to stay on his feet; he can pull down the snake coils entwined around him with a few energetic jerks.
For a snake, it is much more important not to hit its head, but to grab the victim with its teeth. To do this, she opens her mouth to the limit. U reticulated python in the mouth there are a hundred back-curved teeth arranged in six rows. Therefore, if he managed to grab at least a finger, it is not so easy to pull it back. To do this, you need to try to unclench the snake’s jaws and first stick your hand even further into the mouth, and then pull it out.
Only when the snake has firmly grabbed the victim with its teeth does it begin to wrap its coils around it. Therefore, those who have to deal with giant snakes should always remember that they need to be grabbed only by the “scruff” - behind the head, so that they cannot bite.
Please take a closer look at the film footage or photographs that capture the “struggle” of a person with giant snake who allegedly strangles her victim. You will almost certainly notice that the “victim” has grabbed the snake by the throat. In such cases, the person himself wraps the snake around himself and then plays out the whole scene of a frantic struggle.
But even if the snake managed to grab its victim with its teeth and wrap it in several rings, this does not mean that it can “crush all its bones.” Giant snakes, even if they weigh more than a hundred kilograms, do not at all have the remarkable strength that is attributed to them. After all, the larger and heavier the animal, the less strength it has per kilogram of body weight. Thus, a louse, taking into account its weight, is 10 thousand times stronger than an elephant. And smaller snakes can squeeze and strangle a suitable victim much more strongly than giant snakes can squeeze their own.
Giant snakes kill not by crushing bones, but by strangulation. They squeeze the chest of their victim so much that she is unable to breathe air into her lungs. It is possible that prolonged compression may paralyze the heart. Snake rings, coiled around the victim's torso, act more like a rubber gut or rubber bandage than a strong<анат. Раздавить таким способом твердый костяк абсолютно невозможно. Поэтому когда в некоторых сообщениях о нападении змей фигурируют раздавленные человеческие черепа, то заранее можно твердо сказать, что это досужий вымысел. Человеческий череп достаточно твердый орешек, и мягкими, эластичными предметами его не расколешь!
My colleague Dr. Gustav Lederer, who directed our exotarium for forty years, carefully examined three pigs, three rabbits and three rats that had been killed but not yet swallowed by giant snakes. No broken bones were found in the victims. But in the already swallowed prey there were broken bones.
Giant snakes are kept in many zoos around the world and generally do not show any aggression as long as they are left alone. They are even quite easy to tame. Pythons living in the wild, when they are attacked or want to be grabbed, defend themselves only by trying to bite, and almost never try to throw their rings at the enemy; they do this only with prey that they are going to swallow.
In zoos, there are sometimes circumstances in which force must be used against a snake (for example, when moving a newly arrived resident into a terrarium or when veterinary intervention is necessary). To hold the snake, people are placed in this way: for every linear meter of the snake there is one person who must hold his part tightly, under no circumstances letting go of it.
I've been asking everywhere about any case where a snake in a zoo killed someone, but until now I had never heard of it. True, I was told that in a Russian animal sales company several decades ago, a seven- or eight-meter reticulated python wrapped itself around the senior servant Siegfried and “broke several of his ribs.”
One former dancer, who once performed dances with snakes, told the servants of our Frankfurt Zoo that one of the snakes once squeezed her so hard that she broke two ribs. But in order for a slender girl to break two ribs, no supernatural forces are required. For example, one day one of my sons, in a fit, hugged his bride so tenderly that something crunched inside her. It turned out that he broke her rib...
Although giant boas, as already mentioned, can rarely be tamed, nevertheless, the snakes with which dancers perform in various variety shows and circuses do not necessarily have to be tame. In order to wrap snakes around your shoulders and waist during a dance without any risk, it is enough to cool them down before the performance, then you can do almost anything with them. These cold-blooded animals become active only after they have warmed up thoroughly.
Of course, dragging snakes around on tour, especially in winter, or keeping them in poorly heated stage restrooms or hotel rooms does not do them any good.
They do not survive such a life for long and die. Therefore, dancers have to frequently renew their supply of pythons.
It is not true that giant snakes have the habit of hanging from a tree by holding the end of their tail to a branch and thus catching their prey. The statement that they pre-wet the dead animal with their saliva to facilitate swallowing is also incorrect. This misconception is based on the fact that snakes are often forced to regurgitate swallowed prey. This happens for various reasons: either the prey turns out to be prohibitively large, or when swallowed it takes an awkward position, or it has horns that prevent it from moving along the esophagus, and sometimes someone simply scared the snake, and this prevented it from calmly coping with the prey. Of course, a burped animal is abundantly moistened with saliva, which led people who accidentally saw it to misinterpret it.
Even very large and heavy snakes are able to crawl into relatively small loopholes, narrow windows or cracks in a fence. In this way, they usually sneak into chicken coops, pigsties or barns where goats are kept. And so, when they, having swallowed their victim whole, try to crawl back into the same hole from which they came, a huge thickening on the body does not allow them to get out, and they find themselves trapped. Here, it would seem, use your ability to regurgitate swallowed prey to free yourself from captivity! But snakes, as it turned out, “don’t have enough intelligence” for this.
Similar cases have been described quite often.
Incredible facts
Scientist Paul Rosolie(Paul Rosolie) recently announced his determination to become prey for the giant anaconda.
On the air of the program " Eaten alive"Discovery TV channel, a 27-year-old naturalist, dressed in a special suit, was supposed to swallow a 6-meter anaconda.
Anacondas of this size can easily eat large mammals such as jaguars, deer and pigs.
Experts have developed special suit, which would protect a person from the teeth of a snake, as well as pressure and stomach acid. In addition, he was equipped with a camera and microphone to communicate with the team, and the scientist swallowed a capsule that monitored his vital signs.
Anaconda ate a man (video)
The only thing that experts could not predict was that the anaconda would not be at all interested in eating a person dressed in such a costume. Moreover, when Rosolie tried to approach the anaconda for the first time, it got scared and tried to crawl away.
Only, when the naturalist decided to provoke the animal, the snake attacked, squeezing its victim.
The snake coiled itself around a man covered in pig blood to make himself more appetizing to the predator. The anaconda began to swallow his head and as it squeezed, Rosolie began to feel his arm breaking.
The naturalist was not ready for such a turn and immediately called for help.
In the film, Rosolie compares the strength of an anaconda to the strength of an entire team of horses. " The last thing I remembered was her mouth open, and then everything went black", he said.
Many the audience was disappointed long-awaited filming, and environmentalists expressed their outrage, considering the experiment cruel.
However, as the naturalist himself explained, the purpose of the stunt was to raise funds to save anaconda habitats in South America, and the animal was not harmed.
The biggest anaconda
· Anaconda is considered the heaviest snake in the world. Its weight can reach 250 kg, which is almost 3 times the average weight of a person.
· The largest anaconda can reach about 9 meters, and the average length is 6 meters.
· Anacondas are not poisonous, but they are skilled predators. They hunt their prey (pigs, tapirs, caimans and fish, sometimes jaguars) using vision and heat sensors.
· Anacondas attack in a matter of seconds, and as soon as the animal is in the grip, they wrap themselves in rings around it, suffocating or crushing the victim.
· Anacondas typically live in wetlands and rivers, and they are excellent swimmers.
· Exists 4 types of anacondas: Green anaconda, yellow anaconda, spotted anaconda and the newly discovered Bolivian anaconda. They all live in South America.
Anaconda is the largest reptile that lives on the planet. These huge snakes cause, if not panic fear, then outright panic. Weight 150 kilograms and length 10 meters - these are not fantastic fragments from an adventure book, these are real facts. What is the largest anaconda in the world recorded today, and what reward awaits the brave man who catches a snake more than 10 meters?
Giants of the animal world: descendants of ancient snakes
Ancient books mention powerful and great snakes that are capable of swallowing a person and even digesting a healthy bull. Evolutionary biologists are still debating the origins of reptiles.
Some believe that the snake originated from reptiles, while others refute this fact, expressing an opinion about the relationship between the snake known today and the ancient aquatic descendant. The huge ancient fossils on display in museums are comparable to the size of a school bus. The findings and assumptions of many biologists and scientists still remain the subject of debate and hypotheses that still await scientific confirmation or refutation.
Big secrets: what is known about anacondas today?
Thanks to existing facts, myths turn into frightening reality. A deadly predator with powerful muscles, a forked tongue for tracking down prey and strong, curved teeth for capturing food, this is the largest carnivorous reptile on the planet, the anaconda.
The snake's habitat is in hard-to-reach places in Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay. Low-flow areas of the Amazon River and lakes of the Orinoco Basin provide anacondas with the opportunity to catch even cattle. Snakes lead an aquatic lifestyle, but can easily move on land.
The lack of information and little study of the existing population of snakes does not provide the opportunity to more accurately establish some facts: how many individuals live in the world, what is their life expectancy in the wild, and how realistic are the statements about the existence of individuals larger than 20 meters. It is known that females are three times larger than males, their size and mass allow them to capture larger prey, and the eaten porcupine can be digested for about a week.
There are three known species of anacondas:
- giant anaconda;
- ordinary;
- green.
The snake lies in wait for the victim, as a rule, near a pond. Favorite delicacies include iguanas, waterfowl and turtles. Cases of cannibalism are a characteristic feature for snakes. At the zoo, an anaconda strangled and ate a 3-meter python, which was in the same terrarium with it.
Anaconda and man
Man and his way of life attract reptiles. Cases have been recorded when the female showed interest in small children, dogs and pets. The reptile is considered dangerous when meeting a person in the water. Here her agility and strength doubles. While on land the anaconda is quite apathetic towards humans. Cases when an anaconda attacks a person are rare and are considered an exception rather than a pattern. When meeting a person, the anaconda opens its large mouth, trying to scare. The snake perceives a person as a predator, not food.
Cases of encounters between a man and an anaconda described in books are classified as “legends.” Since there are no reliable facts and documents confirming the existence of a snake larger than 10 meters. A common story, described in detail in books, concerns 1944, when geologists caught an anaconda measuring 11 meters and 43 centimeters in the jungles of Colombia. Until now, reptiles with these sizes have not been found. A special reward of $50,000 (established in America) awaits the brave person who catches and delivers an anaconda measuring more than 9 meters and 12 centimeters.
Huge death machine - South American anaconda
The anaconda's punching force is like that of a heavy boxer, a group of powerful muscles that wrap around the victim and kill without the slightest drop of poison. The victim dies from suffocation. The main advantage of a reptile is its weight and muscles; by wrapping itself around the victim, the snake does not allow the victim to breathe. After the anaconda feels that the victim is being strangled, it is time to eat. Large and curved teeth swallow and push food, and the reptile's throat stretches to impressive sizes at the moment of swallowing.
The largest anaconda in the world lives today at the Zoological Society of New York. Length and weight are listed as: 9 meters in length and 130 kg live weight. Statements about the capture of a specimen larger than 15 meters today have no confirmation. In nature, anacondas are found 4-5 meters long. Large reptiles are rare.
Weaknesses of the Intimidating Reptile
The natural habitat for anacondas is ponds with large thickets. Here the hunt for prey takes place, stocking up on the required amount of fat for bearing offspring. Increased appetite is typical for anacondas during the premarital period. The female absorbs a large amount of food, because during pregnancy (7 months) she will not eat food. Bearing offspring for some snakes ends tragically: death from starvation at the end of the term is a common occurrence.
The process of eating food is also considered a dangerous moment for the life of a reptile. After all, at this moment the snake is defenseless against a potential enemy, and if another predator sees it while swallowing food, most likely the snake itself will become a victim. If we take into account such a distinctive feature as the duration of ingestion of more than 5 hours, then there is plenty of time for the snake to be absorbed by a predator. The reptile becomes a victim of an attack by a jaguar, caiman or a school of piranhas in a pond.
Queen of Snakes: Interesting Facts
Anaconda is a snake that was considered little studied until the 20th century. Scientists, trying to find out some of the features of the reptile’s life and activity, moved for several years to live in places where it aggregated. Every new fact is news in the world of science.
Today the following is known about the anaconda:
- the female is larger and stronger than the male;
- scientific name – Eunectes;
- anaconda is the most “water-loving” snake;
- the snake strangles the victim until it feels the heartbeat;
- the teeth serve as a means of capturing the victim, the main power of the reptile is its muscles;
- females give birth to live fry, while other reptiles lay eggs;
- number of descendants – 25-30;
- from one brood, only 20-30% of individuals survive up to a year;
- at the beginning of the mating season, the female anaconda spreads a smell in the air that attracts the male;
- eyes and nostrils are located at the top of the head;
- growth does not stop throughout life;
- life expectancy in captivity is 5 years, in nature – 35-40;
- acids can dissolve even large bones;
- After a reptile defecates, it is impossible to tell which animal was eaten.
The largest anaconda in the world, which was caught and measured by a person, is not considered an indicator. After all, it is known that the length of a reptile in the wild can reach 15 meters or more. Facts known to scientists change the understanding of the real parameters of this giant every year. Perhaps in a few years a new record for the longest snake in the world will be set. After all, climate changes on the planet and a decrease in the number of reservoirs only contribute to the growth of this population. Every year the length of the anaconda increases.
Bernard Grzimek.
From the book “Animals are my life.”
Can a snake swallow a person?
“There is no doubt that the ancients meant by their dragons our modern giant snakes. The amazing size of these animals, their considerable strength and the general fear of snakes in general make the exaggerations of which the ancients were guilty very clear.<...>Over time, human imagination endowed dragons with even greater richness, and from the incomprehensible tales of eastern people, images gradually grew for which a reasonable person searched in vain for originals, because information about the giant snakes themselves was almost lost. The more stubbornly uneducated people stuck to the favorite description of a large dragon or a gorynych serpent, spewed onto the earth for the destruction of the whole world "(A. E. Bram)
A giant twenty-meter or even thirty-meter snake, hiding on a branch, lies in wait for its prey. From a blow to the crown of her head, hard as a stone, a man taken by surprise falls almost unconscious to the ground, and the snake, with a lightning-fast throw, rushes at him and wraps him in its coils, breaking all his bones in an iron embrace. This happens in cases where brave liberators who cut the snake into pieces with knives do not arrive in time to help...
Descriptions of such heartbreaking scenes can be found in many adventure novels and even in other reports of expeditions to the unexplored tropics.
Do giant snakes really attack humans? Are they capable of swallowing us? There are hardly any other animals that are fantasized about as much as pythons, anacondas or boa constrictors. And therefore, it is precisely with regard to these animals that even a specialist finds it very difficult in each individual case to decide what is true and what is fiction.
This starts with determining the length. Even serious travelers have claimed that anacondas 30 or even 40 meters long are found in the Amazon forests. But they, as a rule, kept silent about whether they measured these snakes themselves or know this from eyewitness accounts.
Anaconda is the same boa constrictor, only South American. It is she who is considered the largest and strongest among all the giant snakes in the world. Another South American snake, also no less famous and also a boa constrictor (Constrictor), reaches a length of “only” five to six meters.
It must be said that measuring a snake is not so easy. It is most convenient to do this, of course, when it stretches to its full length. But for a large snake such a position is completely unnatural; some of them are simply not able to accept it - they need to bend at least the very end of their tail to the side in order to have support. Such a strong animal will not voluntarily allow itself to be straightened for measurement. In a dead snake, the body usually becomes so ossified that it is even more difficult to measure. If you judge the length of snakes by their skins that go on sale, then it is very easy to fall into a mistake: after all, this skin is sold by the meter, and therefore, while it is fresh, it can be stretched in length by 20 percent, and some say even by all 50. Snake hunters often use this.
It is interesting that live snakes are also sold by the meter. Snake traders charge zoos for small and medium-sized pythons from 80 pfennig to one mark for every centimeter. The New York Zoological Society announced many years ago that it would pay 20 thousand marks to anyone who brought a live anaconda over ten meters long; however, no one has yet been able to earn this tempting amount.
And yet it is quite possible that such giants exist or existed until very recently. The weight of such an animal should be quite impressive; Thus, the Asian reticulated python measures 8.8 meters and weighs 115 kilograms. It’s no wonder that such a colossus, living in the thicket of a virgin forest, is not so easy to defeat without a whole horde of helpers. And then you still need to be able to deliver it unharmed to the airfield or port.
The record length of the hieroglyphic python (Python sebae), widespread in Africa, is 9.8 meters. The Indian or tiger python (Python molurus) reaches 6.6 meters, the East Asian reticulated python (Python reticulatus) - either 8.4 meters or 10 meters, depending on which source you believe. The amethyst python is a little smaller. So, in fact, we have already listed all six giants of the snake world: four oviparous pythons - natives of the Old World and two viviparous boas - of the New. Among the 2,500 species of snakes that inhabit the globe, there are a number of other species of boas and pythons, but they are much smaller.
Giant snakes are not poisonous. Unlike the fat giants of the snake kingdom, poisonous snakes (for example, the African mamba, sometimes reaching four meters, and the even longer king cobra) are thinner and slimmer.
It takes a snake a lot of time to reach its enormous size. The eight-meter reticulated python living at the Pittsburgh Zoo grew by only 25 centimeters in a year. The older a snake gets, the slower it grows.
It is completely impossible to determine from the appearance of a snake whether it is a female or a male. A pair of hieroglyphic pythons, which arrived at the New York Zoo at the age of one, grew at the same rate for the first six to seven years, but then the female began to noticeably lag in growth. The fact is that during this time she began to fast every year for six months: during the maturation of the eggs and when she warmed them, curled up around them.
We don’t know to what age giant snakes can live in the wild. No one has ever ringed them in their habitats, as has been done for decades, for example, with migratory birds. We can judge their age only from data obtained from zoos. The anaconda lived the longest at the Washington Zoo - 28 years (from 1899 to 1927). One of the boas lived in England at the Bristol Zoo for 23 years and 3 months, and the hieroglyphic python reached the age of eighteen there. A tiger python at the San Diego Zoo (California) lived to be 22 years and 9 months, and two East Asian reticulated pythons - one in London and the other in Paris - died at the age of 21.
The giants of the snake kingdom are the only large animals on Earth that do not have a voice, like, in fact, all other snakes. At best they can hiss. Snakes are not only mute, but also deaf. They do not perceive sound vibrations in the air - they do not have ears for this, like other animals. But they perfectly perceive any, even the most insignificant, shaking of the soil or litter on which they rest.
In addition, these deaf-mute giants also have poor vision. Their eyes are devoid of movable eyelids, and the transparent leathery film that protects the eye during each molt is separated along with all the skin and removed, like glass from a watch. The snake eye lacks the muscles of the iris, therefore the pupil cannot contract in bright light and dilate in dim light. The snake barely reacts to changes in the lighting of the eyes: the lens in it cannot bend, like ours, which deprives snakes of the opportunity to carefully examine objects located at close or far distances at will. To look at anything, the snake has to move its entire head first and then back. Perhaps all these are very useful properties (necessary, for example, for swimming and especially for looking at various objects under water), but, by God, much more improved eyes are found in the animal world.
Since the python, like other snakes, does not close its eyes during sleep, it is always very difficult to determine whether it is sleeping or awake. Some snake researchers argue that a sleeping snake faces downwards, meaning its pupil is at the bottom edge of the eye; others dispute this claim.
The immobility of snake eyes gave rise to the widely repeated fairy tale that snakes supposedly hypnotize, as if paralyzing their prey with their gaze. Frogs, lizards or small rodents do sometimes sit completely motionless in the presence of a giant boa constrictor, but this is explained by different reasons: sometimes they simply do not notice the danger, and sometimes they become numb with fear; such freezing brings them a certain benefit, since the snake does not distinguish a motionless victim. After all, it is only when the frog runs away that the snake overtakes it.
How, after all, do these deaf-mute and, moreover, short-sighted giants find food for themselves? It turns out that they have developed sensory organs that we do not possess. For example, they unmistakably sense heat from a long distance. The snake senses a human hand already at a distance of thirty centimeters. Therefore, it is quite easy for silently crawling snakes to find even those warm-blooded animals that are carefully hidden in shelters. So that their own breathing does not interfere with their breathing, some of them (for example, pythons) have nostrils facing upward and backward.
But the sense of smell is most developed in snakes. It is quite surprising that the organ of smell is located in their mouth, on the palate, and the necessary information is delivered to it by the tongue, which extracts various small particles from the air. Thus, snakes do not need daylight; they can crawl in the tracks of their prey with equal success both day and night.
Once, not far from the Serengeti, my son Michael and I came across a huge hieroglyphic python, reaching three to four meters in length. We decided to take him with us. By the way, giant snakes, if they are not holding on to a tree or tangled in bushes, are not that difficult to catch. In an hour they can travel no more than one and a half kilometers - if they suddenly have the desire to crawl for an hour. Giant snakes move completely differently than their small relatives. They move forward, wriggling with their whole body, while in a giant snake the abdominal scales are used for this purpose. The scales are set in motion by muscles extending from the ribs (the ribs themselves remain motionless), causing it to move forward and backward like the small scoops of an excavator.
At that time we did not yet have much experience in handling snakes and therefore at first we showed extreme caution when guiding the python with spears. But in the end, we still decided to grab the snake by the tail, and it didn’t even try to attack us. We managed to stuff her into a bag, which we tied and put under a cot in our tent for the night. Unfortunately, the next morning the bag was empty. The huge snake still managed to free itself. However, from the trail she left, it was easy to find out where she crawled. This trail was straight, distinct and wide, as if someone had rolled a car tire.
Not a single snake, including poisonous ones, is able to catch up with a running person. But giant snakes can swim well, much better than other land animals. As for the anaconda, it can be classified as an aquatic rather than a terrestrial animal.
Snakes and the sea don't care. Thus, one boa constrictor (Constriktor) was carried by the current 320 kilometers from the South American coast and washed up on the island of St. Vincent, where he arrived in good spirits.
When the Krakatoa volcano erupted in 1888, all life on the island of the same name was destroyed. Biologists observed how, over the subsequent years and decades, various lichens, plants and animals gradually reappeared here. So, the first reptiles to appear there were rock pythons, which by 1908 again took possession of the island.
The giant snakes have not yet completely turned into round ropes, as happened with other representatives of the snake tribe. Boas and pythons, like us, still have a pair of lungs, while in most other snakes the left lung has disappeared, and the right has greatly elongated and expanded noticeably. The giant snakes have small remains of pelvic and hip bones. But only two pitiful claws remained from the outside of the hind legs - to the right and to the left of the anus.
How do such slow giants manage to catch their prey? It should be said from the very beginning that the statement that they knock a person or any animal unconscious with a blow to their head is absolutely false. The heads of these giant monsters are not particularly hard, and in any case softer than ours. The snake itself would not be too pleased to use it for boxing. In addition, the attack of a giant snake is by no means as lightning fast as it is imagined. The force with which a snake weighing 125 kilograms attacks a victim is no greater than the force with which a dog weighing 20 kilograms attacks.
Of course, some frail, unathletic European might fall from such a push. But a more or less dexterous man is quite capable of handling a four-meter boa constrictor alone, at least if he manages to stay on his feet; he can pull down the snake coils entwined around him with a few energetic jerks.
For a snake, it is much more important not to hit its head, but to grab the victim with its teeth. To do this, she opens her mouth to the limit. The reticulated python has a hundred back-curved teeth arranged in six rows in its mouth. Therefore, if he managed to grab at least a finger, it is not so easy to pull it back. To do this, you need to try to open the snake’s jaws and first stick your hand even further into the mouth, and then pull it out. Only when the snake has firmly grabbed the victim with its teeth does it begin to wrap its rings around it. Therefore, those who have to deal with giant snakes should always remember that they need to be grabbed only by the “scruff” - behind the head, so that they cannot bite.
Please take a closer look at the film footage or photographs depicting the “struggle” of a man with a giant snake, which allegedly strangles its victim. You will almost certainly notice that the “victim” has grabbed the snake by the throat. In such cases, the person himself wraps the snake around himself and then plays out the whole scene of a frantic struggle.
But even if the snake managed to grab its victim with its teeth and wrap it in several rings, this does not mean that it can “crush all its bones.” Giant snakes, even if they weigh more than a hundred kilograms, do not at all have the remarkable strength that is attributed to them. After all, the larger and heavier the animal, the less strength it has per kilogram of body weight. Thus, a louse, given its weight, is 10 thousand times stronger than an elephant. And smaller snakes can squeeze and strangle a suitable victim much more strongly than giant snakes can squeeze their own.
Giant snakes kill not by crushing bones, but by strangulation. They squeeze the chest of their victim so much that she is unable to breathe air into her lungs. It is possible that prolonged compression may paralyze the heart. Snake rings, coiled around the victim's torso, act more like a rubber gut or rubber bandage than a strong
My colleague Dr. Gustav Lederer, who directed our exotarium for forty years, carefully examined three pigs, three rabbits and three rats that had been killed but not yet swallowed by giant snakes. No broken bones were found in the victims. But in the already swallowed prey there were broken bones.
Giant snakes are kept in many zoos around the world and generally do not show any aggression as long as they are left alone. They are even quite easy to tame. Pythons living in the wild, when they are attacked or want to be grabbed, defend themselves only by trying to bite, and almost never try to throw their rings at the enemy; they do this only with prey that they are going to swallow.
In zoos, there are sometimes circumstances in which force must be used against a snake (for example, when moving a newly arrived resident into a terrarium or when veterinary intervention is necessary). To hold the snake, people are placed in this way: for every linear meter of the snake there is one person who must hold his part tightly, under no circumstances letting go of it.
I've been asking everywhere about any case where a snake in a zoo killed someone, but until now I had never heard of it. True, I was told that in a Russian animal sales company several decades ago, a seven- or eight-meter reticulated python wrapped itself around the senior attendant Siegfried and “broke several of his ribs.” One former dancer who once performed the snake dance told the attendants of our Frankfurt Zoo, that one of the snakes once squeezed her so hard - ~: broke two ribs. But in order for a slender girl to break two ribs, no supernatural forces are required. For example, one day one of my sons, in a fit, hugged his bride so tenderly that something crunched inside her. It turned out that he broke her rib...
Although giant boas, as already mentioned, can rarely be tamed, nevertheless, the snakes with which dancers perform in various variety shows and circuses do not necessarily have to be tame. In order to wrap snakes around your shoulders and waist during a dance without any risk, it is enough to cool them down before the performance, then you can do almost anything with them. These cold-blooded animals become active only after they have warmed up thoroughly.
Of course, dragging snakes around on tour, especially in winter, or keeping them in poorly heated stage restrooms or hotel rooms does not do them any good.
They do not survive such a life for long and die. Therefore, dancers have to frequently renew their supply of pythons.
It is not true that giant snakes have the habit of hanging from a tree by holding the end of their tail to a branch and thus catching their prey. The statement that they pre-wet the dead animal with their saliva to facilitate swallowing is also incorrect. This misconception is based on the fact that snakes are often forced to regurgitate swallowed prey. This happens for various reasons: either the prey turns out to be prohibitively large, or when swallowed it takes an awkward position, or it has horns that prevent it from moving along the esophagus, and sometimes someone simply scared the snake, and this prevented it from calmly coping with the prey. Of course, a burped animal is abundantly moistened with saliva, which led people who accidentally saw it to misinterpret it.
Even very large and heavy snakes are able to crawl into relatively small loopholes, narrow windows or cracks in a fence. In this way, they usually sneak into chicken coops, pigsties or barns where goats are kept. And so, when they, having swallowed their victim whole, try to crawl back into the same hole from which they came, a huge thickening on the body does not allow them to get out, and they find themselves trapped. Here, it would seem, use your ability to regurgitate swallowed prey to free yourself from captivity! But snakes, as it turned out, “don’t have enough intelligence” for this.
Similar cases have been described quite often.
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