Almost 10 meters long and weighing three centners. All this is the most big snake anaconda. Photos and videos on our website will show you that, for the most part, fear has big eyes. This snake is not such a monster.
Anaconda - the largest snake in the world Anaconda (Eunectes) is the heaviest snake in the world, and a “good swimmer”.
Belongs to the class of reptiles, order Squamate, family - boa constrictors, genus - anaconda. This is a reptile creature that has no legs. It is believed that the predecessors of snakes were primitive lizards that appeared eighty million years ago. During the period of evolution, they lost their limbs. Apparently, that’s why they are considered relatives. The main difference between snakes is the ability to move the lower jaw so that it becomes possible to swallow objects much larger than their head.
9 meters long, 250 kilograms. Meet the anaconda. The world's largest snake. Fiction and reality
Thanks to Hollywood and Jennifer Lopez. Today, probably only very lazy people have not watched the famous film “Anaconda”. In that film, the snake is presented as a terrible man-eating monster. In fact, this is very far from reality. Like attacking a person from a treetop. Anacondas are too heavy for this kind of hunting.
There are 4 types of anacondas.
- (Eunectes beniensis) - Bolivia
- (Eunectes deschauenseei) - Brazil
- Green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) – Amazon and Orinoco river basins
- (Eunectes notaeus) - Argentina and Paraguay.
What does Eunectes mean?
Eunectes is translated from Greek as “good swimmer.”
Anacondas live exclusively in South America:
- Argentina
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Paraguay
- Venezuela
- Trinidad
The amazing size of this snake
Anaconda is considered the most large snake worldwide. The average length of its body can reach 10 m. The weight of these creeping creatures is up to 250 kg. The parameters of the largest anaconda that was caught by a person were: 11 m 43 cm.
What kind of anaconda is she?
Its body is colored brownish-green with brownish spots. Anacondas live in tropical forests in the south of America. They are comfortable in damp riverine forests and swamps, where the most best places for a great hunt. Anaconda boa constrictor most spends its time in bodies of water, camouflaging itself in gray-green waters where brown leaves and algae float. In such places, the snake is inconspicuous and, hiding, waits for the victim going to the watering hole.
Looks like a pretty cute face Anaconda - absolutely not poisonous snake. Its main weapon is the ability to strangle prey by wrapping itself in numerous rings around it. She grabs the victim with sharp teeth, twists its body around it, tightening the animal’s chest until it stops breathing. After this procedure, the anaconda turns the prey with its head towards itself and swallows it, “putting it on” the victim’s carcass in the form of a stocking.
Anacondas have one more feature. Thanks to the presence of nasal valves on the muzzle, it can dive under water. The snake hunts various medium-sized ungulates and also feeds on waterfowl and domestic animals that come to the watering hole.
Anaconda - classification.
- Suborder: Snakes
- Family: pseudopods
- Subfamily: boa constrictors
- Type: Eunectes
The most important difference between an anaconda and a boa constrictor is that it is a viviparous snake!
You've probably heard horror stories about anacondas more than once or watched terrifying footage From the movies. But in reality, these cases are extremely rare. The anaconda does not attack people because it knows that prey of this size may be too much for it to handle. However, there are documents in which there are documented cases of a teenager being killed by a snake. Amazon hunters, as soon as they see an anaconda, lose no opportunity to kill it.
Strangler snakes are also called false-legged snakes because they have rudiments hind limbs in the form of claws on the sides of the anus. In addition, they have preserved rudiments of all three pelvic bones and hips (after all, snakes come from monitor lizards, from which they branched off in the Upper Jurassic period). They have powerful muscles as they strangle their prey before swallowing it. Their eyes have a vertical pupil.
The first subfamily, the so-called pythons, inhabit mainly Asia, especially Indochina and the Malay Archipelago. As for size, they really belong to the largest snakes in the world; some record holders reach 10 m in length.
Another subfamily is boa constrictors, whose homeland is tropical America. These include the famous boa constrictor, although rumors about its size are exaggerated; it is usually no longer than 4 meters. In addition to it, this subfamily includes a real giant - the anaconda boa constrictor, the largest specimens of which reached 11 meters. We are not talking about their thickness here, since it is not indicative: a boa constrictor that has just eaten lunch can have a colossal “carcass”, swollen from swallowed prey. In any case, the thickness at the widest point of an uneaten anaconda is comparable to the body of a man, and if it is larger, then not by much.
Boas and pythons hunt by hiding in trees, waiting for their prey. Anaconda, a snake in principle, is a water snake, although it can crawl through trees, but does not do it very willingly.
The main color of the anaconda is grayish-green with large dark brown spots of round or oblong shape, alternating in a checkerboard pattern. On the sides of the body there is a series of small light spots surrounded by a black stripe. This coloring perfectly hides the anaconda when it hides, lying in a quiet backwater, where brown leaves and tufts of algae float on the gray-green water. Favorite places anacondas - low-flow branches and creeks, oxbow lakes and lakes, swampy lowlands in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. In such secluded corners, the anaconda, lying in the water, guards its prey of various mammals that come to drink (agouti, peccaries), waterfowl, sometimes turtles and young caimans. Domestic pigs, dogs, chickens, and ducks also fall prey to the anaconda when they approach water. The anaconda often crawls ashore and takes sunbathing, but does not go far from the water. She swims well, dives and can stay under water for a long time, while her nostrils are closed with special valves.
When a reservoir dries up, the anaconda moves to neighboring ones or goes downstream of the river. In case of excessive drying, when all nearby bodies of water dry up, it buries itself in sand or silt and enters a state resembling hibernation. This only applies to areas where seasonal droughts occur. In Brazil, for example, this snake remains vigorous and active all year round.
Scary stories about anaconda cannibalism are not true. Snakes never attack prey that they cannot swallow. Single attacks on people are carried out by it, 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.
It is well known that the lower jaw of a snake consists of two halves connected by a very elastic tendon. Also, with the help of tendons, and not a stable joint, it connects to the skull, which allows the snake to stretch its mouth to incredible sizes. However, this ability is not unlimited. The head of the largest anaconda does not exceed 15 cm in diameter. No matter how it opens its mouth, neither the head nor the body of a person will squeeze through it.
As for swallowing prey “alive” by an anaconda, boas never do this at all, since they must first strangle the victim, squeezing it with their rings, as their name indicates.
Particularly colorful stories can be heard about the snake's gaze. It is sparkling, bewitching, chilling, and numbing people and animals.
All this, of course, is nonsense, but these snake eyes are already an anatomical curiosity. In fact, we don't see them at all.
Like this? “I,” an experienced person will say, “have never seen an anaconda, but I have met other snakes more than once and I know well that they have eyes, but only some dull, expressionless ones.”
This description corresponds to reality and indicates precisely that this man did not see the real eyes of the snake. The fact is that these reptiles have amazing phenomenon. Their upper and lower eyelids are fused together, resulting in their eyes being blocked from light. However, in order for them to somehow perform their functions for the benefit of the animal, the fused eyelids became transparent, as a result of which the snake looks through them, as if through glasses. Before molting, the old skin begins to separate from the body, the transparency of the eyelids sharply decreases, and then we cease to distinguish between the iris and pupils of the snake. She, for her part, also begins to see worse through these frosted “glasses.”
The anaconda's molting process often takes place underwater; in captivity you have to watch how a snake, immersed in a pool, rubs its belly against its bottom and gradually pulls off its crawl. Anaconda, like many reptiles, including snakes, is ovoviviparous, and the female brings from 28 to 42 cubs 5080 cm long, but can occasionally lay eggs. Anaconda pregnancy lasts a very long time. Once, a female caught in Brazil, in October 1928, gave birth to almost a hundred cubs, but in the Berlin Zoo and after seven months. Newborn snakes were 3/4 m long.
In captivity, these snakes do not live long, 5-6 years, the maximum recorded life expectancy in captivity is 28 years. They feed mainly on rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, but they also eat various reptiles, fish and sometimes swallow snakes. One day, a 5-meter anaconda strangled and ate a 2.5-meter dark python, which took her only 45 minutes.
The common boa constrictor is also found near human habitation, where it hunts rodents and lizards. In some areas it is even almost “domesticated” - local residents They keep boas in houses and barns, and they regularly catch rats and mice, like cats.
During the breeding season, which occurs in different time in each subspecies, the common boa constrictor bears from 15 to 64 live young, each half a meter long. In two years they grow to 2-3 m in length and become sexually mature. When kept in captivity, the common boa constrictor readily eats mice, rats, pigeons and chickens. Young boas are well tamed, adult snakes are often vicious, hissing and biting a person if handled carelessly. Boas live in captivity for about ten years, but sometimes much longer - up to 23 years.
The Madagascar boa constrictor is very close in structure to common boa constrictor and until recently was included with it in the genus Constrictor, but some anatomical differences and a separate area forced it to be separated into an independent genus.
The unusually beautiful coloring of the body with diamond-shaped spots on the back and an intricate eye-shaped pattern on the sides is complemented by an intense bluish-green metallic sheen, especially bright on the back of the body. This snake, reaching three meters in length, inhabits the forests of Madagascar, where it always stays close to water. In captivity, he willingly eats various birds; He has a very calm disposition and never uses his teeth.
Based on the book by Jan Žabiński
If you slowly drift downstream from the confluence of Abunan and Rio Negro, you can meet the triangular head of an anaconda. Her body is several feet. It squirms. This is a giant anaconda. I had to shoot her to save my life. When we came ashore, we approached the snake with great caution. We tried to measure its length. It turned out to be sixty-two feet. Such big anacondas are rare, but the tracks they leave in swamps can be up to six feet wide. All this testifies in favor of the statement of those Indians and rubber tappers who claim that anacondas can reach incredible heights. large sizes. Any invasion of anaconda habitats is like playing with death.
In almost every depression filled with water, two or three of these monsters can be found. Local Indians fearlessly hunt snakes. They, gathered in groups of up to 10 people, jump into the water to kill the anaconda with knives. And they sometimes succeed.
In almost every book about South America you can encounter an anaconda.
The anaconda hunter is slow. Most often, she lies on the bottom and only occasionally raises her head above the water to see if her prey has approached the shore. She can simply swim with the flow of the river in search of schools of fish.
Most often, the anaconda hunts fish, various mammals that come to drink, waterfowl, sometimes turtles and young caimans. She kills with her deadly embrace - she strangles the victim.
Too much growth for an anaconda is a biologically unjustified excess.
There are two types of anacondas. The second species is the southern anaconda. She lives further south normal looking and much smaller in size (limit - 3.25 meters). The anaconda is not brightly colored: a dark olive base tone, and oval black (“velvet”) spots are scattered throughout the body. U southern anaconda the main background is lighter, with yellowness.
Anaconda is a real water boa constrictor. But she hunts prey not in the water, but near the shore: she grabs animals and birds that come to drink. In some areas, anacondas regularly prey on young crocodiles (caimans).
Anacondas do not lay eggs, but give birth to live young. There are from 30 to 80 of them in one litter. And they, newborns, are 70-90 centimeters long.
Precisely because of the inaccessibility of its habitats, very little is known about the habits of the giant anaconda. Almost all the information was collected from observing these animals in zoos. It is also difficult to estimate their number in wildlife. However, apparently, this species is not in danger of extinction.
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 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.
Anaconda snake is a water boa constrictor. It is classified as a pseudopod due to a pair of small spines on the back of the body.
There is a version that the spines were inherited from the ancient ancestors of the times of lizards; they are also called the rudiments of the hind legs.
These snakes inhabit the tropics, settling near bodies of water.
She swims well and dives well; she can stay under water for a long time, closing her nostrils with special valves.
When the dry season comes, it moves to another body of water, or buries itself in the bottom silt, falling into torpor until the rains begin. Molting also occurs in water.
So what is it, anaconda? This is a fairly large snake, from 5 to 9 meters long, not poisonous. Her brain is small. There are no eyelids on the eyes. Why? Nobody knows yet.
It is difficult to monitor due to its habitat. The right and left jaws are not connected to each other, which allows her to swallow food whole.
The mouth has 100 sharp, curved teeth. Her long forked tongue brings fear not only to animals, but also to people. True, the latter do more harm to these giants, killing them.
The local population eats snake meat, they say it’s delicious, and the skin is used. Also, with the help of language, the anaconda determines what is happening around. Poking it out of her mouth, she scans the information and catches her “lunch.”
anaconda on a tree photo
The sense of smell is very well developed. By the way, its color depends on the type of snake. And there are four of them: green anaconda, spotted anaconda, yellow anaconda and Bolivian anaconda. The largest of these representatives is green anaconda. The main colors of a snake's shiny skin are brown, olive and yellow.
For example, a green anaconda has a green robe with round or oval black spots in two rows. And on the sides of the beauty there are small light spots. Such “clothing” serves as an excellent camouflage for the hostess in water where there are a lot of leaves and algae. The female is larger in size and weight than the male.
By the time of mating, the female eats up, becomes strong and fat. Males search for a female by smell, possibly using their tongue. Several gentlemen crawl in and wrap their rings around their queen, thereby forming a snake ball.
anaconda resting photo
Pregnancy lasts quite a long time (6-7 weeks) and the snake loses a lot of weight. The anaconda is ovoviviparous, giving birth to from 25 to 43 babies. Although they are babies, they are already about 80 cm long. After birth, the snakes swim away in different directions in search of food, the mother does not feed them. Of course, not all of them survive; many predators love to eat them.
Anacondas feed while waiting for them near the water. They know how to catch deftly, but for some reason they don’t really like fish. Pouncing on the victim, the anaconda begins to strangle it, and then swallows it whole. After a hearty lunch, a predator can for a long time do not eat.
Anaconda (lat. Eunectes murinus) is one of the most beloved modern monsters. Thanks to the American thriller of the same name, mentions of this huge, grayish-green, with brown spots, boa constrictor make the hair on the head quietly move even in people who have never seen (and will never see) it in person.
Anaconda is also called giant anaconda, common anaconda and a green anaconda. Europeans first heard about this representative of the pseudopod family in 1553 from the book “Chronicle of Peru” by Pedro Cieza de Leon. According to Pedro, the specimen he encountered was 20 feet (just over 6 meters) long and incredibly thick. The Spaniards, not without difficulty, killed the snake and found a whole one in its stomach.
Despite the fact that from time to time there are eyewitness accounts claiming to have seen an anaconda 10, 20, or even more meters long, it is believed that the average size of this snake is 5-6 meters, and the largest specimen lives in New York Zoological Society - its length is 9 meters and weighs 130 kg. The question arises: even if they managed to raise such a monster in captivity, then what could it be like in its own natural environment- in a virtually untouched tropical part of South America?
Precisely because of the inaccessibility of its habitats, very little is known about the habits of the giant anaconda. Almost all the information was collected from observing these animals in zoos. It is also difficult to estimate their numbers in the wild. However, apparently, this species is not in danger of extinction.
Anaconda lives in quiet river branches, lakes and creeks of the Orinoco and Amazon basins. This is where it watches over its victims: various mammals, young caimans, turtles and waterfowl. He eats fish very rarely, although he can easily catch it. The snake's lightning-fast reaction helps it grab unwary prey, which it wraps in rings and strangles, then swallows whole. At the same time, its mouth and throat stretch to incredible sizes.
The anaconda crawls out of the water extremely reluctantly, only to bask in the sun, hanging its huge body on the branches of coastal trees. During a drought, she either looks for a new place of residence, or buries herself in the bottom silt, where she falls into torpor and waits for the start of the rainy season.
Seasonal downpours, which begin in April-May, force male anacondas to seek meetings with females, who leave a specific smell on the ground during this period. When mating, males use rudiments of their hind limbs to mate with females. Pregnancy lasts 6-7 (according to some sources 9) months.
Anacondas are ovoviviparous; they give birth to from 28 to 42 baby snakes, a little more than half a meter long. On days 5-13 they have their first molt, after which the young begin to feed heavily. Often snakes themselves become victims of a variety of predators. This is how they grow until they reach such a size that no animal wants to measure their strength.
As for attacks on humans, only a few cases are reliably known. And even then it is believed that the anaconda did this completely by accident. Although it is unlikely that the true victims of the huge snake would be able to tell the world about their misadventures. So it is possible that the rumors about her are not so exaggerated...
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