Is the anaconda dangerous to human life? Anaconda is the largest snake of our time.

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 largest snake in the whole world. Average length its body can reach 10 m. The weight of these creeping creatures is up to 250 kg. Parameters itself big anaconda, which 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 the tropical forests of southern America. They are comfortable in damp riverine forests and swamps, where the most best places for a great hunt. The anaconda constrictor spends most of its time in bodies of water, camouflaging itself in the grey-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 her sharp teeth, twists her body around her, pulling chest animal 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 viviparous snake!

Surely you have heard horror stories about anacondas more than once or watched terrifying footage from films. 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.

The anaconda snake is a very large reptile, weighing up to hundreds of kilograms.

Some sources claim that the length of the snake can reach 11 meters, however, scientists believe that these rumors are false, because the largest snake that a person has encountered was registered in Venezuela and its length was about 5.5 m.

Studying these snakes, scientists came to the conclusion that the length of females, which, by the way, to many more males, cannot exceed 6.7 m.

Description

It is believed that the anaconda got its name from a consonant word from the Tamil language, which means “killer of elephants.” The scientific name of this representative of scaly fish “Eunectes” translates as “good swimmer”.

Like other snakes, the anaconda's skeleton is divided into two parts: the body and the tail. In total, its body can contain more than four hundred pairs of vertebrae, which tend to expand when swallowing particularly large prey. The skull, like that of many representatives of their order, is connected by movable ligaments, allowing it to absorb prey entirely.

Interestingly, the anaconda's ears and eyes are positioned similarly to how they are positioned in crocodiles. This allows her to watch over her potential victim while underwater. The eyes are not particularly good at focusing on an object, but are more suited to tracking how things move.

A snake bite is quite painful, because its teeth are very long and powerful, but nevertheless safe, because giant anaconda not poisonous. During a hunt, the snake’s tongue is always mobile, since it is the most important organ responsible for the sense of smell.

On the body of a snake no glands. For this reason, her skin is glossy not due to any secretions, but because of shiny and smooth scales. They are lightly streamlined, which provides the reptile with comfortable movement in the water.

The color harmoniously combines olive, rich yellow and brown colors. The spots on the anaconda's body, which are located along its spine, help the animal to easily camouflage itself as in aquatic environment, and on land. Anacondas are excellent swimmers, therefore they prefer to settle near river backwaters, swamps and rivers with quiet current. This snake does not move on the ground very often, but chooses trees as a place for solitude. In case of dry weather, anaconda, waiting heavy rains, crawls into the mud. The list of territories where one of the largest snakes lives is as follows:

• South America;
• Peru;
• Brazil;
• Guiana;
• Guyana;
• Paraguay;
• Venezuela;
• Ecuador;
• Colombia;
• Bolivia.

I wonder what A giant anaconda grows throughout its life. That's just in early years this process is accelerated, and after reaching average size, it slows down. It is not known for certain how long these snakes live. In captivity, this figure is much less, about six years, but in the wild, the longest recorded age of an anaconda is 28 years.

Anaconda diet

Most of the time anacondas hunt in water. She waits for the prey for hours, quietly and motionlessly watching it, and then suddenly rushes at the prey and strangles it, wrapping it around it. Some sources indicate that numerous bone fractures lead to the death of an anaconda victim. In fact, it comes from suffocation. After a hearty meal, the snake digests food for a long time, and almost several months can pass from one meal to the next. The standard diet of an anaconda includes the following animals:

Anacondas are quite indiscriminate when it comes to food, so cannibalism flourishes among them. It should be noted that they do not always strangle their victims. Sometimes, if the animal is small, they simply capture it with their long teeth and then swallowed completely. Sometimes, pets such as cats, dogs and chickens also become victims of these large snakes.

Kinds

Giant anaconda, she's the same ordinary And green anaconda, is the largest anaconda, whose length can reach six and a half meters and weigh one hundred kilograms. On its body, which is colored gray-green, there are two rows of spots arranged in a checkerboard pattern. live green anacondas in South America, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, the island of Trinidad and Peru.

Paraguayan, which has several other names - yellow And southern, – can grow up to four meters. For the most part, representatives of this species have yellow color However, both green and gray individuals are found. The spots on the body have a dark border and a light center. The southern anaconda prefers stagnant or slow-flowing waters of Paraguay and Southern Bolivia.

Eunectes beniensis has certain similarities with the Paraguayan anaconda. Its length is four meters, and the color of the body is either yellow-brown on the belly and brown on the back, or olive. There are five stripes of dark spots on the head, and the whole body is strewn with hundreds of white spots. The distribution area of ​​this species is the forests of Bulgaria.

Deschauenseya- the smallest representative of anacondas, one and a half meters long. There is very little information about it, since scientists have not yet studied this species well enough. These snakes live in the Brazilian and Guiana swamps.

Reproduction

Like most snakes, anacondas prefer to lead a solitary lifestyle. However, during mating they gather in fairly large groups. Their mating season occurs during the rainy season, and the process itself takes place on land. Pheromones released in the body of females attract not one, but several males at once, with each of whom the female can mate in turn.

The snakes coil themselves into a ball, and the male holds his partner with the help of imitation hind limbs, for which they received the name pseudopods. Anacondas belong to viviparous snakes, although they sometimes produce eggs. But in most cases it is thin eggshell bursts in the female’s body and live snakes are born. Experts argue about what maximum amount This snake can produce cubs. Some are of the opinion that no more than forty-five offspring can appear from one, and some argue that their number can reach as many as a hundred.

The length of the babies is a little less than a meter. As with all snakes, after the offspring are born, the mother is no longer interested in them. And although her offspring are already completely independent and can hunt, some of them die, becoming prey to caimans and other animals.

Anacondas are definitely the most large reptiles living on our planet. They are incredibly huge, reaching a length of 10 meters and weighing about 140 kilograms. Their very appearance terrifies even the biggest daredevils, because it was not for nothing that in ancient times there were myths about huge snakes capable of swallowing a person whole.

Now the stories have become reality and not everyone will dare to approach such a creature. Official length largest anaconda in the world is 11.4 meters. It was found in Colombia, in the swamps, which are the most suitable for such reptiles. favorite place. These giant snakes mainly live in Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Ecuador. They often appear in the vicinity of the Amazon, where the current is not so fast. There they have the opportunity to attack large cattle, because the volume of their body allows without special labor cope even with a bull.

It is known that, being the most big snake, the anaconda spends most of its time in water, but can also move perfectly on land. She is a cold-blooded creature. Her body does not produce its own heat, so she has to look for sunny places where she can warm up. Suitable conditions are 25-27 degrees Celsius, but if it gets hotter, the reptile begins to look for a secluded place to cool down.

They have special teeth that are designed to capture prey. In fact, anacondas wrap rings around their prey and, using the power of their body, squeeze it so that it begins to suffocate. They do not relax their grip until they feel that the victim’s heart has completely stopped. Afterwards, the largest snake in the world, the anaconda, begins to absorb its food and this process is long. It all depends on the size of the prey, but sometimes it takes about 6 hours just to completely swallow the victim. During this period, she is more vulnerable than ever, because she has nothing to attack or defend with. The acids that the reptile has can successfully dissolve even the thickest bones, and after defecation, no one will ever be able to say what she managed to catch, eat and digest giant snake.

Even a photo of herself larger anaconda will not be able to convey all its power and massiveness. Scientists, despite the fact that it is extremely difficult to study these reptiles, not only because of their size and the threat they pose, but also because they are extremely difficult to find, have found that anacondas grow throughout their lives . Moreover, in captivity they live a maximum of 5 years, and in freedom their age reaches 30-37 years.

It has been proven that among these creatures the largest are females. Their body volumes are twice or even three times the size of males. During the mating season, they release a special smell into the air, thereby inviting a partner. At one time, the female gives birth to from 20 to 30 fry, but no more than 30% of them survive, otherwise the inhabitants of Brazil and Colombia would have big problems.

This is due to the fact that from the very first second of their birth, newborn anacondas take care of themselves. They get their own food and learn to survive in the harsh world around them. Their length at the time of birth is already almost a meter, but despite this, as well as their innate swimming skill, they can become easy prey for caimans, jaguars and even birds.

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Coming from the city of Antiocha to Cartagena, when we settled it, Captain Jorge Robledo and others found so many fish that we killed with sticks whatever we wanted to catch... In addition, there are very large snakes in the thickets. I want to tell and tell about something reliably known, although I have not seen it [myself], but many contemporaries have met who deserve trust, and this is what it is: when, by order of the licentiate of Santa Cruz, Lieutenant Juan Creciano passed along this road in search of Licentiate Juan de Vadillo, leading with him several Spaniards, among whom were a certain Manuel de Peralta, Pedro de Barros, and Pedro Shimon, they came across a snake or snake, so large that it was 20 feet long, and very thick. His head is light red and his green eyes are terrifying, and since he saw them, he wanted to head towards them, but Pedro Shimon inflicted such a wound on him with a spear that even though he flew into [indescribable] rage, [still ] died. And they found in his belly a whole fawn, just as he was when he ate it; I will also say that some hungry Spaniards began to eat the deer and even part of the snake.

Appearance [ | ]

Anaconda is the most massive snake of the modern world fauna. The main color of the anaconda's body is grayish-green with two rows of large brown spots of round or oblong shape, alternating in a checkerboard pattern. On the sides of the body there is a row yellow spots smaller, surrounded by black rings. This coloration effectively hides the snake when it is hiding in calm water, covered with brown leaves and tufts of algae. The anaconda is not poisonous - its saliva is completely harmless to humans, although wounds from teeth can be very painful.

Dimensions [ | ]

There is a lot of information about anacondas longer than 6 meters, but none of this kind of observation is reliable. Thus, the famous Swedish naturalist Georg Dahl in his book “Wild Roads” (1969; Russian translation, 1972) talks about his capture of an anaconda 8.43 m long on the Guayabero River in the jungle of Colombia. Another Swedish naturalist, Rolf Blomberg, in his book “Giant Snakes and Terrible Lizards,” citing data from Clifford Pope, mentions an anaconda specimen 28 feet long, that is, 8.54 m. There is even a description of the capture of an anaconda 11 m 43 cm long in 1944 in Colombia. The length of the largest anacondas ever described in the literature (by P. Fawcett) is indicated as 62 feet (18.59 meters) and 80 feet (24.38 meters), which once again confirms the inconsistency of such statements.

According to official data, the largest female anaconda caught in Venezuela reached 5.21 meters in length and weighed 97.5 kg, despite the fact that at least 780 captured samples passed through the hands of scientists. Moreover, the smallest individual capable of reproduction was only 2.1 m, excluding the tail. The size of anacondas has been the subject of detailed research, which has led to the conclusion that maximum size, which the largest anacondas can reach, will be approximately 6.7 m - this is slightly higher than the size of the largest specimens that have fallen into the hands of scientists, but incomparable with unreliable and certainly greatly exaggerated data from the past.

Adult anacondas typically do not exceed 5 meters in length. Females are significantly larger and heavier than males - their length usually approaches 4.6 m, while males average around 3 m in length. Although the anaconda is somewhat shorter than some pythons, especially the reticulated python, it is much more massive: most adult female anacondas at 4.5 m in length will be comparable in weight to extremely large ones. reticulated pythons about 7 m long. The weight of adults has been reported to typically range from 30 to 70 kg. Thus, the anaconda is the heaviest snake of the world fauna and the second largest scaly one, slightly inferior in weight only to the Komodo dragon.

Range and problem of conservation of the species[ | ]

Due to the inaccessibility of the anaconda's habitats, it is difficult for scientists to estimate its numbers and monitor population dynamics. At least in the International Red Book, the conservation status of the anaconda is listed in the “threat has not been assessed” category ( English Not Evaluated, NE) - due to lack of data. But in general, apparently, the anaconda can still be considered out of danger. There are many anacondas in zoos around the world, but it is quite difficult for them to take root in captivity. The maximum lifespan of an anaconda in a terrarium is 28 years, but usually in captivity these snakes live 5-6 years.

Lifestyle [ | ]

Anaconda leads an almost entirely aquatic lifestyle. It lives in quiet, low-flowing river branches, backwaters, oxbow lakes and lakes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins.

In such reservoirs, the snake lies in wait for prey. She never crawls far from the water, although she often crawls out onto the shore and basks in the sun, sometimes climbing onto the lower branches of trees. The anaconda swims and dives well and can remain under water for a long time, while its nostrils are closed with special valves.

When a reservoir dries up, the anaconda crawls into another or goes downstream of the river. During the dry period, which occurs in some anaconda habitats, the snake buries itself in the bottom silt and falls into a stupor, in which it remains until the rains return.

Nutrition [ | ]

The anaconda feeds on various mammals, birds and reptiles, lying in wait for them near the water. It usually catches agoutis, waterfowl, iguanas and other small animals. Less commonly, larger individuals are capable of attacking peccaries, capybaras and caimans, but such large prey are not a common component of the diet. Anacondas often find turtles, tegus, and snakes for lunch - at least in the zoo, an anaconda once strangled and ate a 2.5-meter python. Fish occupies a much smaller place in the anaconda’s diet than the four-legged inhabitants of the jungle. Like all boas, the anaconda motionlessly waits for prey, lying in one place, and when it approaches, it grabs it with a lightning-fast throw and strangles it, entwining its body in rings (contrary to popular belief, the anaconda, like other boas, does not crush the victim and does not break its bones, but squeezes her and does not allow her to breathe, as a result of which she dies from suffocation). The anaconda swallows its prey whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a 4.2 meter long, 94 kg anaconda killed and swallowed a 4 or 5 year old female puma weighing 42 kg, sustaining fatal injuries in the process. Frequent cases of cannibalism have been reported among anacondas.

Anaconda head

Predation [ | ]

Adult female anacondas have practically no enemies in nature; at times, however, they can become victims of pumas, jaguars, giant otters, Orinoco crocodiles and black caimans. Most often, anacondas are subject to predation by crocodile caimans, with which they occupy similar biotopes. Caimans usually prey on young caimans, as well as adult males weakened after mating, but in two recorded cases large (about 2 meters) males prey crocodile caimans became adult female anacondas about 5 meters long.

Subspecies [ | ]

These two subspecies were described a long time ago - in 1758 and 1801, respectively. They were distinguished by their color details and average sizes, which are slightly larger in the second subspecies.

It is currently believed that the giant anaconda does not form any subspecies.

Legends of the anaconda[ | ]

Often in the descriptions of various “eyewitnesses” information is given about anacondas of monstrous length. It was not only amateurs who were guilty of this information. The famous British traveler to South America P. Fawcett wrote about snakes of incredible size, one of which he allegedly shot with his own hands:

“We went ashore and approached the snake with caution... We measured its length as accurately as possible: in the part of the body that protrudes from the water, it turned out to be forty-five feet and another seventeen feet were in the water, which together amounted to sixty-two feet.

Its body was not thick with such a colossal length - no more than twelve inches ... Such large specimens as this one are not often found, but the tracks they leave in the swamps are sometimes six feet wide and testify in favor of those Indians who claim that anacondas sometimes reach incredible sizes, so that the specimen I shot must look like a dwarf next to them!.. I was told about a snake killed on the Paraguay River and exceeding eighty feet in length!” (62 feet = 18.9 m; 80 feet = 24.4 m; 12 inches = 30.5 cm)

Colonel Percy Fawcett (1867-1925), a famous expert on South America, who nevertheless left dubious descriptions of the anaconda

Now, without exception, all such stories are considered fiction (especially since Colonel Fawcett cited many other absolutely false information in his notes). Even the specimen with a length of 11.43 m, repeatedly mentioned in various sources, was not documented according to all the rules and is considered unreliable by most experts, especially considering the fact that the mass of this snake is indicated in the region of 200 kg, while an animal of this size should have weighed only a few less than a ton. In general, female anacondas do not often grow larger than 4 meters. It is very significant that at the beginning of the 20th century in the USA twice - once by President Theodore Roosevelt and the second time by the New York Zoological Society announced a prize of 5 thousand dollars for any snake more than 30 feet long (just over 9 m), but remained unclaimed.

A value greater than 8 meters for a snake is meaningless, at least from a purely biological point of view. Despite the fact that the anaconda occupies a slightly different ecological niche, even a 6-7-meter snake could defeat almost any herbivorous animal in the jungle. Too much a big increase will be energetically unjustified - in the conditions of a humid tropical forest relatively poor in large animals, an overly large snake simply will not feed itself and it will be more difficult for it to hide from large predators.

Equally fantastic are the stories about the hypnotic gaze of the anaconda, which supposedly paralyzes the victim, or about its poisonous breath, which has a detrimental effect on small animals. The same P. Fossett, for example, wrote:

“...a sharp, foul breath came from her; they say it has a stunning effect: the smell first attracts and then paralyzes the victim.”

Nothing like this modern science, including taking into account the extensive experience of keeping anacondas in zoos, does not recognize it. However, the fact that the anaconda emits a strong unpleasant odor is reliable.

Anaconda and man[ | ]

Anacondas are often found near settlements. Domestic animals - pigs, dogs, chickens, etc. - often become prey for this snake. But the danger of the anaconda to humans, apparently, is greatly exaggerated. Isolated attacks on people are made by the anaconda, apparently by mistake, when the snake sees only part of a person’s body under water or if it seems to it that they want to attack it or take away its prey. The only reliable case - the death of a 13-year-old Indian boy swallowed by an anaconda - should be considered a rare exception. On the contrary, the anaconda itself often becomes prey for the aborigines. The meat of this snake is valued by many Indian tribes; They say that it is very good, slightly sweet in taste. Anaconda skin is used for various crafts.

Notes [ | ]

1. Anaconda // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed.

The green giant anaconda lives in South America. The snake received this name for its size, ranging from 5 to 9 meters. The most large anaconda According to reliable sources, it was 11.43 meters in length.

The greenish tint of this snake also played a role in its name. Anacondas of all types have round and oblong spots on their bodies. The Paraguayan anaconda is famous for its brightest coloring. Her corpus luteum decorated with blue spots.

Females differ from males more large sizes and thickness. Characteristic feature These reptiles are characterized by the strong, unpleasant odor they emit in their presence.

The anaconda's diet consists of wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, caimans and even jaguars. Wrapping itself around its prey, the snake squeezes it until it is completely suffocated, and then, with the help of its lower movable jaw, swallows the prey whole. Having “eaten” in this way, the anaconda can go without food for about a month. It should be noted that, contrary to its notoriety, the anaconda does not attack humans. On the contrary, the snake, having caught its smell, hastily retreats, since it itself is the object of hunting among the local population. It is believed that anaconda meat has high taste qualities.

The anaconda's entire life is spent near bodies of water. Here she hunts, sometimes basks in the sun on the shore or sits on the branches of a tree. Anaconda is an excellent swimmer and diver. The snake has special valves that close its nostrils, allowing it to stay in the water for a long time.

During a dry period, a snake can burrow into the muddy bottom of a reservoir and, falling into deep torpor, waits out the drought. As a rule, the female is pregnant at this time. Having safely waited out the drought, the female gives birth to about 40 cubs, which swim and hunt immediately after birth.

IN wildlife An anaconda can live about 10 years.

A few more photos of the caught anaconda.

Video: Anaconda swallowed too much prey. Anaconda Snake Pukes Out A Cow In A Jungle River