Where does the anaconda live: habitats and reproduction. Anaconda - giant snake

Giant anaconda called a water boa - not poisonous snake. The snake got its name from a Tamil word that appears with the word anaconda, means “killer of elephants”, but in Latin the translation is “good swimmer”. Etymologists believe that rattlesnake made similar sounds, and that's why she was called that. Where does such a snake live, what does it eat and how long does it live? This is what we will talk about.

Where does the anaconda live?

The length of a large snake is more than 5 meters, weight 97 kg or more. Scientists have found that anaconda 9 to 11 meters long - this is a myth, since its length does not exceed 6.5 meters. The snake's body is divided into a tail and a huge body with 435 vertebrae. Its ribs are mobile and allow it to swallow very large prey. Scull anacondas consists of movable bones connected to each other by ligaments. It is thanks to this feature that it opens its mouth wide and swallows its prey whole. Highly located eyes and nostrils allow you to breathe underwater. Its eyes allow it to quickly track prey rather than focus, thanks to transparent scales. Teeth giant anaconda, do not contain poison, although they are sharp and long, so the bite is not fatal to humans. An important organ of the snake is the tongue, which is responsible for taste and smell. The anaconda's skin is dry and dense, and all because it does not have mucous glands. But it is shiny, thanks to its scales. Its skin color is gray-green with yellow and olive undertones, and has black spots along its spine for camouflage.

Where does he live? giant anaconda?

Because giant anaconda Spends most of its life in water and is an excellent swimmer; it lives in quiet river beds, swamps and river backwaters. She occasionally crawls ashore and climbs trees. From the drought anaconda buries itself in the mud and waits for the rains. You can meet such a snake throughout the territory South America, in Brazil, Peru, Guiana, Paraguay, Guyana, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia.

How long does an anaconda live?

Anaconda can grow all its own life cycle, on early stage intensively, then the process slows down. Record how long you live giant anaconda, failed. It is known that 5-6 years snake lifespan on average, but a 28 year old snake was also found. Only God knows how long this monster can live.

ANACONDA FOOD, INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANACONDAS

What does an anaconda eat?

Giant anaconda hunting in the water or on the shore. She motionlessly waits for prey, then quite sharply pounces and wraps herself around the victim, strangling her. Her victim dies from suffocation, and not from broken bones. Sometimes, anaconda grabs prey with its teeth and swallows. Feeds turtles, swimming birds, iguanas, lizards, capybaras, peccaries, capybaras, agoutis, caimans, tupinanbis and even large snakes. They become prey and domestic animals such as cats, dogs and chickens. Anaconda for a long time may be without food because food takes several weeks to digest.

People were afraid anacondas and considered her a bloodthirsty snake, in fact, only one attack was recorded on a teenage boy from an Indian tribe.

People promised huge money for giant anaconda 9 meters, but its length is no more than 6 meters 70 cm.

In America, anaconda was the best and scariest character for films.

Anaconda does not know how to paralyze the victim with his gaze! They can only put you into a stupor from their wild smell.

VIDEO: ABOUT ANACONDAS

IN THIS VIDEO YOU WILL SEE WHAT GIANT ANACONDAS LOOK AND LEARN A LOT OF INTERESTING

The largest snake on the planet - anaconda, which refers to boa constrictors. Haven't met yet snake more anaconda . The average weight fluctuates around 100 kg, while the length reaches 6 meters or more. Some experts claim that 11 meters is not the limit for such an aquatic beauty.

True, such the length of an anaconda snake has not yet been scientifically documented. So far we have only been able to meet and conclusively note an anaconda, whose length was 9 meters; this, of course, is not 11 meters, but even such a snake’s size makes you shudder. By the way, female snakes are much larger and stronger than males.

Why "water beauty"? Because the anaconda has another name - water boa. It is in water, in shallow water, that it is easiest for her to catch prey and remain unnoticed. And nature took care of the anaconda’s secrecy. The skin color of this snake is gray-green; there are brown spots along the back that run in a checkerboard pattern.

The spots do not have a strictly defined shape; nature does not like geometry, and with such an “incorrect” color the snake has every chance of remaining unnoticed. In order to further blend in with the water, covered with fallen leaves, there are small yellowish spots with dark edging on the sides of the body.

Skin coloration is unique for each individual, so it is impossible to find two completely identical anacondas. Since the anaconda is a boa constrictor, it is endowed with great strength. It has no poison, in this regard it is harmless, but woe to anyone who treats it lightly - even a small deer can become prey.

This reptile is endowed not only with strength, but also with intelligence and even cunning. Animals and some people mistake its protruding, forked tongue for a dangerous organ, believing that it is with its help that harm will be caused. fatal bite. But this is how the snake simply navigates in space. The tongue recognizes the chemical component of the environment and sends a command to the brain.

Anaconda prefers to lead an aquatic lifestyle. In water she has no enemies, and on land no one dares to mess with it dangerous predator. She also molts there. is a cold-blooded creature, therefore, if there is not enough warmth, it prefers to crawl ashore and bask in the sun, although it does not crawl far from the water.

If the reservoir dries up, the anaconda has to find another one, but when drought overtakes all reservoirs, this one buries itself in the silt and falls into a state of torpor, the only way it manages to survive until the new rainy season.

Anaconda habitat

Anaconda lives throughout the tropical South. They are quite comfortable in canals, rivers, lakes, they settled in the Amazon and Orinoco, and live on the island of Trinidad.

Savannah Llanos (Central Venezuela) turned out to be a snake paradise - the six-month rainy period creates an ideal place for anacondas to live and breed, which is why there are much more anacondas in those places than anywhere else. Local lagoons and swamps are wonderfully warmed by the sun, which adds even more favorable conditions in that anaconda snake world.

Anaconda nutrition

The diet of this boa constrictor is varied. Anaconda eats all small animals that can be caught. They eat fish, small rodents, waterfowl, lizards and turtles.

The snake’s stomach perfectly processes all this with the help of strong acids; even the shell and bones of turtles are not something inedible. Of course, small prey is not a reason to use powerful rings of muscles, but eating large prey (and the anaconda does not disdain sheep, dogs, and small deer) is not a pleasant sight.

First, it lies in wait for its prey for a long time, hiding among the coastal thickets, then there is a sharp jerk and immediately rings are wound around the poor fellow, which compress the victim’s body with extraordinary force.

The anaconda does not break or crush bones, as other boas do; it compresses the prey so that oxygen cannot enter the lungs and the prey dies from suffocation. This snake has no fangs, so it does not tear or chew its food.

Starting from the head, the anaconda begins to swallow the victim. Its seemingly small mouth stretches to the size necessary for the passage of the carcass. At the same time, the pharynx also stretches. Available photo of anaconda, which shows how a snake swallows a small deer.

Although, according to experts, there is only a single case of an anaconda attacking a person, this snake has firmly established itself in the section of dangerous animals. By the way, anacondas are not averse to eating their fellow tribesmen. So, at the zoo, a 2.5 meter python was on her menu.

When swallowing a victim, the anaconda is most vulnerable. This is understandable - all her strength goes into pushing food inside, her head is busy, and she can escape with large piece it won’t work in the mouth with lightning speed. But after eating, the snake is “good-natured.” This is easy to explain - she needs time to calmly digest food.

Reproduction and lifespan

Scientists have not precisely established the lifespan in the wild, but in captivity the anaconda does not live long, only 5-6 years. However, this indicator is also untrue, because there was a snake that lived in captivity for 28 years. Anaconda snake not the right size to live in a flock. Like others large predators, she lives and hunts alone.

However, in the spring (April - May), when the rainy season begins in the Amazon, these snakes gather in groups - mating time begins for anacondas. To ensure that the “groom” does not wander for too long in search, the “bride” leaves a trail on the ground, which during this period is generously flavored with an odorous substance - pheromone.

Following such a trail, the female is found not by one, but by several males at once. However, it is not customary for male anacondas to engage in fights for a beauty. Here, too, the strongest will become the father of the offspring, but wise snakes choose the most worthy differently.

All males who have found the female by smell wrap themselves around her body and begin love games, which last up to one and a half months. All this time, males cannot eat, hunt, or rest - courtship takes away all their time and strength. But after mating, the ball disintegrates by itself, and the “lovers” scatter in different directions.

The males go about their business, and the female begins a difficult period of gestation. Pregnancy lasts 6-7 months. All this time the female does not hunt or feed, because she is especially vulnerable during feeding. Therefore, the anaconda loses a lot of weight; for it, this condition is stressful.

But the offspring are still born safely. From 30 to 42 baby snakes are born, all of them are live born. Although, the anaconda is also capable of laying eggs. The cubs are born only a little more than half a meter long, but must already worry about their own food.

After giving birth, the mother, who was in a hungry state for six months, goes hunting. Of course, anaconda mothers are far from the most tender; she does not feed them, does not protect them from predators, and does not provide them with a nest. Little snakes are already endowed with all the survival skills from birth. They are excellent swimmers, can skillfully camouflage themselves, and move deftly at the slightest danger.

And they have many dangers. In the animal world, everything is arranged naturally, if an adult anaconda has practically no enemies and eats caimans and small ones with impunity wild cats, then these same cats now hunt anaconda cubs.

Therefore, from the entire brood, only the most dexterous, fastest and strongest baby snakes remain alive, who turn into the strongest snakes on earth, the real enemy of which is only man.

For writers and filmmakers, giant reptiles are the most beloved characters in horror stories and films. The information about these individuals is too exaggerated to make it interesting to watch or read.

Many myths and legends, not supported by reliable facts, circulate around giant anacondas. For example, that snakes attack people, or that other predators cannot kill them. But this is not true at all. There have been cases when reptiles themselves became victims of pumas, jaguars, otters and crocodiles. Huge boa constrictors can be seen in zoos. Special horizontal terrariums are built for them. They contain ponds and trees so that you can get out of the water. Temperature and humidity are maintained artificially.

First mentions

After the discovery of South America, Spanish explorers encountered a huge reptile for the first time - it was a giant anaconda. You can see photos of the largest specimens in the article.

Fund wildlife became interested in this discovery and offered a reward of fifty thousand dollars for the delivery of a reptile from five to nine meters in length. In Venezuela, about eight hundred snakes were discovered that exceeded the declared size, but in the end the prize was never claimed.

In the city of Antiocha, the Spaniards discovered huge snake. Its length was a little more than six meters, with a scarlet head and scary green eyes. People killed the individual with a spear and saw a fawn in its stomach.

Also in the forties, a giant anaconda was found by an expedition in Colombia. The size of the individual was more than eleven meters, and the weight was about two hundred kilograms.

Appearance

Anaconda is the largest reptile in the world. Its dimensions range from five to twelve meters, weight is about two hundred kilograms. There is information that you can find a boa constrictor up to forty meters long.

The giant has a peculiar color, a green body with gray tint and two rows of round or oblong spots, similar to a chess row. And on the sides there are yellow drawings surrounded by black circles. This skin helps the reptile remain undetected underwater.

There are four types of anacondas in the world - Benian, Paraguayan, green and ordinary. These snakes live in tropical parts of Brazil, South America, Venezuela, Colombia and Paraguay near bodies of water.

Life of a reptile

The anaconda is most often found in swampy rivers and lakes in South America. In these reservoirs, the snake guards its prey; it never strays far from the victim. Reptiles are very good at swimming and diving and can stay under water for a long time due to special valves that close their nostrils. When rivers dry up, anacondas move downstream into other riverbeds or burrow into the mud until the rainy season.

The diet of snakes consists of small and large animals, which lie in wait near bodies of water, and also deftly catch birds, fish and turtles. Being in a motionless state, the snake waits for its prey, and when it is already very close, the giant anaconda suddenly pounces, wrapping a spiral around the prey and squeezing tightly until it suffocates. After which it opens its mouth strongly and swallows the animal whole.

Continuation of the family line

Almost all the time, reptiles live alone, and only during the mating period do they gather in small groups. During this season it starts to rain. Males on land find females by their scent. When mating, snakes curl up into a ball of several individuals and make a grinding sound.

The giant anaconda bears its young for just over six months. At this point, she loses almost twice her weight. The number of babies is approximately thirty to forty baby snakes up to one meter long. Sometimes an anaconda can lay eggs.

Huge reptile

In South America there is a giant green anaconda. I got this thanks to my color and large size. Its length ranges from five to ten meters. Females are fatter and larger than males, making them easy to tell apart. The peculiarity of reptiles is that they have a very unpleasant and pungent odor.

The snake feeds on wild animals. The giant anaconda will not attack people; rather, on the contrary, having caught the smell of a person, it quickly leaves the place.

Reptiles live near bodies of water; for them these are the most comfortable conditions. When the sun is shining, they rest on the shore or perch on tree branches. During drought, anacondas burrow to the bottom of the pond, and also during this period, females bear cubs, which are born and immediately begin to swim and hunt.

Sukuriju

The Amazon is home to a snake called the giant man-eating anaconda. It moves freely on land and can stay under water for a long time. The Indians call this type of reptile Sukuriju. Their length reaches twenty to forty meters, and their weight is about half a ton. The individual is golden-green in color, has brown spots in the form of patterns on its body, and has a reddish head. This type of snake was first discovered in the middle of the 16th century.

The anaconda eats a variety of animals that it can handle, mainly cattle. The smell emanating from reptiles first attracts the victim, and then paralyzes. The individual also swallows a person whole. Several such cases have been recorded. Sukuriju attacks people by mistake, because the snake underwater does not see the entire victim, but only part of the body, or if it may seem to it that they want to take the prey from it.

From the above we can conclude: the giant anaconda is different from the usual artistic description, but you still need to be careful when encountering a reptile.

Video: A giant anaconda ate a pig alive!

Underwater photographer from Switzerland Franco Banfi risked his life for exclusive material and sank to the bottom of the Amazon River in Brazil to swim with giant anacondas.

The traveler spent 10 days in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, during which he was able to capture six giant anacondas on camera. The largest of all existing snakes.

The photographer managed to take stunning photos of a giant anaconda right in its natural environment habitat, under water.

The huge predators calmly led their usual way of life, swimming in troubled waters river or basking in the sun after a meal, not paying attention to an overly brave person with a camera.

“Of course, anything is possible, but I don’t think she would eat me. Luckily for me, the anaconda had just swallowed its latest prey and didn’t look for me for a second course. I was so close to her that I could touch her if I wanted, of course,” said the 53-year-old photographer

The giant 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. An adult anaconda has practically no enemies in nature.

“At first it was very scary because I had never come so close to snakes before, everyone knows that they are very dangerous. But I realized that nothing will happen if you treat these creatures with respect. At least they are big and you can observe their reactions and behavior,” Franco added.

Currently, the largest known giant anaconda is about 9 meters long and weighs about 130 kg, it is located at the New York Zoological Society.

The main body color of the giant anaconda 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. Females are much larger and stronger than males.

The giant anaconda inhabits the entire tropical part of South America east of the Andes: Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, eastern Paraguay, northern Bolivia, northeastern Peru, Guyana, French Guiana, and the island of Trinidad. Due to the inaccessibility of the giant anaconda's habitats, it is difficult for scientists to estimate its numbers and monitor population dynamics.

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.

The giant anaconda feeds on various mammals, lying in wait for them near the water. She catches tapirs, peccaries, agoutis, and capybaras. Cases have been described more than once when an anaconda even devoured a jaguar. The anaconda often eats waterfowl, small caimans, turtles, and snakes - at least in the zoo, an anaconda once strangled and ate a 2.5-meter giant python.

Like all boas, the anaconda motionlessly waits for prey, and when it approaches, it grabs it with a lightning-fast throw and strangles it, entwining its body in rings (contrary to popular belief, the giant anaconda, like other boas, does not crush the victim and does not break its bones, but squeezes it and does not allow her to breathe, and she dies from suffocation). Like all snakes without exception, the anaconda swallows its prey whole, greatly stretching its mouth and throat.

Despite the fact that there is only one reliable case of a person dying from a snake attack, anacondas gained fame as “eaters” of people, largely thanks to Hollywood thriller films.

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 he can handle a small crocodile without special labor, and therefore is quite capable of enjoying it.

The anaconda is a vertebrate animal from the class of reptiles, belongs to the genus of snakes from the subfamily of boas and lives in the tropical latitudes of 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, the following types of anacondas have been discovered:

• The gigantic one is the most big snake in the world, more than five meters long, lives in tropical latitudes and settles in swamps and large rivers;
• Paraguayan - length no more than 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

The anaconda is considered one of the largest representatives of the genus of snakes in the world: the length of the longest measured anaconda is 5.2 meters, and the weight is 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 big 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 it 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 largest snake in the world is able to swallow 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).

There have been isolated cases of attacks on humans, 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, even if there were cases of death, there was usually 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 birth 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.