For writers and filmmakers, huge reptiles are their favorite characters in horror stories and films. Information about these individuals is too exaggerated to be more interesting to watch or read.
Many myths and legends, not supported by reliable facts, go around giant anacondas. For example, that snakes attack people, or that other predators cannot kill them. But this is not at all true. There have been times when reptiles themselves became victims of cougars, jaguars, otters and crocodiles. Huge boas can be seen in zoos. Special horizontal terrariums are being built for them. There are ponds and trees in them so that you can get out of the water. Temperature and humidity are maintained artificially.
First mention
After the discovery of South America, Spanish researchers first encountered a huge reptile - it was a giant anaconda. Photos of the largest copies you can see in the article.
The Wildlife Fund became interested in this discovery and offered a reward in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for the supply of reptiles from five to nine meters in length. In Venezuela, they found about eight hundred snakes that exceeded the declared size, but in the end the prize was never claimed.
In the city of Antiocha, the Spaniards discovered a huge snake. Its length was a little more than six meters, with a scarlet head and scary green eyes. People with a spear killed an individual and saw a deer in its stomach.
Also in the forties in Colombia, a giant anaconda was found by an expedition. 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 about two hundred kilograms. There is evidence that you can meet a boa constrictor up to forty meters.
The giant anaconda snake has a peculiar color, a green body with a gray tint and two rows of round or oblong spots, similar to a chess row. And on the sides are yellow patterns surrounded by black circles. Such skin helps reptiles go unnoticed under water.
There are four types of anacondas in the world - Beni, Paraguayan, green and ordinary. These snakes live in the tropical parts of Brazil, South America, Venezuela, Colombia and Paraguay near ponds.
Calculating the life span of giant reptiles is very difficult and not even entirely realistic. Their life spans in zoos are a little less than thirty years, but snakes live in a terrarium as standard up to six years.
Reptile life
Anaconda is most commonly found on swampy rivers and lakes in South America. In these reservoirs the snake guards its prey; it will never go far from the victim. Reptiles are very good at swimming and diving, can be under water for a long time due to special valves that close their nostrils. When the rivers dry up, the anacondas go downstream to other channels or burrow into the mud before the onset of the rainy season.
The diet of snakes consists of small and large animals, which are trapped in ponds, and also cleverly catch birds, fish and turtles. While stationary, the snake is waiting for its prey, and when it is already very close, a giant anaconda sharply pounces, wrapping its prey in a spiral and compressing it tightly to strangulation. Then it opens its mouth and swallows the whole animal.
Procreation
Almost all the time, reptiles live alone, and only during the mating period do they gather in small groups. It rains during this season. Males on land find females by their smell. When mating, snakes fold into a ball of several individuals and make a grinding sound.
The giant anaconda hatches the cubs a little more than six months. At this moment, she almost loses weight. The number of children is from about thirty to forty serpentines up to one meter long. Sometimes an anaconda can lay eggs.
Huge reptile
A giant green anaconda lives in South America. The snake got this name due to its color and large size. Its length is from five to ten meters. Females are thicker and larger than males, so it is easy to distinguish them from each other. A feature of reptiles is that they have a very unpleasant and pungent odor.
The snake eats wild animals. The giant anaconda will not attack people, rather, on the contrary, having caught the smell of a person, quickly leaves the place.
Reptiles live near water bodies; for them, these are the most comfortable conditions. When the sun shines, they rest on the shore or are located on tree branches. During a drought, anacondas burrow at the bottom of the pond, and also during this period, females bear cubs that are born and immediately begin to swim and hunt.
