LongevityĬaptives have lived in excess of 31 years unknown in the wild Reproduction They are also threatened by the expansion of farms and ranches. Status is difficult to ascertain due to the nature of the habitat, but declines have been documented listed on CITES Appendix II.įeared and often killed when encountered, Green Anacondas are hunted in some areas for their skin and fat (believed to be of medicinal value). They inhabit rivers, swamps, lakes and flooded grasslands. Green Anacondas are almost completely aquatic and rarely stray far from water. Trinidad and much of tropical South America east of the Andes – Venezuela, Columbia, Brazil, Northern Bolivia, Northeastern Peru, Guyana and French Guiana. The eyes and nostrils are dorsally located, an adaptation to the largely aquatic lifestyle.
The ventral surface is yellow with black blotches. The dorsal surface is dark green, olive or grayish-green and marked with irregular black blotches. A captive male under my care was, however, as heavily built as any female and measured in excess of 15 feet colleagues report similar experiences. Wild males rarely exceed 12 feet in length, and are thinly built. In the course of tagging over 500 specimens, the largest I and my co-workers encountered in Western Venezuela was just over 17 feet long and tipped the scale at 215 pounds. There is a fairly reliable record of a 33-foot-long Green Anaconda an unverified field report from Eastern Columbia (1944) claims an individual of 37.5 feet. In the past, 25-foot-long animals were encountered, but an individual approaching 20 feet is considered large today. It vies with the Reticulated Python for the title of longest serpent. Green Anaconda DescriptionĪ stout animal that may exceed 400 pounds in weight, this is the world’s heaviest snake. The second half of this article will take a look at the astonishing array of creatures it is known to consume.
The Green Anaconda ( Eunectes murinus) has generated a great many stories – through field research, I’ve had several opportunities to ferret out some interesting details behind these (please see article referenced below). In part 1 of this article we’ll examine the natural history of this heaviest and possibly longest of all snakes.
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