Green Anaconda

Its head is somewhere in those plants...

The Green Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is the largest snake in the world by weight. It can top the scales at over 500lbs and reach lengths of nearly 30 feet. It is not however, the worlds longest snake. That award goes to the reticulated python, which had one specimen top out at 33 feet. They live in slow moving river and swamp areas in South America.

Green Anacondas feed on all sorts of animals, ranging from small fish, reptiles and birds up to large mammals such as capybaras and even jaguars. Anacondas have even been known to consume one another. While young and smaller they do have several predators, though as adults they are rarely threatened. Green Anacondas are able to locate their prey by sight and smell, and with help from heat sensing pits near their mouths. They are not at all poisonous, they use their large size and constricting muscles to grab and suffocate their kills. Like all snakes, they have very flexible lower jaws that allow them to consume prey whole that is much larger than their normal head size. There have been a few documented attacks on humans, but overall they do not specifically hunt out people, they simply eat what they can get.

Green Anacondas demonstrate sexual dimorphism with the females being larger than the males. Their breeding practices involve multiple males coiling up around a single female and attempting to copulate with her. This entanglement is known as a "breeding ball," and can last for several weeks before one male is deemed the victor. Anacondas have a gestation period of 6 months, and give birth to live young.