Facts about Anaconda

Local names for the anaconda in South America include the Spanish term matatoro, meaning "bull killer," and the Native American terms sucuri, yakumama, and jibуia.

Anacondas provide important ecological values, keeping the balance of nature by consuming rodents, fish, caimans, and even such mammals as capybaras, tapirs, and deer.

Anacondas are generally held to be heavier, albeit not a long as reticulated pythons.

Perhaps a more credible report came from scientist Vincent Roth, who claimed to have shot and killed a 10.3 meter (34 feet) anaconda in Guyana (Krystek 1999).

The green anaconda is among the largest snakes in the world, with recorded (but unverified) measurements of 9.45 meters (29.7 feet) and 11 meters (33.5 feet).

Analgesia is an absence of the sensation of pain while still being conscious.

Another claim of an extraordinary size anaconda was made by adventurer Percy Fawcett.

Green anacondas are found mainly in northern South America (Amazon and Orinoco basins), in Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, northern Bolivia, northeast Peru, Guyana, and the island of Trinidad.

During his 1906 expedition, Fawcett wrote that he had shot an anaconda that measured some 18.9 meters (62 ft) from nose to tail (Justice 2007).

The green anaconda is the most well known, both because of size and wide distribution.

The anacondas are placed within the subfamily Boinae.

Anacondas as members of the boa family are sometimes called water boas.

Fishermen also use active sonar and echo sounder technology to determine water depth, bottom contour, and bottom composition.

The green anaconda is among the largest snakes in the world, with recorded (but unverified) measurements of 9.45 meters (29.7 feet) and 11 meters (33.5 feet).

Anacondas comprise a genus of boas (one of twelve genera of boas, depending on the taxonomic scheme employed).

The green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) is the largest member of the boa family of snakes and the most heavy bodied member of the super-order Squamata.

The yellow anaconda is the second most well known, located in southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina.

Cannibalism among green anacondas is also known, most recorded cases involving a larger female consuming a smaller male.

Anaconda is the common term for any member of four species of semi-aquatic boas (Boidae family) of South America comprising the genus Eunectes.

Often, anacondas are equated with the green anaconda.

The yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus), is native in South America in countries including Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, western Brazil, and northeast Argentina.

Green anacondas, like all anacondas, are primarily aquatic.

Adult anacondas can capture capybaras, tapirs, caimans, deer, sheep, birds, and even jaguars.