Anacondas belong to the boa family, that is, they are constrictor snakes (they kill their prey by suffocating them between their rings). Anacondas are the heaviest snakes in the world, and second only to the reticulated python.
Currently, anacondas of about 9 meters long and 250 kg have been registered. of weight. However, old records speak of superior measures and weights.
If you continue reading this article on our site, we will show you the 4 species of anaconda that live in South America.
Green Anaconda
The green anaconda, Eunectes murinus, is the largest of the 4 anacondas that live on the South American continent. The females are much larger (more than double) than the males, in a very clear example of sexual dimorphism.
Its habitat is the tropical rivers of South America. It is an excellent swimmer that feeds on fish, birds, capybaras, tapirs, coipus, and eventually jaguars; which in turn are their main predators.
The color of the green anaconda is dark green with black and ocher oval markings on the flanks. The belly is lighter and at the end of the tail there are some yellow and black drawings that distinguish each specimen.
Bolivian Anaconda
The Bolivian anaconda, Eunectes beniensis, is similar in size and color to the green anaconda. However, the black spots are more widely spaced and larger than on the green anaconda.
This species of anaconda only lives in the Bolivian wetlands and humid lowland forests, specifically in the uninhabited departments of Pando and Beni. In these places there are swamps and flood plains without tree vegetation.
The usual prey of the Bolivian anaconda are birds, large rodents, deer, peccaries and fish. This anaconda is not in danger of extinction.
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Yellow Anaconda
The yellow anaconda, Eunectes notaeus, is much smaller than the green anaconda and the Bolivian anaconda. Females usually do not exceed 4 meters, weighing 40 kg.; although there are old records that ensure the existence of specimens of up to 7 meters.
The color differs from other anacondas, as it is a yellowish-greenish tone. However, the oval black spots and the belly of a paler tone is common to all of them.
The yellow anaconda feeds on wild pigs, birds, deer, coypu, capybaras and fish. Its habitat is ponds, streams, slow-moving rivers and vegetated sandbanks. The situation of the yellow anaconda is threatened, as it is subject to poaching as food for its valued meat and skin.
A curiosity of this type of anaconda is that in indigenous villages it is common to have an anaconda that lives among them to rid them of rodents. From which it follows that they do not fear being attacked by the great serpent.
Dark-spotted Anaconda
The dark-spotted anaconda, Eunectes deschauenseei, is smaller than the Bolivian anaconda and the green anaconda. It usually does not exceed 4 meters in length. Its color is yellowish with a profusion of black spots and stripes. Its belly is yellowish or creamy.
It is distributed over a wide area that includes the Brazilian northeast, French Guiana and Suriname. It inhabits the swamps, lacustrine areas and wetlands of those vast lands. Specimens are found from sea level to 300 meters above sea level.
Its diet is based on capybaras, peccaries, birds, fish and, exceptionally, also small alligators; since large alligators attack anacondas to eat them.
The destruction of its habitat by farms and the slaughter by ranchers to protect their livestock have plunged this species into a state of threat.
Curiosities of anacondas
- Anacondas are highly sexually dimorphic, with females measuring and weighing more than twice that of males.
- In times of scarcity of game the females eat the males.
- Anacondas are viviparous, meaning they don't lay eggs. They give birth to small anacondas trained from the first day to hunt.
- Anacondas are great swimmers and the elevated arrangement of their nostrils (nose) and eyes allows them to stalk their prey completely submerged and seize it when it tries to drink. A lightning snap of prey and a swift coiling around the body of its victim is the usual form of hunting, which is swallowed whole once dead. Another form of hunting is to let yourself fall from a tree onto its prey, which is often killed by the tremendous blow given by the great weight of the anacondas.
