The anaconda snake is the largest recorded snake in the world. The anaconda snakes are also known as water boas, for the logical reasons that they are related to the boa constrictor and spend most of their time in shallow waters. These mammoth anacondas can be predominantly found inhabiting the swamps of tropical South America.

What is it that makes the anaconda snake both so awesome as well as appealing? Well, its sheer size, for starters. The anaconda snake is popularly believed to be capable of swallowing a hippopotamus alive! However, like most myths, this may not hold true, except perhaps for an infant hippopotamus. The forbidding anaconda snake came alive in mass consciousness largely as a result of the popular movie Anaconda. So, let’s rob the anaconda snakes of some of their mystery by briefly discussing a few of their features in the sections below.

The nomenclature of the anaconda snake may be obviously the best point to begin this piece with. So, the zoological classification of the anaconda snake may be spelt out as: Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Reptilia, Order Squamata (lizards and snakes), Suborder Serpentes, Family Boidae (constrictors), Genus Eunectes, and Species Murinus.
Quite as the other snakes, the anaconda snake is coldblooded, i.e. it acquires the same body temperature as the immediate environment around them. The anacondas continue to develop in size throughout their lives. The longest anaconda ever measured has been a whopping 37.5 feet (11.4 m) long. It appears certain that the unexplored wilderness must contain even bigger anacondas than have been verifiably observed by humans so far.

Anaconda snakes are usually greenish-brown, with a twin row of black oval smudges on the back and smaller white signs on their sides. The anaconda snake’s scaly skin glistens, but it is not wet to the touch. The nostrils of the anacondas are situated on the top of the snout, allowing the anaconda snakes to breathe easily while remaining underwater. The anacondas use the tongue for smelling. The anaconda snakes possess fangs, and lack teeth.

The Anaconda snakes are carnivorous and eat meat. They are also nocturnal, meaning they hunt mostly at night. Anacondas kill by constricting or squeezing the prey until it can no longer breathe. The anaconda has no venom, but is still lethal because it kills its prey by squeezing its body with its own powerful muscular body. Under such a vice-like grip, the prey is enabled neither breathing nor escape, and the result is almost instant death caused by asphyxia or internal bleeding. Occasionally, the anaconda snakes drown their preys.

The anacondas swallow the prey whole, gobbling up the victim’s head first. The anaconda snake’s upper and lower jaws are attached to each other with stretchable ligaments, which enable the snake to swallow animals much wider than itself. The anacondas, like other snakes, aren’t in the habit of chewing their food, but instead let the pungent acids in their stomachs digest it. The anaconda snakes eat a variety of wildlife. This includes various fishes, a species of crocodile called caiman, and some birds. Rodents like the capybara and agouti are also favorite games of the anacondas. After a particularly heavy meal, the anaconda snake can subsist without food for weeks on end.

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