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. DescriptionĪ stout animal that may exceed 400 pounds in weight, this is the world’s heaviest snake. While I cannot recommend a potentially deadly behemoth as a pet, interest in them is always high…today I’ll highlight the natural history of this impressive giant. Working with Green Anacondas ( Eunectes murinus) in the Bronx Zoo and participating in a capture/tagging project in Venezuela was a childhood dream come true.
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