Anaconda — the mighty one from the swamp. What is the lifestyle of the world’s largest snake?

Night. Only the eyes and nostrils protrude from the water. The rest of the body is hidden under the surface, just off shore. The anaconda is waiting. When the thirsty animal approaches — it will throw itself, sink its teeth in and wrap its body so tightly that it will not be able to catch its breath. Then it drags the victim under the water and all trace of him disappears.

[Photo: Daniel10ortegaven, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons]

Anaconda is the biggest snake in the world

Since childhood, we are instilled with the idea that snakes are simply evil. Anyway, as the studies of evolutionary psychologists show, we have an instinctive fear of these creatures somewhere very deeply encoded. All the more so if it is the world’s largest snake: the South American green anaconda, also called giant (Eunectes murinus), of the strangler family.

The anaconda lives in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. It is found in countries such as:

• Brazil,
• Colombia,
• Venezuela,
• Peru,
• Ecuador,
• Bolivia,
• Paraguay.