by Students Spot Colossal Anaconda Crossing Road, And She’s Not Alone
While traveling through a jungle in Brazil, Antônio Stábile dos Santos, who was among the students who stopped, estimated the female snake to be about 20 feet long. Moving closer, he noticed that there were several other smaller anacondas following her.
Santos later came to learn that those smaller snakes were likely males — hopeful suitors all vying for their much larger counterpart’s romantic attention.
But they weren’t the only ones held up from their journey on the dirt path. A lizard was also stopped ᴅᴇᴀᴅ at the roadside — figuratively speaking, and surely relieved to know the snake family had other things to do than ᴇᴀᴛ.
For Santos and the others, who spend their time studying animals, it was a scene they won’t soon forget. “It’s not everywhere you see something like this — especially not in college,” Santos told Globo News. “It was very unusual.”
The anaconda or water python (Eunectes) is a genus of large South American pythons found in tropical South America. Four species have been recognized; including one of the world’s largest snakes, the green anaconda (E. murinus). They are semi-terrestrial, half-aquatic species, often hiding in the swamps, rivers and dense forests of South America.
Of the four giant pythons mentioned above, the blue type is the largest, adults can reach 5.21 m long and weigh 100 kg (220 lb.). Their grᴇᴀᴛ length can only be slightly inferior to that of their “brothers” in reptiles, that is the Asian spotted python, this python has the longest length of all snake-like crᴇᴀᴛures. Adults can grow up to nearly 7 m.
Most of the time, giant pythons swim along rivers in search of food. They are usually solitary and rather shy, so they are rarely seen in the wild. Giant pythons camouflage themselves well in swamps, so they use these areas as shelters. They hide in the water and ʜᴜɴᴛ by ᴡʀᴀᴘᴘɪɴɢ their boᴅɪᴇs tightly around their ᴘʀᴇʏ, sǫᴜᴇᴇᴢɪɴɢ so tightly that the ᴠɪᴄᴛɪᴍ ᴅɪᴇs of sᴜꜰꜰᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ, ɪɴᴛᴇʀɴᴀʟ ᴏʀɢᴀɴs ʀᴜᴘᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴏʀ ʙʟᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ. After the ᴘʀᴇʏ ᴅɪᴇs, the giant python will sᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡ the entire ᴠɪᴄᴛɪᴍ into the sᴛᴏᴍᴀᴄʜ.
