This Up-Close Footage of a Crawling Anaconda Shows Just How Huge They Are

There are big snakes and then there are anacondas! This giant of the snake world is a native of South America where they like to live near swamps, rivers, and heavily forested areas – they are residents of the Amazon and Orinoco River Basins. These magnificent snakes are nocturnal carnivores, so they need to hunt for prey.

The Huge Anaconda

Anacondas are one of the longest snakes in the world (they are not as long as the pythons) but are the heaviest snake for sure. As we see from this magnificent vid, they are enormous animals. In fact, they are so big that the adults have no natural predators. Their weight is due to their thick girth and they are an olive green color but they have darker spot-like patterns running along their spines and similar patches but with yellow centers running along their sides. Their underside is a paler color than the rest of their body.

You may have heard this snake called a ‘boa constrictor’ and the Latin word ‘boa’ means cows. There are folk tales of anacondas chasing cows and suckling from them but these are unlikely to be true!

The Anaconda Lifestyle

So, how does such an enormous snake pass their time? Anacondas are primarily aquatic snakes but can also be found in drier meadows. Their preference is for warmth and humidity and they are most at home in water where they are excellent swimmers. In fact, their movement in water is faster than on land as we can see in this footage of an anaconda moving slowly across some grass. They have a particular way of positioning themselves just below the surface of the water with the top of their head just above water level. Because their eyes and nostrils are on the top of their skulls, they are still able to see around them and breathe when they are in this position.

They do not move around much during the day but stir around dusk and lead a mainly solitary life. When it comes to food, they would be described as opportunistic carnivores. The younger snake’s diet is mainly confined to fish, small rodents, and small reptiles and amphibians. The larger anacondas can tackle tapir, deer, and capybaras. However, they will also take on a crocodile or even a jaguar but this risks them getting hurt too!

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The photo featured at the top of this post is © Mark_Kostich/Shutterstock.com