Slithering after prey in the swamps and rivers of tropical South America, the green anaconda is the largest snake in the world, weighing hundreds of pounds and measuring more than 25 feet in length. These snakes are the inspiration for terrifying stories and legends of monster-sized jungle serpents.
Power Coils: Massive muscles along its length allow the snake's body to wind into coils and exert a crushing force from which few victims can escape.
Wide Load: Swallowing a big meal is no problem for anacondas. Their huge jaws literally unhinge so that the snakes can gulp down prey wider than their bodies.
Doin' Vine: Anacondas rest during the day, often lounging among tree branches, where they're often mistaken for thick vines.
Deadly Squeeze Play[]
The anaconda cools its body in calm river waters.
Gliding through murky rivers and streams, the green anaconda strikes without warning, grabs its victim in its jaws and drags the terrified prey into the water. Then the deadly squeeze begins as the snake wraps its massive body around the struggling animal. The snake tightens its grip until the victim can no longer breathe. These gigantic snakes will eat just about anything from deer to wild pigs, and they're rumored to have swallowed up people.
Night Vision: The snake's vertical pupils open faster and wider than round ones to allow it to take in the maximum available light so it can hunt at night.
Nose Up, Tongue Out: The nostrils are positioned on top of the snake's flat head so it can breathe as it lurks, partly submerged, in shallow water. Its tongue transfers airborne scents to receptors in the roof of its mouth. When not in use, the tongue retracts into a covering inside the mouth.
No Escape[]
- An anaconda lurks submerged in a stream, until it detects the movement of a caiman (a kind of crocodile). Approaching unseen, the snake grabs the caiman with its powerful jaws and throws its muscular coils tightly round its victim.
- Steadily increasing the pressure, the anaconda squeezes its prey. Once the caiman is dead, the snake opens wide and slowly engulfs its meal.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- There is a common trading card and a Diamond Power card. The name on the knowledge card is Green Anaconda. The name on the trading cards is Anaconda.
- The green anaconda is mentioned as a threat to the Black Caiman.
- The green anaconda is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- It is featured in Look Out! on Monster Mania 3.
- It is then featured in Odd Creature Out on Monster Mania 7.
- It is later featured in Desert Disorder on Monster Mania 57.
- It is once again featured in Eat or Be Eaten on Monster Mania 62.
- It is then featured Jungle Jumble on Monster Mania 77.
- Like its trading cards, for all of the above cards it's simply referred to as "anaconda".
- The anaconda wrapped around the branch on the back of the knowledge card is also in the Wildlife Explorer card for the green anaconda.
- The green anaconda is one of few creatures to have three subheadings on the front, along with Archaeopteryx, Piranhas, Coyote and Impala.
- The green anaconda shares the subheading "Night-Vision" with Indian Python, Rainbow Boa, Deep-Sea Lizardfish, and Minotaur.
- Green anacondas are the largest and heaviest living snakes, both featured and in general; the Reticulated Python is, however, the longest.