By Amelia Meyer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Boidae
Subfamily: Boinae
Genus: Eunectes
Species: E. murinus
Common name: Anaconda. Genus Eunectes, a species of boas found in the tropical lowlands South America. They may also be found in the Orinoco basin of eastern Columbia, Amazon River basin of Brazil, and the seasonally flooded Llanos grasslands of Venezuela. Other countries where they may be found include Bolivarian Republic of Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, the, the Guianas, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad. It must be recorded that these snakes are showing up in Florida, U.S.A. and are though to be starting a breeding population in that area, they more than likely came from pet ownwers that “dumped” the snake when they got too large or escaped. The scientific name of the green anaconda comes for the Greek “e????t??”, which translated means 'good swimmer' and the Latin “murinus”, translated means 'of mice' as it was though they preyed on mice.
The Anaconda family of snakes is an aquatic group of snakes that includes the heaviest snake in the world, the Green Anaconda (Eunectes Murinus), which is also the worlds second longest snake.The nostrils are situated on top of the head, well forward, to allow it to breath while sumerged in water, the same reason why the eyes are set high up on the head, this also allows it to swim with its body under water while still havings its eyes above water. The head is narrower than the body and most Green Anacondas have orange-yellow strips on both sides of the head. The over all background colour of the snake is olive green with blackish markings along its length.
They are non-venomous snakes and use constriction to kill their prey, they wrap coils of their muscular body around the prey and squeeze until it suffocates or dies of injuries received from been constricted. They are not fussy eaters and will eat almost anything they can over power, including fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. The anaconda has the ability to stretch its jaws to swallow large prey, whole, as they are joined together by an elastic ligament, digestion is slow and a large meal will last a snake weeks if not months.
The largest wild recorded green anaconda was by Dr. Jesús Antonio Rivas, who has had the opportunity to examined thousands of anacondas, was a female measuring 521 cm (17.09 ft) long and weighing 97.5 kg (215 lb). A green anaconda that was keep in captivity, Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium, reached a length of 6,27 m (20.6ft) at the time of its death. The weight of these snakes can change dramatically based on when they last fed and what they ate. The females of this species are larger than the males. There have been reports of much larger snakes but none verified, it must also be taken into account that the skin of the snake can be stretched after been removed. The Guinness Book of World Records has reported that this snake has probably had more extreme size exaggerations than any other living animal to date.