Some are of the opinion that Reticulated Pythons are longer. There are disputes about the largest snake that exists on earth. Jaguars, Caimans, Crocodiles, Giant Otters are of no match to the muscle power equivalent to an Elephant standing on your chest (Anaconda’s crushing power is 90 pounds per square inch). However when an Anaconda is at its best, it is the Apex Predator of the Amazonias. It is at this point they are more vulnerable to the scavengers and predators. The serpents lie in open and remain practically immobile for weeks. However the bigger problem comes while digesting them. They stealthily strike their prey with a mere success rate of 10%. Finding food is not an easy job for the Anacondas. They often breathe their last while attempting to do so. But it is also the most difficult times in their lives when they try to migrate to the next nearest waterhole. At this point the waterholes dry up, leaving the snakes strangle in the middle of a barren land. These serpents are extremely fast in the waters but are equally slow on land. Their huge size, in spite of being their greatest asset, is their greatest drawback too. They try to avoid us and at times shy away to evade unnecessary disturbances. We are neither their food nor their threat. They know that they have no business with humans. Isn’t that an incredible size, good enough to fascinate us and leave us awestruck? Then why do we need to unnecessarily demonize one of the greatest creations of nature, just to sell our stories?Īnacondas, by virtue of their calm and composed nature, took no time to earn my respect.
The largest size that I witnessed was about 25 feet (7.5 meters) long and 1 foot thick in diameter. The largest size ever recorded was 10 meters long.
Neither such large sizes are biologically possible nor does any concrete evidence of such giants exist. There are stories of 40 meter long Anacondas. I have seen and studied 11 Anacondas in the wild and each one of them proved me right. True to my appreciations, I found Anacondas to be the most docile, harmless and wise reptile I have ever encountered. An animal gets aggressive against humans only and only under two basic reasons - either they consider you as food or as threat. There is one TRUTH that exists in nature. My way of understanding nature, denied to accept this fact. It was widely spread through such stories that Anacondas regardlessly eat humans. The huge size and incredibly powerful chunk of muscles helped fabrication of such stories. This unnecessary demonization can be accredited to thriller movies and some over exaggerated narrations from erstwhile travelers. Since ages, GIANT ANACONDAS (or GREEN ANACONDAS) have created a terror amongst travelers and researchers. If I discard the mythical stories of Titanoboa, the largest snake that has ever crawled on the face of the earth is found here and my tailor made expedition was aimed at finding them in their natural habitat, photograph them and above all to know and break the myths that has been injected inside us by the TRP seeking Hollywood and Tollywood movies. However I chose Colombia over Venezuela because of the huge political, economic and social turmoil prevailing in Venezuela in the present days. The terrain is better known as the Orinoco basin and is exclusively shared between Colombia and Venezuela. This landscape is covered with thick canopies at one end and vast grasslands on the other, being aptly connected by dense and thorny undergrowths. A vast swathe of Savannah which houses all the unique species of the thick rainforest but open enough to offer the best opportunity to spot and photograph them. These are the vast plains with which the Amazon rainforest merges. While Amazon is the main home to numerous exclusive species, I chose to venture into a slightly different location called Los Llanos (spell it as Los Yanos – meaning Plains in Spanish). However we continue to ignore the very El Dorado of natural heritage that exists right in the heart of Latin America. People go in search of El Dorado – the city of gold, even though it’s existence has been completely discarded. Its biodiversity is uniquely different from other parts of the world. Its remote and inaccessible patches, especially in and around the Amazon basin alone, is home to 20% of the entire world’s wilderness. Latin America is probably the largest storehouse of Nature’s best kept secrets in the world.
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