Details
Eunectes murinus
The green anaconda is a giant boa of Neotropical wetlands and forests. Listed here as diurnal and solitary, it often waits from water for passing prey.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It uses marshes, rivers, flooded forest, swamps, and slow freshwater. Submerged cover and sheltered banks are central to its life.
Length is about 300-600 cm and weight about 30-200 kg. A very thick body, upward-facing eyes and nostrils, and dark oval blotches on olive-green skin are typical.
It spends much time in or near water, usually hunting alone by ambush. Strong swimming and shoreline cover let it approach prey quietly.
It is carnivorous, taking fish, birds, mammals, and reptiles. It is nonvenomous, killing by constriction before swallowing prey whole.
It gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs. During breeding, several males may gather around one female.
Its status is listed as Least Concern. Large individuals are famous, but the species depends fundamentally on healthy wetlands and flooded forest.
