Green Anaconda

This was a 4 metre specimen that we came upon, which was useful as later we saw one at distance that was 6 metres plus

comments (26)

Patomarazul

Lion

Nice spotting! Posted 3 years ago
1. NattyOne
  
  Lion
  
  Thanks, one of the llaneros spotted this one, but I did find the larger one.
  
  See below.
  
  Posted 3 years ago, modified 3 years ago

Wesley Goorachan

Lion

Amazing capture! These snakes are really common where I'm from. Posted 3 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Are you sure about that? I'm actually confused about the rarity of seeing an anaconda in the wild. Some stats from observation platforms far larger than JungleDragon:
  
  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?taxon_id=32213
  383 observations only, with a significant amount of zoo photos. Zero observations from your country.
  
  https://www.gbif.org/species/5225712
  GBIF is sourced from many other observation platforms, so probably the best source for occurrence data. Just 249 observations with images, again with a few zoo photos. There seems to be a single observation from your country.
  
  https://observation.org/species/87292/
  Just 42 photos, across the world.
  
  It seems that worldwide, we're talking about hundreds of wild observations at best. They could of course be common to *occur* in particular localities, but they seem very rarely seen. I would imagine that if people commonly see the largest snake in the world, they'd be eager to make photos and share them?
  
  Thoughts? Posted 3 years ago
2. 1. Wesley Goorachan
    
    Lion
    
    Hey Ferdy, saying really common was an exaggeration on my part lol, and I guess I did mean that they commonly occur here and that there's a very stable population, but they are seen a bit more that the stats on iNaturalist and GBIF show. The reason I say this is because I do see the occasional video of an anaconda sighting or maybe a photo but as you rightly said they aren't seen quite often; this is mainly due to the fact that they're elusive and live in marshy areas in Trinidad such as Caroni, Cedros and Nariva which are locations not visited by much people, in addition to this, there are roughly 2000 iNaturalist users in Trinidad and Tobago of the 1.3 million populace, while most persons here have never heard of GBIF so perhaps all these are factors for the lack of photos/videos shared on observation platforms? Posted 3 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Great point, Wesley. I guess we have to distinguish between:
      
      - common to occur
      - commonly seen
      - commonly photographed
      - commonly shared
      
      My impression so far is that they are not commonly seen, due to the reasons you mentioned. Where we saw it recently (Amazon in Ecuador) the local indigenous guide said his community only saw an Anaconda 3 times in their life, despite a life time living directly in its habitat.
      
      Supposedly, they can only be spotted when they expose themselves to sunlight on land, which they need to speed up digestion of a recent meal. Which is an infrequent event, they don't eat often. And even then, there's many places to hide on land. Posted 3 years ago
    2. 1. Wesley Goorachan
        
        Lion
        
        Ferdy I must say I'm jealous that you saw an anaconda before I did lol, but someday I'll have an observation to share on JungleDragon:) Posted 3 years ago
      2. Ferdy Christant
        
        Lion
        
        You can still beat me to it because it's late in my set, which will take months to post. I post in order of photos taken, so there's still time :) Posted 3 years ago
  3. Barry
    
    Lion
    
    For what it is worth, during 4 days in the Pantanal in Brazil, we never saw a jaguar (despite being told that there was a 95% chance) but we did see an anaconda (albeit a yellow one) at night crossing the road (it was longer than the width of the road)! Posted 3 years ago
  4. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Lol that 95% chance does seem optimistic, perhaps based on a fixed place where they drink? Posted 3 years ago
    2. 1. NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        gotta be lucky and have a positive attitude - "someone has to see them..!" Worked for our ocelot - even the very short sighting of the Giant Otter was me in the back of the car on the wrong side - but the front window was down - photo from the back seat!! Posted 3 years ago
      2. Barry
        
        Lion
        
        Nah, it was just trying to keep the Gringos happy! Posted 3 years ago
      3. NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        Could well be right, Barry. Posted 3 years ago
    3. NattyOne
      
      Lion
      
      We all live in hope Barry, still waiting for a jaguar & I saw one Giant Otter for about 2 seconds in Los Llanos - desperate to see them again!! Have a great Christmas/holiday!! Posted 3 years ago
    4. 1. Barry
        
        Lion
        
        Indeed, we had many great views of Giant Otters - not to mention lots of other wildlife in the Pantanal. The amazing thing was that after wiffing on the jaguar in the supposed "Jaguar capitol of the world", we saw one on the night drive from the airport at Cancun to Chichen Itza - standing right there on the side of the road. The taxi driver couldn't believe it - he had never seen one! Even more ironic was that my wife had asked me whether we could see a Jaguar in the Yucatan and I had laughed and said, "Theoretically, but it is so uncommon as to be almost a miracle". But heh, if you want a guaranteed sighting - go to the zoo! Posted 3 years ago
      2. NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        Giant Otters are magic, as for jaguars, I understand that due to Mexico's changes in environmental protection that jaguar numbers are going up in Mexico (some good news) - would you go to the pantanal? before it burns up?? & yes give me 95% or 50% chances in the wild any day. ;¬) Posted 3 years ago
        
        Barry
        
        Lion
        
        I would DEFINITELY go to the Pantanal. It is pretty famous around the world as one of the top places to see wildlife and it lives up to its reputation: birds, mammals, reptiles - lots of all of them! We spent a week there and had a wonderful time (other than missing the jaguars - in one case a mother and kittens walking down the middle of the road because our driver, unlike all the others, felt that he was trying out for a Formula1 race and we missed it by a few minutes - ARGH). We combined it with a week in the Amazon as well - magic, we swam with pink river dolphins. Posted 3 years ago
        
        NattyOne
        
        Lion
        
        Brilliant Barry, my wife swam with the dolphins in Colombia (I was the official recorder) they are magnificent and we've also seen them in the Orinoco delta. Felt blessed. Happy new year. Posted 3 years ago
3. NattyOne
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you Wesley, where's that please?? Posted 3 years ago
4. 1. Wesley Goorachan
    
    Lion
    
    It's Trinidad and Tobago Posted 3 years ago
  2. 1. NattyOne
      
      Lion
      
      Ah yes supposedly the only islands with the green anaconda - A lovely place to live.
      Posted 3 years ago

Ferdy Christant

Lion

Whoa, congrats on the first wild observation of an anaconda. We came across one during our last trip in Ecuador and after some research found out they are really rare to see, although perhaps locally this may differ. Your observation in any case puts ours to shame as it was mostly obscured by reed. Posted 3 years ago
1. NattyOne
  
  Lion
  
  You sent me your link to Ecuador - have nearly finished enjoying it and saw your picture in the reeds and it reminded me of the two that I saw at Hato El Cedral - the 4 metre, close up & the 6 metre + monster at distance, there was no comparison at all for the respective girths of the 2 snakes, the 6 metre+ being what looked like at least 90 centimetre circumference compared to approximately 30-35 centimetres for the 4 metre one.
  Those are the only anacondas that I've seen (just missed a fabled one on the Orinoco, although a father with 2 young children saw it five minutes before we arrived - a 40 foot specimen with a legendary name - he was convinced, we weren't). I'm not sure that there are a great number of photos of the green anaconda, unless taken in the Pantanal, where I understand that they are large and fairly easy to see for about 3 months.
  Saw this in Costa Rica
  https://www.jungledragon.com/image/126267 Posted 3 years ago, modified 3 years ago
2. 1. Ferdy Christant
    
    Lion
    
    Thanks for the info! It still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. The Pantanal is a popular place to visit, one would think that if they're commonly seen there, photos of it are commonly shared. But it appears they're not.
    
    I checked the IUCN status of the Green Anaconda and to my surprise, its not even assessed. Such an iconic animal and we don't know a thing about the population, it seems. Weird!? Posted 3 years ago
  2. 1. NattyOne
      
      Lion
      
      They have the yellow anaconda there too - I think you are probably right - the costs in the Pantanal mean that you're probably only seeing them with a lot of money and needing instant gratification or as professionals. Had never really thought about it before. (;¬} Posted 3 years ago
    2. NattyOne
      
      Lion
      
      I've put the observations on inaturalist. Posted 3 years ago

The Green Anaconda

''Eunectes murinus'' is a non-venomous boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest known snake species. The term ''anaconda'' often refers to this species, though the term could also apply to other members of the genus ''Eunectes''.

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Similar species: Snakes And Lizards

Species identified by NattyOne

By NattyOne

Uploaded Dec 20, 2021. Captured Jul 30, 2014 13:31.

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