The size of the Anaconda (Eunectes murinus)

[GuateGojira]

The report of the 500 lb anaconda is FALSE!!!

I was digging even more in this new world of the reptiles and guess what? I have found that the famous, often quoted, record of 500 lb for the heaviest anaconda is a misquote of already existing estimation. Check this out:

*This image is copyright of its original author

This image shows the often quoted record, the giant of 846 cm in length and an estimated weight of 500 lb. However, I relay in the original source of all this animal records (Wood, 1978) and check what I found:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The length is the same, the girth is the same, the place is the same, but the estimated weight is of 400 lb!!! How and when Guinness add 100 lb more in the estimation??? At the end, this estimation, based on a previous estimation, is WRONG.

At the end, although the record of 846 cm could be reliable (there is no more data about this specimen, sadly), the estimated record was at 400 lb, but check this final image:

*This image is copyright of its original author

It seems that, hypothetically, a 9 m anaconda could weight 272 kg, however, we must take in count that this study used captive specimens, which are often fatter than wild specimens, especially among snakes.

There is another record of 360 lb (163 kg) for a wild 594 cm anaconda (I will discuss it latter), and based on the data, it seems that this could be the highest reliable weight for the species, although some details are unclear.

---

Gerard Wood and the giant anacondas:

Gerard present a good list of possible real giants among the anacondas, some of them seems to be real measurements, other seems estimations and a few are purely skin records. A has read the full account, and from my point of view, these are the specimens that I could classify as “reliable” from the entire list:

1. A huge snake hunted in Guayana that measured 594 cm (19 ft 6 in). It seems that it was actually measured and the length itself doesn’t seems inaccurate. Although Wood don’t mention any weight, Harper & Row (1972) states that Verrill (the guy that hunted the snake) reported a weight of 360 lb (163.3 kg). Here is the image:

*This image is copyright of its original author

How reliable is the account? I could not say, but from my point of view, the length seems reliable, but the weight represent a problem, as it is the highest true body mass recorded by a good margin. Besides, even if we believe that this is a reliable figure (which I, more or less, do), it probably included some stomach content, was pregnant or both!

2. A large specimen of 548 cm (18 ft) hunted in Guayana by Robert Schomburgk. No other data is available. Again, not a spectacular specimen, compared with other records.

3. A large female of 525 cm (17 ft 3 in), hunted in the Yampari River, Guayana (again? :dodgy:); had a girth of 711 mm (28 in) but because it had just killed an 243 cm-8 ft alligator.

4. The famous record from Schurz of the huge female of 846 cm (27 ft 9 in) in length, a girth of 111 cm (44 in) and an estimated weight of 400 lb (181 kg). The snake came from Brazil.

5. A large 731 cm (24 ft) female shot by Paul Fountain in Brazil, with a girth of 106 cm (42 in).

6. A Peruvian snake of 816 cm (26 ft 9 in) hunted in Iquitos by Col Leonard Clark.

This are the only six specimens that I believe, it could be reliable. The following two seems to be, from my point of view, just estimations.

a. A large specimen of “just over 670 cm (22 ft)” hunted in Guayana by Cap J. G. Stedman. Why only “just” and not the true figure?

b. Alfred Wallace wrote that he never say an Amazonian anaconda of “over 609 cm (20 ft)”. This seems to be just a extreme possible figure, not a true record.

The final record is of a female of 781 cm (25 ft 8 in) that was eating a collared peccary estimated to weight 45 kg (100 lb). This record is, apparently, the same mentioned by Boos (2001). Check the account:

*This image is copyright of its original author

The length is not the same, and there is no mention of the weight (370 lb, without the peccary), but the presence of the peccary weighing 100 lb is very very similar to be ignored just like that. However, at least in the last case, the snake was, apparently, of “just” 488 cm in length.:exclamation:

Using this data from wild specimens, it is possible to suggest that female anacondas from 525 – 846 cm in length are fairly possible in the wild, and that although the largest of these females was estimated at 400 lb, the heaviest specimen recorded was of 360 lb (c.163 kg), probably including some food or caused by pregnancy.

What do you thing guys???

  Reply