Anacondas or water boas are a group of large
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
s of the
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
''
Eunectes
''Eunectes'' is a genus of boas found in tropical South America commonly called anacondas. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes and include one of the largest snakes in the world, '' E. murinus'', the green anaconda. Four species are currently ...
''. They are found in tropical
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Four
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
are currently recognized.
Description
Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to refer only to one species, in particular, the common or
green anaconda
The green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus''), also known as the giant Emerald anaconda, common anaconda, common water boa or sucuri, is a boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest and one of the longest known extant snake species. Lik ...
(''Eunectes murinus''), which is the largest snake in the world by weight, and the second longest after the
reticulated python
The reticulated python (''Malayopython reticulatus'') is a python species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is the world's longest snake, and is among the three heaviest. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List because of its wi ...
.
Etymology
The South American names ''anacauchoa'' and ''anacaona'' were suggested in an account by
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera ( la, Petrus Martyr Anglerius or ''ab Angleria''; it, Pietro Martire d'Anghiera; es, Pedro Mártir de Anglería; 2 February 1457 – October 1526), formerly known in English as Peter Martyr of Angleria,D'Anghier ...
, but the idea of a South American origin was questioned by
Henry Walter Bates who, in his travels in South America, failed to find any similar name in use. The word anaconda is derived from the name of a snake from Ceylon (
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
) that
John Ray
John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...
described in Latin in his ' (1693) as '. Ray used a catalogue of snakes from the
Leyden museum supplied by Dr.
Tancred Robinson
Sir Tancred Robinson (c.1658 – 29 March 1748) was an English physician, known also as a naturalist.
Life
He was born in Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, h ...
, but the description of its habit was based on
Andreas Cleyer
Andreas Cleyer (27 June 1634 – between 20 December 1697 and 26 March 1698) was a German physician, pharmacist, botanist, trader and Japanologist.
Biography
Andreas Cleyer could be called a "soldier of fortune." He began as a modest soldier, ...
who in 1684 described a gigantic snake that crushed large animals by coiling around their bodies and crushing their bones.
Henry Yule in his ''
Hobson-Jobson'' notes that the word became more popular due to a piece of fiction published in 1768 in the Scots Magazine by a certain R. Edwin. Edwin that described a '
tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
' being crushed to death by an anaconda, when there actually never were any tigers in Sri Lanka.), and it is the former that occurs in Sri Lanka.
Yule and
Frank Wall noted that the snake was in fact a python and suggested a
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
origin ' meaning elephant killer. A
Sinhalese
Sinhala may refer to:
* Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka
* Sinhalese people
* Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka
* Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language
** Sinha ...
origin was also suggested by Donald Ferguson who pointed out that the word ' (' lightning/large and ' stem/trunk) was used in Sri Lanka for the small whip snake (''
Ahaetulla pulverulenta
Brown-speckled whipsnake or brown vine snake (''Ahaetulla pulverulenta'') is a species of tree snake endemic to Sri Lanka. Populations in the Western Ghats of India are now considered a separate species, ''Ahaetulla sahyadrensis''. It is known ...
'') and somehow got misapplied to the python before myths were created.
The name commonly used for the anaconda in Brazil is ''sucuri'', ''sucuriju'' or ''sucuriuba''.
Species and other uses of the term "anaconda"
The term "anaconda" has been used to refer to:
![Eunectes murinus - Flickr - Dick Culbert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Eunectes_murinus_-_Flickr_-_Dick_Culbert.jpg)
* Any member of the genus ''
Eunectes
''Eunectes'' is a genus of boas found in tropical South America commonly called anacondas. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes and include one of the largest snakes in the world, '' E. murinus'', the green anaconda. Four species are currently ...
'', a group of large, aquatic snakes found in South America:
** ''
Eunectes murinus
The green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus''), also known as the giant Emerald anaconda, common anaconda, common water boa or sucuri, is a boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest and one of the longest known extant snake species. Lik ...
'', the green anaconda – the largest species, found east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...
** ''
Eunectes notaeus'', the yellow anaconda – a small species, found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina
** ''
Eunectes deschauenseei
''Eunectes deschauenseei'', commonly known as the dark-spotted anaconda or De Schauensee's anaconda, is a species of snake in the subfamily Boinae of the family Boidae. The species is native to northeastern South America. Like all boas, it is a ...
'', the darkly-spotted anaconda – a rare species, found in northeastern Brazil and coastal French Guiana
** ''
Eunectes beniensis
''Eunectes beniensis'' is a boa species known only from the northeastern parts of Bolivia. Its common names, the Bolivian anaconda and the Beni anaconda, are derived from the geographic location of its native habitat: the Beni area of Bolivia. Li ...
'', the Bolivian anaconda – the most recently defined species, found in the Departments of
Beni and
Pando in
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
** The term was previously applied imprecisely, indicating any large snake that
constricts its prey,
though this usage is now archaic.
** "Anaconda" is also used as a metaphor for an action aimed at constricting and suffocating an opponent – for example, the
Anaconda Plan proposed at the beginning of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, in which the Union Army was to effectively "suffocate" the Confederacy. Another example is the
anaconda choke
Arm triangle choke, side choke, or head and arm choke are generic terms describing blood chokeholds in which the opponent is strangled in between their own shoulder and the practitioner's arm. This is as opposed to the regular triangle choke, whi ...
in the martial art
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...
, which is performed by wrapping your arms under the opponent's neck and through the armpit, and grasping the biceps of the opposing arm, when caught in this move, you will lose consciousness if you do not tap out.
See also
*
South American jaguar, a competitor or predator
Notes
References
{{Set index article, snakes
Eunectes
Snake common names