There are four species of anaconda. They are all native to South America. The commonest, and the largest of all, is the green anaconda (often known simply as the anaconda) – found in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago. Adults are said to weigh between 30 and 80 kilograms, and can be up to 5.2 metres (17 feet) in length. The reticulated python, which is the world's longest snake, can be up to 6.5 metres in length but has never been known to weigh more than 75 kilograms.
The other three species of anaconda are the yellow anaconda (found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina), the darkly–spotted anaconda (a rare species, found in northeastern Brazil and coastal French Guiana) and the Bolivian anaconda (the most recently defined species – found, as its name suggests, only in Bolivia).
© Haydn Thompson 2023