View source for Anaconda

{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Short description|Genus of snakes}}
{{About|snakes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Miocene–recent<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hsiou |first1=Annie S. |last2=Albino |first2=Adriana M. |date=1 December 2009 |title=Presence of the genus ''Eunectes'' (Serpentes, Boidae) in the Neogene of Southwestern Amazonia, Brazil |journal=Journal of Herpetology |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=612–619 |doi=10.1670/08-295.1|s2cid=55097666 }}</ref>
| image = Eunectes murinus2.jpg
| image_caption = Green anaconda (''[[Green anaconda|E.&nbsp;murinus]]'')
| taxon = Eunectes
| authority = [[Johann Georg Wagler|Wagler]], 1830<ref name="McD99">{{cite book|last1=McDiarmid|first1=R. W.|last2=Campbell|first2=J. A.|author-link2=Jonathan A. Campbell|last3=Toure|first3=T.|year=1999|title=Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference|volume=1|location=Washington, District of Columbia|publisher=Herpetologists' League|isbn=1-893777-01-4}}</ref>
| type_species = ''[[Eunectes murinus|Boa murina]]''
| type_species_authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])<ref name="McD99"/>
| range_map = Anaconda Range.jpg
| range_map_caption = Range of ''Eunectes''
| synonyms = 
*''Draco'' [[Lorenz Oken|Oken]], 1816
}}

'''Anacondas''' or '''water boas''' are a group of large [[Boinae|boa]]s of the [[genus]] '''''Eunectes'''''. They are a semiaquatic group of [[snake]]s found in tropical [[South America]]. Three to five extant and one extinct [[species]] are currently recognized, including one of the largest snakes in the world, ''E. murinus'', the [[green anaconda]].<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=209577 |taxon=''Eunectes'' |access-date=18 July 2008}}</ref><ref name="NRDB">{{NRDB species|genus=Eunectes|species=beniensis|date=12 December|year=2008}}</ref><ref name=rivas>{{cite journal |last1=Rivas |first1=Jesús |last2=De La Quintana |first2=Paola |last3=Mancuso |first3=Marco |last4=Pacheco |first4=Luis |last5=Rivas |first5=Gilson |last6=Mariotto |first6=Sandra |last7=Salazar-Valenzuela |first7=David |last8=Tepeña Baihua |first8=Marcelo |last9=Baihua |first9=Penti | last10=Burghardt |first10=Gordon |last11=Vonk |first11=Freek |last12=Hernandez |first12=Emil |last13=García-Pérez |first13=Juán Elías |last14=Fry |first14=Bryan |last15=Corey-Rivas |first15=Sarah |date=16 February 2024 |title=Disentangling the Anacondas: Revealing a New Green Species and Rethinking Yellows |journal=Diversity |volume=16(2) |issue=127 |page=127 |doi=10.3390/d16020127 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2024Diver..16..127R }}</ref>

==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]] (''Eunectes murinus''),{{cn|date=March 2024}} which is the largest snake in the world by weight, and the second longest after the [[reticulated python]].{{cn|date=March 2024}}

==Origin==
The recent fossil record of ''Eunectes'' is relatively sparse compared to other vertebrates and other genera of snakes. The fossil record of this group is effected by an artifact called the Pull of the Recent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sahney |first1=Sarda |last2=Benton |first2=Michael |date=2017 |title=The impact of the Pull of the Recent on the fossil record of tetrapods |url=https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/5/537/files/2021/01/2017Sahney.pdf |journal=Evolutionary Ecology Research |volume=18 |pages=7–23 |access-date=14 March 2024 |archive-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215043633/https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/5/537/files/2021/01/2017Sahney.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Fossils of recent ancestors are not known, so the living species 'pull' the historical range of the genus to the present.

==Etymology==
[[File:Anaconda Redpath museum.jpg|thumb|upright=2.5|An anaconda skeleton at the [[Redpath Museum]]]]
The name ''Eunectes'' is derived from {{langx|grc|εὐνήκτης|eunēktēs|good swimmer}}.

The South American names ''anacauchoa'' and ''anacaona'' were suggested in an account by [[Peter Martyr d'Anghiera]]. 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]]) that [[John Ray]] described in Latin in his ''{{Lang|la|Synopsis Methodica Animalium}}'' (1693) as ''{{Lang|la|serpens indicus bubalinus anacandaia zeylonibus, ides bubalorum aliorumque jumentorum membra conterens}}''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ray|first=John|author-link=John Ray|year=1693|title=Synopsis methodica animalium quadrupedum et serpentini generis|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28832440|page=332|language=la|publisher=Impensis S. Smith & B. Walford|location=London|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.41459|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> 

Ray used a catalogue of snakes from the [[Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie|Leyden museum]] supplied by Dr. [[Tancred Robinson]]. The description of its habit was based on [[Andreas Cleyer]], who in 1684 described a gigantic snake that crushed large animals by coiling around their bodies and crushing their bones.<ref>{{cite book|first=Charles|last=Owen|year=1742|title=An essay towards a natural history of serpents|page=114|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38946374|location=London|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.58688|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> [[Henry Yule]] in his 1886 work ''[[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 described a '[[tiger]]' being crushed to death by an anaconda, when there were never any tigers in Sri Lanka.{{efn|In [[South Asia]]n languages like Hindi, the [[leopard]] and [[tiger]] may share the same name, that is ''Bágh'' ({{langx|hi|बाघ}}), and it is the former that occurs in Sri Lanka.<ref name="Pocock1930">{{cite journal |last=Pocock |first=Reginald I. |author-link=Reginald Innes Pocock |title=The Panthers and Ounces of Asia |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume=34 |issue=2 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48295762 |pages=307–336 |year=1930 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref>}} 

Yule and [[Frank Wall (herpetologist)|Frank Wall]] noted that the snake was a python and suggested a [[Tamil language|Tamil]] origin ''{{Transliteration|ta|anai-kondra}}'' meaning elephant killer.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wall |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Wall (herpetologist) |year=1921 |title=Ophidia Taprobanica or the Snakes of Ceylon |publisher=H. R. Cottle, Government Printer|place=Ceylon |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37045831 |page=48 |doi=10.5962/bhl.title.53694 |via=Biodiversity Heritage Library}}</ref> A [[Sinhala language|Sinhalese]] origin was also suggested by Donald Ferguson who pointed out that the word ''{{Transliteration|si|Henakandaya}}'' (''{{Transliteration|si|hena}}'' lightning/large and ''{{Transliteration|si|kanda}}'' stem/trunk) was used in Sri Lanka for the small whip snake (''[[Ahaetulla pulverulenta]]'')<ref>{{cite journal |last=Willey |first=Arthur |author-link=Arthur Willey |title=Some rare snakes of Ceylon |journal=Spolia Zeylanica |year=1904 |volume=1 |issue=3 |url=https://archive.org/stream/spoliazeylanica01nati#page/84/mode/1up/ |pages=81–89|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and somehow got misapplied to the python before myths were created.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Notes and Queries|volume=12|issue=294|year=1897|last=Ferguson|first=Donald |pages=123–124 |title=The derivation of "Anaconda"|url=https://archive.org/stream/s8notesqueries12londuoft#page/123/mode/1up|doi=10.1093/nq/s8-XII.294.123|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A concise etymological dictionary of the English Language|last=Skeat|first=Walter W.|author-link=Walter William Skeat|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1882|page=16|url=https://archive.org/stream/conciseetymologi00skea#page/16/mode/1up|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/stream/hobsonjobsonagl02croogoog#page/n76/mode/1up|pages=24–25|title=Hobson-Jobson|last1=Yule|first1=Henry|author-link1=Henry Yule|first2=Arthur C.|last2=Burnell|author-link2=Arthur Coke Burnell|publisher=John Murray|place=London|year=1903|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

The name commonly used for the anaconda in Brazil is ''sucuri'', ''sucuriju'' or ''sucuriuba''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dicionário online de português: sucuriju|url=http://www.dicio.com.br/sucuriju/|language=pt|access-date=19 February 2014|archive-date=27 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227093051/http://www.dicio.com.br/sucuriju/|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Anaconda and Squamata skeletons.jpg|thumb|A {{convert|14|ft|m|adj=on|order=flip}} anaconda skeleton (center) on display at the [[Museum of Osteology]], alongside other species for comparison]]

==Distribution and habitat==
Found in tropical [[South America]] from [[Ecuador]], [[Brazil]], [[Colombia]] and [[Venezuela]] south to [[Argentina]].<ref name="McD99"/>

==Feeding==
All five species are aquatic snakes that prey on other aquatic animals, including [[fish]], [[Water bird|river fowl]], and [[caiman]]. Videos exist of anacondas preying on domestic animals such as [[goat]]s and sometimes even young [[jaguar]]s<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anacondas.org/faqs.htm |last=Rivas |first=Jesús |title=Frequently Asked Questions |access-date=30 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221225940/http://anacondas.org/faqs.htm |archive-date=21 December 2016}}</ref> that venture too close to the water.

==Relationship with humans==
While encounters between people and anacondas may be dangerous, they do not regularly [[Man-eating animal|hunt humans]]. Nevertheless, threat from anacondas is a [[Cliché|familiar trope]] in [[comics]], [[Anaconda (film series)|movies]], and adventure stories (often published in [[pulp magazine]]s or [[Men's adventure|adventure magazine]]s) set in the [[Amazon basin|Amazon jungle]]. [[Classification_of_the_Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas#Amazon|Local communities]] and some European explorers have given accounts of giant anacondas, legendary snakes of much greater proportion than any confirmed specimen.

Although [[charismatic species|charismatic]], there is little known on the [[biology]] of [[wildlife|wild]] anacondas. Most of our knowledge comes from the work of Dr. Jesús A. Rivas and his team working in the [[Venezuelan Llanos]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.anacondas.org |last=Rivas |first=Jesús |title=Life history and conservation of the green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus'') |url-status=live |access-date=30 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306104316/http://anacondas.org/ |archive-date=6 March 2018}}</ref>

==Species==

{|cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 class="wikitable"
!Species
!Taxon author
!Common name
!Geographic range
!Image
|-
|''[[Eunectes akayima|E. akayima]]''
|Rivas et al., 2024<ref name=rivas />
|Northern green anaconda
|Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and northern Brazil<ref name=natgeo />
|[[File:Anaconda (Eunectes akayima).jpg|200px|center]]
|-
|''[[Eunectes beniensis|E. beniensis]]'' (=''E. notaeus''?)
|Dirksen, 2002<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dirksen|first1=Lutz|year=2002|title=Anakondas. Monographische Revision der Gattung ''Eunectes'' (Wagler, 1830)|publisher=Natur und Tier-Verlag|location=Münster|language=German|isbn=3-931587-43-6}}</ref>
|Bolivian anaconda
|style="width:40%"|[[South America]] in the Departments of Beni and Pando in [[Bolivia]]
|[[File:Eunectes beniensis, Rio Beni, Puerto Salinas, El Beni, Bolivia.jpg|200px|center]]
|-
|''[[Eunectes deschauenseei|E. deschauenseei]]'' (=''E. notaeus''?)
|[[Emmett Reid Dunn|Dunn]] and [[Roger Conant (herpetologist)|Conant]], 1936<ref name="ITIS"/>
|Dark-spotted anaconda
|style="width:40%"|[[South America]] in northern [[Brazil]] and coastal [[French Guiana]]<ref name="McD99"/>
|[[File:Eunectes deschauenseei.png|200px|center]]
|-
|''[[Green anaconda|E. murinus]]''
|([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])<ref name="ITIS"/>
|Green anaconda
|Peru, Bolivia, French Guiana, Suriname and Brazil<ref name=natgeo>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-green-anaconda-species-discovered|date=16 February 2024|title=The world's heaviest snake has been hiding a big secret|author=Jason Bittel|website=National Geographic|access-date=14 March 2024|archive-date=19 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219155233/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-green-anaconda-species-discovered|url-status=live}}</ref>
|[[File:Eunectes murinus2.jpg|200px|center]]
|-
|''[[Yellow anaconda|E. notaeus]]''
|[[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1862<ref name="ITIS"/>
|Yellow anaconda
|South America in eastern Bolivia, central-western Brazil, [[Paraguay]] and northeastern [[Argentina]]<ref name="McD99"/>
|[[File:Anaconda jaune 34.JPG|200px|center]]
|-
|†''[[Eunectes stirtoni|E. stirtoni]]''
|Hoffstetter and Rage, 1977<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoffstetter |first1=R. |last2=Rage |first2=J. C. |year=1977 |title=Le gisement de vertébrés miocènes de La Venta (Colombie) et sa faune de serpents |journal=Annales de Paléontologie (Vertébrés) |language=French |volume=63 |pages=161–190}}</ref>
|
|This species is extinct; its fossils have been found in the [[La Venta (Colombia)|La Venta fauna]] ([[Miocene]]) in Colombia. Its validity, however, is questionable.
|
|-
|}
Rivas ''et al''.<ref name="rivas" /> revised the taxonomy of ''Eunectes'', describing a new species of green anaconda (''Eunectes akayima'') and merging ''E. deschauenseei'' and ''E. beniensis'' with ''E. notaeus'', which resulted in the recognition of only three species of anaconda. The result of their phylogenetic analysis is represented below:
{{Clade
|label1=Green anacondas
|1={{clade
   |1=''[[Eunectes murinus]]''
   |2=''[[Eunectes akayima]]'' }}
|label2=''[[Eunectes notaeus]]''
|2={{clade
   |1=''Eunectes notaeus''
   |2={{clade
      |1=''Eunectes notaeus''
      |2={{clade
         |1="''[[Eunectes beniensis]]''"
         |2={{clade
            |1=''Eunectes notaeus''
            |2="''[[Eunectes deschauenseei]]''"
}} }} }} }} }}
In a response paper, Dubois ''et al''. questioned the results of the [[Mitochondrial DNA|mtDNA]] analysis above and the validity of ''Eunectes akayima''. The name of the new species was considered a ''[[nomen nudum]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dubois |first1=Alain |last2=Denzer |first2=Wolfgang |last3=Entiauspe-Neto |first3=Omar M. |last4=Frétey |first4=Thierry |last5=Ohler |first5=Annemarie |last6=Bauer |first6=Aaron M. |last7=Pyron |first7=R. Alexander |date=2024-03-15 |title=Nomenclatural problems raised by the recent description of a new anaconda species (Squamata, Serpentes, Boidae), with a nomenclatural review of the genus Eunectes |url=https://mapress.com/bn/article/view/bionomina.37.1.2 |journal=Bionomina |language=en |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=8–58 |doi=10.11646/bionomina.37.1.2 |issn=1179-7657|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Mating system==
[[File:Eunectes murinus - Flickr - Dick Culbert.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Eunectes murinus''{{dubious|date=March 2024}} in Colombia]]

The mating seasons in ''Eunectes'' varies both between species and within species depending on locality, although the trend appears to be the dry season.<ref name="ReedRodda">{{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Robert N.|last2=Rodda|first2=Gordon H.|title=Giant constrictors: Biological and management profiles and an establishment risk assessment for nine large species of pythons, anacondas, and the boa constrictor|series=U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2009-1202|publisher=U.S. Geological Survey|location=Reston, Virginia|year=2009|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259932038}}</ref><ref name=Pizzatto>{{Cite journal |last1=Pizzatto |first1=Lígia |last2=Marques |first2=Otavio A. V. |date=2007 |title=Reproductive ecology of Boine snakes with emphasis on Brazilian species and a comparison to Pythons |journal=South American Journal of Herpetology |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=107–122 |doi=10.2994/1808-9798(2007)2[107:reobsw]2.0.co;2|s2cid=86033920 }}</ref> The green anaconda ''([[Green anaconda|E. murinus]])'' is the most well-studied species of ''Eunectes'' in terms of their mating system, followed by the yellow anaconda ''([[Yellow anaconda|E. notaeus]])''; unfortunately ''[[Eunectes deschauenseei|E. deschauenseei]]'' and ''[[Eunectes beniensis|E. beniensis]]'' are much less common, making the specific details of their mating systems less well understood.<ref name="ReedRodda" />

===Sexual dimorphism===
[[Sexual dimorphism|Sexual size dimorphism]] in ''Eunectes'' is the opposite of most other vertebrates. Females are larger than males in most snakes, and green anacondas ''([[Eunectes murinus|E. murinus]])'' have one of the most extreme size differences, where females average roughly {{convert|32|kg|lb|-1|abbr=on}} and males average only around {{convert|7|kg|lb|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Pizzatto" /><ref name="Rivas_etal_2007">{{cite book|last1=Rivas|first1=Jesús A.|last2=Muñoz|first2=M. C.|last3=Burghardt|first3=G. M.|last4=Thorbjarnarson|first4=J. B.|chapter=Sexual size dimorphism and the mating system of the green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus'')|pages=461–473|title=Biology of the Boas and Pythons|year=2007|editor-last1=Henderson|editor-first1=Robert W.|editor-last2=Powell|editor-first2=Robert|location=Eagle Mountain, Utah|publisher=Eagle Mountain Publishing|isbn=978-0-9720154-3-1}}</ref> This size difference has several benefits for both sexes. Large size in females leads to higher [[fecundity]] and larger offspring; as a result male [[mate choice]] favours larger females.<ref name="Rivas2001">{{Cite journal |last1=Rivas |first1=Jesús A. |last2=Burghardt |first2=Gordon M. |date=2001 |title=Understanding sexual size dimorphism in snakes: wearing the snake's shoes |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=F1–F6 |doi=10.1006/anbe.2001.1755|s2cid=5374924 }}</ref> Large size is also favoured in males because larger males tend to be more successful at reproducing, both because of their size advantage in endurance rivalry and their advantage in [[sperm competition]] because larger males are able to produce more sperm.<ref name="Rivas2001" /> One reason that males are so much smaller in ''Eunectes'' is that large males can be confused for females, which interferes with their ability to mate when smaller males mistakenly coil them in breeding balls; as a result, there is an optimum size for males where they are large enough to successfully compete, but not large enough to risk other males trying to mate with them.<ref name="Rivas2001" />

===Breeding balls===
During the mating season female anacondas release pheromones to attract males for breeding, which can result in [[Polyandry in nature|polyandrous]] breeding balls; these breeding balls have been observed in ''[[Green anaconda|E. murinus]]'', ''[[Yellow anaconda|E. notaeus]]'', and ''[[Eunectes deschauenseei|E. deschauenseei]]'', and likely also occur in ''[[Eunectes beniensis|E. beniensis]]''.<ref name="Rivas_etal_2007" /><ref name="Rivas2001" /><ref name="Waller2007">{{cite book|last1=Waller|first1=T.|last2=Micucci|first2=P. A.|last3=Alvarenga|first3=E.|chapter=Conservation biology of the yellow anaconda (''Eunectes notaeus'') in Northeastern Argentina|pages=340–362|title=Biology of the Boas and Pythons|year=2007|editor-last1=Henderson|editor-first1=Robert W.|editor-last2=Powell|editor-first2=Robert|location=Eagle Mountain, Utah|publisher=Eagle Mountain Publishing|isbn=978-0-9720154-3-1}}</ref><ref name="Rivas2005">{{Cite journal |last1=Rivas |first1=Jesús A. |last2=Burghardt |first2=Gordon M. |date=2005 |title=Snake mating systems, behavior, and evolution: The revisionary implications of recent findings |journal=Journal of Comparative Psychology |volume=119 |issue=4 |pages=447–454 |doi=10.1037/0735-7036.119.4.447 |pmid=16366778}}</ref> In the [[green anaconda]] ''(E. murinus)'', up to 13 males have been observed in a breeding ball, which have been recorded to last two weeks on average.<ref name="Rivas_etal_2007" /> In anaconda breeding balls, several males coil around one female and attempt to position themselves as close to her [[cloaca]] as possible where they use their [[pelvic spur]]s to "tickle" and encourage her to allow penetration.<ref name="Rivas_etal_2007" /> Since there are often many males present and only one male can mate with the female at a time, the success of a male often depends on his persistence and endurance, because physical combat is not a part of the ''Eunectes'' mating ritual, apart from firmly pushing against other males in an attempt to secure the best position on the female.<ref name="Rivas_etal_2007" /><ref name="Rivas2001" />

===Sexual cannibalism===
[[File:Anaconda and Squamata skeletons.jpg|thumb|{{convert|14|ft|m|round=0.5|adj=on|order=flip}} green anaconda skeleton on display at [[Museum of Osteology]] with other [[Squamata|squamates]] and reptiles.]]
Cannibalism is quite easy in anacondas since females are so much larger than males, but [[sexual cannibalism]] has only been confirmed in ''[[Green anaconda|E. murinus]]''.<ref name="Quintana">{{cite journal | last1 = De la Quintana | first1 = Paola | last2 = Pacheco | first2 = Luis | last3 = Rivas | first3 = Jesús | title = ''Eunectes beniensis'' (Beni Anaconda). Diet: Cannibalism |date=January 2011 | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274698904 | journal = Herpetological Review | volume = 42 | issue = 4| page = 614 }}</ref> Females gain the direct benefit of a post-copulatory high-protein meal when they consume their mates, along with the indirect benefit of additional resources to use for the formation of offspring; cannibalism in general (outside of the breeding season) has been confirmed in all but ''[[Eunectes deschauenseei|E. deschauenseei]]'', although it is likely that it occurs in all ''Eunectes'' species.<ref name="ReedRodda" /><ref name="Quintana" />

===Asexual reproduction===
Although sexual reproduction is by far the most common in ''Eunectes'', ''[[Green anaconda|E. murinus]]'' has been observed to undergo [[Parthenogenesis in squamata|facultative parthenogenesis]].<ref name="ReedRodda" /><ref name="Shibata">{{Cite journal |last1=Shibata |first1=Hiroki |last2=Sakata |first2=Shuichi |last3=Hirano |first3=Yuzo |last4=Nitasaka |first4=Eiji |last5=Sakabe |first5=Ai |date=2017 |title=Facultative parthenogenesis validated by DNA analyses in the green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus'') |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=e0189654 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0189654 |pmc=5728508 |pmid=29236745|bibcode=2017PLoSO..1289654S |doi-access=free }}</ref> In both cases, the females had lived in isolation from other anacondas for over eight years, and DNA analysis showed that the few fully formed offspring were genetically identical to the mothers; although this is not commonly observed, it is likely possible in all species of ''Eunectes'' and several other species of [[Boidae]].

==Indigenous mythology==

According to the [[Origin_myth#Founding_myth|founding myth]] of the [[Huni Kuin]], a man named Yube fell in love with an anaconda woman and was turned into an anaconda as well. He began to live with her in the deep world of waters. In this world, Yube discovered a [[hallucinogen]]ic drink with healing powers and access to knowledge. One day, without telling his anaconda wife, Yube decided to return to the land of men and resume his old human form. The myth also explains the origin of cipó or [[ayahuasca]] — a hallucinogenic drink taken ritualistically by the Huni Kuin.<ref>[http://www.letras.puc-rio.br/unidades&nucleos/catedra/revista/7Sem_16.html As visões da anaconda: a narrativa escrita indígena no Brasil.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024064655/http://www.letras.puc-rio.br/unidades%26nucleos/catedra/revista/7Sem_16.html |date=24 October 2014 }} Por Lynn Mario T. Menezes de Souza. Revista ''Semear'' n°7</ref><ref>[http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0104-93132002000100002 O que nos diz a arte Kaxinawa sobre a relação entre identidade e alteridade?] Por Elsje Maria Lagrou. ''Mana'' vol. 8 n°1 Rio de Janeiro abril de 2002 ISSN 0104-9313.</ref><ref>{{cite periodical |access-date=17 June 2018 |author=Eliane Camargo |title=Yube, o homem-sucuriju: Relato caxinauá |periodical=Amerindia |number=24 |date=1999 |url=http://celia.cnrs.fr/FichExt/Am/A_24_12.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050131192653/http://celia.cnrs.fr/FichExt/Am/A_24_12.pdf |archive-date=2005-01-31 |language=pt}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Jaguar]], a competitor or predator

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |author= Dirksen L. |author2= Böhme W. |year=2005|title=Studies on anacondas III. A reappraisal of ''Eunectes beniensis'' Dirksen, 2002, from Bolivia, and a key to the species of the genus ''Eunectes'' Wagler, 1830 (Serpentes: Boidae)|journal=Russian Journal of Herpetology |volume=12|issue=3|pages=223–229}}
*{{cite book|last=Wagler|first=Johann Georg|author-link=Johann Georg Wagler|year=1830|title=Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugetiere und Vögel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/120243#page/178/mode/1up|publisher=J. G. Cotta'schen Buchhandlung|location=München, Stuttgart & Tübingen|page=167|language=German|doi=10.5962/bhl.title.58730|via=Biodiversity Heritage Library|access-date=14 March 2024|archive-date=27 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327232337/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/120243#page/178/mode/1up|url-status=live}}
*{{cite book|last1=Rivas|first1=Jesús|last2=Muñoz|first2=María C.|last3=Thorbjarnarson|first3=John B.|last4=Burghardt|first4=Gordon M.|last5=Holmstrom|first5=William|last6=Calle|first6=Paul P.|chapter=Natural History of the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus) in the Venezuelan llanos|title=Biology of the Boas and Pythons|year=2007|editor-last1=Henderson|editor-first1=Robert W.|editor-last2=Powell|editor-first2=Robert|location=Eagle Mountain, Utah|publisher=Eagle Mountain Publishing|isbn=978-0-9720154-3-1|pages=129–138|url=http://www.anacondas.org/nathist.pdf|access-date=2012-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718092615/http://www.anacondas.org/nathist.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-18}}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Americana Poster|Anaconda}}
* {{Wiktionary inline}}
{{Commons}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.anacondas.org/|publisher=anacondas.org|last1=Rivas|first1=Jesús|title=Life history and conservation of the green anaconda (''Eunectes murinus'')|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306150313/http://anacondas.org/|archive-date=6 March 2019|url-status=live}}

{{Boidae}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q188622|from2=Q3306164}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Eunectes| ]]
[[Category:Snakes of South America]]
[[Category:Reptiles of Trinidad and Tobago]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Johann Georg Wagler]]