What are the biggest snakes on the planet?

The largest of all is the royal python, which narrowly outnumbers the anaconda – also known as anaconda. Adult individuals of both species can easily reach 9 meters, but a 10-meter specimen of the royal python is considered by Guiness, the “book of records”, as the largest snake ever found on the planet. Both are carnivorous and non-venomous. “The biggest snakes in the world have no venom. They kill their prey by constriction (squeezing). The largest known venomous snake is the Asian King Snake”, says biologist Lígia Pizzatto, from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp). The royal python mainly inhabits Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor. She usually lives on the banks of rivers, but, from time to time, she is seen in urban centers.

Although attacks on humans are rare, there is a record that a 14-year-old boy from the island of Salebabu, Indonesia, was swallowed by one of these tenebrous snakes. Like most reptiles, the royal python has a very slow metabolism and can go long periods without eating. In 1926, a specimen in a London park remained 23 months without ingesting any food. The anaconda, on the other hand, is native to the forests of South America, and is widely found in the Amazon. Considered an excellent swimmer, she is capable of swallowing medium-sized animals, such as alligators. In their diet are also pigs, turtles, chickens and capybaras. Very aggressive, it wraps itself around its prey and kills it by suffocating. Females usually give birth to between 14 and 82 young, which are born about 60 centimeters long. That’s a puppy, huh?