How many meters is the longest snake? Photos of the largest snakes in the world

In the 1930s, a reward of one thousand dollars was even announced for anyone who could prove the existence of an anaconda with a body larger than 12.2 meters. Then the premium increased to 6 thousand dollars, and the size of the snake decreased to some 9 meters and 12 centimeters. No one ever received the award. By the way, today it is about 50 thousand dollars, so everyone who wants to get rich and enjoy the jungle can start searching.

In fact, it's fair to share the top spot between the anaconda and the Asian reticulated python.

According to unconfirmed reports, the record python that lived in one of the Japanese zoos in the 80s had a length of 12 meters 20 centimeters. However, officially the longest specimen listed in the Guinness Book of Records is a python caught back in 1912 on the island of Celebes (Sulawesi) in Indonesia. Its length was 9 meters 75 centimeters.

The largest reticulated python kept in captivity is the female Samantha, 7 meters 50 centimeters long, who was caught on an island in Borneo. She died in 2002 at the Bronx Zoo (New York). After her death, the record holder's laurels passed to the python Fluffy, the pet of herpetologist Bob Clark, who lived at the Columbus Zoo (Ohio, USA). Its length was 7.3 m and its weight was about 135 kg. Fluffy died in 2010 at the age of 18 due to an internal tumor.

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Fluffy's lifetime photo

The average length of reticulated pythons is 4-8 meters.

Thus, the anaconda and the reticulated python still compete with each other for the right to be called the longest snakes on Earth.

The largest snakes on Earth are non-venomous. They kill their prey by strangulation, wrapping themselves around it in tight rings. Here it is worth mentioning the possible danger of these snakes to humans.

Giant snakes attacking brave travelers in the deep jungle and eating people are a favorite plot of many adventure stories. However, contrary to the imagination of writers, the anaconda is not dangerous for an adult. Cases of attacks by giant snakes on people are rare and are usually caused by the fact that the snake did not calculate its strength or made a mistake in assessing the size of a person, seeing only part of his body under water. No specialist has ever seen a snake that could swallow prey weighing more than 60 kg. However, such snakes can pose a danger to children and adolescents; There are known cases of attacks by reticulated pythons on children with fatal. However, despite their gigantic size and aggressiveness, reticulated pythons are often kept in terrariums.

Currently, the longest anaconda in the world is considered to be a snake that was donated to the New York Zoological Society. Nine meters and one hundred thirty kilograms - the most dangerous combination parameters. But a few years earlier, farmers in Colombia stumbled upon an even larger specimen: the anaconda they caught reached almost twelve meters in length.

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Cases of attacks on humans by anacondas are also rare. Georg Dahl, who explored the jungles of South America, wrote: “I was asked if I would dare to meet a boa constrictor in the forest. To this I can answer quite sincerely that I have met them in the forest more than a dozen times, and they, in my opinion, are no more dangerous than amateur sausage. The boa constrictor and the sausage are approximately equally aggressive. For a boa constrictor to start getting angry, you need to tease it a lot. He often expresses his dissatisfaction with a loud hiss. And if you continue to bother the boa constrictor after that, it is capable of biting you like an angry dog. And he won’t immediately let you go with his thin, curved back teeth.” (Anaconda belongs to the subfamily of boas; in old literature, anacondas were also called water boas, as they lead water image life).

It should be recognized that giant snakes suffer much more at the hands of humans than people do from them. Firstly, in many countries they are eaten. Secondly, their leather with beautiful patterns is used to make shoes, as well as handbags and other haberdashery items.

Snakes live on every continent except Antarctica. They live in everyone climatic zones, spread in water and land. There are flying snakes that can cover long distances by flying from tree to tree. The size of these animals is shrouded in legends. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the big snake, who lived 60 million years ago, its length is 15 meters, weight is 1000 kg. The size of most modern snakes living on the planet within one meter, the smallest are less than 10 cm, but longest snakes in the world reach 8 meters. In this case we are talking about reliable and recorded facts.

Length 2 m

Or the Levantine viper opens the ranking of the longest snakes in the world. Its name translates as iron club and is associated with the shape of its body - the snake has a large head and a wide body. Body length reaches 2 meters, and females are larger than males. What distinguishes the viper from other vipers, and it is to this family that it belongs, is the ribbed scales at the top of the head. The viper chooses to live in arid and open spaces, distributed in the countries of Asia, Africa, and in some areas of Transcaucasia.

Length 2.4 m

Belongs to the asp family. The average length is 1.5 meters, but the maximum value is recorded in 2.4 meters. Its venom ranks second in toxicity among all snakes living on land. If a meter-long individual releases up to 10 mg of poison with a bite, then larger representatives are capable of squeezing out 40 mg. The snake is common in Australia and New Guinea. Because of its love for mice, it is often found near farms and residential buildings. The asp is very aggressive and always puts up fierce resistance.

Length 4 m

Bushmaster (surukuku) despite its impressive size in 4 meters very shy and prefers to settle in uninhabited areas of South America. Such a giant has no less large fangs, which can reach 4 cm. The color will not allow the surukuka to be confused with other vipers: the yellow-brown body is covered with large black diamonds on the back. The bushmaster is very patient: in an ambush while hunting, he can wait for his prey for several weeks.

Length 4.3 m

An inhabitant of the savannahs of Africa reaches 4.3 meters in length and is one of the ten largest snakes in the world. She's the one fast snake. Maximum speed The speed that a mamba can reach is 19 km/h. She does not need to wait for the victim in ambush; she will easily catch up with him. The mamba got its name because of the color of its mouth, which is shaped like a coffin. Because of the cut, the snake’s mouth looks smiling, but this has nothing to do with the animal’s emotions; the mamba has a bad reputation as a killer.

Indian python Length 5 m

Light tiger or Indian python - one of the varieties of tiger pythons, the length of which reaches 5 meters. The tiger python adapts perfectly to any conditions. He feels great both on land and in water, and moves quickly through the trees. The color of the Indian python is gray or brown. People, especially in India (the snake's habitat), often keep the animal as a pet so that he hunts rats and mice. The species is protected by law from hunting. This is caused by a sharp decline in the population due to extermination for the production of python skin products.

Length 5.5 m

Found in South and Central America, it reaches 5.5 meters. The boa constrictor prefers to settle in areas with constant sources fresh water but it could be forest areas, mountain slopes, coast. Boas lead a solitary lifestyle and unite only during the mating period. The snake is not poisonous and deals with its prey by suffocating it. Diet includes rodents, birds, lizards. Common boa constrictor unpretentious either in food or in living conditions. It is often started at home.

Length 5.7 m

the longest poisonous snake, reaching 5.7 meters and growing throughout its life. Its habitat is South and Southeast Asia. This is the only representative that feeds on its relatives, for which it received the name “snake eater”. When meeting a person, the cobra bends its body so that its eyes are at the same level as the person's eyes. In this position, the snake can move freely. This is one of the few snakes capable of making barking sounds. The cobra does not release venom just like that; it can make idle bites to save it for large prey. She can also control the dose of injections. The giant squeezes its victim with such force as an object weighing 360 kg would exert pressure on the body. Without food, a snake can survive up to 3 months.

Length 5.74 m

With a body length of 5.8 meters, it is one of the three largest snakes in the world. The official record was recorded in an Illinois park, where the baby python lived with a body length of 5.74 meters. The species is distributed in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and India. The snake chooses tropical forests, jungles, and swampy areas for living. Python is an excellent swimmer, and at a young age moves very quickly through the trees. The predator has thermal locators that allow it to detect prey by thermal radiation and smell. It feeds on rodents and birds, but can also attack goats, pigs, and monkeys. In areas where cold temperatures are possible, pythons hibernate, eat nothing and wait for warmth. Due to their calm disposition, dark tiger pythons are often kept in home terrariums.

Length 6.7 m

Or the water boa deservedly received this name, since it reaches 6.7 meters in length and can have a body weight of more than 100 kg. Anaconda has chosen the tropics of South America as its habitat and prefers rain forests, since most of the time it stays in the water and never crawls far from it. The anaconda feeds on small and medium-sized predators and can even attack turtles. She strangles her prey, but does not break its bones, as many snakes do, but swallows it whole. This allows you to create a mouth that opens 180 degrees. Anaconda does not attack humans. The only exception is the fact that a snake in India swallowed a 13-year-old boy. But more often she herself becomes a victim of people who hunt her for her skin.

Length 7.5 m

the longest snake in the world. This was recorded in New York, where the Samantha python, measuring 7.5 meters, lived. The reticulated python gets its name from its color, which resembles a fishing net draped over its skin. Pythons feed on birds, rodents, monkeys, and attack goats and pigs, and can even attack large specimens up to 60 kg. There was a recorded case of a python swallowing a 23-kilogram bear. For reference: it takes a python 2.5 months to digest such large prey. Before the law to protect reticulated pythons was enacted, they were on the verge of extinction. Their valuable leather and edible meat made them the object of hunting. Pythons are now being successfully bred in captivity.

Despite the unpleasant emotions most people feel when they see or mention snakes, the fact remains that most big snakes in the world are among the most amazing creatures on our planet. It is difficult to say definitively how many species and colors of snakes there are. Their agility and sharpness are legendary. Even giants such as elephants are afraid of the bite of some representatives of these creatures. If you are interested, you can read the article about the most poisonous snakes on Earth. As part of this article, we will present the Top 10 largest cold-blooded...

Top 10 largest snakes on the planet

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The rating is opened by the most dangerous and at the same time huge snake called the Black Mamba, whose average length is 3 m. Occasionally, individuals can be found that have reached 4 meters in length, but this is a rare occurrence. It lives in Africa, usually in semi-arid places. This snake moves at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. In fact, a person can run away from it, which, in fact, is what you need to do when you see the Black Mamba, because it is the most poisonous among the rest.

When talking about pythons, many people probably have an association with a large, thick snake that can swallow a person in one go. But not all representatives of this family correspond to the imagination of film directors. For example, the length of the amethyst python is only 3.5 meters, in rare cases 3.8 m. There are rumors that there is an eight-meter amethyst python, but there is no official confirmation of this information. For this reason, we give him 9th place in the ranking.

It's about about a representative of the largest family of vipers among snakes. Bushmaster can reach a length of 3.5 to 4.3 meters, depending on its habitat. The largest number of representatives of this species is found in South America. A very dangerous and poisonous snake loves to hunt in uninhabited places. Weighs from three to five kilograms. Larger Bushmasters are found near bodies of water. It should be noted that this type rarely attacks people, because snakes are very shy. Over the entire history, about 30 cases of attacks have been recorded.

Next in the ranking of the largest snakes is the King Cobra, whose average size is five meters. This unique snake looks extremely dangerous when it is in defense mode - it rears up. It is not for nothing that she is called the queen of poison. One bite is enough to take a life Indian elephant. Located in South Asia and Southeast. TO characteristic features The king cobra has a hood at the top of its neck. Not many people know about interesting fact regarding the behavior of a snake when meeting a person. In most cases, the King Cobra only makes a cold (safe) bite, as it saves its venom for hunting.

Another large and dangerous python is the Hieroglyphic Snake, reaching a length of about 5 meters. At the same time, it weighs up to 100 kilograms. The largest pythons from this family live in Africa. The snake's power is enough to catch antelope. They also feed on goats. IN tropical forests can climb trees. They are dangerous to humans. A horrific incident was reported in Canada in which a python that escaped from a zoo attacked and strangled a boy.

Of course, the common boa constrictor is the most common representative of its genus, which, by the way, includes about ten subspecies of snakes. They live in the following zones:

• Lesser Maltese Islands;
• South America;
• Florida;
• some parts of Central America.

Wherein appearance(color) depend directly on the habitat of one of the largest snakes on the planet. It is worth adding that the common python is quite dangerous predator. The attacker uses very strong muscles to compress the victim's chest.

This one giant snake many names: brindle, light, Indian python. They are all united by one family of large snakes, the size of which varies from 5.6 to 6.2 meters. They live in the territories of such states as:

• India;
• Nepal;
• Pakistan;
• Somalia.

Most often, the python can be found in the forest, in caves, in ruins and ruins. They hide in secluded corners and attack suddenly. Better not to worry! As a rule, they attack small animals, the size of a rabbit.

Another name for this, one of the largest pythons on Earth, is the dark tiger snake. The average length of the body is 7 meters. The largest python, which was kept outside the will of scientists from Thailand, reached 7.2 meters in length. It lives in Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Rarely found in India. Snakes hunt mainly large lizards, birds and rodents. Particularly active at night.

It so happens that for most people, snakes are a real phobia, which plunges into horror the person who meets even the most harmless and small snake. In reality, most snakes are not as dangerous as everyone imagines, and most often the animal will choose to escape in an uncomfortable situation. Many of these reptiles are carriers deadly poison, however, only a few species use it in an aggressive manner.

Snakes are one of the most ancient animals on our planet that were able to survive cataclysms and preserve their species as it appeared 167 million years ago. While the smallest snakes rarely reach 10 centimeters in length, the largest snakes can really scare you with their size.

1. Reticulated Pythons

Reticulated pythons are known as the longest snakes on the planet. The length of some individuals can exceed 8 meters. There are descriptions of reticulated pythons in the literature, the length of which reached 10 meters.

This non-venomous snakes which prefer to strangle their prey before eating it. Considering the size of this giant snake, it will not have any difficulty killing a large animal. Science knows of cases where such a python easily dealt with a pig weighing almost 60 kg.

At the beginning of 2017, news spread around the world that a reticulated python in Indonesia had eaten an entire adult human. When the police managed to open the belly of the 7-meter snake, they found the missing man there, whom they had been looking for for several days. The python simply could not crawl away from the scene of the “crime” and began to digest its victim in the nearby bushes.

2. Anacondas

The giant anaconda cannot boast of its impressive size in length, and is slightly inferior in this to the reticulated python. However, this is the most massive snake in the world; statements often appeared in the scientific community that the mass of the found anacondas reached up to 200 kg.

In 1944, one of the researchers announced that he had found in the jungles of Colombia giant anaconda, the length of which exceeded 11 meters, however, although scientists did not refute these words, they called them into question. However, since then it has not been possible to find a single specimen longer than 9 meters. Even with such a length, the snake can swallow prey that is several times larger.

Anaconda is a water boa constrictor. She is an excellent swimmer and diver, making her difficult to spot in the waters of the Amazon. This boa constrictor spends most of its life in the water, coming ashore only to bask in the sun and normalize the heat balance in its body. Female anacondas are much larger than males. Despite the fact that these snakes prefer not to attack large prey such as humans, it is still strongly recommended not to walk alone along the muddy banks of the Amazon, something could go wrong.

3. King Cobra

It is difficult for the king cobra to compete with boa constrictors and anacondas, because the latter's such size is due to the need to surely kill prey without the use of poison. Cobra feels great in this regard; it has excellent poisonous glands that produce strong poison.

The king cobra is the world's largest venomous snake. The average size of such an animal in nature is approximately 4 meters, but at the beginning of the 20th century, a specimen whose length was 5.7 meters lived in the London Zoo.

Many people believe that the cobra is the most poisonous snake in the world, but this is not true. Undoubtedly, its poison is deadly to humans, but King Cobra takes not by force, but by quantity. The volume of venom injected in one bite is incredibly large. Cobras can be overly aggressive, but if you study their behavior, you can predict the snake’s movements and even manipulate it, which is what the famous “fakirs” from India use.

4. Dark tiger python

Another largest snake from the python family, which, according to some evidence, can reach a length of 7 meters. However, there are no officially registered individuals with such dimensions, and the largest dark tiger python, the length of which could be measured, lived in Snake Park in Illinois, and its dimensions exceeded 5.7 meters.
Individuals that are found in nature rarely reach 5 meters, however, this is very large snake, being alone with whom is strongly not recommended; such a meeting may not end in your favor. Python bites are very painful, although this snake does not have poison.

5. Indian python

The Indian python (light tiger) is smaller than its relatives from our top, but can reach a length of 5 meters. If you compare this with the height of the average person, you still feel uneasy. However, the objects of hunting for this snake are small animals, the size of a rabbit. But biting can hurt, we warned you.