The Amazon rainforest in Peru’s Madre de Dios region is well known for its incredible biodiversity. Taking a walk under the canopy at our research and education center Finca Las Piedras is always an adventure into the unknown, and you never know what incredible thing you might find around the next corner.
In this video Max Withey, one of our resident naturalists here in Peru, recounts how he got the sighting of a lifetime. He accidentally stumbles upon a true Amazonian monster -- a 5 meter (16 ft) anaconda (Eunectes murinus) lying in ambush in a tiny stream…
Green anacondas are solitary top predators that inhabit the swamps, marshes and slow-moving rivers of the Amazon rainforest. To find one in a tiny stream like this is exceptionally lucky. They are ambush hunters that conceal themselves underwater and strike at their unsuspecting prey when they come for a drink. The unlucky animal is constricted and essentially suffocated and crushed to death, definitely not a pleasant way to go. But the animal dies so that the anaconda can live.
Anacondas are the world's heaviest snake (up to 250 kg/550 pounds) and can also grow incredibly long, up to 5 meters or more (more than 16 ft). This particular anaconda from Finca Las Piedras is just about as big as they come!
