Ever heard a story of anacondas and how big they can become in the Amazon.

Green anacondas surely are the world’s heaviest snakes, weighing at around 548 lbs (249 kg) and their length is measured at around 12 feet (6 meters) long. They are indeed massive and deadly in nature but their muscles and skin are way thicker than any other snake worldwide.

People have also been talking about anacondas a nad spotting them in Amazon jungles. There have been numerous reports about giant anacondas around the early 20 century. The rumors even reported that anacondas can even grow as long as 12 meters or 40 feet long.

The green anaconda is a member of a family of snakes called constrictors. These snakes are not venomous.  They wrap their bodies around their prey and squeeze until it stops breathing.

During his first journey in 1906, a renowned British explorer Percy Fawcett claimed that he not only saw 18 meters (62ft) long anaconda he even shot it. An English naturalistic Henry Walter and Alfred Russel Wallace also mentioned witnessing a 30 – 40 ft (9 –12 m). The claims were even made about anacondas being habitual man-eaters with having enough skill and power to kill a human being.

Later it was confirmed that the previous rumors were exaggerated. Green anacondas and that too the females only grow to a maximum height of 5 to 6 meters and have a maximum weight of 249 kg.

Several other stories came and were debunked quickly with time.

There is a theory as to why some animals look gigantic. If something like that happens when a human meets a not-so-gigantic as they appear like bears, crocodiles, giraffes, sharks, and elephants.

Since old times humans have spent millions of years coexisting with large snakes. Humans have evolved to have hyperactive snake-detecting circuits in the brain. Resulting in a lot of people looking at snakes like anacondas as much bigger than they are.

Source: savagehumans