View source for Biology:Anaconda

{{short description|snakes of the genus Eunectes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = Miocene-recent<ref>{{Cite journal|first1=Annie S. |last1=Hsiou |first2=Adriana M. |last2=Albino |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 |date=1 December 2009 |s2cid=55097666 }}</ref>
| image = 01-COBRA-SUCURI-3M-WAGNER-MEIER MG 2458.JPG
| image_caption = [[Biology:Green anaconda|Green anaconda]], ''Eunectes murinus''
| taxon = Eunectes
| authority = Wagler
| range_map = Anaconda Range.jpg
| range_map_caption = Range of ''Eunectes''
| synonyms = * ''Boa'' <small>Linnaeus, 1758</small>
}}

'''Anacondas''' or '''water boas''' are a group of large [[Biology:Snake|snake]]s of the [[Biology:Genus|genus]] ''[[Biology:Eunectes|Eunectes]]''. They are found in tropical [[Earth:South America|South America]]. Four [[Biology:Species|species]] are currently recognized.

==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 [[Biology:Green anaconda|green anaconda]] (''Eunectes murinus''), which is the largest snake in the world by weight, and the second longest.

==Etymology==
The South American names ''anacauchoa'' and ''anacaona'' were suggested in an account by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, but the idea of a South American origin was questioned by [[Biography:Henry Walter Bates|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 [[Biography:John Ray|John Ray]] described in Latin in his ''Synopsis Methodica Animalium'' (1693) as ''serpens indicus bubalinus anacandaia zeylonibus, ides bubalorum aliorumque jumentorum membra conterens''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ray|first=John|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 Leyden museum supplied by Dr. Tancred Robinson, but 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 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 '[[Biology:Tiger|tiger]]' being crushed to death by an anaconda, when there actually never were any tigers in Sri Lanka.{{efn|In [[Place:South Asia|South Asia]]n languages like Hindi, the [[Biology:Leopard|leopard]] and [[Biology:Tiger|tiger]] may share the same name, that is ''Bágh'' ({{lang-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 noted that the snake was in fact a python and suggested a [[Social:Tamil language|Tamil]] origin ''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 [[Social:Sinhala language|Sinhalese]] origin was also suggested by Donald Ferguson who pointed out that the word ''Henakandaya'' (''hena'' lightning/large and ''kanda'' stem/trunk) was used in Sri Lanka for the small whip snake (''[[Biology:Ahaetulla pulverulenta|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}}</ref>[[File:Anaconda Redpath museum.jpg|thumb|left|upright=2.5|Skeleton at the Redpath Museum]]
[[File:Anaconda and Squamata skeletons.jpg|thumb|{{convert|14|ft|m|adj=on|order=flip}} anaconda skeleton (center) on display at the Museum of Osteology alongside other species for comparison]]
{{Clear}}

==Species and other uses of the term "anaconda" ==
The term "anaconda" has been used to refer to:

[[File:Eunectes murinus - Flickr - Dick Culbert.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Eunectes murinus'' in Colombia]]
* Any member of the genus ''[[Biology:Eunectes|Eunectes]]'', a group of large, aquatic snakes found in South America:
** ''Eunectes murinus'', the green anaconda – the largest species, found east of the Andes in Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago
** ''Eunectes notaeus'', the yellow anaconda – a small species, found in eastern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, and northeastern Argentina
** ''[[Biology:Eunectes deschauenseei|Eunectes deschauenseei]]'', the darkly-spotted anaconda – a rare species, found in northeastern Brazil and coastal French Guiana
** ''[[Biology:Eunectes beniensis|Eunectes beniensis]]'', the Bolivian anaconda – the most recently defined species, found in the Departments of Beni and Pando in Bolivia
** The term was previously applied imprecisely, indicating any large snake that [[Biology:Constriction|constricts]] its prey,<ref name="COED">{{cite book|editor-last1=Simpson|editor-first1=J. A.|editor-last2=Weiner|editor-first2=E. S. C.|title=The Compact Oxford English Dictionary|year=1991|edition=2|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-861258-3}}</ref> though this usage is now archaic.
** "Anaconda" is also used as a metaphor for an action aimed at constricting and suffocating an opponent – for example, the Anaconda Plan proposed at the beginning of the American Civil War, in which the Union Army was to effectively "suffocate" the Confederacy. Another example is the anaconda choke in the martial art Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is performed by wrapping your arms under the opponent's neck and through the armpit, and grasping the biceps of the opposing arm, when caught in this move, you will lose consciousness if you do not tap out.

==See also==
* [[Biology:South American jaguar|South American jaguar]], a competitor or predator

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Americana Poster|Anaconda}}

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