Eunectes
Eunectes is a genus of boas found in tropical South America. They are a semiaquatic group of snakes and include one of the largest snakes in the world, E. murinus, the green anaconda. Four species are currently recognized.[3][4]
The name Eunectes is derived from Ancient Greek: εὐνήκτης, romanized: eunēktēs, lit. 'good swimmer'.
All four species are aquatic snakes that prey on other aquatic animals, including fish, river fowl, caimans, and capybaras. Some accounts exist of anacondas preying on domestic animals such as goats and sometimes even jaguars[5] that venture too close to the water.
While encounters between people and anacondas may be dangerous, they do not regularly hunt humans. Nevertheless, threat from anacondas is a familiar trope in comics, movies and adventure stories set in the Amazon jungle. Anacondas have also figured prominently in South American folklore, where they are sometimes depicted as shapeshifting mythical creatures called encantados. Local communities and some European explorers have given accounts of giant anacondas, legendary snakes of much greater proportion than any confirmed specimen.
Although charismatic, there is little known on the biology of wild anacondas. Most of our knowledge comes from the work of Dr. Jesús A. Rivas and his team working in the Venezuelan llanos.[6]
The mating seasons in Eunectes varies both between species and within species depending on locality, although the trend appears to be the dry season.[9][10] The green anaconda (E. murinus) is the most well-studied species of Eunectes in terms of their mating system, followed by the yellow anaconda (E. notaeus); unfortunately E. deschauenseei and E. beniensis are much less common, making the specific details of their mating systems much less well understood.[9]
