Green anacondas are the world’s heaviest snakes: Here’s how wetlands, ambush hunting, and biology shape their enormous size

The green anaconda is usually described using exaggerations and folklore, but contemporary zoology gives us an even more intriguing answer as to why this snake is unique. The scientific name for this particular species of snake is the green anaconda. As a rule, it is considered to be the world's heaviest snake due to its huge body mass, particularly in adult females.

However, scientists should not confuse the issues of weight and length: one can be very heavy, while still not being the longest snake, and this fact is important to keep in mind since the unusual weight of the anaconda is directly related to its survival techniques. Green anacondas usually inhabit flooded wetlands, marshes, slow rivers, and swamps of South America. Based on research indexed in PubMed Central, green anacondas are commonly found in aquatic or seasonally flooded environments with good cover, where stalking and ambushing become more efficient.