This article  is the second part of my previous article entitled Terror and shock: The world’s largest snakes ever.

Anaconda

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Anaconda inhabits primarily tropical South America in the Amazon region and Northern Africa. Eunectes murinus, or green anaconda is one of the world’s largest species found in the eastern part of Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and also on the island of Trinidad.

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Anaconda earns a title of “King of the snake” for its total weight or its body mass. It’s a slow-moving snake that belongs to a member of the boa constrictor family of snakes. The Anaconda kills its prey by coiling around it with its large and powerful body before squeezing it into suffocation or crushing it to death and causing internal bleeding. Then, anaconda unhinges its jaw before swallowing its prey in whole.

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According to the native people dwelling in the South American jungle, giant anacondas are seen to have a length up to 100 feet. It was reported that anacondas when found in the jungles of South America can grow as big as a grown man. Think that, a giant anaconda can swallow a tapir in whole and even it’s big enough to prey on a crocodile or an alligator.

Cobra

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Cobra is a reptile found throughout southern Asia, Africa and the Philippines, which is a venomous member of the family Elapidae. When threatened, angry or disturbed, cobra rears up and spreads its hood in its intimidating and threatening look. It can spray its deadly venom accurately even from a distance of about 8 feet. Of all cobras, king cobra (or hamadryad) is identified as the world’s largest venomous snake, which holds the record length of 24 feet.

Taipans

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Taipans are considered as the world’s most venomous (poisonous) and largest long snakes that can grow 2 to 3.6 meters (about 6½ to 12 feet) in length. Central Ranges taipan (Oxyuranus temporalis), inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus; and also known as “small-scaled snake” or “fierce snake”) and the coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) for examples, are three known species of taipan snakes. They prey on birds, lizards, rats and small animals. As they’ve very good eyesight and smelling ability, they can strike on their prey rapidly, drawing back while waiting for the poison to work. As soon as the poison has worked on their prey, they will savor their meals with a frantically hungry desire.

Black Mamba

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Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is the largest poisonous snake in Africa and the world’s second longest snake, in which an adult black mamba can grow up to a maximum length of 4.5 meters (about 14 feet). Black mambas are found widespread in the areas of open woodlands, rocky outcrops and open savannas in the African continent, with their habitats extending from Somalia to South Africa. While in a state of danger, they can escape with a speed in excess of 20km/h and hence they’re also considered as the fastest land snake on earth.

Tiger Snake

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Tiger snake is an Australian animal which belongs to a genus of large venomous snake in the family Elapidae. It’s among the most venomous snake found primarily in the tropical and subtropical regions of Australia. Typically, it’s composed of yellow, orange-brown, olive or jet-black, but its underside is yellow or orange. It can grow up to 7 feet in length. Its bite is potentially deadly to human if not treated immediately. When threatened or unable to flee from its enemy, it’ll flatten its body and raise its head above the ground in a menacing pre-strike gesture as though in a cobra fashion.

Sea Snake

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Sea snake is a venomous tropical snake of the family Hydrophidae, found primarily in the warm coastal waters from the Indian Ocean to Pacific. It’s adapted to marine environments with its paddle-like tail and compressed body, giving it an eel-like appearance. Nevertheless, unlike other aquatic animals, it does not have gills and must come to the surface to breathe. The sea snake’s body is generally flattened, and it has a specialized lung and nostrils with valves that enable it to remain submerged for over 8 hours.

Saw-Scaled Viper

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The saw-scaled viper is one of the most dangerous small snakes, 38 – 60 cm in length, with a pear-shaped head and strongly rough keeled scales in 27-36 rows around its body. Inhabiting the arid regions and dry savannas north of the Equator across Africa, Arabia, and south-western Asia to India and Sri Lanka, it’s characterized by its stout body, vertically elliptical pupils and a comparatively short, thin tail. It produces a “buzzing” or “sizzling” distinctive sound by coiling its body in parallel loops and rubbing the body sides, with its serrated lateral body scales. It prefers to lay its body upon the rock, field or farmhouse or anywhere else it can search for food.

Rattlesnake

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Rattlesnake is another venomous snake of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. Located at the tip of its tail, there is a series of loosely attached, horny segments that can be vibrated to produce a buzzing or rattling sound, which is used particularly as a warning device when threatened. It feeds on rats, mice, lizards, small birds and other small animals by subduing its prey with its deadly venomous bite which can immediately stun or kill its typical prey as short as 20 seconds.

Python

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Python is a non-venomous snake of boa and python family, found living in a wide variety of tropical and subtropical regions (ranging from rain forests and woodlands to savannas and deserts) of Asia, Africa and Australia. It’s comparatively large and muscular, and thus it’s strong enough to kill its prey by squeezing, or constricting, until it suffocates. The biggest species of python weights up to 140kg and has a length over 10m, and thus python with a gigantic size is capable to kill and even swallow animals as big as antelopes, small deers, crocodiles or pigs.  

Gaboon Viper

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Gaboon viper is a reptile with the longest fangs of any snakes on earth, measuring up to 5cm in length. Its head is substantially tanned and has a narrow brown stripe down to its middle, mimicking those fallen leaves and thus giving it an advantage to camouflage among the debris on the forest floor, or its native environment. When threatened, it inflates and produces a threatening “hissing” sound. Its venom is particularly high in toxicity as it can lead to severe muscle and nerve damage while disrupting the blood’s ability to clot.

Eyelash Viper

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Eyelash viper is one of the most venomous snakes on earth. It’s a nocturnal animal that hunts its prey from late evening throughout the early morning. To subdue its prey, it grabs hold of it while injecting toxic venom and it’ll hold on its prey until it’s suffocated or dead, before swallowing it down its throat by moving one side of its jaw at a time. Its venom is highly toxic as it can interrupt the functionality of the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system of its victim almost in a very short time.

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