Meet: the longest snake

The attitude of man to snakes has never been unambiguous. Many of us consider them useless and vile creatures, and some, on the contrary, are confident that a snake can be useful, since many drugs of the widest range of action are produced from its poison. But no matter how we relate to these cold-blooded reptiles, we are still interested in learning about them some facts. For example, which is the longest snake in the world, and where she lived.

Types of snakes

Snakes belong to the suborder of reptiles, which are part of the flake group, and live on Earth for at least 67 million years. The study of this species is carried out by the special science of serpentology, which received its name from the Latin name of snakes - "Serpentes".

Currently, more than 3,000 species of various reptiles of this class are known. They are combined into 23 families and six subfamilies. Speaking of snakes, it can be noted that only about a quarter of them are poisonous. Although almost all of them are predators, they feed on vertebrates and invertebrates.

Non-poisonous snakes usually swallow their prey alive, although some species pre-kill it, crushing it to the ground, squeezing jaws or grabbing into rings. At the same time, the poisonous reptiles of this species kill the prey before eating it, introducing poison with special piercing teeth.

Swallowing its prey entirely can not only the longest snake, but its smaller relatives. The mechanism of swallowing looks like this: the reptile gradually moves towards the swallowed food, alternately moving the left and right parts of the lower jaw. In this case everything looks as if it is pulling itself into prey.

Interesting facts about snakes

To date, the most interesting question is which snake is the longest. The facts about this are contradictory and vary depending on the source.

For example, you can find information that in 2002, Indonesian peasants were caught, and in 2003 a mesh python was shown that was 14.85 meters long and weighs 447 kilograms. However, there is no reliable information about him, except for a photo that is considered falsified in the media. The fact is, indeed, so controversial that even in the "Guinness Book of Records," not a word is said about him.

As for the "Book of Records" itself, it indicates that the longest snake was caught in Africa and had a length of 11.43 meters. The snake belonged to the anaconda subspecies and lived in the tropics of the southern part of the African continent.

In addition to anacond, the largest reptile is the mesh python. The most famous specimen of the mesh python was shot in 1912 on the Indonesian island of Celebes. Its length was about ten meters.

Currently, the largest of all snakes representative of the Giant Anaconda is in the "Zoological Society of New York." With a total length of about nine meters, the weight of this anaconda is close to 130 kilograms.

After the anaconda and the mesh python, the third place among the largest snakes is occupied by the Tiger, or Indian python. The length of these creatures can in some cases reach 7-8 meters.

As for the acquaintance of many boas, he takes only the fourth step in the overall ranking of the largest snakes. Usually its size does not exceed five meters.

All these reptiles belong to non-venomous snakes. Poisonous representatives of this class are more modest in size. Although they may be of interest to many because of their danger.

The longest snake that strikes a victim with its poison is called the Royal Cobra. It grows throughout its life, that is, about thirty years, and can reach a length of over five meters. Although usually its average size fluctuates between 3 and 4 meters.

As for fossil representatives of this species of reptiles, the finding in Egypt of the Giant African python, which lived about 55 million years ago, is believed to be reliable. The length of this ancient creature was 11 meters 80 cm.

To all of the above, we can add for comparison the fact that the smallest snake in the world is called the Brahmin blind. The largest specimen of this species was only 10.8 centimeters long.