The speaker shares three personal stories about their encounters with giant anacondas. The first story took place in 2006 in the Crystalline River, where they found the largest anaconda they had ever seen, which had just swallowed a capybara. The second story occurred in Manaus, where they found an anaconda crossing a dirt road and were able to interact with it briefly before taking it off the road. The third story took place in 2012, also in the Crystalline River, where they recorded an anaconda for National Geographic and were able to measure it before releasing it back into the wild. The speaker expresses their pride and happiness in being able to share these experiences with wild animals and highlights the anaconda's unique characteristics, such as its ability to swallow large prey whole.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The speaker has been working with anacondas for almost 17 years.
2. The speaker has had several encounters with anacondas in Brazil.
3. The largest snake species is the reticulated python, but it is not found in Brazil.
4. The anaconda species found in Brazil is the Sucuri, also known as Max Murilo.
5. The Sucuri is the heaviest snake species in Brazil.
6. Anacondas can grow up to 9 meters long and weigh up to 100-150 kg.
7. Anacondas are ovoviviparous, meaning they give birth to live young.
8. Female anacondas can produce over 50 young per birth.
9. Anacondas have a unique way of eating their prey, using their upper and lower jaws to dislocate and swallow whole.
10. The speaker's first encounter with a giant anaconda was in 2006 in the Crystalline River.
11. The speaker has had several encounters with anacondas in the Crystalline River, including one with a massive female that was over 9 meters long.
12. Anacondas are found in various regions of Brazil, including the Pantanal, Amazon, and Atlantic Forest.
13. The speaker has worked with National Geographic to record anacondas in the wild.
14. Anacondas are wild animals and should be treated with care and respect.
15. The speaker has been working in the field for over 50 years and has never had an opportunity to stay quiet and observe an anaconda in the wild before.