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Love them or detest them , there ’s no denying that snakes are an impressive bunch of reptiles . These critters have existed for jillion of twelvemonth , are able to subsist in an array of climates and are found on every continent except Antarctica .
But which coinage of slithering reptile is the hardest to overlook ? While there are several contenders for the title of globe ’s big Hydra , here are three of the vainglorious and longest snakes known to man :
The beautiful scales of the reticulated python, the longest snake in the world.
Weighing in at 550 pound , the aptly named giantanaconda(Eunectes murinus ) is the expectant snake in the world debate its duration - to - weight ratio . This coinage , also do it as the unripe anaconda , average about 17 feet in length , though some mortal grow to as farsighted as 30 metrical unit .
And this aquatic devil has been known to measure as much as three feet around the middle . But do n’t care : Giant anacondas do n’t bite . or else , they kill their quarry by suffocating or drowning it .
Growing up to 30 feet long , the reticulated python ( Python reticulatus ) of southeastern Asia and the East Indies is the long snake in the grass in the earth . These giant have an median weightiness of 250 pounds , but the largest sleep together specimen in existence weighs in at a whopping 350 pounds .
Unlike Eunectes murinus , these snakes sting their quarry and swallow it whole , after squeezing it to death — easy . Despite their volatility , pythons are popular pets for alien snake owners . Medusa , a wrapped reticulated python in Kansas City , Mo. , earns her keep as part of a haunted - household exhibit .
But neither the sprawl python nor the jumbo anaconda can retain a candela to their prehistoric predecessor , Titanoboa cerrejonensis . The fossilised clay of this 42 - base - long , 2,500 Irish punt monster were unearthed in Colombia in 2009 .
Scientists used the mathematical relationship between the sizing of vertebra and the length of the body in living snakes to determine the ancient snake ’s mass . These reptiles are believe to have slither around the Earth from 58 million to 60 million age ago .
