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Anaconda [Photo by Elwin R. Sanborn/National Geographic]

Animal handlers hold a 19-foot anaconda at the Zoological Gardens. Among the world's largest snakes, anacondas live in rivers and wetlands of South America. The word anaconda is thought to come from the Tamil word anaikolra, which means elephant killer, alluding to the reptile's fearsome reputation.

Anacondas feed on fish, birds, reptiles, and small mammals, though they have been known to take the occasional domestic animal. The big snakes can be dangerous to people, though reports of deliberate predation are very rare.

Like other boas, anacondas are nonvenomous, and they often kill their prey by constricting it. Like other snakes, they swallow their prey whole.

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