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Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- anaconda - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Anacondas are giant, nonpoisonous snakes. They live in or near water in warm parts of South America. Anacondas are constrictors. This means that they usually kill their prey by coiling their body around it and squeezing until the animal can no longer breathe. Anacondas are one of the two largest types of snakes in the world. Certain pythons grow longer, but anacondas are much heavier.
- anaconda - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
a giant snake, Eunectes murinus, of the boa family, Boidae. One of the two largest snakes in the world, adults measure up to 30 feet (9 meters) in length. The reticulated python, with a confirmed length of 32 feet (9.8 meters), is longer, but the anaconda is much heavier.