Anaconda!! The name evokes a chill of fear and dread among living men. The ruthless predator which can grow up to 100 feet has caught the fevered imagination of wildlife adventurers and the fantasy weaver’s.  Its massive size and the bone crushing hug (constriction) mode of  killing its prey has given it  a notoriety and terror that remains unrivaled by any other animals. The solitary creatures have made their home in the mysterious forests of Amazon. The elusiveness of this stealth hunter has made it an attractive motherlode to a vast network of scientists and wildlife activists who want to capture it for gaining knowledge and fame.

BBC’s new documentary reveals the ‘world’s longest snake’ which is more than 17 feet long and lives deep in the Amazon rainforest.

Gordon Buchanan, cameraman turned presenter for BBC and the team from Waorani tribe went on their greatest challenge – The pursuit of Anaconda. Knowing that anaconda’s preferred water to terra firma, the enthusiastic tribes ran down a humongous snake lurking in the shadowy depths of mossy water. Gordon Buchanan was astounded when he saw the monstrous head of the snake.

It was apparent that the snake which could swallow a capybara was confident about its strength and lay still. The hunting team realized that speed and coordination were vital to the capture of a snake whose whole body was hidden  deep in the  hole.

Few of the tribal members gingerly reached down to grab the snake. An army of hands knifed out to hold the gaping jaws of anaconda. It was extremely important not to agitate the calm giant. If the anaconda gets alarmed and coils around one of the members, he was assured of certain death or, at least getting few of his bones broken under its brute strength.

The men began to move fast. One of them tried to shut the gaping mouth of the snake. The angry anaconda hissed and writhed as it tried to bite the people who were disturbing it.  It took more than two people to close the mouth and hold the head of the snake. The hunters were visibly gasping for breath unable to cope with the powerful strength of the snake whose limbs were the size of a tree trunk and the head looked the size of football.

The body of the snake stretched and continued to stretch not showing any signs of its tail. A ripple of thrill went around the catchers as they begun to comprehend that they were seeing one of the longest snake of their life.

Their first look at the head made the tribals exclaim about the sheer girth of the monstrous reptile. Refusing to be intimidated by the muscular bulk determined to complete their task the team went ahead in their task of dragging the snake out. The large snake had coiled its body around the roots of the tree growing beneath the water making it difficult for the hunters to drag the snake. The wary men climbed down and physically untangled the lower end of the snake. The  rest of the body began to emerge outside from the cavernous depth of the cave.

The anaconda was measured to document its length and few biological samples were taken  from the captured snake for a scientist to determine the effect of oil pollution on their land.

The Waorani’s were extremely careful not to hurt the beast since they considered the anaconda to be a spiritual healer imbued with magical powers. One of the riveting capture of the world’s largest predator ended by surprising the BBC crew and the tribe with its sheer magnitude and the passivity of the monster despite its size.

[source: www.dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com]