Brazilian residents were shocked to discover this 7m long anaconda

Some snakes can reach some pretty impressive lengths, which we already know, but there are some that draw more attention than others. This snake was filmed in Brazil by performer Malvada Pinga, who posted the video on Facebook on September 29th 2015. The video went viral after just a few days, and it’s easy to see why.

This snake, in particular, has some especially spectacular measurements. According to Mr Pinga, it was at least seven metres long, with an astounding width and an especially large head. The man said that the animal was found dead near Sinop, a town in the state of Mato Grosso, but no one knows what actually happened to it.

The anaconda, an impressive snake

From the position of its eyes and the spots on its sides, the serpent could be an anaconda, a semi-aquatic snake that’s commonly found in the rivers of South America. The constrictor and non-venomous animal usually reaches a substantial size of around 5 to 6 metres, and the females can reach up to 8 metres.

At the end of September, another anaconda of around 7 metres was found in the very same region, in the state of Mato Grosso. It was found dead on the side of a road, not far from a river, and it is again unknown what happened to it.

This anaconda isn’t the longest snake in the world. That title is held by a reticulated python which is even heavier and bigger. Depending on the species, their weight can exceed 200 kilograms and their diameter can reach up to 30 centimetres. The measurements of the snake in the video could therefore partly be explained by its species.

How long had the snake been dead?

However, some internet users have speculated that the reptile may have eaten a pretty big animal shortly before it died, which would have increased its size. Anacondas feed on a wide variety of prey, including rodents, mammals, fish and other aquatic reptiles such as caimans.

Others have suggested that the snake might have already been floating dead in the water for a while, which would have ‘inflated’ the body. The snake seems to be in fairly bad condition in the video, which may support this suggestion, but alternatively could be due to how it ended up there. Nonetheless, the video is only 30 seconds long and so doesn’t share a full insight into what happened.

Given these details and lack of information, it’s likely we’ll never know what happened to the snake, or how it got to such an impressive size, but many people online are sorry about its death.

Check out the video above to see the whole of the monstrous serpent for yourself!