While tracking an exceptionally large snake in the Brazilian swamps, photographer Luciano Candisani came across an unexpected sight: a green female anaconda strangling a male, according to National Geographic.

With a body as thick as a truck tire, the female python is familiar to local guides Juca Ygarapé and Daniel de Granville, who guide Candisani along the Formoso River. The group saw the female python half-floating out of the water, wrapping tightly around the smaller male in the riverbed after mating. They observed the two animals for several hours, taking several underwater photos at a distance of one meter.

Actually at first I didn’t understand what was going on. But then, the female python dragged the male python into the grass,” Candisani said. Although the photo was taken in 2012, Candisani decided to share the photo on National Geographic until now because the swamps where these pythons live are increasingly threatened by wildfires and the expansion of agriculture. Karma. At that time, Candisani as well as the guides were amazed by the python’s behavior.

The photographer turned to anaconda expert Jesús Rivas, a biologist at New Mexico Highlands University, who has more than 30 years of experience studying reptiles in Venezuela. Rivas has documented several cases of cannibalism in anacondas, in which females spit out mates after eating them. In this case, it is not clear whether the female python ate the male. Candisani said they couldn’t see it after it dragged the male into the grass.

According to Rivas, males are a good source of protein for female pythons preparing to give birth. “30% of a female’s body weight will go to childbirth. Eating 7-8 kg of meat before entering that stage is not a bad idea,” Rivas commented. Cansisani’s photo is the fourth recorded case of a female anaconda strangling a male. The green anaconda is particularly well suited to cannibalism after mating because of the large size difference between the sexes. The average male is only 2.7 meters long while the female is 3.7 – 5.2 meters long. Cansisani estimated the snake he saw was 7 meters long.

Rivas noted that the area where Candisani took the picture, not far from the city of Bonito in Mato Grosso do Sul state, is often wet. “In arid areas, anacondas can hibernate for months in the mud because food is scarce. But in places with year-round floods, they can get more food, thereby growing large. more,” said Rivas. No one has ever seen the female python after Candisani took a picture of it, but he hopes it is still alive there and may be looking for the next male.