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Introduction: Snakes are some of the most feared creatures on earth. Long and legless, fast and flexible, they strike fear into the hearts of those unaccustomed to their presence. Like all reptiles, they are covered with scales, but unlike most lizards, snakes possess a thin, forked tongue, and along with having no true eyelids, they lack external ears. It doesn't come as a surprise, then, that most people are afraid of them, yet as a general rule, there is little to be afraid of. Not all snakes are venomous, and of the 3,000 species around the world that are, only about 15% are considered poisonous to humans.[1] There is, however, something else to fear besides venom. The largest snakes on earth are the reticulated python and the anaconda, both of which can grow to a length of 33 feet (10m) and weigh up to as much as 550 pounds (250kg). Case in point: they may not be poisonous to you, but they can easily kill you.[2]

The Anaconda: The focus of this article is, of course, the anaconda. In the boa family, the anaconda is a constrictor. That is, it kills its prey by squeezing. What is known as the common anaconda inhabits the rivers of northern and Amazonian South America, east of the Andes. There is also the yellow anaconda which lives in southern South America, but it is much smaller, reaching lengths of about only 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4m). Anacondas don't lay eggs as many others snakes do, instead giving birth to live young.[3] While the anaconda is also known as the "water boa," it spends a great deal of its time basking in the sun. Here, outside of the water, it is considered less dangerous, with its weight not being as well supported (for larger specimens). Still, inside or outside of water, they will hunt, though not necessarily in the sense of pursuing their prey. Anacondas are opportunistic hunters, like the crocodile, and typically will wait for their prey to come to them. That's not to say one won't slowly advance towards you if interested, but they rather prefer the surprise attack, being content to wait patiently close by. Simply put, anacondas are ambush experts..

 © 2007 National Geographic Society

Have You Seen This Crocodile?: A cold-blooded serial killer is on the loose. His name is Gustave. He's 20 feet long (6 meters), weighs 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), and stands accused of devouring hundreds of people. Writer Michael McRae and photographer Bobby Model travel to war-torn Burundi to confront the man-eater.Patrice Faye is standing on the west bank of Burundi's Rusizi River with binoculars raised to his eyes.

"Quatre metres," the 52-year-old French expatriate says nonchalantly as he sizes up a 13-foot-long (4-meter-long) Nile crocodile basking on a sandbar 50 yards (46 meters) away. It's a wiltingly hot day at the end of the dry season in central Africa, and the muddy Rusizi, though diminished in height and volume, is still racing toward its rendezvous with Lake Tanganyika, a mile downstream. Faye has been studying Burundi's crocodiles for two decades and has seen countless individuals of this size. The bull is about 25 years old and weighs roughly 500 pounds (227 kilograms)—just average for a young adult male of the species, yet still capable of inflicting tremendous harm on man or beast.

This croc isn't the creature that Faye is looking for, however. Like Captain Ahab, the self-taught naturalist is preoccupied with one monster in particular: Gustave, the largest, most fabled crocodile in all of Africa—a demonic Loch Ness Monster of incredible proportions and, according to legend, appetite. Gustave is reputed to have devoured hundreds of villagers, snatching them from the banks of the Rusizi and the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. Faye estimates that the massive croc measures 20 feet (6 meters) long, weighs one ton (907 kilograms), and is 60 years old (wild crocs, on average, live to age 45). Trained herpetologists agree that Gustave could be that large and that he is certainly one of the most infamous man-eaters of all time. But Faye's assertion that Gustave kills for sport—knocking off villager after villager like some killing machine—leaves skeptics clearing their throats...

Fear of the Chupacabra has grown to such proportions, in Mexico, that some of the people have been trying to burn the creatures out of the caves, in which it is suspected they live. There is some concern that these fires could cause damage to the Ecco system around these caves. The Mexican Government has taken the stand that the Chupacabra is the result of the over active imaginations of a frightened people. In spite of the numerous reports telling of the carnage wrought by the blood sucking beast government officials stand firm in their belief that the actual attackers are dogs. Some of the information provided by the victims of the blood-loving predator is less believable than others. One such report was that it had come through an open bedroom window and attacked a stuffed animal. A more startling account came from a young woman who claimed she had been attacked by a creature with horns, and wings. She went to the local police station and showed them teeth marks on her neck she claimed were made by Chupacabra. However, the police doubt her story.

Due to the outcry from people of her village a 15 person team was set up to try and capture the vicious blood sucker. They went to a farm where it was thought that the Goat Sucker had visited. However, the only predators captured that night and taken in as evidence were a couple of dogs. In spite of the capture of the two dogs the citizenry of Mexico believes that Chupacabra does exist and is still roaming the mountains and valleys looking for more blood. In the Hispanic neighborhood of Clearwater, Florida some 69 animals had been destroyed and mutilated. Among the carcasses were goats, chickens, ducks and geese. Local officials blame the massacre on a large sized dog. But the people of the neighborhood blame Chupacabra. One young man saw Chupacabra from a balcony and gave authorities the common description of 3 to 4 feet in height, spikes along the spine, glowing eyes, wings and long fangs. Chupa had stepped in to the backyard of the young man's home and attacked and killed the family's goat. The goat had been gutted and drained of blood...

By Matthew J. Eaton

One of the most extraordinary mystery beasts of the world is the Minhocao. Relatively unknown to the rest of the world, the Minhocao has been reported from the forests of South America since the 19th century. The Minhocao is commonly described as a giant worm-like animal up to 75 feet long, with black scaly skin and two tentacle-like structures protruding from its head. Known best as being a burrowing animal, the Minhocao is commonly blamed for houses and roads collapsing into the earth. It is also said to frequently visit the local lakes and rivers of the areas in which it's reported.

The first published reference to the Minhocao appeared in the American Journal of Science in an article written by Auguste de Saint-Hilaire. In the article Saint-Hilaire stated several instances where a Minhocao was seen near fords of rivers. Some of these reports had a Minhocao snatching livestock and dragging them underwater! All of instances he reported took place in the Brazilian province of Goyaz. Saint-Hilaire also stated his belief that the name Minhocao is derived from the Portuguese word meaning earthworm, minhoca. Publications regarding the Minhocao ceased until 1877, when zoologist Fritz Muller wrote an article on the beast for a German publication Zoologische Garten. Muller's article included new information on the Minhocao, including reports of huge mysterious trenches that were so big they'd divert rivers and destroy orchards. Unlike Saint-Hilaire's article, Muller's included actual sightings of the Minhocao. The following is of one of these sightings, which took place in the Parana State in the 1840s:

A black woman going to draw water from a pool near a house one morning ... saw a short distance off an animal which she described as being as large as a house moving off along the ground. ... In the same district a young man saw a huge pine suddenly overturned ... he found the surrounding earth in movement, and an enormous worm-like black animal in the middle of it, about twenty-five meters long, and with two horns on its head. Muller also mentioned a story told by Lebino Jose dos Santos who had heard tales of a dead Minhocao being found near Arapehy, Uruguay. According to the tale the creature was found lodged between two rocks, the reputed skin was said to be "as thick as the bark of a pine-tree" and armored with "scales like those of an armadillo"...