Seeing movies like Anaconda has many people believing that there are monster snakes in jungles, some even exceeding 10 m in length. But those stories have been doing the rounds for many years. So much so that the New York Zoological Society offered a steadily increasing award for a snake of 30 feet (just over 9.1 m) since 1910. This reward reached $50 000 in 2002 but has since been cancelled, probably to discourage people from bothering large snakes in the wild.

John Murphy and Tom Crutchfield address the issue of size in giant snakes in their excellent book Giant Snakes – A Natural History. The longest snake in the world is the Reticulated Python of Asia and it probably reaches 8 – 8.5 m in length. I know of captive individuals that measured just over 7 m. The Green Anaconda, on the other hand, is by far the bulkiest snake in the world and it appears that the largest individuals come from gallery forest in tropical savannah and oxbow lakes. The maximum length of the Green Anaconda is around 7.5 m.

A farmer shows off a large Southern African Python he skinned to researchers. It is important to remember that when skinning a snake, the skins will stretch at least 20%, so this 5.5m skin is probably that from a snake of just over four metres long. 

The Southern African Python (Python natalensis) reportedly reaches a length of close on 6 m but individuals exceeding 5.5 m in length are exceptionally rare. Females grow much larger and longer than males and can lay over 100 eggs (average 30-60). While studying Southern African Pythons in Dinokeng Reserve over a period of more than 10 years, Prof Graham Alexander caught several pythons but the longest one they encountered was 4.8 m and weighed 56 kg.

Researchers attempting to catch a large python in order to plant a tracking unit in the snake. Photo - Wits University

Attacks from giant snakes often feature in the press and it is often believed that many people are attacked and swallowed by pythons and anacondas. Murphy and Crutchfield report on four attacks on humans by the Green Anaconda – one in 1863, two in 1956 and a fourth in 2007. Both the 1956 attacks were fatal - one of the victims, a 13-year-old boy, was swallowed and later regurgitated.

They mention more than a dozen human deaths from Reticulated Pythons since 1910 but some scientists suggest a few such deaths every year. Considering the size of this snake it does seem plausible.

Python attacks are reported from time to time but most of them are insignificant – a bite to the leg with the python quickly releasing and disappearing. Most such attacks seem to be hoaxes. In 1961 there was a report of a miner in the Eastern Transvaal catching a python which coiled around him. He was apparently rescued, went to hospital and died the next day from a ruptured spleen and damaged kidneys.

Pythons are quick to lunge and bite if provoked. 

The late Wulf Haacke reported a second-hand story of an adult being killed by a large python in Angola. This was back in 1973 but it was subsequently said that the python had in fact killed and swallowed a goat. Haacke reported another case in 1982 where a boy was attacked by a python near Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal but not killed. A python attack from a 7 m python near Durban back in 2002 received a lot of publicity. The initial story was that three young boys were playing in a mango tree and one got down from the tree, was attacked by a large python and swallowed and the snake disappeared. The children claimed that they watched the python eating their friend for three hours. This matter was subsequently investigated, and it turned out that there was no missing boy and that the boys had made up the story.

Another story came from a mine in Limpopo where it was claimed a security guard was sleeping under a tree on duty when a large python grabbed and consumed him. The mine released an official statement to the workers warning them not to drink or sleep on duty. This was a hoax and the mine created the scenario in an attempt to scare workers and prevent them from slacking on their shifts.

While conducting field research in Dinokeng, three of the researchers were bitten on a leg by a python in ambush, but all of the pythons very quickly pulled back and slithered off. The bites were minor with some teeth marks.

Shawn Hefer being bitten by a small python.

The late Dr Bill Branch documented a python fatality in 1979. It occurred at 17:50 on 22 November 1979 on the farm Grootfontein in the Waterberg district in Limpopo. Two young Tswana men were chasing cattle along a pathway when one of them (13 years old) was grabbed on the calf by a large python. The other young man ran for help, which was about half a kilometer away. When they returned about 20 minutes later the victim was entwined by the python. They attacked the python with a pickaxe and rocks and the python let go of its victim, who was already dead at that stage. The snake was tracked down two days later. This is the only accurate report of a fatal python attack in South Africa in recent years.