The yellow anaconda, known as curiyú, surprised tourists this week on a beach in Entre Ríos and a family in Misiones, before which specialists clarified that it is a harmless species and asked to take care of it because it is in a state of vulnerability.

The first case occurred in the Piedras Blancas spa, where the reptile came out of the waters of the Paraná River and appeared on the sands of the place, 80 kilometers north of the provincial capital, it was reported.

At the appearance of the animal, the vacationers were scared and quickly moved away from the shore: the curiyú was removed from the place by the lifeguards and then transferred to the El Brete Nature Reserve.

Meanwhile, in the missionary town of Aristóbulo del Valle, located 107 kilometers northeast of Posadas, a couple saw a yellow boa approach their home, located in the middle of a jungle area near the Salto Encantado Provincial Park.

As happened in Entre Ríos, the appearance of the reptile generated fear, although the episode unfortunately ended with an opposite ending: the missionary couple killed the animal, a neighbor told Radio FM El Mirador.

The curiyú, whose scientific name is Eunectes notaeus, is the largest of the Argentine boídeos: it can measure up to 4 meters and weigh about 30 kilos.

This reptile is distributed in the middle basin of the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, from eastern Bolivia and southern Brazil to Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, north of Santa Fe, north of Entre Ríos and south of Misiones.

In those areas of Argentina it lives mainly in wetland environments (lagoons, estuaries, marshes, ravines and floodplains), always close to river basins.

The yellow boa that appeared in Entre Ríos.

Although the popular movie “Anaconda” has pointed out these animals as dangerous to humans, the Eunectes notaeus feeds mainly on fish, amphibians and reptiles, birds and mammals that usually share their habitat: alligators, herons, coypus and capybaras.

According to specialists, these cases are due to the reproductive cycle of the yellow anaconda, which takes place at the beginning of spring and until the end of December: in this sense, they emphasize that it is harmless -it is not poisonous- and they ask to protect it due to its state of vulnerability.

The popular name of this reptile derives from the Guarani “Curú tijú”, which means foam in the throat: an allusion to the abundant saliva that accumulates in its mouth when it swallows prey.