In search of the 30-foot anaconda

Slides from Slate magazine's article on the quest for a 40-foot anaconda, although the researchers would have accepted a 30-footer. Unfortunately, they found neither, and the claimed photograph of a 120-footer shown here looks like a sandbar to me.
COMMENT: The late Smithsonian herpetologist George Zug accepted a 38-foot claim, although some newer authorities reject this report (the snake was not preserved). (I use English measurements here because of the iconic nature of the 30-foot monster.) It's been argued the prehistoric 43-foot Titanoboa represented an upper bound for snakes, because at some point the nerve impulses travel too slowly to control the complex body movements.
Article: http://www.slate.com/id/2285539/

Thanks to Dana Stabenow for first posting this link on Facebook.