Anaconda

Design

The green anaconda is a large, constricting snake native to South America, mostly the Amazon River basin. It is the heaviest and one of the longest snakes in the world. Anacondas are mostly active at night and live mostly in the water. They are ambush predators, floating just below the water’s surface and waiting for their prey. When the prey strays within range, the anaconda will strike, pulling the prey into the water and constricting them to death. Like most other snakes, anacondas swallow their food whole. Ananconda prey consists of anything they can swallow, but their preferred foods are birds, fish, and small reptiles and birds. Anacondas give birth to live young, usually between twenty to forty at a time.

Features

• Anacondas nose and eyes are at the top of their heads, allowing them to remain almost completely submerged while hunting their prey.
• Anacondas are powerful swimmers but appear clumsy and slow on land.
• Anacondas have jaws they can unhinge to swallow larger prey items.

Fun Facts

• Anacondas have been reported to be as much as forty feet long, but this appears to have been the imagination of the observers.
• Female anacondas will lose up to half their body weight after giving birth to their young.

Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Boidae
Genus: Eunectes
Species: murinus
Size: From 9 feet–17.1 feet
Diet: Any meat it can swallow, preferably fish and small birds
Habitat: The Amazon Basin of South America

Meet Bo the Anaconda