 
A member of the boa family, South America's green anaconda is the heaviest snake in the world, averaging over 150 kg. It's normally a shade of brownish-green, olive, or grayish-green, and patterned with egg-shaped green or black spots. This anaconda lives in a vast area of tropical river systems and swamps, a hot, humid region with dense foliage offering excellent habitat for such a large snake. It likes to be in or near water, and spends a large part of its time in the murky waters that help it to hide, as well as to support its tremendous body. Anacondas are excellent swimmers and divers. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their head, so the snakes can wait for prey while remaining nearly hidden by the water. Anacondas rest and sun themselves along the bank of a river or in tree branches that hang over water along riverbanks so the snakes can quickly drop into the water if needed.  Their diet consists of wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybaras, caimans, and even jaguars. They are not very active hunters but instead use a 'watch and wait' approach as their prey swims by or comes to the water to drink. The anaconda kills its prey by coiling its muscular body around the creature and squeezing until the prey can no longer breathe. Jaws attached by stretchy ligaments allow the snake to swallow its prey whole. The anaconda will often take its meal into the water, where the water's buoyancy helps it maneuver the food to the proper position for swallowing. Anacondas can go weeks or even months without eating following a big meal.  Like all boas, anacondas do not lay eggs; instead, they are viviparous, giving birth to live young. Females can give birth to anywhere from 20 to 100 babies. The young are attached to a yolk sac and surrounded by a clear membrane, not a shell, as they develop in their mother’s body. This ensures they are kept at a fairly constant temperature and are protected from predators. When the young are ready to be born, they are pushed out an opening called the cloaca. They are still surrounded by the protective membrane and must break it open. Baby anacondas are approximately 60 centimetres long at birth. Within hours of birth, they can hunt, swim and care for themselves. Newborn anacondas are smaller versions of the adults and instinctively know how to survive on their own without any help from their mother. Scientists believe it is possible that the larger breeding females eat their smaller mating partners to survive the long, seven-month fast associated with pregnancy. 
 Green anacondas have an average life span of 10 years, but it's thought this can exceed 30 years. They have few natural predators because of their large size, reaching over 11 metres in length. (The reticulated python is longer). Their greatest threat is man, due to lack of knowledge about them, and because of myths and stories depicting anacondas as man-eaters. Habitat destruction is another cause for the decline in anaconda populations, althogh the snake is not endangered |