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The Study of Anacondas

The anaconda is a non-venomous snake, mostly found in the northern regions of South America. There is little documentation on the anaconda mostly because it is difficult to track it in its habitat. When talking about the anaconda, people usually refer to the green anaconda, which is the largest snake on the planet. There is however, another species of anaconda, the yellow anaconda. This snake is a much smaller animal, the largest recorded being about 12 feet long.

Largest Snake on Earth
- The anaconda can grow up to 30 feet in length and can weigh 200 to 550 pounds. Its diameter can be up to 15 inches, which makes this snake unparalleled in terms of mass and bodyweight. They are not exaggerating in the movies; these snakes are really that big. For all its weight and body mass this is a very agile snake both on land and in water, though it is faster and better in water.
Semi-Aquatic Snake
- The anaconda lives both in water and on land. While they feed on land, they are most comfortable in the water, partially because of their huge body weight and partially because the swampy waters where they live give them adequate cover so they can ambush their prey with ease. These snakes feed of animals of water (such as fish, turtles and caiman) as well as animals that live around the water bodies (deer, tapir, rabbits, birds, etc.). The anaconda can stay submerged for about 10 minutes, in which time it usually drowns its prey rather than suffocation as pythons do.
Giving Birth
- Pythons lay eggs and their young hatch out of these eggs. The anaconda, however, gives birth to live babies, 50 to 70 at a time, each about 30 inches long. From its birth to adulthood, the anaconda multiplies its body mass by 500 times. This is a feat that is not matched by any other species of snake. The anaconda also has a very different style of mating; the female mates with many males. During mating season, you will find huge balls of snakes -- each is one female covered by many males, which incidentally are smaller than the females.
Has No Natural Predators
- This huge snake has no natural predator. It is sitting right on the top of the food chain. The only threat to the anaconda comes from humans, who kill it more out of ignorance and fear rather than self defense. This snake who is known to be able to swallow a whole deer, antlers and all, very rarely attacks humans. Studies point to the possibility that the snake judges the size of the prey by height, so humans look larger than life to them. It also makes little sense to attack humans when smaller mammals are readily available.
Exceptionally Good Tree Climbers
- It is very well known that anacondas are excellent swimmers who prefer to live in water; they are equally comfortable on land around these water bodies and can move pretty fast when they are hungry. A little known fact is that anacondas are superb tree climbers. They have a prehensile tail with which they can climb trees with ease whenever they need to dry off or stalk prey. They very rarely go after food.

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