Anaconda
The Biggest Snake in the World
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Many people are confused about the world's biggest snake. They aren't sure if the python, boa constrictor, or anaconda is the largest. If you are talking about a long, heavy snake, then the anaconda is the biggest. The boa constrictor gets up to 7 metres long. The anaconda, a member of the boa family, can grow to more than 10 metres long. That is as long as a bus! The python of Asia is about the same length as the anaconda, but 10 metre pythons only weigh 160 kilograms. Ten metre anacondas weigh in at more than 250 kilograms! Even though the longest python is longer than the record-holding anaconda, the girth of the anaconda is far bigger. Anacondas in the jungles of South America can grow as big around as a grown man! They are so heavy that they move slowly on land. These heavy snakes are better off living in the water, where they swim very well. The water helps support their heavy body. The colour of the anaconda varies from dark green to olive green to yellowish green with dark spots or rings on it.
Anacondas stretch their jaws like other boas and pythons do, swallowing their whole meal at one time. They may have to stretch their elastic jaws for more than an hour to swallow the whole animal. They swallow the whole prey even if it is twice as big as their own head. They
have even killed and eaten small deer and a whole jaguar! However, the main food eaten by these giant snakes is live birds, rodents, and wild pigs. Anacondas may sleep for a week after a good meal, and they can go for months without eating if necessary.
Most snakes lay eggs, but anaconda babies are born live. Their brood may have forty to sixty babies in it, and the babies are all the same colours. They are about 60 cm long at birth, and they can swim and hunt immediately. They live primarily on water animals like fish and frogs until they grow much larger. These young anacondas have to shed their skin to grow larger just like other snakes do. They will continue to do this their entire life since their old skin wears out, too. They simply split the old skin open at the mouth and crawl out of it. They already have a completely new "suit" of scaly skin underneath the old one.
Even though anacondas have no venom (poison), they can bite to defend themselves. People don't have to worry because these snakes swim away from humans whenever they can. Strangely, humans are their main enemy since they hunt anacondas for their skin and cut down their rainforest habitat.
Anacondas like to lie in muddy water with just their eyes and nose sticking out. Like all snakes, they flick their tongue out to sniff the air. Their sense of smell seems to be better than their eyesight. Pits by the side of their mouth sense the heat of their prey, too. They use their jaws and teeth to grab animals that come to get a drink, then coil around it with lightning speed, constricting or squeezing so tightly that the prey can't breathe. Often they just drown their prey since anacondas can hold their breath underwater for more than ten minutes.
