Constrict these facts like a green anaconda.
- Green anacondas are constrictor snakes found in South America’s tropical swamps and creeks.
- ‘Green anacondas’ are also known as ‘common anacondas’ and ‘water boas’, and have the collective nouns of ‘knots’ and ‘beds’.
- Green anacondas are from the family Boidae, the family of boas that are snakes that are non-venomous.
- Green anacondas have the scientific name of Eunectes murinus, meaning ‘good swimmer’ and ‘of mice’ from Greek and Latin respectively.
- Green anacondas are the heaviest known snake in the world and are said to weigh up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds) and have lengths of 10 metres (33 feet) or more, rating them as the second longest snake, although these sizes are debated, and their average weight and length is generally considered less, growing on average 4.6 to 5 metres (15 to 16 feet) in length and 30 to 70 kilograms (66 to 154 pounds) in weight.
Green Anaconda
Image courtesy of Cristóbal Alvarado Minic /Flickr
- Green anacondas have olive green scales spotted with black patches, and a head with an orange/yellow stripe down each side.
- Green anacondas can be 30 cm (12 inches) or more in diameter and their jaws can stretch wide open so they can swallow their prey whole.
- Green anacondas typically spend a lot of time in the water, and hunt at night, lurking in the water, striking at weaker animals like fish, turtles, birds, caiman and mammals, and sometimes larger animals like deer, constricting them and then consuming them.
- Green anacondas birth between 20 to 40 live babies, that start at a length of 70 to 80 centimetres (2.3 to 2.6 feet).
- Green anacondas have an average lifespan of 10 years in the wild and are popularly depicted in media as large snakes that swallow humans whole, although in reality, this is a very unlikely occurrence.
Bibliography:
Eunectes murinus, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunectes_murinus
Green Anaconda, 2014, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/reptiles/green-anaconda/
There have been confirmed sightings of anaconda in swampy areas of Ishaga ORILE in Abeokuta south west of Nigeria….
There have also been confirmed scenarios where it had killed and swallowed humans…