Amazing Animal Facts (Green Anaconda)

1. A member of the boa family, South America’s green anaconda is, pound for pound, the largest snake in the world.

2. Green anacondas can grow to more than 29 feet (8.8 meters), weigh more than 550 pounds (227 kilograms), and measure more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter.

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3. Anacondas live in swamps, marshes, and slow-moving streams, mainly in the tropical rain forests of the Amazon and Orinoco basins.

4. They are cumbersome on land, but stealthy and sleek in the water. Their eyes and nasal openings are on top of their heads, allowing them to lay in wait for prey while remaining nearly completely submerged.

5. They reach their monumental size on a diet of wild pigs, deer, birds, turtles, capybara, caimans, and even jaguars.

6. Anacondas are nonvenomous constrictors, coiling their muscular bodies around captured prey and squeezing until the animal asphyxiates.

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7. Jaws attached by stretchy ligaments allow them to swallow their prey whole, no matter the size, and they can go weeks or months without food after a big meal.

8. Female anacondas retain their eggs and give birth to two to three dozen live young. Baby snakes are about 2 feet (0.6 meters) long when they are born and are almost immediately able to swim and hunt.

9. Green anacondas have also been known to partake in cannibalism. Females, the larger of the sexes, have been reported to eat smaller male anacondas.

10. Green anacondas can live over 10 years in the wild. They can live up to 30 in captivity.