World of Animals
Featured Animals
General
Many people have heard of the huge Anacondas of the Amazon. Now is your chance to learn about them! To jump to a section, use our Quick Jump by clicking on the headings.
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-Length: Usually up to 16 ft, but 33 ft has been recorded
-Weight: Up to 550 lbs., possibly higher
-likes the streams, rivers, swamps, and pools of the Amazon Rainforest
-more at home in water than on land
-swims with grace and agility
-can stay submerged for over 10 minutes
-often lies beneath surface waiting for prey
-lets itself be carried downstream on river’s current only with its head breaking the surface
-then it drifts to the bank and glides away into thick undergrowth
-usually hunts at night
-spends day lying in the shallows of basking in the sun
-often draped over the branches of a tree at the water’s edge
-can climb well
-uses trees for refuge from predators
-preys on deer, wild pigs, and large rodents
-agouti, paca, capybara (rodent examples)
-also attacks aquatic animals
-i.e. caiman (relative of alligator)
-lies in murky pool to ambush animals coming to drink
-seizes prey quickly with sharp teeth and drags into water
-victim often drowns before it is killed
-kills by constriction
-coils itself around prey and squeezes
-squeezes tighter each animal breathes out
-animal suffocates
-swallows victims whole
-can stretch its mouth around prey twice width of head
-because jawbones are loosely attached to skull and each other
-after large meal, it sleeps for several days and digests food
-after large meal, it may not eat for weeks
-threatened by deforestation of habitat
-threatened by hunting for skin
-seldom lives long enough to reach record sizes recorded in the past
Links for More Information
-Largest
Snake, Anaconda