NARRATOR: This
intimidating reptile
is the heaviest snake in the
world, and one of the largest.
At 30 feet, the anaconda
can grow to be nearly
the length of a school bus.
When most people say
anaconda, they're
referring to the largest of
the four species of anacondas,
the green anaconda.
At up to 550 pounds,
that's some serious heft.
But these massive
snakes have another
lesser-known characteristic.
They thrive in water.
In fact, the name of
the anaconda's genus
is Eunectes, meaning
good swimmer.
Eyes and nostrils positioned
on top of their heads
allow the snakes to remain
almost completely submerged
as they wait to ambush prey.
Anacondas aren't
venomous snakes.
They are constrictors.
In seconds, anacondas
wrap around their prey,
constricting tighter and
tighter until the blood
supply is cut off.
Like other
constrictors, anacondas
sense when their prey's
heart has stopped,
and only then release
their grip and begin
to eat their meal whole.
Anacondas swallow
their prey whole
with the help of both
stretchy ligaments
and mobile joints
in their mouths.
In the middle of the
anaconda's upper jaw
are two rows of
backward-pointing teeth.
These teeth can
move independently,
biting into prey, and
helping move the snake's
head up and over its meal.
But eating a meal in this
way creates a unique problem.
With its mouth stretched so
tightly around the animal,
the anaconda can't breathe
as it normally would.
But through evolution, the snake
has developed a clever trick
to deal with that.
The windpipe, normally
located deep in the throat,
gets pushed up and out of the
mouth, acting like a snorkel
and allowing the
anaconda to breathe.
And breathing
normally is especially
important, given
the time it takes
an Anaconda to finish its meal.
A green anaconda
can take many hours
to swallow a meal, and more
than a week to digest it.
Large prey such as
capybara and even jaguar
provide the anacondas
the energy they
need to maintain their size.
Once consumed, the Anaconda
will not need to eat
again for weeks or months.
And when 30% of the
female's body weight
is used for
reproduction, their prey
are also vital to the
female anaconda's survival.
Unlike most of the
world's snakes,
anacondas don't lay eggs.
Instead, the young hatch while
still inside of their mother,
who will later give live birth.
After seven months of
fasting during pregnancy,
the anaconda mom takes in
some of the nutrients she lost
by feasting on her eggs
that never developed,
and any of her young
which were not born alive.
With an average of 20
to 40 babies per brood,
it could be hard to
keep them all in line.
For the anaconda, however,
this isn't a problem.
Immediately after being
born, the anaconda
babies are able to
make it on their own
without the help of mom.
Born with the instincts to
hunt and fend for themselves,
baby anacondas have the innate
skills to survive and become
the next giants of South
America's Amazonian waterways
and jungles.
