![]() One striking fact about anacondas diet is regarding the diet of larger animals. Swallowing a large prey, say a capybara or a deer, may take as much as 6 or 8 hours and the frequency of feeding may be surprisingly low. Other than the streptostylic jaw (with mobile joins to swallow large prey) anacondas also live in the water so having a very large prey does not hinder their movement as much as it would if they were terrestrial. This feat seem hard to believe and the reason anacondas can do is because a series of morphological and behavioral adaptation that allow them to swallow larger prey. ![]() Young anacondas and males (that are always smaller) tend to feed mostly on birds while the larger females virtually drop birds from their diet and feed almost exclusively on reptiles and mammals.Īnacondas may take prey from a broad range of sizes ranging from 10% of their body weight all the way to 146%. ![]() However this distribution does not represent the diet of any given snake. The remnant 22.6% is comprised by mammals from rodents and marsupials on the early ages to Capybaras ( Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris) and white tail deer ( Odocoileus virginianus). About half of the diet (51.6%) are birds of different sizes including several species of storks, herons, ducks, ibises and many other wading birds. On the diet of anacondas we can find reptiles (25.8%) such as spectacled caimans ( Caiman crocodilus), yellow headed side neck turtle ( Podocnemis vogli), green iguana (Iguana iguana), and tegu ( Tupinambis teguixin) among others. Once captured the prey is subdued by a combination of strength that immobilizes it, immersion in water (most prey are terrestrial vertebrates) a and a maneuver that consist of pulling and twisting the spine which very quickly breaks the spine and renders the prey unable to escape or to fight.ĭespite their aquatic habits fishes are surprisingly uncommon in their diet, perhaps because they are so difficult to catch under the water.Īnacondas prey regularly on just about any other vertebrate. Despite their bulk and large size anacondas can move incredible fast to attack their prey. It waits in ambush until the right prey appears at the right time to strike it with their deadly speed. In the following sections I will summarize some of the major aspects of what I have learned studying them since 1992.Īnacondas are ambush hunters that blend with the environment thanks to their cryptic coloration. Taken together my collaborators and me have contributed in bringing the anacondas from the shadows where they were to the status of one of the best studied snakes in the world. Also, I am working with colleagues in several South American countries to expand our knowledge of anacondas throughout its distribution. Also, I have been involved in the production of numerous documentaries for several international networks bringing my findings to the general public. ![]() I recently published a book summarizing my findings over the last 28 years. To the present my study has produced numerous publication in scientific journals and edited books. Despite their obvious appeal of charismatic mega fauna and their potential for skin trade and pet trade little was known of their biology before I began to study them in 1992. Due to their durable skin pattern they have been commercially hunted, mostly in the local hand crafted work but also on the commercial industrial trade. While the title of the longest may be contested with the reticulated python, anacondas are by far the heaviest. The green anaconda, Eunectes murinus (Boidae) is the largest snakes in the world.
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