By CJ

Anaconda Anacondas make their home in the Amazon jungles of South America and are part of the Boa Constrictor family. Anacondas live near rivers, lakes and swamps and like to live alone. Water is their main escape method when confronted with danger. Rather than attacking they will choose to slide into the water unnoticed, if possible.

All snakes are carnivores meat-eaters. Anacondas mostly hunt at night. Anacondas kill by constricting squeezing the prey until it can no longer breathe. Sometimes they drown the prey. Like all snakes, they swallow the prey whole, head first. The anaconda's top and bottom jaws are attached to each other with stretchy ligaments, which let the snake swallow animals wider than itself. Snakes do not chew their food, they digest it with quite strong acids in the snake's stomach. Anacondas eat pigs, deer, caiman a type of crocodilian, birds, fish, rodents (like the capybara and agouti, and other animals. After eating a large animal, the anaconda needs no food for a long time, and rests for weeks. The young called neonates can care for themselves soon after birth, including hunting but are pretty much defenceless against large predators). They eat small rodents like rats and mice, baby birds, frogs and small fish.