If you went to the wiled how would you know if you saw an anaconda? Easy! Anacondas are either green like an olive or yellow as a rotten banana peel. Sometimes they have dark spots or rings on them. Unlike other snakes, anacondas are not poisonous. If you looked for an anaconda in Antarctica tough luck! Anacondas are often found in South America. They live in swamps in the forest floor or wrapped around trees in the understory. Since anacondas are usually half way under water no buddy knows how long an anaconda really is but, scientists think that they can grow to be up to 30 feet long. Scientists know that anacondas are 160 lbs. Isn't that crazy! So if you’re ever in the forests of South America, you can protect yourself from running into this perilous predator!

The anaconda is a very interesting animal! What do you think it eats? Have you ever thought about how a creature this powerful can die? Well, the anaconda can kill its prey in two different ways. First it can kill its prey by squeezing it until its head pops off. The other way an anaconda kills its meals is to suffocate it; sometimes it will even drown its prey. When it uses that strategy it can eat lots of animals. It will eat lots of mammals, birds, fish, other reptiles and small crocodilians. Sometimes, when the anaconda lives in captivity it will eat small, pre killed rodents. Do you want to know a really cool fact about anacondas? They can eat a whole dear! Even though the anaconda kills a lot of animals for food, it actually also has some predators. The black caiman can make an anaconda a tasty meal, but the sometimes it will fail and be eaten by the anaconda instead! I cant wait for dinner! An anaconda eating a caiman.

Anacondas are good at many things. They are good at many things because they have adaptations. One of the adaptations that the anaconda is known for is that they have a loosely constructed jaw and they can take it out! This helps them eat their prey. Most animals can’t take their jaw out, but the anaconda can! Have you ever tried? It won’t work. This fact helps them swallow really big animals. They also have 100 backwards curving teeth in their mouths. It also has an extra row of teeth on the roof of its mouth call pterygoid teeth. These teeth help it to hold and ingest its prey. Unlike other animals, anacondas and snakes have heat sensing pits near their lips that let them detect heat from warm blooded animals even in dark conditions. Don’t you think anacondas have cool adaptations to survive in the wild! This is an anaconda’s jaw!

When it comes to having babies, the anaconda is special. The anaconda is one of the only snakes that have live babies. The other snakes lay eggs instead. Baby anacondas are about one yard. It is very strange that anacondas are endangered because the mother anaconda can give birth to about 100 babies at a time. Instead of giving birth when it is grown up, the anaconda can give birth at the age of 4. If you were a 9 year old anaconda you could have given birth to 400 baby anacondas! Isn’t that cool? I hope I taught you some great facts about baby anacondas.

There are lots of other interesting things you might want to know about the anaconda! The anaconda is very popular so it needs lots of names. Its first name is the anaconda, (which you probably know). Its next name is the water boa because it lives most of its life in the water. The next name is “elephant killer” because that is what the name anaconda means in Tamil. All animals have a scientific name and the anaconda is a great swimmer. Did you know that the anaconda used to hold a record for the longest snake? Another interesting thing to know is that unlike other animals, the female anaconda and the male anaconda have a large difference in size. The female can grow to be much larger than the male which is pretty neat! Something that is really amazing is that anacondas show signs of being related to ancient lizards. It has small hind limbs with markings on them, but they can’t be used to move. Another really cool feature about the anaconda is that they have two lungs, most animals only have one lung that works. Isn’t the anaconda a really special and interesting creature?

The anaconda is not endangered, but its existence is threatened. One thing that is causing the anaconda to be threatened is the cutting down of trees near the swamps where it lives. When the trees are cut down, it has less places to look for shelter. Some anacondas also get stuck and buried under the water when trees are cut down. Anacondas are also shot by hunters who use their skin to make boots and belts and other things. They do this even though it is illegal. We can help to ensure that the anaconda does not become endangered by protecting the rainforest and averting buying materials made from snake skin! Hopefully, what you've learned from my report will encourage you to protect this incredible creature!