The Yellow Anaconda

Yesterday we talked briefly about snakes, so I thought I would do my final blog posting on the Yellow Anaconda, Eunectes notaeus. This nonvenomous snake is endemic to South America, which is why it is found in the Pantanal. The etymology of its name is fairly interesting; Eunectes derives from Greek and means “good swimmer,” and notaeus derives from the Greek word for dorsal. The latter makes sense, because the man who first distinguished the Yellow Anaconda from a related snake, Edward Cope, wrote this description: “dorsal scales are larger and in fewer rows.”

Yellow Anacondas grow to about 11 to 14 feet in length and can weigh up to 120 lb. There is sexual dimorphism; females grow longer than males and can reach lengths of 15 feet. Like their name suggests, they are mostly yellow with black and brown patterns.

Yellow Anacondas prefer aquatic habitats like swamps, so in the Pantanal we will probably find them right by the water. To feed, they use the techniques of “ambush predation” and “wide-foraging.” They tend to forage in shallow waters during the wet season, and in the dry season they resort to predation, targeting small birds. Yellow Anacondas can also eat fish, turtles, lizards, small mammals, and even caimans.

If you want to learn more about Yellow Anacondas, I found a cool BBC video about them; the link can be found here. 

-Gwynn Lyons