WEBVTT - How Do Anacondas Work? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.480 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey brain 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:10.080 Stuff Lauren Volga Bam here. All snakes can swim, though 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:12.720 some are better at it than others. One of the 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:17.759 most powerful species alive today is the green anaconda, perfectly 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.320 at home and the rivers and swamp lands of the Amazon. 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:24.160 It's got eyes that face upward like a crocodiles, allowing 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.080 the creature to scan muddy banks for prey, concealing its 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:32.760 muscular coils below the water surface. That's why anacondas are 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.720 also called water boas the shoe fits, or it would 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.880 if they had any feet. Apart from the green anaconda, 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:44.560 science recognizes three other species, the yellow anaconda, the darkly 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.760 spotted anaconda, and the Bolivian anaconda. All four belong to 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:53.160 the Boa family, and they're all South American natives by 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.040 every metric, though the green anaconda stands out. Not only 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.640 is it the biggest member of the water Boa quartet, 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.040 but it's arguably the biggest snake in the world. Yet 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.880 trying to pin down the animal's maximum size is fraught 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:11.560 with challenges. Folklore is packed with stories about monster snakes 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.560 extending a hundred feet or thirty meters long. The fossil 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.840 record tells us that a colossal serpent really did slither 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:23.120 across the continent sixty million years ago, Named Titanaboa, it's 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.920 thought to have reached fifty feet that's fifteen meters in 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:28.840 overall length, and to have weighed approximately two and a 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.360 half tons. But the long and short of it is 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:36.639 that green anacondas are nowhere near that size. A common 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:40.080 length for this species is about twenty feet or six meters, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.400 although male anaconda's, being the smaller of the two sexes, 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.800 rarely exceed thirteen feet or four meters. The biggest anaconda 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:52.000 ever reliably documented was twenty seven point two feet that's 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:56.000 eight point three meters long. Yet rumors of anaconda's growing 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.800 two or three times larger persist, and some claims hinge 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:03.360 on enormous skins cut from dead snakes. The problem is 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:06.160 those are really easy to distort, even if you're not 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:10.520 trying to Herpetologist William H. Lamar proved this point in 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.760 ninety eight when he killed a wild anaconda of ample size. 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.959 The freshly slaying corpse was a respectable twenty four point 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.720 six ft or seven and a half meters long After 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.440 he skinned the reptile, Lamar measured its disembodied hide. Despite 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.239 his best efforts, he couldn't avoid stretching out the skin 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:30.920 as he worked, which gave it a post mortem length 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.200 of thirty four point six feet or ten and a 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:37.600 half meters. The biggest and bulkiest green anaconda can weigh 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.760 four hundred and forty pounds that's two hundred kilos or 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:45.120 more so. As a species, it's considered the world heaviest snak, 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:50.240 but not necessarily the longest lengthwise, the Asian reticulated python 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.600 probably hasn't beat. According to the New Encyclopedia of Snakes 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:58.560 by one Chris Madison, there have been several authenticated reports 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.680 of these pythons measure about twenty eight feet that's eight 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.400 and a half meters from end to end. But back 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.160 to anaconda's they have an affinity for slow moving rivers, 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:12.720 muddy swamps, and seasonally flooded plains. They seldom venture far 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.520 away from flowing or standing water, although some species may 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.040 choose to hunt in forests on occasion. And not only 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.720 did the snakes have eyeballs situated on the tops of 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.040 their heads, but their nostrils are also located in this region. Thus, 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.880 a swimming or soaking anaconda can easily see and spell 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.760 what's going on above the water, which makes finding and 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:37.839 capturing prey a whole lot easier. Anaconda's killed by constriction, 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.600 using their jaws to seize the victim before immobilizing it 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.920 by tightly wrapping the animal in coils of their own body, 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.040 and naturalists used to think that snakes that use this 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:52.120 technique wereb in effect strangling their prey. However, according to 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.760 new research involving the red tailed boa, the real cause 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:00.120 of death is cardiac arrest. Wild anaconda's feed online for 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:04.040 dead fish, lizards, birds, bird eggs, other snakes, and a 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.600 variety of mammals. Adults have been known to swallow up caymans, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:12.080 which are feisty crocodilians related to alligators. Another notable beast 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.360 often eaten by large anacondas is the capybara, Earth's biggest rodents. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:21.279 Capybaras are shaggy, infamously friendly, web footed herbivores that stand 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.760 about one and a half feet that's half a meter tall. 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.520 Being amphibious, capybaras regularly cross paths with anacondas, and the 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.600 mammals know how to put up a fight. Older anacondas 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.120 sometimes display bite wounds left by capybaras that they've attacked. 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.760 And for green anacondas anyway, and for green anacondas anyway, 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.560 cannibalism isn't out of the question. At least four cases 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.800 have been observed. At this point, you may be wondering 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.320 if people are on the menu too. There's little doubt 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.800 that a sufficiently big green anaconda could kill and eat 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.280 a human being, yet no such incident has ever been 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:02.799 confirmed that said anaconda's, like most creatures, will defend themselves 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:06.040 if cornered. While none of these snakes are venomous, they 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.599 can inflict deep bite wounds. The snakes may also secrete 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.520 a foul smelling liquid when distressed. Probably just don't mess 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:17.839 with them. Among reptile keepers, anacondas aren't nearly as popular 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:22.520 as red tailed boas or big pythons. They need huge enclosures, 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.400 high humidity levels, and water dishes large enough for the 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.960 snakes to use as soaking pools and captive bread. Individuals 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:31.120 that have been handled all of their lives do tend 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.840 to be more docile than anacondas captured in the wild. 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:37.680 Even so, you shouldn't get an anaconda of any species 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:42.360 unless you're an experienced reptile hobbyist who understands large constrictors. 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.560 In twelve, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service banned 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.920 the importation and interstate transport of the yellow anaconda. Growing 0:05:51.000 --> 0:05:53.440 up to fifteen feet that's four and a half meters long. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.160 This snake could potentially threaten all sorts of native species, 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.440 and as the US Geological Survey report, free ranging yellow 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.159 anacondas have been sighted in Florida and Arkansas. Those snakes 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:09.120 were most likely former pets. Anacondas don't belong in the 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.880 Everglades or the Arkansas Delta, but in their natural habitat, 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:16.680 these reptiles are fascinating to watch. During the breeding season, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:19.479 several male anacondas may attempt to mate with a single 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.839 female at the same time, the result being a breeding 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.960 ball with as many as thirteen love lorn male snakes 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.680 vying for attention around the lone female. Like most BoA's, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.320 anacondas give birth to live young, with litters containing anywhere 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.720 from four to eighty two baby snakes, and we now 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.960 know the green anacondas don't necessarily need mates to get pregnant. 0:06:41.240 --> 0:06:45.320 In one female kept at a British reptile park birth 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:48.840 three live babies, even though she had never been kept 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.719 with a male of her species. A near identical situation 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.080 unfolded at the New England Aquarium in twenty nineteen, known 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.160 as parthenogenesis. This style of a sexual reproduction has also 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:10.280 been observed in commodo dragons and Burmese pythons. Today's episode 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.600 is based on the article the Watery World of the 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:16.240 Monster Anaconda on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Mark Mancini. 0:07:16.600 --> 0:07:18.880 Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.400 with how stuff Works dot Com is produced by Tyler Clang. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.440 For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the heart 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.240 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:27.960 favorite shows.