Trivia question for Oct-10-2011

Olivia is up and it should be no surprise that she picked another reptile.  These guys are considered the largest snakes in the world, measuring up to 25-feet long and weighing in at almost 300-lbs.

This primarily nocturnal species tends to spend most of its life in or around water. Because of their large size, they appear rather slow and sluggish when traveling on land. Completely the opposite in water, however, these guys are known to have the potential to reach high speeds in all depths of water. They tend to float atop the surface of the water with the snout barely poking out above the surface. When prey passes by or stops to drink, these hungry snakes will snatch it with its jaws (without eating or swallowing it) and coil around it with its body. The snake will then constrict until it has successfully suffocated the prey.

So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what kind of snake this is and tell us how much of a reward was offered by the New York Zoological Society for the capture of a snake of this species which measured over 30-feet in length?  Also, tell us what are some of the larger types of prey these guys are known to capture and swallow?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations goes out to two special OMG supporters for this one.  First to Natalie Borgardt for being the first to send in her answers and then to Carmel for also providing us with answers to the trivia. The actual species we were featuring for our trivia is the Green Anaconda. Eunectes murinus (derived from the Greek “Ευνήκτης” meaning “good swimmer” and the Latin murinus, translated into “he who predates on mice”) is a non-venomous boa species found in South America. It is the heaviest known snake species. The term anaconda (without further qualification) often refers to this species, though the term could also apply to other members of the genus Eunectes.

The NYZS has a standing reward of $50,000.00 for the capture of one of these snakes which exceeds 30-feet in length (hopefully no one will ever catch one that size).  Some of the larger prey that these guys have been known to capture include deer, capybara and young caiman which they snatch during the night and bitterly strangle to death before swallowing them whole.  Here is more on these powerful snakes: Green Anocanda

Thanks for playing along 😉