The two largest species of snakes in the world, the anaconda (or anaconda) and the python, have already been spotted devouring not exactly oxen, but calves. Deer, tapirs, antelopes, alligators and capybaras are other large victims that can also be attacked by the anaconda (found in the Amazon) or the python (native to Asia), which reach 9 to 10 meters in length. These snakes have a lot of work to eat a calf, as we show in the infographic. They need to suffocate their prey to death and use a series of anatomical «weapons» to manage to swallow such a large animal. “Depending on the size of the prey, the snake goes weeks without feeding. In some cases, it can even die due to the size of the animal”, says biologist Otávio Marques, from the Butantan Institute, in São Paulo.
Anacondas – World’s Largest Snakes
Valerie Weber, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2002
Anaconda devours prey by the head and expands up to three times to digest it
1. The anaconda is a non-venomous, semi-aquatic snake and usually hunts along the banks of streams, rivers and lakes. She stays on the lookout and takes advantage when an animal – for example, a calf – comes to drink water. The attack begins with a quick leap over the prey to sink its teeth into the victim’s upper body.
2. To have a foothold, she maintains her strong bite as she wraps herself around the calf. The grip is so strong that it impedes the respiratory and cardiac movements of the prey, leading to death. To kill a calf, an anaconda may need to suffocate it for over half an hour.
3. When the prey stops struggling and is dead, the anaconda begins to devour it. As she sees very poorly, she uses the sensitivity of the tip of her snout and tongue to «sniff» the victim’s head, which is the first part of the prey to be swallowed.
4. To bite such a large animal, the anaconda relies on moving bones in its mouth. It has a bipartite jaw, which opens horizontally. A bone called the quadrate widens the vertical gap as it “displaces” the connection between the mandible and the upper jaw.
5. The anaconda’s mouth has other tricks. Its upper jaw is divided into two parts, which alternately move forward and backward. This movement gradually pushes the prey into the snake’s body.
6. The skin and organs such as the esophagus and stomach dilate easily, allowing the snake to swallow huge prey — the diameter, about 30 cm, expands three times! Inside the snake, the «rango» is pushed by the musculature to pass through the esophagus, which extends for 2 of the 9 meters of the anaconda
7. In the stomach, which measures about 1.5 meters when empty, the calf is disintegrated with the help of powerful digestive enzymes. Contrary to what many people think, the anaconda does not regurgitate anything it eats. The digestion of prey of this size can take weeks, during which time the snake is at rest.
8. About a month after the attack, the anaconda begins to defecate the remains of the calf. “The first poop, a compact, dark mass with almost no smell, has the remains of teeth, fur and hooves, and is equivalent to about a third of the prey’s body weight”, says biologist Guilherme Galassi, from the Vida Selvagem zoo, in American (SP)