Reptiles · Squamata · Boidae

Yellow Anaconda

Eunectes notaeus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The yellow anaconda is the smaller relative of the green anaconda: it reaches some four and a half metres and thirty-five kilos. It is yellow with black blotches and lives in the wetlands of central and southern South America, above all in the Pantanal. It hunts from ambush in the water and kills by constriction, and like all boas it is viviparous.

Weight

25 kg – 55 kg

Size

2.5 m – 4.4 m

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

SavannaFreshwaterGrasslandCarnivore Nocturnal Solitary Reptile Savanna Freshwater Grassland

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Fun facts

It forms breeding aggregations: several much smaller males coil simultaneously around a single female, forming a ball that may stay in the water for weeks.
It is viviparous: it lays no eggs, and the young develop inside the mother and are born independent, measuring more than half a metre.
Females have been documented reabsorbing part of their own body during gestation, losing as much as half their mass to nourish the young.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (reptile)
Habitat & environment: Marshes, swamps, slow rivers and floodplains of the Pantanal, the Chaco and southern Amazonia
Sexual maturity: 4 years
Gestation / incubation: 6 months of gestation
Litter / clutch size: 20 live young

Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/