![]() It is neither an easily agitated animal nor is it prone to defending itself aggressively. However, even though the boa constrictor looks intimidating it actually is not very dangerous. When the animal stops moving, the boa swallows it whole, head-first. The boa gets its meal by first striking the prey with its sharp teeth, secondly lifting the prey and coiling the long serpent body around it, and thirdly killing the prey by constriction, that is, tightening its body around the prey to strangle it. Large snakes sit and wait for prey to present itself the boa may also position itself by a mammal burrow or some other prey’s dwelling place and wait for days before moving on. Aided by their prehensile tails, these snakes are good at climbing. Some big ones may even be active during the day. While active, younger boas are more likely to move through the trees while larger individuals tend to stay on the ground. The boa is able to be active at dusk or night because it can hold body temperature without basking in the sun. Males have more distinct ‘anal spurs’ than females and use them to stroke the female during courtship. Younger boas are brighter, and the splotchy pattern may blur as some grow into large adults.īoas fall into a group of primitive snakes that still have the bones of a pelvis and vestigial ‘legs ’ on the outside of the body-the only visual cue that these bones remain is a small horny spur on either side of the snake’s vent. After shedding an old skin, this snake is incandescent. While it may sound like a blandly vested serpent, the boa’s scales can be brightly iridescent. The tail may be banded in different colors, particularly shades of red, yellow, or black. This snake is colored cryptically: the body is mostly light brown to gray with dark brown to black lateral patches with lighter centers. Its head and dorsal scales are small and smooth. However, when it is found in Costa Rica, the huge boa constrictor is distinct secondly because it lacks labial pits on its head and has a dark brown stripe from its snout to its neck. It would be unusual to encounter the small, beige eyes close enough to see the vertical pupil. The boa ranges from Mexico along both slopes through Central America and down to northern Peru, Paraguay, and central Argentina. It can survive in shrub, savannah, cultivated fields, secondary growth in lowland dry, moist, and wet forests, and in premontane moist and wet forests. Hunted for their fine, ornate skin and for sale in the exotic pet trade, some boa constrictors have protected status in their range.This large snake lives on the ground and in the trees from sea level to 1,000 m in elevation. The largest boa constrictor ever found measured 18 feet. Boas are about 2 feet long when they are born and grow continually throughout their 25 to 30-year lifespan. Reproduction and Conservationįemale boas incubate eggs inside their bodies and give birth up to 60 live babies. Their jaws can stretch wide to swallow large prey whole. Boas will eat almost anything they can catch, including birds, monkeys, and wild pigs. Their jaws are lined with small, hooked teeth for grabbing and holding prey while they wrap their muscular bodies around their victim, squeezing until it suffocates. Significantly smaller than anacondas, boas can grow up to 13 feet long and weigh more than 100 pounds. Like their anaconda cousins, they are excellent swimmers, but prefer to stay on dry land, living primarily in hollow logs and abandoned mammal burrows. Behaviorīoas are nonvenomous constrictors found in tropical Central and South America. Depending on the habitat they are trying to blend into, their bodies can be tan, green, red, or yellow, and display cryptic patterns of jagged lines, ovals, diamonds, and circles. Boa constrictors wear some of the most distinctive markings of all reptiles.
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