September 5, 2007

AQUARIUM’S GREEN ANACONDA GIVES BIRTH TO OVER 15 OFFSPRING

Vancouver, BC: The Vancouver Aquarium’s green anaconda gave birth to approximately 15-20 offspring early Tuesday morning. Staff arrived for work to find that she had already given birth during the night.

This is the second birth for the 14-year-old female. In 2002, she was the first anaconda to give birth in a Canadian zoo or aquarium.

Anacondas are ovoviviparous. This means the eggs develop inside the female and are born ‘live’ after 6-8 months, allowing them to immediately move away from the mother and be self-sufficient. The young are large, approximately 70 centimetres long, and once they shed their first skin in about one week’s time they will be fed a diet of juvenile rats.

Anacondas are considered the largest snake in the world due to their weight, not their length. Adults can weigh from 68 kg to 180 kg.

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For further information, please contact:

Brenda Jones

Manager, Public Relations

publicrelations@vanaqua.org