Four yellow anacondas to arrive at Alipore Zoo next year

The Alipore Zoological Gardens is all set to welcome four anacondas in the first half of next year.

Two pairs of yellow anacondas are likely to reach the zoological park by April from the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, zoo director AK Samanta said."In return, the Alipore zoo will be donating the Madras trust four banded kraits and four monocled cobras," the director said.

A separate enclosure for the four anacondas would be built adjacent to the existing house for reptiles inside the zoo, he said."The four anacondas would be getting new enclosures, the construction work for which will be starting next month," Samanta said.

Asked about the time frame by which the reptiles would be ready for display, the director said it may take another month after they arrive to prepare them for the visitors.The yellow variety, the director said, is one of the four extant species of anacondas found in the world.

"They generally feed on fish, amphibians and other snakes. These semi-aquatic species, when fully grown, attains 10-12 ft in length and weighs around 30 to 35 kilograms," he said.The yellow anaconda, belonging to the family of snakes known as the Boas, is native to South America.