Beautiful Animals

Pythons, boas, and anacondas: what’s the difference?
Because reticulated pythons, boa constrictors, and anacondas are some of the biggest snakes in the world, many people get confused about which is which.

The first thing to note is that the anaconda is a species of boa, not a separate type of snake. That leaves two groups, the pythons and the boas. These snakes are both constrictors, killing their prey by wrapping around it and suffocating it. And they are both considered primitive snakes with two lungs (most snakes only have one) and the remnants of hind legs and pelvic bones. But they have differences, too.

Pythons have one more bone in their heads than boas do and some additional teeth. And pythons are mostly found in the Old World (Africa, Asia, Australia) while boas live in both the Old World and the New World (North, Central, and South America).

But the biggest difference is that pythons lay eggs while boas give birth to live young.

Snakes that lay eggs are called Oviparous, meaning the female snake lay eggs that hatch after laying.

Some snakes that bear live young are called Ovoviviparous, meaning the females develop and retain the eggs within their body and the babies hatch from these eggs inside the mother. Some Boas fall in to this category.

Other snakes that bear live young are called Viviparous, meaning that the female does not develop enclosed eggs and gives birth to live young. The common Garter Snake is purely Viviparous.

Viviparous and ovoviviparous are not obvious since the results are the same in that the young are seen as live birth.

Oh, that's a delightful photo. I can barely stand how good it is. And...
Roberta is back, small clawed otters clapping.

Edgar, I never heard of a vegatarian spider. Who knew?