National Geographic: Land of the Anaconda Page #4

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capybaras wallow and

catfish struggle to breathe.

With her water supply

running dangerously low,

Diega must now make

an excruciating pilgrimage

through the muck in search of shelter.

But the conditions only worsen,

and the next day finds Diega

in the shelter of last resort

under the baking mud itself.

Here she will wait for the rains...

which show no sign of arriving soon.

Some pregnant females

lie exposed on the surface,

where temperatures can

reach a deadly 130 degrees.

Many will not make

it till the rains come,

and their broods will die with them

a fate shared by many

on the scorched Ilanos.

On the parched plains of Venezuela,

the horizon rumbles

with the promise of rain.

The scientists have left the flooded

Ilanos to the capybaras,

not yet knowing if Diega or their

other pregnant anacondas survived.

Not until the rains begin to let up

can a worried Jesus take

to the air in search of his snakes.

When I go to find Diega

after the dry season,

I wonder if she had made it.

This dry season was so hard and so hot

that there was a good chance

she dried out.

But Diega has made it, surviving both

the drought and her seven-month fast.

She's claimed a bit of high ground

to await the birth of her babies...

only then will she eat again.

There will be other reptile births

this season as well.

All around, young caimans make their

debut on the Ilanos.

The baby crocodilians emerge

from their eggs

snub nosed and chirping.

Almost immediately, they set forth

under the watchful eye of their mother.

They are exposed

and vulnerable on land,

and waste no time making for

the relative safety of the water.

There, they congregate where their

mother can keep an eye on them.

Within hours of their birth,

they're pouncing after

their first insect meals.

By night, Diega prepares to usher

her own family into the world.

Unlike the caiman

and most other reptiles,

she gives birth to live young.

Diega has about 40 babies

representing about a third

of her body weight.

She also expels a dozen orange spheres

eggs that never developed.

The starving mother eats

some of her eggs.

These will help sustain her until

she's ready to hunt again.

She'll also eat stillborns

hastily backing off

if she gnaws a live one by mistake.

Anacondas do not care for their young.

Diega's babies are now on their own.

Within minutes, the first of the

newborns moves off,

ready to take its

chances in the Ilanos.

Perhaps half of

Diega's offspring will survive.

Even as the neighboring

rainforests disappear,

the anaconda continues

to thrive in these flooded lowlands.

This morning, the caimans find a free

breakfast on the riverbanks

Diega's remaining stillborns

which are greedily snapped up.

Some of her living offspring

lie low in the hyacinth

doing their best not to

attract unwanted attention.

It's time this newborn snake went

in search of its first meal.

In fact, a baby caiman might do nicely

But to hunt is to

risk becoming the hunted.

Usually, stealth and camouflage render

the anaconda invisible to the piranha.

Like a root adrift in a current,

the baby makes

its way through the hyacinth.

On rare occasions, though,

an inexperienced youngster

blunders into more open waters.

Another baby grabs this opportunity

to beat a hasty retreat.

But the Ilanos has not begun to exhaust

its supply of unpleasant surprises.

Like most cats

the ocelot's not a big fan of water.

But he'll suffer a dunking in the

interests of an anaconda lunch.

Long before they're full-grown

Diega's brood will be decimated.

Those babies have a

tough life in front.

They have a lot of predators.

As much as the big ones

have almost no predators,

it is completely the

opposite in babies.

Nearly every animal can take them.

While Jesus gets acquainted with

this year's crop of anacondas,

they get their first taste of him.

With each new generation,

Jesus is one step closer

to understanding

the mysteries of anaconda reproduction.

Like their parents

these babies will be numbered,

cataloged, and DNA tested.

Then he will return them to the Ilanos

with a mixture of trepidation and envy

When I let them go

I'm jealous I cannot glide

so graceful in the swamp as they do

and then spend their life there.

And I have this sense of, you know,

the kids go to college that

all the parents have.

They're out on their own

and I hope they do well.

Though science is beginning

to lift the veil

of terror that surrounds the anaconda,

many of the giant snake's greatest

secrets remain unknown.

In the continuing search for answers,

Jesus and Renee will have to probe

deeper into the recesses

of South America's jungles,

and there's just no telling

what they'll find.

I have no doubt that the giant

of giants of anacondas is out there.

Whether we'll find it is

a whole other question.

I've thought a lot about what to do

if we find this animal that is

too big for me to catch

but is too big for me to let go.

I don't know what I will do.

It will be some tough fight.

And I don't know who's gonna win.

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