Fact File
Classification: Family Boidae.
Size: Average 2m, up to 3.9m.
Fun Facts
Record length of 5.5m. 32-45kg.
Gives birth to live young!
Boa Constrictor
Boa constrictor - The only animal whose scientific and common name are identical!
One of 25 different species of boas from Americas, Madagascar and pacific islands.
Distribution: Throughout South America from Mexico to Argentina.
Habitat: A wide range of habitats from forests to grasslands. It lives in deserts, wet tropical forests, open savannah and cultivated fields, and from sea level to moderate elevation.
Boas are nocturnal hunters, feeding on birds, eggs, nestlings, reptiles and mammals and its favourite -bats. It will wait up a tree or at the mouth of a cave ready to ambush as they fly by. Boa constrictor is both terrestrial and arboreal but larger Boas will stay on the ground to ambush their prey. It is a nocturnal hunter and uses its heat-sensitive scales to locate its prey. Boa constrictor is not poisonous; it uses constriction to suffocate its prey.
