Another Anaconda Dies In Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoo

Bhubaneswar: Two days after the death of a yellow Anaconda, another snake of the same species died at Nandankanan zoo here on Saturday morning.

Zoo sources said the condition of three more Anacondas was critical.

Nandankanan deputy director Jayant Das said a special team of veterinary doctors from Chennai will arrive at the zoo on Monday to examine the cause of the deaths of these rare reptiles.

Meanwhile, three veterinary experts from Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) came to the zoo on Saturday to examine the three ailing snakes. The OUAT experts will also submit the post-mortem report of the snake that had died on November 28.

A five-member team of Nandankanan Zoo had brought eight yellow Anacondas (four males and four females) and three Nile crocodiles from Madras Crocodile Bank Trust & Centre for Herpetology (MCBT) in Chennai on October 22.

The yellow Anaconda belongs to the Boa species endemic to South America. It is one of the largest snakes in the world, but smaller than the green Anaconda. Like all Boas and Pythons, Anacondas are non-venomous and kill their preys by constriction.