Renee,
Thanks for the information, it was extremely informative as usual. That was an incredible number of snakes to come out of one mud pit. In a very dry year, the mortality must be fairly high. On the primary rain forest size issue, I was referring to the older theory that you touched on somewhat in your previous post. It contends that larger individuals occur in rain forest environments because prey encounter frequencies are lower due to less diversity and abundance of mid-sized prey animals as compared to the llanos habitat. The theory contends that due to the low encounter rates, adult rain forest anacondas must be able to take prey from agouti size, up through deer and young tapir size, when the chance occurs. A larger body size would be an advantage under these conditions. It sounds quite reasonable to me. I think it fits very well with what you have said about the deep water areas.
I was surprised at the growth rate of this young male also. Especially since his average food intake for a month is only about 2 Kg at most. I am expecting his growth to slow significantly over the next 6 to 12 months however.
If I were to somehow be able to come up with the funding for the transmitters, I would gladly let you know. Sounds like an extremely interesting project. I understand that the Napo and Putumayo rivers have good potential for larger anacondas. Thanks,
Kelly
