Boa+Constrictor

__ Boa Constrictor __ Fossil Animal: Titanoboa Future Animal: Agua Serpentis


 * __Classification Table__**
 * Kingdom ||< Animalia ||
 * Phylum ||< Chordata ||
 * Class ||< Reptilia ||
 * Order ||< Squamata ||
 * Suborder ||< Serpentes ||
 * Family ||< Boidae ||
 * Subfamily ||< Boinae ||
 * Genus ||< Boa ||



**__Environment:__** Boa Constrictors live mostly in Mexico, Central America and South America. Boa constrictors live in environment such as rainforests and desert. The Boa Constrictor can adapt to any kind of environmental conditions. The snake lives in the trees or the ground, but mostly the ground because it is easier for the Boa to attack its prey by blending in to the forest floor and it accommodates them with homes underneath shrubs and borrows. Boa Constrictors claim small mammals burrow to use as home for themselves and to use as a hunting technique to attack prey. The Boa Constrictor can swim meaning that this can allow them to travel from place to place, although the Boa prefers to stay out of the water, because they have predators that includes crocodiles. The Boa Constrictor is vulnerable prey for [|Crocodile], Jaguars and humans. Crocodiles attacked Boa Constrictors as their prey whereas, in the Cretacous Period when the ancestor, Titanoboa slithered the earth the Titanoboa was a predator towards the crocodile.

**__Structural Adaptations:__** **Camouflage:** Structural adaptation that a Boa Constricter has is camouflage. The Boa Constricter uses the camouflage to protect itself from predators. The snake changes colour depending on the environment that it is blending into. The Boa Constricter changes to colours like green, tan, red or yellow and the snake also use patterns like ovals, circles, diamonds and lines displayed around the body of the snake. This structural adaptations help for the Boa Constricter to survive in the wilderness because it can use the camouflage to blend into the forest floor using the green camouflage, trees using the tan and lined patterns that the Boa Constrictor can camouflage into and bushes to hunt their prey and keep away from predators, by blending into any environment feature to keep away from predators. The Boa Constrictor is similar to a [|Chameleon], when it comes to camouflaging into the environment from defending themselves or attacking prey.

**Sense:** Boa Constrictors have forked tongues that are used to track down prey. The tongue can sense the smell of prey or enemies. The ability for the Boa Constrictor to smell with the tongue can track down prey. Another structural adaptation is the Boa has heat sensors in its mouth that sense and locate warm-blooded animals including birds and small mammals for the prey to eat. The Boa Constrictor consumes animals such as

**__Behavioural Adaptatons:__**

**Killing:** Boa Constrictor gets it name from the way it kills it prey, by constricting their breathing. The snake wraps itself around the prey and each time the prey breathes out the Boa Constrictor tightens. The strength of the muscles tightens and shortens the breath of the prey until it can no longer breathe. The behavioral adaptation helps the animal to survive because as long as the Boa constrictor eats prey it can last for weeks without food.

**Reproduction:** Boa Constrictors, when mating can give birth to 50 or more young Boas that reach to around 13cm which is attached in a sac membrane. The female Boa Constrictor keeps the young Boas inside her until they emerge from the sac membrane. The female will give off a scent that attracts male Boas when she is ready to reproduce. The Boa Constrictor reproduces seasonally, and they do not stay together, the Boas go separate ways. Reproducing after a gestation period of 100 to 150 days helps for the species to reproduce fast and produced a large amount of the same species so they do not become extinct, and they survive longer.

**Speed:** Boa Constrictors are stealthy creatures when hunting. The Boa constrictor doesn’t move fast when it is hunting prey, because as part of the killing technique the Boa lies quietly and discreet waiting for prey. The Boa Constrictor does this because it stops them from being unnoticeable and merge into the environment. This behavioral adaptation makes it easier for the snake to attack and catch its prey.

**Bibliography**

National Geographic (1996) Animals Nat Geo Wild, Boa Constrictor. Retirieved June 16, 2011, from: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/boa-constrictor/

Enchanted Learning (2000) Boa Constrictor. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from: []

Retrieved June 18, 2011
http://www.theanimalspot.com/boaconstrictor.htm