Swiss zoologists have more than a few hungry mouths to feed this Christmas after a female giant anaconda gave birth to 40 babies, a tropical gardens institution said. The snakes were born on December 2 at the Papiliorama tropical gardens in the small town of Kerzers in western Switzerland.
Their mother had given birth to another 40 babies just two years previously, the institution said in a statement.
The mother weighs around 80 kilograms (176 pounds) and is more than six metres (20 feet) long, while the new arrivals are already 70 centimetres (28 inches) long and "a lot sturdier than the previous ones," Papiliorama said.
Anaconda births are rare in Europe. The snake is not classed as an endangered species in its natural habitat of South America, but it is still regularly killed out of fear, su
