Amazon to East Coast: Anacondas soon in city

CHENNAI: The anaconda, world's largest snake and the symbol of terror in thrillers set in the Amazon jungles, will soon be found in Chennai. The Madras Crocodile Bank is going become India's first zoo to have this giant South American boa as an exhibit.
If things go as planned, the crocodile bank will fly down two juvenile anacondas from Protivin Crocodile Zoo in the Czech Republic.Soham Mukherjee, assistant curator of the crocodile bank, said the Central Zoo Authority has okayed the import protocol for bringing in these snakes.
"The Protivin Crocodile Zoo authorities have agreed to give us a pair of juvenile anacondas. However, the finer modalities of the transfer are yet to be worked out. We were waiting for the import protocol clearance from the Central Zoo Authority, which has come now," he told TOI.
The bank might give a few reptiles to the zoo in exchange for the anacondas. But the details are yet to be worked out. "It is not good to fly down any animal in this sweltering heat. So we may wait till the end of the summer to bring in the anacondas," Mukherjee said.
This is the second attempt of the bank to get the giant snakes on their exhibit list. In 2005, it had tried to get four anacondas from the Korkodille Zoo in Denmark under an animal exchange programme. In return, it had agreed to give 10 gharials, three slender-snouted crocodiles and three marsh crocodiles to the Denmark Zoo. However, the exchange did not happen.
Bank sources said that since anacondas live in the marsh lands of tropical South American forests, they will not have problems in getting used to the tropical climate of Chennai. In fact, there are theories that the name 'anaconda' was derived from the Tamil world 'anaikkonda' — which means having a grip over an elephant.