MILWAUKEE — A new resident is slithering its way into the Milwaukee County Zoo’s Aquatic and Reptile Center.
Meet Olive, the green anaconda.
At 15.2 feet long, she is the longest snake on record to ever call Milwaukee Zoo home. She weighs 120 pounds. But as far as anacondas go, Olive is not as big as she could be. Anacondas are the heaviest snakes in the world, and can grow up to 30 feet long. They can weigh up to 500 pounds.
Olive has actually been acclimating to Milwaukee for a while. She was previously at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison and made the trip to Milwaukee in the fall. Henry Vilas Zoo has another green anaconda, and said their habitat didn’t give the duo “enough space to express natural behaviors.” It set off to find Olive a new home. At about the same time, Milwaukee Zoo said, its previous anaconda, Moe, “was humanely euthanized,” as he had “longstanding medical issues.” The two zoos agreed it only made sense for Olive to make the move to Milwaukee.
She’s still undergoing a “standard quarantine period.” Since she’s so big, she’s been quarantining in her habitat instead of the zoo’s Animal Health Center. The zookeepers said “Olive is settling in nicely.” The zoo confirmed that staff who work with Olive in her habitat “follow a large constrictor protocol in which three zookeepers must be present” at all times.
The zoo has yet to decide if another snake will co-habitate with Olive in the future. It said it may move one of its three red-tailed boas back into the habitat. However, the animal care team still has to determine if Olive would perceive a roommate as prey.
Anacondas are native to the Amazonian rainforest and forests of Central America. They eat deer, monkeys, capybara, birds, fish and turtles. The snake is also known as a water boa, as it can stay submerged in water for more than 10 minutes at a time.
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