Professor Bryan Fry/University of Queensland
A team of scientists set out to observe anacondas, said to be the largest in existence.
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Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake that is said to be the largest in the world.
A team from the University of Queensland traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon to search for the previously undocumented northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), following an invitation from the Waorani people to observe anacondas “said to be the largest anywhere.” , say the scientists.
The team accompanied the hunters on a ten-day expedition to the Bameno region of the Baihuaeri-Waorani Territory before paddling down the river system to “find several anacondas lurking in the shallows, lurking for prey,” according to Professor Bryan Fry, a biologist from the University of Queensland, which led the team, said in a statement.
Anacondas are giant, nonvenomous snakes found in or near water in warm parts of South America.
“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible – one female anaconda we encountered was an astounding 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) long,” Fry said of the team’s discovery, which occurred during filming for the upcoming series “Pole to Pole with Will” by National Geographic was made by Schmied.”
The team also said it had heard anecdotal evidence that snakes measuring 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) long and 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) had been spotted in the area.
According to the British Natural History Museum, green anacondas are the heaviest snakes in the world. The heaviest individual ever recorded weighed 227 kilograms (500 pounds). It was 8.43 meters long (27.7 ft) and 1.11 meters (3.6 ft) wide.
While another species, the reticulated python, tends to be longer, often reaching more than 6.25 meters (20.5 feet) in length, it is lighter.
Professor Bryan Fry/University of Queensland
The discovery was made while filming a National Geographic series.
But experts who studied the creatures found that the newly identified northern green anaconda species split from the southern green anaconda nearly 10 million years ago and is genetically different by 5.5%.
“This is pretty significant – to put it in perspective, humans are only about 2 percent different from chimpanzees,” Fry said. The results are described in the journal MDPI Diversity.
The team then set out to compare the green anaconda's genetics with other specimens elsewhere to evaluate it as an indicator species for ecosystem health, warning that the Amazon faces numerous threats.
“Deforestation in the Amazon basin through agricultural expansion has resulted in an estimated 20 to 31 percent habitat loss, which could impact up to 40 percent of the forests by 2050,” Fry said.
Habitat degradation, wildfires, drought and climate change threaten rare species like the anacondas, which occur in such rare ecosystems, he added.