New anaconda species may be largest ever found
A giant anaconda species thought to be the largest in the world has been found deep in Ecuador’s Amazon basin by scientists from the University of Queensland.
The scientists, led by professor Bryan Fry, uncovered the nearly 10 millionyear-old species with guidance from the Indigenous Huaorani people while filming “Pole to Pole with Will Smith,” a National Geographic series hosted by the Oscar-winning actor.
“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible,” Fry said in a news release. “One female anaconda we encountered measured an astounding 6.3 meters (20.8 feet) long.”
The invitation by Huaorani Chief Penti Baihua to enter the Baihuaeri Huaorani territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon was “one of only a handful granted since the tribe’s first contact in 1958,” Fry told USA TODAY.
“Our team received a rare invitation − to explore the region and collect samples from a population of anacondas,” he said.
Chief Baihua led Fry’s team on a 10day search for the anacondas, considered sacred to the tribe.
The team took canoes down river in the Bameno region where they found “several anacondas lurking in the shallows, lying in wait for prey,” Fry said.
The group then captured several specimens of the species that they named the northern green anaconda, Eunectes akayima. And they didn’t even see the really big guys.
“There are anecdotal reports from the Huaorani people of other anacondas in the area measuring more than 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) long and weighing around 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds),” Fry said.
Chief Baihua’s son, Marcelo Tepeña Baihua, has scars “from a truly massive snake. They say that one wasn’t even the biggest they’ve ever seen,” Fry said. “So it’s clear that the snakes in the Huaorani lands are indeed the biggest of all anacondas.”
Details on the snakes they found have been published in the journal MDPI Diversity.
“The key to understanding the discovery is the difference in the geographic range of anaconda species,” Fry told USA TODAY.
The Amazon has two separate basins. The larger basin in the south (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and parts of French Guiana) is home to the green anaconda. The smaller basin in the north (Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and the rest of French Guiana) is home to the newly discovered northern green anaconda.
The two species differ genetically by 5.5%, Fry said. “It’s quite significant – to put it in perspective, humans differ from chimpanzees by only about 2%.”
Fry said his team’s work in the Amazon is far from done. Pollutants such as cadmium and lead have made their way into “the delicate fabric of this ecosystem as consequences of the frequent oil spills plaguing the Yasuni Amazon,” he said.
The Queensland team hopes to keep an eye on the reproduction of the northern green anaconda to gain greater insight into the health of the ecosystem.
Though the future of this newly discovered species is insecure, the journey through the jungle was full of “wonder,” Fry said.