26-foot-long, 500 kilos: World's biggest snake discovered in Amazon

Remember the 1997 movie Anaconda?

It deals with the world’s biggest and most deadliest snake.

Well, flash forward to 2024 and a massive anaconda has been discovered in the Amazon – the world’s biggest.

But what do we know about the anaconda?

Let’s take a closer look:

According to The Independent, the snake belongs to a previously unknown species of giant anaconda.

The species, which has been labelled Eunectes akayima, was found in Ecuadorian Amazon’s Baihuaeri Waorani Territory in the Bameno region.

Researchers collaborated with the indigenous Waorani people to ensnare and examine several specimens of the northern green anaconda.

Scientists say the snake can grow up to 26-feet-long and can weigh as much as 500 kilos.

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The species was discovered during filming of National Geographic’s Disney+ series Pole to Pole with Will Smith.

Professor Freek Vonk, who hosted the show, posted a video on Instagram.

“Together with 14 other scientists from nine countries, we discovered that the largest snake species in the world, the green anaconda,” Vonk was quoted as saying by Science Times. “As we all know it from movies and stories about giant snakes – are actually two different species.”

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Researchers found the giant snakes “lurking in the shallows and lying in wait for prey.”

“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible – one female anaconda we encountered measured an astounding 6.3 metres long,” study co-author Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland was quoted as saying.

“There are anecdotal reports from the Waorani people of other anacondas in the area measuring more than 7.5 metres long and weighing around 500 kilograms,” Dr Fry said.

Fry wrote in  The Conversation that anacondas are the world’s heftiest snakes and among the most lengthy.

“Predominantly found in rivers and wetlands in South America, they are renowned for their lightning speed and ability to asphyxiate huge prey then swallow them whole,” Fry wrote.

According to Fry, four anaconda species have been found thus far.

“Green anacondas are true behemoths of the reptile world. The largest females can grow to more than seven metres long and weigh more than 250 kilograms,” Fry wrote.

The anacondas mostly live in South America’s Amazon and Orinoco basins.

“They are known for their stealth, patience and surprising agility. The buoyancy of the water supports the animal’s substantial bulk and enables it to move easily and leap out to ambush prey as large as capybaras (giant rodents), caimans (reptiles from the alligator family) and deer,” Fry further wrote.

He noted that green anacondas are not venomous.

“Instead they take down prey using their large, flexible jaws then crush it with their strong bodies, before swallowing it,”

The northern green anaconda and the southern green anaconda diverged around 10 million years ago, as per The Independent.

‘‘Genetically, the differences are massive. They’re five-and-a-half percent different, genetically. To put that into context, we’re about two percent different from chimps,’’ NDTV quoted Fry as saying.

“My colleagues and I were shocked to discover significant genetic differences between the two anaconda species. Given the reptile is such a large vertebrate, it’s remarkable this difference has slipped under the radar until now,” Fry further wrote.

Fry also called for conservation efforts in the Amazon to be stepped up.

The Amazon rainforest, which holds roughly 20 percent of the world’s freshwater reserves and has incredible biodiversity including 16,000 acknowledged tree species, is being destroyed due to various man-made and natural reasons.

Deforestation is the foremost reason for the forest’s deterioration.

According to the Andean Amazon Pact observation, the Amazon biome has lost more than 85 million hectares (211 million acres), or around 13 per cent of its original extent.

Most of that devastation has occurred in the last half-century, with Brazil accounting for two-thirds of the rainforest.

Other environmental risks include big hydroelectric dams, particularly in Brazil; illegal logging; mining; and oil drilling, which can pollute water and disrupt Indigenous livelihoods.

Due to lack of infrastructural investment, much of the sewage from dwellings in the jungle is discharged directly into waterways.

“The findings also show the urgent need to better understand the diversity of Earth’s animal and plant species before it’s too late,” Fry wrote.

With inputs from agencies