In Ecuador’s rainforest, scientists have found the largest snake species in the world, the huge green anaconda. This species split off from its closest relatives 10 million years ago, but they still resemble each other almost exactly.
In an internet-shared video, Dutch biologist Freek Vonk, one of the researchers, swims with a massive 200-kilo (441-pound) specimen to illustrate the size of these 20-foot-long (6.1-meter-long) reptiles.
Previously, it was believed that there was only one species of green anaconda found in the wild: Eunectes murinus. However, a recent publication in the scientific journal Diversity revealed that the recently discovered “northern green anaconda” actually belonged to a brand-new species called Eunectes akiyama.
“What we were there to do was use the anacondas as an indicator species for what kind of damage is being done by the oil spills that are plaguing the Yasuni in Ecuador, because the oil extraction is absolutely out of control,” said researcher Bryan G. Fry.
According to Fry, an Australian biology professor at the University of Queensland who has spent nearly two decades studying South American anaconda species, the discovery enables them to demonstrate that the two species split from one another approximately 10 million years ago.
“But the really amazing part was, despite this genetic difference, and despite their long period of divergence, the two animals are completely identical,” he stated.
It astonished the scientists that there is a 5.5% genetic difference between green anaconda snakes despite their striking visual similarity.
“Which is an incredible amount of genetic difference, particularly when you put it in the context that we’re only 2% different from chimpanzees,” Fry stated.
According to Fry, anacondas are extremely valuable sources of information on the ecological health of the area and the possible effects of oil spills on human health.
He said that the anacondas and arapaima fish are accumulating a significant quantity of the petrochemical metals, and that some of the snakes they studied in some locations of Ecuador were severely contaminated by oil spills.
“That means that if arapaima fish are accumulating these oil spill metals, that they need to be avoided by pregnant women, just like women avoid salmon and tuna and other parts of the world for fear of methylmercury,” he stated.
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