{"id":15984,"date":"2024-02-24T00:51:26","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T00:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/24\/gigantic-new-snake-species-discovered-in-amazon-rainforest\/"},"modified":"2024-02-24T00:51:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T00:51:26","slug":"gigantic-new-snake-species-discovered-in-amazon-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/24\/gigantic-new-snake-species-discovered-in-amazon-rainforest\/","title":{"rendered":"Gigantic new snake species discovered in Amazon rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake, rumored to be the biggest in the world. <\/p>\n

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 \u201crumoured to be the largest in existence,\u201d according to the scientists. <\/p>\n

The team joined the hunters on a 10-day expedition to the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory, before paddling down the river system to \u201cfind several anacondas lurking in the shallows, lying in wait for prey,\u201d Professor Bryan Fry, a biologist from the University of Queensland, who led the team, said in a statement. <\/p>\n

Anacondas are giant, non-venomous constricting snakes found in or near water in warm parts of South America. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe size of these magnificent creatures was incredible \u2013 one female anaconda we encountered measured an astounding 6.3 metres (20.7 feet) long,\u201d Fry said of the team\u2019s discovery, which was made while filming for National Geographic\u2019s upcoming series \u201cPole to Pole with Will Smith.\u201d <\/p>\n

The team also said they had heard anecdotal evidence that snakes of 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) and 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) had been sighted in the area. <\/p>\n

Green anacondas are the world\u2019s heaviest snakes, according to the UK\u2019s Natural History Museum, which noted that the heaviest individual ever recorded weighed 227 kilograms (500 pounds). It measured 8.43 meters long (27.7 feet) and 1.11 meters (3.6 feet) wide.
While another species, the reticulated python, tends to be longer \u2013 often reaching more than 6.25 meters (20.5 feet) in length \u2013 it is lighter. <\/p>\n

But experts studying the creatures discovered that the newly identified northern green anaconda species diverged from the southern green anaconda almost 10 million years ago, and they differ genetically by 5.5%. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite significant \u2013 to put it in perspective, humans differ from chimpanzees by only about 2 per cent,\u201d Fry said. The findings are described in the journal MDPI Diversity. <\/p>\n

The team then set out to compare the genetics of the green anaconda with other specimens elsewhere to assess them as an indicator species for the health of ecosystems, and warned that the Amazon is facing numerous threats. <\/p>\n

\u201cDeforestation of the Amazon basin from agricultural expansion has resulted in an estimated 20-31 per cent habitat loss, which may impact up to 40 per cent of its forests by 2050,\u201d Fry said. <\/p>\n

Habitat degradation, forest fires, drought and climate change threaten rare species like the anacondas, which exist in such rare ecosystems, he added. <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake, rumored to be the biggest 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 \u201crumoured <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}