A new species of giant anaconda has been found in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, scientists announced. The snake, named the northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima), is genetically distinct from its close relative, the green anaconda (E. murinus) and may be the largest snake species in the world. For 20 years, researchers collected blood and tissue samples from green anacondas across South America. But it was samples collected in 2022 from the Bameno region of Baihuaeri Waorani Territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon that would prove most crucial to the discovery. “Conditions were difficult. We paddled up muddy rivers and slogged through swamps,” Bryan Fry, a National Geographic Explorer, biologist at the University of Queensland in Australia and co-author of the new study, said in The Conversation. “The heat was relentless and swarms of insects were omnipresent.” Northern green anaconda breeding. Photo by Jesus Rivas Fry said his team entered Waorani territory on the invitation of, and in collaboration with, Waorani leader Penti Baihua. Identifying the new species would not have been possible without the Indigenous Waorani guides, who are recognized as co-authors of the paper describing the new species in the journal Diversity. “The indigenous hunters took us into the jungle on a 10-day expedition to search for these snakes, which they consider sacred,” Fry said in a statement. Actor Will Smith also joined the team while filming a series for National Geographic. “We paddled canoes down the river system and were lucky enough to find several anacondas lurking in…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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