Scientists working in the Amazon rainforest have discovered a new species of snake believed to be the largest in the world.
A team from the University of Queensland headed to the Ecuadorian part of the Amazon to search for the previously undocumented northern green anaconda (Eunectes akaima), following an invitation from the Waorani people to observe anacondas, which scientists say are "rumoured to be the largest in existence ".
The team joined the hunters on a 10-day expedition in the Bameno region of Baihuari Waorani territory, then paddled along the river system to "find several anacondas lurking in the shallows and stalking for prey," Professor Brian Fry said in a statement , a biologist at the University of Queensland who led the team.
Anacondas are giant non-venomous snakes found in or near water in warm parts of South America.
"The size of these majestic creatures was incredible - one female anaconda we encountered was an astonishing 6.3 meters long," Fry says of the team's discovery, made while filming for the upcoming National Geographic series Pole to Pole with Will Smith".
Green anacondas are the heaviest snakes in the world, according to the UK's Natural History Museum, which notes that the heaviest individual ever recorded weighed 227 kilograms. Its length is 8.43 meters and its width is 1.11 meters.
Another species, the reticulated python, is longer - often reaching over 20 feet in length - but lighter. | BGNES
