Weighs 200 kg and is as thick as a car tire: the world's largest snake has been found (video)
The largest snake in the world was found in the depths of the Amazon rainforest.
SSPDaily tells about it.
It weighs a whopping 200 kg, is 8 meters long, and has a head the size of a human. This northern green anaconda was found by TV presenter Professor Frick Wonk in remote Brazil.
The snake is much larger than the previous largest known species, the reticulated python, which averages six meters in length.
Until now, only one species of green anaconda, also called the giant anaconda, has been found in the Amazon. The Northern Green Anaconda was published in a study in the scientific journal Diversity.
The Dutch biologist, 40-year-old Professor Wonk, was filmed swimming alongside the huge anaconda.
He said: "Together with 14 other scientists from nine countries, we have discovered the largest snake species in the world, the green anaconda. As we all know from movies and stories, giant snakes are actually two different species. The green anacondas that live in the northern part of their range in South America, including Venezuela, Suriname, and French Guiana, apparently belong to a completely different species. Although at first glance they look almost identical, the genetic difference between them is a whopping 5.5%. For comparison, humans and chimpanzees differ genetically by only 2%."
Professor Wonk added: "We have given the new species the Latin name Eunectes akayima, the northern green anaconda. The word 'akayima' comes from several indigenous languages of northern South America and means 'big snake'. In the video, you can see the largest anaconda I have ever seen: as thick as a car tire, 8 meters long, weighing over 200 kg and with a head the size of my head."