The Dutch scientist Freek Vonk has fourteen international colleagues a new species of giant snake discovered. The biologist, who in addition to a successful TV career also conducts a lot of scientific research, announced this today via his social media. He has discovered that the largest snake species in the world, the green anaconda, is actually two different species. The professor at VU and Naturalis researcher is thrilled: “It feels as if we have now discovered that there are two types of white sharks swimming through the ocean.”
Alexander van Eenennaam, Martijn Peters
Latest update:
17:27
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A.D
How excited are you with this discovery?
“The excitement is very high now. We discovered a new species of the world’s largest snake, a mythical and powerful animal that could fit four times inside (the northern green anaconda can grow up to 8 meters long and weigh 200 kilos). This is extremely special. I have already discovered a new species in Australia, but that was a poisonous snake as big as my little finger. This is definitely one of the highlights of my scientific career. Also because this snake occurs in the Amazon, a place that feels like home to me.”
How is it possible that this enormous snake is only now being discovered?
“That in itself is not so strange. Although they are colossal predators, they are mainly submerged in murky river and swamp water. I have a video of me swimming next to one of the biggest ones I’ve ever seen. Almost 8 meters long, as thick as a car tire and a head as big as my head. But if it moves 2 meters, you can hardly see it anymore.”
So how did you manage to do it?
“We have been working on this for years. We collected 78 DNA samples from both wild anacondas from nine countries and specimens in museums such as Naturalis. In the wild, we took some blood with a syringe, usually from the tail, where the blood vessels run just under the skin. Such an animal is not bothered by this and we immediately released it.”
“We discovered with these samples that the green anaconda consists of two species. The newly discovered was given the Latin name Eunectes akayima, the ‘northern green anaconda’. The word ‘akayima’ comes from several indigenous languages of northern South America, and means ‘great snake’. This northern green anaconda, which genetically differs by 5.5% from the southern one we already knew. That difference is enormous, for comparison: humans and chimpanzees differ genetically by 2%.”
About twelve years ago I tested what it felt like to be strangled by an anaconda in Suriname.
What do we gain from knowing this?
“These are top predators, which have a major impact on their entire environment. If such an animal becomes extinct, it will have enormous consequences for nature. If you don’t care about the survival of that beautiful fauna, then this research will fall on deaf ears. But I think most people believe that we should protect nature. And the Amazon is already under so much pressure due to climate change and deforestation of the rainforest. You cannot protect what you do not know or recognize. Now that we know this new species, we have to investigate what it needs to survive, how it differs from the anaconda we already knew.”
Have you met the new species in real life?
“I don’t know for sure, but I suspect so. I have seen a lot of anacondas in Suriname, where the new species also occurs. By the way, about twelve years ago I tested in Suriname what it feels like to be strangled by an anaconda.”
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And?
“That wasn’t one of my best ideas. It felt like my throat was being squeezed by a bus. You should never do something like that when you’re alone, but I had people around who could roll the hose off me when I got too short of breath. I was really safe, I just wanted to feel that power.”
“Did you know that recent research has shown that a constriction tube restricts your circulation so that you become unconscious? We used to think that they prevented their prey from breathing, but that is different.”
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Were you able to sleep last night knowing this news was coming out?
“Funnily enough, I slept well for the first time in a week, I had mega jet lag because I had just returned from Mexico, where I filmed whales. I woke up every night at 3:00 am, last night it was at 5:00 am, which was a win for me. That doesn’t change the fact that I want to shout this news from the rooftops. The chances are not great that you will discover another such apex predator somewhere in the world. It feels like we now find out that there are two species of white sharks swimming through the ocean.”
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