This is what biologists say is an entirely new, never before classified species of one of our planet’s largest snakes, the anaconda. It was discovered as part of an expedition involving a new series starring Will Smith, but they weren’t looking for new species at all.
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00:00 [Music]
00:03 This is what biologists say is an entirely new never-before-classified species of one of our
00:09 planet's largest snakes, the anaconda, and it was discovered as part of an expedition involving a
00:14 new series starring Will Smith. But they weren't looking for new species at all. They were there
00:18 to use previously known anaconda species as indicators for the extent of damage done by
00:23 recent oil spills in Yasuni and Ecuador. Instead, they found this, a new species they have named
00:29 the northern green anaconda, and they say it's one of the largest ever caught on film.
00:34 And that we're able to show that the two species split from each other almost 10 million years ago,
00:39 which is of course a vast period of time for them to be isolated. But the really amazing part was,
00:46 despite this genetic difference and despite their long period of divergence,
00:51 the two animals are completely identical.
00:55 They haven't measured it precisely just yet, but they estimate it's well over 20 feet long
00:59 and weighs around 440 pounds. The researchers say that anacondas have been hit particularly badly
01:05 due to climate change and recent droughts in the Amazon, and that they are signal creatures
01:09 for the effects of a changing world. And big snakes need big water. So with your megafauna
01:16 like anacondas, these are going to be the first ones that are really going to suffer
01:21 and have population declines due to changes in rainfall pattern.