Dutch professor Freek Funk found the largest snake in the world in the Amazon forest (British press)

A Dutch biologist found the largest snake in the world discovered so far, during a trip to the Amazon forests in Brazil, where the snake was about 8 meters long and weighed about 200 kilograms.

According to Brazilian newspapers published on Tuesday, "Dutch biologist and wildlife TV presenter Professor Frik Funk found the snake, called the Northern Green Anaconda, in a remote area in Brazil."

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She added, "The largest snake in the world was spotted deep in the Amazon rainforest. Its weight is 440 pounds (199.6 kilograms), which is three times the weight of an average human. Its length is 26 feet (7.92 meters), and its head is the size of a human head. It has skin as thick as a car tire."

Funk with a northern green anaconda (British press)

A photo of the northern green anaconda was published on February 16, in a study in the scientific journal Diversity, swimming next to Professor Funk.

The Dutch scientist said, “We discovered, along with 14 other scientists from 9 countries, that the largest species of snake in the world is the green anaconda. As we all know from movies and stories about giant snakes, they are actually two different species. Although they appear almost identical at first glance, the genetic difference between them is "It's 5.5%, which is huge."

He added, "We gave the new species the Latin name (Eunectes acaima), meaning the northern green anaconda. The word acaima comes from several indigenous languages ​​of northern South America and means the big snake."

For his part, the lead author of the study, Professor Jesus Rivas, explained that they realized for the first time that there is more than one species of green anaconda, as only one species, also called the giant anaconda, was previously identified in the Amazon region.

The green anaconda...the heaviest snake

Green anacondas are long snakes that rarely exceed 6.25 meters in length, but some have claimed in the past to have seen snakes exceeding 24 meters in length.

Green anacondas are non-venomous snakes. They are isolated and live in South America and Trinidad. They spend most of their time in water, usually in swamps, swamps, slow streams and rivers. That is why their nostrils and eyes have evolved to be on the top of the head, not on the sides, so that the snake can breathe and see prey and predators above. water while its large body remains submerged in water.

These snakes enjoy a diverse diet, from turtles and fish to peccaries, deer, water porpoises (the largest rodents in the world) and even jaguars, on rare occasions. Anacondas belong to the boa family, and use their long, muscular bodies to narrow down their prey.

Although the word "anaconda" is often used to refer to the green anaconda, there are three other species, all slightly smaller: the Bolivian anaconda, the dark-spotted anaconda, and the yellow anaconda, all of which are found in South America.

Longest snakes

One of the most famous stories is the story of the large snake that lives underground in the Amazon River. It is larger than the anaconda and is called “Titanoboa.” Its first fossils were found in a coal mine in northern Colombia, in the Amazon region, in 2009, and are now in the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Titanoboa dominated the tropical forests of South America, especially the Amazon region, and appeared 6 million years after the extinction of Tyrannosaurus Rex. It is considered the largest snake ever found and one of the most dangerous predators in the world.

It was between 13 and 15 meters long, almost a meter wide, and weighed more than a ton. From analyzing estimates of the reptile's size and habitat, the researchers concluded that this snake lived during the Paleocene period, 60 million years ago, and established itself as the largest predator on the planet for at least 10 million years.

This snake was able to swallow a whole crocodile, and the number of fossilized vertebrae reached about 300, that is, 5 times larger than those found in the anaconda snake. Its extinction was due to climate change, mainly the increasing coldness of the Earth, as it relied on the sun to stay warm.

These snakes inhabited forests and large swamps, and were able to live for up to about 30 years. When mating, females release a strong scent into the air, which makes males angry and anxious.

In analyzing the skull that was found, paleontologists reported that this snake had thin, sharp teeth, more compatible with an aquatic diet, and the jaws were split, allowing the mouth to open at an angle of 180 degrees, and thus it was able to swallow an animal 4 times the size of its head. .

In 2012, the first Titanoboa skull was discovered, which was presented at the 73rd Annual Meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Los Angeles.

Reticulated python

Reticulated snakes are among the longest snakes in the world, reaching more than 6.25 meters in length, which is the longest of the 39 species in the Pythonidae family.

In 1912, the longest reticulated python ever recorded was found. It was 10 meters long, more than half the length of a bowling alley, making it longer than a giraffe.

Reticulated pythons live in Southeast Asia, and although they are usually found in grasslands and forests, especially rainforests, their habitat preferences seem to depend on their location.

In Myanmar, these non-venomous snakes are only found in pristine forests, while in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo they have also been spotted in sewers.

Reticulated pythons are known to climb trees by wrapping their bodies tightly around the trunks and using muscular force to pull upwards.

It is the longest and heaviest snake ever held in captivity. It was a female reticulated snake called “Medusa,” which was displayed at the Medusa Festival in the United States. Its length reached 7.67 meters and its weight was 158.8 kilograms.

King cobra...the longest poisonous snake

In 1937, a 5.54-metre-long cobra was found in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan on the Malay Peninsula, and was captured and kept at the London Zoo, eventually growing to 5.71 metres.

But this huge snake was killed at the outbreak of World War II, to avoid endangering people if the zoo was bombed and escaped.

Cobras are found in South and Southeast Asia in a variety of habitats including forests, mangrove swamps and some farmland, with forest remnants in Thailand, where they are good swimmers.

The king cobra is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and has faced a population decline of more than 80% in recent years due to habitat loss and exploitation, such as hunting for its skin, food and medicinal purposes.

Sea snakes

As for the yellow sea snake, it reaches a length of 2.75 meters and is the longest species of sea snake. However, most of the specimens collected are less than two meters in length.

The yellow sea snake lives in the northern Indian Ocean and around parts of Southeast Asia, and has also been seen near New Caledonia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

All sea snakes, including the yellow sea snake, have paddle-like tails to help them move through the water.

Relatively little is known about these sea snakes, with records of this species found at depths of up to 50 meters below the surface of the earth, generally found on muddy sandy bottoms, and feeding on eels.

Source: Al Jazeera + British press + websites