This cannot be real… Can it?
Reports and video are coming out from NatGeo’s Disney+ show titled Pole To Pole with Will Smith (no not that Will Smith) and one of the discoveries they made is something straight out of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets…
According to The Independent, scientists have discovered a new species of giant anaconda in the Amazon rainforest, including one particular specimen that was 26 feet long and weighed 440 pounds.
Dr. Freek Vonk posted a video on his Instagram which shows him swimming along side this particular snake. Here’s some of the details he shared (They were translated by Instagram so excuse some of the clunky phrasing):
“BREAKING!! A NEW SPECIES OF GREEN ANACONDA!!
And not just one. A MASSIVE SNAKE ! We’ve discovered that the largest snake species in the world, the green anaconda – as we all know it from the movies & all the stories about giant snakes – actually consists of TWO different species! …
Even though they look almost identical to the eye, the genetic difference between the two is 5.5%, and that is HUGE. To put this in perspective: humans and chimps are genetically different only about 2% from each other…
The BIGGEST anaconda I’ve ever seen can be seen in the video, as thick as a car tire, eight meters long and over 200 kg heavy – with a head as big as my head. From total awe and admiration a ‘monster’!”
Holy smokes… That thing was just swimming at the bottom of a river and he decided to join it? Guess his parents knew what they were doing when they named him Freek…
For reference, the largest Burmese python ever documented was 19 feet long. The longest snake of all-time, according to the Natural History Museum, was a reticulated python that was 10 meters, or nearly 33 feet long.
There have long been claims of mind-bogglingly large anacondas slithering through the dense Amazon rainforest, but given they’re nearly impossible to find, none of these claims have been scientifically substantiated.
But, if the locals who live in the rainforest are to be believed, this “new” species of anaconda can reach seemingly impossible sizes.
In a newly published multi-decade study, where scientists and researchers worked hand in hand with the indigenous Waorani people, many specimens of the newly named northern green anaconda (Eunectes akayima) were observed in various locations in the Amazon.
Dr. Bryan Fry, who co-authored this study, is willing to put his name behind the Waorani people’s claims of truly incredible monsters in the water.
“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible – one female anaconda we encountered measured an astounding 6.3 metres long. There are anecdotal reports from the Waorani people of other anacondas in the area measuring more than 7.5 metres long and weighing around 500 kilograms.”
For those unfamiliar with the metric system, 7.5 meters is just under 25 feet long and 500 kilograms is an astounding 1,102 pounds…
Let me say that again in long form so it sinks in…
They believe there are snakes in the Amazon that weigh one thousand, one hundred and two pounds.
I’m not the only one who believes that’s incredible and horrifying at the same time.
I’ve always wanted to visit the Amazon and still do. But I’ll be damned if anyone thinks I’ll be doing any swimming on my trip…
