Never-before-seen footage captures moment scientists find new, giant anaconda species in Amazon [View all]
In 2024, scientists announced the discovery of a newfound anaconda species in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Now, in a new nature series, filmmakers have released nail-biting, never-before-seen footage of the moment they encountered the snake in the wild.
The footage transports viewers to the Baihuaeri Waorani Territory in the Amazon rainforest, where researchers were sampling anacondas in 2022 for a snake genetics study. In the video, venom expert Bryan Fry and actor Will Smith travel by boat with Indigenous Waorani guides along the banks of a murky river. In a small clearing, the group spots a gigantic anaconda, which the guides manage to immobilize so that Fry and Smith can take a piece of its scales.
The anaconda in the footage — which features in an episode of National Geographic's upcoming "Pole to Pole with Will Smith" docuseries — is a female measuring 16 to 17 feet (4.9 to 5.2 meters) long, Fry estimates in the show. There is a danger she might bite, says one of the Waorani guides who helps pin down the snake, even if green anacondas aren't venomous. Anacondas are constrictors, meaning they kill prey by wrapping their bodies tightly around it, suffocating the animal before swallowing it whole.
https://www.livescience.com/animals/snakes/never-before-seen-footage-captures-moment-scientists-find-new-giant-anaconda-species-in-amazon
AMAZING VIDEO: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/AOK3dSWx
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