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.
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