Dutch tv biologist Freek Vonk helps discover new anaconda

Dutch television presenter and biologist Freek Vonk is part of an international team of scientists who have discovered a new sort of anaconda living in the northern part of the Amazon rain forest.

The aquatic snake has been named the Northern Green Anaconda and the researchers have published their findings in the scientific journal Diversity. Until now only one type of anaconda has been found in the entire Amazon area. 

The new snake lives in Venezuela, Suriname, and Guyana and there is a 5.5% difference between its DNA and those of the better-known green anaconda. “To put this in perspective, humans and chimpanzees differ in DNA by just 2%,” Vonk said on social media.

“You often find two species that look the same to humans but are actually different,” said Vonk. “But I never expected this would be the case with the biggest snake in the world.” Anacondas can grow up to seven metres long.

The researchers compared the blood of 78 snakes in the wild and one dead one, includin anaconda DNA from data banks in nine countries including Naturalis in Leiden. Naturalis, it transpired has had a northern anaconda in its collection for 50 years.

The discovery of a new type of anaconda is of course, extremely exciting, said Vonk. “But it is also essential in underlying how important it is that … the Amazon rain forest is researched and protected as much as possible. The existence of the giant snake cannot be separated from protecting its natural habitat.”