Dec 5, 2025 08:28 AM
(This post was last modified: Dec 5, 2025 09:38 PM by C C.)
Meet the world’s largest snake: A 440-pound anaconda discovered in the Amazon
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-...rsity-rep/
EXCERPTS: Remember the colossal snake from the 1997 cult classic film Anaconda? Many were frightened, some laughed, but at least we knew that such a thing couldn’t exist in real life. Or can it?
The emerald wonder of the Amazon rainforest just yielded a monstrous find: an 8-meter-long, 200-kilogram (26-foot-long, 440-pound) northern green anaconda, previously unknown to science.
This behemoth is the largest snake ever discovered. It’s not only bigger but also very genetically distinct from its southern cousin, raising questions about biodiversity and the Amazon’s fragile ecosystem.
[...] “There are anecdotal reports from the Waorani people of other anacondas in the area measuring more than 7.5 meters long and weighing around 500 kilograms,” Dr. Fry said, hinting that other much larger anacondas could exist. Imagine a snake longer than a school bus and weighing as much as a grand piano. That’s the scale we’re talking about.
Genetic analysis revealed it wasn’t just a large green anaconda — it was a completely new species, distinct enough to warrant its own designation: Eunectes akayima, meaning “great snake” in a local indigenous language... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Fossils reveal anacondas have been giants for over 12 million years
New paper by shows that Nanotyrannus was not a juvenile T. Rex
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108077
INTRO: For decades, paleontologists argued over the lone skull used to establish the distinct species Nanotyrannus. Was it truly a separate species or simply a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex? A new paper published in Science has definitively shown that Nanotyrannus is, in fact, nearly fully grown and not an immature T. rex, at the same time revealing new insights into how these giant predators achieved such terrifying sizes so quickly.
A multi-institutional team, including Dinosaur Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Zach Morris, examined the much-debated Nanotyrannus holotype—the specimen used to name a new species—particularly its throat bone. The team examined the bone’s microscopic structure, comparing it to those of living birds, crocodilians, and extinct dinosaurs—including the Dino Hall’s singular T. rex growth series—to establish that Nanotyrannus, while smaller, was a fully grown and distinct predator in an ancient ecosystem more diverse than previously imagined. Slightly less than half the size of their massive adult cousins, Nanotyrannus competed with juvenile T. rex for prey in Late Cretaceous North America.
“The identity of the holotype specimen was the key piece in this debate. Discovering that this small skull was actually fully grown shows definitively that it is different from Tyrannosaurus rex,” said Dr. Christopher Griffin, lead author and Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University.
Just as cutting a tree and counting its growth reveals its age, cross-sectioning a dinosaur’s bones can reveal how mature it is. Researchers examine thin slices of fossil bone under a microscope, measuring the organization of the tissues to gauge the age of the animal in life and understand how quickly it grew. Researchers typically use long bones, such as femora or ribs, but these do not survive intact in every fossil specimen. The Nanotyrannus holotype is mostly a skull, and skulls are rife with sinus cavities and other irregularities that make them unsuitable for the technique. However, the hyoid—a throat bone that supports the tongue—of the specimen was potentially able to answer this question once and for all... (MORE - details, no ads) ...... Nanotyrannus was never even a juvenile (1st video)
Nanotyrannus Confirmed ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJw1WUXIFG8
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/yJw1WUXIFG8
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-...rsity-rep/
EXCERPTS: Remember the colossal snake from the 1997 cult classic film Anaconda? Many were frightened, some laughed, but at least we knew that such a thing couldn’t exist in real life. Or can it?
The emerald wonder of the Amazon rainforest just yielded a monstrous find: an 8-meter-long, 200-kilogram (26-foot-long, 440-pound) northern green anaconda, previously unknown to science.
This behemoth is the largest snake ever discovered. It’s not only bigger but also very genetically distinct from its southern cousin, raising questions about biodiversity and the Amazon’s fragile ecosystem.
[...] “There are anecdotal reports from the Waorani people of other anacondas in the area measuring more than 7.5 meters long and weighing around 500 kilograms,” Dr. Fry said, hinting that other much larger anacondas could exist. Imagine a snake longer than a school bus and weighing as much as a grand piano. That’s the scale we’re talking about.
Genetic analysis revealed it wasn’t just a large green anaconda — it was a completely new species, distinct enough to warrant its own designation: Eunectes akayima, meaning “great snake” in a local indigenous language... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Fossils reveal anacondas have been giants for over 12 million years
New paper by shows that Nanotyrannus was not a juvenile T. Rex
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1108077
INTRO: For decades, paleontologists argued over the lone skull used to establish the distinct species Nanotyrannus. Was it truly a separate species or simply a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex? A new paper published in Science has definitively shown that Nanotyrannus is, in fact, nearly fully grown and not an immature T. rex, at the same time revealing new insights into how these giant predators achieved such terrifying sizes so quickly.
A multi-institutional team, including Dinosaur Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Zach Morris, examined the much-debated Nanotyrannus holotype—the specimen used to name a new species—particularly its throat bone. The team examined the bone’s microscopic structure, comparing it to those of living birds, crocodilians, and extinct dinosaurs—including the Dino Hall’s singular T. rex growth series—to establish that Nanotyrannus, while smaller, was a fully grown and distinct predator in an ancient ecosystem more diverse than previously imagined. Slightly less than half the size of their massive adult cousins, Nanotyrannus competed with juvenile T. rex for prey in Late Cretaceous North America.
“The identity of the holotype specimen was the key piece in this debate. Discovering that this small skull was actually fully grown shows definitively that it is different from Tyrannosaurus rex,” said Dr. Christopher Griffin, lead author and Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University.
Just as cutting a tree and counting its growth reveals its age, cross-sectioning a dinosaur’s bones can reveal how mature it is. Researchers examine thin slices of fossil bone under a microscope, measuring the organization of the tissues to gauge the age of the animal in life and understand how quickly it grew. Researchers typically use long bones, such as femora or ribs, but these do not survive intact in every fossil specimen. The Nanotyrannus holotype is mostly a skull, and skulls are rife with sinus cavities and other irregularities that make them unsuitable for the technique. However, the hyoid—a throat bone that supports the tongue—of the specimen was potentially able to answer this question once and for all... (MORE - details, no ads) ...... Nanotyrannus was never even a juvenile (1st video)
Nanotyrannus Confirmed ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJw1WUXIFG8