Fossils reveal anacondas have been giants for over 12 million years
It was previously thought that anacondas must have been even bigger in the past when it was warmer, because snakes are particularly sensitive to temperature.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed giant anaconda fossils from South America to determine that these snakes reached their maximum size of four to five meters 12.4 million years ago and have remained giants ever since. The study, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, measured 183 fossilized anaconda backbones from Falcón State in Venezuela and found that anacondas evolved a large body size shortly after they appeared in tropical South America during the Miocene period. The research revealed that despite warmer global temperatures during the Miocene, anacondas did not grow larger than they are today.
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