Amazon Alive: A Decade of Discoveries 1999-2009 - WWF

ut it seems to prefer shallow and clear waters, and has been observed only
in high, non-flooded forests near permanent water bodies and slow-moving
streams.
Bolivian anaconda (Eunectes beniensis)
A new anaconda for the Amazon
Among the incredible new species finds is a new species of perhaps one
of the most well-known and feared reptiles of the Amazon: the
anaconda 47 . Described in 2002 from treeless-savannas of Bolivia’s
north-eastern Amazon province, the new species was initially believed
to be the result of hybridisation between green and yellow anacondas.
However, after further morphological and molecular genetic studies, the
snake was determined to be a distinct species and subsequently named
the beni, or Bolivian anaconda (Eunectes beniensis) 48 . The species was
subsequently found also in the floodplains of Bolivia’s Pando province.
The new anaconda is particularly significant, as the snake is the first
valid anaconda species to be described since 1936, and joins only three
other known anaconda species.
The Bolivian anaconda can grow up to a lengthy four metres, but
possibly even longer according to scientists. Its basic colour is brown to
dark olive green, possessing five stripes on its head, and is patterned
with fewer than 100 large, dark, solid blotches – fewer and larger than
other species. According to experts, the Bolivian anaconda is more
closely related to the yellow anaconda (Eunectes notaeus) and the
dark-spotted anaconda (Eunectes deschauenseei) than to the green
anaconda (Eunectes murinus).
All anacondas are primarily aquatic boas, with small, dorsally-positioned
eyes and relatively narrow heads. They predominantly rely on ambush –
catching, suffocating and eating a wide variety of prey, almost certainly
anything they can manage to overpower, including amphibious and
aquatic reptiles, mammals and birds as well as fish. Large individuals
have even been known to eat large caiman, and mammals as big as
capybaras, tapirs and jaguars.
© José María Fernández Díaz-Formentí
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