📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Anacondas, the heaviest snakes of the planet, are unarguably massive, intriguing, and dangerous. They can swallow prey even twice their size, with deer and caimans being their regular fare. Their gangster status has been untarnished for over 12 million years now. While a vast majority of animals have changed the way they look, weigh, or even hunt, anacondas are almost the same, making them one of the few rare species that have been consistent survivors.
According to a recent study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, these serpentine beasts have maintained an average length of 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) since their first appearance in the fossil record during the Middle Miocene period.
Their first recorded fossil dates back to 12.4 million years ago, when the Earth was warmer and wetter, allowing many animals to grow much larger than their modern relatives. Abundance of food during the Middle and Upper Miocene eras (12.4 million to 5.3 million years ago) further fuelled this growth. However, while most of those giants — including oversized crocodiles and turtles — disappeared as the planet cooled and habitats shrank, anacondas stuck around.
Researchers led by vertebrate palaeontologist Andrés Alfonso-Rojas from the University of Cambridge analysed 183 fossilised anaconda vertebrae collected in Venezuela. The team used an ancestral state reconstruction technique to predict the body lengths of ancient anacondas, which turned out to be about 17 feet (5.2 meters) long — nearly the same as today’s most prominent individuals. This consistency comes as a big evolutionary surprise.
“This is a surprising result because we expected to find the ancient anacondas were seven or eight meters [23 to 26 feet] long,” Alfonso-Rojas said in the statement. “But we don’t have any evidence of a larger snake from the Miocene when global temperatures were warmer.”
But what’s the reason behind their consistency? Even this study couldn’t fully decipher that. Neither temperature changes nor prey availability fully explain the anaconda’s stable body size. Even as other species adapted or disappeared, the anaconda’s physical characteristics stayed nearly constant. The study leaves room for a broader evolutionary explanation, suggesting that the snake’s size isn’t just a product of environmental factors but may represent an optimal design that has stood the test of time.
According to Alfonso-Rojas, while giant reptiles like the ancient crocodiles vanished as climates shifted, anacondas demonstrated “super-resilience.” Their ability to thrive in both ancient wetlands and modern river systems illustrates how certain evolutionary traits — such as their powerful constricting muscles and efficient hunting strategy — were well-suited to survival.
In short, anaconda has shown the kind of evolutionary stability that only a few other species can claim. Its massive size, unchanged for millions of years, makes it not just a modern giant but a living remnant of a prehistoric world.
