Overview
- Measurements of 183 fossilized vertebrae from at least 32 anacondas found in Falcón State, Venezuela, indicate individuals averaged 4–5 meters in length.
- Estimated Miocene body lengths match modern anacondas, resolving when gigantism first appeared in the lineage.
- Ancestral state reconstruction using a snake family tree independently validated the fossil-based size estimates.
- The team reports no evidence for larger Miocene anacondas despite warmer conditions that supported giants such as Purussaurus and Stupendemys.
- The peer-reviewed study, led by the University of Cambridge with specimens collected by the University of Zurich and Museo Paleontológico de Urumaco, was published December 1 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.