World’s rarest boa snake spotted for the first time in 64 years

Boa Snake, World's rarest boa snake, boa snake seen, boa snake seen in Brazil, boa snake seen after 64 years, Brazil, Indian Express, Indian Express News
One of the world’s rarest boa – that dwells in the forests of Brazil – has been sighted for the first time in 64 years, indicating clearly that the species is alive and kicking, scientists say. Corallus cropanii – also known as Cropan’s boa – is known from only a handful of dead specimens collected after the snake was spotted for the very first time in 1953. The slippery serpent was captured in January – the second living specimen ever seen, and the first glimpsed in 64 years. The boa was brought to local scientists by rural residents of the Ribeira Valley Region in Brazil.
The snake, a female, measured about 1.7m in length and weighed 1.5km. One can find Cropan’s boa only in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, in a 300 sq. km region in Sao Paulo.
It is the rarest type of boa in the New World and likely the rarest on Earth, as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The species was described in 1953 from a single adult male specimen. Cropan’s boas have never been observed in the wild. Upon the release of the recently captured female, it will be carrying an implanted radio transmitter, which could help scientists get a better clarity about how these snakes survive in their forest home
“The snake will be studied in order to discover more information about its biology and habits. As it has never been observed in nature, we do not have much information about its behavior,” Livia Correa, a biologist at the Butantan Institute, was quoted as saying by ‘Live Science’.
“It will be released in its natural habitat and receive equipment with radio-telemetry that will enable its tracking in nature and the transmission of information to researchers,” she said.

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