GIANT SNAKE PICTURES: Alien Species Invading U.S.?

October 14, 2009--The world's heaviest snake, the green anaconda is one of nine huge alien snake species that may wreak havoc if they take hold in the United States, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report released this week. (Read full story: "Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to 1/3 of U.S.")

The giant snake (pictured in the Peruvian Amazon) can reach lengths of 23 feet (7 meters) and weigh in at 550 pounds (227 kilograms). The olive-green reptiles would flourish in the Florida Peninsula and in southern Texas, regions that have climates similar to the anaconda's native South American habitat, the study authors say.

USGS scientists rated the nine snakes based on the risk of the reptiles becoming established in the U.S., which is most likely to happen in areas where pet snakes are commonly released into the wild. The green anaconda is among four species considered medium risks--the species is not popular as a pet, and fewer than 500 of the animals arrive in the U.S. each year from South America, according to the report. Though green anacondas have been found in the wild in Florida, there is no evidence they are breeding.

The five in the following gallery are the true giants, but the USGS scientists also studied four "look alike" species: the southern African python, DeSchauensee's anaconda, the Beni anaconda, and the yellow anaconda.

Kenneth Krysko, senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, called the report "extremely thorough." But it came as "no real surprise that giant constrictors can potentially be a threat to not only the wildlife here but to the humans," added Krysko, who was not involved in the report.

Green anacondas have not been known to attack humans, but their tastes vary widely, including fish, turtles, dogs, and tapirs. The snakes ambush prey from the water and constrict them with an immediately deadly, bone-crushing force. (Watch an anaconda hunt the world's largest rodent.)

UN wildlife body to mull bluefin tuna trade ban

GENEVA (AFP) – A proposal to place Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna, a popular sushi staple, on world's most endangered species list has been made to CITES, the UN wildlife trade organisation said Wednesday.

The proposal tabled by Monaco, which could result in a ban in the international trade of the fish, will be considered during the meeting of the convention's 175 state members in Qatar next year, according to official documents seen by AFP.

However, it is unlikely to enjoy the full support of European Union countries, which in September voted down plans for the ban.

"All the countries around the Mediterranean came out against" any ban on trade in the fish, a European Union source said in September.

The EU has however, tabled a proposal to limit the trade of porbeagle sharks, or Lamna nasus, by calling for them to be added to Appendix II -- a list of species that could become extinct if trade in the species is not tightly controlled.

"Unsustainable target fisheries for Lamna nasus in parts of its range have been driven by international trade demand for its high value meat," said the European Union in its submission.

"The meat and fins are of high quality and high value in international trade," it added, targeting North and Southwest Atlantic and Mediterranean stocks.

Demand for sharks' fins, a Chinese delicacy, has hurt stocks of such sharks.

CITES spokesman Juan Carlos Vasquez said the UN agency is expecting to receive a separate proposal on other shark species before the midnight Wednesday deadline for submissions to be sent for consideration during next year's meeting.

Other proposals submitted included those from Tanzania and Zambia which call for the African elephant to be downgraded from the list of most endangered species to Appendix II, thereby lifting a ban on ivory trade.

A proposal to limit trade of some coral species is also expected to be filed, added Vasquez.

In 2007, the 175-member Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species placed 26 species of corals on its Appendix II, protecting them from the unregulated trade which has decimated coral stocks around the world.

But days later, the member nations back-tracked and removed restrictions they had imposed.