World's Rarest Boa Snake Seen for 1st Time in 64 Years!

Cropan's boa (Corallus cropanii) inhabits a rain forest in Brazil, and scientists recently found the first living specimen seen since 1953.

Brazil's tree boa, Corallus cropanii also known as Cropan's boa is one of the world's rarest boas, infrequently found and known from only a handful of dead specimens collected after the snake was first seen and described in 1953.

The species is alive and well, scientists recently discovered. One of the slippery serpents was captured in January — the second living specimen ever seen.

The boa was took to local scientists by local residents of the Ribeira Valley Region.

The boa was nearly killed by one of the people who first spied it in January, But two bystanders recognized the snake from fliers and posters, and intervened before the boa could be harmed. The rescued snake, a female, measured about 5.6 feet in length and weighed 3.3 lbs.

Cropan's boa is found only in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, in a 116-square-mile region in São Paulo; it is the rarest type of boa in the New World and possibly the rarest on Earth. The boa is classified as "Endangered" because its habitat is restricted to one location that is declining in quality, and though the population size is unknown, the scarcity of sightings hints that there probably aren't a lot of these snakes.

The species was described in 1953 from a single adult male specimen. Scales along its back were an olive-beige color, with dark-brown spots that appear from the neck as far as the tail. After that first sighting of a living animal, the only Cropan's boas seen by scientists five in total, and all thought to come from the same Atlantic Forest region were already dead.

Cropan's boas have never been seen in the wild. But when the recently captured female is released, she'll be implanted with a radio transmitter, which will provide scientists with a more clues about how these snakes survive.