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Claus Meyer

These tiny South American spiders (pictured, in Brazil) can spin webs of up to 32 feet long.

Restaurateur and cookbook author Claus Meyer hosted the 1990s Danish cooking show Meyer’s Kitchen before rising to international acclaim with four-time World’s 50 Best Restaurants winner Noma in Copenhagen alongside co-creator René Redzepi. Speaking on the Covid-19 crisis, he comments: “They say necessity is the mother of all inventions.”

Awkward on land but agile in water, the anaconda lives in the swamps and tropical rain forests of South America. The yellow anaconda (pictured) is smaller than the green anaconda—the largest snake in the world by weight—but still reaches lengths of up to 15 feet (4.6 meters). With flexible jaws and muscular bodies, these nonvenomous constrictors squeeze their prey to death and swallow it whole—whether it’s a bird, turtle, or deer.

Currently, snakes such as the Fonseca’s pit viper, native to Brazil, aren’t traded abroad, according to available records. Researchers predict that may change in the future.

The Spix Macaw, found natively in the Brazilian Amazon, may be extinct in the wild, according to a new study by Birdlife International.