If you were alive 58 million years ago you would be. This snake would make the Boa look like a worm in comparison.
Scientists are reporting the discovery of the fossilized remains of the largest snake ever recorded — a 42-foot behemoth weighing more than a ton, according to an analysis in today’s issue of the journal Nature. By studying fossilized sections of the snake’s remains, scientists were able to estimate the size of the crocodile-consuming boa.
The study says Titanoboa was the largest non-marine vertebrate from the epoch following the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, and “greatly exceeds the largest verifiable body lengths” of the largest known Python (approximately 29.53 feet) or Eunectes, a species of which the Anaconda is a part, (22.97 feet). The newly recognized species, Titanoboa is a relative of the modern day Anaconda, a non venomous snake inhabiting fresh water rivers in Central and South America and preying on carnivores it crushes with powerful muscles — or pulls under water and drowns. A meal is satisfied with one long gulp.
The vertebra of Titanoboa were found in a large coal mine in northeastern Colombia, an area the researchers report is the oldest known rainforest in the Americas.
Source: USA Today
